Motif: Photo Books

FUNCTIONAL & EMOTIVE?

By the time this issue lands, Apple will

LETTER OF THE MONTH

Re: “Missing hardware diagnostics” query in Mac|Life’s “Ask” Q&A

START

Next: iMac with Apple Silicon

THE SHIFT

MATT BOLTON reflects on the MacBook Pro’s Touch Bar “experiment” now that its time seems to have come to an end

CRAVE

THE GEAR WE’RE LUSTING AFTER

MASTER iCLOUD

Apple’s iCloud connects all your devices and makes amazing things possible. Here’s everything you need to know

What is iCloud?

Photos For many of us, Photos is the

iCloud Photo Library

The ins and outs of the iCloud service you’ll use most

Files, Documents, and iCloud Drive

Store and share your stuff with anyone from any device

The Find My feature

The easy way to find your friends and locate missing Macs

Syncing and security

How to make sure you only share the things you want to

Family Sharing

Save money by sharing your storage and services

Best Apple products ever

The best Apple products aim to make a dent in the universe. We explore the most iconic — and a few flubs where we wonder what went wrong

Apple II

Proof that sequels can be far better than their predecessors

Macintosh

The one that stopped people cursing command lines and had them command cursors instead

Aluminium PowerBook G4

In deciding to put pedal to the metal, Apple created a framework for the future

MacBook Air

Carry a laptop in a bag? Pfft. How about in an envelope?

iMac

Feeling blue about 1990s PCs? Bondi makes everything better

PowerMac G5

The metal powerhouse that can only be described as grate. Sorry, great

Power Mac G4 Cube

A beautiful Mac, but a square peg in a round hole

iPhone

In 2007 Steve Jobs’ new gadget changed our lives

iPad

A giant iPod touch? Sounds like a slate idea to us

REVIEWS

TOUGH TESTING, TRUSTED RATINGS

Logitech Ergo K860

Great keys meet great posture

AweClone

A simple disk copy and backup that doesn’t deliver

Sophos Home

Robust additional security protection

Hex Technical Backpack

A high–quality backpack with room to roam

PCalc 4.9

The venerable calculator is updated

Kingston Workflow Station

A dock for creative types

JLab Talk GO

A great upgrade on your Mac’s mic

Razer Thunderbolt 4 Dock Chroma

This glow–in–the–dark dock provides impressive connectivity

Kew Labs UTS–1

A neat, effectively invisible Qi charger that can power up your iPhone through thin surfaces

Linksys MR9600

A versatile and impressive dual–band Wi–Fi 6 router

ADATA SE770G SSD

This good–value SSD will brighten up your life

SanDisk iXpand Flash Drive Luxe

Transfer files between devices

Twelve South ParcSlope

Ideal for iPad artists and MacBook users

Seagate FireCuda Gaming Dock

A premium storage and ports upgrade

TO–DO APPS FOR MAC

GROUP TEST

TODOIST

The perfect balance of workflow, features, and pricing

APP LIFE

THIS MONTH’S MOST INTERESTING iPHONE & iPAD APPS

Fuzion 2.0

Jazz up your portraits with stylish effects

Focos

Bokeh and light editing for any image

Tweetbot 6

A taste of tweets to come

Scan Thing

Quick and easy scanning

6 apps to rejuvenate your garden

Turn over a new leaf with these handy gardening 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

HOME LIFE

FITTER, HAPPIER, STRONGER

ASK

TECH SUPPORT & TECHSPLANATIONS Email Mac|Life at ask@maclife.com

CREATE

Run iOS apps on your Mac

Do more with Luminar AI

Create customized looks for your photos with template collections

Customize the Finder in Big Sur

Tune Apple’s file browser to perfection with these expert tips

Master the App Library

Discover how to make best use of one of iOS 14’s neatest new features

Find photos on your iPad

Get to grips with Photos on your iPad to quickly find the images you need

Do more with your AirPods

Customize your AirPods to suit you by using the new features in iOS 14

Get fit with Apple Fitness+

Improve your health, strength and stamina with a little help from Apple

Apple Watch Series 6

Apple’s wearable is a masterpiece in miniaturization

The Mac mini shakes up the Apple product line

From its launch in 2005 to being one of the first devices with the M1 chip, the Mac mini is a key part of the Apple story