Cult of Mac

Moving in with a romantic partner can be complicated and stressful. But an even higher level of stress comes when you merge your financial accounts.

There are ways to work things out, though. This intuitive app makes it easy for couples to plan their financial futures.

Apple’s new Intercom feature for HomePod (and HomePod mini) sounds really interesting and useful. Depending on what Apple gear you own, and what software versions you’re running, you might be able to give it a spin right now.

Our lead story this week will show you how to get Intercom set up (and why you’ll want to). But there’s also plenty of Apple news, rumors and recommendations. Highlights include our iPhone 12 review and a wrap from this week’s surprising financial update: 7 nuggets of truth from Apple’s latest earnings call.

It’s all in this week’s free issue of Cult of Mac Magazine. Download it now to read on your iOS device, or get the headlines below in your browser.

Being cooped up just makes the allure of the open road even stronger. And what better way to hit the road than in a brand-new Tesla? We can’t think of an answer either!

We’re extra-excited about this chance to win a 2021 Tesla Model 3 — and support a great charity in the process.

If you’re lucky enough to have already picked up an iPhone 12 or 12 Pro, and you live in an area where 5G is available, you may have noticed that you sometimes see different 5G icons in your status bar.

There are three altogether, and they change depending on what kind of 5G network you’re connected to. Here’s how to understand them.

Apparently there was something to all those complaints about active noise cancellation in AirPods Pro. Apple just launched a program to replace defective AirPods Pro earbuds that have audio problems, including sucky ANC.

Apple on Friday gave developers access to iOS 14.2 golden master, along with the iPadOS equivalent. This is the last step before releasing these new versions to the public.

When available to all, iOS 14.2 will offer plenty of fun new emoji, as well as Shazam music recognition integrated into the Control Center.

This week on The CultCast: Next-gen AirPods might bring massive changes — we’ll tell you what we know!Plus: The original HomePod remains absolutely outstanding, but the new Intercom feature needs work. And we’ve got another update on Erfon’s $100,000 AAPL stock investment!

The CultCast is now available in video! Or subscribe to our audio episodes if you don’t like our faces.

Treat yourself to one of the best Apple Watch upgrades money can buy: A luxury leather band made just for you by the fine folks at Form Function Form. You can now get 15% off the entire lineup in the Cult of Mac Store’s Halloween Sale.

This limited-time sale must end this weekend, so enjoy it while you can.

Forget Halloween. And what election? The biggest event happening is the premier of The Mandalorian season 2 on Friday. You can celebrate with a Star Wars-themed case for your iPhone, including one just released for the latest model.

South of the Circle is a narrative adventure game that starts with a plane crash in Antarctica in 1964. Its animation style results from motion-captured performances from a cast of actors.

The story begins Friday on Apple Arcade, this company’s subscription gaming service.

The app economy has done well during the coronavirus pandemic but some categories have done better than others. According to a new report by app analytics platform Sensor Tower, one category of app that has done exceptionally well are home improvement apps.

In the United States, first-time installs of the top home improvement apps doubled year-over-year between the months of March and September. Monthly active users also grew by 35% during that time.

Mark Zuckerberg isn’t happy about an iOS 14 feature that will make it harder for developers and advertisers to track iPhone users — on the basis that the anti-tracking tech could hurt small businesses already struggling in the age of coronavirus.

In Thursday’s earnings call, the Facebook co-founder and CEO said that actions planned by Apple “could have a meaningful negative effect on small businesses and economic recovery in 2021 and beyond.”

Nothing beats the mind-to-hand connection of taking notes with pen and paper. At the same time, digital notes are superior in a number of ways: They take up no space, they don’t get lost, and they’re clean and legible no matter how bad your handwriting is.

Why not combine the best of both?

Apple has won another Emmy Award — but, no, it’s not for any of the great shows you’ll find on Apple TV+. Instead, on Thursday Apple was awarded an Engineering Emmy Award for its ProRes video codec, the high quality video compression format Apple developed — which is now standard issue in the movie business.

The award was given to Greg Wallace, director of video apps engineering at Apple. The awards show also featured a short video from Apple engineers Peter Chou and Mitchell Oslick. Check out the video below.

Apple’s celebrated spy drama Tehran reaches the end of the road Friday as the Apple TV+ airs its season finale.

The episode, titled “Five Hours Until the Bombing Run,” is one of three new shows on Apple TV+ this week. It means that, for the uninitiated, the entire series is now available for viewing. (Plus non-subscribers can tune in to watch the Halloween animated classic It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.)

COVID-19 both helped and hurt Apple earnings in the company’s most-recent financial quarter. CEO Tim Cook and CFO Luca Maestri discussed the nitty-gritty details of the results Thursday. They also shared what’s really going on with Apple as it tries to keep releasing best-selling products in the middle of a pandemic that’s upended the world economy and ordinary people’s lives.

Here are seven things we learned from Apple’s Q4 2020 earnings call.

Apple pulled in more revenue last quarter than in any previous July-through-September period, despite the COVID-19 pandemic. Growth came from sales of Mac and iPad, as well as revenue from services.

But iPhone revenue was down dramatically because of the delayed release of the iPhone 12 series. That hurt earnings significantly.

To get audiences primed for Wolfwalkers, Apple debuted on Thursday a “Legendary Prologue” for what will be first animated movie on Apple TV+. It introduces viewers to a medieval world where humans can transform into wolves.

Watch the video preview now.

Ahead of Apple postings its latest quarter results today, two of the company’s rivals — Samsung and Spotify — have published their own calendar Q3 results. And they’re good. But there’s a catch in both cases.

To put it mildly, 2020 hasn’t been the best year on record. It’s been a year that, at various times, makes you mad enough to throw things — like, err, bacon?

This oddball bacon-tossing concept is at the center of a game called *ahem* Bacon — The Game. Created by the excellent indie developer Philipp Stollenmayer (Sometimes You Die), it’s a strangely addicting game which I’ve played, off and on, for the past couple of years.

Today, Stollenmayer cranked up the crispiness by adding another 30 levels to the quirky game. If you’ve not played it before, this is a great time to give it a whirl. Or a toss.

Enjoy the biggest discount yet on Apple’s newest Powerbeats headphones, or save $50 on Powerbeats Pro with Amazon and Woot. These discounts won’t last long, so enjoy them while you can!

Apple was seemingly banking on the iPhone 12 being its most popular new handset this year. But it appears the company may have underestimated just how popular the new iPhone 12 Pro is with users.

According to Digitimes, Apple is ramping up orders for the LiDAR Scanner exclusive to the iPhone 12 Pro and 12 Pro Max models.

Guitar sales are soaring during COVID-19 quarantines, and that makes perfect sense. What better way to spend time at home than learning an instrument? But not everyone is sitting on their duff all day, and traveling with a guitar can be a serious headache. This portable guitar trainer makes your music studies truly portable.

The iPhone 12 mini won’t ship until November 13, but a video doing the rounds on Chinese social media shows an unboxing of Apple’s new miniature iPhone. Well, kind of.

The joke video shows the unboxing of an impressively accurate, shrunk-down copy of Apple’s iPhone mini. It’s reminiscent of the tiny cellphone in 2001’s Ben Stiller comedy Zoolander. And it’s kind of awesome.

Apple temporarily shuttered its Apple Walnut Street retail store in Philadelphia as the city is rocked by protests and riots following the killing of a black man, Walter Wallace Jr., by police.

According to Apple’s website, the store is closed from now through at least November 4. An asterisk on the page lists this as “special store hours.”