GIVING YOU MORE CONTROL

After its WWDC reveal back in June 2021,

> THE SHIFT

MATT BOLTON would like to break the upgrade cycle, but it’s hard to imagine it happening with the way things are

LETTER OF THE MONTH

I couldn’t agree with Stephen Santangelo more (Letter

New–gen 5G iPhone SE coming soon?

Budget iPhone model about to be updated

> Apple in numbers

iPhone was the world’s top-selling smartphone in Q4

News in brief

A bite of the Apple

CRAVE

THE GEAR WE’RE LUSTING AFTER

POWER UP YOUR MAC

If your Mac’s not running as quickly as it should be, or you just want to squeeze every ounce of power you can from it, read on

THE BEST FREE APPS

FOR YOUR MAC , iPHONE, iPAD & WATCH

REVIEWS

TOUGH TESTING, TRUSTED RATINGS

BenQ EW3880R

A lot of money, but is it a lot of monitor?

Beats Fit Pro

Has Apple usurped it’s own flagship AirPods?

Arlo Ultra 2

High–end smart security camera with 4K video and HomeKit support

AnkerWork B600 Video Bar

Power up your video calls

OWC Mercury Elite Pro mini USB–C

An affordable pocket hard drive

NETWORK BACKUP STORAGE

The best NAS drives for Time Machine backups on your network

ASUSTOR DRIVESTOR 2 PRO AS3302T

Superb all–round performance at an unbeatable price

Triage 2

Swipe through email at speed

SlapDash

Connect your online services to your Mac’s desktop

Book of Travels

Who said RPGs have to be hectic?

Myst

New adventures on an ancient island

Planny 6

A to–do app that strays off–track

Ginger Writer

Can AI–power improve your writing skills?

6 apps to overhaul your Home Screen

Get beautiful new widgets, icons, and themes on iOS

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

Surf smarter with Safari

Turn off trackers, fix Facebook, and eliminate annoyances to make browsing better

Protect your privacy online

Use the features built into Safari to keep your online surfing safe

Browse using Extensions

Eliminate annoyances and block personal space invaders

> Low Power Mode performance

Does running my M1 Pro MacBook Pro on battery, or in Low Power Mode, reduce its performance?

> Face Time audio feedback

We use our iPads for a weekly family get–together on FaceTime. However, sometimes it’s plagued by distorted echoes and we’d like to eliminate them. What’s the best way?

> Which to protect with a UPS?

I back my iMac up to a Synology NAS, which is now powered from an Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) to protect it from mains outages. As that UPS has a big enough battery to protect my Mac as well, how can I connect its single USB port to both my Mac and the NAS?

> Drivers for ancient printers

Is there a driver available for my M1 Mac running Monterey to support my HP CP2025dn printer?

> Replacing a Time Capsule

Our two iMacs are connected by Ethernet to a Time Capsule for their backups. What can we replace that Time Capsule with, now that it’s getting old?

> Skip snapshot checks

How do I get First Aid in Disk Utility to skip checking snapshots on my Time Machine backup volume?

> Missing storage space

My Mac’s running out of disk space. The Storage window shows 130GB taken up by “Other”, and I can’t identify what this is. Is it necessary, or can I reclaim the space?

> Cleaning Intel translations

On my M1 MacBook Air, Rosetta 2 keeps a lot of translated Intel apps even when their originals have been removed. How can I clean those up and recover the space?

Assign tasks in Reminders

Use Reminders as a tool to delegate tasks to friends, family, and colleagues

Photoshop Elements 2022

Use the app’s latest tools to create eye–catching clips and stills

Get rid of duplicate tracks

Get started in finally organizing your Apple Music Library

Trace ancestor movements

Set up a places database to record your family history placenames

Data analysis in Numbers

Numbers’ newest feature — pivot tables — is a powerful data analysis tool

Shoot images in low–light

Capture color and detail in low–light without a tripod or a flash

Check battery life on iOS

Keep all your iOS devices juiced up and good to go with Cloud Battery

Get started with SharePlay

Share your music, movies, workouts, and more over FaceTime

Listening to music with a DAC

Apple Music finally offers high–quality audio — but you’ll need a converter