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How Apple could fix the iPad home screen in iOS 13 [Opinion]

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Ipad home screen
It this really an appropriate home screen for the powerful 2018 iPad Pro?
Photo: Apple

According to rumors, iOS 13 will bring a redesigned home screen to the iPad. It’s about time. The grid of apps might have worked fine on the iPhone before the App Store, but after nine years of using the expanded version on the iPad, the joke is starting to get old.

So, if Apple is finally ready to make a home screen worthy of the iPad, we have a few suggestions.

What you need to know about playing Fortnite for iOS with a controller

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Fortnite mobile controller
You can now play at 120Hz on iPad Pro.
Photo: Killian Bell/Cult of Mac

Fortnite for iOS finally supports wireless game controllers. After installing the latest version 7.30 release, you can connect a compatible MFi controller and bid goodbye to fiddly touch controls.

But don’t expect exactly the same experience as on consoles, and don’t assume you’re going to have an advantage over other mobile players.

Here’s what you need to know about playing Fortnite for iOS with a controller.

Xiaomi just convinced me I need a foldable phone

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Xiaomi foldable phone
We're not exactly clamoring for one.
Photo: Lin Bin/Xioami

“What’s the point of a foldable phone?” That’s the question the Cult of Mac team was asking when Samsung confirmed its first is coming this year. But after seeing Xiaomi’s impressive foldable phone prototype, I really, really want one.

Check out the teaser video below and try telling me it doesn’t look awesome.

How to share photos safely with Shortcuts

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Removing geodata won’t always protect a photo’s location
Removing geodata won’t always protect a photo’s location
Photo: Charlie Sorrel/Cult of Mac

Did you know that every photo you send via iMessage, or other messaging services like WhatsApp, contains all that photo’s location data? If you snap a picture in your home, anyone who’s receives that photo will be able to see where you took it on a map.

The same goes for uploading images to online auction sites, or internet forums. The good news is that it’s easy to sanitize your images with Shortcuts.

How to instantly track a flight from the Messages app

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This flight tracker is built into every iPhone and iPad track flights
This flight tracker is built into every iPhone and iPad.
Photo: Charlie Sorrel/Cult of Mac

It’s Christmas season, and you know what that means: Extra-long queues at airport check-in and “security;” once-a-year travelers who won’t just get out of the plane’s aisle and just sit the hell down; and of course parents/kids/friends who insist that you never emailed them the details of your flight.

We can’t fix the queues, the morons who mill in the aisles, or your lying friends and family, but I can show you how to quickly track a flight right from the Messages app, or anywhere else you see a flight number written down on your iPhone. Let’s take a look.

How to lock your iPad into a single app

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Guided access ipad
Guided Access can avoid embarrassing mistakes.
Photo: Charlie Sorrel/Cult of Mac

The iPad’s main trick is that it disappears when you launch an app. Fire up a piano app, and your iPad becomes a piano. Launch YouTube and it turns into a TV for pacifying children. This is part of the magic of the iPad, but it’s not quite perfect. Kids can easily leave YouTube and start reading your sexts instead. And a musician might accidentally trigger a gesture while playing on those virtual piano keys, finding themselves back at the home screen in the middle of a performance.

What you need is kiosk mode, aka Guided Access. This locks the iPad into a single app, and disables the hardware buttons. And it’s equally good for keeping you in one app, or keeping people out of all the others.

Tim Cook promises Apple ‘won’t give a platform to violent conspiracy theorists’

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Tim Cook opening remarks WWDC 2017
Tim Cook said “I worry less about computers that think like people and more about people that think like computers.”
Photo: Apple

During his acceptance speech for the Anti-Defamation League’s first ever “Courage Against Hate” award today, Apple CEO Tim Cook made it clear that his company won’t shy away from taking moral positions. 

“We only have one message for those who seek to push hate, division or violence: You have no place on our platforms,” Cook said.

Get your inexpensive iPhone battery replacement while you can

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iPhone batteries
Battery brand no longer complicates an iPhone repair job.
Photo: iFixIt

If you weren’t tempted by an iPhone XR or XS, and you’ve decided to hold onto your older handset for another year, you should really consider getting the battery replaced. This will add years of usefulness. 

Even better, Apple is offering a special deal that makes it just $29. But this low price is available only for one more months.

Force Apple’s iOS apps to use Dropbox or any other storage

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Store your Pages and GarageBand files anywhere, not just in iCloud Drive.
Are you exposing sensitive data in the cloud?
Photo: Charlie Sorrel/Cult of Mac

I have a friend who came back to the iPad with the iPad Pro, and the first thing he started whining about was that there’s no way to create a local folder in the Files app. He doesn’t want to store everything in iCloud. Which reminded me of this great feature. All of Apple’s big iOS Apps — Pages, GarageBand, Numbers, and so on — let you choose where they store their files. The default is iCloud Drive, but you can choose pretty much any place you like, from Dropbox, to your iPad itself, to pretty much any third-party storage app. Let’s see how it works.

Trick reveals all 102 hidden magnets in the 2018 iPad Pro

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iPad Pro 2018 one week review
Magnets are one of the neatest features in the new iPad Pro -- even though you can't see them.
Photo: Charlie Sorrel/Cult of Mac

One of the neatest features of the new 2018-era iPad Pro is something you can’t even see from outside. That’s the fact that it’s studded with 102 small magnets, which allow you to attach the Apple Pencil, stick it to the Smart Keyboard Folio, or even adhere it to your fridge door if you’re feeling brave.

But just how are the magnets distributed inside Apple’s next-gen tablet? Using some special magnet paper, tech vlogger Marques Brownlee found out.

Yes, you can use the 2018 iPad Pro as a fridge magnet

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You can attach iPad Pro to a refrigerator thanks to magnets. But don't try this at home.
Don’t try this at home. Or at the office. Or anywhere, really.
Photo: Charlie Sorrel/Cult of Mac

The new 2018 iPad Pro has a lot of magnets inside. There are around 90 of them on the back of it alone, just to stick it to the Smart Keyboard Folio or the ridiculously priced new Smart Folio cover, according to tests done by Pocket Lint. But those magnets are also great for sticking the iPad Pro to a refrigerator door like a giant fridge magnet.

Why Apple is smart to stop playing the iPhone numbers game [Opinion]

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Queue in Singapore
The obsession with iPhone sales numbers is now a thing of the past. Probably.
Photo: Apple

Apple shocked Wall Street yesterday when it revealed that it will no longer share information about how many iPhones sell each quarter. Instead, the company will provide the average sale price, which Cupertino claims is a far more useful figure to investors.

It’s a big change in strategy from a company that used to make a point of crowing about its landmark sales figures. But, while this move might disappoint some fans, it’s totally the right call. Here’s why.

iPhone XR makes Apple’s coolest phone the cheapest

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iPhone XR was India’s no. 1 ‘ultra premium’ smartphone in 2019
For the first time in years, Apple's best iPhone is also its cheapest.
Photo: Apple

The iPhone XR is out and, for the first time in years, Apple’s most exciting device isn’t the one that commands the really big bucks. For all the talk of an “Apple tax,” 2018’s coolest iPhone starts at just $749. That’s half the price of a top-of-the-line iPhone XS Max.

And that’s seriously great news for fans.

Jony Ive explains why Apple Park is a game-changer for designers

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Jony Ive CultCast
Ive in his old design studio, which holds "decades of history."
Photo: BBC

Jony Ive says he is “truly proud” of Apple Watch, which he describes as a powerful computer filled with sophisticated sensors that we strap to our wrists. And we can expect Apple to continuing delivering products that are just as special in the future.

Apple Park is a game-changer for designers that will allow better collaboration than ever before, Ive reveals in a new interview.

Don’t be fooled by the 2018 AirPods ‘leak’

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AirPods sales
New AirPods this year? Probably not.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Apple could surprise us with updated AirPods before the end of 2018. But don’t be fooled by supposed “leaked” photos that claim to offer our first glimpse at the new headphones and their packaging.

The publisher claims the refresh will bring Apple’s long-awaited wireless charging case, better sound, and more. Some things just don’t add up in this case, however.

How to use Mojave’s fancy new screenshots tool

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No, not this kind of screenshot.
No, not this kind of screenshot.
Photo: Pete/Public Domain

You almost certainly know the shortcuts for snapping quick screenshots on your Mac. It’s ⇧⌘3 to capture the entire screen, and ⇧⌘4 to get a crosshairs cursor to select a section of the screen.

Now, there’s a new screenshot shortcut in town: ⇧⌘5. And boy is this fella fancy. If this were a western movie, ⇧⌘5 would be the young upstart blowing into town with a couple of Uzis and a pair of Kevlar chaps1. Let’s check out Mojave screenshots.

Don’t be fooled: iPhone XS is not a boring ‘S’ upgrade [Review]

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iPhone XS and XS Max
There are over 1.4 billion active Apple devices in the world.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

If you ever watched schlocky ’70s sci-fi show The Six Million Dollar Man, you probably remember the opening sequence, during which a faceless narrator describes building a man who is “better than he was before. Better … stronger … faster.”

With the iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max, Apple’s engineers achieved just that type of incredible transformation. They fabricated phones that look “normal,” like last year’s iPhone X. But, just like the shadowy geniuses who built the bionic man, Apple indeed made the iPhone X better, stronger and faster — thanks in large part to the A12 Bionic chip that powers the new phones’ most advanced functions. (Other hardware and software upgrades help, too.)

Just like Col. Steve Austin, the ace astronaut who got $6 million worth of bionic implants after a devastating crash, the iPhone X received massive internal upgrades to morph into the iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max. While it looks like the same old (excellent) device, it’s actually far more fantastic and futuristic.

It’s a total bionic blast!

For Middle East elites, packing two iPhones is a way of life

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ullu
Hold two iPhones in Ullu's Dual Case made of full-grain or hand-colored leather.
Photo: Ullu

In shopping for a stunning case to outfit your new iPhone XS or XS Max, you might spot an accessory that hints at an even richer lifestyle — one that holds two iPhones.

People with two phones, one for personal and the other assigned by a boss for work, is not that unusual. But, elites in the Middle East, where Apple has about 60 percent of the smartphone market, tend to carry two iPhones by choice.

For those of us who own more than one iPhone, with a penchant for carrying them both around, the Dual Case is worth a look. For the rest of us, check out Ullu’s great lineup of iPhone cases for the XS and XS Max.

iPhone XS user guide suggests AirPower isn’t quite dead yet

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AirPower
Is AirPod finally ready to make its big debut?
Photo: Apple

With no mention of it during the iPhone XS keynote, and little sign of it on Apple’s website, it was beginning to look like AirPower had been wiped entirely from Apple’s plans. But it seems the wireless charger isn’t quite dead yet.

AirPower is mentioned in the iPhone XS user guide, early adopters have noticed today. A reference in the latest iOS 12.1 beta also provides hope for the device.

How to use the amazing new iOS 12 Voice Memos app

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iOS 12 Voice Memos redesign is way more than just a lick of paint.
Voice Memos' iOS 12 redesign is way more than just a lick of paint.
Photo: Charlie Sorrel/Cult of Mac

Even if you never make a voice memo, you might be interested in Apple’s updated Voice Memos app. Powerful new features in iOS 12 make it much more than just a way to record voice snippets.

In fact, in iOS 12, Voice Memos morphs into a full-fledged audio recorder and audio editing app. As such, it’s useful for people recording interviews, and for musicians working on ideas. Let’s take a look around.

Know the differences between iPhone XS and iPhone XR

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iPhone xs xr compared
With all these vibrant options, the iPhone XR wins the color game.
Photo: Apple

Unlike previous iPhone launches, it’s not immediately obvious which iPhone you should buy if you want the best. Or rather, the iPhone XS is clearly the flagship model, but the iPhone XR, launching a month later, has some features which are better than its sibling.

So, what are the important differences to know before you choose which new iPhone X is right for you?

Why you couldn’t type the F-word on iPhone and other fascinating facts from Apple book

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Ken Kocienda's book, Creative Selection: Inside Apple's Design Process During the Golden Age of Stave Jobs.
Ken Kocienda's book, Creative Selection: Inside Apple's Design Process During the Golden Age of Stave Jobs.
Photo: St. Martin's Press

Why couldn’t you type the F-word on the iPhone? Why did Steve Jobs make weird eye movements during demos? What kind of manager was Scott Forstall?

These and other questions are answered in a new book by Ken Kocienda, a former iPhone programmer who spent 15 years at Apple helping to develop the first iPhone, iPad and Safari web browser.

Published this week, Creative Selection, Inside Apple’s Design Process During the Golden Age of Steve Jobs, is a fascinating account of Kocienda’s career that focuses on how Apple makes great software. (read our review here)

Here are some of the most interesting things we learned from the book.

This post contains affiliate links. Cult of Mac may earn a commission when you use our links to buy items.

Celebrate Labor Day with huge savings on Apple Watch bands [Watch Store]

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labor day
Cult of Mac Watch Store's Labor Day Weekend Sale is on!
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Now’s the time to reap some massive savings on all your favorite Apple Watch bands, chargers and accessories. Today through Monday, you’ll save up to 40 percent during Cult of Mac Watch Store’s Labor Day Weekend Sale — our biggest sale to date.

You’ll find deep discounts on some of our most popular brands for Apple Watch accessories including Wiplabs (think WiDuo, BentoStack, Link Bracelets), Nyloon, Ottm, Strapa and Twelve South, just to name a few. Sale ends Monday at midnight, so check out these stellar discounts while they last, and check out our featured brands below.