Clouds, unlike those where your iMessages will now be stored. Photo: Charlie Sorrel/Cult of Mac
The iOS 11.4 update finally brings Messages in iCloud, which means you can treat your iMessages like you treat your photos.
Your messages will sync across all iOS devices and should work soon on Mac. (Update: It works on Mac now, once you update to macOS 10.13.5). You can even delete them from an iPhone or iPad that’s short on space. But they will remain accessible from the cloud. Here’s how to switch on iCloud support for Messages.
The sound at home is about to get sweeter with iOS 11.4. Photo: Apple
iOS 11.4 is finally here, bringing AirPlay 2’s multi-room audio capabilities as well as the long-awaited ability to use two HomePods in stereo.
The free update uses AirPlay 2 to move music from room to room or play the same music throughout the home on compatible speaker systems. You can control music using an iOS device, HomePod, Apple TV or making requests through Siri.
What Steam Link would have looked like on iPhone. Photo: Valve
Apple vice president Phil Schiller has offered clarification on Steam Link’s App Store ban in an email to disgruntled iOS users.
Valve’s hotly-anticipated app violates a number of guidelines, including those around in-app purchases, as suspected. Schiller insists, however, that Apple will work with Valve in an effort to resolve the problems and bring Steam Link to the App Store.
Will iPhones go colorful again this year? Photo: TechnoCodex
The 2018-era iPhone refresh could be a bit more colorful than recent years if two new images are to believed.
Supposedly leaked from one of the iPhone manufacturing plants in India, the pictures show two alleged iPhone prototypes, complete with “rich gold stainless steel frame” and violet and green color glass backs.
Up your skills in Microsoft Office, one of the most widely-used productivity platforms. Photo: Cult of Mac Deals
No matter where you work, Microsoft Office isn’t far away. It’s the productivity platform for countless businesses, used for word processing, spreadsheets, emails, presentations and more. So one surefire way to enhance your resume is by mastering Microsoft Office.
Ready to ditch your iPhone X already? There's still time to get a great price! Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac
All iPhone models launching in 2019 will get an OLED display, according to a new report.
Apple is expected to finally ditch LCD displays entirely, however, one of three new handsets expected to arrive this September — the most affordable model — could have an improved LCD panel.
Are A-chips coming soon to a Mac near you? Photo: Apple
Apple manufacturer Pegatron has reportedly received orders from Apple to manufacture an ARM-based MacBook model, codenamed “Star” or “N84.” ARM processors are currently used for Apple’s iPads and iPhone, but not its Macs.
CarPlay and Android Auto were found on roughly half of new cars sold in Q1. Photo: Hyundai
Compared to iOS or even macOS, Apple’s CarPlay in-vehicle standard seems relatively minor in terms of importance. However, according to a new report, in-car systems such as this are rapidly becoming the norm.
In the first three months of this year, analysts at Canalys suggest that Apple’s CarPlay or Google’s Android Auto were available in 46 percent of new vehicles sold in Europe, and 52 percent of new vehicles sold in the U.S.
In order to compete with giants like Apple Music and Spotify, Pandora is matching their pricing with a $15-per-month Premium Family plan. The monthly subscription grants up to six family members access to the service with no ads, plus superior audio quality compared to Pandora’s free tier.
We've selected many of our best brands for this sale including Nomad, Twelve South, Noreve, Strapa, Just Mobile. Trilotac and many more! Photo: Noreve
Memorial Day weekend is no exception to the epic sales typically found on holiday weekends. In addition to a little R&R, why not spend a minute treating yourself to some great scores on Apple Watch bands?
Cult of Mac Watch Store’s Memorial Day Weekend Sale will offer up to 25 percent off the majority of our vendors. You’ll find great discounts on some of our most popular brands for Apple Watch straps, chargers and stands. Sale ends Monday, so check out these stellar discounts while they last, and see some of our featured brands below.
To open a link in a new tab in Safari for iPhone or iPad, you have to tap and hold the link, then wait for a pop-up menu to arrive. That’s a long wait, and it got even longer in iOS 11, thanks to the addition of drag-and-drop. Your iPhone or iPad waits a little longer just to check you’re not planning to drag that link somewhere.
But what if there were a one-tap way to open links in a new tab? You could power through a list of links, tap tap tap, and they’d all open up in new background tabs, loaded and ready to read. It would be like command-clicking on the Mac. Well, there is such a trick, and it’s super-super easy to use.
Just say no to long, hostile checklists. Photo: Cult of Mac
You’re most likely sick of the GDPR notifications coming at you via email and the web, but they’re actually great. Or rather, GDPR itself is great. Unlike the EU cookie notices that still seem to pop up in your browser, GDPR is actually useful, and shows the U.S. what happens when government looks after the interests of citizens, not corporations.
Thanks to GDPR, internet giants are being forced to change what they do with all the personal data they harvest from you. And hidden behind those many, many GDPR notices are opt-out lists1 that let you limit what data these companies can share.
Of course, many of these companies are making it as difficult as possible to actually change these settings. Tumblr, for instance, lists all of the companies to which it supplies your information, and gives no “uncheck all” option.
I got sick of this, so I made a bookmarklet to uncheck all the boxes on any website with just one click.
Diving into Reddit is intuitive and fun with Narwhal. Photo: Ian Fuchs/Cult of Mac
Reddit isn’t something that is typically associated with the modern features and design of iOS. While much of the platform calls back to the days of user forums, it is indispensable as a source of news, conversation and entertainment for many. With Narwhal, you can make the most of your Reddit experience on iOS — and find the latest trends or the dankest memes.
This week we take lots of photos with the new manual camera app Obscura 2, then we delete them again with the duplicate and junk-finding app, Gemini Photo. And while we’re waiting for those duplicate photos to get scanned, we waste a bit of our lives playing Pocket Run Pool.
Memorial Day weekend is still kicking (it’s a long one), so we’re still turning out can’t-miss deals on tools and tech. This go-round, we’ve got a palm-size drone, a master class in Photoshop, an awesome Apple Watch charging dock, and lots more.
Everything is massively discounted — by as much as 97 percent!
In this week's Cult of Mac Magazine: WWDC is right around the corner, which means we’re about to get our very first look at Apple’s next major update to iOS. Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac
In this week’s Cult of Mac Magazine: We’re expecting big things from iOS 12, including a whole host of improvements that will make our devices more stable, and plenty of welcome bug fixes. Apple will surely surprise us with some nice new features, too at WWDC 2018.
Here’s our lengthy wish list for this update, which includes a Home screen overhaul, a more powerful FaceTime, better multitasking, and more!
You’ll find that story and more in this issue. Celebrate Memorial Day Weekend with three days of great savings on Apple Watch bands and accessories in Cult of Mac’sWatch Store. Get your free subscription to Cult of Mac Magazine from iTunes. Or read on for this week’s top stories.
We've rounded up some great deals on gear, gadgets, and lesson bundles. Photo: Cult of Mac Deals
Memorial day weekend is upon us, so there’s plenty of time to peruse this massive roundup of deals we’ve pulled together. Below you’ll find massive discounts on a top shelf-VPN, a solar powered lamp, Raspberry Pi lessons and lots more. These are already discounted deals, but you can save even more by using the coupon code ‘MEMDAY15’ at checkout. Read on for more details:
Apple strives to protect the privacy of its customers, but it's also required to comply with legal requests for information from law enforcement. Photo: Stefan Draschan
A locked iPhone can’t be accessed without the passcode, and even Apple can’t unlock it. But Apple has to comply with government requests for iCloud information.
And there are a lot of them. The company received 3,358 requests to access personal data in the second-half of 2017, with about half of these coming from the United States.
Pick up your new Apple Watch for $75 less. Photo: Apple
Apple began offering 4G-enabled smartwatches last fall, but it seems people don’t return them very often. It’s taken this long to build up a large enough supply of refurbished Apple Watch LTE units that they can finally be offered to the public.
Those who don’t mind a refurb can get this wearable at 15 percent off the regular price.
Instapaper Premium unlocks awesome features. Photo: Charlie Sorrel/Cult of Mac
Instapaper has shut down in Europe. Instead of complying with the General Data Protection Regulation, or GDPR, which forces internet companies to stop hoarding your data, the read-later service has closed access for anyone trying to access their account from Europe. Clearly the two-years since the GDPR was announced wasn’t enough time to get ready.
That’s the bad news. The good news is that you can still download all your saved articles from Instapaper, and you can import them into am alternative. One option is Pocket, another read-later service, but that might leave you in a similar situation sometime in the future. Better to take care of business now, and move everything to Pinboard.
We’re expecting big things from iOS 12, including a whole host of improvements that will make our devices more stable, and plenty of welcome bug fixes. Apple will surely surprise us with some nice new features, too.
Here’s our lengthy wish list for this update, which includes a Home screen overhaul, a more powerful FaceTime, better multitasking, and more!
Obscura 2 gives you powerful camera controls in an easy-to-use package. Photo: Ian Fuchs/Cult of Mac
For several years in a row, the iPhone has been one of the most popular cameras in the world. Apple’s image sensors, paired with top-notch image processing, results in exceptional photos time and time again.
One thing absent from the default camera app, though, are manual settings. With Obscura 2, you get all the manual controls you want, plus a wide range of image-processing features, perfectly implemented haptics, and a slew of vintage filters to make your photos pop.
Apple could be about to make history! Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac
The giants of the financial world are firmly in Apple’s corner. First, mega investor Warren Buffett‘s company became Apple’s third-biggest public shareholder. Now investment titan Morgan Stanley has issued a note to clients, outlining why Apple is likely to pass a major financial milestone in the next year.
At time of writing, Apple is trading at $188.51. However, according to Morgan Stanley analyst Katy Huberty the stock has the potential to hit a price target of $214. Should it manage this feat, Apple will become the first company in history to surpass $1 trillion in market cap.
This browser extension prevents your email address from getting onto the lists of mass advertisers. Photo: Cult of Mac Deals
Email inboxes can be wild, unruly places. Spam filters can help cut down on noise to an extent, but inevitably we all end up sorting through countless messages from people we’ve never heard of, for things we have no interest in.
Typing on your iPad is about to get a whole lot louder. Photo: Rymek
Not garnering enough attention tapping away at your unfinished novel on your iPad in your local Starbucks? That will certainly change if you invest in Rymek’s latest keyboard accessory.
Designed to replicate the look and feel of a vintage typewriter, Rymek’s iPad-compatible mechanical keyboard will let you bash out the words between sips of whisky, while pretending you’re Mad Men‘s Don Draper.