se rga3h5se r by Derek Kolush

INSIDE: NEVER LOSE ANYTHING WITH APPLE’S AIRTAG

JUNE 2021

HOW TO

RUN WINDOWS 10 ON YOUR M1 MAC WITH PARALLELS

THE NEW M1 GETS A COLORFUL DEBUT IN APPLE’S ALL-INONE MAC

THE NEW

iMAC

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I N C O R P O R AT I N G M A C U S E R

JUNE 2021 CONTENTS MACUSER macOS Big Sur 11.3 is now available 7 The 24-inch iMac might be the last Mac powered by an M1 chip 11 Run Windows 10 on your M1 Mac 13 These future Apple products may be hiding in plain sight 15 MacUser Reviews 21 Hot Stuff 28

iOSCENTRAL

First look: 24-inch M1 iMac 56

What is App Tracking Transparency 33 How to unlock your iPhone with your Apple Watch while wearing a mask 37 iPad Pro (2021): 5 standout features 39 The iPad Pro is a killer machine but its software is killing me 43 What Apple’s patents say about the company’s VR and AR ambitions 47 iOS Central Reviews 53

WORKINGMAC Set up a Mac to run either macOS Mojave or macOS Big Sur 77

Which 24-inch iMac should you order? 62

How to save your M1 Mac by booting into Recovery mode 79 How to turn on Do Not Disturb in macOS Big Sur 81 TorGuard VPN review 83

PLAYLIST Why did the original HomePod fail? 89 What Apple Music can do to catch up with Spotify 93 Focal Chora 806 speaker review 96 Shure Aonic 50 wireless active noisecancelling headphone review 102 J-Tech Digital 4x1 HDMI switcher review 110

HELPDESK

AirTag: All you need to know 70 COVER IMAGE COURTESY OF APPLE

Recover data from a FileVault encryptied Mac, paste text without formatting 119

JUNE 2021 MACWORLD 3

MASTHEAD

EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Matt Egan EDITOR IN CHIEF, CONSUMER BRANDS Jon Phillips DESIGN DIRECTOR Robert Schultz EXECUTIVE EDITOR Michael Simon

Editorial SENIOR EDITOR Roman Loyola STAFF WRITER Jason Cross SENIOR CONTRIBUTORS Glenn Fleishman, Rob Griffiths, Joe Kissell, Kirk McElhearn, John Moltz, Dan Moren, Jason Snell

COPY EDITOR Gail Nelson Bonebrake

Design DESIGNER Rob Woodcock

Advertising SALES INQUIRIES www.idg.com/contact-us/

INTERNATIONAL DATA GROUP CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD

Walter Boyd IDG COMMUNICATIONS, INC. CEO

Kumaran Ramanathan

4 MACWORLD JUNE 2021

HOW TO CONTACT MACWORLD SUBSCRIPTION SERVICES Access your subscription account online—24 hours a day, 7 days a week—at http://go.macworld.com/mwcs. You can use online subscription services to view your account status, change your address, pay your bill, and renew your subscription. To get answers to frequently asked questions, visit macworld.com/faq. To report a missing issue or other problem, please email support@macworld.zendesk.com. To start subscribing, visit macworld.com/subscribe. U.S. MAIL

Macworld Subscriptions Department 501 2nd Street, Suite 600, San Francisco, CA 94107 (If you are writing about an existing account, please include your name and email address at which you subscribe.) support@macworld.zendesk.com (Send your full name and the email address at which you subscribe.)

The one-year (12-issue) subscription rate is $34.97; the two-year rate, $59.97; and the three-year rate, $79.97. Checks must be made payable in U.S. currency to Macworld. Please allow 3 to 6 weeks for changes to be made to an existing subscription. MACWORLD EDITORIAL The editors of Macworld welcome your tips, compliments, and complaints. Some stories and reviews from past issues can be located at www.macworld.com. We are unfortunately unable to look up stories from past issues; recommend products; or diagnose your Mac problems by phone, or email. You can contact Apple toll-free, at 800/538-9696, or visit the company’s website, at www.apple.com. HOW TO CONTACT MACWORLD STAFF Our offices are located at 501 Second Street, 6th Floor, San Francisco, CA 94107; phone, 415/243-0505; fax, 415/512-7130. Macworld staff can be reached by email at firstname_lastname@idg.com. BACK ISSUES OF MACWORLD Starting with the June 2003 Macworld, back issues can be downloaded in digital format, from www.zinio.com ($6.99; Mac OS X 10.1 or later required). REPRINTS AND PERMISSIONS You must have permission before reproducing any material from Macworld. Send email to permissions@macworld.com; please include a phone number. MAILING LISTS We periodically make lists of our customers available to mailers of goods and services that june interest you. If you do not wish to receive such mailings, write to us at Macworld, 501 2nd Street, Suite 600, San Francisco, CA 94107, or email us at support@ macworld.zendesk.com. PUBLICATION INFORMATION June 2021, Volume 38, Issue 6 Macworld is a publication of IDG Communications, Inc., and International Data Group, Inc. Macworld is an independent journal not affiliated with Apple, Inc. Copyright © 2021, IDG Communications, Inc. All rights reserved. Create, Playlist, Mac User, Macworld, and the Macworld logo are registered trademarks of International Data Group, Inc., and used under license by IDG Communications, Inc. Apple, the Apple logo, Mac, and Macintosh are registered trademarks of Apple, Inc.

JUNE 2021 MACWORLD 5

YOU ARE THE GENERATION THAT WILL BE STEPPING FOOT ON MARS. TIERA FLETCHER

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MACUSER

News and analysis about Macs, macOS, and Apple

macOS Big Sur 11.3 is available with a major security patch Improved support for iPhone and iPad apps on M1 Macs, new Safari features, and more. BY ROMAN LOYOLA

pple on Monday released macOS Big Sur 11.3, an update to the Mac operating system. The update includes improved support for AirTag, iPhone and iPad apps on Apple Silicon Macs, new Safari features, and more.

IMAGE: IDG

VULNERABILITY FIX Among the many new features detailed below, the macOS 11.3 Big Sur update fixes several security issues (fave.co/3aQfphQ), including one where “A malicious application may bypass Gatekeeper checks” (CVE-2021-30657) and another JUNE 2021 MACWORLD 7

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M AC O S B I G S UR 1 1. 3

where “A malicious application may be able to bypass Privacy preferences” (CVE-20211849). According to Ars Technica (fave. co/2Sh7yTZ), CVE-2021-30657 was actively being exploited in the wild to suppress macOS security warnings.

IMPROVING iPHONE AND iPAD APPS ON M1 MACS If you have a Mac with Apple Silicon (the M1 chip) and have been running iPhone and iPad apps, this is an update you’ll want to install. The update has new Touch Alternatives settings so you can set keyboard commands in place of touch input that you would usually perform on an iPhone or iPad. To enable Touch Alternatives, click on the app’s name in the menu bar and select Preferences. For anyone playing an iPhone game on an M1 Mac, the update has a new Controller Emulation that maps game controller functions to a Mac’s keyboard and mouse. Also, an iPad app can be launched with a larger window, and M1 Macs now have Hibernation support.

app improvements for Macs with M1, introduces separate skin tone variations for emoji with couples, and adds morediverse voice options for Siri.

AirTag and Find My > Support for AirTag to keep track of and find important items like your keys, wallet, backpack, and more privately and securely in the Find My app. > The Find My network with hundreds of millions of devices can help you find your AirTag even when it isn’t nearby. > Lost Mode notifies you when your AirTag is found, and you can enter a phone number where you can be contacted.

OTHER UPDATES FOR ALL MACS Here are the release notes for the macOS Big Sur 11.3 update. Big Sur 11.3 adds support for AirTag, includes iPhone and iPad 8 MACWORLD JUNE 2021

Big Sur 11.3 adds support for AirTag.

iPhone and iPad apps on Macs with M1 > Option to change an iPhone and iPad app’s window size. > Support for displaying the highestresolution version of an iPhone or iPad app in full screen. > Keyboard support for iPhone and iPad games designed to use device tilt. > Keyboard, mouse, and trackpad support for iPhone and iPad games that support game controllers.

Emoji > Support for separate skin tones for each individual in all variations of couple kissing emoji and couple with heart emoji. > New face emojis, heart emojis, woman with a beard emoji.

episodes, automatically adding them to your Library for quick access. > Download behavior and notification settings can be customized on a show-byshow basis. > Top Charts and popular categories in Search help you discover new shows.

News > Redesigned News+ feed enables Apple News+ subscribers to quickly find, download, and manage magazine and newspaper issues. > An all-new Search experience helps you find relevant topics, channels, and stories.

Safari

> Autoplay keeps music playing by automatically playing a similar song once you’ve reached the end of a song or playlist. > City charts showcase what’s popular in over 100 cities all over the world.

> Start Page section order can now be customized. > Additional WebExtensions API lets developers offer extensions that replace the new tab page. > Web Speech API lets developers incorporate speech recognition into their web pages for real-time captioning, dictation, and voice navigation. > WebM and Vorbis video and audio format support.

Podcasts

Reminders

> Show Pages are redesigned to make it easier to start listening. > Option to save and download

> Ability to sort Today Smart list. > Support for syncing the order of reminders in lists across your devices.

Siri > Siri includes more-diverse voice options.

Apple Music

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M AC O S B I G S UR 1 1. 3

> Option to print your reminder lists.

Gaming > Xbox Series X|S Wireless Controller or Sony PS5 DualSense™ Wireless Controller support.

Mac computers with the M1 chip > Hibernation support.

> The Dwell feature may not work in the Accessibility Keyboard. Some features may not be available for all regions or on all Apple devices, and may require an Apple ID. For more detailed information about this update, please visit: fave.co/3e2fZei. For detailed information about the security content of this update, please visit: fave.co/3e6gUuk.

About This Mac > About this Mac displays Apple warranty status and AppleCare+ coverage in the Service tab when signed in with Apple ID. > Support for purchasing and enrolling in AppleCare+ for eligible Mac computers from About This Mac. This release also fixes the following issues: > Reminders created via Siri may be unintentionally set for early morning hours. > iCloud Keychain might not turn off. > AirPods audio routing to incorrect device for Automatic Switching. > AirPods Automatic Switching notifications might be missing or duplicated. > External 4K monitors may not display in full resolution when connected over USB-C. > Login window may not display properly after restarting Mac mini (M1, 2020). 10 MACWORLD JUNE 2021

HOW TO UPDATE MACOS BIG SUR Before updating your Mac, it’s a good idea to back up your data, just in case the update causes problems. To install the update, you need an internet connection. Also, your Mac will need to restart in order to finish the installation. Here are the steps. 1. Click on the Apple menu. 2. Select About this Mac. 3. In the window that appears, go to the Overview tab if it’s not already open. 4. Click on the Software Update button. This will open the Software Update system preference. 5. You can click the More info link if you want to learn more about the update. 6. When you are ready to install, click on the Update Now button. The installation takes several minutes, depending on the speed of your internet connection. ■

The 24-inch iMac might be the last Mac powered by an M1 chip The M2 has reportedly entered production. BY MICHAEL SIMON

e were somewhat surprised when the new iMac arrived with an M1 chip (fave. co/3t5p7D2) at Apple’s Spring Loaded event. We had heard rumors that Apple was working on the successor to the M1 processor, and Apple’s all-in-one seemed like a great place to debut it.

IMAGE: APPLE

That didn’t happen. Instead, we got the same M1 chip that is in the MacBook Air (fave.co/3vt9zus), right down to the cheaper option with seven GPU cores instead of eight. Granted, it’ll still be a very fast machine, but we were really hoping to get a glimpse of the second generation of Apple silicon. JUNE 2021 MACWORLD 11

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24-INCH iMAC MIGHT BE THE LAST M1 MAC

Now it seems that chip is on the way. According to Nikkei Asia (fave.co/3xyX2rf), the next generation of Apple silicon chips has entered mass production and shipments “could begin as early as July for use in MacBooks that are scheduled to go on sale in the second half of this year.” Nikkei Asia says that the chip is “tentatively known as the M2,” but we’ve also heard some rumors that it could be called the M1X (fave.co/3e5dbwK). The chip is likely bound for the 14-inch (fave.co/3xupcDI) and 16-inch (fave.co/3gQYHmg) MacBook Pro models that have been rumored for a while. They were originally expected to arrive at WWDC in June, but production shortages reportedly pushed back the launch to the fall. It makes sense that Apple would launch a new chip with its

remaining Macs, which are all higher-end prosumer machines. A Bloomberg report from late last year (fave.co/338HLPL) said that Apple’s next processors “are destined to be placed across upgraded versions of the MacBook Pro, both entry-level and high-end iMac desktops, and later a new Mac Pro workstation.” The report from Bloomberg claimed that Apple was working on chip designs with up to 32 high-performance cores for higher-end desktop Macs and 16 power cores for notebooks, but cautioned that “Apple could choose to first release variations with only eight or 12 of the high-performance cores enabled depending on production.” The current M1 chip has four highperformance cores. ■

The chip is likely bound for the next MacBook Pro models.

12 MACWORLD JUNE 2021

Run Windows 10 on your M1 Mac with Parallels Desktop 16.5 Parallels now has a native M1 app, but there’s only one version of Windows that works. BY ROMAN LOYOLA

he M1 Mac’s inability to run Windows might seem like an obvious limitation, but it’s actually a major issue (fave.co/3nE8UDJ) for a lot of Mac users. Boot Camp is gone, so you can’t run Windows natively, which means you need to use a virtualization app. A few months ago, Parallels previewed its Parallels Desktop for Mac virtualization software on M1 Macs, and in recent weeks

IMAGE: APPLE

the company announced that Parallels Desktop 16.5 for Mac (fave.co/32ZPdNp)— which brings full native support for both M1 and Intel Macs—is out of beta and now available to the general public. If you want to run Windows on your M1 Mac, you can launch Parallels Desktop 16.5 to run the Windows 10 ARM Insider Preview, the only version of Windows that can run on Apple silicon. To get the Insider Preview, you JUNE 2021 MACWORLD 13

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RU N WI NDOW S 1 0 O N YOUR M 1 MAC

need to register for Microsoft’s Insider Program (fave. co/3aTBlIR). Keep in mind that this is beta, so some features may not work, and it isn’t optimized for performance. Despite the lack of optimization on Microsoft’s part, Parallels claims that performance of Windows 10 ARM is 30 percent better on an M1 Mac than Windows on an Intel Core i9 MacBook Pro, and DirectX performance is 60 percent better compared to a MacBook Pro with a Radeon Pro 555X GPU. And the M1 Mac uses 2.5 times less energy than a 2020

Intel MacBook Air, the company says. The major features that were in the version 16 release are fully available on M1 Macs, including Coherence Mode (fave.co/2RdLNUA), Mac keyboard layouts, Shared Profiles, Touch Bar controls, and more. Parallels says that it hopes to add the ability to run macOS Big Sur in a virtual machine later this year. Parallels Desktop 16.5 for Mac is $79.99 for a new subscription or $99.99 for a new perpetual license. An upgrade from Parallels Desktop 14 or 15 to a perpetual license is $49.99. ■

Parallels Desktop 16.5 for Mac brings full native support for both M1 and Intel Macs. 14 MACWORLD JUNE 2021

These future Apple products may be hiding in plain sight The new products Apple launched at its Spring Loaded event tell us a lot about what it could be working on. BY DAN MOREN

espite all the intriguing new devices (fave.co/3gSaMaG) that Apple showed off this week, it’s never too early to start musing on what might be up the company’s sleeves next. As ever, you can glean a lot about the direction Apple is

IMAGE: APPLE

heading in by seeing what kind of things it is focusing on, especially when it’s rolling out new products with new capabilities. Features and technologies that we haven’t seen before can often point to places in which the company has invested significant time and energy—and, in many JUNE 2021 MACWORLD 15

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FUTURE PRODUCTS HIDING IN PLAIN SIGHT

cases, it’s with an eye to more than just a single device. One of Apple’s great strengths, after all, is a “build once, deploy anywhere” mentality that lets the company bring the same features to many products. With the first event of 2021 behind us, let’s take a look at the announcements that could indicate what Apple may be working on for the rest of the year and beyond.

The 27-inch Intel-based iMac is still in Apple’s lineup, though probably not for long.

BIG FOOTPRINTS TO FILL Astronomers observe exoplanets—those outside our solar system—not by perceiving them directly but by measuring the effect those planets have on other elements of the universe. In the same way, you can observe the effect of Apple products on the overall ecosystem and make some educated guesses based on the negative space—the things Apple didn’t talk about. Take the new 24-inch iMac (fave. co/3xCMhEb), for example. Built on the same M1 processor that powers the Apple silicon–based Macs that rolled out last fall, the new iMac ably supplants the aging 21.5-inch iMac at the bottom end of Apple’s all-in-one desktop lineup. But just 16 MACWORLD JUNE 2021

as with the M1 MacBook Pro models, this is only part of the story. There’s a higherpowered 27-inch Intel iMac that remains part of Apple’s lineup, just waiting for an Apple silicon refresh all its own. Why not refresh both now? Simply put, because the current state of Apple silicon isn’t the right fit for this larger iMac. But we can now make a guess not only at the design of the larger iMac (here’s hoping it offers the same vibrant colors as the 24-inch, perhaps even with some additional options), but also at the features it might offer. For example, since those looking for a larger, more powerful iMac will want more power, more memory, and better connectivity, the next stage of Apple

silicon evolution will have to enable those features—the M1 is not cutting it. And just as Apple bumped up the display size from 21.5 inches to 24 while keeping it within the same size footprint, it would hardly be shocking to see the 27-inch jump to a 30-inch display. Make no mistake, though: Whatever replaces the 27-inch iMac is going to blow it out of the water in the same way the 24-inch iMac just did its predecessor. Apple promised a two-year transition to Apple silicon, and we’re still less than a year into that, so hold on to your hats. There’s more to come.

WILL THE HOMEPOD TAKE CENTER STAGE? While the iPad Pro (see page 39) got a solid update in this event, one of the truly new features Apple showed off on its latest tablet was Center Stage. Enabled by

the new Ultra Wide front-facing camera, this seemingly pandemic-inspired capability can frame the image it captures so as to center the faces it detects. To those of us who have chatted with a friend or relative who is perpetually positioned half off the camera, this feature will come as a great relief. But it also seems like only the beginning for Center Stage. Recent rumors have suggested that Apple may be working on a new HomePod device that integrates a camera of its own, designed primarily for video chatting (fave.co/3eGTTx4). While some reports suggested that it might contain a robotic arm that moves the camera to follow the subject, à la competing devices from Facebook and Amazon, it seems more likely (and, frankly, more Apple-like) that such a HomePod will use Center Stage instead. Likewise, it’s not hard to imagine Center

We could see Center Stage on a future HomePod that better competes with products from Amazon and Google.

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FUTURE PRODUCTS HIDING IN PLAIN SIGHT

Stage eventually making the jump to Macs as well, especially since it’s a feature available to third-party developers that will surely appeal to makers of other videoconferencing apps, like Zoom and Skype.

PUT IT ON DISPLAY As predicted, the new iPad Pro beefs up the existing USB-C port by adding USB4 and Thunderbolt to the mix. But…why? The latter enables connections to high-speed peripherals, so users can add even faster external storage, but Apple also touted its ability to support external displays— including the company’s own Pro Display XDR. This prompts the question: Who exactly is buying a $6,000 monitor to

An Apple display that’s more affordable than the Pro Display XDR could be a top seller. 18 MACWORLD JUNE 2021

connect to their iPad? The very expensive—and very impressive—ProDisplay XDR remains the only external display Apple makes. Otherwise, getting a third-party display for use with your Mac mini, MacBook, and even as a secondary display for an iMac, remains a matter for third parties, even though Apple itself creates great displays in many of its products. In the case of the iPad, the external display story still seems to be untold. How much does Apple consider external display support a core part of the iPad’s functionality? There are a few reasons why users might want it, but the current capabilities—display mirroring or support for some video apps—is currently limited. No, this hardware feature is crying out for a good set of software features that can take advantage of its power—and for a reasonably priced Retina display to go along with it. Who knows? Perhaps those two options will even arrive in close concert. ■

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MACUSER

The Latest Mac Products Reviewed & Rated

THUNDERBOLT 3 DOCK

CORSAIR TBT100 THUNDERBOLT 3 DOCK: TURNS A THUNDERBOLT 3 MAC INTO A PORTFESTOONED POWERHOUSE BY GLENN FLEISHMAN

IMAGE: CORSAIR

REVIEWS

The sleek Corsair TBT100 Thunderbolt 3 Dock (fave. co/332D0r8) ups the game for a Mac laptop, Mac mini, or iMac by providing a full complement of ports for those that lack them and offering additional—and more easily accessible— ports for those that already possess many. The compact dock, which weighs in at a pound (0.5 kg), provides ready access to useful jacks while offering a solid design contrast that doesn’t imitate Apple’s aesthetic. The $259.99 price is right in line with the array of options. The TBT100 has five high-speed data ports: two USB Type-A SuperSpeed (3.2 JUNE 2021 MACWORLD 21

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REVIEW: C O R SAI R T BT10 0 T H UNDER BOLT 3 DO C K

The TBT100 has five high-speed data ports.

Gen 1 or 5Gbps), two USB Type-C SuperSpeed+ (3.2 Gen 2 or 10Gbps), and one Thunderbolt 3. That Thunderbolt 3 port, however, is reserved to connect to a Mac, as the 40Gbps throughput is necessary to power all the peripherals. It also provides up to 85 watts to power an attached laptop, removing the need for the laptop to have a separate connection to power. (The dock also supports Windows systems with Thunderbolt 3.) It’s become almost standard for Thunderbolt 3 to sport two HDMI jacks that allow one or two 4K displays at 60Hz, as the TBT100 does. Even if you have an

The TCT100 offers a full complement of ports. 22 MACWORLD JUNE 2021

iMac, Mac mini, or MacBook Air—or even a MacBook Pro—you would likely prefer not to have monitor adapters occupying your Thunderbolt 3 ports. This dock takes care of that problem. While that’s most useful for a laptop, it’s also handy to have more ports free when adding two 4K monitors to a Mac mini or iMac. The dock also includes gigabit ethernet and a standard SD card slot on the front. The only thing it’s lacking is a MicroSD card slot, common on docks, though easily remedied with a simple SD card adapter. A front-side 3.5mm stereo jack supports audio input and output. The TBT100’s power button at first worried me, until I consulted the product’s manual. It’s a soft switch, meaning there’s no “click” or physical on/off state that’s visible. It seems like brushing up against the switch

You’ll find a USB 3.2 socket, a standard SD card slot, and a headphone port on the Corsair’s front, as well as the power button.

not having an available page. Arrrrrhhhh! I found the software on the main downloads page, however.) The box the TBT100 ships in seems bizarrely heavy, but don’t let that fool you. The dock by itself weighs just one pound, but the AC adapter and power cord weigh about 20 ounces! Keep that in mind if you want to tote the dock from place to place.

could turn it off—except Corsair designed it cleverly to require a three-second press to either turn on or off. The dock powers on automatically when plugged into power, too. Corsair offers a mmmmm downloadable dock ejection Corsair TBT100 utility, which requires approving Thunderbolt 3 Dock a system extension and PROS restarting your Mac to use. With • A large array of useful ports for a compact modern Mac. it installed, you can click a • Features both two USB 3.2 Gen 1 (5Gbps) ports and button to unmount all two USB 3.2 Gen 2 connected devices before (10Gbps) ports. • Up to 85W of passthrough powering off the dock instead power. of having to manage those • Two 4K, 60Hz HDMI display connections. devices separately. (When I CONS tried to follow the URL in the • Lacks MicroSD card slot. manual, it led to a 404 error PRICE $259 page at Corsair’s site—which COMPANY loaded an in-browser pirate Corsair videogame as an apology for

BOTTOM LINE If you’re looking to gain ports, add monitors, and retain flexibility, the TBT100 is an excellent choice for a Thunderbolt 3 Mac laptop, and quite useful with an iMac or Mac mini as well. It’s the perfect way to set up a docking station, whether you’re working from home indefinitely or you want to have a full-featured setup wherever you plug a laptop in. ■ JUNE 2021 MACWORLD 23

MACUSER

THUNDERBOLT 3 STORAGE

OWC ENVOY EXPRESS: ROLLYOUR-OWN EXTERNAL THUNDERBOLT 3 STORAGE BY JON JACOBI

24 MACWORLD JUNE 2021

ou may have noticed that external SSDs from top-tier vendors are pricey—especially when they’re Thunderbolt. If you’re looking to lessen your financial pain a little, then OWC’s $79 Envoy Express T3 (Thunderbolt 3) enclosure might be just what the doctor ordered. Populate it with a budget M.2 NVMe SSD, and you’re on your way to external storage nirvana for a very reasonable price. The kicker is a clever caddy that adheres (semipermanently) to your computer, laptop, or display and allows you to keep the drive handy, but securely in place and out of harm’s way.

IMAGE: OWC

DESIGN AND SPECS The Envoy Express measures approximately 4.1x1.6x0.5 inches and weighs around 3.3 ounces—including the

OWC’s Envoy Express with the cover off to show how the drive installs.

SSD. The metal case is all black with a brushed-metal stripe down the middle bearing the name and OWC logo. Though shown in the image at right, no SSD is included with the Envoy Express. This is simply an exploded view to show you where and how the drive mounts. The only thing not displayed is the included screwdriver. The enclosure ships with a short Thunderbolt cable, which is captive when the cover is screwed to the drive but may be removed when the cover is off (as shown above). This makes the cable super easy (if not cheap) to replace should it wear out or if you need a longer one. Beyond that, there’s not a lot to say about the Envoy Express. As mentioned previously, OWC includes a sturdy caddy made of clear plastic that the

OWC provides a transparent caddy that you can stick to any flat surface to keep the Envoy Express tucked nicely out of the way. The drive slides in and out so you can remove it for safekeeping.

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REVIEW: OWC EN VOY EX PR ES S

enclosure itself slides in and out of. The caddy has semipermanent adhesive on the back so you can mount it on the back of your laptop, iMac, or any other computing device, display, and so on. This keeps it out of the way yet still handy. Nice touch.

48GB COPIES Seconds OWC Envoy Express

Samsung X5

Fledgling Shell (970 EVO 512GB)

Sabrent XTRM-Q (Rocket X 8TB)

Total Time

392 324 380 424

48GB Folder Write

135 123

48GB Folder Read

143

PERFORMANCE

152

I largely tested the Envoy Express using a 1TB Aura P12 M.2 NVMe SSD provided by the company, and while it didn’t quite reach the 1533MBps OWC states is possible, it was still very fast. Of course, I was curious to see how it performed with a top-of-the-line drive installed, so I threw a Samsung 980 Pro inside. That got me the performance OWC claimed with the Aura P12 Pro, but no more. Springing for the 980 Pro is very much a waste of money in this case. The Samsung X5 pulled much better numbers under Disk Speed, but those don’t really bear out in the real world, as our tests demonstrated.

162 134 142 192

48GB Write

48 36 58 32

48GB Read

This is the Envoy Express’s performance on Blackmagicdesign’s Disk Speed test running on a 2019 MacBook Pro.

47 31 37 48 LO W E R S C O R E S A R E B E T T E R

While it didn’t match the Samsung X5 in realworld performance, the Envoy Express came darn close. 26 MACWORLD JUNE 2021

The Envoy Express turned in better numbers with a Samsung 980 Pro inside, but hardly what that very expensive drive is capable of. Stick with budget SSDs for this enclosure.

Samsung’s X5 is much faster than the Envoy Express under Disk Speed, but the margin wasn’t nearly as impressive in our real-world 48Gb transfers.

While the Envoy Express’s performance just over 1,500MBps, populating it with a in our real-world 48GB transfer tests (see top-tier SSD is largely a waste of money. the benchmark, opposite) BOTTOM LINE couldn’t match the Samsung mmmm The Envoy Express isn’t the X5’s, keep in mind that it’s a lot OWC Envoy Express fastest Thunderbolt 3 storage cheaper. It still matched up PROS solution available, but it’s still nicely with the more expensive • Good performance. • Very affordable when darn fast, and you can leverage Fledging Shell Thunderbolt combined with a budget NVMe SSD. budget NVMe SSDs for the (fave.co/3vvJU4j) with a • Clever caddy mounts to Samsung 970 EVO inside, as most affordable solution I’m your computing device. well as the Sabrent XTRM-Q aware of—around $200 for 1TB CONS • Not as fast as Samsung’s (Thunderbolt 3/USB, fave. compared to the Samsung X5 X5. co/2RewATe) with its Sabrent at $400. The caddy is also a PRICE $79 Rocket X 8TB SSD. nice touch. It’s Thunderbolt 3 COMPANY To reiterate, as the Envoy without breaking the bank. OWC Express seems limited to Who would’ve thunk it? ■ JUNE 2021 MACWORLD 27

MACUSER

Hot Stuff

What we’re raving about this month

LOGITECH CIRCLE VIEW DOORBELL logitech.com

The Circle View Doorbell takes full advantage of what Apple’s HomeKit has to offer, including HomeKit Secure Video, which uses the Apple hardware in your home to process captured video locally, versus uploading it to a server in the cloud that you have no real control over. Its camera has an aspect ratio of 1200 x 1600 pixels (WxH) and a 160-degree field of view. This gives you a crisp head-to-toe view of the visitor in front of the camera, along with any packages or other objects that might be on the ground. —JASON D’APRILE 28 MACWORLD JUNE 2021

BELKIN WEMO STAGE SCENE CONTROLLER belkin.com

The Stage is designed for those times when your iPhone isn’t handy and you don’t want to bark a command at Siri. But you will need to have at least one Apple home hub—a HomePod, HomePod mini, or Apple TV—in your home for the system to work. The remote can be used as a handheld device, or you can mount its faceplate on the wall using the provided adhesive strips, snap the Stage to the magnetic faceplate, and operate it like a wall switch. It’s powered by a single CR2032 coin-cell battery, which is expected to last about two years. —MICHAEL BROWN

JUNE 2021 MACWORLD 29

MACUSER

Hot Stuff ARLO PRO 4 arlo.com

The Arlo Pro security camera has a 160-degree field of view, a 12x digital zoom, and captures video at 2K resolution. A pair of infrared LEDs provide black-and-white night vision, while an integrated spotlight enables color night vision. A speaker, noise-canceling microphone, and 80dB siren are built in to communicate with visitors and ward off intruders. It can also detect and track motion within a 130-degree field of view. You need a subscription to unlock capabilities beyond recording in response to motion and audio triggers. It’s $3 a month for a single camera or $10 per month for up to five cameras. —MICHAEL ANSALDO

30 MACWORLD JUNE 2021

is for contributing more to retirement whenever you can.

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AMERICA’S DEADLIEST SHOOTINGS ARE ONES WE DON’T TALK ABOUT On any given day in America, an average of 63 of our mothers, brothers, partners, and friends are taken from us by gun suicide. But tomorrow’s deaths could be prevented. Give your loved ones a second chance at life. Store your guns safely: locked, unloaded, and away from ammo.

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The latest on iOS, iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and App Store

What is App Tracking Transparency and how do you block app tracking? iOS 14.5 adds a new feature that gives you more control of how apps track your behavior. BY JASON CROSS

ith iOS 14.5 (fave. co/33cVvJr), Apple is finally making good on a promise made at WWDC last summer to give iPhone and iPad users

IMAGE: APPLE

more control over the ways app developers track and collect their data. The feature, called App Tracking Transparency, was supposed to ship with iOS 14 (fave.co/2PKKsEc) last fall, but Apple JUNE 2021 MACWORLD 33

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A P P T RAC KI N G TR ANS PA RE NCY

delayed the release to give developers more time to update their apps as required. Now that it’s available, let’s take a look at what it is, what it does, and why you want to opt in.

advertising identifier that can be used to uniquely identify your device for the purposes of ad targeting and tracking. By associating this identifier with other information, app developers have been able to build incredibly detailed records of WHAT IS APP TRACKING how you use your iPhone or iPad, including TRANSPARENCY? in other apps and across the web. App Tracking Transparency (ATT for short) is With iOS 14.5 installed, Apple a new feature of iOS, iPadOS, and tvOS 14.5 requires all apps to use the new ATT that requires applications to ask permission if framework to ask for your permission to they want to track your activity across other track you. This only applies to tracking companies’ apps and websites. Your Apple your activity outside the framework of devices have a unique number called an each company’s own apps. For example, Facebook can track your activity in Facebook (fave. co/3nJsmPw), Facebook Messenger (fave. co/3uhIgTz), Instagram (fave. co/3nMVs0h), and WhatsApp (fave. co/3nJscHU) without asking, but if it wants to know how you interact with other companies’ apps or track you across websites you visit, it must ask for your When an app wants to track you across other apps or the web, now it has to ask permission. permission. 34 MACWORLD JUNE 2021

It’s safe to say that most iPhone and iPad users are unaware of the extent to which developers are following their activities. And they may not know that apps regularly track what they do in other apps and across websites.

HOW DO YOU USE ATT?

You can turn off Allow Apps to Request to Track if you don’t want to be asked about tracking every time you download a new app.

You don’t actually have to do anything to start using ATT other than wait. Any app that wants to track you across other companies’ apps or the web will have to ask you via a pop-up notification. It looks a lot like the notification you see when an app wants to use your location, camera, microphone, or other features that could potentially violate your privacy. You can select either Ask App Not to Track or Allow. Apps are permitted to serve up a simple screen explaining why they want you to allow tracking, but Apple doesn’t necessarily check it for accuracy or truthfulness, and once you’ve given over your data to an app developer, they can change their mind about how they use it.

CAN I TURN OFF TRACKING FOR EVERY APP? If you don’t want to be asked about tracking every time you download a new app, you can turn it off in the Tracking settings as well. At the top of the screen, you’ll see an Allow Apps to Request to Track switch that will be green if you’ve opted in to the feature and gray if you haven’t. Once disabled, apps will no longer even prompt you—it will be as if you automatically chose Ask App Not to Track on every app. iOS will even ask if you want previously allowed apps to stop tracking you, so you can shut it all down in one fell swoop. Note that you can return to JUNE 2021 MACWORLD 35

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A P P T RAC KI N G TR ANS PA RE NCY

this screen at any time to change your mind, either globally or for individual apps.

WHAT IF YOU CHANGE YOUR MIND? If you later decide you want to change the app tracking setting for one of your apps, head into Settings. You can change App Tracking Transparency settings on an app-by-app basis or globally. Just follow these steps: 1. Open the Settings app and tap on Privacy. 2. Choose Tracking at the top of the screen. 3. Apps that have asked for your permission to track you are listed here. You can toggle tracking on and off for apps individually.

36 MACWORLD JUNE 2021

WHAT IF MY ATT TOGGLE IS GRAYED OUT? In some cases, you won’t be able to switch on the ATT toggle in Settings for one of the three following reasons (fave. co/3nM4meP): > You are signed in to an Apple ID that is an account for a child or a user under age 18 by birth year. > An educational institution manages your Apple ID or uses a configuration profile that limits tracking. > You created your Apple ID within the last three days. If you don’t meet any of these criteria and are still seeing a grayedout toggle, you should try restarting your phone and logging out of your iCloud account. ■

How to unlock your iPhone with an Apple Watch while wearing a mask A new feature in iOS 14.5 makes mask wearing a lot more convenient for those who use an iPhone with Face ID. BY JASON CROSS

ith the release of iOS 14.5 (fave.co/33cVvJr) and watchOS 7.4, Apple has solved one of the most vexing iPhone problems of the past yearplus: the fact that Face ID doesn’t work

IMAGE: IDG

when you’re wearing a mask. Here’s how to set it up on your phone and watch.

REQUIREMENTS First, you’ll need an iPhone that has Face ID and an Apple Watch. The iPhone must JUNE 2021 MACWORLD 37

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U N LO CK AN i PH O N E WH IL E WE AR ING A M ASK

be updated to iOS 14.5 and the Apple Watch must be updated to watchOS 7.4. Furthermore, you must secure your Apple Watch with a passcode, wear it on your wrist, and unlock it. The Watch must also be near your iPhone. In other words, the requirements for unlocking your iPhone with your Apple Watch are basically the same as those for unlocking your Mac with it.

ENABLING APPLE WATCH UNLOCK To enable the feature, open the Settings app on your iPhone and tap on Face ID & Passcode. You’ll be asked to enter your iPhone’s passcode. Then scroll down to the Unlock with Apple Watch section and flip the toggle to enable the feature. That’s all there is to it. Now you won’t need to type in a passcode every time you unlock your phone—Face ID will recognize that you’re wearing a mask. Once enabled, it works incredibly well. Your Apple Watch is likely unlocked most of the time it’s on your wrist (by default it will require you to unlock it once when you first put it on, but it will stay unlocked as long as you don’t remove it). If you try to use Face ID, either at the lock screen or to access a password or something in an app, your iPhone will operate as usual. But if Face ID recognizes that you’re wearing a mask, it will immediately 38 MACWORLD JUNE 2021

unlock with your Apple Watch rather than showing you a screen full of numbers and waiting for your passcode. The screen may briefly notify you that it’s unlocking your phone with your Apple Watch, and you’ll feel a quick double-tap on your wrist from the Apple Watch’s taptic engine. All in all, it’s a lot like unlocking your Mac with your Apple Watch. ■

iPad Pro (2021): 5 standout features that make the best tablet even better The first major update to the iPad Pro in three years does not disappoint. BY JASON CROSS

pple released a new iPad Pro in 2020—a year and a half after the prior update—but it wasn’t much of a change. A new camera module that included LiDAR and an Ultra Wide lens were fine features,

IMAGE: APPLE

but the iPad isn’t really the thing people reach for when they want to take great photos. The processor was updated to the A12Z, which was just the same as the A12X but with a single GPU core, disabled on the A12X, reenabled. The iPad had JUNE 2021 MACWORLD 39

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iPAD PRO (2021): 5 STANDOUT FEATURES

more storage, but that’s just a function of the inevitable march of time. So the iPad Pro was overdue for a more significant update, and with the new 5th-generation iPad Pro, we finally have it. Here are the highlights that make this year’s iPad Pro special.

THE M1 PROCESSOR MAKES IT FAST AS ALL GET-OUT

haven’t relied on a teardown to get the RAM specs, which is a notable change.

THE 12.9-INCH MODEL HAS A LIQUID RETINA XDR DISPLAY Both the 11-inch and 12.9-inch iPad Pros have LED displays with a resolution of 264 pixels per inch, True Tone, and 120Hz ProMotion support. But the 12.9inch model also has a new mini-LED backlight (fave.co/3vz5sgq) that gives it better contrast. Apple calls this Liquid Retina XDR, and it works a lot like the Pro Display XDR. You get 1,000 nits of brightness and 1,600 nits of peak brightness, a 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio, and support for multiple different HDR formats. It also includes the same features as before, including ProMotion, True Tone, and P3 wide color support. Apple says the display delivers “a stunning

We were impressed by the M1 in the new Apple silicon Macs (fave.co/3sYA3Da), and now the same chip is in the iPad Pro. The M1 is basically what we would have expected from an A14X—it’s like an A14 with double the high-performance cores (4 instead of 2), double the GPU cores (8 instead of 4), and double the memory bus width (128-bit instead of 64-bit). In addition to the much faster CPU and graphics, storage access is twice as fast as in the previous iPad Pro and the new model is available with up to 2TB of storage (though it’ll cost you an extra $400). On models with less than 1TB of storage, the new iPad Pro models come with 8GB of RAM. On models with 1TB or 2TB of storage, they come with 16GB of RAM. It’s like holding a Pro Display XDR in your hands! That’s the first time we 40 MACWORLD JUNE 2021

and high-res monitors. It can even hook up to the Pro Display XDR at full resolution.

NEW 12MP ULTRA WIDE FRONT CAMERA The 2021 iPad Pros have the same rear cameras as last year’s model: an f/1.8 12MP Wide and f/2.4 10MP Ultra Wide camera, plus a LiDAR sensor. Center Stage automatically pans and zooms to keep you in frame. But the front camera has been bumped up to visual experience that reflects what can be an f/2.4 12MP Ultra Wide camera with a seen in the real world by capturing the 122-degree field of view. While the brightest highlights and the most subtle camera is still frustratingly located on the details in even the darkest images.” short edge of the device, a new FaceTime feature called Center Stage automatically NEW MODELS HAVE pans and zooms to keep you in the frame THUNDERBOLT AND USB4 as you move around the area so it’ll look SUPPORT more natural to the people with whom With the big 2018 redesign, Apple you’re chatting. Better image processing swapped out the Lightning port on the from the M1 processor should also result in iPad Pro for a USB type C connector. This noticeably better photos and videos even gave the iPad the ability to more easily though the new models have the same connect to external storage, cameras, and rear camera hardware. other accessories. The 2021 models 5G SUPPORT support Thunderbolt 3 and USB4, which Like the iPhone 12, the new 5th generation means they support all the existing USB-C iPad Pro supports 5G (if you buy a model stuff as well as Thunderbolt accessories with cellular support). Also as with the like higher-speed external storage devices JUNE 2021 MACWORLD 41

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iPAD PRO (2021): 5 STANDOUT FEATURES

iPAD PRO SPECS COMPARED Here’s how the new iPad Pro compares to last year’s models. 11-INCH/12.9-INCH iPAD PRO (2020)

11-INCH iPAD PRO (2021)

12.9-INCH iPAD PRO (2021)

600 nits, ProMotion, True Tone, Wide Color, 264ppi

mini-LED backlit, 1000+ nits, HDR, ProMotion, True Tone, Wide Color, 264ppi

600 nits, ProMotion, True Tone, Wide Color, 264ppi

Apple M1

Apple A12Z

Storage options

128GB, 256GB, 512GB, 1TB, 2TB

128GB, 256GB, 512GB, 1TB

Battery

Up to 10 hours of web and Wi-Fi or watching video

Rear cameras

12MP f/1.8 Wide and 10MP f/2.4 Ultra Wide cameras, Smart HDR 3

12MP f/1.8 Wide and 10MP f/2.4 Ultra Wide cameras, Smart HDR

Front camera

TrueDepth, Ultra Wide 12MP f/2.4 Smart HDR 3, Center Stage

TrueDepth, 7MP f/2.2, Smart HDR

USB-C

USB4 and Thunderbolt support

USB-C only

Wi-Fi

Wi-Fi 6, simultaneous dual-band up to 1.2Gbps

Cellular option

5G, 4G LTE up to 32 bands

4G LTE up to 30 bands

Starting price

$799 Wi-Fi, $999 Wi-Fi + Cellular

$1,099 Wi-Fi, $1,299 Wi-Fi + Cellular

$799/$999 Wi-Fi, $949/$1,149 Wi-Fi + Cellular

Display

Processor

iPhone 12, support varies by region—in the U.S., you get sub-6GHz and mmWave support. In the rest of the world, support is limited to sub-6GHz.

PRICES START AT $799 AND $1,099, AVAILABLE MID-MAY The 11-inch iPad Pro carries the same price as last year’s model: starting at $799 for 128GB of storage with Wi-Fi only. The Wi-Fi + Cellular model starts at 42 MACWORLD JUNE 2021

$999, a $50 increase over last year’s model (that 5G support doesn’t come cheap). The 12.9-inch model is $100 more expensive, thanks to the new Liquid Retina XDR display. It starts at $1,099 for 128GB of storage in the Wi-Fi only model. The Wi-Fi + Cellular version starts at $1,299. You can order a new iPad now, but Apple has only given a vague “second half of May” date for availability. ■

The iPad Pro is a killer machine, but its software is killing me The hardware is top notch. The software leaves a lot to be desired. BY JASON SNELL

obody needs to convince me that Apple is at the top of its game when it comes to designing iPad hardware. The 2018 iPad Pro was so fast that more than two years later, it can still handle more or less anything that you can throw at it. The 2020 iPad Pro essentially

IMAGE: APPLE

operated at the same speed—and that was so fast it didn’t matter. So here comes the 2021 iPad Pro (see page 39), which is an even more extreme dunk in terms of features. Adding an M1 processor isn’t going to add the same boost as it did on the Mac side, because the iPad Pro was always powered by an JUNE 2021 MACWORLD 43

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i PA D P RO I S A K I L LER M AC HINE

energy-efficient Apple processor. But it’s still an upgrade of two processor generations, and that matters. A revamped display on the larger model allows Apple to set a new standard for brightness and dynamic range. Thunderbolt accelerates the iPad’s connectivity with other devices. And yet, in 2021, it feels like the same story: Apple killed it on the hardware side, and the software…well, the software lags behind, to put it nicely. Apple has built a spectacular sports car, but where are the roads to drive it on?

physical cost (the iPad has gone from 5.9mm to 6.4mm thick and increased from 1.4 to 1.5 pounds), as well as a monetary one (starting at $1,099, it’s $100 more expensive than the last model). The result, though, is a display that is bright and offers extreme dynamic range, a great boon to pro-level photographers and videographers alike. (It’s probably also going to be great to watch movies on.) But more than five years after Apple introduced the iPad Pro, it’s telling that Apple is still demonstrating its gorgeous pro-level displays by using third-party A PRO DISPLAY FOR WHAT? apps. As impressed and enthusiastic as I The new 12.9-inch iPad Pro has a Liquid am about the Affinity Designer apps and Retina XDR display powered by new mini the video-editing power of LumaFusion, it’s LED technology. Adding this tech has a still perplexing to see Apple show off yet another iPad Pro with yet another impressive hardware upgrade—and Final Cut Pro is nowhere to be seen. How are we supposed to interpret this? That Apple’s hardware team thinks the iPad is a vehicle worthy of incredible, cutting-edge features, but the teams responsible for Apple’s own professional-focused apps don’t think the iPad The new 12.9-inch iPad Pro has a Liquid Retina XDR display. is worth the effort? 44 MACWORLD JUNE 2021

Display XDR. Thirdparty video apps can take advantage of this to display highresolution video and even some analytical displays. That’s great, but if you want to display the iPad interface itself, it’ll just be a pillarboxed mirror Thunderbolt is great, but it’s difficult to take full advantage of it. of what’s on the iPad’s own screen. THUNDERBOLT SUPPORT FOR That’s because, despite Apple’s WHAT? addition of support for external pointing With the announcement of USB 4/ devices and an on-screen pointer to the Thunderbolt support on these new iPad iPad a year ago, iPadOS doesn’t actually Pro models, I’m thrown back to the past. In support moving apps off to a larger 2018, when Apple released the first iPad external display. The device itself clearly Pro with a USB-C port on the bottom, it supports it—after all, macOS devices with didn’t update the software to read the the same hardware can do it–but the entire contents of a thumb drive when you software just can’t do it. All that power and plugged it in. The hardware was willing, nowhere to go. but the software was weak (fave. AN M1 FOR WHAT? co/3xL07Vi). This is the crux of the issue: Apple’s And here we are again. Thunderbolt decision to market the iPad Pro as adds even speedier connectivity, but for powered by an M1 processor. As a what? Faster photo and video imports? marketing move, it’s solid. There’s been so That’s fine, but once again I’m reminded much positive press about the M1 that that Apple’s bread-and-butter pro media wrapping the iPad Pro in its halo makes apps won’t run on these iPads. sense. (In truth, the M1 is an evolution of How about external display support? the processors Apple has been building The new iPad Pros can drive even larger for the iPad Pro for years, so the real story external displays, including Apple’s Pro JUNE 2021 MACWORLD 45

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What makes the iPad Pro great is that while at its core it is a simple touch tablet, its users can transform it into whatever they want it to be. They can add just a keyboard, or just a mouse, or a combination keyboard and trackpad, or an Apple Pencil. With each combination, the iPad changes—that is, unless they want to use a Mac app, or Logic Pro, or Final Cut Pro, or Xcode. Should Apple add some sort of The switch from the “A” naming conventions to “M” for macOS virtual machine that can Apple’s iPad Pro SoC makes sense from a marketing perspective, but it sets up a comparison with the Mac. run on an M1 iPad Pro when it’s attached to the Magic Keyboard or is that the Mac has adopted the iPad Pro’s an external display? I don’t know. That’s a processor, not the reverse.) complicated question and things could get Here’s the problem with this clever weird fast. But now that I know the iPad pitch: It draws a direct parallel between Pro has an M1 inside, it seems like a natural the iPad and the Mac. And while the Mac question. And if the right answer is to build definitely is lacking in some areas (it has iPad apps obviating the need for features no touchscreen or Apple Pencil support, that exist on the Mac and not the iPad, for instance), you can basically do anything great—let’s see them. on your Mac, including run a bunch of We all know what the M1 and apps that originated on the iPad. Thunderbolt are capable of. Now that the The iPad Pro, in contrast, can’t do all new iPad Pro has been announced, the sorts of “pro” things that a professionalspotlight is firmly on the next version of level user buying a device starting at iPadOS, due to be announced in June at $1,099 might want to do. It can’t run Mac Apple’s developer conference. Maybe apps (though if you connect a keyboard iPadOS 15 will finally fulfill the promise of and trackpad, you certainly could!), and the iPad Pro’s hardware. As someone Apple has failed to build iPad-optimized who uses an iPad Pro every day, I sure versions of its own professional apps. hope it does. ■ 46 MACWORLD JUNE 2021

What Apple’s patents say about its VR and AR ambitions While patents are only marginally more reliable than tea leaves, you can still learn a lot from them about where Apple is putting its time, money, and attention these days. BY DAN MOREN

ith a company as secretive as Apple, those wanting to divine the company’s intentions and future plans often seize upon the slightest shred of material that escapes the curved glass walls of Apple Park.

IMAGE: IDG

So it is with patent filings. While some might see them as painting a picture of Apple’s future products, the truth is definitely murkier. For a company that spends as much time and money on research and development as Apple does, there are always bound to be some JUNE 2021 MACWORLD 47

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WHAT APPLE’S PATENTS SAY ABOUT ITS AMBITIONS

technological cul-de-sacs and some roads not taken. Sometimes patents are closer to science fiction: ideas from a future that might never be. Despite all of that, Apple’s many patents can often provide insight into what the company is thinking about in the here and now. While its engineers are investigating lots of tech that may not pan out, it’s clear that the company thinks there’s value in protecting some of the innovations its employees come up with— even if they may never quite reach their final form. In recent years, Apple’s interest in the augmented, virtual, and mixed reality space has become more and more apparent. So it’s not particularly surprising that many of the company’s most recent

patent applications appear to be aimed directly at this burgeoning market. Taking a stroll through some of the more interesting ones may prove enlightening.

HEADS UP!

Tim Cook has spoken repeatedly of the promise of augmented reality, so it’s no surprise that the company has been hard at work making that future a—if you’ll pardon the expression—reality. In February, the company filed for a number of patents related to this technology, including, perhaps most prominently, a “Head-Mounted Display Unit With Adaptable Facial Interface”. So far, Apple’s AR ambitions have been limited to peering into an iPhone or iPad’s screen and seeing the information from the camera passed through to the display. But it seems only a matter of time before the company moves on to a more immersive headset experience, and more and more breadcrumbs indicate that the Tim Cook has spoken of the promise of augmented reality. company is very 48 MACWORLD JUNE 2021

likely heading down that path. This particular patent application goes into a lot of detail about what might be involved in such a headmounted display, So far, Apple’s AR ambitions have been limited to peering into a screen and seeing information from the camera passed through to the display. including how the device fits one of the big questions is how you on the face using a “light seal” and interact with all this information. Is it via separate sections that can be adjusted traditional input methods, like trackpads individually. In other words, while the and keyboards? With cameras that detect technology behind such a device is where your hands go and when they’re important, it’s no surprise that Apple is interacting with real or virtual objects? A equally concerned with the ergonomics system that tracks the movements of your and usability of something that people eyes? Or is it some other sort of physical are expected to wear on their faces for controller that lets you seamlessly switch prolonged periods of time. After all, if it’s between the world in front of you and the uncomfortable, they simply won’t use it. one on your displays? FINGER FOOD FOR THOUGHT If a recent filing for a “Finger-Mounted The display unit for a virtual, augmented or Device With Sensors and Haptics” is any mixed reality device is certainly one indication, Apple seems to think that important component of such a system, some combination of sensors and haptics but it’s only part of the overall story of this might make sense: the former to detect kind of device. input, whether by touch, pressing buttons, Once you’ve found a way to show a optically, or even by muscle motion; the user this mix of real and digital content, latter to provide tactile feedback. Given JUNE 2021 MACWORLD 49

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WHAT APPLE’S PATENTS SAY ABOUT ITS AMBITIONS

envelope of what’s technologically possible. But, aside from iOS, Apple’s history with gaming is spotty at best, and it’s hard to envision the company designing a device whose sole purpose is games. This is where a patent application from Magic Leap uses hefty goggles tethered to a sizable processing unit and last fall may shed a separate wireless controller. That’s a model Apple would like to stay away from. some light on Apple’s intentions. that the company has already deployed Dubbed “Virtual Paper”, the document this combination of technologies in its describes a system whereby content can smartphones, wearables, and even be put on a computer-rendered surface trackpads, it has plenty of expertise in that can then be manipulated much as one making them work well together, so it would paper in the real world—folding, seems logical that it might use a similar flipping, curling, and so on. method in a new device. Because even in the future of reality, we can’t quite get away from documents. VIRTUAL PAPERS, PLEASE Are we going to be word processing or Many of these reality-based patents focus creating Photoshop images in our virtual on the hardware, but arguably a larger reality? Apple seems to think it is a distinct question is the software: What do you do possibility. After all, if this is indeed a with these systems once you have them? device that might someday supplant the Right now, the virtual reality market is largely smartphone or personal computer, it can’t focused on gaming, which often ends up be all fun all the time. So here’s to our being the category that pushes the virtual spreadsheet future. ■ 50 MACWORLD JUNE 2021

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The Latest iOS Products Reviewed & Rated

BACKUP SOLUTION

OWC COPY THAT: STREAMLINED BACKUP UTILITY FOR YOUR iOS PHOTOS LIBRARY BY J.R. BOOKWALTER

IMAGE: OWC

REVIEWS

We love the simplicity and convenience of iCloud Photo Library: Take a picture or shoot video on an iPhone or iPad, and that content magically appears on every device you own. But sometimes it’s preferable to make local backups instead, like when you’re shooting storage-hungry 4K videos without access to reliable Wi-Fi. That scenario is exactly what OWC Copy That was made for. Brainchild of venerable storage guru Other World Computing, this free iOS app takes most of the friction out of backing up photos and JUNE 2021 MACWORLD 53

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REVIEW: OWC COPY THAT

videos from an iPhone or iPad to external or network-attached storage. Using an optional hardware adapter (more on that in a moment), simply connect the external disk to your mobile device, then select the type(s) of media you want to transfer: Photos, Videos, Screenshots, and/ or Selfies. By default, copies are saved to the Copy That folder (which you can rename), with options to append the device name, content type, and date to each file. Transfers can be limited to content shot during a specific timeframe—great for only backing up media from your latest shoot. They also work incrementally, so on subsequent sessions you can automatically skip, replace, or retain

duplicates. A $3 in-app purchase enables verifying copies against originals, which extended overall backup time about 25 percent in my tests. The tradeoff, however, is peace of mind prior to permanently purging files from your mobile device.

CLOUD CAVEAT Copy That does have a few limitations worth mentioning. Most frustrating for iCloud Photo Library users is how the app ignores smaller device-size versions of photos and videos, backing up only full-resolution files. This means on devices with Settings → Photos → Optimize iPhone Storage enabled, you can’t back up anything but your most recently shot content.

OWC Copy That offers an elegant solution for quickly backing up your iPhone photo library, but only with the right hardware adapter. (iPhone version, left; iPad version, right.) 54 MACWORLD JUNE 2021

OWC Copy That will only back up fullresolution content, ignoring iCloud Photo Library photos and videos where only smaller device-size versions exist.

Although we had no problem attaching a variety of USB external drives to an iPad Pro via OWC’s excellent new USB-C Travel Dock E ($65), the situation was a little thornier when backing up photos and videos on an iPhone 12 Pro Max. My drives were too much of a power draw for Apple’s $29 Lightning to USB Camera Adapter, requiring a $39 Lightning to USB 3 Camera Adapter so the iPhone could remain plugged into AC power at the same time.

mmmm OWC Copy That PROS

• Quickly back up Photos Library content to external drives, media servers. • Copy only certain media types or content from specific dates. • Optional in-app purchase enables verified backup. CONS

• No option to automatically download media from iCloud as needed. • Only backs up media saved in Photos Library. PRICE

Free ($3 in-app purchase) COMPANY

OWC

It’s important to note that Copy That was designed strictly for backing up your Photos Library— the app has no access to any other device content. That means you can’t use it in tandem with pro camera apps like Filmic Pro unless you choose to save new videos to the Camera Roll.

BOTTOM LINE OWC Copy That is an elegant, easy-to-use app that should be considered a must-have for anyone shooting pro content on iOS devices. ■ JUNE 2021 MACWORLD 55

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NEW COLORS, NEW CHIP, AND M

56 MACWORLD JUNE 2021

IMAGE: APPLE

MUCH, MUCH MORE

BY ROMAN LOYOLA

JUNE 2021 MACWORLD 57

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ilver and black had a good 13-plus-year run, but in April Apple put an end to it and started a colorful new chapter for its all-in-one Mac, the iMac. The colors aren’t all that’s new; the iMac features Apple’s new M1 system on a chip, new sizes, and a lot more. Here are the top five features of Apple’s new all-in-one.

NEW DESIGN WITH A RAINBOW OF COLORS The iMac is now available in blue, green, orange, pink, purple, and silver with a matching Magic Mouse and Magic Trackpad. (You might even be able to match a new iMac with the colored iPad

Air [fave.co/3xSSsUM] if you bought one of those recently.) The new iMac has an elegant, minimal look compared to its predecessor. The bezels around the display are much smaller than on the previous iMac, but it still has a “chin” below the display that houses the iMac’s internals (though it’s much thinner). The chin doesn’t have the Apple logo on the front. Instead, it’s on the back, where you’ll also find two Thunderbolt ports and two USB-C ports. The tapered design is

PODCAST: WHAT’S TO LIKE ABOUT THE M1 iMAC & NEW iPAD PRO Listen now at fave.co/3uoWRN3

Apple provides input devices that match the color of the iMac.

58 MACWORLD JUNE 2021

gone, and the new iMac is now 11.5 millimeters thick.

POWER OF M1 The iMac is the latest Mac with Apple’s own system on chip (fave.co/3sYA3Da), following the Mac mini (fave. co/33ho0Wq), 13-inch MacBook Pro (fave.co/2PXzhbw), and MacBook Air (fave.co/3h67n8s). The iMac has the The iMac still has a chin, but the bezels around the screen are a lot same M1 chip Apple smaller. Pictured here in orange. released last year. has 11.3 million pixels and support for the P3 Here is a quick look at the specifications: > 5 nanometer process technology wide color gamut, over a billion colors, 500 (fave.co/3tjqCxv) nits of brightness, and True Tone. Apple > 8-core CPU treats the display with an antireflective > v4 performance cores coating for improved readability. > 4 efficiency cores > 7- or 8-core graphics processor (GPU) TOUCH ID > 16-core Neural Engine It’s been on Apple’s MacBooks, and now > 8GB or 16GB of RAM Touch ID makes its debut in a desktop > 256GB or 512GB SSD Mac. The iMac comes with a new wireless Magic Keyboard with a Touch ID button in 24-INCH 4.5K RETINA DISPLAY the upper right corner. Touch ID is The new iMac is available in one size with a standard in the $1,499 and $1,699 models 24-inch 4.5K Retina display—right between with an 8-core GPU, but if you want it in the 21-inch and 27-inch Intel Macs—which the $1,299 iMac with a 7-core GPU, you’ll JUNE 2021 MACWORLD 59

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Along with the camera, Apple also includes a threemicrophone array that are in places on the iMac so you don’t get feedback from the computer. The mics support “directional beamforming” to help filter out background A new Touch ID button on the Magic Keyboard for the new iMac. noise while you are talking. have to add it as an option and pay extra. Apple calls the speakers in the iMac Apple hasn’t said how much the new “the best sound system ever in a Mac.” keyboard costs and it doesn’t seem to be It has six speakers, two pairs of forceavailable separately. canceling woofers and two highperformance tweeters. Apple also MADE FOR uses “advanced algorithms” to support VIDEOCONFERENCING spatial audio. ■ Apple finally upgraded the FaceTime camera when it updated the 27-inch iMac last year (fave.co/3uqIcky), but it didn’t change the 720p camera in the 21.5-inch model. The new iMac, fortunately, has the 1080p FaceTime camera, and if it’s anything like the one in the 27-inch model, it’s a good one, with great picture quality, better handling of light, and good The 1080p FaceTime camera provides great picture quality, better handling of light, and good color consistency. color consistency. 60 MACWORLD JUNE 2021

On it.

Ending racial injustice requires all of us to work together and take real action. What can you do to help?

Educate yourself about the history of American racism, privilege and what it means to be anti-racist. Educate yourself about the history of American racism, privilege and what it means to be anti-racist.

Commit to actions that challenge injustice and make everyone feel like they belong, such as challenging biased or racist language when you hear it. Vote in national and local elections to ensure your LSLJ[LK VɉJPHSZ ZOHYL `V\Y ]PZPVU VM W\ISPJ ZHML[` Donate to organizations, campaigns and initiatives who are committed to racial justice.

Let’s come together to take action against racism HUK ÄNO[ MVY YHJPHS Q\Z[PJL MVY [OL )SHJR JVTT\UP[` =PZP[ SV]LOHZUVSHILSZ JVT ÄNO[MVYMYLLKVT

FEATURE

HOW TO PICK THE PERFECT PREORDER HERE’S OUR GUIDE TO HELP YOU BUY THE ONE YOU NEED. BY ROMAN LOYOLA

62 MACWORLD JUNE 2021

IMAGES: APPLE

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pple revealed its new M1 iMac (see page 58) during its Spring Loaded event (fave.co/ 3gSaMaG), and if you’re like us, you immediately wanted to buy one. You can preorder the new models now for the second half of May. We took a good look at the 24-inch iMac in advance to help you make the best purchase for the money. Follow our guide to spend your dollars wisely.

WHAT’S STANDARD ON ALL THREE iMAC MODELS Before we start getting into the differences, let’s take a look at the features that are the same on all three models of the 24-inch iMac. > 4.5K Retina display (support for 1 billion colors, 500 nits brightness, P3 color gamut, True Tone) > M1 processor > 8GB RAM (16GB upgrade available) > 1080p FaceTime HD camera > Six speaker system > Three-microphone array > 3.5mm audio jack > Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.0 That’s a lot of computer no matter which model you buy. But there are key differences between the $1,299, $1,499, and $1,699 iMac models.

DESIGN AND COLORS All of the iMac models have the same 64 MACWORLD JUNE 2021

all-in-one design, measuring 21.5x18.1x5.8 inches and weighing about 10 pounds, which is impressive for such a powerful desktop PC. But the color options are different, with the higher configurations getting a few extra options.

Colors $1,299 iMac 24": Blue, green, pink, silver $1,499 iMac 24": Blue, green, pink, silver, orange, purple, yellow You’re getting solid performance no matter which model you buy. $1,699 iMac 24": Blue, GPU cores green, pink, silver, orange, purple, yellow $1,299 iMac 24": 7 $1,499 iMac 24": 8 Our pick: If you absolutely, positively $1,699 iMac 24": 8 must have an orange iMac, you absolutely, positively must spend the extra cash. (We’ll The $1,299 iMac 24" has one fewer admit it does look fabulous.) GPU core than the other two models. To GRAPHICS (GPU) get an idea of how the 7-core and 8-core All three models have an 8-core M1 CPU, GPU compare, let’s take a look at but the graphics processor (GPU) is benchmarks from the MacBook Air different in the $1,299 iMac 24". review by Macworld U.K. (fave. co/3h6ZWgX), which tested both the CPU cores $999 MacBook Air with a 7-core GPU $1,299 iMac 24": 8 and the $1,249 MacBook Air 8-core GPU. $1,499 iMac 24": 8 Here’s how the Geekbench results $1,699 iMac 24": 8 compare. JUNE 2021 MACWORLD 65

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Geekbench 5 OpenCL 7-core GPU MacBook Air: 16,804 8-core GPU MacBook Air: 18,462

Geekbench 5 Metal 7-core GPU MacBook Air: 19,283 8-core GPU MacBook Air: 20,960 OpenCL and Metal are frameworks that are used to render graphics. These tests show how fast each GPU can perform. The 8-core GPU shows a 10 percent increase over the 7-core GPU in Geekbench’s OpenCL test. With Metal, the improvement is 8 percent. Keep in mind that these are benchmark tests designed to stress out and make heavy demands of the GPU, so while you may notice a slight difference if you’re playing an actionpacked video game, when it comes to everyday use—web browsing, email, editing your photos, and so on—you won’t

notice the difference at all. Our pick: You’re getting a great chip and solid graphics performance no matter which model you choose, so the GPU shouldn’t be the overwhelming factor when deciding which 24-inch iMac to buy.

THUNDERBOLT AND USB PORTS All three 24-inch iMac models have two Thunderbolt/USB 4 ports. However, that’s all you get on the $1,299 model. The $1,499 and $1,699 models also have a pair of USB 3 ports, which will be useful if you have a few peripheral devices to connect. None of the iMac models have any USB-A ports, which is a bummer, but they all have a headphone jack on the left side. Our take: If you are only connecting one or two items to your Mac, two ports will suffice. But two ports on a desktop machine are extremely limited, so you’ll likely need to

The $1,299 M1 iMac (left) has two Thunderbolt/USB 4 ports. The $1,499 and $1,699 M1 iMac (right) has those same ports, in addition to two USB-3 ports. 66 MACWORLD JUNE 2021

invest in a Thunderbolt hub, a device that is essentially a box that has several different ports on it, acting as an adapter for your devices. For example, we reviewed the Corsair TBT100 Thunderbolt 3 Dock (fave.co/3h6vhAK, $250), which you could connect to the iMac’s Thunderbolt port, and it will then provide you with two USB-A ports, two USB-C ports, a gigabit ethernet connector, two HDMI video You get a power adapter with the $1,299 M1 iMac, but jacks, and an SD card slot. If you just it’s not this one with gigabit ethernet. need more USB-C ports, we love Our pick: With cloud storage (iCloud, the OWC Thunderbolt Hub, which adds two Dropbox, Box, OneDrive) becoming more extra Thunderbolt 4 ports and a USB-A port. prevalent, a 256GB SSD will probably be STORAGE enough for most people. Content creators The 24-inch iMac has the usual storage who deal with large files will want more upgrades, going up to 2TB on the higher onboard storage, which means they’ll configurations. Apple hasn’t divulged probably want to upgrade to one of the pricing information yet, but we can assume higher models anyway. $200 per 512GB of storage based on GIGABIT ETHERNET Apple’s current matrix. Most people are using Wi-Fi connections Standard configuration to a network and the internet, but power $1,299 iMac 24": 256GB users will prefer a wired connection with $1,499 iMac 24": 256GB an ethernet port to ensure top speeds and $1,699 iMac 24": 512GB low latency. The 24-inch iMac doesn’t have a gigabit ethernet jack on it per se, Upgrade options but you do get one on the power adapter. $1,299 iMac 24": 512GB, 1TB As you can see below, Apple moved the $1,499 iMac 24": 512GB, 1TB, 2TB port to the power brick, as you can see $1,699 iMac 24": 1TB, 2TB below. That ethernet-equipped adapter JUNE 2021 MACWORLD 67

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The Magic Keyboard with Touch ID is standard with the $1,499 and $1,699 M1 iMac.

doesn’t come with the $1,299 24-inch iMac, however. You can opt to get one, but it’ll cost an extra $30. Our pick: The Ethernet power adapter is a cool solution to eliminate desktop cable clutter, but you’ll need to spend $30 on top of the $1,299 iMac to get an Ethernet port. So if you really need wired internet, you’ll probably want at least some of the other features on the $1,499 model too.

TOUCH ID Touch ID has finally come to a desktop Mac! Apple made a supercool keyboard specifically for the 24-inch iMac in seven colors to match every hue, and it has Apple’s fingerprint sensor in the top right corner. With Touch ID enabled, any time you need to enter a password, a prompt appears and you simply put your finger on the Touch ID button to authenticate. 68 MACWORLD JUNE 2021

However, the Magic Keyboard with Touch ID is only available on the $1,499 and $1,699 models. The $1,299 model does not include Touch ID, which is a bummer. Instead, it has a standard wireless Magic Keyboard that can be upgraded to a Touch ID keyboard for a $50 fee. Our pick: We’re big fans of Touch ID on our MacBooks, so we definitely recommend getting it, whether you pay extra or jump to the $1,499 model. While a $50 fee isn’t a huge expense, it represents 25 percent of the difference between the low-end iMac and the middle-end option. So you might want to just spring for the higher model to start with.

OUR BUYING ADVICE It’s nice that the 24-inch iMac starts at the same $1,299 as it did before, but with just a $200 difference between it and the next model, we’d recommend saving up for the higher-priced one. The $1,499 24-inch iMac has the right combinations of features for the price: You get a total of four ports for connecting cables and devices, the Magic Keyboard with Touch ID, gigabit ethernet, more color choices, and a little bit of a boost with graphics processing. If you want Touch ID and Ethernet, you’ll need to add $80 to the price of the iMac, so you’re only saving $120. We think that money is well spent on the higher model. ■

THE MORE YOU UNDERSTAND HER WORLD, THE MORE POSSIBILITIES YOU SEE. For Julia’s family, early screening for autism made a lifetime of difference. Find out more at ScreenForAutism.org

FEATURE

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AIRTAG

EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT APPLE’S TRACKING DEVICE GET THE LOWDOWN ON APPLE’S OWN ITEM TRACKERS. BY JASON CROSS

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A I RTAG : E VE RY TH I NG YOU N EE D TO K NOW

pple recently opened up its Find My network (fave.co/ 2SkH187) to third-party device makers, but that’s not stopping the company from making its own item tracker. We’ve heard rumors about AirTag (fave.co/3tqAu8R) since around 2019, and the company has finally released them. They’re pretty simple, really: You add the AirTag to your account and attach the tag to some object, and then the Find My app will tell you where it is in the Items tab. Since nearly all modern Apple products can passively (and privately) use their Bluetooth radios to locate lost devices, you’ll have a pretty good chance of locating something you accidentally leave somewhere. You can locate devices in real time, and also set a device to Lost Mode, which will notify you and display an optional phone number and message on the screen of whatever Apple got near

VIDEO: WHAT IS AIRTAG AND HOW TO SET IT UP Watch now at youtu.be/5hDjaboZQxQ

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enough to “find” it. Here’s what you need to know about Apple’s own tracking devices.

AIRTAG COSTS $29 EACH Little Bluetooth trackers are nothing new. Tile (fave.co/3eZ5Pdr) has been making them for years, and Apple has even announced that the Chipolo One Spot (fave.co/3b5Drpc), coming in June, will support the Find My

network. If you want an item tracker, what you care about are things like size, durability, the scale of the network, and price. Apple’s first-party trackers cost $29 each. That’s even less than the $35 Tile Pro (fave.co/2QRy0TU) and about on par with Samsung’s Galaxy SmartTag+. Apple lets you buy a four-pack of the trackers for $99.

On iPhones with a U1 chip, you can get precise and clear directions to your AirTag.

YOU CAN USE FIND MY APP You don’t need a new app to use AirTag. They’ll show up as Items in the Find My app, which has been updated recently for anyone using iOS 14.3, iPadOS 14.3, and macOS Big Sur 11.1.

AIRTAGS REQUIRE AN iPHONE, iPAD, OR iPOD TOUCH Though Find My works on a Mac, and MacBooks are a part of the Find My network, you’ll need an iPhone or iPod Touch running iOS 14.5 or later, or an iPad running iPadOS 14.5 or later, in order to set up your AirTag. Once you’ve got it set up, AirTag will work with all modern Apple devices, including iPhones, iPads, iPod Touch devices, and MacBooks. You’ll be able to use Find My on all of your devices to locate the objects to which you’ve attached an AirTag. What’s more, all these devices are used to create the Find My network— hundreds of millions of Apple devices that all register the locations of your items whenever they pass within Bluetooth range.

THE U1 CHIP ALLOWS PRECISION FINDING You don’t need an iPhone with the U1 chip (the iPhone 11 or iPhone 12) in order to use AirTags. But if you have one, you can use a feature called Precision Finding. It uses the accelerometer, cameras, and more to direct you to the exact location of your tag. An arrow appears on the screen to show the direction and distance.

AIRTAG PROTECTS YOUR PRIVACY As is true with all devices on the Find My network—from iPhones to e-bikes—no personally identifiable information is shared with anyone at any time. Apple JUNE 2021 MACWORLD 73

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uses end-to-end encryption and unique random identifiers, so it never knows which devices belong to which people. Only your devices know which identifiers are yours. What’s more, Apple only sends The Apple Leather Key Ring costs $35—more than the AirTag itself. location information when it’s requested the Leather Loop comes in two colors and and only retains it for 24 hours. Unless costs $39. There will probably be a large you have Lost Mode enabled, other third-party market of AirTag holders, clips, users will never know which devices loops, and other attachment devices that they have come across. are more affordable. Learn more about Find My and privacy on Apple’s support site (fave. HOW TO SET UP AIRTAG co/3b8ZCL8). AirTag is really easy to set up. Here are the YOU CAN PERSONALIZE steps. You can also see how it’s done in YOUR AIRTAG the video below. When you order your AirTag, you can 1. When you take the AirTag out of the personalize each tag with a free box it has an insert to prevent the battery engraving, including 31 different emoji. from connecting. Once you remove the insert, the battery connects and AirTag AIRTAG HOLDERS COST MORE turns on. THAN AIRTAG ITSELF 2. Place the AirTag near your iPhone, AirTag has no holes, clips, or other means and the iPhone will sense it and of attaching it to your devices. Don’t worry, automatically launch the setup process. 3. Give the AirTag a name. Apple will sell you one! The least expensive 4. Register with your Apple ID. is the Polyurethane Loop (in four colors), 5. AirTag is all set. Now attach it to which goes for $29. The Leather Key Ring your item. ■ costs $35 and comes in three colors, and 74 MACWORLD JUNE 2021

Disaster could show up at YOUR doorstep.

Make a plan today. Ready.gov/plan

#Dadication

fatherhood.gov

WORKINGMAC

Tips, tricks, and tools to make you and your Mac or iOS device more productive

How to set up a Mac to run either macOS Mojave or macOS Big Sur It’s best to set up what you need before upgrading. BY GLENN FLEISHMAN

ig Sur (fave.co/3vEqQRn) is a major upgrade to macOS, and some people are ready for it. However, if you’ve been running Mojave or an earlier version of macOS to keep 32-bit applications running (fave.co/3vIqglY), you may still be holding back. If you’re otherwise ready to move forward, you have a few options for keeping your Mojave installation active. In each case, I’d recommend starting by making a full disk image backup of your current macOS setup with Disk Utility, SuperDuper! (fave.co/3h1Hy9d), or Carbon Copy Cloner (fave.co/3ee4IaS). In case

IMAGE: APPLE

something goes wrong, you can revert to it or restore from it. Your easiest path is to buy or use a sufficiently large external drive and clone to it directly from your current Mac. This lets you even boot from it in a pinch, so you don’t have a lengthy restore process to get back to work or figure out what went wrong. Here are your best options.

PUT MOJAVE ON AN EXTERNAL DRIVE If you don’t think you’ll need Mojave that often but you’ll be using it for a significant period of time whenever you do need it, install a fresh version of Mojave onto an JUNE 2021 MACWORLD 77

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external drive and copy applications and files you need. (Download the Mojave installer from the Mac App Store [fave. co/33eFAug] if you don’t have it on hand.) Alternatively, you can upgrade your Mac to Catalina or Big Sur, and then boot into the external drive I suggested making a copy onto the above by selecting it from the Startup Disk preference pane. Remove any duplicated files so you don’t wind up editing material on the old drive for which your master copy is on your upgraded internal drive. When you want to switch between Mojave and a later macOS, use the Startup Disk preference pane again. You can also hold down Option after restarting to select a startup volume.

PUT MOJAVE ON A PARTITION The modern APFS filesystem that Apple moved Macs to in High Sierra (non-Fusion drives) and Mojave (all drives) makes it easy to create multiple installations of macOS on a single SSD or hard disk drive, as long as you have the space required. In fact, it’s such a great idea that Apple offers official support and a detailed guide for the process that I won’t recapitulate here. You can read Apple’s instructions at fave.co/2PNzeyV. As with an external volume, you use the Startup Disk preference pane to switch startup volumes. 78 MACWORLD JUNE 2021

GO VIRTUAL If either you need Mojave all the time alongside Catalina or Big Sur, or you need it occasionally and don’t want the fuss of rebooting your system twice to move into it and back out, you can run Mojave (and other versions of macOS) in emulation through Parallels (fave. co/33drLMB) or VMware Fusion (fave. co/3nKGJTL). With either Parallels or VMware Fusion, you can start with a clone of your Mojave installation or install one from scratch, and then keep Mojave running in a bottle pretty much forever. Launch the app when you need Mojave; otherwise, it can stay on standby and no reboot is required. Cost is the only thing that might hold you back. Parallels costs $79.99 for the home edition; VMware Fusion is $149 for its basic version. VMware also makes a more limited version of Fusion for personal use only (fave.co/33bdD6n), available at no cost for home users. These are onetime prices, not yearly licensing fees, but the changes made in each version of macOS related to virtualization software are significant enough that you will need to purchase an upgrade each time you want to move to a later version of macOS. Parallels right now charges $49.99 for a version upgrade, while VMware has a $79 price tag. ■

How to save your M1 Mac by booting into Recovery mode You do it differently than you would on an Intel Mac. BY ROMAN LOYOLA

f you’re running into problems with your M1 Mac, you don’t need to panic and call Apple just yet. Like Intel Macs, your computer has a mode called “macOS Recovery” that you can use to run emergency maintenance on your Mac.

IMAGE: IDG

However, the method is different for Apple silicon Macs (fave.co/2QL9P9G), so the old keystrokes won’t work. You may remember that you could get to Recovery on an Intel Mac by holding down Command-R on the keyboard as JUNE 2021 MACWORLD 79

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the Mac boots. Here’s how it’s done on an M1 Mac: 1. Turn off your Mac. As you power it back it on, press the power button and hold it down while the Mac boots. 2. The screen will show icons of the bootable storage devices connected to your Mac, plus an Options icon. Select Options and click Continue. This puts the Mac into Recovery mode. 3. Enter your Mac’s admin password if prompted for it. Then you’ll go to the Recovery screen, where you can choose from a selection of apps and perform certain maintenance tasks. You’ll also be able to reinstall macOS and run disk maintenance if you find that’s necessary.

FALLBACK RECOVERY OS If that’s not working, M1 Macs actually have a second recovery mode that Apple calls “Fallback recovery OS.” As the name implies, this is another recovery mode you can use in case the regular macOS Recovery mode doesn’t work. To boot into Fallback recovery OS, double-press the power button and hold down the button while your Mac boots. According to Apple’s Platform Security document, Fallback is “a second copy of recoveryOS that is kept for resiliency” (fave.co/3togXGg). It offers the same options as Recovery, but it doesn’t allow you to modify the system security state, which you can do in the regular macOS Recovery mode. ■

M1 Macs have a second recovery mode that Apple calls “Fallback recovery OS.” 80 MACWORLD JUNE 2021

How to turn on Do Not Disturb in macOS Big Sur Apple shifted this option from its former shortcut in macOS to the new Control Center. BY GLENN FLEISHMAN

isabling notifications in macOS is a great help during meetings, whether you’re sharing your screen or trying to avoid being distracted. In macOS Mojave and earlier, you could Option-click the notifications icon in the upper-right corner of the screen to temporarily shift into Do Not Disturb mode. In macOS 11 Big Sur, Apple shifted Do Not

IMAGE: APPLE

Disturb into a more sensible location, while still keeping most settings in the Notification preference pane. To switch on DND mode: 1. Click the Control Center in the system menu bar. 2. Click Do Not Disturb. 3. Pick an interval: For 1 Hour, Until This Evening, Until Tomorrow, or Always On. JUNE 2021 MACWORLD 81

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TURN ON DO NOT DISTURB IN MACOS BIG SUR

You can opt for one of several durations or indefinitely (Always On).

The Do Not Disturb area is how you snooze notifications in Big Sur.

modes into Always On. Click the moon icon again to disable the mode. You can also use the scheduling tools previously available in macOS: 1. Open the Notifications preference pane. 2. Click the Do Not Disturb item. 3. Enable any options you want here, including a schedule. ■

While DND is enabled, a titled partial moon icon appears in the menu bar, too, giving you a shortcut from which to select a different interval or disable Do Not Disturb. However, there are two even quicker ways that are not obvious: > Option-click the clock/time display. This shifts DND into Always On mode. Why you would want to click the clock/time, I don’t know. You can also Option-click it to disable the current DND mode. > Click the Control Center in the system menu bar, and then click the moon icon in the Do Not Disturb Click the target (I added the red arrow for section—there’s no indication that it’s emphasis) to engage Do Not Disturb immediately. The icon turns purple when the mode is on. clickable, but it immediately shifts 82 MACWORLD JUNE 2021

TorGuard VPN: A serviceable VPN TorGuard VPN service is fine but not outstanding, although some people may appreciate its various bundle options. BY IAN PAUL

here aren’t that many VPN services that offer multiple packages with different services, but TorGuard from Florida-based Data Protection Services LLC (fave.co/2PUptPw) does. In addition to providing a straightforward VPN service, TorGuard offers a business-grade

IMAGE: PUTILICH / GETTY IMAGES

package and a streaming bundle. The parent company also offers an encrypted email service called Private-Mail (fave. co/3ttKH4B), which is included in TorGuard’s business packages. For this review we had access to the regular VPN service. As for the name, the “Tor” in TorGuard has nothing to do with JUNE 2021 MACWORLD 83

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the TOR (The Onion Router) project, and instead refers to “torrents and guarding one’s privacy when using BitTorrent,” as the service explains on its website (fave.co/3vOprYR).

TORGUARD: SECURITY, SOFTWARE, SERVERS, AND SPEED TorGuard doesn’t list its team on its website, but a quick search of LinkedIn shows the CEO is Benjamin Van Pelt, who is based in Orlando. TorGuard offers WireGuard as one of its protocol options, but good old OpenVPN is still the default. There’s a third option as well, OpenConnect. In addition, TorGuard with an active VPN connection.

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TorGuard supports STunnel, L2TP, and IPSec. The latter two aren’t a part of the desktop app for Mac, but they are supported by the servers. For OpenVPN, TorGuard uses AES-128GCM as the default for data encryption, although you can choose AES-256-GCM if you prefer. The software offers a single-panel view for a mobile-app look. The key options— including the protocol, authentication, and cipher—have drop-down choices on the main panel. There’s also a Select Server button on the top that lets you choose from any of the more than 60 regional locations across TorGuard’s 47 country options. Filters at the top of the country list let you choose alphabetically, by proximity to your location, or by relative usage. There isn’t any direct information about the number of users or capacity of each server, their ping times, or anything like that. The list does, however, indicate any locations that support WireGuard, which is all of them at this point. All of TorGuard’s servers are diskless, with everything running in RAM to further prevent any storing of customer data. The privacy policy says TorGuard doesn’t “collect or log any data” from the VPN. TorGuard offers a lot of preferences options, but the only one of note for most users will be the internet kill switch under

As we mentioned earlier, TorGuard offers 47 country options, with more than 3,000 servers in its network. In our tests, TorGuard’s speeds were average, resulting in nearly 27 percent of the non-VPN download speed across five country locations and multiple days of testing. TorGuard’s strengths were in the places you’d expect them—such as North America, Europe, and the UK—while the weaker speeds came out of Asia and Australia. TorGuard is available for Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, and iOS. There are also browser extensions for Firefox and Safari.

PRICING TorGuard’s preferences window.

More Settings > Network > Seamless reconnect > Kill Switch. As with other services, if you enable this option TorGuard will block all connectivity should your VPN connection drop. There’s also an App Kill tab in the settings that tells TorGuard to automatically cease activity for specific applications if the VPN disconnects.

There are three packages to choose from. The first is the Anonymous VPN package priced at $10 per month, $20 every three months, $30 for half a year, or $60 for a full year. The latter two options work out to about $5 per month. This package includes eight simultaneous connections, an anonymous proxy service, and the usual VPN services, including the browser extensions, the aforementioned JUNE 2021 MACWORLD 85

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REVIEW: TO RG UAR D VP N

TorGuard’s country list.

protocols, ad and malware blocking, and so on. There’s also a Pro tier for the Anonymous VPN that supports up to 12 simultaneous connections, adds one dedicated IP address, and includes more ports for forwarding options. Anonymous VPN Pro costs $120 for a year, $60 for half a year, $35 every three months, or $13 per month. The Business package has three tiers, including Starter, which supports 10 users, 10 86 MACWORLD JUNE 2021

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email accounts, and three dedicated IPs for $70 per month. The small business package ups the cost to $110 per month for 15 users and email accounts and five IPs. Then there’s the medium package for $170 per month, with 20 users and email accounts and 10 dedicated IPs. Business accounts also include a dedicated account manager, as well as support for the IKEv2 and SSTP protocols. Finally, we have the Streaming Bundle for $22 per month, $42 every three months, $62 for six months, or $122 per year. The Streaming Bundle includes all the benefits of the VPN service plus two free dedicated streaming IP addresses. TorGuard accepts payments via credit card, Amazon Pay, and a number of options for cryptocurrencies, including direct wallet transfer.

TorGuard VPN PROS

• Accepts cryptocurrencies. • Peer-to-peer file-transfer friendly. • Option for static IP usage for streaming region locked content. • Supports WireGuard. CONS

• Average speeds. • No significant extra features. PRICE

$60 COMPANY

TorGuard

BOTTOM LINE TorGuard is fine. It makes the right privacy promises, the application is usable and easy to follow, and the speeds have their strengths and weaknesses where you’d expect. It’s serviceable, but it doesn’t stand out as an original offering save for its different service packages, which might be of interest to some. ■

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Everything you need to know about Apple Music, Apple TV, and Mac or iOS-based entertainment

Why did Apple’s original HomePod fail? Let’s count the reasons Apple’s first smart speaker just met a surprising end, but it was one we could see coming. BY BEN PATTERSON

pple may still be in the HomePod business, but the original high-end speaker is no more. Apple just gave its original hi-fi smart speaker an unceremonious burial following a latenight update to its website Friday (fave. co/3ej4JKp).

IMAGE: APPLE

The timing of the news may have been surprising, but the substance was less so. The bigger, pricey HomePod (fave. co/33gNyD3), which Apple promises to continue supporting, has been languishing in a limbo that’s familiar to high-end, Apple-branded speakers, while the arrival of a smaller, more affordable follow-up MAY 2021 MACWORLD 89

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WH Y D ID A PPL E ’S OR I G I NA L H O M EP OD FAI L?

(fave.co/3h4r2pg) last fall turned out to be a harbinger of things to come. Originally selling for $349 before Apple chopped its price to $299, the HomePod brings to mind the iPod Hi-Fi, a big white speaker with an iPod dock that landed with a thud in 2006. Cupertino scuttled the iPod Hi-Fi (fave.co/3nPz6vk), which even the Apple faithful shunned, after just a year. The HomePod, on the other hand, had its fair share of fans, and it’s easy to see why. Dressed in an eye-catching cloth wrapping, the HomePod ranks as the most sophisticated speaker Apple ever built, complete with an upfiring, high-execution speaker encircled by seven tweeters, with each driver powered by its own amplifier. Powered by Siri, HomePod was—for a time—the only smart speaker that acted as

a home hub for HomeKit, Apple’s budding smart home platform. And with the arrival of AirPlay 2, you could arrange a number of HomePods in a multi-audio setup for playing different tunes in each room of your home. The HomePod did win over a niche audience, many of whom did indeed buy multiple HomePods. But it never broke into the mainstream the way that smaller, cheaper smart speakers from Amazon and Google did, and there are plenty of reasons why.

IT WAS TOO EXPENSIVE

First of all, that $349 price tag—ouch. Even after Apple belatedly cut it to $299, that’s a lot of cash to lay down for a single speaker, although the HomePod’s premium price is a very Apple way to do things. Of course, Apple wasn’t alone in offering a pricey smart speaker. The $299 Google Home Max was our favorite smart speaker for music, but it too has been discontinued (fave. The HomePod was well designed but too expensive and too limited. co/3h3pAn6). 90 MACWORLD JUNE 2021

ITS SOUND WASN’T GOOD ENOUGH Of course, in the audiophile world, $300 for a speaker is peanuts, but the HomePod isn’t quite right for audiophiles, either. In our review (fave.co/33gNyD3), we called the HomePod’s audio “very good,” but we also thought that Sonos Play:5 (fave.co/3epjvzH) and the Google Home The HomePod was easy to set up but not so easy to use with Max were better. third-party streaming services. We were also tripped up by the HomePod’s omnidirectional design stream tunes from, say, Spotify, Amazon (“how likely is it that you’ll place the Music, Tidal, Deezer, Qobuz, or YouTube speaker in the middle of the room?”) and Music, you’ll have to do so via AirPlay 2, by its too-bassy sound signature (“not an obstacle that other speakers don’t surprising considering the speaker doesn’t have to deal with. have any midrange drivers”).

SIRI’S NOT SMART ENOUGH IT HAS LIMITED STREAMING SUPPORT Beyond how music sounds on the HomePod, there’s the matter of how many streaming music services the HomePod natively supports. Up until recently, the answer was one: Apple Music. Last year, Apple finally announced that Siri on the HomePod would begin supporting other, third-party music services as well, but so far only Pandora has signed up. That means if you want to

Some of the best smart devices on the market are powered by HomeKit, and HomeKit boasts some of the best privacy-minded features we’ve seen in the smart home. HomeKit Secure Video, for example, ensures that captured video from your security cameras is analyzed locally rather than on a third-party cloud server, and once your video clips are stored in iCloud, they’re encrypted so no one but you can see them. JUNE 2021 MACWORLD 91

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WH Y D ID A PPL E ’S OR I G I NA L H O M EP OD FAI L?

But as good as many HomeKit smart devices are, there still aren’t that many of them, or at least not as many as those supported by Google Assistant, or—biggest of all— Alexa. That means if you’re using the HomePod as a smart speaker, you’ll have a much smaller universe of smart The HomePod mini has a far better chance of success. devices to control. Alexa, meanwhile, enjoys The HomePod mini’s single driver support from more than 100,000 smart won’t knock anyone’s socks off, but it’s gadgets and counting, which you can sound is certainly good enough, and control using a $50 (or frequently certainly better than what you’ll hear from cheaper) Echo Dot (fave.co/3nOvl9q). Siri just isn’t as smart as its counterparts the cheaper Amazon and Google when it comes to controlling the devices speakers. And although the HomePod mini in your home, and it’s something Apple is still saddled with limited HomeKit and needs to address with the HomePod mini music service support—well, that’s an going forward. easier pill to swallow given its (barely) sub-$100 price tag. HOMEPOD MINI MORE LIKELY Finally, the HomePod mini comes with TO SUCCEED a pair of flashy new hardware features that The new, smaller HomePod mini (fave. the HomePod lacks, including an co/3h4r2pg) isn’t so much a reason for the ultrawideband U1 chip that jazzes up the HomePod’s failure as it is the final nail in speaker’s music handoff abilities, plus a the coffin. new radio that lets the smaller HomePod Priced at just $99, the HomePod mini act as a Thread border router. brings Apple’s smart speakers into the It’s no wonder Apple wants to put the realm of affordability (although they’re still HomePod mini front and center, since it By not nearly as inexpensive as the Echo Dot solves many (if not all) of the HomePod’s and Google Nest Mini [fave.co/3ukICsU], most vexing problems while moving the which are $50 each). older model out to pasture. ■ 92 MACWORLD JUNE 2021

What Apple Music can do to catch up with Spotify Maybe AirPods Max shows how Apple can become the music-quality leader again. BY JASON SNELL

pple ignited the legal musicdownload revolution with iTunes (fave.co/3eksjXh), fed the fire by dropping copyprotecting DRM from its music downloads (fave.co/3uncXqK), and in 2007 led a major upgrade in digital-music quality with the launch of iTunes Plus (fave.co/3xLyaMZ). But a decade-plus later, the company finds itself a music-streaming laggard, to borrow a term Steve Jobs used to throw around. When it comes to music quality, Apple’s not streets ahead—it’s streets behind.

IMAGE: APPLE/SPOTIFY

It’s time for Apple Music to get a huge upgrade—and some recently launched Apple technologies could even allow it to surpass its rivals when it comes to audio quality.

THE FACTS ABOUT AUDIO QUALITY This week Spotify became the latest music service to jump on the high-quality audio bandwagon (fave.co/3vEIMvp), joining Amazon, Tidal, and other services in offering lossless audio to subscribers. MAY 2021 MACWORLD 93

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WHAT APPLE MUSIC CAN DO TO CATCH UP WITH SPOTIFY

We should back up for a moment. Most digital music, whether it’s downloaded or streamed, uses datacompression algorithms to reduce file size. This was desperately important back in the days when storage space on music playback devices and internet bandwidth were both limited resources. Those algorithms generate files much smaller than the original master track, but at the price of some audio quality. At low bit rates, everything sounds muffled. At the most common bit rates of the early MP3 era, music sounded pretty good, but if you listened closely you could hear weird artifacts. For me, it they were always obvious on cymbals—that shimmering percussion became a wash of random white noise. Apple’s introduction of iTunes Plus doubled its standard bit rate. Today, that’s the default audio quality of Apple Music. Spotify’s default quality today is in the same range—if you’ve got a paid account. (Free accounts get access to a much lower-quality stream.) All these compression algorithms are called “lossy” algorithms because they throw away audio detail in exchange for smaller file sizes. But there’s a different method of shrinking audio files called lossless compression. The files are much larger (though still a lot smaller than uncompressed audio files), but they throw 94 MACWORLD JUNE 2021

no information away from the original “CD quality” audio file. Personally, I think current streaming bit rates are pretty good. Only the most discerning ears will be able to tell the difference between a high-bit-rate lossy file and a lossless one. Still, some people will be able to tell—and others will feel better knowing they’re getting the original sound, even if they’re not sure they can hear the difference.

BEHIND THE CURVE Regardless of the actual appeal of highresolution audio to a broad audience, the fact remains that Apple is currently behind all its competitors. That will lead to a perception that it doesn’t care as much about audio quality as Spotify does—and that’s not great for competition, even if most people won’t see the value in paying for a lossless version of their music library. That’s why it feels inevitable that Apple will have to upgrade its streams and offer a high-quality version, presumably encoded with Apple’s own lossless encoding codec, ALAC. The company can’t allow Spotify to seed the perception that Apple Music is second rate when it comes to audio quality. If Apple does this, it’ll probably charge extra for access to high-quality streams, though perhaps they’ll be rolled into some

and a moviestyle 5.1 audio mix playable on my home-theater system. Those disc-based audio formats flopped, but the ones I bought sounded great, and made me a believer that multichannel audio could be a Apple Music could offer access to multichannel audio and combine it with popular format if AirPods Pro or AirPods Max to provide a unique audio experience. the conditions were right. of its Apple One bundles, especially the Between the AirPods and the Apple high-end Premier bundle. TV, Apple has access to multichannel audio output in people’s ears and GOING BEYOND LOSSLESS potentially in their living rooms as well, if But I think Apple can leapfrog Spotify, and they’ve got home-theater speakers or a some of its recent work on the hardware soundbar connected. Imagine Apple Music side of its business can aid it in this effort. offering access to multichannel audio that, Not only are the AirPods Pro and AirPods combined with AirPods Pro or AirPods Max pretty good-quality headphones, but Max, can provide an audio experience that they now support Spatial Audio (fave. goes way beyond lossless audio in plain co/3ejjOvv), which decodes multichannel old stereo. audio from movies and television shows The pieces are there. Apple’s probably and positions the sounds in the space got the clout (and the cash) to encourage around the listener. record companies to release multichannel For years now, the music industry has mixes. And it would put Apple back in a been experimenting with multichannel position of leadership, instead of where it audio. I bought a few DVD-Audio discs in finds itself this week—behind Spotify and the 2000s that offered high-quality audio just about everyone else. ■ JUNE 2021 MACWORLD 95

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Focal Chora 806 bookshelf speakers: A taste of high-end audio The Chora’s beautiful build and styling is outmatched only by its sonic punch. BY THEO NICOLAKIS

rench audio maker Focal is one of the most storied brands in high-end audio. The company’s products cover a wide range, including loudspeakers that cost upwards of $200,000, headphones, and

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automotive audio speakers. Focal’s Chora 806 pair of bookshelf speakers ($990) joins Focal’s latest speaker lineup, which looks to merge modern styling with some significantly more down-to-earth prices.

IMAGE: FOCAL

SUPERB FIT AND FINISH The Chora 806 bookshelf speaker is a member of the Chora family, which includes two tower speaker models, a surround speaker, a center channel, and A detail view of the Chora’s exquisite veneer finish. a subwoofer. The Chora line targets two-channel purists as well as front-firing port is visible at all times. audiophiles looking for full-blown home Only the 6.5-inch driver gets a magnetic theater setups. grille. The look is a conversation starter, Unpacking the Chora 806, I couldn’t putting visitors on notice that you’re help but notice the solid build quality and armed with a high-performance styling. The Chora’s satin-finish woodloudspeaker you’re just itching to show grain veneer is superb. The Chora 806 off to them. comes in three finishes to suit your tastes The circular magnetic grille is quite and decor: light wood (a maple-like look), finicky, however; it must be exactly dark wood (a walnut-like look), and black. dialed in to grab the baffle. In order to My review sample came in dark wood. get the grille to sit properly, I had to The baffle’s color varies with each veneer. rotate it like a steering wheel until I felt On my dark-wood review sample, the the magnets align. speaker’s slightly glossy, slate-colored The Chora 806 is a two-way design. front baffle stands out as a prominent Focal uses beryllium—arguably the best feature. You’d better love the baffle color tweeter material available today—on its because unlike most loudspeakers, the flagship speakers. But it’s very Chora 806 grille doesn’t cover the baffle. expensive to work with, so Focal opted Instead, Focal takes a different design for a more economical aluminumaesthetic with the Chora 806. The magnesium tweeter in the Chora 806. inverted dome tweeter sits behind an The driver is a cone made of Slatefiber, exposed, perforated metal cover and the a composite of recycled, nonwoven JUNE 2021 MACWORLD 97

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REVIEW: FOCAL CHORA 806

carbon fibers and thermoplastic polymer. Focal says that it’s the first audio brand to use recycled carbon fibers in drivers and claims that the combination of these two materials results in excellent acoustic performance as well as good rigidity and damping.

USE A HIGH-QUALITY AMP Focal advertises the Chora 806 as an 8-ohm speaker with a sensitivity of 89dB, but the Chora’s impedance can dip down to 4.6 ohms, presenting a more difficult load for an amplifier. While the Chora should be easy to drive, you should mate it to a high-quality A/V receiver or a dedicated power amplifier that can handle low-impedance loads.

I set up the Chora 806 in my basement theater on top of 33-inch solid wood stands. Focal sells a pair of stands specifically designed for the Chora 806 that sell for $290 a pair; alas, Focal did not provide me with a review sample. Focal’s stands are 215⁄8-inches tall and are fabricated from MDF (medium density fiberboard). The stands are slightly tilted for time alignment and to direct the tweeters toward your ears. The bottom of the Chora 806 comes with threaded screw holes that attach to the stands’ top plate for security. While I recommend using stands, Focal includes two sets of silicone dots for tabletop placement.

BEAUTIFUL BUT PERPLEXING BINDING POSTS

The setup shown here includes the Chora 806 speakers, a Naim Uniti Atom integrated amplifier, and NAC A5 speaker cables (it was available at the end of 2020 for the price of the amplifier alone, but that deal may not come round again). 98 MACWORLD JUNE 2021

The Focal Chora’s binding posts deserve both some praise and some criticism. The binding posts sit in a beautifully smooth and curvaceous cavity on the back of the speaker, and they sport rounded fins that make them incredibly easy to tighten and loosen. They are also

LISTENING I paired the $990 Focal Chora 806 with a $3,290 Naim Uniti Atom, a highperformance, high-powered network streamer and integrated amplifier in a slick, The Focal’s binding post design makes it easy to tighten and loosen. ultracompact footprint. It’s a Roon-ready device, so I served up source material from my Roon Nucleus server consisting of both high-resolution audio files and Tidal streams. The Chora 806 was unusually A detail view of the Chora 806’s binding post plugs, which wouldn’t allow me to connect banana plugs easily. finicky to dial into my room—far more perplexing. The instruction manual shows finicky than any speaker in recent they can accommodate spades, bare wire, memory. If you don’t have the or banana connectors. But good luck wherewithal for this task, have your local trying to use banana connectors. The Focal dealer set up the speakers for you. binding posts come with caps over the You’ll be duly rewarded. traditional banana connector channel. For When properly dialed in, the Chora the life of me I couldn’t figure out how to 806 is magical for a pair of speakers in pop the caps off. I stopped short for fear of this price range; it completely damaging the connectors. disappeared in my room, creating a JUNE 2021 MACWORLD 99

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REVIEW: FOCAL CHORA 806

coherent wall of sound. On the Indigo Lourde’s “Royals,” pressurizing my listening Girls’ track “Welcome Me,” the Focal space with well-controlled, chest-thumping painted sonic images of Amy Ray’s and bass. Bass lines on Ingrid Michaelson’s Emily Saliers’ guitar strokes and vocals in “This Is War” and “Wonderful Unknown” space and time. were taut, crisp, and well controlled, The Focal 806 conjured up a though audibly curtailed at the lowest ridiculously large sound stage that frequencies. consistently extended beyond the On James Blake’s “Limit to your Love” speakers’ edges. Monitor speakers often the Chora 806’s bottom-end limits on the present the drawback of creating a song’s house-shaking bass lines were miniature sound stage—that was certainly abundantly clear. If you truly want to get not the case here. deep bass with the Chora 806, pair it with The Chora 806 did yeoman’s work a high-quality subwoofer. rendering piano notes on Billy Joel’s The Chora 806 captivated me at times “Piano Man” and Lana Del Rey’s on songs such as Sarah McLachlan’s “Mariners Apartment Complex.” If I’m “Love Come [piano version]” and Diana allowed to nitpick, however, the Chora Krall’s “I Remember You,” from her album couldn’t quite earn a perfect score The Look of Love. reproducing the piano’s definition and On the downside, the Chora 806 full-bodied tone. can’t quite transcend a slightly boxy Bass response was very good for the driver size and frequency response. Focal’s designers clearly focused on the quality and not the quantity of bass. The Chora’s frequency range is rated at 58Hz to 28kHz, and it delivered satisfying The Focal’s inverted dome aluminum-magnesium tweeter. bass lines on 100 MACWORLD JUNE 2021

Merchant’s vocals on “San Andreas Fault” snapped into immediate focus with a solidly constructed sense of space and time. Put another way, A detail view of the Chora 806’s Slatefiber cone composite woofer. this comparison is the audio sound—that’s the sonic tradeoff with equivalent of the difference between speakers and monitors at this price optical and digital zoom at a point. While the sound stage, timbre, magnification of five times. and dynamics are really good, the BOTTOM LINE texture of notes and the instruments that The Focal’s Chora 806 is a play them lack the masterful beautifully built, good refinement and finesse that mmmm performer whose quality you will experience with a Focal Chora 806 clearly conveys its high-end pair of top-notch reference PROS pedigree. It’s a solid choice for speakers. • A real taste of high-end audio. anyone interested in pursuing For example, when • Superb build quality and a serious audio hobby. switching back and forth finish. • Huge sonic sound stage. Without breaking the bank, between the Focals and my • Sleek styling. the Chora 806 serve just a RBH Sound SVTR Signature CONS taste of what highTower Speakers (fave. • Slightly boxy sound. • Needs to be paired with co/3xMOEVg)—they’re priced performance audio can really subwoofer to deliver at $11,000, so that’s an unfair deliver. Just be sure to pair it deepest bass. • Difficulty using banana match to be sure—the RBH with high-quality electronics plugs with its binding posts. SVTR Signatures eliminated and amplification. If you do, PRICE $990 the sensation of bloat and you’ll wind up with a superbCOMPANY smearing on vocals and sounding, high-tech, compact Focal instruments. Natalie arrangement. ■ JUNE 2021 MACWORLD 101

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Shure Aonic 50 wireless active noise-canceling headphone: Beautiful sound These cans sound fantastic—as long as music is playing—but they’re far from being great ANC headphones. BY THEO NICOLAKIS

hure has been a mainstay in recording studios and on concert stages for 95 years. The company’s latest contribution to its rich audio legacy is

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the Aonic 50 active noise-canceling (ANC) headphones. These $399 headphones promise audiophile quality, exceptional comfort, superior ANC performance, and some of the deepest

IMAGE: SHURE

Bluetooth codec support you will find anywhere.

BUILD QUALITY The Aonic 50 are beautiful headphones. Imitation leather dominates the headband and ear cups, while soft-brushed aluminum arms connect the two. The click-adjustable arms open and close with ease, yet once locked in Shure uses brushed aluminum in places some other manufacturers deploy plastic. place, they’ll stay exactly where you placed them. You’ll often face a trade-off with easy-tosessions. The effect will be exacerbated if adjust headbands. Not here—I found the you use the Aonic 50 in hot or humid pressure on my head to be near environments, though your body might Goldilocks perfect. react differently. The imitation leather wrapped around the Aonic 50 is soft and luxurious. The headband is amply padded and didn’t produce any excess pressure on the top of my head—even after extended wear. The ear cups likewise are soft and comfortable. The only drawback I found was breathability. These headphones made The ear cups on the Aonic 50 are soft and comfortable, but me hot and sweaty after that didn’t stop me from getting hot and sweaty after long listening sessions. extended listening JUNE 2021 MACWORLD 103

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REVIEW: S HU RE AO N I C 5 0

The ear cups fold flat for travel and storage, but they don’t collapse further like some of the competition. The included carrying case is spacious but completely impractical for travel—it’s downright massive. Battery life is rated to last for a respectable 20 hours. With some of today’s wireless headphones pushing 24 to 30 hours plus, this is at the lower end of the spectrum. All the controls are located on the right-hand ear cup of the That said, in real-world usage, Shure Aonic 50. you can easily get two to Each time I moved the switch, it slid way three days of extended listening or Zoom too easily to an undesired setting. It conference calls without ever needing to really needs a slight design adjustment charge the headphones. Moreover, to make it worry-free. recharging the headphones is fast. Just I do applaud Shure for providing a five minutes of plug-in time will easily get tactile bump on the Play/Pause button. I you out of the low-battery warning range. could instantly orient my fingers and know ERGONOMICS whether I was pressing volume up, play/ The Aonic 50’s ergonomics are pause, or volume down. Pressing the play/ straightforward. Tactile navigation pause button twice advances to the next controls and a USB-C charging port are song, while pressing it three times quickly located on the back of the right-hand ear takes you to the previous song. cup. A three-way slider allows you to DEEP BLUETOOTH CODEC toggle between Environment Mode SUPPORT (more on that below), ANC off, and ANC The Aonic 50 is flexible to fit your evolving on. The toggle switch on my review pair lifestyle. The cans will operate in three took conscious fiddling to get it to sit different modes: analog wired (using the right in the middle position (ANC off). 104 MACWORLD JUNE 2021

included 3.5mm analog cable), wireless, the digital domain. I used both the and wired digital via USB-C. included cable and a six-foot Monoprice Bluetooth 5.0 is standard, and you’ll Monolith USB-C cable without issue. Best get about 30 feet of wireless performance of all, you can listen to the headphones (barring any obstacles). The Aonic 50’s while you’re charging the battery. wireless performance is a marvel, Shure doesn’t specify the DAC that’s bolstered by its impressive codec support, onboard or the audio resolutions and including the full Qualcomm aptX codec sampling rates that are supported, but suite: aptX, aptX HD, and aptX Low when I connected these cans to my Mac, Latency. AptX HD will stream highthe computer’s Audio MIDI Setup resolution audio up to 24-bit resolution reported them as supporting audio up to and 48kHz sampling rate. AptX Low 32-bit resolution with sampling rates up Latency is perfect for gamers with to 384kHz. demanding synchronization needs Speaking of which, Mac users should between audio and video. take note: If you want to play high-res You can also take advantage of Sony’s music through the Aonic 50, know that excellent LDAC codec, which supports your Mac will always use a fixed bit depth high-res audio up to 24-bit resolution and and sampling rate in the Audio MIDI a 96kHz sampling rate, with data rates up Setup app (located in the Utilities folder). to 990Kbps. Last but not least, there’s support for Apple’s AAC and for standard Bluetooth SBC. If you find wireless streaming to be anathema to your audiophile aesthetic, plug a USB-C cable into the Aonic 50 and transport your I used Astell&Kern’s Kann digital audio player as one source device. favorite tunes into JUNE 2021 MACWORLD 105

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current battery level and lets you set both ANC intensity (normal or max) and Environment Mode intensity (on a 10-point scale). You need to be in each respective mode to change its settings. The app can also access your music library, which in my case was the iPhone’s Music app. I could The imitation leather wrapped around the Shure Aonic 50 sure not connect to other music looks like the real thing. service apps, such as Tidal or Qobuz. With the music That fixed rate will typically be CD-quality app connected, I had the option of 16-bit 44.1kHz. applying five predefined EQ settings or When I used the macOS Qobuz app, creating my own. Should you decide to for example, any high-res file I played create your own EQ preset, you can set defaulted to 16-bit/44kHz, and I had to the gain and bandwidth for four frequency manually change the output each time in points: low shelf, high shelf, and two the Audio MIDI Setup app. I therefore parametric EQ points. The app does not suggest using a music app that will provide you with the ability to customize automatically switch the output to match the ANC algorithm for airplane, train, the music source, which is something subway, or altitude. iTunes won’t do. So iTunes users should ENVIRONMENT MODE consider purchasing a program like IS A WINNER Bitperfect that will automatically change The Aonic 50 comes with a suite of tools your Mac’s bit depth and sampling rate. and tech for the road warrior. Chief among SHUREPLUS PLAY MOBILE APP these is a feature called Environment Shure provides iOS and Android users Mode that allows you to hear the outside with the ShurePlus Play app, which is basic world without taking your headphones off. but practical. The free app shows you the Shure’s Environment Mode is simply 106 MACWORLD JUNE 2021

superb and ranks up there with the best I’ve experienced. It’s completely natural in its default setting. I detected none of the tinny artifacts or other disturbing distortions plaguing competing products that came earlier; in fact, the only anomaly that gives Environment Mode away is a heightened brightness to your surroundings. I could even press the play/pause button to summon Siri for hands-free commands. Best of all, you can play music with Environment mode enabled. The music I listened to retained its fidelity and sounded downright fabulous—at least until I used the ShurePlus Play app to boost Environment Mode to its maximum setting. Doing that introduced a significant amount

of hiss. Bottom line: Shure’s Environment Mode is spectacular.

MEDIOCRE NOISECANCELLATION PERFORMANCE

When it comes to the best ANC headphones on the market today, there’s Sony and Bose—and then there’s everyone else. The Shure Aonic 50 headphones do nothing to change that picture. I compared them to Bose’s QC35 and Bowers & Wilkins’ PX noisecanceling headphones by playing recorded cabin noise at 91dB (as measured by a sound pressure level meter C-weighted and set to slow). Typical airplane cabin noise ranges from 90dB to 96dB. I stood two feet under a pair of ceiling speakers and cycled through the three headphones several times. In each context, I found the Aonic 50’s ANC to be good but not great. While the Aonic 50 could take the edge off, its ANC performance consistently came in The ear cups on the Shure Aonic 50 fold flat, but that’s as small as it behind the Bose’s and gets; it doesn’t make a great travel companion. the B&W’s. JUNE 2021 MACWORLD 107

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The same performance was true when it came to fan and HVAC noise. I tested the Shure Aonic 50 with the central air at my house and with air purifiers from Hunter and Blueair turned on. When set to high and measured about a foot away, the Hunter registered 84dB and the Blue 77dB on the SPL meter. The Bose once again handily trounced the Aonic 50. I also noticed distinct hiss when I activated the Aonic 50’s ANC without playing any music. You won’t notice this in a high-noise environment, but the hiss called attention to itself in quieter locales.

CD-quality and high-res files, as well as streams from Tidal. Simply put, sonics is where the Shure Aonic 50 shines. At first listen, the Aonic 50 comes across as wonderfully well balanced, warm, and intimate. Sarah McLachlan’s “Fallen” sounded oh-so-right. Through the Aonic 50, her vocals on “Surrender and Certainty” sounded rich, detailed, and dimensional. Turning on ANC or Environmental Mode, however, tended to flatten the sound stage. Generally, though, a well-formed sound stage is a strength I noticed song after song. I was enveloped intimately with the LISTENING TESTS instruments abounding on Imagine I tested the Shure Aonic 50 primarily with Dragons’ “Bad Liar.” Case in point was Astell&Kern’s Kann high-res digital audio spinning up “Natural.” The opening chorus player as well as with an iPhone XS. was precisely recessed in a deep, Source material included a mix of atmospheric experience, with vocals firmly forward and center stage. Genre didn’t matter. Whether I was rocking to Joe Satriani’s “Surfing With the Alien” or Eddie Van Halen’s immortal “Eruption,” the Aonic 50 mesmerized me. Aaron Copland’s majestic “Fanfare for the Common Man” as played by the Minnesota Orchestra and conducted by Eiji Oue came across in all its beauty. Bass The click-adjust mechanisms on the Aonic 50’s armbands adjust easily but stay tightly in place once set. drums thundered and 108 MACWORLD JUNE 2021

trumpets were smooth, with brass and cymbals exhibiting a slight roll-off at the top. But it was Elaine Paige’s defining rendition of “Memory” from Cats, and Yo-Yo Ma’s rendition of Ennio Morricone’s “Dinner,” that really made the hairs on my arm stand on end. I encountered a few disappointing quirks during my review period that Shure chose a classic industrial design for the Aonic 50. significantly dampened my enthusiasm for the Aonic 50. BOTTOM LINE The most troubling of these occurred Shure’s Aonic 50 headphones are built for when I had the headphones on Bluetooth high-res sonic bliss, whether you’re listening mode, but with no music playing: The with a cable (analog or digital, via a USB-C Aonic 50 pumped out annoying digital cable) or wirelessly (via Bluetooth, with noise artifacts. This occurred regardless support for every Bluetooth codec that of source: an iPhone XS, Astell&Kern matters). The fact that ANC takes Kann high-res digital audio a back seat here isn’t a big player, or my Mac. I cannot mmmh deal—for me, at least—but the emphasize enough how Shure Aonic 50 annoying audio artifacts I bothersome this was—it was PROS encountered when using these nails-on-a-chalkboard irritating. • Superb sound (while music is playing). cans wirelessly without music will And the artifacts were present • Excellent build quality, materials, and design. be a deal-breaker for many. That whether ANC was engaged or CONS issue cost the Shure Aonic a off. As soon as I began playing • Mediocre ANC half-star in this review, so here’s content, the artifacts would performance. • Tends to get hot during hoping Shure will issue a disappear and the noise floor long listening sessions. firmware update. I also found would lower. The engineering PRICE $289 breathability an issue during team at Shure should address COMPANY long listening sessions, but your this shortcoming—hopefully Shure mileage may vary. ■ soon—with a firmware update. JUNE 2021 MACWORLD 109

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J-Tech Digital 4x1 HDMI switcher: An HDMI switch so nice, we reviewed it twice Monoprice markets this very same gadget, which handily solves the problem of having too many HDMI sources and not enough inputs. BY JONATHAN TAKIFF

oundbars with one or a just few HDMI inputs are supplanting A/V receivers with six or more HDMI inputs. That was supposed to simplify our home entertainment systems, 110 MACWORLD JUNE 2021

but many of us have discovered that we have too many video sources—set-top boxes, streamers, gaming consoles, Blu-ray players, and so on—and not enough HDMI inputs to handle everything.

IMAGE: J-TECH DIGITAL

The solution? An HDMI switcher and audio extractor. We recently found one such device marketed under two different brand names: J-Tech Digital and Monoprice. It’s apparent that neither J-Tech nor Monoprice actually builds these devices. The companies must Their shared parentage is unmistakable when you compare the source them from an metal-clad Monoprice Blackbird 4K and J-Tech Digital switch boxes. other manufacturer, inches (WxDxH), the powered switcher has because they’re identical apart from the a front panel display that offers precision labeling. We thoroughly tested both the control buttons and not-too-bright green J-Tech Digital JTECH-SWE41 and the LED indicators. HDMI inputs in back allow Monoprice Blackbird 4K 4x1 HDMI Switch you to connect up to four 4K or 2K video (P/N 39666) and found that each delivered source devices. solid performance with four HDMI inputs The source you select with the and one HDMI output. We put J-Tech in button in front is then output to the the headline because as of this writing, it switcher’s single HDMI-ARC output to was selling for $25 less than Monoprice’s one of your TV’s, soundbar’s, or A/V device, which you can purchase here receiver’s HDMI inputs—with no (fave.co/3h4069a). Since they’re essentially the same device, we’ll refer to noticeable degradation in picture or them in this review in the singular. sound quality, provided you use certified Blessed with sophisticated processing Premium High Speed HDMI cables (fave. co/3nXvbwE) to make the connections. skills and ARC (audio return channel) Offering current top-of-the-class specs, support, this switch box helps consolidate this mighty mite can process and push your gear, cable runs, and connections. through razor-sharp signals with up to 4K While ultraslim, measuring 7.1x3.3x0.5 JUNE 2021 MACWORLD 111

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when the Dolby Vision logo fleetingly floated in the corner. On the audio side, high-quality soundtracks encoded in 2.1-, 5.1-, and 7.1-channel PCM, Dolby TrueHD, Dolby Atmos, The Blackbird’s front labels on LED and hard-button functions makes it more useful when working the devices head-on. (J-Tech paints its labels on the top.) and DTS-HD Master Audio resolution at a 60Hz refresh rate. (That pass unimpeded to and through the switch means it might not be the best choice for box’s HDMI output jack, as a J-Tech Digital the next generation of videogame consoles engineer who’d QC’d the box at the brand’s [fave.co/3ejlm8U], which support refresh Sugarland, Texas, headquarters testified. rates up to 120Hz. It doesn’t support But wait, there’s more. The inclusion of FreeSync or G-Sync, either.) The switch an audio signal extractor renders this otherwise abides by the HDMI 2.0a high-striving box even more useful— standard and HDCP 2.2 digital copyperhaps essential—for TV viewers who’ve protection standards necessary for paired it with a high-quality (but input-short) enhancing 4K images with high dynamic display and soundbar. range processing like HDR10 and Dolby HOW IT WORKS Vision—the latter stunningly shown when I Here’s how it comes together. Connect plugged the latest Roku Ultra media your four most essential devices to the streamer (fave.co/33jWMOR) into switch input 4. A very realistic aquarium switch: set-top box, media streamer, game materialized on my 4K LG OLED, a screen console (or laptop), and Blu-ray player. saver that gave away its true nature only Next, connect the switch’s HDMI output to 112 MACWORLD JUNE 2021

your TV set’s HDMI input—the one labeled HDMI ARC, if available. Alternatively, you could plug that cable into an HDMI port on a soundbar or A/V receiver that will amplify and send the audio content to its speakers and pass the video signal to your TV. If your soundbar or receiver doesn’t support HDMI, you can exploit this switcher’s high-quality audio extraction circuitry. Plug either a 3.5mm-terminated analog audio cable or an optical digital (Toslink) cable into the box’s dual-function audio output and connect the other end of the cable to the appropriate input on your soundbar or receiver. Yes, you will experience a downgrade in stereo or surround-sound processing,

because analog connections are stereo only, and Toslink doesn’t provide the bandwidth needed for Dolby TrueHD and the other lossless home-theater codecs. But when I used Toslink connections with a Sonos Playbar and then a Bose Soundbar 500 (both paired with their respective wireless subwoofers), the resultant sound proved quite robust, detailed, and reasonably in sync.

A DEAL SWEETENER For me, the feature that really seals the deal on this particular switch box is its smarter setup for the infrared remote control, which eliminates a lot of user frustration and adds a degree of

Here again, the location of the input labels makes Monoprice’s version of this HDMI switcher easier to use when you’re facing the device, where J-Tech’s practice is better if you’re looking at it from above. JUNE 2021 MACWORLD 113

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flexibility when you integrate it into your entertainment center. Any HDMI switcher worth its salt will augment its front-panel operation buttons with a wireless remote control, with an IR signal receiver mounted on its face. I’ve tried seven or eight other switchers, and all too often, their wireless control isn’t reliable. You must be sitting directly in front of the switch box, and the box itself can’t be blocked by a door or any other equipment. Most of their remotes have weak signal emitters, and their IR receivers typically have very narrow fields of view— you can’t be more than 30 degrees off axis and expect them to work.

I had no such complaints with this box. Instead of its IR signal receiver being on the front panel, it’s tethered to a 5-foot cable that plugs into the back. You can place the box anywhere you’d like, and with a dab of double-sided tape (supplied), you can mount the receiver in any exposed location the cable will reach. Should the supplied cable not be long enough, you can plug it into an extension. I found a 12-footer on Amazon (fave. co/2PPsqRc) selling for about $9. It added maybe a millisecond of delay to the 3- to 5-second input-switching process. The manufacturer offers the same cable in 6-, 25-, 50-, and even 75-foot lengths, but I didn’t test those. J-Tech Digital and Monoprice both bundle the same simple but easy-to-use remote with their boxes. The HDMI input buttons are placed in the four corners of a square, with the select button in the center. This makes the remote easy to use, even in the dark. Pressing the red The remote control is purpose built and easy to use, even in the dark. ARC button at the 114 MACWORLD JUNE 2021

top right of the remote sends the audio content from your smart TV’s tuner, onboard media streamer, or any other HDMI source back down the HDMI cable plugged into its HDMI ARC port to the switch box. From there, the sound goes to your soundbar or A/V The infrared signal receiver can be placed up to 5 feet from the switcher box—or even farther when plugged into an extension cable. receiver. It’s almost like having a fifth HDMI input on the switch. But I don’t have much faith in this Set-up tip: If you’ve never used your device’s automatic input shifting (a feature TV’s ARC function, you may discover that it touted in most every HDMI switch), left the factory in a disabled state. Go into because I didn’t find it to be reliable. In the TV’s audio settings and activate it. theory, the switch box will sense and While you’re there, try activating its CEC automatically change the HDMI source (consumer electronics control) function, whenever you newly power on another which might then let you use one remote connected device. Gamers say it works to control all the devices connected to and well when they’re shifting their attention through this switch box. from one connected console (or computer) If you want even more control, take to another, but it failed to wake and advantage of this switch box’s RS-232 port respond when I turned on a DirecTV for custom integration operations, plus satellite TV receiver or a Blu-ray player, “available now or coming soon” probably because of the conflicting compatibility with programmable Harmony messages the switcher also was getting remote controls, according to Monoprice from connected streaming boxes. Even in tech support. standby mode, the latter are always more JUNE 2021 MACWORLD 115

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or less turned on, downloading content and putting out a screen-saver image.

which has been problematic with other switches I’ve tried). Finally, I tried them both with 4K-ready Yamaha, Sony, and BOTTOM LINE Bose audio systems without a hitch. To be honest, HDMI switch boxes have a Your setup and experience could still reputation for going south, failing in whole differ. Marathon gamers might heat these or part, after a few months or a couple of things to the brink and should probably years. A cottage industry of Chinese connect their systems directly to a display. suppliers cranks these things out, with Also, don’t forget to use certified good intentions but perhaps not a lot of Premium High Speed HDMI cables experience. Their job is made harder by everywhere, because these switches are evolving standards and manufacturers only as capable and stable as their taking different paths when implementing weakest link. If you encounter a purplethem. I put that out there because I can’t tinted picture now and again, simply guarantee how long this current choice shifting inputs around again usually fixes for best HDMI switch box will endure, nor the HDMI security handshake that’s will I vow it will work great with all the responsible for the problem. video products you might want On the upside, I own a to connect. different J-Tech HDMI switch mmmm That said, I’ve successfully (fave.co/3ulkNRy) that has J-Tech Digital 4x1 operated flawlessly for the year mated both the J-Tech and HDMI Switcher and a half, so I have some Monoprice devices with older PROS • Delivers sharp, stable video confidence in the brand. Panasonic and Pioneer plasma and audio signals from a variety of connected Monoprice, for its part, typically TVs, an ancient but beloved sources. chooses its suppliers wisely Philips LCD TV with Ambilight • Extracts and separately serves high-grade and has a good reputation for (look it up), and a very soundtracks to a soundbar or A/V receiver. quality control. Both brands revealing 4K Epson Home CONS have operations in the U.S., Cinema 4000 video projector. I • Some rival HDMI switchers including tech support, and also tried a variety of streaming provide five inputs. • Auto HDMI input switching both companies provide at boxes (Amazon Fire TV, Apple is not always reliable. least one-year warranties on TV, Roku), disc players, PRICE $65 these devices—18 months from DirecTV, and two videogame COMPANY J-Tech if you register your systems (a PlayStation 4 and a J-Tech purchase promptly. ■ Nintendo Switch, the latter of 116 MACWORLD JUNE 2021

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8 kids a day are accidentally killed or injured by FAMILY FIRE. FAMILY FIRE is a shooting involving an improperly stored gun, often found in the home.

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Answering Your Questions and Sharing Your Tips About Getting the Most From Your Mac

Mac 911 Solutions to your most vexing Mac problems. BY GLENN FLEISHMAN

HOW TO RECOVER DATA FROM A MAC WITH T2 OR FILEVAULT ENCRYPTION AND WITHOUT A PASSWORD Spinning disks are slow and solid-state drives (SSDs) used to cost a digital arm and a leg. That led many people to stick with hard drives or purchase Macs with low-capacity SSDs—like 250GB or

IMAGE: APPLE

500GB—because the next increment up added many hundreds of dollars to the cost. (I’m sitting here with a 2017 iMac with a 1TB Fusion drive, so I am one of you.) It’s a hard thing to discover that a loved one is incapacitated or has passed away and you can’t unlock the Mac or Macs they left behind to retrieve photos, important financial or legal information, or any of JUNE 2021 MACWORLD 119

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their digital traces. If the main account or any administrative user password is unavailable, a newer Mac may be completely unrecoverable. Many times, a person who experiences dementia may have someone appointed with the legal right to access their devices. And someone who had a terminal illness or who had simply planned ahead with a will may have left their gear explicitly to someone or appointed an executor who has rights to access it. (This is not legal advice, by the way; consult an attorney with any questions about the legality of accessing someone’s hardware.) But the right or need to access a Mac doesn’t mean one has the ability, and Apple has specifically designed its systems to prevent anyone from breaking through their strong protections. The T2 Security Chip found in newer Macs (see the list of Mac models here [fave.co/3h00rtr]) brought iPhone- and iPad-style security and encryption to macOS, including Touch ID on laptops. The Mac’s startup volume is automatically encrypted at rest, separate from the long-running FileVault technology in macOS. (See “How FileVault and the T2 Security Chip Work Together in Newer Macs” [fave.co/3h4bvWs] for more details.) The T2 chip on a Mac automatically encrypts the startup drive as a way to improve security dramatically—including 120 MACWORLD JUNE 2021

rendering a drive’s contents unreadable if a device is lost or stolen. Without a fingerprint on a Touch ID–equipped Mac (for a computer that’s running, logged in, and in the right circumstances) or a password for any Mac, even without FileVault enabled, the contents of the drive could be permanently unavailable. If the Mac in question is one of the above models, skip to “Strategies to work around not having the password” later in this article. If the Mac doesn’t have a T2 chip, you can attempt the method immediately below. Otherwise, read on to find out what won’t work and what to try if you don’t have the password.

Use Target Disk Mode or start up from an external drive You may be able to mount a Mac as a volume on another Mac without a password using Target Disk Mode—as long as FileVault wasn’t enabled. You may not know if it was, so you can try the following if both Macs have a FireWire (older models) or Thunderbolt 2 or 3 port: 1. Connect the computers. 2. While holding down the T key, restart or start up the Mac you want to mount on the other Mac. 3. If this works, a volume icon appears on the other Mac. If you receive a prompt to enter a password, then either FileVault is enabled

or there’s a T2 chip on the computer—or What won’t work In nearly every scenario involving a Mac perhaps both. with a T2 chip, a FileVault-enabled Mac, or However, if you don’t have another both, you must have the password for an Mac to try this with or the Macs don’t have administrative account, which is often the compatible ports, you can also set up an main or only account on a Mac: external, bootable macOS drive with a > With FileVault turned on for any Mac, version of macOS new enough to start up you have to enter a password at startup to the computer in question and not too new even start running macOS. Otherwise the for an older Mac. (Consult the Mac’s model startup volume remains unavailable. to check on which system releases will > With the T2 chip and no FileVault, a work with it.) Mac will boot to the startup screen, but Here’s how you can boot from an unless you have the password, even external drive: 1. With a macOS startup volume though the drive’s contents are available installed on the external drive, plug it into to a user, you’d have to break into macOS the Mac you want to start up. to gain access to files. Because the T2 2. Either restart the Mac or start it up, chip restricts starting up with an external holding down the Option key as the drive without making a specific system powers up. 3. A roughly formatted display showing available startup drives should appear. Click or use a keyboard to select and boot from that drive. 4. The internal drive should show up as a volume after macOS starts up. If you can’t start up from an external drive because you’re prompted for a password or blocked in another fashion, or if macOS prompts you for a password to The Startup Security Utility on T2-equipped Macs mount the internal drive (as above), prevents starting up from an external drive without changing settings—which requires a password. you’re stuck. JUNE 2021 MACWORLD 121

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administrative change that requires a password, you won’t even be able to boot off an external drive (fave.co/3dCdkqj)— and in any case you’ll need an account password after that to mount the drive when it’s started up externally. > You might consider removing the hard drive as one strategy. But Macs of the last few years have drives that can’t easily be removed or are impossible to remove at all. Even if you could mount the drive on another device, if FileVault is enabled or it’s a Mac with a T2 chip, it’s impossible to decrypt the drive’s contents. Don’t give up yet, however.

Strategies to work around not having the password Several strategies can help, some of them absurdly low tech: > Check for sticky notes, password books, or other places someone may have written down their password. This is surprisingly common, yet often overlooked. (The best hackers in movies always make a joke about it when asked what sophisticated cracking tool they will use: They just find the sticky note.) > Did the person ever give you a password as a backup in case they lost or forgot theirs? Check your messages, password manager, or notes. > Look for local backups. While startup drives may be encrypted via FileVault or 122 MACWORLD JUNE 2021

the T2 chip, Time Machine and other backups typically aren’t, unless someone has taken an extra step to encrypt the volume. (If they did that, they might also have taken steps to allow someone else to gain access later if they weren’t able to.) Look for a drive directly connected to the computer or to another computer on the network, or a Time Capsule, Apple’s discontinued networked Time Machine backup option. > Look for online backups. A person may be using a cloud-based backup storage system, like Backblaze or Carbonite, and you may be able to find the password for that if you can’t find their Mac account’s password. Check credit-card bills to see if they’re using such a service. > Check iCloud. You might be able to find or figure out the login and retrieve photos and synced files from iCloud. > Look for other sync services. Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive, and other options can sync the contents of folders or nearly an entire drive from a computer to cloud-based storage. Preparation always helps, too. If you’re reading this column prospectively—before a problem has cropped up—see “How to prepare your digital assets in case of death” (fave.co/3uh9zxv) for advice on setting up yourself or helping someone else set up to allow others access when they can’t provide a password.

HOW TO PASTE TEXT WITHOUT FORMATTING ON A MAC Because we use styled text in so many places in macOS (including when copying something from a web page), it’s easy to wind up frustrated when you want to paste it into a document or an email without carrying along its original (or a similar) font, type size, italics or bold, indents, bullet list items, and other elements. Here are several ways to copy styled text and then paste it Word offers an option to paste unformatted text. without any formatting. Use the Paste and Match Style menu item in Apple apps. Most Apple include Unformatted Text. This strips all software that supports adding text lets you rich-text attributes. choose Edit → Paste and Match Style, Use a text-only editor to paste, and which strips most formatting from the text then copy the results. Many apps don’t on the clipboard and matches whatever style is in effect at the insertion point. However, while that removes some styling, it doesn’t remove all of it. In Microsoft Word, use one of several paste commands. Word offers Edit → Paste and Match Formatting, like Pages and other Apple software. But it also has the Edit → Paste Using Pastebot, you can strip formatting, among other filters. Special options, which JUNE 2021 MACWORLD 123

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support rich-text formatting. Pasting text into one of those apps strips all styles and fonts. You can then copy that same section of text, and it will end up unstyled. Ironically, the macOSbundled TextEdit doesn’t offer an option to edit—just the text. Instead, try BBEdit (fave. co/3uoD6Fo). (While it downloads as a 30-day free trial for the paid version, after USB has an array of symbols that alert you to a cable’s speed 30 days it remains and power rating (top left), but only some manufacturers display free to use, just with an appropriate symbol (top right). Thunderbolt 3 cables are more a more restrained set uniformly labeled, but even cables from Apple (bottom left) and Monoprice (bottom right) have a slightly different appearance. of text-editing features [fave. HOW TO TELL IF YOUR USB-C co/3vKFmHy].) CABLE IS USB ONLY OR Get Pastebot. The Pastebot utility (fave. SUPPORTS THUNDERBOLT 3 co/3eU7vF5) from Tapbots received a USB-C introduced simplicity. This simple five-mouse review (fave.co/2PRHlul) from me in 2016, and it remains a constant part flat connector with rounded sides has two of my daily routine. You can set a keyboard correct orientations, so the long side can shortcut to paste the current clipboard as be inserted into a compatible port without plain, unformatted text, something I do 50 checking. It’s used universally for USB 3, times a day. And you can set other DisplayPort, and Thunderbolt 3, and other shortcuts or use a filter feature to reformat data standards. It can support hightext on the clipboard before it’s pasted. wattage charging and power (see “How to 124 MACWORLD JUNE 2021

tell whether a USB-C cable can carry > If the cable is unlabeled, you can high-wattage power and Thunderbolt 3 plug the cable between a Thunderbolt data [fave.co/3nWWXt1].”) 3–equipped Mac and a Thunderbolt 3 It can be relatively easy to figure out if device. Does the Mac recognize the the port you have supports only what’s device? If not, it’s not a Thunderbolt 3 now called USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10 Gbps cable (or it’s defective). > If the Mac does recognize it, check maximum)—also known as SuperSpeed+ that the hardware doesn’t automatically or SuperSpeed USB 10 Gbps—or if, in drop down to a compatible, slower addition to the high-speed USB flavor, it standard than Thunderbolt 3. Go to also handles Thunderbolt 3. System Information (Option-Command → All USB-C equipped Macs support System Information), click Thunderbolt, Thunderbolt 3 except the nowand see if the device is listed there. discontinued 12-inch MacBook introduced When it comes down to it, though, in 2015. A few models of iPad include a there’s an ipso facto situation, if I can drop USB-C connector that only supports the some Latin: If, literally “on the face of it,” USB data protocols as well. (On non-Apple the cable lacks clear markings as to what computers, you have to look up the specs.) standard it supports, I’d return or replace it, But how can you tell whether a cable assuming the manufacturer didn’t take the with two USB-C ends will pass only USB care to label it properly, which would up to 3.2 Gen 2 or up to the 40 Gbps concern me about its production capable between two Thunderbolt 3– standards, too. equipped devices, like a computer and a high-performance disk array? > Check the cable ends. A Thunderbolt 3 cable should have a lightning bolt symbol printed on the cable head on both ends. Some manufacturers may also include a 3, although the USB-C and Thunderbolt 2 cable shapes (the same as Mini DisplayPort) are different. A USB-only cable will show a SuperSpeed+ symbol, which may differ if the cable Thunderbolt devices will appear with technical details in System Information. has high-wattage power support. JUNE 2021 MACWORLD 125