2019 10 01 - Macworld

HELPDESK M AC 9 1 1
The Data folder in the Time Capsule volume holds Time Machine backups. (Yes, the screen
capture is ancient, from the last time I used Time Capsule for backups.)
backups. The company discontinued the 1. Mount your Time Capsule volume in
device and other related network gear, but the Finder. (If you’ve forgotten the pass-
there are plenty still in operation. word, you can use AirPort Utility to reset
A problem with Time Capsule is that its file sharing settings.)
drive can get filled with outdated backups 2. Open the Data folder.
if you migrate computers and don’t adopt 3. Find any disk images that corre-
the old backup set. Fortunately, Time spond to outdated backups and throw
Capsule exposes that data in a particular those in the Trash.
way, making it possible to delete 4. You may be prompted to empty the
unwanted backups. trash immediately, because it’s a net-
Warning: These deletions aren’t worked volume. If so, agree to do so.
reversible. Make doubly sure before your Otherwise, empty the trash from the Finder
delete a Time Machine backup from your menu.
Time Capsule that it’s the one or ones you 5. Eject the volume from the Finder
really intend. (Finder → Eject). ■
130 MACWORLD OCTOBER 2019

INSIDE: 10 BEST COMPLICATIONS FOR APPLE WATCH
OCTOBER 2019
≥
FIVE SIGNS
THAT TELL
YOU IT’S TIME
TO UPGRADE
IS IT TIME TO
REPLACE YOUR
iPHONE?
8 kids a day are accidentally killed
or injured by FAMILY FIRE.
FAMILY FIRE is a shooting involving an
improperly stored gun, often found in the home.
ENDFAMILYFIRE.org
I N C O R P O R AT I N G M A C U S E R
October 2019 CONTENTS

MACUSER
How Apple reinvents its core business to
keep growing 7
What Intel’s new Ice Lake chips could mean
for future MacBooks 12
Upgrading an older iMac’s PCIe SSD 18
WoW Classic is a step back in time 26
MacUser Reviews 33
Hot Stuff 43
iOSCENTRAL
Traveling with Apple tech 47
Apple apologizes for Siri grading
program 51
5 signs that you need to Apple is finally sending ‘genuine’ parts to

independent repair shops 53
replace your iPhone 83 Why you should get an Apple Pencil 55
iPhone Other storage: What is it and how
do you delete it? 59
iOS Central Reviews 65
Best iOS Games 76
WORKINGMAC
10 incredibly useful Mac keyboard
shortcuts 97
Avira Free Antivirus review 101
Hide.me review 104
Dark mode is coming to Office on the web
107
PLAYLIST
How to use Siri for hands-free Apple TV
control 111
Grace Digital Mondo+ Classic review
w 117
Bose SoundSport Wireless Bluetooth
Headphones review 123
HELPDESK
The 10 best complications Mac 911: When it tells you deleted songs
might not be moved to the trash; what to do
for Apple Watch 89 when an app won’t update 127
OCTOBER 2019 MACWORLD 3

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Design
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PRUHVXSSRUWWKDQ\RXUHDOL]H)LQGWHDFKHUVDQGIUHHDGXOW
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MACUSER News and Analysis About
Macs, OS X, and Apple
How Apple reinvents its core

business to keep growing
Apple’s business rarely stands still. Here’s a look at how it has evolved over the years.
BY JASON SNELL
A
pple’s Q3 2019 financial results other areas: wearables and services.
(go.macworld.com/q319) But this is hardly the first time Apple
caused a bit of a hubbub has experienced a major change in the
because iPhone revenue shape of its business. In fact, Apple is a
was—for the first time in seven years—less company that’s rarely stood still in terms
than half of Apple’s overall revenue. The of its evolution.
cause is a slowdown in iPhone sales To prove the point, let’s step through 20
combined with dramatic growth in two years of Apple’s business, five years at a time.
IMAGE: NEGATIVE SPACE OCTOBER 2019 MACWORLD 7

MACUSER HOW APPLE REINVENTS ITS CORE BUSINESS
many Macs
Total Apple Revenue Apple sells in
FOUR-QUARTER AVERAGE
a quarter now,
because it
stopped
releasing unit
sales figures
last year, but
it’s probably in
the ballpark of
four million.
Keep this in
mind when you
1999: THE MAC COMEBACK consider that the Mac is now only
Steve Jobs came back to Apple in 1997 roughly 10 percent of Apple’s overall
and we all know what happened next. But business: back when the Mac was 80
that transformation took a while. Look at a percent of Apple’s business, Apple was
sample quarter from twenty years ago— selling less than a fifth as many Macs
the fourth fiscal quarter of 1999—and you’ll per quarter as it is in 2019.
see a very different company than the
Apple of today. Apple Q4 1999
First off, there was only really one REVENUE BY CATEGORY
Apple product back then: the Mac. 80
percent of Apple’s revenue came from the
Mac, with 20 percent coming from other
20%
products, mostly Mac accessories and OTHER
software. In the fourth quarter of 1999,
Apple’s total revenue was $1.34 billion,
generating $111 million in profit. To put that
80%
in perspective, Apple generated that much MAC
revenue every two days or so in the third
quarter of 2019.
In the fourth quarter of 1999, Apple
sold 772,000 Macs. We don’t know how

Apple was growing overall, too. The
Apple Q4 2004 growth in iPod sales meant that Apple
REVENUE BY CATEGORY
generated $2.35 billion in revenue—but
only $106 million in profit. Apple’s
explosion in profit growth was to lag
25% 23% behind its explosion in revenue growth, at
IPOD
OTHER least a little bit.
2009: THE iPHONE TAKES OFF

In 2009, the Mac was doing better than
52%
MAC five years earlier, and by a lot—Apple
sold 2.6 million Macs in the fourth
quarter of 2009, three times the number
it sold during that quarter five years
earlier. And yet, for all the Mac’s success
2004: RISE OF THE iPOD it had shrunk to only 29 percent of
2004 was an inflection point for Apple. Apple’s overall revenue.
After the introduction of the iPod in late This was an era driven by exploding
2001, sales built slowly…until late 2004, iPhone growth and still-strong iPod sales.
when they shot up like a rocket. The fourth
financial quarter of 2004 is actually the
Apple Q4 2009
moment before the iPod rocket exploded.
REVENUE BY CATEGORY
It is, in fact, the last quarter in which the
Mac was the majority of Apple’s business.
(That’s right—the Mac has been a minority 20%
component of Apple’s overall revenue for OTHER
15 years.) 38%
The revenue mix in late 2004 was 52 iPHONE
percent Mac, 23 percent iPod, and 25 29%
percent other products. In the fourth MAC
quarter of 2002, Apple sold 836,000
13%
Macs, more than it was selling five years iPOD
earlier. But it also sold two million iPods, a
number that would double in the next year.

MACUSER HOW APPLE REINVENTS ITS CORE BUSINESS
Apple sold 6.9 million iPhones during the

period, and a staggering 11 million iPods. Apple Q3 2014
REVENUE BY CATEGORY
Overall, the iPhone represented 38
percent of Apple’s business, and the iPod 5%
13 percent. 12% OTHER
Apple’s business was also much SERVICES
larger overall. The fourth quarter of
2009 generated $11.5 billion in revenue, 15% 53%
more than four times the quarter five MAC iPHONE
years earlier. And as for profit? The
profit had started to flow in torrents. In 16%
iPAD
the fourth quarter of 2009, Apple
generated $2.2 billion in profit. The
money was finally rolling in.
2014: iPODS FADE, iPADS generated $37.4 billion in revenue—three

REPLACE times what it did five years earlier!—and
By 2014, Apple more closely resembles the $7.7 billion in profit.
company we see today. The iPhone domi-
nates revenue, with 53 percent of the 2019: THE RISE OF THE REST
overall total. The iPod has faded away—its That brings us to the most recent quarter, in
sales are so small (2.9 million) that Apple which Apple generated $53.8 billion of
has hidden their revenue inside the “other revenue and $10 billion in profit. While it’s
products” category, which itself only makes true that iPhone sales are slumping, Apple’s
up 5 percent of the total pie. Replacing it as general profit and revenue trajectory
a revenue engine is the iPad, which contrib- continues upward, albeit in fits and starts.
utes 16 percent to the total. The Mac, now The iPhone dropping to 48 percent of
selling a staggering 4.4 million units (170 Apple’s total revenue is, in part, because of
percent more than five years earlier!), the rapid growth of the Wearables (formerly
contributes 15 percent to the total. Other) category, as well as the ongoing
Apple’s business exploded between growth of the Services line.
2004 and 2009, but it’s nothing compared Meanwhile, let’s not sleep on the Mac
to the inflation between 2009 and 2014. and the iPad. The 11 percent and nine
During the third quarter of 2014, Apple percent of revenue they generate may

incrementally, quarter to quarter,
Apple Q3 2019 sometimes makes it hard to see the bigger
REVENUE BY CATEGORY
pictures. Its product lines rise and fall, but
up to this point, the company’s overall
11% trajectory this century has been pretty
WEARABLES
dramatically upward. One key reason for
that is a regular addition of new products
21%
SERVICES 48% and services that can fuel growth and
iPHONE compensate for products that have
stopped growing or, in the case of the
11% iPod, have faded out entirely.
MAC
9% Apple’s come a long way from those
iPAD
quarters early in the 2000s when it
couldn’t even show a profit. By my back-
of-the-envelope calculations, Apple has
seem small, but that overall Apple revenue generated $450 billion in profit since
has exploded. Together, they contributed 2000, $429 billion of that in the last ten
more than $10 billion in revenue. years, and $277 billion of it in the last
Watching Apple’s business change five years. ■
The iPhone dropping to 48 percent

is, in part, due to the rapid growth of
products such as the Apple Watch.

MACUSER
What Intel’s new Ice Lake chips

could mean for future MacBooks
Intel just launched its 10th-generation mobile CPUs. Here’s what you can expect if and
when Apple puts them in its laptops.
BY JASON CROSS
W
hen it comes to the 10th-generation Core processor (formerly
performance of Mac known by the code name Ice Lake) is so
laptops, it’s safe to say that important to Mac users. It’s the company’s
Intel is in the driver’s seat. first truly high volume chip on its 10nm
Unless Apple shows some sign of either manufacturing process, and the first to
switching to AMD or producing its own use the new “Sunny Cove” processor
laptop processors, the MacBook line will core design.
be inextricably linked to Intel’s CPU Our sister site, PCWorld, has a detailed
releases. overview (go.macworld.com/detl) of the
That’s why the launch of Intel’s new entire 10th-generation line, a deep dive
12 MACWORLD OCTOBER 2019 IMAGE: INTEL

(go.macworld.com/dpdv) into the macworld.com/18ar), comes with a Core i5
architecture, and an early hands-on 8210Y that has an unusual TDP of 7 watts.
performance preview (go.macworld.com/ Still, if the MacBook Air were to get a new
pfpv). If you want a lot of detail about Ice processor, it would almost certainly be a
Lake, I suggest reading those. Here, we’ll Core i5 variant of one of these Y models,
give you a high-level overview of what we with 4 cores and 8 threads.
might expect if and when they end up in a There are six U-series processors, with a
future MacBook. TDP of around 15 watts (save for the top-end
Core i7 1068G7 model with a 28-watt TDP).
CPU: LOWER CLOCKS, BUT This is the class of chips that ship in 13-inch
BETTER PERFORMANCE MacBook Pros.
Intel launched eleven new 10th-generation Intel’s new Sunny Cove CPU
processors. Five are Y-series processors, microarchitecture features a number
with a nominal TDP (thermal design power) of improvements over the Skylake
of 9 watts. Note that this is an increase microarchitecture found in its CPUs for
from the 5-watt TDP of earlier Y-series the last few years. It’s designed to be
processors, though the only MacBook to “deeper and wider” with new instructions
currently use one, the MacBook Air (go. to speed up cryptographic and large
The complete Ice Lake 10th-generation Core lineup.

MACUSER I N TEL’ S I CE L A KE C HI P S A ND THE MAC BOOK
vector operations,
as well as larger
caches and
buffers.
Intel says to
expect an overall
18 percent
improvement in
instructions-per-
clock (IPC) across
a wide variety of Intel’s model numbers are getting no easier to decipher. Apple tends to
tasks, but hide these details, anyway.
encryption, video
compression, and machine learning tasks offset by the fact that these
should execute a lot faster. 10th-generation chips have significantly
Before you get all excited about the lower base and boost clocks than the
next round of MacBooks being 18 percent Amber Lake and Coffee Lake-U chips they
faster than the ones sold today (and much are replacing.
more in select tasks), get ready for some It’s hard to get an exact picture of how
bad news. That big IPC boost is somewhat well these chips will perform in a
MacBook Air or
HANDBRAKE 7/29 NIGHTLY H.265 13-inch MacBook
QUICKSYNC ENCODE (Seconds) Pro. So much of

laptop processor
SDS Core i7-1065G7 10th Gen Ice
Lake U 25 Watt (4/8)
508 design is
SDS Core i7-1065G7 10th Gen Ice
constrained by
691
Lake U 15 Watt (4/8) thermal design
HP Spectre x360 13 8th Gen Core
992 and the nature of
i7-8565U Whisky Lake U (4/8)
the workload;
Dell XPS 13 9380 8th Gen Core
784
i7-8565U Whisky Lake U (4/8) short and “bursty”
0 200 400 600 800 1,000 so that high turbo
Higher scores are better speeds can be
In many tasks, Ice Lake is just a little bit faster. But encryption and maintained, or
compression tasks get a big performance boost. long sustained

tasks that cause the processor to settle in files and encoding video to certain formats
at a lower clock speed? should be a lot speedier.
In PCWorld’s tests, the new 10th-
generation processors perform just a few GPU: GAME-CHANGING
percent faster in many tasks, but short PERFORMANCE
bursty synthetic tests like Geekbench On the graphics side, Intel’s 10th-generation
show about 10 percent better single-core processors deliver incredible gains. In
performance and 20 percent better multi- several synthetic benchmark tests, the new
core performance. Some areas stand out, Ice Lake chips delivered around double
however. Quick Sync video compression is the performance of the Whiskey Lake
more than 30 percent faster, as is AES generation, and even managed to get close
encryption and other tests optimized for to ultra-low-power GeForce MX 510 running
very wide vector operations. at a 10-watt configuration.
If Apple puts these chips in a MacBook, Real-world game tests using World of
we expect most day-to-day tasks to feel Tanks Encore and Counter-Strike: GO
about the same as the current generation, don’t show quite that same performance
but compressing or decompressing large gap, but the new chips still deliver a
3DMARK SKY DIVER GRAPHICS 1.0 PERFORMANCE

(GPU Score)
SDS Core i7-1065G7 10th Gen Ice Lake
9,443
U 25 Watt (4/8)

9,028
U 15 Watt (4/8)

4,711

4,321
Huawei Matebook 13 Core i7-8560U/

8,982
GeForce MX150 25-Watt 1D12
Huawei Matebook X Pro Core

12,027
17-8560U/GeForce MX150 10-Watt 1D10
0 3,000 6,000 9,000 12,000 15,000

Higher scores are better
Synthetic graphics benchmarks are around twice as fast with 10th-generation chips.

MACUSER I N TEL’ S I CE L A KE C HI P S A ND THE MAC BOOK
COUNTER STRIKE: GO FPS BENCHMARK 720P

(Frames per second)
64
U 25 Watt (4/8)

41

37
Huawei Matebook X Pro Core

86
17-8560U/GeForce MX150 10-Watt 1D12
Huawei Matebook X Core 17-8565U/

108
GeForce MX150 25-Watt 1D10
0 30 60 90 120
Even real-world games see a huge performance boost.
greater than 50 percent boost in real- home routers are just now trickling out. If
world graphics performance. Apple doesn’t supplant Intel’s own Wi-Fi
Mac laptops aren’t exactly gaming hardware with a chip with a separate
machines (at least, not without hooking networking chip, we can expect high-
up an external GPU), but some light
gaming is possible and that should be a
lot more enjoyable with the new
10th-generation Intel CPUs. Graphics
acceleration is important in many
applications beyond gaming, and those
might feel a lot smoother.
WI-FI 6 AND BETTER

DISPLAY OUTPUT
All of the new Ice Lake processors
include Wi-Fi 6 support (go.macworld.
com/wif6). That’s the Gig+ speed standard
formally known as 802.11ax, for which Intel’s Ice lake chips support Wi-Fi 6.

performance, future-proof Wi-Fi. the last quarter of this year, but Apple is
MacBooks built with Ice Lake CPUs typically not in the first wave of laptops to
should be all ready for that new Pro use a new Intel chip.
Display XDR monitor (go.macworld.com/ Often, a MacBook refresh featuring
pxdr). The graphics engine has three new Intel processors hits the market
display pipes that support DisplayPort 1.4 between three and six months after the
HBR3 and HDMI 2.08, plus HDR10 and first Windows laptops. If that holds true
Dolby Vision. You’ll be able to hook up again, we can expect 10th-generation
three simultaneous 4K displays at 120Hz, a processors to arrive in MacBooks in the
pair of 5K displays at 60Hz, or a single 8K spring or summer of 2020.
display at 30Hz. The rumor mill says Apple is due to
introduce a new 16-inch MacBook Pro
COMING TO A MACBOOK this fall, possibly along with refreshed 13-inch
NEAR YOU? models. That would probably be too soon to
The million dollar question is: When will Ice expect Ice Lake processors; if Apple
Lake processors be available in a Mac releases those products this fall, they will
laptop? As is typically the case with Apple, probably not contain 10th-generation Intel
we just don’t really know. Intel expects Core processors, and we’ll have to wait for a
PCs with these chips to hit the market in product refresh next year. ■
It’s rumored that the first MacBooks to feature Wi-Fi 6 will be released in 2020.

MACUSER
Upgrading an older iMac’s PCIe

SSD: Third-party solutions that
save you beaucoup bucks
If you bought an entry-level iMac with at least a Fusion Drive, here’s how to upgrade to
something faster, more capacious—and cheap (relatively)
BY JON L. JACOBI
I
love Retina iMacs. So much so that I machine that’s actually slower than my
took a chance and bought a used 2012 Core i7 iMac. I bought it with
2015 low-end Core i5 iMac with a 1TB upgrading in mind, which is where the
Fusion Drive (which combines a 24GB fickle finger of fate came into play.
NVMe SSD and a 1TB hard drive)—a I wanted to upgrade the iMac’s NVMe
18 MACWORLD OCTOBER 2019 IMAGE: FLEDGING

SSD with something that offered more the way, here’s how you can upgrade an
space but was relatively less expensive (in iMac’s NVMe SSD with something cheaper,
other words, not sold by Apple). I found faster, and more capacious.
conflicting info about the upgrade, though.
Authoritatively stated advice such as FINDING AN NVME SSD FOR
“You’ll kill the machine and possibly THE UPGRADE
yourself” was hardly useful (not to mention, As I intimated, there was never any
completely incorrect), while “Well, it question that the NVMe SSD could be
worked in my 2017 [iMac]” provided hope, upgraded, just whether it could be done
but no specifics. for a reasonable price. A huge issue is that
After buying the iMac (it was a bargain I Apple uses proprietary connectors. OWC’s
had to jump on) and later talking with compatible drives on Newegg were 40
vendors, it became apparent that my leap cents per gigabyte, and Apple’s on
of faith (and general storage knowledge) Amazon were an incredible $1 a gigabyte!
had been justified. This is 2019: standard M.2 2280 NVMe
A disclaimer: if you bought a 21-inch SSDs start at 15 cents per gigabyte!
iMac with a standard hard drive, you’re out Perusing further, I found Apple-compatible
of luck—these iMacs didn’t have a PCIe SSDs for around 30 cents per gigabyte. That’s
SSD slot on the board. But there is a viable better, but they were from unfamiliar
option you can read about—NVMe via companies I was unable to chat with. Finally, I
Thunderbolt (go.macworld.com/nvia). If stumbled on a company with an office in
your iMac shipped with a Fusion Drive or Birmingham, Alabama, called Fledging (go.
SSD, read on. macworld.com/fldg), whose Feather drives
Another disclaimer: if your iMac is still run around 25 cents per gigabyte and are
under warranty, this will void it. You also available in up to 2TB of capacity. The
run the risk of
permanently
damaging your
iMac. If you’re
careful, you
shouldn’t, but stuff
happens.
The Fledging M13 was the most affordable upgrade SSD I found from a
With the vendor in the U.S. It’s a good performer and the company is accessible
disclaimers out of for support and tips.

MACUSER U P G R A D E A N O LD ER IM AC ’ S PC IE S SD
Though a fine
SSD, and super
fast when on
cache, the 970
EVO Plus is
not the drive
you want when
upgrading the
NVMe SSD in an
older iMac.
company armed me with a number of long, and the drive just a shade more so. It
relevant tips, and sent me a 512GB M13 can still be installed, but it’s not a perfect
Feather SSD kit (go.macworld.com/m13f) with fit. Then again, it’s inside the iMac where
macOS High Sierra pre-installed. you’ll never see it. Out of sight...
While 25 cents per gigabyte isn’t It’s been reported that one of the most
bad—the Feather drive turned out to be a popular and fastest midrange NVMe SSDs,
good all-around performer—I was the Samsung 970 EVO Plus, currently
enamored with the idea of using a less won’t play nice with Macs. I had intended
expensive M.2 (go.macworld.com/m2dr) to test the 970 EVO Plus as an upgrade,
2280 drive. I already had a bunch and but while formatting it in an external PCIe
they’re not all cheapos. enclosure, it crashed my other Mac. I took
I settled on the Western Digital SN750 the hint.
Black for the experiment, but you could
easily make do with something such as INSTALLATION OF THE
Crucial’s P1 (go.macworld.com/crp1). Also, NVME SSD
you need a sub-$20 adapter from As I said before, this will void your iMac’s
Sinetech (go.macworld.com/snm2) to use warranty. You also run the risk of
an M.2 2280 SSD in an iMac. permanently damaging your iMac.
The Sinetech adapter is actually made What’s nice about the Fledging NVMe is
for MacBooks, and there is a subtle that it’s a plug-and-play device. If you don’t
difference in the distances between opt for a plug-and-play NVMe, you need to
MacBook and iMac mount points. The end create an installation USB thumbdrive with a
result is that the adapter is just a hair too full copy of macOS High Sierra or later.

There’s no support for third-party NVMe the first time. The procedure is hardly
drives in macOS versions prior to High difficult, but it requires patience, a
Sierra. You need the installation drive modicum of finesse, and some tools.
because when you replace the main drive in One thing I will say is to be careful
an iMac, you lose the ability to restore from removing the display and handle it with
the internet until you’ve reinstalled macOS. care. iFixit sells a great roller (see above)
I opted for High Sierra because I know for spudging the display off that eases the
it works fine with Boot Camp (go. job considerably. Use a large workspace,
macworld.com/mjbc). Mojave’s issues with and remove anything hard or pointed that
Boot Camp may be over, but I opted for you could conceivably bang into and
tried and true. break the glass. Pad below the iMac and
Another thing you might consider is prop it so it’s tilted back.
upgrading the hard drive to a 2.5-inch After that, the whole deal consists of
SSD. I did. delicately unplugging a few cables,
I won’t bore you with the complete undoing quite a few Torx screws (you’ll
teardown instructions for a 2015 iMac. obviously need torx drivers), then
Frankly, I can’t do better than the easy-to- removing the speakers, power supply
follow and granular guide on ifixit.com (go. (don’t touch the bare solder joints on the
macworld.com/sdrp), which is what I used back), and logic board. You’ll find the
NVMe SSD on the back of the latter,
secured by one screw. It’s simple, but a
few pain points:
1. A post for the power supply
is also a screw securing the
motherboard.
2. There’s a captive screw
behind the motherboard that
you access through a hole in
said board.
3. The webcam and primary
display cables have flip-up locks,
A spudging wheel such as this
don’t just yank on them.
is worth its weight in gold when it
comes to removing the display from an iMac. 4. Both large cables connecting the
iFixIt and others sell them. power supply with the motherboard have

latches. You must

press these to
enable removal
and the large
cable requires a
fair amount of
force. Don’t just
yank.
5. There are
upward-facing
screws behind the
fan that are easy
to forget. These
are also slightly
different from the
others with a
A completely useless picture of what a late 2015 27-inch iMac looks like
raised secondary
with the components removed. Just to prove I actually disassembled it,
flange beneath the as well as ignored my own advice about a large workspace. And darn if
actual screw head. Apple’s AIO’s don’t look better empty than others do assembled.
Remember
how I brought up the fit issue with the don’t have to repeat the entire
Sinetech adapter? I was able to screw the disassembly again should something be
assembly in place by tilting the screw with its amiss with the drive or the procedure
tip just in the hole, then pressing it towards otherwise doesn’t work.
the assembly. This did unfortunately induce When the computer is operational
a bit of a bow in the SSD, but shouldn’t be a again, boot with the USB disk you created,
problem. If you’re brave, you can deepen run the High Sierra Disk Utility to partition
the adapter’s and SSD’s indentations a bit the drive and you should be on your way.
with a round file and much care. Then complete the reassembly process.
Once you have the drive installed and
are ready to test it, I recommend that you WHICH COMPUTERS,
only do the bare minimum of reassembly WHICH DRIVES
(minimal screws, leave the display There is no PCIe SSD slot in 21.5-inch
untaped, no speakers, etc.) so that you iMacs that didn’t ship with Fusion Drives or

SSDs. And though 2012 iMacs (anything out of cache. Check out PCWorld’s SSD
with a Fusion Drive and any 27-inch model) (go.macworld.com/besd) reviews for info
had NVMe connectors, they were only on individual models.
SATA, so you might as well save yourself If you do switch out the hard drive
the hassle and upgrade the hard drive to during your upgrade, and find your fans
an SSD. spinning at full speed, there’s a simple fix
In 2013, the PCIe bus was deployed, from CrystalIdea called Macs Fan Control
and though these SSDs were AHCI types, (go.macworld.com/fnct) which allows you
most of the computers are said to support to tweak all of a Mac’s fan settings,
NVMe. However, only two or four PCIe 2.0 obviating the need for an expensive cable.
lanes were used, so you needn’t go
overboard with performance specs— PERFORMANCE
you’re pretty much limited to 900MBps (2 I wanted faster and I got it. Big time.
lanes)/1.5GBps (4 lanes) throughput. Directly below are the numbers for the
With the late 2015 iMac, the PCIe original 24GB SSD. Not bad, but not
revved to 3.0 so you can make use of bleeding edge by any standard.
even the fastest drives available, such as
the WD SN750 Black that I chose.
As to performance. Much of NVMe’s
kick comes from the insanely quick (10X
SATA) seek times offered by every drive
I’ve tested except one, which was still
three times faster than SATA. The greater
throughput offered by the more expensive
drives only comes into play with larger
transfers. Multiple gigabyte transfers.
If you regularly work with large video
files or write large amounts of data, you
want the pricier types. Also, stay away
from lesser capacities (256GB or smaller)
which often have fewer chips and slower Though it was okay in 2015, the 24GB NVMe
SSD that came out of my iMac was slow by
writes. Avoid QLC (Quad Level Cell/4-bit)
today’s standards, not to mention drastically
drives and cheaper TLC drives where undersized. To be fair, it was utilized primarily
throughput drops drastically once they run as cache for the hard drive.

Next up is the easy, affordable plug- or not. Regardless, the 2.8GBps reads and
and-play upgrade Fledging Feather M13 lightning seeks mean you still get that NVMe
SSD. It’s convenient as well, coming with kick in the pants, and you don’t have to
High Sierra pre-installed, though for $5 worry about a slightly ill-fitting adapter.
you can have a USB stick that allows you Just in case you aren’t so sanguine
to install Mojave. about opening up your iMac, here’s the
Note that the write performance alternative I talked about—NVMe via
numbers the company sent me were quite Thunderbolt (go.macworld.com/nvia).
a bit higher than this, but they were Below are the results from the same 2015
garnered using a 2015 i7 MacBook Pro. i5 iMac, with an Akitio Thunder2 PCIe
The CPU does make a difference. enclosure housing a Samsung 970 EVO
SSD. The older 970 EVO works just fine
(I’ve run High Sierra from it for over a year),
where the 970 EVO Plus did not.
The Fledging Feather M13 is a very fast

reader and seeker, but a middling writer. It’s
still light years faster than the original SSD
and definitely gives you that NVMe snap. If you’re otherwise satisfied with the
performance of your iMac, you can get twice-
As you can see, the Feather M13 is a SATA throughput and 10x seeks running
NVMe in an external PCIe enclosure. It’s not
fantastic reader. But it varied from a good
as cheap, and the experience isn’t quite as
(1.2GBps) to mediocre (600MBps) writer, smooth as an upgraded internal NVMe SSD
depending on whether the cache was full but it is an improvement.

The WD Black SN750 NVMe Gaming SSD.
Though NVMe over Thunderbolt is Last, but not least, is the Sinetech
not always quite as smooth an adapter paired with a 1TB WD Black
experience as an internal NVMe SSD SN750 NVMe (go.macworld.com/snbl).
(there seems to be the occasional slight This is what I had in mind—consistently
pause), it’s still faster, and though not large numbers across the board.
cheap, a good alternative if you’re shy
about opening your system. BOTTOM LINE
Don’t listen to the doom-and-gloomers in the
forums, you most decidedly can upgrade the
NVMe SSD in your iMac to something faster
and more capacious without forking over
your life’s savings. I tested the 2015, but I’ve
seen 2017 models upgraded, and Fledging
assured me any Mac with an SSD connector
can be upgraded.
Given the price, quality, and speed of
the plug-and-play Fledging Feather, that’s
likely the best option for the average user.
On the other hand, I’m pretty darn happy
with the WD Black SN750 and the adapter,
despite the slightly ill fit.
Either way, it’s an upgrade that will make
This is what it looks like when you use a top-
flight NVMe SSD such as WD’s Black SN750 you smile. And not in small part because you
with the Sinetech adapter. Yowser. survived taking your Mac apart. ■

MACUSER
WoW Classic is a step back

in time—and a step back for
World of Warcraft
The 2004 revival splits the MMO into two different games, and so shatters
its unique sense of history and community.
BY LEIF JOHNSON
F
ew of us ever get a chance to Blizzard Entertainment’s “newest”
start over from scratch, but game is essentially the popular massive
recently World of Warcraft players multiplayer online roleplaying game
got exactly that with the launch of exactly as it played in 2004, right down to
WoW Classic (go.macworld.com/wowc). molasses-paced quest text, a dearth of
26 MACWORLD OCTOBER 2019 IMAGE: LEIF JOHNSON

quest markers, and enemies so tough that the creation of WoW Classic—it diminishes
you feel compelled to group up with other WoW’s status as a successfully versatile
players to beat them. Together, features cultural force.
like these made World of Warcraft’s
earliest incarnation more social than its ALTERNATE HISTORY
current form, and almost 15 years ago they Nothing has kept WoW relevant so much
helped lay the foundation for some of the as its success in adapting itself to
most enduring friendships of my life. changing tastes, audiences, and play
Yet it’s important to remember that styles. At BlizzCon, even in the wake of
Classic isn’t a hard reset—a reboot that other successful Blizzard games like
gives us a truly new game with wildly Overwatch, World of Warcraft still gets
different storylines with content patches. many of the biggest cheers.
So far, at least, Classic looks as though it’ll Sometimes Blizzard will stumble with
be the same World of Warcraft we knew all WoW’s design as it did with some of the
those years ago with roughly the same progression mechanics in the current
patch schedules and combat class nerfs, Battle for Azeroth expansion or the
although hopefully with fewer bugs. It’s no garrisons in 2014’s Warlords of Draenor,
doubt popular, as the launch’s massive but it usually manages to redeem itself
login queues and Twitch numbers (go. with a followup patch (as it largely does
macworld.com/twnm) confirm: At one point, with the latest Rise of Azshara [go.
more than one million people tuned in to macworld.com/azsh] content drop in the
watch folks slowly slaughter 30-50 feral main game). Some of WoW’s changes over
hogs and find themselves slaughtered by the last decade have felt excessive (or at
Hogger (go.macworld.com/hogr). least unnecessary), but I highly doubt WoW
But World of Warcraft Classic also feels would have retained so much of its
like a rejection of everything that has kept popularity had it clung to the same design
WoW a relevant cultural phenomenon in we find in Classic. And by any realistic
the first place. On Blizzard’s end, it slightly measure, World of Warcraft is one of
looks like surrender, or at least the partial gaming’s most stunning success stories.
closing of a door. Now that the original Part of that success, though, has a lot
“Vanilla” (as we called it) game is hosted to do with the fact that the game’s official
on the official game itself—instead of on timeline has unfolded in one unbroken line
rogue servers like Nostalrius Begins (go. from 2004 until now. Most games feel
macworld.com/nost), which helped spur anchored to a certain point in history, or—

MACUSER WOW CLASSIC IS A STEP BACK IN TIME
like, say, The Witcher 3—have a critical ingredients outlined above. This
timelessness springing from the fact that sense of a long, shared history and a
you can play them over and over again so persistent world is critical to WoW’s
long as you have a supporting system. continued success; it makes it feel like a
World of Warcraft, though, has a place we can always go home to. It
dedicated high-population multiplayer sometimes even leads me to think of my
base, a constantly evolving storyline and character as an extension of myself. I was
world, an old age for a game, and a a member of one of the better-known
sustained faction rivalry that give it a linear guilds back when this content was fresh—
history that few other games have. we had a handful of world-first and
Combined, all these factors help World of -second raid boss kills (go.macworld.com/
Warcraft feel more like a real world than b0ss), and a truckload of server firsts—and
many other persistent worlds. the mage I used in those means a lot to
This is a special thing, and it’s me. I keep him “retired” on a ranch so he’ll
unmatched by any other game save be happy even though I play another class
perhaps EVE Online. You’ll find similar these days.
situations in other MMORPGs like This sense of a linear history that
EverQuest and Final Fantasy XIV (go. mimics what we find in the real world is
macworld.com/ff14; and even Second Life), what spurred the concept of the “good ol’
but those games usually lack one of the days” in WoW to begin with. It makes
looking at
“Did somebody screenshots
say...?” (Risen on feel like looking
Alleria spawning
Thunderaan for at photos from
the first time.) the past. World
of Warcraft has
definable eras,
much as the
real world, and
it’s lasted for so
long that you
can even point
to different
generations of

players. This linear
history lent power to
the stories of “how it
used to be.”
WoW Classic,
though, shatters this
concept of a shared
history, and as
Classic ages, it’ll be
increasingly hard to
tell whether
someone is referring
to Classic or the I do miss big server events, though.
“real” version from
the mid-2000s. And with that, its world before YouTube, and so we all kept our
feels a little less “real.” boss strategies close to the chest and
experimented with occasionally wacky
NOTHING LEFT TO DISCOVER tactics. (We once tried to tank the fire lord
That’s a shame, as Classic will always lack Ragnaros with a hunter because it seemed
one of the key ingredients that made the like maybe that was the trick. It didn’t work
original so appealing: discovery. (I’ve out so well.) Even gear was a mystery, and
argued this before (go.macworld.com/ so whole books’ worth of text were written
nthn).) In WoW Classic as it exists now, with “theorycrafting” for optimizing what
there’s nothing to truly discover. you wore. There was always so much to
The concept of exploring such a vast learn, and we had little idea of how our
and seamless world in itself felt innovative tidy “worldview” would change with the
in 2004, as the Internet was still a fun next big patch.
place and the idea of playing with some But there’s none of that now. There are
dude on the other side of the country still no true surprises. Anyone playing Classic
felt novel. We enjoyed sneaking into can tap a few keys and immediately know
unreleased zones like Mount Hyjal how to defeat Ragnaros through Google
precisely because we had no idea what or YouTube. Even if one player insists on
Blizzard had planned for them. Videos not looking up anything, there’s always
took ages longer to download in the days going to be that one guy in the group who

MACUSER WOW CLASSIC IS A STEP BACK IN TIME
tendency to wallow
in nostalgia—and to
our detriment. At the
most benign, this
tendency makes us
believe things were
better in the past in
part because we fail
to account for the
conditions that color
that perception. At
the worst, it leads to
Risen spawning Ragnaros for the first time on the Alleria server on cynical attempts to
April 16, 2005. cash in on that
perception while
looks up a strategy and tells everyone doing little to move forward. Classic feels
about it out of impatience. We know like it touches a bit of both of those ends.
exactly when this or that ability will be
removed from the game. We even know THROUGH A DARK PORTAL
exactly which items will sell best during I believe WoW Classic is most helpful for
specific patches, so even the economy the ways it shows enough time has passed
lacks mystery. In a weird meta way, playing that players are ready to once again
Classic feels a bit like roleplaying the embrace the system design of the original
roleplaying game. Or worse, it’s a little like game. Rather than releasing Classic,
trying to watch Game of Thrones again though, I wish Blizzard had simply
with the knowledge of knowing how it experimented with reintroducing old
ends and being unable to forget the systems into the next mainline expansion—
disappointments waiting down the line. although I well remember the blowback
For most of its history, Blizzard’s when Blizzard tried to reintroduce crowd
approach to WoW showed it adeptly control-heavy dungeons in the 2010
understood the old Latin adage that the Cataclysm expansion. And now that Classic
times are changing and we are changing seems like a hit—although I’m intensely
with them. Classic rejects that change. curious to see what the reception will be
That makes it a good fit for the current like two months from now—maybe some of

those ideas will still spill over. Classic players versus the mainstream
But I worry the damage has already players—and so slips a little too neatly into
been done. WoW Classic is already the modern proclivity toward tribalism.
splitting some of the community. Aside The next time WoW has an unfavorable
from copyright issues, “classic” servers content patch, people may just say “to hell
were fine when they existed only on rogue with it” and play Classic instead. That means
platforms like Nostalrius Begins, but we may see the end of the WoW community
hosting them on the official client opens an that, much like people in the real world, has
entirely different can of worms. From a stuck together through the good and the
personal angle, I have one friend who’s bad times and held out hope that better
been playing the mainstream game things await down the road. As for me? I
constantly since 2004 who now says he’s prefer to look forward rather than behind.
“switched over full time” because he likes I have little doubt that Classic will be a
Classic a “billion percent more than financial success. But as for World of
current retail.” Classic essentially Warcraft’s place as an evolving and
introduces another faction rivalry aside relevant cultural phenomenon? We may be
from that of Alliance and Horde—the looking at an end. ■
The “good ol’ days” included such fun as going AFK for hours so you could level your weapon
skills with auto-attacks. Photo from 2005.

EVERY AMERICAN WASTES
290 POUNDS OF FOOD A YEAR
MACUSER
The Latest Mac Products

Reviewed & Rated REVIEWS
BATTERY PACK
Battery packs have become commonplace.
ANKER POWERCORE+ These small power banks are easy to carry
and make it possible to top off a phone or
19000 PD: FRESH tablet—and more recently with the addition
DESIGN AND NEW of Power Delivery (PD) capabilities, a laptop
FEATURES MAKE THIS even—while on the go.

Anker’s PowerCore+ 19000 has a
BATTERY PACK VERY slightly tweaked design, departing from
APPEALING the standard black brick. The PowerCore+
19000 features a two-tone aesthetic,
BY JASON CIPRIANI
consisting of a space-gray top and a
matte-black bottom. Its corners are
rounded. It looks nicer than older Anker
packs, and I hope the company sticks with
the new design going forward.
There are three ports on the front: one
USB-C and two full-sized USB, along with a
power button. On top is a circular charge
indicator, made up of 11 dots.
IMAGE: ANKER OCTOBER 2019 MACWORLD 33

MACUSER REVIEW: AN K ER POW ER CO RE + 1 900 0 PD
USB-C-to-USB-C cable. The

adapter and cable charged
the pack in an impressive 3
hours, 21 minutes.
All things considered, it’s a
respectable battery pack on its
own. But the PowerCore+ 19000
does even more. It doubles as a
USB hub, which will simul-
taneously charge a laptop and let
you access files stored on a thumb
drive or connect accessories to your laptop.
The I tested this feature on a MacBook Pro
far-left USB port and it worked without issue. To activate
provides up to 15W of hub mode, press the power button for two
power, with the port just to its right serving seconds. The power lights will rotate a few
up to 10W of power. The USB-C port is used times, and then blink every three seconds.
to charge the pack, as well as deliver up to Connect the pack to your laptop, then
27W of power to a tablet, laptop, or connect a USB accessory to the pack.
Nintendo Switch. I followed the instructions and a few
The internal batteries total up to seconds after connecting everything, all of
19,000mAh, or 71.04Wh. In our the files on the thumbdrive were
testing, the PowerCore+ 19000 available in the Finder app. It
mmmmh
provided 60.6Wh of power at a was a pretty cool trick, and one I
Anker PowerCore+
consistent 5V/2.5A. That’s good 19000 PD
could actually see myself using
enough to place the pack in the PROS when traveling.
top third of packs we’ve tested • Highly efficient. At Amazon’s $85 asking price
• Multiple ports, including
when it comes to efficiency. USB-C. (go.macworld.com/pwcr), the
When charging a Nintendo • Doubles as a USB hub. PowerCore+ 19000 is pricey, but
CONS
Switch or an iPad Pro, the pack when you consider what that gets
• Pricey.
stayed at a steady rate of PRICE
you—a 30W wall adapter, a
14.5v/2.93A. $119 battery pack, and a USB hub—it’s
COMPANY
Inside the box is a 30W a good value for anyone who
Anker
USB-C wall adapter and a relies on a battery pack. ■

EXTERNAL STORAGE DEVICE There’s nothing like generic when it
FLEDGING SHELL comes to saving money, be it prescription

medicines or the Shell Thunderbolt 3.
THUNDERBOLT 3: The Shell, a svelte $165 unpopulated (no
ROLL YOUR OWN X5 drive) enclosure from Fledging offers
about the same performance as
WITH THIS FAST, Samsung’s X5 (go.macworld.com/smx5),
PORTABLE NVME but for quite a bit less, depending on
which M.2 NVMe SSD you install in it.
ENCLOSURE
BY JON L. JACOBI
DESIGN AND FEATURES
The Shell Thunderbolt is considerably
smaller than the Samsung X5: 3.75 inches
long, by 1.85 inches wide, by a mere 0.4
inches thick. It’s rendered in solid metal
which is better for shedding heat, a good
thing. At least until you pick the Shell up
after heavy use. It can run startlingly hot
under heavy load.
IMAGE: FLEDGING OCTOBER 2019 MACWORLD 35

MACUSER REVIEW: F LED G IN G SH ELL T HU NDER BO LT 3
Fledging’s Shell USB 3.1 (go.macworld.

com/shll) sports a fan that keeps it very
cool. Why the company didn’t provide one
for the higher-voltage Shell Thunderbolt, I
can’t say. Perhaps it’s about form and
aesthetics. Or maybe it was the only
design available. I’d rather have a drive
that’s a bit larger that can stay cool.
Bear in mind that the excessive heat I
experienced occurred after about 20
minutes of constant testing. Normal, light use
leaves the drive only warm to the touch.
Fledging supplies a screwdriver to
remove the four screws securing the top of
The Fledging Shell Thunderbolt 3 provides
the case. Inside you’ll find a single 2280 just about the same performance as
M.2 slot and a small screw to secure your Samsung’s X5 for a lot less money.
NVMe SSD in the slot. There’s a Type-C
port for connecting the Shell to your recent 500GB model runs out of secondary cache
vintage Mac; however, there’s no AC jack or and dips in performance much earlier.
adapter. That means you can’t use the Otherwise, the Shell performed almost
bus-powered Shell with older Thunderbolt 1 identically to the X5. Note that the
or 2 Macs using the Apple adapter, which benchmarks, other than BlackMagic’s Disk
doesn’t pass through device power. Speed, were run under Windows with Core
i7-5820. The Akitio Node Lite (go.macworld.
PERFORMANCE com/aknl) is a full-sized Thunderbolt 3
The Fledging Shell Thunderbolt 3’s enclosure designed for PCIe cards which in
performance can vary wildly depending on this case housed an Intel Optane 905P.
the NVMe SSD you populate it with, but The Disk Speed test is indicative of the
testing proved that the enclosure itself is not a speed you’ll get during normal operations
bottleneck. I tested the Shell with a Samsung with the Fledging Shell Thunderbolt 3 with
970 EVO and the results were very similar to a 970 EVO on board.
the Samsung X5—the one exception being The following tests were run on IDG’s
the 48GB copy test. I had on hand only a storage testbed under Windows 10. Note
500GB 970 EVO, while the X5 was 1TB. The that the Fledging/970 EVO combo was

fastest in several tests, including a testing aberration, the 970 EVO was a
CrystalDiskMark 6, shown below. tad slow with the reads. Another Shell test
As you can see below, you get those with the WD Black SN750 showed a 0.031
highly desirable, super quick NVMe seek millisecond seek—twice as quick and par
times, though for some reason, most likely for the course.
As I explained,
the 48GB copy
CRYSTALDISKMARK 6 (MBps) tests shown below
Fledging Shell (970 EVO) Samsung X5 Akito Node Lite
weren’t completely
fair, as the 970
2,449
EVO I employed in
Sequential Write (Q = 32, T = 1) 2,418
the Shell was only
2,372
500GB, while the
2,790
X5’s was 1TB. The
Sequential Read (Q = 32, T = 1) 2,804
EVO slows to
2,711
below 1GBps when
0 1,000 2,000 3,000 it runs out of
secondary cache,
The Fledging Shell with a 970 EVO inside showed lots of throughput which is provided
potential under CrystalDiskMark 6. in proportion to
capacity, so the X5
AS SSD 2.0 SEEK PERFORMANCE (Milliseconds) ran out later and
Fledging Shell (970 EVO) Samsung X5 Akito Node Lite turned in a quicker
time. Same with the
0.038 Intel 905P in the
Access time (Write) 0.039
Akitio Node Lite.
0.035
As to that heat,
0.075 the Shell has an
Access time (Read) 0.046 advantage over
0.023 the X5 in that it
0 0.020 0.040 0.060 0.080 can shed it faster
Lower scores are better
through its all-
We’re not sure why the slightly slow read seek result. Most likely it was metal shell and will
simply normal testing deviation. likely throttle

MACUSER REVIEW: F LED G IN G SH ELL T HU NDER BO LT 3
marvelous for light

48GB COPIES (Seconds) use. It’s as fast as
Fledging Shell (970 EVO) Samsung X5 Akito Node Lite the Samsung X5
143 and saves you
48GB Folder Write 123 money—about
123 $100 with a similar
capacity and
142
quality drive. And
48GB Folder Read 134
while $165 may
126
seem like a lot for
58 a tiny enclosure
48GB Write 36 with a bridge
31 board, all the
similar devices I
37
found on Amazon
48GB Read 31
30
were even more
expensive. Hey, it’s
0 40 80 120 160
not as expensive
Lower scores are better
as an Apple Pro
The 512GB 970 EVO inside the Shell ran out of cache sooner than the Display stand!
1TB drive inside the Samsung X5 For heavy
duty use such as
(reduce speed to avoid mmmm video editing or running your
overheating) later. That means Shell Thunderbolt OS, I’d skip the Shell and the
NVMe enclosure
external cooling (blowing air on it) X5 because of the thermal
PROS
will be more effective, but also • Close to 3GBps burst issues. If portability is not a
means, as I said earlier, that the performance. concern, opt for an external
• Small and light.
Shell can be hot to the touch. Not enclosure such as the Node
CONS
burn-you hot, but close enough to • Runs hot to the touch Lite or the Highpoint R6661A
under heavy loads.
cause a self-preservation (i.e., hot (go.macworld.com/r61a). These
• Pricey.
potato) reaction. PRICE
will keep the drive cool,
$165 eliminate thermal throttling, as
COMPANY
BOTTOM LINE Fledging
well as work with older Macs
The Shell Thunderbolt is via Apple’s adapter. ■

ANTIVIRUS SOFTWARE Malwarebytes began life as a complement
MALWAREBYTES to antivirus suites. It was a backstop to

catch and remove particularly troublesome
PREMIUM: A FAST, malware that your primary security
EFFICIENT SECURITY program couldn’t. That all changed in
December 2016 when the company
PROGRAM WITH announced its paid version, Malwarebytes
AN UNUSUAL Premium, was capable enough to be your
primary security program. “With the
APPROACH launch of Malwarebytes 3.0, we are
BY IAN PAUL
confident that you can finally replace
your traditional antivirus,” the company
IMAGE: MALWAREBYTES OCTOBER 2019 MACWORLD 39

MACUSER REVIEW: M A LWAR EBY TE S P R E MI UM
said in a blog post (go.

macworld.com/mlb3).
Malwarebytes
comes in two flavors.
The first is the free
version that is only
capable of removing
malware infections
during a scan.
Upgrade to
Malwarebytes
Premium at an annual The Malwarebytes dashboard for Mac.
cost of $40 for a single
device or $60 for 10 devices, and it adds not detected at all by macOS or
real-time protection, adware and Malwarebytes. On the plus side,
unwanted program blocking, automatic Malwarebytes did find Ocean Lotus during
updates, and scan scheduling. a scan after infection, which has always
Malwarebytes isn’t like your usual been the strength of the product.
security suite. The company’s been a Finally, I decided to see how it would
trusted name in malware removal for stand up against a piece of ransomware
years, but it didn’t perform as well as other and chose the MacRansom sample.
antivirus suites when we put it up against Malwarebytes didn’t detect it while it was
samples in the ObjectiveSee malware downloading, installing, or active. But as I
library. That is by design, according to the mentioned earlier, that is by design.
company, but it leaves us in a difficult spot When I asked Malwarebytes about its
to make a judgment. failure to detect MacRansom the company
said that it was guarding against
THE SPOT CHECKS MacRansom in 2017, but a year later it
Malwarebytes did fine with a number of had stopped. “In summer of 2018, we saw
well-known bits of malware. It had no that we had not detected even a single
trouble detecting Calisto malware, for sample of MacRansom in the wild.
example. When it came to Ocean Lotus it Because of that, we culled those rules
was hit or miss. Apple’s own security from the database,” said Thomas Reed,
detected a few variants, while others were Director of Mac & Mobile for

Malwarebytes failing to detect ransomware.
Malwarebytes. “We don’t believe in files. To make matters worse, sometimes

continuing to detect extinct malware, the bad guys won’t even decrypt your stuff
because that simply causes extended after you pay. These days ransomware is a
scan times without any actual benefit to bigger issue for businesses than people at
the customer.” home, which is in part why Malwarebytes
As Reed told us, this is not a common felt comfortable pruning certain kinds of it
approach in the industry, but Malwarebytes from its active database.
believes it’s more practical. It’s true that Malwarebytes scans
Ransomware in 2019 is an odd issue. If more quickly than other security suites,
a home user gets infected it is without a and that likely means faster remediation
doubt one of the most damaging pieces of for more common threats. But to me that
malware to come up against. It’s designed sounds like something you want in a
to encrypt all of your files, and then secondary defense, not a primary one.
demand a ransom (usually in the form of That is my opinion, however, and I’m sure
pseudonymous Bitcoin) to decrypt your there are Mac users who would disagree.

MACUSER REVIEW: M A LWAR EBY TE S P R E MI UM
also sections for scans,

managing the
quarantine for
infected files, reports,
and settings.
For features there
isn’t much here.
Malwarebytes Premium
monitors your
computer for threats
and removes them.
Malwarebytes during an active scan. That’s pretty much it.
On Windows, Malwarebytes is very BOTTOM LINE

highly rated. AV-Test gave it a 99.2 So here we are with a highly respected
percent protection rating in March 2019, suite from a highly respected security
and a 100 percent protection rating in April company, but one that doesn’t quite fit into
2019 on its 0-day malware attacks and web our testing method. That means it’s hard to
and e-mail threats test. In AV-Test’s (go. make a call. There’s no doubt that
macworld.com/av19) widespread Malwarebytes is excellent as a
and prevalent malware test it secondary defense, but can it
mmmh
earned a 99.5 percent rating in be your primary one? If you
Shell Thunderbolt
both March and April. NVMe enclosure leave your Mac’s default
PROS settings as-is, then probably.
• Works largely on its own.
INTERFACE AND • Running a manual scan is
MacOS has a number of
FEATURES simple and straightforward. built-in security defenses that
CONS
The overall look of Malwarebytes make it much harder to get hit
• Takes a non-standard
is basic and functional. approach to malware with malware in the first place
detection.
Navigation happens from the left and a backstop may be just
• Detected some standard
side rail with options for the malware after infection, not what’s needed. But if the
before.
primary dashboard, which PRICE
unique approach of
indicates whether you’re $40 Malwarebytes gives you
COMPANY
protected or not, as well as a pause, then I’d advise
Malwarebytes
button to start a scan. There are looking elsewhere. ■

Hot Stuff What We’re
Raving About
This Month
ROBOROCK
S6
en.roborock.com
The Roborock S6 is a whiz at

sucking up all the pet hair, food
crumbs, dust, and dirt on our floors
during testing. The amount of debris
filling its dustbin after each cleaning was
amazing, since the floors never seemed that dirty
to the naked eye. The Roborock’s iPhone app offers
fine-tuned cleaning control, a detailed cleaning
history, flexible scheduling options, tracking for the
life cycle of the brushes and filter, and more. Overall,
the Roborock S6 is a clear contender with big-brand
robot vacuums, including iRobot’s Roomba 960 and
Neato’s Botvac D7 Connected. —MICHAEL ANSALDO

MACUSER
Hot Stuff
LG DUAL INVERTER
SMART AIR CONDITIONER
lg.com
LG’s air conditioner (model LW1517IVSM) works with the

SmartThinQ iOS app for controlling and adjusting the air
conditioner. SmartThinQ is designed to control a variety of
LG applicances, so it’s not the most efficient app to use. But
the air conditioner itself is more efficient that most other air
conditioners, since it uses a variable-speed compressor
motor to maintain the temperature you desire. And it’s also
not as noisy as others.—JASON D’APRILE

EZVIZ CTQ6C
ezvizlife.com
The CTQ6C pan-and-tilt camera

includes a smart motion-tracking
feature that keeps moving objects in
view while it records. The whole
enclosure rotates 340 degrees while
the camera can rotate up 105
degrees and down by 15 degrees.
When the camera detects motion, it
locks on to it and tracks it while
recording video. At the same time,
you’ll get a notification on your
phone alerting you to the activity. The
CTQ6C captures crystal-clear video
in both day- and night-vision modes.
You can also download any clip to
your iPhone during playback, which
gives you yet another way to backup
important footage.—MICHAEL ANSALDO

HELPING MANAGE YOUR LOVED ONE’S MONEY
UNDERSTANDING BENEFITS
iOSCENTRAL The Latest on the iPhone, iPad,
Apple Watch, and App Store
Traveling with Apple tech:

What soars, what falls flat
Travel is a great time to see how tech interacts with the real world.
BY DAN MOREN
T
ravel has a way of opening your found myself thinking about the different
eyes to new possibilities. For the ways that we use technology when we’re
last three weeks, I’ve been away outside of our daily routine, and how it
from home, spending time in a brings to light not only things that work
few European countries. During this trip, I well, but also the areas where there’s still a
IMAGE: JEREMEY BISHOP/PEXELS OCTOBER 2019 MACWORLD 47

iOSCENTRAL T RAV EL I N G WI TH A PP LE T EC H
decent amount of friction. the States, where it can often feel like a
As I’ve been making the rounds, I’ve bolt-on to the existing system. And the
made note of a few places where I think reader hardware is far more ubiquitous in
Apple technologies have worked places like the U.K. Even out in the middle
particularly well, as well as where there’s of a hiking trip in a national park, the local
some room for improvement. tea shop was more than happy to take
payment via our phones.
CONTACTLESS PAYMENTS That said, one area where Apple Pay
If this trip has drilled home one thing, it’s lags behind some of its competitors is the
that contactless payments are king. Apple slow rollout of Apple Cash and the inability
Pay has been a godsend—it’s even easier to transfer funds between people from
than digging out your card and fumbling different countries. If I want to pay back my
with an unfamiliar system. It’s clearer than Scottish friend for being nice enough to
ever that digital payments are the way of buy me a SIM card, I still need to fall back
the future and, if anything, it’s a future to services like PayPal and Venmo—or
where the U.S. is still lagging behind. time-honored traditions like buying them
Contactless payments in Europe is dinner. Apple Cash has quickly become
much faster than their counterparts back in my default way to exchange money with
Contactless payments in
Europe is fast, but Apple
Pay lags in a few areas.

friends (or, at least, those on the
Apple platform). It’s a shame it’s
not available more widely.
SIM WORLD
This trip was my first opportunity
to travel outside the U.S. with a
phone that supports dual SIMs,
and it’s been a real win. Earlier
this year I converted my iPhone
XS’s main AT&T number to an
eSIM, which freed up the SIM
slot for traveling. And thanks to Dual SIM mode in iOS is very useful while traveling.
U.K. provider Three, I was able
to buy one SIM which worked for all of my check several times before I was satisfied
European travel needs. that leaving iMessage/FaceTime on my
Even better, the Dual SIM mode in iOS primary SIM wouldn’t accidentally use data
means that you can still use your original from my primary phone plan. (It works
phone number for iMessage and FaceTime correctly, but the wording is a bit
even while using your travel SIM for data. confusing, given that iMessage and
That solves a huge headache, as anybody FaceTime are, of course, data.) And
who’s ever swapped SIMs knows; since changing my AT&T SIM to an eSIM was
those features still tie in to your phone surprisingly annoying, though that was
number, you could potentially miss out on more about the carrier than Apple. There
messages and calls from people who only certainly might be some streamlining that
have your usual phone number. (The Dual can be done to setting up two SIMs, but it
SIM feature also means you still get SMS still ended up being a net win.
texts to your primary phone number as
well, which are fortunately often free to AUGMENTED TRAVEL
receive while overseas.) I like learning things when I’m traveling,
I will say, though, that I found some of but I also don’t want to be staring at my
the user interface to be a little obtuse. For phone all the time, so one thing I found
example, I set it up to use data only myself really wanting on this trip was a
through my travel SIM, but I had to double piece of passive augmented reality

iOSCENTRAL T RAV EL I N G WI TH A PP LE T EC H
hardware like a heads-up display. a decision.

There are so many places where AR This is one place where Apple’s current
could be useful while traveling, from the level of augmented reality doesn’t really
obvious ones like walking, driving, and live up to its name. Yes, the company’s
transit directions, to being able to look at built an impressive framework for AR
a historical landmark or interesting technology, but it still feels like peering
building and find out information about it through a window instead of having reality
without having to stare down at my and digital information seamlessly
phone. And given how much of my time intertwined. Playing Minecraft in AR is
was spent looking up where to eat and impressive, certainly, but it still feels like a
combing through reviews from Yelp, Trip thing you’re going to do from the comfort
Advisor, and Google, I’d love a feature of your own home—something that puts
where I could glance at a restaurant and more of the emphasis on “augmented”
be presented with a synthesis of reviews when instead I’d like to see it be more
and other data about it to help me make about the “reality.” ■
There are many places where AR could be useful while traveling.

Apple apologizes for Siri grading
program and will resume it this
fall after changes
“We realize we haven’t been fully living up to our high ideals, and for that we apologize.”
BY JASON CROSS
A
bout a month ago, a report in com/halt) while it conducts a “thorough
The Guardian (go.macworld. review,” which left us wondering how the
com/hear) exposed the fact company would move forward (go.
that third-party contractors macworld.com/mvfw), as human grading of
have been listening in on a small any machine-learning process is an
percentage of Siri requests as part of a essential part of training the algorithms to
“Siri grading” program. Apple promised to improve them.
halt the Siri grading program (go.macworld. Apple now appears to have finished its
IMAGE: IDG OCTOBER 2019 MACWORLD 51

iOSCENTRAL A P PL E AP O LOG I ZE S F OR S IRI G RA D ING PR O GRAM
review and has issued a statement (go. computer-generated transcripts to help

macworld.com/stat) apologizing for the Siri improve.
way this program had been carried out so > Second, users will be able to opt in
far. The company plans to reinstate the to help Siri improve by learning from the
program this fall after making some audio samples of their requests. We
important changes. hope that many people will choose to
The apology begins with a familiar help Siri get better, knowing that Apple
statement: “At Apple, we believe privacy is respects their data and has strong
a fundamental human right.” It then privacy controls in place. Those who
describes how Apple designed Siri to choose to participate will be able to
protect your privacy—collecting as little opt out at any time.
data as possible, using random identifiers > Third, when customers opt in, only
instead of personally identifiable Apple employees will be allowed to
information, never using data to build listen to audio samples of the Siri
marketing profiles or sell to others. interactions. Our team will work to
The statement then goes on to make delete any recording which is
sure you understand that using your data determined to be an inadvertent
helps make Siri better, that “training” on trigger of Siri.
real data is necessary, and only 0.2
percent of Siri requests were graded by This is the right move, and it once
humans. again puts Apple ahead of other tech
After all of this, Apple does get around giants in protecting your privacy and
to the actual apology that should have security. Apple is making the program
been in the first paragraph. opt-in rather than opt-out, an important
distinction as the vast majority of users
As a result of our review, we realize we never stray from the default settings. It’s
haven’t been fully living up to our high also going to make sure these audio
ideals, and for that we apologize. samples stay in-house rather than going
Apple will resume the Siri grading into the hands of third-party contractors.
program this fall, but only after making Hopefully, this spotlight on Siri’s
the following changes: training, evaluation, and grading will have
> First, by default, we will no longer a positive effect not only for user privacy,
retain audio recordings of Siri but for helping Siri to improve more
interactions. We will continue to use quickly. ■

Apple is finally sending ‘genuine’
parts to independent repair shops
to fix broken iPhones
Your out-of-warranty iPhone has more repair options.
BY MICHAEL SIMON
A
head of the upcoming launch iPhone a little longer. Instead of taking
of the iPhone 11, Apple has your broken iPhone to a high-priced
announced (go.macworld.com/ Apple Genius or roll the dice with third-
repr) a new program that party parts, you’ll now be able to go to an
might let you keep your out-of-warranty independent repair shop and get the
IMAGE: ISTOCK OCTOBER 2019 MACWORLD 53

iOSCENTRAL A P PL E SE N DS ‘ G E N U I N E’ PARTS TO INDE PEND ENT R EPA IR SH OP S
same high-quality parts that you’d get businesses need to have an Apple-
from the Apple Store. certified technician (go.macworld.com/cert)
That’s a big change. Previously, Apple who can perform the repairs, which
kept its tools under lock and key, but requires a passing grade on both the
under the new program, it’s promising “the Apple Service Fundamentals Exam and
same genuine parts, tools, training, repair ACiT 2019 iOS Service Certification Exam.
manuals and diagnostics” as an Apple Additionally, shops must be located in a
Authorized Service Provider. The commercially zoned area, so people
program is limited to out-of-warranty won’t be able to run Apple-backed repair
iPhone repairs at launch. shops out of their garages.
That means repair shops big and small Otherwise, there is no cost to join the
will be able to take advantage of the new independent repair program. While the
program without going through Apple’s program is limited to the U.S. at launch,
rigorous certification to become an Apple said it has been working with 20
Authorized Service Provider. However, independent repair businesses in Europe
there are still limitations on who can join and Asia as well as North America over the
the new program. Most notably, past year as a pilot. ■

Why you should get an Apple
Pencil even if you don’t draw
You don’t have to be an artist to get the most out of Apple’s beautiful stylus.
BY LEIF JOHNSON
A
pple’s ads tend to imply that out of one if you frequently find yourself in
you need to be some kind of the situations we discuss here.
artist if you want to buy an A few pointers before we begin. First,
Apple Pencil, but it’s great for as a rule of thumb, if you’ve never found
plenty of other things, even if those things yourself thinking that some iPad activity
don’t look so hot in the latest TV spot out would be easier if you only had a pen,
of Cupertino. Not everyone needs to use you probably don’t need an Apple Pencil.
an Apple Pencil, but you’ll get a lot of use Second, there’s a whole range of cheap
IMAGE: LEIF JOHNSON OCTOBER 2019 MACWORLD 55

iOSCENTRAL W H Y YO U SH OU LD GET A N A PP LE P ENC IL
styluses you can

use with an iPad
instead of an
Apple Pencil for
these tasks, but
keep in mind
that they won’t
have Apple’s
pressure
technology or
the Pencil’s Here’s a simple mind map I made for this story with the 2018 iPad Pro.
sleek design.
Many feel like you’re writing with a you to circle key items in your notes, easily
stubby crayon. make highlights, and scribble comments in
the margins when you’re using specialized
HANDWRITTEN NOTES AND apps (go.macworld.com/spcl) like MyScript
DRAFTS Nebo or Notability. Word processing
Some of us are still nuts enough to write software still doesn’t successfully mimic
the occasional first draft by hand—I’m this kind of organic drafting, and the Pencil
one!—and no other combination of helps you enjoy that process without
electronic devices really captures the killing a forest.
experience of writing with paper and
pencil quite like the iPad and Apple Pencil. THE iPAD AS A VIRTUAL
Paper and ink still have the edge—even DESKTOP
with its admirable precision, the Apple Setting up a virtual desktop program such
Pencil still feels a bit like a marker—but the as Chrome Remote Desktop (go.macworld.
Pencil and iPad nudge us a lot closer to com/chdk) on my iPad saved me a couple
ditching paper than I once figured we’d be of times when I needed to remotely
at this point in history. access a file that’s only available on my
This arrangement works well enough desktop PC. The catch is that it’s
for traditional writing and outlines with the sometimes awkward to interact with the
right apps, but sure, you can just as easily interface of my Windows machine with my
do these things by typing. The Apple iPad’s display, particularly when I try to
Pencil, though, shines because it allows “right-click” with my fingers. Most of the

time, I can’t wait until I’m done. diagrams, or just for jotting down ideas. It
Apple Pencil makes this process makes for a significantly more interactive
more bearable. It’s almost fun. The experience in meetings than merely
slender Pencil makes it a lot easier to showing some slides to your coworkers.
pinpoint small icons my fingers would
normally obscure, and holding down the MARK UP PDFS AND
Pencil to “right-click” feels a little more SCREENSHOTS
intuitive. It’s still not as ideal as using a The humble PDF is still with us and thriving,
mouse, but it comes darn close. It’s particularly in universities, schools, and
certainly a big improvement on prodding businesses. I personally still see a lot of
with my stubby fingers. PDF contracts I need to sign, With the help
of an app like PDF Expert (go.macworld.
A DIGITAL ‘WHITEBOARD’ FOR com/pdfx), you can use your Apple Pencil to
PRESENTATIONS highlight text in a PDF, scribble marginal
Got a TV that works with AirPlay? Got an notes, and make editing marks as easily as
HDMI dongle for your iPad? If you do, you you might with a piece of paper.
can hook up your iPad to an external Apple Pencil works just as well with
monitor and use it
for presentations.
Plenty of you
already know this
thanks to Keynote
or PowerPoint.
With an Apple
Pencil–compatible
app like Notability
or Microsoft
OneNote, though,
you can use your
iPad as a
“whiteboard” in
meetings for
making mind
maps, rough You can mark up anything, really. Just take a screenshot and go to town.

iOSCENTRAL W H Y YO U SH OU LD GET A N A PP LE P ENC IL
Apple’s screenshot markup tool that’s now Considering that Lightroom feels this way, I
built into both macOS and iOS. It substantially have a lot of hope that Photoshop will be
simplifies actions like circling text or elements just as impressive when it finally drops
in a photo or making arrows to point to sometime this year.
something. Just scribble on the screenshot as
though you’re writing on paper and you’ll be HAVE A LITTLE MORE ‘FUN’ IN
ready to send it to someone. YOUR BROWSING EXPERIENCE
And that brings me to my last point. I
EDIT PHOTOS IN ADOBE would never suggest that someone buy an
LIGHTROOM (OR A Apple Pencil for this reason, so let’s
SIMILAR APP) consider it a complementary feature to the
I suppose this technically still counts as stuff above.
“art,” but I’m a big fan of how easy it is to When I’ve already got an Apple Pencil in
edit photos in Adobe Lightroom with an my hand from a task like taking handwritten
Apple Pencil. It’s a simple enough task notes or marking up a document, I find I
with a MacBook and a mouse, but enjoy little tasks such as clicking links or
somehow it always feels like work. highlighting text more enjoyable with the
The experience is so much more Pencil than I do with my bare fingers. It feels
pleasant on the iPad when I’m using my more precise. Sometimes it even feels
Apple Pencil. When I select a specific area more responsive. Particularly when I’ve got
with the Pencil, it feels as though I’m my iPad flat on a table. ■
“painting” the image. It
allows me to be more
precise than I would
have been with my
fingers. Even adjusting
the various sliders with
the Pencil feels more
enjoyable, and I’ll go so
far as to say that it
inspires me to be more
creative than I would
have been if I’d just
used a mouse.

iPhone Other storage: What
is it and how do you delete it?
That significant Other filling up all your iPhone storage? Here’s what you can do about it.
BY JASON CROSS
Y
ou’re trying to download and enough space. So you look at your iPhone
install the latest iOS release, or storage in the Settings page and, sure
take some photos, or download enough, your iPhone’s storage is full.
that cool app your friend told Worst of all, a huge chunk of it is just
you about, and your iPhone says the
storage is full. VIDEO: iPHONE OTHER
You’ve already deleted every app you
STORAGE: WHAT IS IT?
Watch now at go.macworld.com/oth
don’t think you need, and there’s still not
IMAGE: ADRIANNA CALVO/PEXELS OCTOBER 2019 MACWORLD 59

iOSCENTRAL iPHONE OTHER STORAGE: WHAT IS IT?
categorized as
Other. What’s that
supposed to
mean? How do
you get rid of it?
The Other
storage is
mysterious and
confusing, and
there’s no one
answer that works
for everyone, but
hopefully this
guide will help
you deal with this
problem. You’ll find your storage details a few layers deep in the Settings app.
VIEWING YOUR IPHONE several seconds more for it to stabilize, as

STORAGE the values and app list can change while
To see how much storage all your apps your phone completes its analysis.
and data are taking up on your iPhone’s
storage, open the Settings app, select WHAT IS OTHER, ANYWAY?
General, then iPhone Storage. At the top Your iPhone Storage menu will show
of the screen, you’ll see a bar graph familiar categories like Apps, Media,
showing your total iPhone storage and Photos, and Mail, but also an Other
which types of data are filling it up. category that is sometimes quite large. It’s
Beneath that you’ll find a list of common for Other to span several
applications on your phone and how much gigabytes, but if it’s way over 10GB, it has
room they take up, both for the app itself grown out of control.
and its stored data. The Other category is big and varied,
It may take several seconds for your because it’s a real catch-all category. It’s
iPhone to show the graph, as it takes time comprised of system files, caches, Siri
to scan and analyze its storage. Even after voices (if you’ve downloaded other voices
the chart first appears, you’ll want to wait [go.macworld.com/srvc]), logs, updates, and

so much more. One of the biggest culprits change Messages to save fewer old
for Other growing out of hand is streaming messages. Open Settings, then Messages,
lots of music and video. When you and scroll down to the Message History
download video or music from the iTunes setting. By default, Keep Messages is set
store, TV app, or Music app, it’s indexed as to Forever, but you may want to change it
Media. But streams have caches used to to 1 Year or even 30 Days to reduce the
ensure smooth playback, and those are data that the Messages app caches.
categorized as Other.
Safari’s caches can start to
grow pretty large, too. And if
you send tons of texts with
images or video, that can start
to fill up a lot of space.
Your iPhone is supposed
to manage these caches to
keep your storage from
becoming completely full,
but it doesn’t always do a
great job.
Clearing your Safari data might reduce the size of Other.
HOW TO REDUCE THE
SIZE OF OTHER DATA
You can’t get rid of Other
entirely, but you can usually
reduce its size.
First, let’s try clearing your
Safari caches. Open Settings
> Safari and choose Clear
History and Website Data. If
you have a lot of Safari tabs
open on your iPhone, you
might want to close most of
them, too. If you’re a heavy texter, your Messages app might be filling
You might also want to up your storage with a lot of data.

iOSCENTRAL iPHONE OTHER STORAGE: WHAT IS IT?
Create an
encrypted
backup to
make the
restore
process as
painless as
possible.
Finally, go back to iPhone Storage and required to enter your passcode, which
look at the apps list. Most of the apps store you should do.
data that is categorized as Apps, but some Select your iPhone by clicking the little
will keep caches that are categorized as phone icon in the upper left, and under
Other. If, say, the Podcasts app is taking up Backups, choose This Computer. Checking
a couple gigabytes of space, it’s likely Encrypt Local Backup is a good idea, so
mostly cached data. Deleting the app and your account passwords and Health data
re-downloading it might put a dent in the gets backed up, too. Just choose a
Other category. password you won’t forget. Click the
button to Back Up Now.
THE NUCLEAR OPTION: When the backup is done, disconnect
BACK UP AND RESET your iPhone and head to Settings →
WITH iTUNES General → Reset and choose Erase All
You can go through your iPhone trying to Content And Settings. This will return your
delete every little cache that could grow iPhone to an out-of-the-box state. When it
the size of Other storage, but if you really restarts and it’s in the initial setup process,
want to make it as small as possible, you reconnect it to your computer with iTunes
need to back up your phone and reset it. open, and follow the instructions on
This can take a little while. screen to restore your device.
The best way to do this is to use iTunes This is the longest and most involved
on your Mac or PC. way to reduce the size of Other storage,
Connect your iPhone to your computer but it’s also the best; there’s just no way to
and launch iTunes. You may be prompted get it any smaller than it will be after a
to allow access on your iPhone and fresh reset and restore. ■

,I\RXÚUHWKLQNLQJRI÷QLVKLQJ\RXUKLJKVFKRROGLSORPD\RXKDYH
PRUHVXSSRUWWKDQ\RXUHDOL]H)LQGWHDFKHUVDQGIUHHDGXOW
HGXFDWLRQFODVVHVQHDU\RXDW FinishYourDiploma.org.
I SERVE LUNCH
AT MY CHILD’S
SCHOOL, BUT STILL
CAN’T AFFORD TO
PUT FOOD ON OUR
TABLE.
Melissa, Michigan
HUNGER
IS A
STORY
WE CAN
END.
FEEDINGAMERICA.ORG
iOSCENTRAL
The Latest iOS Products

Reviewed & Rated REVIEWS
WIRELESS KEYBOARD
I’m always looking for ways
ZAGG FOLIO to do my job on the go while
using the least amount of
KEYBOARD CASE space in my bag, and that’s
FOR iPAD MINI 5: why I love the Zagg Folio wireless
LIKE A BOOK-SIZED keyboard case for the fifth-generation iPad

mini. Slip it on, and Apple’s smallest tablet
MACBOOK transforms into an adorable little laptop.
BY LEIF JOHNSON I’ve found myself wishing Zagg would
have leaned into that and made differently
colored cases that match the seven hues
used for the keyboard backlighting, but
IMAGE: LEIF JOHNSON OCTOBER 2019 MACWORLD 65

iOSCENTRAL REVIEW: ZAGG FOLIO BACKLIT KEYBOARD CASE
nah, we’re stuck with the workaday black the case is closed, anyway).
fabric and plastic that defines Zagg’s cases Dropping it shouldn’t happen all that
as of late. often, though, thanks to the grippy
It’s a good thing, then, that almost textured material enveloping almost the
every other feature of this delightful case entire exterior. The only exceptions are
makes up for it. It’s barely thicker than half places where the cloth would likely see
an inch when it’s closed. It’s tough enough a lot of wear and tear through normal
to endure the pain I put my stuff through use, such as the Lightning port, the
on my footbound commute, and the headphone jack, the camera port, and
keyboard—though small—offers much of volume buttons. Around these spaces
the satisfaction I’d expect from a proper and along the edges, Zagg left exposed
laptop. After handling it for a while, I kind black plastic that should last throughout
of wish Apple would take some cues from the case’s lifespan.
Zagg for some of its own designs. You’ll also find that plastic around the
cradle-style hinge, which is hard to pry
MAKING A STRONG CASE apart because it’s meant to hold up the
Owing to the tiny dimensions, this iPad when you’re writing in “laptop
Bluetooth case doesn’t have some of the mode.” I occasionally hear complaints that
extra features you’ll find in bigger cases. Zagg’s hinges aren’t strong enough to
Unlike Zagg’s Slim Book Go for the 9.7- support the tablet after a couple of
inch iPad (go.macworld.com/bkgo), for months, and true, the inherent structural
instance, this version doesn’t
have a handy slot for Apple’s
first-generation Apple Pencil,
likely because the lengthy
stylus would end up sticking
out the end. The Folio’s
sturdiness makes up for its
rather plain design, and I
know from experience that
both the iPad and the
keyboard can survive
tumbles off a counter and
onto a tile floor (so long as It feels a bit like a clothbound book.

weakness of hinges is
likely one reason why
Apple prefers magnets
and “origami” folds for its
own designs. Fortunately,
I’ve had no troubles with
the near-identical hinge
on the 9.7-inch model I’ve
used since last year. In
fact, I prefer it over
Apple’s origami designs
because I can tilt it to the
proper angle. Changing the backlight colors is a surprisingly effective way of
This plastic extends to making the case feel “new” from time to time.
the Micro USB port used
to charge the keyboard, although you may because the openings beneath the keys
not be using it that often. Zagg claims the might let crumbs and other particles get
keyboard will hold a charge for as long as stuck underneath.
two years, although I had no way of testing Still, I say it’s worth the risk for a better
such a long-range claim. Suffice it to say typing experience. The gaps allow for
that I had no issues over the few days I more key travel than I would have
used it (and I had no issues pairing with expected for so thin a case, and I
the iPad, for that matter). especially like how I can make them glow
in teal, green, yellow, red, purple, white, or
KEYS TO SUCCESS blue by pressing the Function key and the
I love the keyboard itself, even if the right arrow key at the same time.
tightly-bunched keys take a few minutes to The keyboard boasts other shortcuts,
get used to. The Folio sports pleasantly too, including ones for music playback,
tactile and responsive keys, which are far home screen, Expose, Spotlight search,
more comfortable to type on than the hiding the keyboard, and adjusting the
canvas-covered keys Apple uses on cases brightness of the backlit keys. You’ll have
like the Smart Folio Keyboard for the iPad to use the function keys for some of these
Pros. Technically, through, Zagg’s shortcuts since it’s such a small keyboard,
keyboard isn’t as structurally sound but that’s hardly a big hurdle.

iOSCENTRAL REVIEW: ZAGG FOLIO BACKLIT KEYBOARD CASE
This photo also

illustrates why
this case looks
best with the
space gray
iPad mini. The
white is a stark
reminder of
how big the
bezels are.
That limitation, though, reminds me that I admit I’m a little skeptical.

Apple didn’t really intend for us
to use the iPad mini like a BOTTOM LINE
“laptop.” It’s best used like a
mmmmh The Zagg Folio keyboard’s other
Zagg Folio Backlit
Kindle—for digital reading and Keyboard Case for strengths are so great that I’ll give
iPad mini 5
late-night internet surfing—and it a shot anyway. I’ve already
PROS
it’s annoying to use it this way • Sturdy, thick exterior shell taken to leaving my MacBook
keeps iPad and keyboard
when the tablet remains safe.
behind after a few days of using
ensconced in its case, hampered • Comfortable, responsive Zagg’s new cases, and I like how
keyboard with adjustable
by a hinge that only bends back backlit keys. it takes up no more room in my
so far. Zagg seems to have • Cradle-style hinge keeps bag than a standard paperback
iPad tilted at desired angle.
guessed people would still want book. At 1.42 pounds (compared
CONS
to use their iPad this way, and so • No slot for Apple Pencil. to the iPad mini’s base weight of
fortunately it’s not hard to pop • Uncomfortable for using iPad 0.66 pounds), it barely even
outside of landscape mode.
the iPad out of the Folio and slip PRICE
weighs more. If you’re looking for
it back in once you’re done. But $99 a case that lets the iPad mini act
COMPANY
can it endure more than a year like a little MacBook, this is a
Zagg
of constant switch-outs like this? good case to bring home. ■

LIGHTNING KEY Yubico’s new YubiKey 5Ci is
YUBIKEY 5CI: the company’s first hardware
authentication device with a
WEBAUTHN Lightning adapter for the
ENCRYPTED iPhone. YubiKey provides security that
reduces the potential of password-based
LIGHTNING KEY FOR account hijacking.
iPHONE AND iPAD Just like a second-factor token sent
via text message or generated by an
FOR SECURE authentication app like Google Authenti-
AUTHENTICATION cator or Authy, YubiKey provides an
BY GLENN FLEISHMAN additional element after a login with a
username and password. Because phone
numbers can be and have been hijacked
and re-routed to other phones, it’s even
more reliable than assuming a text-based
IMAGE: YUBICO OCTOBER 2019 MACWORLD 69

iOSCENTRAL REVIEW: YU B I C O Y U BIK EY 5 CI
code will always wind up at the

same physical device.
YubiKey currently works
with some apps and via the
Brave browser in iOS. YubiKey
supports the relatively new
WebAuthn protocol (go.
macworld.com/wbat) approved
by the World Web Web
Consortium (W3C) to allow
strong, encrypted second-
factor authentication directly
The YubiKey 5Ci has a LIghtning connector for use on iOS
within a browser, without devices, and a USB-C key for connecting to a Mac. It does
requiring proprietary not yet work with USB-C equipped iPads.
extensions or company-specific
hardware or software. to push this substantially more secure
The $70 device also includes a USB-C option to iPhones and iPads, by ostensibly
plug for desktop authentication, but its creating demand and interest among
USB-C port doesn’t yet work with iPads Apple users.
equipped with that connector. Microsoft Edge, Google Chrome
In testing, the YubiKey 5Ci performs as (desktop and Android), Opera, Firefox
expected, but many websites aren’t yet (desktop and Android), and the built-in
ready for iPhone and iPad authentication. Android browser all support WebAuthn in
That will change in the near future as release versions (go.macworld.com/
WebAuthn adoption improves and as the wbsp). Apple has enabled WebAuthn in
key enters the market. the Safari Technology Preview (go.
macworld.com/sftp) for the upcoming
BROAD INDUSTRY SUPPORT, version 13, that will ostensibly appear in
BUT SITES BEHIND release form in Catalina.
Yubico already makes a line of USB and Apple hasn’t yet said whether Safari for
NFC (contactless) keys that support earlier iOS and iPadOS will also support
secure protocols, while its newer models WebAuthn. As a broadly adopted industry
also handle WebAuthn. This extension to standard that leaves security control in a
Lightning paired with USB-C is an attempt user’s hands, there’s little reason for Apple

to stand aside. 1Password for
For now, you need the right app in iOS iOS knows from
YubiKey. After
to work with the YubiKey 5Ci. That
upgrading my
includes the security-minded Brave account security,
browser, which handles WebAuthn directly, it prompted for
and standalone apps like 1Password and the key the next
time the app was
LastPass that have incorporated support.
launched.
Yubico says that more companies are
expected to follow.
I tested the YubiKey 5Ci with Dropbox,
Amazon Web Services console, Twitter,
1Password, and others. Enrollment seemed
to require using a desktop browser at the
moment, and I relied on the USB-C end of
the two-pronged key.
After enrollment, mileage varied.
1Password instantly recognized that I’d
upgraded my authentication, requesting I WebAuthn-based logins, which require
insert the key when I launched the app. I very little modification to work alongside
plugged it in via Lightning, tapped it, and other second-factor methods. The
1Password was in business. numbers have increased as browsers
Other sites were fussier. Some wouldn’t added support for the finished form of the
recognize the macOS Safari Preview as standard over the last year. But developers
supporting WebAuthn, so I switched to have clearly tried to minimize compatibility
Chrome for the desktop. Then, using the issues by using strict filters about which
Brave browser in iOS, some sites refused browsers it believes are capable.
to recognize Brave as WebAuthn- WebAuthn has the same sort of
supporting, either. With Dropbox, it advantage over texted and app-generated
understood the browser could read the second factors as Apple’s Secure Enclave
code, but wouldn’t accept it. With Twitter, in iPhones, iPads, and the T2 Security Chip
however, the system worked as in Macs—and in similar security chips in
seamlessly and perfectly as with the other devices—in requiring possession of
1Password app. a piece of unique hardware that can’t have
Hundreds of websites already allow data extracted from it. Instead of relying on

iOSCENTRAL REVIEW: YU B I C O Y U BIK EY 5 CI
location, or after 30 days,

depending on the site—you
enter a username and password
as before, but then insert and tap
your YubiKey to authenticate.
Because the encrypted
message is generated within the
key and the site already has the
public key associated with you
stored, it dramatically limits the
opportunity for someone to
intercept a message and
plain text codes that can be intercepted or prevents generating one that would fool a
generated, WebAuthn uses public key site. It also bars sending the message to
cryptography and creates a unique any site that doesn’t match the original
encryption key for each site. URL and doesn’t have the public key with
WebAuthn starts with enrollment. You which you enrolled, deterring phishing
visit a site or use an app that from hijacked websites.
supports the standard, prove mmmmh
your identity, and then plug in Yubico YubiKey 5Ci BOTTOM LINE
PROS
your WebAuthn-equipped key The YubiKey 5Ci is ready to go,
• Cryptographic security for
like the YubiKey 5Ci, and tap it. second-factor login. but all the pieces aren’t aligned
Your hardware device generates • Supports industry-standard to show it off to its best
WebAuthn for web logins.
a unique private-public keypair • Backward-compatible with advantage. At $70, it may seem
older FIDO and similar
for the site, and retains the authentication protocols.
a steep price without websites,
private key in its tamper-resistant CONS apps, and Apple all having their
hardware. It sends the public key • Apple doesn’t yet directly act together in iOS, and with a
support WebAuthn in iOS
to the site, which stores it along and upcoming iPadOS. few rough edges in macOS.
• Websites still shaking out
with the account. support for Safari Preview
However, as WebAuthn is a
On subsequent visits, when in macOS, Brave browser in broadly supported industry
iOS.
logging in with any scenario in PRICE
initiative that’s well underway
which a second factor would be $70 and gaining steam, the 5Ci is the
COMPANY
required—such as a new right portable authenticator for a
Yubico
browser, a geographically distant future-proofed purchase. ■

CALL BLOCKER
According to The New York Times (go.
FIREWALL: ROBO macworld.com/48bl), upwards of 48 billion
Americans were hounded by robocalls in
CALL BLOCKER: THE 2018, an increase of 56.8 percent over the
APP EQUIVALENT previous year. That averages out to
OF KRYPTONITE roughly 150 scam, telemarketing, and

unwanted calls annually for every adult
AGAINST IPHONE with a phone—a number expected to
ROBOCALLS balloon higher in the future.
That’s precisely why a cottage industry
BY J.R. BOOKWALTER
flourishes on the App Store, supplying tools
to combat this menace. Unfortunately, most
call blocker solutions rely on outdated,
ineffective blacklists, or worse yet, require
users to do the heavy lifting by reporting
rogue numbers as they pop up. A new app
IMAGE: AD HOC LABS OCTOBER 2019 MACWORLD 73

iOSCENTRAL REVIEW: FIREWALL: ROBO CALL BLOCKER
called Firewall (go.macworld.com/

frwl) takes the opposite approach:
Whitelisting everyone you know
and sending the rest to limbo.
While that may sound like
dropping a nuke on your
backyard to get rid of a few
pesky bugs, Firewall did a
remarkable job of eliminating
nuisance calls on my iPhone X.
In recent months I’ve received
a handful of daily intrusions, but
after installing Firewall, they
were entirely eliminated.
The app accomplishes this
feat by forwarding incoming
cellular (but not FaceTime) calls
to the company’s servers, where
Firewall mimics the iPhone in-call experience, with an
unknown numbers are vetted option to reroute VoIP calls to your cellular carrier at
against multiple known spam the tap of a button.
databases. Anything that
survives this first line of defense is then someone you know using a different
matched against a whitelist of your device number, they can be added to the whitelist
contacts, with everyone else going to in a couple taps.
built-in voicemail.
When active, Firewall emulates the A FEW CAVEATS
look and feel of a traditional iPhone in-call Remarkable as Firewall is snuffing out
experience. The app bypasses carrier- solicitors, there are a few limitations worth
based voicemail, transcribing recorded noting. For starters, the app currently only
audio with a far higher degree of accuracy works in the U.S. with AT&T, Sprint,
than iOS or Google Voice—so good in fact, T-Mobile, and Verizon. Intercepted calls
that you can understand every voicemail are redirected to your iPhone using VoIP,
just by reading, rather than listening. which consumes cellular or Wi-Fi data
Should a blocked caller turn out to be rather than plan minutes.

During setup, Blocked
Firewall adds calls from
your device unrecognized
contacts to a numbers can
whitelist, and easily be added
others can to your Firewall
be manually whitelist so
added at any they won’t be
time. ignored in the
future.
You can get around this by give some users pause. For me,
mmmm
tapping the on-screen “switch to the satisfaction of purging
Firewall: Robo Call
cell” option, which reroutes the Blocker robocalls was ultimately worth it.
PROS
call-in progress to the cellular Firewall did miss a call from one
• Completely eliminate
network. It’s a little clunky but unwanted incoming calls of my contacts, but infrequent
on the iPhone.
comes in handy while on outages are routed to voicemail,
• Built-in voicemail with fast,
unreliable wireless connections. super-accurate with a push notification reminder
transcription.
Also, you can customize to check recent calls.
CONS
what’s spoken during voicemail • Occasionally missed
whitelisted calls routed
greetings for whitelisted and straight to voicemail. BOTTOM LINE
blocked calls, but there’s no way • Requires forwarding Firewall is Kryptonite for unwanted
incoming calls using VoIP.
to record outgoing messages in calls and worth the modestly-
PRICE
your own voice. Free to try for 7 days, priced monthly subscription for a
then $3.99 per month
Although contacts remain on little peace and quiet, if you don’t
COMPANY
your device at all times, the idea Ad Hoc Labs mind entrusting incoming calls to a
of forwarding incoming calls may third-party app. ■

MAC
iOSCENTRAL
5 GREAT iOS GAMES

FROM THE PAST MONTH
It’s an especially good month for ports of indie games, as the end of summer brought us Dead
Cells, Rogue Legacy, Journey, and Telling Lies—and the latter even dropped at the same time as its
counterparts for desktops and consoles. With releases like this, the iPhone is starting to look more
like a regular game console, which I like to think hints at great things for the upcoming launch of
Apple Arcade. By Leif Johnson
DEAD CELLS
go.macworld.com/dce
The title Dead Cells ($7.99) refers to the hero of Motion Twin’s game, who’s basically a bundle
of sentient cells that slithers into the bodies of decapitated prisoners in their...cells. Wordplay is
fun, y’all! And so is Dead Cells, which, like Castlevania, is a 2D game that relies on exploring
and backtracking through various levels, with the key difference being that these levels
randomly generate each time you go through. Dead Cells is a hard game, not least because it
features a permadeath mechanic that makes you start from the beginning every time you die.
76 MACWORLD OCTOBER
MARCH 2018
2019
TELLING LIES
go.macworld.com/tli
Telling Lies ($6.99) is the kind of game that’ll make you want to stick a spot of
electrical tape over your MacBook’s camera. You play as an NSA agent, and
you’re tasked with piecing together the story behind a traumatic event by watch-
ing and listening to secretly recorded one-sided video chats from a large cast of
characters. Your job is to pull the most important clues from what you hear, so
you’ll need to pay attention to relevant references in this chatter. This isn’t always
easy, though, as you’ll quickly realize some of these chumps are shameless liars.

MAC
iOSCENTRAL 5 GREAT iOS GAMES
ROGUE LEGACY
go.macworld.com/rle
Rogue Legacy ($3.99) is technically the tale of one seriously messed-up

family. In this “roguelite” that first appeared in 2013, you’re a knight who
drops down into a 2D randomly generated dungeon and then hacks and
slashes his or her way through a series of bosses. If this knight dies, you can
pick one of their descendants to carry on the fight. As a twist, they’ll usually
have some kind of genetic quirk that gives them advantages or disadvan-
tages. Progeny with ADHD, for instance, will move faster; while the game will
switch to black and white for colorblind descendants.

MARCH 2018
WITCHEYE
go.macworld.com/wey
It’s not difficult to find 2D platformers on the App Store, but so many of
them have a hard time translating controller-oriented combat and
movement controls to touchscreens. (This month, we see a bit of that in
Dead Cells.) That’s one of the reasons why I adore Witcheye ($2.99),
which embraces the touchscreen entirely. Here, you’re a witch who
transforms into an eyeball in order to chase down a knight who stole a
few witchy ingredients and trinkets from her home. It’s a very tough
eyeball, too, as it’s able to break through walls and crush enemies by
bumping into them.

MAC
iOSCENTRAL 5 GREAT iOS GAMES
JOURNEY
go.macworld.com/jo
I’m fond of saying Thatgamecompany’s Journey ($4.99) is my favorite game ever,

and I’m pleased to find that it holds up well on the iPhone, too—although the
graphics sometimes look less than optimal if you’re playing it on an iPad. You’ll
only need a couple of hours to complete your journey to the end credits, but its
experience would suffer if it were longer. Like the best poems, it delivers maxi-
mum emotional impact within a short span. Few other games come closer to
capturing the intensity of an impassioned religious experience, as it’s centered
on a robed pilgrim making his or her way up a mountain.
80 MACWORLD OCTOBER
MARCH 2018
2019
I SHOULD
GET A
RIDE
HOME.
BUZZED DRIVING
IS DRUNK DRIVING
Jacob Sanchez
Diagnosed with autism
Sensory sensitivity is a sign of autism.

Learn the others at autismspeaks.org/signs.
FEATURE
FIVE
SIGNS
THAT
YOU
NEED TO
REPLACE
YOUR
iPHONE
DON’T KNOW WHEN TO
SAY GOODBYE TO YOUR
CURRENT IPHONE AND
GET A NEWER ONE?
MAYBE WE CAN GIVE YOU
THE NUDGE YOU NEED.
BY JASON CROSS
IMAGE: APPLE OCTOBER 2019 MACWORLD 83

FEATURE 5 S I G N S YO U NE ED A N EW iPH ON E
D
o you really need a new accepting that their old phone is holding
iPhone? They’re so expensive them back.
now, and yours is…fine. It’s If one or more of these signs apply to
fine. You’ve never been one of you, perhaps it’s time to replace your
those people who needs a new phone iPhone.
every year, or every other year, anyway.
How do you know when it’s time to 1. YOU CAN’T GET IOS
take the plunge and ditch your old iPhone UPDATES ANY LONGER
for a new one? Apple does a better job than any other
We’re definitely not one to encourage phone maker of supporting old hardware
the cycle of nonstop iPhone upgrades. with new versions of its operating system.
Hanging on to your phone for a long time iOS 12 is supported by iPhones going all
is a good thing. But just as some users feel the way back to the iPhone 5s (released in
compelled to upgrade way too often, 2013) and iPads back to the third-
others stubbornly refuse to get a new generation iPad and iPad mini (released in
phone until their current one literally won’t 2012). That’s six years old!
function at all, and might need a little help And Apple even put special effort into
Even if you can live without the new features in the latest version of iOS, you shouldn’t forego
its security updates.

making iOS 12 run better
on older devices than
earlier versions of iOS
did. It’s a difference you
can feel immediately.
If you can’t run iOS
12, it’s definitely time to
upgrade. Not only are
earlier versions of iOS
missing important
features, but there are
critical security updates
in every iOS release, too. If you can afford to fix that broken screen, but it’s just not worth it,
When iOS 13 is your phone is too old.
released later this year,
it’ll cut off support for the oldest devices Think about what that says, that your
supported by iOS 12. If and when that old iPhone isn’t even worth fixing. If it’s not
happens, if you can’t make the new cutoff, worth fixing, it’s not worth using.
consider your old iPhone end-of-life and
put it to pasture. 3. YOU’RE EMBARRASSED BY
YOUR PHOTOS
2. YOUR SCREEN IS TRASHED When you bought your iPhone, you were
BUT ISN’T WORTH FIXING amazed by the photos and videos you
Cracked screens are common. Chips, took. Now, every time you and your friend
cracks, and even fully shattered screens are taking photos of the same thing, you’re
happen to the best of us. They make your shocked by how good theirs look and
phone hard or even dangerous to use, embarrassed by how bad yours look.
and of course they’re just frustrating. Phone cameras get better every year,
For most people, it’s a priority to get and Apple’s always pushing the envelope.
the screen fixed. If your screen has been That doesn’t mean you have to get a new
busted for a year and you won’t fix it phone every year, but it does mean that
because it costs more for the repair than the photos taken by an iPhone just three
your phone is worth, maybe it’s time to or four years old are going to look way
move on. worse than a new one.

FEATURE 5 S I G N S YO U NE ED A N EW iPH ON E
Everyone has a different level of iPhones are so popular that you can find
satisfaction with the photos and videos accessories for your particular model at
they take, so the need to upgrade for major retailers for years. That’s definitely
camera quality will vary. But don’t take not true in the Android world; the
lackluster photos of life’s ephemeral collective Android market is huge, but no
moments just because you’re too one model is popular enough to continue
stubborn to replace an aging iPhone supporting for very long.
that “works fine.” So if you can’t find accessories that
fit or work with your iPhone, it’s
4. YOU CAN’T FIND definitely time to move on.
ACCESSORIES FOR IT And if you have an iPhone with a
ANYMORE 30-pin connector, you should have
You need a screen protector, but you can’t upgraded a few years ago.
find one made for your iPhone model. It’s
time for a new case, but the stores have 5. YOU’RE ALWAYS OUT OF
only one or two to choose from. You were STORAGE SPACE
going to buy that car mount, but it’s made You’ve tried everything. You store your
for iPhones of a different photos and videos online. You have
size, and yours Optimize iPhone Storage (go.macworld.
doesn’t fit right. com/optz) enabled in the Photos section of
Generally the Settings app. You deleted all the apps
speaking, (go.macworld.com/dele) you don’t really
use. You’ve done everything you can to
reduce Other storage (see page 59).
Yet you still run out of space on your
iPhone. You can’t download that app you
want. You get a warning when you try to
take photos. You get a warning when you
try to update iOS.
At some point, you have to face the
facts—as operating systems and apps do
If you’re still using one of
more, they get bigger. As you take more
these, you probably should
have replaced your iPhone photos, even the thumbnails and indices
a few years ago. for them get bigger. The 16GB of space

Of course, you might
be turning in your old
phone as a trade-in. The
Apple Store or carrier
should help you transfer
your data and then
completely wipe all
traces of your info from
your old iPhone before
you turn it in.
If you want to sell your
phone yourself, check our
You never want your iPhone storage to become completely full. guide (go.macworld.com/
slif) for help in getting it
that was “just fine” when you bought your prepared for sale, and choosing how and
iPhone a few years ago now feels like where to sell it. ■
trying to squeeze a fleet of SUVs into a
two-car garage.
You can’t upgrade your iPhone’s
storage space. You can only get a new
iPhone. And if storage limits are
preventing you from using your iPhone
the way you want to, maybe it’s time to
consider that. You may not want to get
the minimum storage space this time,
for fear of being back in this boat again
in a few years.
The Transfer
HOW TO MOVE EVERYTHING From iPhone
TO YOUR NEW PHONE option makes
When you finally do get a new phone, moving
everything
you’ll want to transfer all of your existing from an old
data to it. We have a guide to help you at iPhone a
go.macworld.com/trsf. breeze.

FEATURE
T H E 1 0 B E S T
COMPLICATIONS
F O R A P P L E W A T C H
BY LEIF JOHNSON
WITH A GOOD COMPLICATION, YOU DON’T ALWAYS

HAVE TO OPEN AN APP TO CHECK APPOINTMENTS OR
SEE WHAT THE WEATHER’S LIKE.
FEATURE 10 BEST APPLE WATCH COMPLICATIONS
DON’T BE SCARED BY THE WORD COMPLICATION.

The ones you find on the Apple Watch can make your life much
simpler, as they’re basically bite-sized versions of the full apps you
normally open through the home screen grid.
You can have anywhere from one to eight

complications on the tiny screen depend-
ing on the watch face (or watch), which
makes it easy for you to figure out what
the weather’s like outside, when your next
appointment is, or even translate a ques-
tion into another language. A good Apple
Watch app doesn’t necessarily have a
good complication, although there’s a lot
of overlap (go.macworld.com/ovlp).
A good complication relays enough
information that you won’t even need to
open the app. If you do, it’ll get right to
San Francisco doesn’t really have interesting
business without requiring any other steps. weather, so I don’t have anything more
These are the complications that have the exciting to show.
best chance of making your Apple Watch
experience less, well, complicated. In its smaller form, it shows you an icon
for the weather and the current temperature.
1. DARK SKY And you get all this with a single purchase.
Price: $3.99 at go.macworld.com/dsky Carrot Weather (go.macworld.com/cart) does
Apple’s native Weather app kind of sucks, a good job, too (especially if you like some
so you should use a good third-party humor), but you’ll have to pay extra for the
alternative like Dark Sky. It’s beautiful, it’s Apple Watch complication.
eerily precise about predictions, and it’s
got a fantastic Apple Watch complication. 2. iTRANSLATE
In its large form, it tells you the current Price: $4.99 subscription at
temperature, today’s highs and lows, and go.macworld.com/itrn
when the sun will set. Traveling to a foreign country? Having the

your iPhone’s battery on your Apple
Watch, but my favorite is BatteryPhone. It
tells you the status of your iPhone’s
battery, yes, but it also tells you how much
battery life your Apple Watch has left—and
it does this for both the large and small
versions of the complication. To my
knowledge, no other battery life app on
the App Store does this.
In addition, it’ll notify you when your
iPhone is fully charged (and vice versa on
the iPhone with the Apple Watch). The
catch is that the interface is kind of ugly
Longer phrases won’t fit in the preview, so and that—thanks to limitations from
you’ll still have to open. Apple—you can’t get updates more than
every 30 minutes. If you want a good
wonderful iTranslate on your wrist feels a subscription-based alternative, check out
bit like having one of the universal Remote Battery (go.macworld.com/rmbt).
translators from Star Trek. It recommends a
language based on your location as well
as useful simple phrases that show up on
the large complication, but you can also
press it and ask for specific translations.
After that, the new phrase will stay
visible for a bit. In the smaller version, it
merely gives you quick access to the app,
but it will at least tell you which language
it’s set to. There’s a large array of
languages to choose from, too, ranging
from French to Afrikaans.
3. BATTERYPHONE
Price: Free at go.macworld.com/btph I really wish “battery” wasn’t lowercase.
You’ll find several good apps for checking Fortunately, I usually use the smaller version.

5. JUST PRESS RECORD

Price: $4.99 at go.macworld.com/jspr
At the moment watchOS doesn’t have a
dedicated Voice Memos app—although one
is reportedly on the way—so Just Press
Record is easily one of your best
alternatives. The complication in particular
makes it more useful than it is on the iPhone.
You can use it for quick reminders or
notes—particularly if you’re worried iOS’s
dictation won’t accurately capture it with a
traditional note taking app—and I
personally use it to “jot down” story ideas
that hit me while I’m on my train commute.
It’s good for letting you know when you need Once you’re done, just press the big red
to…disembark. button to stop. You can access the
recorded snippets from either your Apple
4. CITYMAPPER Watch or your iPhone (where you’ll also
Price: Free at go.macworld.com/citm find a transcription).
Citymapper Transit Navigation is an
invaluable navigation app if you rely on
public transportation in a major city, and
its Apple Watch complication is almost as
essential for getting you where you need to
go. The smaller complication lets you know
when you’ll arrive at your destination, while
the larger one lets you know the next step
you’ll need to take on your journey (such as
a transfer for a different train).
Citymapper works great for car trips,
too, but its Apple Watch support keeps
you from constantly dragging out your
phone when you’re heading somewhere It’s a great way to “jot down” article ideas that
on foot. come to me on my commute.

“Do some stuff” is almost always a good idea.
6. THINGS 3 showing how close you are to completing

Price: $9.99 at go.macworld.com/thg3 the day’s tasks. That’s nice, but I’d be
Things 3 is the best to-do-list app across happier if Things replaced the logo with
the iPhone, iPad, and Mac, and that quality the actual number of tasks remaining.
generally extends to its helpful
complication. The large version is the most 7. SHAZAM
useful, as it’ll tell you the next tasks you Price: Free at go.macworld.com/shaz
need to finish on your Today list, and then Shazam tells you which song you’re
you can tap on it to open the watch app listening to when it’s able to hear a few
and mark the task as complete. seconds of audio, and its complication lets
The smaller complication is more you turn it on within seconds.
abstract, as it merely has Things’ Good thing, too, as I hate it when a
checkmark logo and an “activity ring” song ends by the time I find my Shazam

“corner” format with the logo).
8. FANTASTICAL 2
Price: $4.99 at go.macworld.com/fst2
Fantastical 2 is a, well, fantastic calendar
app, and frankly you should be using it.
On the face of things, though, its
complication isn’t all that different from
the one for Apple’s own Calendar app,
although it’s notable for letting you know
how much longer an event you’re
attending is going to last (provided you
entered that information).
On the smaller complication, it uses an
I hear it’s good for cheating on pub trivia, too.
So people say. “activity ring” to give you a rough visual
idea of how long you have until an event
app on my iPhone or Apple Watch. With ends as well. It’s not the most original
this complication, it’s always in reach complication, perhaps, but it’s certainly
(although it’s only available in the small one of the most useful.
Fantastical 2 also has

great complications
for the Apple Watch
Series 4’s “Infograph”
watch face.

10. SPOTIFY
Price: Free at go.macworld.com/spfy
I’m reluctant to put Spotify’s newish
complication (go.macworld.com/nwsh) on
here because there’s not much to it. The
smallest one only shows the logo and acts
as a springboard to the app, while the
larger one just says, Tap To Play Music.
Unlike its counterpart for Apple Music, it
won’t even tell you which song is playing.
But if you’re heavily invested in
Spotify, this may be all you need. The
shortcut quickly opens the app, giving
you immediate access to your playlists
and the typical playback controls.
Gotta hatch ‘em all! Considering how often I use Spotify, this
convenience outweighs any coolness
9. POKÉMON GO factor (although I recommend only using
Price: Free at go.macworld.com/pkmn the small version). ■
Pokémon Go’s complication reminds us
that Niantic’s popular augmented reality
game doubles as a decent exercise app.
In both the large and small versions, the
complication shows how much farther
you need to walk before your next
Pokémon egg hatches.
The bigger version gives you
specifics, while the short version shows
an Activity app-style ring that slowly
completes the closer you get to your
goal. Glancing down at it sometimes
inspires me to “go” the extra mile (or at
least the long way) when I’m heading
somewhere. Yeah, don’t use the big version.

If you love them enough
to suck the snot out of
their nose at 4 a.m.,
then surely you’ll check
to make sure they’re
in the right car seat.
NHTSA.gov/TheRightSeat
WORKINGMAC Tips, Tricks, and Tools to Make You
and Your Mac More Productive
10 incredibly useful Mac keyboard

shortcuts you should be using
Want to take screenshots? There’s a shortcut for that—and many other things.
BY LEIF JOHNSON
I
f you’re not using keyboard shortcuts MacOS has many shortcuts, but I
on your Mac, you’re missing out on a consider these the ones everyone should
big part of the reason why so many know. I’ve tried to avoid (still useful)
people love Apple’s desktop operating shortcuts with related Windows
system. Thanks to Apple’s integration of
hardware and software, you’ll rarely have VIDEO: 10 USEFUL MAC
to reach for your mouse or trackpad once
KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS
Watch now at go.macworld.com/10k
you learn to speak the language of the keys.
IMAGE: ISTOCK OCTOBER 2019 MACWORLD 97

WORKINGMAC 10 MAC KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS
It’ll change the way you work.
counterparts—such as ⌘-A to select all or shortcut and type the name of the file
⌘-F open the Find prompt—and focus on you’d like the find in the prompt that pops
shortcuts you may not be familiar with if up. The results are instant. Spotlight will
you’re new to Mac. also search through things like
And let’s talk about that ⌘ symbol. iMessages, bookmarks, and the full text
That’s the Command key, and it’s the key of files on your hard drive. It’s also a quick
to all the shortcuts listed here. It works way to find and open apps you don’t
kind of like the Control key on a Windows keep on your dock.
PC, except it’s in a handier spot—typically
on both sides of the spacebar. In the 2. IMMEDIATELY QUIT ANY APP
following examples, an example like ⌘-A ⌘-Q: Use this command to shut down any
typically means you need to hold down app immediately. This command doesn’t
the Command button and press A or press just minimize the app (as sometimes
both at the same time. happens when you hit the red X button at
If these shortcuts get you hooked, you the top of any Mac app)—it completely
can even make your own for everything shuts it down.
from the system to specific apps by going
to System Preferences → Keyboard → 3. TAKE SCREENSHOTS OR
Shortcuts and then choosing one of the RECORD THE SCREEN
options on the left. As you can probably imagine, we use
these shortcuts a lot here at Macworld.
1. OPEN THE SPOTLIGHT There are actually several ways you can
SEARCH TOOL take a screenshot on a Mac.
⌘-Spacebar: This is probably the most ⌘-Shift-3: Screenshot the entire visible
useful shortcut of all. Whenever you want window. If you can see it on your Mac’s
to find a file on your Mac, just tap this screen, it’ll show up in the screenshot.

⌘-Shift-4: Screenshot a specific area of If you simply want to minimize an app,
the screen with the help of a rectangular press ⌘-M, but its preview will still show up
cropping tool. This is the one I use the on the right side of your dock.
most, and it’s also great for sharing images
or snippets of text on social media. 5. QUICKLY SWITCH BETWEEN
⌘-Shift-5: Beginning with macOS ACTIVE APPS
Mojave, Apple made it easy to see all your ⌘-Tab: Holding ⌘ and then tapping Tab
screenshotting tools at once with this opens the App Switcher, which lets you
shortcut. Press it, and you’ll see a toolbar easily switch between all active apps by
that gives you options for capturing the tapping Tab until you land on the one
entire screen, capturing a specific window, you want.
or capturing a specific portion of a window.
You can also use it to record either the 6. SWITCH BETWEEN
entire screen or a portion of it and choose DIFFERENT WINDOWS
where to save the image or video file. (By IN AN APP
default, screenshots save to the desktop.) ⌘-~: This one makes research a heck of a
lot easier. Let’s say you have two
4. HIDE APPS INSTANTLY documents open from Apple’s Pages app:
⌘-H: Here’s one for sneaky folks. If you’re one with your notes and one with your
looking at something you don’t want an draft. This shortcut lets you easily switch
approaching boss, parent,
or friend to see, tap this
shortcut and the active open
window will vanish. To start
using the app again, press
the app’s icon on either the
dock or the App Switcher.
You can do this for all
active apps by holding down
⌘-Option and pressing your
mouse on any visible part of
your desktop. Every app will
Hide. It’s a great way to Honestly, I tend to just click on apps from the dock, but many
declutter your desktop. Mac users love this feature.

WORKINGMAC 10 MAC KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS
between the two (or more) documents. I an accidentally closed tab in Chrome or
find it’s particularly helpful if I’m working Opera, you can press ⌘-Shift-T.
on a MacBook with a smaller screen
where the split-view interface might feel 9. IMMEDIATELY LOCK
too cramped. YOUR MAC
⌘-Control-Q: If you’re stepping away from
7. FORCE-QUIT AN APP your desk at home or the office and you
⌘-Option-Q: If an app is locked up (and don’t want someone snooping around on
⌘-Q isn’t working for whatever reason), your Mac, press this shortcut and your Mac
use this shortcut to force the app to quit. will immediately switch to the lock screen.
You can also choose multiple apps to It’s a heck of a lot faster than doing it
force-quit by pressing ⌘-Option-Esc through the menu bar.
(Escape), which is much like using
Control-Alt-Delete on a PC. Instead of the 10. USE QUICK LOOK TO
Task Manager, though, you’ll get a PREVIEW FILES
window that says Force Quit Applications Click-Spacebar: If you want to see what
and you can choose which app you want a file looks like but you don’t want to
to close from there. waste time opening the associated app,
select the file in a Finder folder and then
8. QUICKLY ACCESS THE press the spacebar. (This also works
SEARCH/ADDRESS BAR IN with files on the desktop.) A full-page
SAFARI preview will pop up—and with Markup
⌘-L: Reaching for your mouse to activate options, too. This works for everything
Safari’s search bar wastes a lot of time. from images and PDFs to Microsoft
Press this shortcut while you’re using Excel files.
Safari, and the cursor will jump up to the You can also select multiple files
search bar, where you can type out either to preview at once by holding down
a search term or a URL. This shortcut also the Command key as you select them
works with Google Chrome. (You can also and then pressing ⌘+Y. (⌘+Y also
use it on Windows with the Control key.) works for single files, but in that case
Safari has some other great keyboard it’s less convenient.) Once that window
shortcuts, too: ⌘-T opens a new tab, and is open, you can navigate between
⌘-Z reopens the last tab you (possibly the files with the arrow keys in the
accidentally) closed. If you want to reopen upper left. ■

Avira Free Antivirus: Solid
protection for your Mac
Avira Free Antivirus for Mac is a fairly barebones suite, but it offers highly
rated protection at no cost to users.
BY IAN PAUL
P
erhaps you’re the type of Mac macworld.com/998p) from 585 malware
user who hates the idea of samples. Avira Pro and Free use the same
running an antivirus suite but detection engine.
recognizes its necessity. If so, The organization also gave Avira Free
then Avira Free Antivirus for Mac might be a 100 percent detection rate for Windows
for you. For no money down, this suite malware on Mac using 500 “prevalent
offers real-time protection and a firewall. It Windows samples.” The latter is important
doesn’t include USB scanning, which is a since it prevents Macs from becoming
special feature for the paid version. “carriers” of Windows malware and
What you do get is a solid antivirus infecting Windows systems through
solution. AV-Comparatives gave Avira Pro sharing infected files.
for Mac a 99.8 percent protection rate (go. AV-Test (go.macworld.com/avra) had
IMAGE: AVIRA OCTOBER 2019 MACWORLD 101

WORKINGMAC REVIEW: AV IR A F RE E AN TIV IRU S
a similar finding with Avira Pro for Mac, didn’t see how well Avira for Mac did
giving it a 99.8 percent detection rate against Windows malware, but over on the
in June 2019 from 557 samples for Windows side Avira also did well (go.
widespread and prevalent malware (the macworld.com/wnwl), with similarly high
industry average is 99.9 percent). AV-Test detection ratings from AV-Test.
Our own malware spot
tests using the Objective See
archive and Wicar.org were
pretty good. It detected a
Trojan with no trouble as soon
as we tried to unzip the folder,
and the same went for
Macransom ransomware.
Over on Wicar there were
about 11 “no results” from
these tests, which means we
tried to open a malicious
web-based attack and we
ended up with a blank page.
Avira for Mac’s Scanner section.
Interestingly, when we
installed Avira’s free browser
add-on Avira Browser Safety
there were four additional
detections. We’d advise
users to install the add-on
since the web is a primary
vector for attacks.
INTERFACE AND
FEATURES
Avira’s interface is plain but
effective. It uses the common
left-rail and primary pane
The Activity Log for Avira for Mac Free. design. The first section is

The Quarantine
section in Avira
for Mac Pro.
the Scanner area. This functions as a protection cloud (checking the

dashboard of sorts as well as the area to “fingerprint” of suspicious files with Avira’s
initiate a malware scan. At the top it shows cloud database), firewall, and the USB
whether your computer is currently Scanner (not available in Avira Free).
protected or not, there is also a
button to initiate a new scan with mmmm BOTTOM LINE
options to do a quick, full, or Avira Free Antivirus If you don’t want to pay for an
for Mac
custom scan. You can also drag- anti-virus suite then Avira Free is
PROS
and-drop files into this area to • Highly-rated protection. a great option. It offers excellent
scan it for any potential malware. • Easy-to-use interface. security, and protection from
CONS
The rest of the items in the viruses and the worst kinds of
• Activity log doesn’t update
navigation pane are pretty in real time. malware. Its no-nonsense
straightforward. The only one • Pro version doesn’t offer approach for a free suite makes it
better value for most users.
worth pointing out would be the PRICE easy to navigate and understand,
Modules section that allows you Free and, most importantly, it gets out
COMPANY
to turn on or off certain features of your way to do its job allowing
Avira
including real-time protection, you to do yours. ■

WORKINGMAC
Hide.me: Serviceable speeds

and simple to use
Hide.me is easy to use and has the right privacy promises, but we didn’t find
the speeds were as good as experienced on Windows.
BY IAN PAUL
HIDE.ME: SECURITY,
T
he fundamental features you
want in any VPN service are an SOFTWARE, SERVERS,
easy-to-use desktop application, AND SPEED
privacy protection, and speedy Hide.me by default on Mac uses
connections. The latter two are harder to OpenVPN, but you can also specify IKEv2,
determine. In the case of privacy, you have SoftEther, and SSTP protocols. For data
to trust that your VPN is doing what it says encryption on OpenVPN, Hide.me uses
its doing. Speeds depend on your DHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384; data
location, equipment, and ISP. authentication is over HMA SHA-256, and
Nevertheless, we do the best we can to the handshake uses RSA 8192-bit. If you
make informed decisions, and when it opt for IKEv2, Hide.me uses AES-
comes to Hide.me VPN on Mac you get CBC-256 for data encryption, HMAC
almost everything you need. SHA-512 for data authentication, and
104 MACWORLD OCTOBER 2019 IMAGE: HIDE.ME

ECP521 for the handshake. Hide.me offers VPN servers in 34
Hide.me says it does not track your countries with more than 160 total servers
browsing and has a strict no-logs policy, behind the scenes. Many of the smaller
which it says was verified by security and countries offer just one option, but when
penetration testing firm, Defensecode. It there are multiple options for a particular
does, however, monitor bandwidth usage, country you’ll see a drop-down arrow.
and it maintains a troubleshooting log on Click that, and you can see all the
its servers containing a randomly assigned location options for that country. The
username and internal IP address. That United States, for example, has 11
data is erased every few hours. The different regional options.
company is officially based in Malaysia. Hide.me allows P2P on many of its
When you first activate Hide.me you servers. If it’s not allowed you’ll see a red
get a very simple application. In the center label to the right that reads “No P2P.”
of the window there’s an Enable VPN In our tests, Hide.me performed fairly
button, and above that your disconnected/ well, but not amazingly. The result was
connected status. Towards the bottom-left actually surprising because Hide.me was
you have your current IP address, and the quite zippy on the Windows side when we
bottom-right is where you can change your reviewed the service in August 2018. At
country location. the time, Hide.me maintained nearly 49
In the settings area (click the cog in the percent of the base speed in our testing
upper-right corner of the main window),
Hide.me activates an internet kill switch by
default. If your VPN connection drops, the
application will automatically stop all
applications from accessing the internet to
avoid exposing your activities to third
parties. There’s also an option, again
activated by default, that automatically
reconnects to the VPN when the internet
connection drops.
Those are understandable default
options, and Hide.me also offers an
option to start the application minimized.
Neither are turned on by default. Hide.me’s server selection screen.

WORKINGMAC REVIEW: H I DE. M E
and allows for a single device

connection and limits you to
75GB of data transfer, while the
Premium plan at $10 per month
allows for five simultaneous
device connections.
If the Plus plan’s annual rate is
too much at once you can also
pay $10 per month or $40 for six
months. Obviously, the annual
rate is the better value by far.
Premium’s options beyond the
annual fee include $80 for six
months or $20 per month.
Hide.me accepts payments
Hide.me’s protocol options. via credit card, PayPal, and
cryptocurrencies.
on a Windows PC. But for Mac, Hide.me
kept about 18.32 percent of the base BOTTOM LINE
speed over three days of testing. That’s Hide.me is a pretty good service. It has
quite low, though there were bright spots the right privacy promises, fair pricing,
such as the German and U.S. connections. accepts a range of payment methods,
Also, Hide.me’s servers hit and doesn’t ask for much in the
higher speeds quite often, but mmm way of personal information.
couldn’t sustain them for the Hide.me
We have seen better speeds,
duration of the test. At one point, PROS however. The connections are
for example, the U.S. connection • Easy-to-use Mac app. serviceable and will work well
• No-logs promise.
was hitting 41Mbps before enough for common uses
CONS
dropping down to 28Mbps for the • Expensive. such as video streaming,
final score. • Speeds not as good on email, and general web surfing.
Mac.
PRICE
Anyone who needs better
HIDE.ME PRICING $120 speeds for gaming and other
COMPANY
Hide.me offers two pricing plans. uses on Mac should probably
Eventure Limited
The Plus plan costs $60 per year look elsewhere. ■

Dark mode is coming to Office on
the web, plus Outlook for iOS
There’s also an existing “black” theme within Office desktop apps,
which reproduces the mobile dark mode.
BY MARK HACHMAN
I
f you can’t stand an excess of photons iOS versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint,
blasting your retinas, rejoice: dark SharePoint, OneDrive, Planner, and To-Do
mode is coming to the mobile version on mobile.
of Outlook, as well as Office on the web. “While some Dark Mode experiences
In late August, Microsoft said that it’s can be neon or overly bright, people felt
bringing dark mode to both Outlook for that Outlook mobile kept the kind of
iOS and Android, as well as Office.com— relaxed feeling you might want in a dimly
the version of Office that lives on the web, lit living room or bedroom,” Jon Friedman,
not on your PC. When Apple rolls out iOS the chief designer for Office 365, wrote in
13, the company will add dark mode to the a blog post (go.macworld.com/medm) on
IMAGE: MICROSOFT OCTOBER 2019 MACWORLD 107

WORKINGMAC DAR K MO D E CO MI N G TO i OS
Medium. “They described the Microsoft hasn’t formally added a “dark

experience as comfortable,
mode” to the Office desktop apps, but
crisp, clear, and aesthetically
pleasing, a nod to how Dark
the “black” Office theme basically
Mode can reduce eye strain.” reproduces it.
Friedman added that
Outlook will automatically
switch to Dark Mode depending on your background.) To enable Office’s black
preferences. In the meantime, Outlook for theme in an Office desktop app like
Android automatically switches to Dark Word, go to File → Account within the
Mode when you choose the Battery Office menu, and then scroll down to the
Saver option. Office Theme. You’ll have a few options
Microsoft hasn’t formally added a to choose from, including colorful, light,
“dark mode” to the Office desktop apps, and black. It’s the latter mode, added as
but the “black” Office theme basically part of Office 2010, which essentially
reproduces it. (One exception: PDF files, reproduces the dark theme in other
which still seem to render with a light Office apps. ■
Dark Mode is also coming to Office on the web.

LIFE HAS TAUGHT HIM THINGS
NO CLASSROOM COULD.
LEARN HOW TO FIND, TRAIN AND CULTIVATE

A GREAT POOL OF UNTAPPED TALENT.
PLAYLIST Everything You Need to Know About iOS,
iTunes, and Mac-Based Entertainment
How to use Siri for hands-free

Apple TV control
A recent Apple TV update enables powerful hands-free voice control—if you have an
iPhone or iPad nearby.
BY JARED NEWMAN
S
iri has always been one of the But until recently, Apple didn’t offer a
Apple TV’s best features. On a hands-free way to use Siri on an Apple TV,
fourth-generation Apple TV or like Amazon offers with Fire TV and Alexa
Apple TV 4K, the voice assistant (go.macworld.com/frtv), or like Google
can quickly launch videos, tune to live TV offers with Chromecast, Android TV, and
channels, and provide search results for Google Assistant (go.macworld.com/astn).
specific genres. If you wanted to control the Apple TV, you
IMAGE: JARED NEWMAN OCTOBER 2019 MACWORLD 111

PLAYLIST U SE SI RI FO R HAND S- F RE E AP PL E T V C ONTRO L
had to reach for

the remote.
That changed
with iOS 12.2,
which lets you
use hands-free
Siri voice
commands
through an
iPhone or iPad.
Once it’s all set
up, you can say
things like “Hey
Siri, tune to ESPN
on Apple TV,” or
“Hey Siri, watch
Game of Thrones season eight, episode enabled as well.
four on the living-room TV,” and Apple will Repeat this step for any other iPhones
take care of the rest. or iPads you want to use with the Apple TV.
Here’s a complete guide to getting
situated with hands-free Siri voice commands: STEP 2: SIGN INTO iCLOUD
ON IOS AND APPLE TV
STEP 1: ENABLE ‘HEY SIRI’ On your iPhone or iPad, head to Settings
IN IOS and look for a Sign In option at the top of
By enabling hands-free Siri on your iPhone the screen, and then sign in to your iCloud
or iPad, you can start watching things on account. If you only see your name
Apple TV with just voice commands, even instead of a sign-in option, you’re already
if your device is locked. good to go.
To set this up, head to Settings on your You’ll also have to sign in to the same
iOS device, select Siri & Search, and then iCloud account on the Apple TV. Head to
toggle on Listen For “Hey Siri.” You’ll need Settings → Accounts → iCloud, and then
to read several sample commands to select Sign In. (We’ll cover how to enable
teach Siri your voice. Once you’ve done Apple TV voice commands for other users
that, make sure Allow Siri When Locked is with separate iCloud accounts shortly.)

STEP 3:
ENABLE
AIRPLAY 2 ON
APPLE TV
To receive commands
from an iOS device,
your Apple TV must
have AirPlay 2
enabled. On the Apple
TV, head to Settings →
AirPlay and make sure
it says On. Then, scroll
down and select Room
from the same menu.
You’ll now see a
Start Using AirPlay 2
prompt on the TV. As
instructed, unlock
your iOS device, turn
on Bluetooth, and
hold it close to the
Apple TV, and then hit
Connect when
prompted on your iOS device to complete and most of them can launch videos
the pairing. (If this prompt doesn’t appear, try directly in response to voice commands.
locking and unlocking your device again.) Just make sure the app you want to use
Finally, select the room in which your Apple appears on the Apple TV search support
TV resides. Later, you’ll be able to refer to list (go.macworld.com/tvsr), and that
this room by name in your voice commands. you’ve already signed in to the app. (We’ll
cover specific voice commands in the
STEP 4: INSTALL next section.)
COMPATIBLE APPS If you’re subscribed to PlayStation Vue,
As of this writing, more than 80 Apple TV FuboTV, or DirecTV Now, you can use
apps support universal search with Siri, voice commands to watch any live TV

channel
included with
those services.
If a
compatible
video app is
installed on
your iPhone or
iPad, but not on
Apple TV, the
video will
instead launch
using Apple’s
AirPlay
protocol. This, however, requires you to Bravia Sync, if a CEC option isn’t displayed
unlock your iOS device, and it precludes specifically.
you from using other apps that require
video or sound. You’re better off installing OPTIONAL: INVITE OTHERS TO
the TV app instead. USE VOICE COMMANDS
If you have other users at home with
STEP 5: ENABLE HDMI-CEC separate iCloud accounts, you can invite
With HDMI-CEC (go.macworld.com/hcec) them to control the Apple TV from their
enabled on both the Apple TV and your own iPhones or iPads. Open the Home
television, Siri will be able to turn on the app on your iOS device, press the home
TV before playing a video. On Apple TV, icon in the top-left corner, and then
head to Settings → Remotes And Devices, select Invite under the People section.
and make sure Control TVs And Receivers Finally, enter the email address
is set to On. associated with the iCloud account of
Then, in your TV’s settings, look for a whoever you wish to invite.
CEC option and enable it. As Apple points The other person will then get an
out (go.macworld.com/apnt), the exact invite message on their iOS device. Once
name of this option can differ for some they’ve accepted, they’ll be able to
TVs, so look for a setting with “Link” or control Apple TV with their own iPhones
“Sync” in the name, such as Aquos Link or and iPads.

LIMITATIONS AND
WORKAROUNDS
While hands-free Siri controls
are nice to have on Apple TV,
they’re far from perfect. Here
are some of the issues you
might run into:
Most notably, Netflix
does not let you directly
launch a video with voice
commands. To complete the
process, you’ll need to grab
a remote—or open the
virtual Apple TV remote in
STEP 5: CHECK OUT SOME Control Center on iOS—and hit Select to
VOICE COMMANDS begin playback.
Finally, you’re ready to control your Apple A similar frustration can emerge if the
TV hands-free. Here are some voice Apple TV tries steering you into the wrong
commands to check out: app for a given program. After signing up
> “Hey Siri, play Brooklyn Nine-Nine on for HBO through Apple TV Channels (go.
Apple TV”
> “Hey Siri, watch Red
Oaks on the living room
TV.”
> “Hey Siri, watch Game
of Thrones season eight,
episode four on the living
room TV.”
> “Hey Siri, rewind one
minute on Apple TV.”
> “Hey Siri, fast forward
five minutes on Apple TV.”
> “Hey Siri, turn on closed
captions on Apple TV.”

macworld.com/tvch), for instance, Apple running through setup again. In the

might prompt you to install HBO Go worst-case scenario, you might need to
instead of launching shows directly. If perform a factory reset on the Apple TV
this happens, grab the remote and (Settings → System → Reset) to get things
scroll down while viewing the info page working properly.
for any show until you see the “How to In general, Siri is better at responding
Watch” section. Select your preferred to the word play than watch when you’re
source, and Apple TV should remember trying to start a particular show. (With the
it in the future. latter, the assistant has a tendency to hear
It’s possible that even after following what’s instead of watch, resulting in a
the setup instructions above, you might failed search attempt.)
still run into issues getting voice When asking to play a particular show
commands to work, including an error in or channel, Siri should automatically
which Siri says, “I couldn’t find any TVs select the appropriate streaming service,
nearby. Make sure you’re on the same such as Hulu or PlayStation Vue; if it
Wi-Fi.” If this happens, try disabling doesn’t, you can include the service name
iCloud and AirPlay 2 support, and then in your voice command. ■

Grace Digital Mondo+ Classic:
A neoclassical clock radio for
the internet age
Easy operation, modern connections, and agreeable sound make the Mondo+
Classic an internet radio even a Luddite can love.
BY JONATHAN TAKIFF
G
race Digital dives into the table radio evokes vintage 1950s and 60s
mid-century modern design products from such makers as Zenith, KLH,
revival with the aptly named Grundig, and RCA; radios that stood guard
Mondo+ Classic internet radio. on nightstands and calmed visitors in
With its buffed warm sound and soft doctors’ waiting rooms. This one comes
good looks, this glorified $250 (MSRP) dressed in a wood (walnut) cabinet, beige
IMAGE: JONATHAN TAKIFFT OCTOBER 2019 MACWORLD 117

PLAYLIST REVIEW: G R ACE DI G I TA L MO ND O + C LAS SIC
metal face plate, and

tweedy grill cloth. (Or you
can choose a boring
all-black look [go.
macworld.com/albl].)
Take a gander at all the
old-school radio push
buttons: 10 source presets
offering a happy
throwback for listeners
with an eclectic nature—or
a short attention span. But
this entertainer is young at From the top, you can see the large Qi charging panel and a
heart. Instead of tuning in conveniently placed snooze/sleep timer button.
local FM and AM stations,
the Mondo+ Classic’s twin whip antennas
access your Wi-Fi network to connect to wireless induction charger pad built into
the wide world of internet radio— the top of the radio proved a better match
including your local broadcast stations’ to recent Samsung phones than to the
simulcast streams. current Apple of my eye.
In addition to the excellent onboard Still, with a price tag that’s $100 less
and IR remote controls, the newer of than rivals such as the Como Audio Solo
two Grace Digital apps (“GD+”) nicely (go.macworld.com/como) and the Tivoli
works basic radio operations and Audio Model 1 Digital (go.macworld.com/
services on your Android or iOS tvm1) (the model in walnut, that is), you just
smartphone and tablet. might find the Mondo+ Classic to be the
It’s not entirely a glitch-free ride into the bedmate of your dreams.
future, though. For some odd reason, the
radio listened more attentively to ALL THIS AND MORE
Chromecast and Bluetooth-fed content Grace Digital has been serving up
triggered by an IPad Pro than it heeded streaming music radios longer than
signals coming from an iPhone X. And I practically anyone else in the game.
never got the touted voice control going When the maker jumped into the fray 12
with Google Assistant devices. A fast Qi years ago, its major competitors were

Roku (which would later shift focus to Grace will work with you to fix these snubs.
video streamers) and Slim Devices (later On their website, I was able to enter the
acquired by Logitech). Slim introduced URL of a wanted stream, and then watch it
such innovations as touch-screen migrate to the favorites lists on the radio’s
tuners, but Logitech gave up on screen and the companion GD Control
streaming hardware in the wake of its app (for Android and iOS) I’d added to my
$100 million bad bet on Google TV (the smartphone and tablet. This same custom-
Logitech Revue). added station could then be readily saved
In fact, Grace Digital was into internet to one of the 10 radio presets—recalled
radio so early it had to cultivate its own either on the face plate with its five hard
database of 40,000 web radio stations buttons plus a “shift” key, or with the 10
and streams from around the world. These dedicated, nicely sized preset buttons on
days, channel aggregators V-Tuner and the infrared remote.
TuneIn do the heavy lifting for most And what a pleasure it is to go
internet radio makers. Grace’s ever-in-flux exploring for content on the radio itself,
list now includes an additional 60,000 using its selector knob to plow through a
channels from Europe’s Receiva. “We’re polished menu on its uncommonly large
adding, adjusting about 200 listings every (3.5-inch) color LCD display. You can also
day,” said Grace Digital co-founder and work a distinctly smaller volume knob, plus
CEO Greg Fadul.
Still, I was
able to stump
the system,
searching in vain
for favorite An excellent remote
control offers direct
Brazilian music
access to 10 presets,
stations plus clock and sleep
BlueBossaNova, timer settings, full menu
Paul in Rio, and options, track pause and
skip, and volume control.
Radio Rio Verde You can also tweak EQ
FM, which come settings with the remote,
up readily on although that is one
rival internet of the speaker’s less-
impressive features.
radios. At least

five small chicklet buttons just below the This screenshot

screen that switch function as required. from Grace
Digital’s
Other buttons take you “back”, “home” and
smartphone
show what’s “now playing.” Fadul said app shows
that’s plenty of engagement for the vast the baked-in,
majority of the Mondo+ Classic’s “mostly easily accessed
content
50-plus” users. “Only a small percentage
services.
even sign up for the free app,“ he said. Amazon Music
Baked-in, fast-loading audio services and Pandora
also include iHeartRadio (850-plus will be added
soon to this list.
channels), CBS/Entercom/Radio.com
(230-plus channels) and SHOUTcast
(75,000 stations). Plus, a big batch of
BBC offerings, stuff from NPR, Calm
Radio, and Live 365.
Channel nabbing would be easier
still if the Grace OS could cross-search
and collate these content silos. Such an
upgrade is on their to-do list. A web-
delivered update will soon add Amazon
Music and perhaps Pandora to the of the streaming entertainment world.
menu as well. For podcast fans, any and all
Millions of subscribers to SiriusXM radio’s offerings in Apple’s podcast database
satellite-plus-streaming service (or can be readily nabbed here, from
streaming-only pay option) will be cheered YOGAmazing, to All Songs Considered,
by how easy it is to land and listen to their to Marc Maron‘s WTF chats with celebs
favorite channels and on-demand content in his garage studio.
on the Mondo+ Classic radio. Confusing Looking for a white-noise machine?
matters some, Grace Digital also makes the The Mondo+ Classic packs in several
similar looking SiriusXM Sound Station (go. dozen snooze-inducing sleep sounds,
macworld.com/sxfm), which sells for $129.99. from babbling brook to chirping birds to
The hitch? The Sound Station delivers only humming hair dryer (for real). Your choice
SiriusXM’s 200-plus channels and can be set to fade away in as little as 10
on-demand shows, and totally snubs the rest minutes or last as long as you like.

Pretty much any content that’s accessed from its case. Grace’s Fadul says this
on the Mondo+ Classic (even the sleep warming is nothing to stress about, that it
sounds) can be stored and recalled as a won’t shorten the phone’s battery life.
favorite with one of the radio’s 10 presets— Personally, I’m reserving judgment.
four more than you’ll find on Como Audio Chromecast and Bluetooth connectivity
and Bose SoundTouch products. And these have also proven to be an iffy, teeth-
button commanders never fail you, unlike grinding proposition. And system freeze
the misunderstood voice requests to sleepy ups are more common when your
Alexa, which often directed my Sonos One smartphone and the Grace Digital radio
smart speaker down the wrong rabbit hole. are far from—or on a different floor than—
I was also impressed with this radio’s the Wi-Fi router they’re both connected to.
refined, multi-user five-event alarm clock,
which can wake you to, say, a rousing local GUTS… AND SOME GLORY
morning show (or SiriusXM’s Howard Audio sources and connections include a
Stern) on weekdays, to mellow jazz from front-mounted (where it belongs!)
Paris on Saturday morning, and tropical headphone jack, stereo analog Aux In and
rain forest sounds on Sunday. Single-day Line Out jacks, and a multipurpose USB
alarms are also available, as are 10 alarm- connector that can charge a phone, host a
only noise makers that can likewise be set USB storage device, or—with an optional
to ramp up slowly or blast fast. These also
automatically function as backups should
you lose your broadband connection.
WEAK LINKS
I have mixed feelings about the oval Qi
wireless smartphone pad on top for
magnetic induction charging of compatible
smart phones. Grace Digital rates the
charger at 10 watts—a good match for
high-end Samsung Galaxy phones adept
at fast charging. But with my iPhone X
optimized for a 7.5-watt max Qi charger,
This rear view shows uncommon Wi-Fi
the extra intensity made the phone heat whip antennas, analog in/out jacks, a USB
up more than I like, even when removed connector, and a bass-extending port.

$15 adapter—connect the radio to your speaker sounded best when the preset
network via an ethernet cable. There’s a and tone controls were flat or just a single
UPnP media player onboard, for streaming notch up or below “0” on the bass and
music from media servers on your network, treble settings.
and—coming soon—two-way Bluetooth that When tone controls were pushed
will enable you to beam music not only harder, the clarinets and trumpets in Evan
from your smartphone to the radio, but also Christopher’s Afro/Cuban-flavored jazz
from the speaker to headphones (but not band got raspy. Bass only came on
to Bluetooth speakers). stronger on LCD Soundsystem’s “Pulse
Pry open a Mondo+ Classic and you’ll find (v1)”—heard on QXR-Q2—when the volume
a monophonic Class D amplifier, rated at 25 was cranked, and then with an unwelcome
watts, driving a single, four-inch, glass-fiber, increase in sonic bloat. It’s telling that
full-range speaker. (A rear port enhances bass Grace rates the speaker with a frequency
response.) Also onboard: MaxxAudio digital response range of 50 to 20kHz without
signal processing from Waves. Open the EQ specifying tolerance or total harmonic
tab (or tap the dedicated button on the distortion values.
remote) to cycle through a selection of Don’t get me wrong. At “flat” settings
presets—flat, classic, jazz, rock, and moderate volume levels, the
vocal—which you can tweak using mmmh Mondo+ Classic is a perfectly
bass and treble controls. Grace Digital Mondo+ pleasant performer, well suited
Classic
The voice setting offered the PROS for casual listening. Still, I can’t
most detectable improvement— • Easy to operate, with lots of help but wonder how much
channel preset buttons (the
clearer diction on talk shows— app is truly optional). better this box might present
• Attractive displays on radio
while others hardly moved the screen and app keep you
with a more refined driver. That
needle. I suspect the physical informed who’s on first and would of course push the cost of
what’s on deck.
driver doesn’t have the dynamic CONS
the package above the magical
range to take full advantage of • Speaker system is not $199 street price, but it might
capable of bass-kicking,
either the DSP or the amp. super-dynamic audio also lead me to consider placing
performances.
Listening to a variety of more than one Mondo+ Classic
• Chromecast and Bluetooth
styles—from the earthy riches of streaming are iffy in a multi-room set-up. As it sits, I
propositions.
the New Orleans Jazz and can’t imagine making this box
PRICE
Heritage Fest on WWOZ, to the $222 my prime listening source
mondo-modern “New Sounds” COMPANY outside the bedroom or small
Grace Digital
on WQXR-Q2—I thought the home office. ■

Bose SoundSport Wireless
Bluetooth Headphones: These
earbuds are an athlete’s friend
There’s plenty to like about these reasonably priced Bluetooth earphones.
BY SÉAMUS BELLAMY
M
ost athletic earphones work electronics. Even cleaning them can be
fine for everyday tasks, but risky after sweaty workouts if they’re not
everyday earphones usually water-resistant. For that matter, everyday
aren’t suited to athletics. earbuds usually aren’t designed to handle
Working out or playing sports takes a the vibration and jostling inflicted on them
heavy toll on them. Moisture from rain, by joggers.
mud, or sweat can fry their delicate Bose’s SoundSport Wireless Bluetooth
IMAGE: BOSE OCTOBER 2019 MACWORLD 123

PLAYLIST REVIEW: B O SE SO U ND SP O RT WIRE LE SS B LUETO OTH H EADP HO NE S
Headphones (go.
macworld.com/sdsp) are
designed to tackle those
athletic challenges and
they handle themselves
well. They’re resistant to
the elements, they stay
secure in your ears, and I
even like their sound.
Unfortunately, a handful of
minor flaws hinder their
potential.
And with colors like that, Bose is going to make sure people see
DESIGN you wearing them.
Much like Bose’s excellent
SoundSport Free true wireless earphones, Bose compensates for the potential
the battery and the bulk of the electronics discomfort of that heft and weight with its
are stuffed in pods inside the endcaps of incredibly comfortable StayHear+ ear
each earbud. This design comes with a tips. The tips are made from a single
number of pros and cons. piece of silicone and come in three
On the plus side, having all these guts sizes, and they’re designed to ride
packed into the pods rather than inline on loosely on the ear’s auricle, just outside
the pods’ connective cable means that of the auditory canal.
they feel balanced and don’t bounce Since they’re not tightly squeezed
around when I’m exercising. This also into the ear canal, though, they only
eliminates much of the microphonics I serve up a small degree of passive noise
come across while testing other in-ear cancellation. You wouldn’t want them if
headphones. On the downside, this you’re seeking a sublime auditory
design makes the pods noticeably larger experience, in other words, but their
and heavier than what you’ll see from ability to allow outside noise while
most competing Bluetooth earbuds. If channeling the sound from your audio
your fashion sensibility leans toward source allows for increased situational
clean-lined minimalism, these earbuds awareness. This makes them wonderful
aren’t for you. for gym-goers, joggers, or cyclists.

As we’ve come to expect from Bose’s
other in-ear products, the headset’s
volume, multi-function button, and
microphone are baked into a lightweight
in-line pod that hangs about an inch and a
half below the right ear. The microphones
in the pod provided clear call quality, and
people I chatted with on the phone and
through Skype said the mic provided
Bose stuffed the battery and
decent audio voice quality while limiting
most of the electronics for in
environmental noise. the earbuds themselves, which
These headphones also have an IPX makes them feel a little heavy.
rating of 4, which means they can handle a
bit of rain or sweat, but you wouldn’t want SOUND
to throw them in the pool. If you finding The SoundSport wireless headphones can
yourself having to hose down both connect to two audio sources
yourself and your gear after a workout, simultaneously, so you can listen to a
you should consider Jaybird’s completely movie on an iPad and take calls from your
waterproof X4 earphones instead. iPhone with the same device. The
As for battery life, Bose says the SoundSports are smart about it, too, as
earbuds should deliver around six hours they’ll pause the audio on your iPad while
between charges. Based on my testing, you take the call and start it again once
this is accurate. That said, keep in mind you hang up. If you’re a one-device-at-a-
that the volume affects the runtime, and time sort of person, the free Bose Connect
that they’ll require two hours of app makes switching between audio
charging via a USB power source once sources a cinch. I found the Bluetooth
they’re depleted. connectivity with these earbuds to be
And here’s a small surprise: they also pretty solid up to distances of 25 to 30
feature Tile’s tracking technology. If you’ve feet away. I did experience occasional
got the Tile app downloaded on your hiccups in Bluetooth connectivity, but
iPhone, you can make the SoundSport they were few and far between.
Wireless headphones edit a loud chime Bose’s speakers, headphones, and
that should help you find them—provided earphones are known for their detailed,
you’re within 30 feet of them. neutral sound. That’s mostly what you’ll

PLAYLIST REVIEW: B O SE SO U ND SP O RT WIRE LE SS B LUETO OTH H EADP HO NE S
The small volume control

panel is a welcome
alternative to the bulky
slab you often see on
connecting wires on other
Bluetooth headphones.
get with the SoundSport Wireless. That intentionally designed these earbuds to

said, I did notice that the bass they allow for a bit of ambient noise, so you
provide is more forward than other Bose might find yourself listening to music at
products I’ve used in the past. higher volumes than normal in
With a set of sports earbuds, mmmh order to enjoy every note of
that’s a good thing: Having a little Bose SoundSport your favorite recordings.
Wireless Bluetooth
extra thump to keep the beat as Headphones
you power through the last few PROS BOTTOM LINE
• Balanced sound with a little
minutes of a workout or run is extra bass. While they may feel a little heavy
always a win. • Tile tracking capabilities. and aren’t completely
• Comfortable to wear.
Despite the extra bass, I waterproof, there’s plenty to like
CONS
found they offered more than • A little heavy. about the Bose SoundSport
enough treble to allow nuances • Chunky earpods that are wireless headphones. With their
less than stylish.
to stand out regardless of what I enjoyable sound, great
• So-so battery life.
was listening to, making them a PRICE situational awareness, and Tile
fine choice for those with an $222 tracking capabilities, they’ve got
COMPANY
eclectic taste in music. As a what it takes to be an athlete’s
Bose
reminder, though, Bose favorite workout buddy. ■

HELPDESK Answering Your Questions and Sharing Your
Tips About Getting the Most From Your Mac
Mac 911
Solutions to your most vexing Mac problems.
BY GLENN FLEISHMAN
CAN’T SELECT A DRIVE TO to it. (This preference is in iTunes →

USE WITH TIME MACHINE? IT Preferences → Advanced.)
MIGHT NEED REFORMATTING Some people prefer to manage their
You have the option with iTunes to add music and other audio files in their own
music and other audio files to its library in folder hierarchy or have enormous
one of two ways: you can use the libraries they have to keep stored on an
default method of copying all files into the external drive. Most people let iTunes
iTunes Media folder, or you can opt to copy files and store them in the iTunes
add by reference, where the file remains Media folder, which is typically found in
where it is on a drive and the library points Home → Music.

HELPDESK M AC 9 1 1
Where this get tricky,

though, is when you want
to delete an audio file from
iTunes. If you navigate to
the iTunes Music folder or,
for externally stored files, to
their location and then drop iTunes offers a dialog with too many conditionals to help fully
it in the Trash, the iTunes understand what the result will be.
library is out of date. That
can lead to errors when trying to search for > If one or more files is referenced by
and play back audio in iTunes. iTunes, clicking Move to Trash only
Instead, you should select an item or removes the listing from iTunes. The file
items in iTunes and choose Song → Delete remains in place.
from Library. This is when you will see a The difference between Cancel and
dialog that might leave you scratching Keep File is that Cancel stops everything,
your head: while Keep File doesn’t touch a file if it’s in
the iTunes Media folder, but does remove
Do you want to move the selected song the listing from iTunes.
to the Trash, or keep it in the iTunes If you have iCloud Music Library
Media folder? enabled and the file has been uploaded to
iCloud, iTunes displays a different
Then in smaller type: message which warns about deleting the
audio file or files from every linked device.
Only files in the iTunes Media folder will
be moved the Trash. CAN’T DOWNLOAD AN APP
UPDATE? IT MIGHT BE TIME TO
The buttons read Cancel, Keep File, UPDATE YOUR MAC
and Move to Trash. There’s got to be the name for the
Apple is hedging its bets: paradox that occurs when you’re told by
> If one or more files are in the iTunes the Mac App Store that you both have an
Media folder, then clicking Move to Trash update for a free or purchased app and
will both remove the listing from the iTunes you can’t install it. Maybe it’s the
library and move the items to the system Apprisoner’s Dilemma? You might
Trash. experience this no-win situation when

you see a message that says “[app see if they can help.
name] can’t be installed on [device] The ultimate solution is to upgrade to a
because [OS X/macOS] version 10.[X] or newer version of macOS, if not the latest
later is required.” release. That’s not always ideal
This situation occurs when depending on why you’ve held
you’re running an older back, but it’s definitely the
version of macOS than case that you’ll have
the minimum required more and more apps
for the latest version that can’t be
of the program’s upgraded over time.
updated code. App That’s a process
developers who guaranteed to
routinely revise their increase later this
apps earn our thanks year with the release of
for adding features, macOS Catalina (version
keeping them up to date 10.15), which ditches the last
with the latest system changes, vestiges of backwards
and fixing bugs. compatibility for older apps. Some
But developers also have to make developers will also use the opportunity to
choices. While Apple allows coding styles shave off that support within their apps,
that can preserve backwards compatibility and make their update and testing tasks
across several releases of macOS, it adds more streamlined, too.
to a developer’s burden and sometimes
holds an app back when it has to work
across a wide range.
If you haven’t updated an app in a
while and receive this error, it’s generally
not possible to download any interim
update via the Mac App Store that DELETE UNNEEDED TIME
remains compatible with your version of MACHINE BACKUPS ON
macOS. However, for software APPLE’S TIME CAPSULE
companies that have both direct sales Apple’s Time Capsule combined a Wi-Fi
and Mac App Store editions of their base station and a hard drive for net-
apps, you can contact the company and worked data access and Time Machine

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HELPDESK M AC 9 1 1

130 MACWORLD OCTOBER 2019

October 2019 CONTENTS

5 signs that you need to Apple is finally sending ‘genuine’ parts to

OCTOBER 2019 MACWORLD 3

EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Matt Egan

INTERNATIONAL DATA GROUP CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD

4 MACWORLD OCTOBER 2019

HOW TO CONTACT MACWORLD STAFF

BACK ISSUES OF MACWORLD

REPRINTS AND PERMISSIONS

OCTOBER 2019 MACWORLD 5

How Apple reinvents its core

IMAGE: NEGATIVE SPACE OCTOBER 2019 MACWORLD 7

8 MACWORLD OCTOBER 2019

2009: THE iPHONE TAKES OFF

OCTOBER 2019 MACWORLD 9

Apple sold 6.9 million iPhones during the

2014: iPODS FADE, iPADS generated $37.4 billion in revenue—three

10 MACWORLD OCTOBER 2019

The iPhone dropping to 48 percent

OCTOBER 2019 MACWORLD 11

What Intel’s new Ice Lake chips

12 MACWORLD OCTOBER 2019 IMAGE: INTEL

The complete Ice Lake 10th-generation Core lineup.

OCTOBER 2019 MACWORLD 13

HANDBRAKE 7/29 NIGHTLY H.265 13-inch MacBook

QUICKSYNC ENCODE (Seconds) Pro. So much of

14 MACWORLD OCTOBER 2019

3DMARK SKY DIVER GRAPHICS 1.0 PERFORMANCE

SDS Core i7-1065G7 10th Gen Ice Lake

HP Spectre x360 13 8th Gen Core

Dell XPS 13 9380 8th Gen Core

Huawei Matebook 13 Core i7-8560U/

Huawei Matebook X Pro Core

0 3,000 6,000 9,000 12,000 15,000

OCTOBER 2019 MACWORLD 15

COUNTER STRIKE: GO FPS BENCHMARK 720P

HP Spectre x360 13 8th Gen Core

Dell XPS 13 9380 8th Gen Core

Huawei Matebook X Pro Core

Huawei Matebook X Core 17-8565U/

Even real-world games see a huge performance boost.

WI-FI 6 AND BETTER

16 MACWORLD OCTOBER 2019

OCTOBER 2019 MACWORLD 17

Upgrading an older iMac’s PCIe

18 MACWORLD OCTOBER 2019 IMAGE: FLEDGING

OCTOBER 2019 MACWORLD 19

20 MACWORLD OCTOBER 2019

OCTOBER 2019 MACWORLD 21

latches. You must

22 MACWORLD OCTOBER 2019

OCTOBER 2019 MACWORLD 23

The Fledging Feather M13 is a very fast

24 MACWORLD OCTOBER 2019

OCTOBER 2019 MACWORLD 25

WoW Classic is a step back

26 MACWORLD OCTOBER 2019 IMAGE: LEIF JOHNSON

OCTOBER 2019 MACWORLD 27

28 MACWORLD OCTOBER 2019

OCTOBER 2019 MACWORLD 29

30 MACWORLD OCTOBER 2019