MacFormat

We’ve always been honest at MacFormat about the fact that Apple kit comes at a premium price. And while the hardware and built-in software is of matching premium quality, it’s the apps you install on your Mac, iPad or iPhone that really bring it to l

After many months of rumours, Apple has finally launched its own brand over-ear headphones, dubbed AirPods Max.The top-end cans are packed with premium features but come with a premium price tag of £549 to match. The similarities to AirPods come not

WE ASKED… Which Apple product are you most looking forward to in 2021? Log on and see next issue’s big question! twitter.com/macformat facebook.com/macformat Apple has launched a free screen-replacement programme for the iPhone 11. The company says i

HoudahSpot is the ultimate file finder for your Mac. It lets you perform deep, specific searches with an array of criteria and filters, pinpointing the file you need in a snap. With version 6, a range of new features have been added. First up is a ne

£419 dji.com DJI’s new small drone is even smaller than its predecessor at just 138cm long when folded, and weighs 249g – it really is tiny. And its upgraded camera now takes up to 4K video at 30fps, though if you go with 1080p you also get a 4x zoom

With so much of our lives being stored on our devices, it can be easy to run out of space, necessitating a purge of your files or the slow, lengthy upload times to online storage. There is an alternative, though, in the form of this month’s competiti

Back in March 2019, Apple CEO Tim Cook announced that, after years of speculation, the company was finally going to launch a streaming TV service later that year. That September, he confirmed that Apple TV+ was to go live on November. The service cos

Good news! It’s quite possible to fit out your Mac with apps for your entire workflow without spending a penny. There are note-takers and project managers, image illustrators and editors, desktop publishers and audio editors, 3D modellers and video c

We’re living in a golden age of affordable apps: software that used to cost hundreds of pounds is now available for a fraction of that price, while subscriptions make it easy to spread the cost of even the priciest pro tool. But if you’re on a tight

FROMbarebones.com BBEdit is the leading HTML and text editor for Macs. It isn’t free software, but once you’ve completed the 30-day trial period you can continue to use its basic features forever. And those features aren’t so basic: they include mult

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When Apple first made the iPad, they weren’t entirely sure what it was for. The answer turns out to be: everything. It’s a music maker, a document creator, a news reader, a sketchbook, a photo editor and a graphic designer. And we haven’t even mentio

Choose the perfect package for you! Get every issue of MacFormat delivered to your door at a fraction of the cover price. That’s 13 great issues every year! ONLY £21.05 EVERY 6 MONTHS BY DIRECT DEBIT GET THE DIGITAL EDITION Instant digital access to

A tap is a brief contact of (usually) one finger on your device’s screen. To drag is move a finger across the screen to scroll or pan around content. Swipe means move one or more fingers across an item or the screen, then let go. A flick is like swip

If you’re the Apple Genius among your friends and family, chances are they sometimes reach out to you for help when they get stuck. Of course, that’s easy when you can pop around and help them with their Mac in person. It’s a little harder when you c

The Messages app in Big Sur is a major improvement on the version in Catalina. It’s now on a par with most of its rival messaging apps and has features that bring it much more into line with Messages on the iPhone and iPad. Among those new features a

Each year, Adobe Photoshop Elements faces the challenge of providing enough new features to make existing users upgrade while attracting new customers. Adobe realise that while there’s a growing desire to share images via social media sites, people m

Virtualisation software allows you to explore other operating systems – Linux, Windows, and even earlier versions of macOS – without leaving the comfort of your Mac’s desktop. With the release of VMware Fusion 12, a brand-new product – VMware Fusion

There are plenty of times when your Mac dozing off to sleep is the last thing you want to happen. Whether you are watching a movie or downloading a large, important file, being interrupted by a blank screen as your Mac shuts down can be a pain. But i

With working from home now an everyday occurrence for huge numbers of us, learning how to look your best on a video call has assumed a much higher level of importance than ever before. It is no longer sufficient to simply turn on your Mac’s built-in

If you’re a fan of Apple Pencil, you’re probably familiar with having to switch back and forth with the on-screen keyboard. In iPadOS 14 a new feature called Scribble stops that by delivering handwriting input and recognition across all kinds of apps

Clips 3.0 is the latest version of Apple’s video editing tool for social media. If you love posting Instagram stories, or uploading video clips to TikTok, SnapChat or Twitter, it’s designed for you. And if you haven’t yet given it a try, now is the p

When Apple launched iOS 14, it heralded a new era for the iPhone. One of the biggest new features was the introduction of widgets, which can display snippets of information from the app of your choice on your Home screen. Although Apple has opened th

The iPhone 12 range includes a new kind of glass: Ceramic Shield. It’s a special type of glass that’s four times tougher than the glass in the iPhone 11 handsets, and it’s both harder and more scratch-resistant too. Like most of the smartphone glass

I’ve been unable to update the firmware in my iMac Retina 5K 27-inch Late 2015 (iMac17,1) beyond version 170.0.0.0.0, but experienced no problems until upgrading it to Big Sur. Now Recovery mode won’t work properly, as it keeps offering me El Capitan

After updating Adobe Photoshop Lightroom, routine Time Machine backups have ground to a halt, and just run on forever. Should I upgrade from Catalina, or is there something simpler? by ADRIAN ELLIOTT Each major new version of macOS has brought substa

There are a lot of things we do on our devices that take longer than we would like them to. With the Shortcuts app, though, that no longer needs to be the case. The app is preinstalled on your iPhone (and iPad) and makes complex tasks as simple as ca

One of the best ways you can use shortcuts is to help you find things. When done well, this can bring up helpful information in a few seconds that would ordinarily be a hassle to locate. That information can then be linked with other steps to create

There are a lot of ways you can change your device’s appearance, from setting a fresh wallpaper to overhauling its whole look and feel with Dark Mode. The problem is that many of these interactions require to you search deep within menus and settings

Shortcuts’ automations are powerful because they operate on their own without the need for you to start them. When a certain requirement is met – the time of day, when you arrive at a defined location, when your battery hits a certain level, and more

Shortcuts are clever, but they get even smarter when you pair them with some other tricks and features built into iOS. That is especially true of iOS 14, which adds a number of ways you can raise your shortcuts to the next level and add some extra sp

Our devices are in use so much these days that it can be easy to run out of juice and also rack up expensive data charges. Even when you avoid those pitfalls, you can find yourself fiddling with files and system settings instead of getting on with so

Even if we’re all allowed out of the house more often soon, major studios seem to have realised where the profit currently lies. Many have big stakes in cinema chains, and there’s obviously some big money to be made from putting bums on seats. But st

Making mistakes with shortcuts is easy, especially when you’re starting out. It is part of learning how to use Shortcuts in the first place. You can test a workflow by pressing the Play button in the bottom-right corner when creating a shortcut and i

Sticky carpet, a 95% markup on popcorn, that guy two rows in front texting with key sounds on and his phone on 100% brightness. Projectionists that don’t seem to like being asked to hit pause when the jumbo Coke decides to make its exit. The fact tha

JANUARY 2021 Apple’s best ever laptop: MacBook Air MacBook Pro 13-inch powerhouse iPhone 12 Pro Max and 12 mini The Great Mac Refresh – Big Sur tips DECEMBER 2020 Why you need iPhone 12 iPad Air on test + iPadOS 14 tips 2020’s gear of the year – our

Our reviews are totally independent; we’re not affiliated with Apple or anyone else, nor are we influenced by advertisers. You can trust us to give an honest assessment of a product’s worth. The prices quoted for products are correct at the time of w

£129.99 FROM Roku, roku.com FEATURES USB, HDMI, optical audio, Wi-Fi, 4K video and HDR support There have been loads of rumours recently about an update to the Apple TV streaming box, but Apple needs to get a move on because Roku’s new Streambar give

£279.99 FROM marshallheadphones.com FEATURES Bluetooth 5.0, 3.5mm cable, adjustable noise cancellation, 5-band equaliser, 20Hz-20kHz The original wired-only Marshall Monitors proved popular for indoor listening, then the Bluetooth version came out in

£689 FROM Synology, synology.com FEATURES 2.0GHz quad-core Intel Celeron J4125 processor, 2x M.2 2280 NVMe SSD slots, 5x drive bays, 8GB of memory, 2x USB 3.0 ports (one front, one rear), 4x Gigabit Ethernet ports, 2x eSATA port For devices with limi

From €83.16 (about £76, 240GB) FROM OWC, owcdigital.com FEATURES USB-C, IP67 rating, aluminum case OWC’s Envoy Pro Elektron comes in capacities from 240GB all the way up to 2TB. Compact and well built in aircraft-grade aluminium, the SSD is dust-proo

£64.99 FROM Papalook, papalook.com FEATURES 1920x1080 pixels (30fps), stereo mic with noise cancellation, manual focus Papalook’s webcam offers high-definition video capabilities with a simple plug-and-play setup. It sports a wide frame with the came

£79.99 FROM Urbanears, urbanears.com FEATURES 20Hz-20kHz frequency response, Bluetooth 5.0, up to 25 hours battery life, water resistant to IPX4 Sweden’s Urbanears specialises in great-sounding audio at sensible prices. And that’s certainly the case

So, you’ve managed to bag yourself a new iPhone 12, eh? Lucky you. Or maybe paranoid you – worrying about dropping your precious purchase. You need a case to protect your investment. Here we have four of the best that should do the trick. Each will k

£49.99 FROM Twelve South, twelvesouth.com FEATURES Travel case for Apple Watch, cable spool, magnetic disc holder, 7.5x4.2x17.9cm, 130g Twelve South make lots of neat accessories for Mac, iPhone and iPad – but this one gives your Apple Watch a little

From £59 FROM Skylum, skylum.com NEEDS macOS 10.13.6 or later Skylum has built on the success of its Luminar 4 photo editing software for Mac with Luminar AI, an entirely separate application that greatly expands the use of artificial intelligence to

Free (IAPs) FROM Meaningful Things, meaningful-things.com NEEDS macOS 10.15 or later Filter aims to help you focus by enabling you to block websites and applications that may be a distraction. You can create different lists – or groups of websites an

Free (IAPs) FROM Andres Canella, magnetic.do NEEDS macOS 10.15 or later Magnetic aims to enable you to manage large numbers of tasks quickly and easily, mostly by using the keyboard. You can create multiple lists of tasks and easily move tasks from o

£37.99/year FROM Stellar, stellarinfo.com NEEDS OS X 10.7 or later We all dread losing a treasured digital image. What if we drop a folder of photos into Trash and empty it? Or format a memory card to create space for a new shoot before realising tha

Free (IAPs) FROM Bloom Built, dayoneapp.com NEEDS iOS 13.1 or later In the year since we reviewed journalling app Day One Journal, it’s acquired several new features that may persuade you to give it a try – or to upgrade to premium if you’re still us

£97.99/year (free trial available) FROM Muse Software, museapp.com NEEDS iOS 13 or later Muse isn’t like other note-taking iPad apps. Its makers call it a ‘spatial canvas’ and it’s designed to work rather like stacks of material sitting on your desk.

From £11.99 (free trial available) FROM Lux Optics, halide.cam NEEDS iOS 12.2 or higher Halide 2 builds on the success of the original and very popular camera app, maintaining its focus on usability while adding a bunch of clever new features that ta

£4.99 FROM Silvio Rizzi, reeder.app NEEDS iOS 14 or later Reeder is one of the most popular RSS readers for iOS/iPadOS (and Mac), and version 5 has some really useful new features. It’s been released as a new app rather than an upgrade option, so it’

£4.99 FROM Crunchy Bagel, streaks.app NEEDS iOS 12/watchOS 4 (some features require iOS 14/watchOS 7) Whether it’s drinking enough water, flossing your teeth or practising a language you’re learning, there’s a big difference between knowing you shoul

Winter usually means more nights at home, and that’s been truer than ever for the end of 2020 and the beginning of 2021. Still, for bookworms at least that means even more time for settling down and escaping with a good book. Here, we’ve chosen some

From £1,049 Ever since the famous Bondi Blue iMac debuted in August 1998, Apple’s all-in-one desktop computer has been setting standards in gorgeous design and powerful performance. Apple’s innovation was as clear back then as it is today – the iMac

Master your iPhone’s Home screen with our pick of the best widget apps for iOS 14 How to use the Apple TV Remote in Control Centre Cut your carbon footprint with eevie Learn to draw with SketchAR! … and much more! Contents subject to change ISSUE 362

Given the recent release of the AirPods Max, available to you for a mere £549, it seems apt to look at one of the first Apple audio products – the original earbud headphones. Released with the first iPod on 23 October, 2001, in their way, these headp