It's thought every handset has this problem. Photo: Leander Kahney/Cult of Mac
iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max owners are reporting animation stutters after leaving their handsets idle for around 10 seconds.
The problem, which is most obvious when opening or closing apps and scrolling pages, has reportedly been present for several months now. It persists in the latest iOS 12.2 betas, which suggests Apple hasn’t yet found a fix.
If you keep your stuff in Dropbox, it’s easy to grab a link to a file or a folder. Then you can send that link to another person or store it in, say, your to-do list so you can quickly open it with a click. You can even grab the link inside the iOS Files app.
But if you use iCloud, this simple task is no longer simple. In typical Apple style, a clean UI comes at the expense of hiding almost everything behind multiple taps and cryptic pop-up boxes. But all is not lost. You can actually grab a link to any file stored in your iCloud Drive — and use it in any app you please.
Wiplabs' Link Apple Watch Bracelet is built from the same steel alloy as the Apple Watch. Photo: Benjamin McKay/Cult of Mac
You don’t have to be an iron man or iron maiden to prefer some metal in your life, especially around your wrist. There are a lot of choices when it comes to holding your Apple Watch, but maybe you’re not hell-bent for leather or a fan of the Plastic Ono Band. You want a metal band and nothing else matters.
The Cult of Mac Watch Store has several metal Apple Watch bands available, from the affordable ($40 for a Rilee & Lo) to the high-end ($149 for a Juuk). Rush to check out a selection of these metal bands below.
Max out your aerobic fitness with Apple Watch. Photo: Graham Bower/Cult of Mac
Want to know how fit you really are? Apple Watch provides loads of insightful metrics you could check. So many, in fact, that there is not enough space for them all in the Workout app. Instead, you’ll find much of this crucial data buried away in the Health app on your iPhone.
One of the most interesting is VO2 max, which is basically the ultimate test of your aerobic fitness. If you’re into endurance sports, VO2 max is a metric you’ll want to check out.
Here’s a quick guide to everything you need to know about VO2 max on Apple Watch: What it is, how to use it, and how to improve yours.
Signing and returning PDFs on your iPhone is easier than doing it on paper. Photo: Charlie Sorrel/Cult of Mac
Scenario: Your divorce papers finally came through, and you can’t wait to sign the things. The trouble is, your spouse already took your office and your home, and you have no way to print or fax the documents. Or perhaps you need to stick your autograph on some other document, but all you have is your iPhone or iPad.
No worries. With recent versions of iOS, it’s easier than ever to sign a PDF form and return it to the sender. In fact, you don’t even need to leave the Mail app to do it. If you’re looking for a PDF converter iPhone users can rely on, check outthis guide for more details.
Forget a folding iPhone. The iPad U is a proposed folding iPad. Photo: Dongjae "Krystofer" Kim
Folding phones are getting lots of attention, but flexible screens can benefit tablets as well. A new concept video proposes a full-size iPad that can expand into a display larger than all but the biggest laptops.
Now's your chance to score a free iPhone XS Max and a set of wireless AirPods. Photo: Cult of Mac Deals
The latest Apple devices are impressive, but so are their price tags. So you’d be crazy not to jump at the chance to score the latest and greatest tech from Cupertino — for free!
Our iPhone XS Max and AirPods giveaway is just that chance.
Make sure you use the right cable. Photo: Charlie Sorrel/Cult of Mac
However old your iPhone is, it records great audio. You can use it as a dictaphone, to make field recordings of ambient sounds, to “tape” music, and even sample everyday noises and make music from them. But how do you do it? How do you hook up, say, a portable keyboard or an MP3 player to your iPhone, and actually save a recording? Let’s see.
That’s flexible glass, not plastic. Photo: Corning
Forget what you think you know about glass. Rather than being an utterly rigid material, Corning is close to producing a type of glass flexible enough to go in a future folding iPhone.
This material will be inherently superior to the plastic screens going into handsets like the Samsung Galaxy Fold.
Apple needs to add these features. Photo: Matt Birchler
The grand unveiling of watchOS 6 is probably just three months away, but a cool new concept from Matt Birchler suggests some simple features that will hopefully get added in time for Apple Watch lovers.
In his annual watchOS concept, developer Matt Birchler lists all the ways Apple could make the Apple Watch platform even better. Most of the suggestions are pretty simple, such as always on watch faces, and would be easy for Apple to add. Hopefully, Apple’s software engineers are taking notes of these ideas.
You're ready for action. Is your Apple Watch? Photo: Twelve South
While the Apple Watch is a great fitness tool, not every band is ready for the rough-and-tumble world of workouts. That black leather band that looks so smashing while you’re out on the town turns a bit sodden when you’re running the streets.
It’s key to get a band that will not only be comfortable, but able to survive whatever you put it through. That’s where the Cult of Mac Watch Store comes in. Check out our selection of Apple Watch sports bands, including the ones highlighted below.
Doesn't it look good? Photo: Killian Bell/Cult of Mac
Facebook Messenger now has a secret new dark mode on iOS, two months after the feature entered public testing. It looks particularly great on OLED devices, like the iPhone X and iPhone XS, and you can enable it in just a few simple steps.
This is an iPad Pro, believe it or not. Photo: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac
The Apple Smart Keyboard Folio for the 2018 iPad Pro is slim, lightweight and very useful. It’s also ugly as a mud fence. Slickwraps makes an array of “skins” designed to improve the appearance with bright colors, simulated wood grain or other options.
We tested this device cover to see whether it really enhances this iPad Pro add-on. Read on to find out how it did.
3D Touch can be awesome, or annoying. Photo: Charlie Sorrel/Cult of Mac
Apple may or may not be ready to euthanize 3D Touch. My view is that it sticks around, neglected and unloved, forever more. Like Dashboard on macOS. (Yes, Dashboard still exists.)
That would be a shame, as 3D Touch really is an excellent augmentation to a touchscreen device. It’s also quite tweakable. Here’s how to adjust how it works, and — if you really hate it — how to turn 3-D Touch off altogether.
Memento is way, way better than Apple’s own Reminders app. Photo: Charlie Sorrel/Cult of Mac
It seems like Apple’s Reminders app was made by a surly teenager who would rather have been watching YouTube videos than coding that afternoon. It offers the bare minimum of everything.
Our hypothetical teen developer clearly never actually needed to be reminded of anything, because entering something as obvious as a task with a due date takes four taps at various spots on the screen just to get to the date picker. And remember that this is a reminders app, the purpose of which is to remind you of things. Imagine a text editor where you had to press each letter key several times to type that letter.
Fortunately, you can pick from a zillion other iOS reminders apps, and all of them use the same central Reminders lists you already probably utilize. Today we’ll see how to set a reminder way, way quicker than with Apple’s built-in abomination. Today we’ll check out how to use Memento.
AluBase is a wireless charger that actually looks good. Photo: Just Mobile
The Cult of Mac Watch Store loves the Apple Watch, yes, but what we really desire is power. While we might never get the power to do whatever we want, there is plenty of power that we can acquire for a reasonable cost. Yes, we’re talking about chargers and electricity here, not dominion over all things.
The store recently added some slick ways to keep your devices full of juice from our friends at Just Mobile. See those below, and be sure to check out all our other power options.
Who needs pockets when you have the Sutter Sling Pouch? Photo: SF Bags
Only in the United States do men try to carry all their essential out-of-home possessions in their pockets. Wallet, keys, phone, spare battery, AirPods, Leatherman. So wedded are men to this principal that they ridicule small bags by calling them “murses.” Either that, or they use things like cellphone holsters or fanny packs, which are pretty much social death.
In Europe (but not in the U.K.), men just carry small bags. And they call them “bags,” or whatever the local name is. Whatever, it’s definitely not el murse. Now, men in the U.S. can catch up to the the rest of the world with WaterField Designs’ Sutter Sling Pouch, a gentleman’s handbag that’s just big enough for you to empty your pockets into.
One of Apple's self-driving vehicles in the wild. Photo: Idiggapple/Twitter
Apple’s self-driving car project may be nearing the end of the road.
After rumors surfaced last month that the company slashed its workforce for Project Titan, Apple confirmed today that 190 employees in Santa Clara and Sunnyvale have been released from the self-driving car project.
Apple's Apple Watch business grew 50% last quarter. Photo: Graham Bower/Cult of Mac
Apple Watch Activity Competitions are a perfect way to fall out with friends and colleagues. Simply send a challenge via the Activity app on your watch and, if they accept, a seven-day grudge match commences.
With Activity Competitions, a new feature in watchOS 5, it’s not the taking part that counts. It’s the winning. The winner receives a shiny virtual medal to add to their awards, while the loser gets zip.
Fortunately, when you know how Activity Competitions work, you can maximize your chance of winning every time. Here’s how.
The Nubia Alpha looks even uglier in real life. Photo: Nubia
Bendable displays are all the rage at MWC 2019 and one company took the idea to the extreme with a new phone that wraps around your wrist.
Nubia revealed its Alpha Wearable Smartphone that blurs the line between smartphone and watch. Wearing a giant computer on your wrist seems like it’d be annoying and impractical. Nubia’s weird creation is an interesting idea but it looks more like the Infinity Gauntlet than a watch.
Find My iPhone can be used for much more than just tracking iPhone-stealing criminals. Photo: Apple
Before you read the rest of this article about how to find your iPhone, check down the back of the sofa. No? OK, what about the pocket in the jacket you wore today? Still no? OK. Read on.
It might sound crazy to write about how to find your iPhone. After all, everyone knows about Find My iPhone, right? Well, perhaps. You know that it can be used to track a stolen iPhone on a map, if the perp hasn’t switched it off (which they almost certainly have).
But at least one writer here at Cult of Mac didn’t know that Find My iPhone is also great for finding your iPhone in your own home. That writer — let’s call him Luke Dormehl to avoid embarrassment — spent more than an hour trying to track down his muted iPhone before resorting to Apple’s tracking app.
AirMessage bridges the gap between iMessage and Android. Photo: AirMessage
Android lovers can finally bust out of the green bubble life without owning an iPhone.
Thanks to a new app that brings iMessage to Android, you can now enjoy one of Apple’s best features even if you don’t have an iOS device. It’s not a perfect solution and you’ll need a Mac but it’s better than any of the other workarounds we’ve seen.
Is that a folding iPhone? Or a folding iPad? Photo: Foldable News
At this week’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, phone-makers are demonstrating their folding phones. These range from the laughable (Samsung) to the desirable (Huawei), but none of them is really plausible. Why? Because nobody is going to buy a folding phone. Not now, and not in the future. At best they will be a niche product, like ruggedized laptops are now, for example.
No. The folding phone will probably never happen. But what about foldable tablets?
The delicate accent stitching looks great, but there's more to this Apple Watch band than meets the eye. Clessant uses prized Barenia leather from the Haas Tannery in France. Photo: Clessant
Let’s face it: Simpler isn’t always better. Sometimes a watch band is just a watch band, but sometimes you’d rather it be a fashion statement. If you want understated elegance, there’s classic black leather. Or perhaps something bright and exotic is the ticket — say, orange ostrich.
Whether it’s because you need to spruce up for a big event, or you just want to look smashing, check out these luxurious and exotic bands, available at the Cult of Mac Apple Watch Store.