Quick–fire questions & answers

SHORTCUTS GUIDEBOOK

THE NEW YEAR is usually a quiet time

THE TEAM

Matt Lochrie Art Editor If you haven’t tried

Cloud security enhanced

Optional new features to protect your data

News in brief

A bite of the Apple

THE SHIFT

MATT BOLTON wonders what the future development of Macs looks like after the unrepeatable revolution of the M chips

LETTER OF THE MONTH

As a lifelong Apple fan, I own everything

CRAVE

THE GEAR WE’RE LUSTING AFTER

THE BEST FREE APPS

for Mac, iPhone and iPad

Indispensable additions to your iPhone

Our selection of the very best apps for iOS devices, from creativity to organization

Finest apps for iPad

Make your iPad more capable without having to splash the cash…

HOMEKIT: THE COMPLETE GUIDE

HomeKit is better than ever — now’s the time to get your smart home in order with help from your Mac or iPhone

How HomeKit works

One app to rule them all (with some help from Siri)

HOME HIERARCHY

The smart home market is a mess of

MATTER AND THREAD

Matter is a communications protocol enabling a variety

Setting up devices in the Home app

The HomeKit software is built into macOS, iOS,

Controlling your devices

How to take full control of your smart home

Hidden HomeKit

There are some powerful features available within HomeKit, but they’re not always easy to find

HOMEKIT ROUTER(S)

How to provide additional security for your smart devices

BEYOND HOMEKIT

Going where the Home app fears to tread

Smart home products

Some of the best HomeKit gear for making life easier

LIGHTS, ACTION!

Build a smart lighting system with these HomeKit bulbs

HOMEKIT SECURITY

A smart security camera is a good investment for any home

REVIEWS

TOUGH TESTING, TRUSTED RATINGS

InnoCN 27M2U 4K Mini LED monitor

A fantastic–value display for creatives

Find My

Whether you’re trying to locate people, your iPhone or your wallet, Find My can help

How to set up Find My

Meeting up with friends at a festival? Locate them with Find My

Do more with Find My

Discover how to add accessories, receive notifications, and more

Twelve South AirFly (2nd Gen)

Convenient and easy–to–use travel companion

Razer Kishi v2

A premium battle booster for your iPhone

Logitech MX Mechanical Mini for Mac

A compact, tactile keyboard for Mac

NovaPlus Pencil A8 Duo

A great alternative, but Apple Pencil is still king for creatives

Zagg Pro Mouse

Not as pro as you’d expect

2TB SOLID–STATE DRIVES

Fast external storage for better backups, and more

CRUCIAL X8

Excellent all–rounder with the best bang for your buck

Adobe Photoshop Elements 2023

Fix your photos and create eye–catching social media content

Wondershare UniConverter

Multi–format video crunching and conversion

Sticklets

Take note: this is one very useful app

VMware Fusion 13

Run virtual machines on Intel and Apple silicon Macs

Flat Eye

Black Mirror meets 7–Eleven

6 APPS Manage your finances

Budget with confidence thanks to these brilliant apps

Best of the best

Can’t find the hardware or app you’re looking for in our reviews section? Then check in here — we’ve highlighted the best in every major category, as voted for by us

Better the bugs you know?

GENERAL CONSENSUS IS that it’s wise not to

> Is your keychain being phished?

How to tell whether a request for a keychain password is genuine or malicious?

> iOS 16 runs the battery down

Since upgrading my iPhone XR to iOS 16, its battery life has been worse. Is this a bug, or is its battery on its way out?

> Bring an M1 MacBook Air back to life

After upgrading to Ventura, my M1 MacBook Air has gone dead and won’t start up. What can I do?

> How to disable M1 Auto Boot

How do I stop my M1 MacBook Pro from starting up whenever I open its case?

> Adding Touch ID support

Which Macs support Touch ID — can I get my iMac 27–inch to use it?

> Can’t add cards to Apple Pay

After I solved a sync problem by logging my MacBook Pro out of iCloud and back in again, I tried replacing my credit cards in Apple Pay. It now tells me that can’t be set up, as my Mac’s security settings have been modified. How can I fix that?

> Lost admin user

I foolishly seem to have set my Mac’s only user to have standard rather than admin privileges. How can I reverse that?

> Can’t search calendars

Since I upgraded to Monterey, I’ve been unable to find events in my Calendar, although they worked before. How can I restore this feature?

Master Stage Manager

Organize your desktop with this new window–management feature

Use Handoff in FaceTime calls

You can now switch between iPhone, iPad and Mac mid–call

Navigate System Settings

The Mac’s preferences interface has a new look and a new name

Set up background sounds

Use your Mac’s ability to play white noise to help you focus

Family Sharing in iOS 16

Sharing content with the ones you love is now easier than ever

Enhance landscape pics

Make selective adjustments to reveal more color and detail

Learn to use dictation

iOS and iPadOS have improved the way dictation works. Here’s how…

Apple’s new passkeys

Can they really take the place of passwords? We take a look