There’s a lot to like in iOS 16, so I couldn’t resist installing the first beta to test the best new features. Here’s my hands-on experience with the new Lock Screen, improvements in the Messages and Mail apps, and more. These are just my favorites from the couple of days I’ve had to test the initial beta.
Plus, the next version of iOS adds other features that might be great — when Apple gets them working right.
Gone are the days where folks needed a document scanner sitting atop their desks. Instead, we have our trusty iPhones! When friends ask me which app they should be using to turn paper documents into PDFs, I point them in the direction of SwiftScan. Let me tell you why.
One of the most-requested iPad features is here. Stage Manager in iPadOS 16 puts applications in resizable, floating windows. I’ve tested the first beta of the new system for several days now, and there’s a lot to like. And there’s plenty of frustration too. But some of that comes from this being an early beta.
Here’s my hands-on experience with the iPad’s new multitasking system, and why I think it’s going to change the way many of us use our tablets.
Forget your whisk, chef’s knife or food-mixer. Apple’s iPhone should be your go-to device when it comes to preparing delicious meals in the kitchen. While it’s incredibly handy having Siri nearby to set multiple cooking timers, our iPhones, iPads and Macs can also double as digital recipe-books. And when it comes to recipe apps, trust me: The best out there is Mela.
The last time we published an Awesome Apps of the Week roundup, I asked for you (or your friends) to email me or tweet at me with new apps (or app updates) worth checking out. And, as evidenced here, some of you came through. Also, it seems like there have actually been some cool/interesting new apps coming out lately. Thanks to the combination of those two things, we’re back with a great camera app, a super-fun new game, and an app that’s helping me budget better!
★★★☆☆
Iranian spy chief Faraz loses everything as Mossad agent Tamar plans to do just the same thing in this week’s high-strung episode of Tehran. Having had two attempts to kill Mohammadi thwarted by circumstance, Tamar is ready to risk everything to kill him if she must.
Meanwhile, Milad finds himself at the end of his tether, Marjan must flee the country, and absolutely nobody’s cover is safe.
As the second season of the Apple TV+ spy thriller winds down, the show sticks to its best tricks: simply showing the nuts and bolts of spycraft and broken allegiances.
★★★☆☆
Apple TV+ period drama The Essex Serpent is in sullen repose this week as Stella gets bad news, Cora is in mourning for a relationship that never was, Martha has to decide who or what she really wants, and Will denies himself the pleasures of the flesh.
After last week’s wild party, the miniseries stumbles a little for the first time. Still, The Essex Serpent — based on the bestselling novel by Sarah Perry — manages to be a graceful and bewitching thing, as usual.
★★★☆☆
Panic is the name of the game on this week’s sexy and tragic installment of Now and Then on Apple TV.
Flora’s losing her grip on the investigation — and her own moral authority. Hugo’s in a coma, Marcos is being bugged, Pedro and Ana are looking down the barrel of an audit and jail time (and that’s not even for the killing).
The show’s balance of murder, mayhem, bedroom-hopping and politics has been at a low boil all season, and it looks like it may be ready to blow its top and spill all over the kitchen floor.
★★★☆☆
Apple TV+ thriller Shining Girls draws to a shocking close Friday as time is pulled out from under Jin-Sook and Kirby like a rug. Time-bending serial killer Harper’s on a mission to change history, and Kirby realizes she has only hours to stop him, no matter how.
The show, which spends too little time on the consequences of having your world changed from a humanist point of view, nevertheless gets credit for doing such a great job handling the plot points.
Apple TV+ just fired up another season of Physical, its antisocial character study about a would-be aerobics instructor/grifter/star. Let’s see if the show learned anything from season one’s imbalances and split-personality disorder.
Sheila Rubin, the wannabe workout queen played by Rose Byrne, is still talking to herself about the filth that is humanity, and everyone’s outfits are still ugly. Let’s do this thing!
★★★★☆
Strange to think that until quite recently, people carried around separate chargers for each device. And some people still do. But if you’re on the go for work or leisure, wouldn’t it be much better to bring one compact charging device and a few cables?
With compact and potent gallium nitride (GaN) chargers, you can — if yours has the requisite power and ports.
The Ugreen 65W GaN Fast Charger seems like a Goldilocks type, in that regard. At 65W of power output, it’s strong, but not as big as even more-potent chargers. And it has three ports to cover your basic charging needs.
There are loads of Safari web extensions in the App Store, all of which pimp out Apple’s mobile browser in interesting and exciting ways. But the very best Safari web extension is called Noir. This must-have extension brings Dark Mode support to every website you visit.
Here’s why you should download it immediately.
★★☆☆☆
Apple TV+’s Tehran goes to jail this week as everybody’s best-laid plans come crashing down. As the tension on the show ratchets up approaching the season finale, the obvious imbalance in the two groups of opposing Mossad and Iranian agents shrinks.
That makes watching the show for fun a little easier, but always there’s a lingering uneasiness about who Tehran’s heroes and villains really are.
★★★☆☆
Shining Girls enters its endgame this week in a thrilling episode that’s heavy on plot and light on psychological depth. Just as Kirby (played by Elisabeth Moss) thinks she finally understands the next step in serial killer Harper’s game plan, reporter Dan runs off to chase leads. And her bewildered husband Marcus betrays them both without meaning to.
Can anyone hold onto their reality long enough to come out on top? This terrifically directed episode has the answers.
★★★★☆
Apple TV+’s Now and Then, a Miami-based murder mystery, starts to play dirty this week.
New roommates Marcos, Isabel and Sofia are primed to turn on each other. Political couple Ana and Pedro have a huge, expensive mess on their hands. Mother and son Daniela and Hugo might have more secrets than anyone. And Detective Neruda finally opens up about the reasons she’s so committed to catching and convicting all of them.
This sleek little show has as much confidence as it does wonderfully seedy plot threads. The excellent first season continues apace.
★★★★★
There’s a party tonight on The Essex Serpent and everyone’s invited. But no one’s going to have the time they imagined. Things take a turn for the biblical this week with red paint on sinners’ homes and adultery in every hearth. Dancing leads to sex, and nobody’s in the bed they ought to be.
Apple TV+ miniseries The Essex Serpent bids a tearful farewell to good taste this week — and then enjoys the ever-loving hell out of the depraved no man’s land.
☆☆☆☆☆
Apple TV+ is trying to kill me, specifically, the guy writing this. They’re trying to kill me. Send help. I am begging you, find someone, call the United Nations. You see, Apple TV+ bought Carpool Karaoke from The Late Late Show With James Corden — and it’s bringing the dreadful reality show back for another season.
The only saving grace is that Corden is not here, presumably because he’s harvesting the tears of children. There’s puff journalism, and then there’s treating the idea of Carpool Karaoke as some beloved cultural fixture and allowing celebrities the chance to “prove” how well they can sing and how fun they are.
Created by former Apple employee Christian Selig, Apollo for Reddit is hands-down the best Reddit reader out there. Forget the official Reddit client for iOS and iPadOS – Apollo is the app I return to day after day when it comes to exploring the fascinating world of Reddit.
In my view, the official Reddit app feels like a rehashed version of Reddit’s freewheeling website. Meanwhile, Apollo is a proper piece of mobile software — the real McCoy, if you will. It gives you a fantastically effective interface for digesting the mountain of news and topical info posted by Reddit’s millions of users.
Now don’t get me wrong. Apollo is by no means swish, flash and fancy. It’s instead the exact opposite – stripped-down and streamlined. But believe me: When it comes to browsing Reddit while on the move, this app gets the job done.
★★★★☆
The BluShark AlphaPremier Apple Watch Band skips over the usual materials – leather or metal – and goes for seatbelt webbing. I used it for weeks with my Watch and found a lot of reasons to like it.
Read to to see why a surprising choice of materials makes for a comfortable, durable band.
Honestly, I think we could all do with a bit of Wild Journey in our lives. Wild Journey is my favorite mindfulness app for iPhone and iPad.
When I reach the end of the day and feel the need to relax and unwind, Wild Journey is the app I turn to. I find it helps me switch off and empty my mind like no other relaxation app. Let me explain why, starting with the basics.
★★★★☆
Apple TV+’s newest docuseries is Prehistoric Planet, which delves into the lives and habits of a host of dinosaurs. Arriving next week — just in time to get kids of all ages excited about Jurassic World Dominion — the five-part series offers all the usual pleasures of presenter David Attenborough’s nature documentaries.
Viewers can learn — and be awed by the state-of-the-art CGI creature design and gorgeous location photography — all at once.
★★☆☆☆
Apple TV+ spy thriller Tehran throws a sexy and tense pool party so Mossad agent Tamar can get one over on her targets: the head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and his tech bro son. She has to play a game of cat and mouse with a couple of rich, violent people to get close enough to deploy a decoy that will give her the upper hand — and maybe kill the man responsible for the deaths of her family.
Of course, she put them in danger in the first place, something the show isn’t interested in exploring anymore now that there’s a new spy game afoot. But no matter. Once more unto the breach.
★★★★☆
New Apple TV+ series The Essex Serpent is knee-deep in conspiracy and suspicion already. The English townspeople think Naomi Banks is some kind of witch, and they don’t think much better of interloper Cora Seaborne, either.
This week’s episode, entitled “Falling,” goes to place unexpected and expected — and both are as exciting to arrive at.
★★★★☆
MacBooks with an Apple M1 processor can handle only one external monitor, but the OWC USB-C Dual HDMI 4K Display Adapter with DisplayLink doubles the number. And Mac mini users can connect to three monitors with it.
I put the USB-C HDMI adapter through a round of testing to be sure it lived up to the claims.
★★★☆☆
Apple TV+ thriller Shining Girls takes a detour into the past to reveal the origins of serial killer Harper Curtis and the time-traveling house. It involves a broken friendship, a dead elderly couple, and more lies and betrayals.
Harper wasn’t always a maniac traveling through time killing whomever struck his fancy, though. He was once a lowly doughboy with no dreams and a crush. And then, power turned him evil.