D. Griffin Jones - page 8

Gestures are a great way to become an iPad power user. They help you easily navigate through apps, switch between pages, access controls, and reduce multiple taps to a single swipe. iPad gestures prove especially useful for Stage Manager, the iPad’s alternative multitasking environment.

Apple designed these iPad gestures to mimic natural, real-world movements, making them intuitive to use and learn. Swiping, pinching, tapping and other moves feel familiar. You should find them easy to master.

If you use your iPad a lot, these gestures are well worth learning. Your fingers will thank you!

Should your next computer be a MacBook or an iPad? Apple is making the iPad more powerful and capable every year — it might be good enough that you don’t need a traditional computer in your life.

While macOS is still more powerful and versatile, the iPad’s hardware offers unique capabilities that no Mac can match. The iPad is easier to pick up and use, more portable and more reliable. It’s worth considering over a laptop if you don’t do a lot of specialized work.

Here are the pros and cons, MacBook vs. iPad: Price, easy of use, portability and more. Keep reading below or watch our video.

Apple News+ just added a new daily word game called Quartiles. It’s a fun word-building puzzle with a clean interface and no ads. If you want to score maximum points each day, you’ll need to know how to play Quartiles and all the tips and tricks you need to succeed.

Daily word games have been making a big comeback ever since Wordle went viral a few years ago. Sites like Puzzmo and lex.games offer a whole catalog of daily games. The New York Times offers Wordle alongside Connections, Sudoku, the crossword and others.

Apple is now getting in on the game, possibly to boost subscribers to Apple News+, adding Quartiles alongside two daily crossword puzzles that arrived in iOS 17. Here’s how to play Quartiles — keep reading below or watch our instructional video.

After you’ve settled on a model and the specs you need, there’s still one more crucial decision to make before you buy a MacBook Pro: silver vs. space gray. And with the MacBook Air, you have two more options (starlight and midnight).

If you want an attractive and cohesive setup, the color of your Mac is the centerpiece of the whole look.

Which color is best? I always go with silver — but here are some things to consider before you make your decision.

If you still own an Intel MacBook Air, it might be time to upgrade to the new MacBook Air with M3. But what about if you own a MacBook Air running on an M1 or M2 chip? In those cases, it’s not as obvious if you should upgrade to the latest model.

Now that the newer models feature efficient and powerful Apple silicon chips, the MacBook Air is the laptop that strikes the right balance of speed and portability for most people. The thin design is easy to slip into a backpack and the battery will last all day — even when juggling dozens of apps.

How badly you need to upgrade to an M3 MacBook Air depends on which model you’re coming from. Our easy guide will help you decide. Check the infographic below or watch the video.

You own an iPad Pro, and you’re wondering if you should upgrade to the new iPad Pro with M4. We feel your pain. Announced on May 7, 2024, the new iPad Pro features the brand-new M4 chip. It’s the top-of-the-line iPad with a gorgeous Tandem OLED display and a radical thin-and-light design.

It’s easily upgradable with the new Apple Pencil Pro and refreshed Magic Keyboard. But whether it’s worth upgrading depends on which iPad Pro you use right now. We put together a guide to help you decide. Check the infographic below or watch the video.

Depending on which model of iPad you own, it might be time to upgrade to the new iPad Air with M2. Announced on May 7, 2024, the new iPad Air features a speedy Apple M2 chip. It’s a great middle-of-the-road iPad, with plenty of storage on the base model and a nice display that’s now available in a 13-inch size. It’s easily upgradable with the Apple Pencil and Magic Keyboard.

However, whether it’s worth upgrading to the M2 iPad Air depends on which iPad you already own — so we put together a buying guide to help you make the decision. Check the infographic below or watch the video.

The iPhone has a one-handed mode for the keyboard and a feature called Reachability for tapping buttons on the top of the screen. Learning how to use both these features can help you shoot out a text or use apps on your phone in one hand while you’re doing something else or walking around with a cup of coffee.

As iPhones continue to get bigger and bigger, these features become ever more important. Here’s how to activate the iPhone’s one-handed keyboard and use Reachability. Keep reading or watch the video.

Today’s “Let Loose” Apple event overhauled the iPad lineup. Apple unleashed a new iPad Pro and iPad Air, the refreshed Apple Pencil Pro, a sleek new Magic Keyboard, and lowered the price of the regular iPad. The iPad mini was acknowledged, too.

If you don’t have time to sit through the 38-minute presentation, here it is in just 90 seconds.

Just seven months after the M3 chip debuted, Apple shocked expectations by unveiling the new iPad Pro with the introduction of the brand-new M4 chip. The M4 chip is built on second-generation three-nanometer technology that’s even more power efficient.

Tim Millet, Apple’s vice president of platform architecture and hardware technologies, says the M4 chip was “essential to deliver incredible performance” in the new iPad Pro, which is now “the most powerful device of its kind.”

The M4 chip was a last-minute rumor broken by Mark Gurman, which was dismissed by some as being unfeasible only half a year after M3 rolled out in last year’s MacBook Pro.

These are the best Mac apps that’ll help you through all kinds of work — writing, graphic design, video editing — with a few simple (must-have) utilities that everyone can make use of.

Finding good apps can be hard, especially if you’re new to the Mac. Luckily, we’ve put together a list of the very best.

Keep reading or watch our video guide instead.

You can change the name of your Apple devices, whether you have an iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, Mac, AirPods or Apple TV. By default, it’s just “[your name]’s iPhone.” But you can give your iPhone its own unique name, like Kit-Kat or Magic Rectangle.

Also by default, when you set up a new iPhone, the name is transferred. This can get confusing if you keep old phones around because you’ll see “John’s iPhone,” “John’s iPhone (2),” maybe even “John’s iPhone (3)” and more. The same is true for Apple Watch, Mac, iPad and AirPods.

The name of your device shows up among a bunch of Apple features like AirDrop, Find My, Personal Hotspot, AirPlay and more. If you use these features often, giving it a unique name will make it easier to identify.

Here’s how to fix this mess on all your Apple devices. Keep reading or watch our video.

It’s possible to remove an Apple ID from your iPhone without a password using UnlockGo.

You can unlock iCloud Activation Lock without a password or the previous owner, remove a forgotten Screen Time passcode without data loss, bypass MDM locks and more. It’s a really powerful app and it’s available for both Mac and PC.

If you get a second-hand iPhone but find out the seller didn’t fully reset it beforehand, UnlockGo will fix it. Here’s how it works.

If you don’t have your phone on silent, you may as well have a fun, custom iPhone ringtone. After all, custom Home Screens and Lock Screens are all the rage — you can create a ringtone that matches your aesthetic.

Between wearing an Apple Watch and leaving my phone muted, I almost never hear my ringtone, but needs and preferences vary. If you don’t wear an Apple Watch and you carry your phone in a bag or purse, a ringtone is the only way you’ll hear a call coming in.

It’s not super straightforward, but here’s how you can make a custom iPhone ringtone out of an MP3 using just your phone. Keep reading below or watch our video.

If you want a game emulator on iPhone, the Delta app is now available on the App Store to play games for Nintendo DS, GameBoy, GameBoy Advance, NES, SNES and N64.

That means you can play classic Nintendo games like Super Mario Bros., Donkey Kong, Zelda, Castlevania, and many, many more.

Download it for free on the App Store or from AltStore PAL in the EU. Playing classic Nintendo games on iPhone has never been easier. You don’t need to jailbreak, sideload through a computer or compile the emulator from source code anymore. And it’s legal-ish.

Here’s how to use Delta. Keep reading below or watch our latest video.

Recover and undelete lost photos from an SD card with Stellar Photo Recovery Premium, a versatile tool that can rescue your work from corrupt files and formatting.

The worst nightmare of every content creator is getting back to your Mac, plugging in your SD card, only to find all your work from a photo shoot is missing.

Stellar Photo Recovery can save the heartache. This tool for Mac and PC can restore photos and videos that have been deleted or corrupted from all kinds of storage media and all major cameras.

It’s available from Stellar’s website with a free trial. The Premium version typically costs $69.99, but Cult of Mac readers get an extra $10 discount.

If your Mac is running slow, there are a few things you can do to speed it up and better understand what’s slowing it down.

It’s not just that your Mac is old — although that is an important factor. It could be that you don’t have enough memory, especially if you like to use Google Chrome. You may have a bunch of apps running in the background. There also might be dust in the vents, keeping your Mac from running nice and cool.

Check out our latest video or keep reading to learn why your Mac is slow and how to speed it up.

You can queue songs in Apple Music so that the tracks you want to hear play automatically, one after another. You don’t need to wait for the song to end and manually play the next one. 

I also have a pro tip for clearing the queue if you want to start over, because Apple Music doesn’t have an easy “clear” button on the iPhone. 

Plus, you can let friends add songs to the queue from their own phones — even if they don’t have an Apple Music subscription. Watch our video or keep reading below.

You can scan and open a QR code directly from your iPhone camera or a picture — you don’t have to download a third-party app. Here are the three ways you can open them: inside the camera, using a shortcut in Control Center and directly from your photo library. 

If you’re in a restaurant and you want to open their digital menu, or you’re setting up two-factor authentication using a code, you don’t want to fiddle with installing an app. This functionality is built right into your phone.

Keep reading or watch our short video.

After Apple’s thunderous launch of the M3, M3 Pro and M3 Max chips a few months ago, these chips likely will roll out as spec bumps in the MacStudio, Mac Pro and Mac mini later this year.

An M4 MacBook Pro remains a possibility for this fall. (I suspect M4 will be the first “must-have” Mac upgrade for anyone still on an M1-series chip.)

It’s hard to know where to start on Apple Arcade because the service offers so many titles. But we scoured the catalog and found all the best Apple Arcade games so you can get right to the good stuff.

Check out our latest video or keep reading below to see the best Apple Arcade games. And if you like what you see, you can pick up a subscription here.

There are lots of questions about how to take solar eclipse photos with your iPhone. Firstly, can a solar eclipse harm your iPhone’s camera or lenses? Won’t the sun’s rays damage the camera?

Not according to Apple. Cupertino says it’s safe to photograph a total solar eclipse with your iPhone; but be sure to protect your eyes.

However, photographing the solar eclipse is hard without the right tools. To get a good picture of the solar eclipse with your iPhone, you’re going to need a 12-18x telephoto lens attachment, a solar filter and a tripod. Make sure you have everything you need before the big event on Monday.

Here’s how you can get prepared. Watch our new video or keep reading below.

The SwitchEasy Orbit Universal Magnetic Stand is an incredibly handy little stand that’s sturdy and easy to use. It’s seamlessly blended into my daily iPhone habits — and unlike most products I review, everyone I show it to instantly wants one. 

The handy stand props up your iPhone on a table, desk or kitchen counter. Its puck shape allows you to orient your phone vertically or horizontally. It collapses and folds flat, so you can carry it around. 

You can also stick on double-sided tape and attach it to the back of your monitor as a camera mount for your iPhone.

I’ve been using it for a few months now at my desk and around the house. Here’s why I recommend it.

You can share passwords on iPhone automatically with your entire family, so you don’t have to reuse the same password everywhere or let everyone in your family know when a shared password is changed.

Setting up this feature is easy and saves the hassle of being texted “hey I can’t get into Amazon, what’s that password again?” and “I need you to send me the code.” When you set up shared passwords, two-factor authentication and passkeys are shared, too.

It’s a huge time-saver, and highly recommended.

Here’s how to set it up.

If you’re looking for a hardy velcro EDC watch band for your Apple Watch, Mifa has you covered. Mifa’s Nylon Sports Leather Apple Watch Band is sturdy, the velcro is strong and the stitched leather is high-quality.

It’s a nice band for daily wear.

It comes in five different styles. The gray-on-black NASA-inspired design is my favorite. Two other designs in brown and black emphasize “EDC-34 Essential Series” with the Mifa name. And two new versions (in green and orange) sport NASA’s classic “meatball” insignia.