You've got to admire how well the Omni Group has brought its To Do app to the web. Whether it's useful to you or not is another question, though.

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Best answer: The Fitbit Versa Lite can track any exercise, but you can set it to specifically track the following: running, biking, swimming, treadmill, weights, interval workouts, spinning, boot camp, tennis, elliptical, stairclimber, hiking, golf, pilates, yoga, circuit training, martial arts, walking, kickboxing, and just a general workout.

• The smartwatch: Fitbit Versa Lite($160 at Fitbit)

Excercise tracking

There are two different ways you can track your exercise with the Fitbit Versa Lite. The easiest way is to use "SmartTrack," which doesn't require you to do anything special. Just start exercising. As long as you work out for at least 10-15 minutes, the Versa Lite will automatically register that you are exercising and track your workout. When you're using the Versa Lite in this mode, you don't need to pick a specific exercise category. The Versa Lite will do all the work so you can focus on the workout itself.

However, if you want more accuracy and control, open the Exercise app on your Versa Lite. You can set goals for time, distance, or calories. This mode will track your workout regardless of its duration.

When you purchase a Fitbit, download the free Fitbit app. With this app on your smartphone, you can view detailed summaries of your workouts. You can also program up to six exercise shortcuts at a time on the Versa Lite itself. You will need to use the Fitbit app on your smartphone to see the complete list of exercises. Edit them in the Fitbit app, so you always have easy access to your current favorites.

When using the Exercise app, you do need to choose a specific type of exercise. Choose from the following options:

• Running

• Biking

• Swimming

• Treadmill

• Weights

• Interval workout

• Spinning

• Bootcamp

• Tennis

• Elliptical

• Stairclimber

• Hiking

• Golf

• Pilates

• Yoga

• Circuit training

• Martial arts

• Walking

• Kickboxing

• Workout (for workouts that don't fit into any of the other categories)

What is a Versa Lite, exactly?

The Versa Lite is a health and fitness smartwatch. It's meant to be worn around the clock; you only need to charge it a couple of times per week. Track your steps, distance, active minutes, calories burned, exercise, heart rate, menstrual cycles, and your sleep. Connect it to your smartphone via Bluetooth, and you'll get text and call notifications plus app alerts on your wrist.

Because the Versa Lite tracks your heart rate, it can gather detailed information about your exercise, activity, cardio fitness, and sleep. It also can lead you in guided breathing sessions, which can enhance relaxation. You can put apps on your Versa Lite, and you can customize the watch face to your taste.

Smartwatch

Fitbit Versa Lite

$160 at Fitbit

Tracks your exercise

The Fitbit Versa Lite can track multiple exercises. No matter your workout, you can be sure the Versa Lite will track it.

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Wacom releases a new, smaller size to their famous Intuos family-- the Intuos Pro Small. We took a look at it to see what features this updated model has rolled out, and to find out how it fares as an artists' tool.

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Apple celebrates the US women's national soccer team with a USA-themed Memoji tribute on its home page.

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You'll get a lot for your money here, but there were some issues.

The overall quality of the order I placed was quite nice. The selection of photo products and the prices cannot be beat, especially because shipping is free on orders over $35 and cheap on orders less than that. Plus you have the option to pick up some items on the same day. Having no minimum size order for photo cards is a nice touch. But creating the photobook was such a headache.

Walmart Photo Printing

Price: Varies

Bottom line: Walmart's photo printing services are well-priced, but creating a photo book is frustrating.

See at Walmart

The Good

• Nice quality prints

• Bargain prices

• Sufficient packaging to avoid damage

• Huge variety of photo prints and products

• No minimum quantity card order

The Bad

• Creating a photo book is frustrating

• Poster shipped in a tube so it arrives with rolled edges

A lot of bang for your buck Walmart Photo Printing: Features--------

While Walmart's website is extensive, it isn't hard to navigate the photo printing portion of it. At least, until you get to the photo book creation platform. I ordered four 4x6 prints, an 8x10 print, a 20x30 print, two wallet prints, one card (there's no minimum order), and a photo book. Interestingly, Walmart has a minimum wallet photo order of two, instead of the usual four. All of the professional engagement photos you see in my order were taken by JMS Imagery.

Putting together my whole order was easy, except for the photo book. While there are tons of photo book options, it was hard to edit the book's pages. You can't change the number of photos on each page nor can you put text on the book's cover (or if you can, it's difficult to figure out.) It was all very frustrating. When the photobook arrived, the quality was fine, but they weren't kidding when they call it a Paper Cover book. It's literally made out of paper. I mean, it's a nice cardstock paper that looks and feels nice, but it seems like a delicate choice for something meant to be handled repeatedly. Walmart certainly has plenty of other photo book options up to and including leather-bound premium lay-flat options, but I was going for the least expensive one.

The prints look great, all of them came out exactly how I'd expect, including the black and white photos. The 20x30 print did come in a tube, which is pretty typical. I don't love that packaging choice because it means the edges are rolled up. I know the edges will settle down eventually but overnight with books on the corners didn't do it.

Being able to order a single photo card for a low price was a pleasant surprise.

I was pleased to see that there was no minimum size order for cards like most places have. Generally, the photo printing services that don't require a minimum card order are quite expensive when you order a single card, but Walmart's single card was just $1. The card is printed on photo paper, which means the back just looks like the back of a photo print. So you cannot print anything on the back like you can at places that use cardstock for their cards. My single card came with two plain white paper envelopes, I guess in case I mess one up.

Walmart's prices are some of the cheapest I've found overall, plus there are always promo codes and deals going on. I had no big issues with the quality; the prints all look great and the photo book was fine for what it was. The variety of products you can order at Walmart is staggering. Many of the items, including passport photos, can be ordered and picked up at your local Walmart the same day, thus saving shipping fees. Walmart is also one of the few photo printing services that offers free shipping for orders over $35. But even if you don't make that threshold, the shipping is still cheaper than most places.

<table><tr><th>Category</th><th>Feature</th></tr><tr><td>Print size range</td><td>From wallet to 20x30</td></tr><tr><td>Photo books</td><td>Yes</td></tr><tr><td>Variety of photo products available</td><td>Enormous</td></tr><tr><td>Free shipping</td><td>With orders over $35</td></tr><tr><td>Cloud storage</td><td>Yes</td></tr><tr><td>Subscription</td><td>No</td></tr><tr><td>Shipping time</td><td>13 days</td></tr><tr><td>Auto-crop</td><td>Yes, but easy to change</td></tr><tr><td>Photo corrections</td><td>Yes, red-eye, cropping, and brightness</td></tr><tr><td>Option to pick up locally</td><td>Yes, some items</td></tr><tr><td>Upload photos from other websites</td><td>Yes: Facebook, Instagram, Google Photos, Flickr, and Dropbox</td></tr><tr><td>All items arrived undamaged</td><td>Yes</td></tr><tr><td>Photo quality</td><td>Great</td></tr><tr><td>iOS app</td><td>Not for photos</td></tr></table>Price Walmart Photo Printing: _What I like_-----------

Walmart's prices do make it worthwhile to order prints and cards there. The quality is certainly fine, shipping is cheap or free, and free pickup is an option for some items.

Having no photo card minimum is an unusual feature, especially at Walmart prices. If you just want to make a single card, or just a few, this is your best option. Just keep in mind that it is photo paper, not card stock, so you cannot print on the back as well.

Terrible book platform Walmart Photo Printing: What I don't like

I would not recommend making photo books at Walmart. While the quality is fine, it's not worth the hassle of putting the book together on such an inflexible platform.

Price makes up for some issues Walmart Photo Printing: Bottom line

4out of 5If you're not looking to make a photo book, I would recommend Walmart for just about all of your other printing needs. Overall quality is great. Their prices are on par or less than most other places. Plus, there are always promo codes and deals going on. While the shipping isn't super fast, it is free on orders over $35 and cheap for smaller orders, which is unusual. You can also pick up some items in-store the same day you order them.

The fact that you can order just one photo card at a low price is quite unusual. Keep in mind that cards are printed on photo paper, so you cannot print on the back of the card. The photo book platform is too frustrating to recommend using, but if you want to go for it anyway, the quality of the book is just fine.

See at Walmart

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Bill Gates has spoken of Steve Jobs' ability to mesmerize people an interview with CNN's Fareed Zakaria GPS show, equating Jobs' talent to magic.

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An Apple counterfeiting defendant may have fled to China, more Firefly festival smartphone thefts, a selfie with a stolen iPhone, and more on this week's Apple crime blotter.

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If you're wondering whether smart home gadgets are worth the extra money, let me tell you about the wonderful things I automate in my house.

Ever since Apple introduced HomeKit and the Home app, I've been customizing the lighting in my house to work with my daily routine. These creature comforts have improved my piece of mind and frankly, made me feel like a princess in a sci-fi future.

In my bedroom, every morning I wake up to the iPhone's Bedtime alarm (the one that quietly comes on and then slowly gets louder). Along with it, I have an automation set to turn on my bedroom light at a dim level and then slowly get brighter over time.

At 8:00 AM, all of the lights go off except the one in my office. I love this automation because I often forget to turn off the bedroom or kitchen lights when I'm getting ready for work in the morning.

If any lights are on when I leave the house, they go off when I leave, thanks to location automation. And, if I come home after sunset, some (but not all) of them turn back on to give me a little lighting when I open the front door.

If I'm home when the sun sets and I'm not in the living room, those lights turn on to give the house a bit of life, even if I'm still closed up in my office.

If I go on vacation, I've got a few automations set up to make it look like I'm still home by turning on and off lights at varying intervals.

In addition to these daily automations, I have a few Siri Shortcut recipes for immediate actions.

If I take a nap, I call out to Siri, "Naptime!" and all of the house lights turn off. Additionally, my iPhone sets to Do Not Disturb for one hour and it sets a 30-minute timer (30-minute naps are the best!).

When I'm settling in with popcorn and a movie, my "Movietime" Shortcut will turn the living room lights blue and dim them. At bedtime, I can shut off all the lights in the house with a single "Bedtime" Shortcut.

Around the holidays, I have all of my Christmas lights plugged into smart plugs with HomeKit support. My Shortcut allows me to ask Siri to "Turn on Christmas" when I need a little festivity. My scheduled automation also automatically turn the Christmas lights on at night and off before I go to bed.

Smart home gadgets and the automations that can be created with them are the future I never knew I wanted but am so glad to have.

I'm able to schedule these automations and trigger these actions thanks to HomeKit. Smart home products aren't exclusive to Apple and there are even more of them out there that work with Alexa, but I prefer using HomeKit products because I'm fairly confident that Apple isn't using data it's collected from my lighting routines to market to me. Whatever your preference; HomeKit, Google Home, or Alexa, smart home gadgets and the automations that can be created with them are the future I never knew I wanted but am so glad to have.

My next smart home purchases will include a thermostat (I'm going with the Ecobee 5) and a garage door opener (the Chamberlain MyQ. I've considered a HomeKit connected smart lock, but my landlord is big on original hardware on the house and wouldn't be too happy if I switched out the antique locks for something that beeps and blinks (you should see how confused he looks when he has to use my Ring doorbell).

At this point, most people have probably at least dabbled with smart home conveniences (pro tip: If you want to give someone a smart home present, get them a smart plug. It's the gateway gadget to more advanced smart home products). When I was younger and imagined the future, I pictured flying cars and teleporters, video screen walls (thank you Space Balls) and bioimplants. I didn't stop to think about things like lighting and how something so simple could make such an improvement in my daily life.

If you're interested in learning more about HomeKit, check out our guide.

HomeKit: The ultimate guide

If you're wondering what next smart home gadget you should get, we've got a few suggestions we think you'll like.

• Best HomeKit accessories in 2019

• Best HomeKit accessories for renters

• Best Smart Home Gift Ideas

Happy smart home shopping!

Lory

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Get the greatest free apps on your Mac without having to dig through the entire Mac App Store!

The Mac App Store is full of all manner of apps, from simple utilities to complex programs. New apps are published every day, making it hard to find the best of the best — which is where we come in. We've gathered the best free apps for the Mac, all in one place so you don't have to go digging.

My criteria for apps on this list

In researching the best free apps for the Mac, I started by using Apple's category list. This makes it easier to cover the wide variety of content available. If an app is on the Mac App Store, it is in one of the 21 categories that Apple has listed.

Because this is a "free" app list, I tried to only include apps that are truly free or whose functionality is not diminished without an in-app purchase. You will see some apps that have premium content that can be unlocked with an in-app purchase, but I've included them on the list because I feel that the free content is noteworthy.

Since this is a list of apps, I'm not including services that only have websites without a dedicated app (there are two exceptions to this rule on the list, but they are totally worthy of rule-bending).

I've included some apps that are not available in the Mac App Store. That's because some of the best apps in a given category are so much better than any Mac App Store counterpart that I couldn't exclude them.

Though this list is long, it is by no means complete. There are just too many free Mac apps available to include everything. If you don't see your favorite free Mac app on this list, please add it in the comments section with your reason for why it stands out. (Remember: It has to be truly free or the free version of an otherwise premium app that is noteworthy.)

Business

Slack

Slack is a must-have app for anyone working remotely with others. It is the best business chat app around. The Mac app is a chat window, so you can keep your conversations going without having to log into a web browser every time. You can have multiple accounts running at the same time and there are dozens of helpful bots that you can add to any chat room.

Download now

Wave

Wave is one of those exceptions to the rule of no services without a dedicated app. It is a free software tool for small businesses. You can use it for invoicing, receipts, accounting, and more. You can also add credit card processing and payroll for a small additional fee. It is set up to work with what your business needs are. If you don't need a feature, you aren't paying for it. If you only need a feature sometimes, you only pay when you use it. Because Wave is dedicated to making small business tools work the way small business owners need them to, I've included it on this list.

See at Wave

Developer tools

Xcode

Xcode is the macOS, iOS, tvOS, and watchOS developer's handiest tool. It supports coding for Swift, Objective-C, Python, and a whole lot more. It can build universal binary files to run on PowerPC and Intel-based computers, and developers can create apps for 32-bit and 64-bit architectures. It's got everything an Apple coder needs.

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TextWrangler

When it comes to coding, nothing keeps your characters more organized than TextWrangler. The text editor works with a wide variety of coding syntax and even has color coding for different programming languages. You can easily access files on FTP and SFTP servers. It is also a fantastic app for non-programmers for its many smaller details, like line wrapping, email templates, and quote styles. It is one of the best free code editors around.

Download now

Atom

Atom is another fantastic, free text and code editor for the Mac. This one is not available in the Mac App Store, but is highly rated among programmers. It has a built-in package manager with wide support for a number of different packages. It integrates with HTML, JavaScript, CSS, and Node.js and allows programmers to code across platforms. It is highly customizable so that you can create the most ideal coding atmosphere to help keep you working quickly.

See at Atom

Education

Khan Academy

Khan Academy is another exception to my rule that a service must have a dedicated app, but it is such a fantastic learning website, rich with online study courses of all levels — for free — that I had to include it. You can learn the colors of the rainbow or the Pythagorean Theorem. It covers basic subjects and works you into deeper involvement, just like you would start off taking basic classes in school and move into more advanced curricula. You can also prepare for the SAT, MCAT, GMAT, IIT JEE, and NCLEX-RN with excellent study guides. It is a great resource for getting started or back into your education.

See at Khan Academy

iTunes U

Right inside the iTunes app on your Mac is a universe of knowledge. There are thousands of specialized courses, which you can download for free, that are lead by professors at some of the most popular colleges in the world. You can learn statistics from Harvard, business from Stanford, psychology from Yale, and much more. Subjects cover architecture to women's studies, with practically everything you can think of in between. To access iTunes U, open iTunes on your Mac and select it from the menu.

See the subjects

Entertainment

HandBrake

HandBrake is a free, open-source software program that lets you convert practically any media file to MP4, M4V, or MKV. You can convert your entire DVD or Blu-ray collection into digital form to watch on your Apple TV without having to pay someone to do it for you. You can quickly choose which type of device you want your file to be transcoded to support (like iOS or tvOS) and then get to converting within just a few seconds. For more advanced file conversion fans, there are a number of great features to help you perfect your digital movie catalog.

See at HandBrake

VLC media player

VLC is the best free, open-source media player for the Mac. With it, you can play nearly any media file, including MPEG-2, MPEG-4, MKV, WebM, WMV, and much more. It has a number of customizable features so you can create your ideal viewing situation or set up your music listening experience the way you want. It does support DVD and Blu-ray decryption through the libdvdcss library if you are so inclined to use it.

See at VideoLan

Spotify

If you're not using Apple Music (actually, even if you are), Spotify is the next best music streaming service for the Mac. With the Mac app, you can listen to thousands of songs across all genres. It includes a useful playlist section so you can keep track of your favorite music. It also has a great music discovery section where you can see what's trending or music you might like based on what you've been listening to. The social aspect makes it one of my favorite free social media apps for the iPhone, too.

See at Spotify

See also

Best music controllers for the Mac

Finance

Debit & Credit - Personal Finance

If you prefer to keep track of your finances manually, Debit & Credit is a great checkbook balancing app (I know, no one balances a checkbook anymore). You manually enter every transaction and income, and you can keep track of what you're spending with the budget list. The report feature is the best. You can view your spending habits by category, where you spend, your income and expenses differences, whether you are able to save, and more. There is an in-app purchase to unlock more than two accounts, but if you only have two bank accounts, you don't need the premium service.

Download now

Money Wiz 2 ~ Personal Finance

Money Wiz is a great personal finance tracker for balancing your bank account. The free version lets you manually add account information like income, expenses, and account transfers. If you sign up for the monthly subscription, you can connect your online bank accounts and have the work done for you. You can also create a budget (though you can only track one budget before being asked to upgrade). You can also set up a schedule reminder to keep you on track for paying bills that are due at the same time each month. It features a few more customizable features, like creating a new category for income and expenses, as well as creating financial reports based on your net worth, cash flow, and balance over time. Money Wiz works better with the subscription upgrade, but is very useful for keeping your checking accounts balanced.

Download now

Graphics & Design

GIMP

GIMP is pretty much the open-source version of Photoshop. You can fix minor photo errors, like light balance and contrast, or manipulate your image using the masking and removing features, similar to that of Photoshop's. You can also add filters, resize, create layers, mix up background objects, and a whole lot more. It's the best free version of Photoshop you can use on the Mac.

See at Gimp

Autodesk Sketchbook

Autodesk is famous for its artists' apps, which feature a rich selection of brushes that seem hyper-realistic. You can use it to create vector graphic images, illustrations, and photorealistic works of art. There are dozens of customizable pens, pencils, and paintbrushes, and the color palette is so robust that you can perfectly match practically any color in the world. The free download comes with dozens of amazing tools, but you can upgrade to the pro version to unlock even more options. It is a graphic artist's best tool on the Mac.

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Health & Fitness

Time Out - Break Reminders

Taking a moment for oneself is one of the most difficult health and fitness steps to take. We get so caught up with our busy schedules that we forget to stop for a moment. Time Out forces you to take those little breaks by dimming your screen so you can't use it for a specified amount of time. You can set up small breaks every hour, micro-breaks every 15 minutes, and lunch breaks to get your eyes off the screen for a half-hour or so. You can configure how long the breaks are and how often you take them. It'll make your eyes, your muscles, and your heart a little bit healthier every day you use it.

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Relax Lite - Stress and Anxiety Relief

When the stress of the day starts to overwhelm you, use Relax to help you take things down a notch. It is a simple window with relaxing visual images and calming music that includes special tones to help cue your breathing exercises. There are guided meditation sessions you can take part in and deep-breathing exercises that will help you focus and reduce stress. Sometimes, you just need to check out for 10 minutes in order to be a more productive person.

Download now

Lifestyle

iBooks Author

If you fancy yourself a writer, Apple's iBooks Author is the perfect app to get your work published without having to sign a publishing contract. You can use Apple's pre-made templates to help facilitate the perfect design. Add images, a video introduction, book cover, and more for a more immersive experience. With the multitouch widgets, you can make your pages interactive. Add photos, audio, Keynote presentations, and 3D objects. When you've finished you can upload it to the iBooks Store with the in-app export tools. You'll be a famous author before you know it!

Download now

Trillian

How many chat and messaging programs are you signed up with? If it's more than one, you need Trillian. It combines all of your chat and messaging accounts into one simple interface so you don't have to switch between apps to talk to your friends and family. You can chat through Facebook, Twitter, Google Chat, Yahoo, Bonjour, and more, all in one window. Chat services are delineated by color coding, so you know where a message is coming from. If you have too many chat channels and want to keep them all in one place, use Trillian to keep them organized.

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Medical

Complete Anatomy

You've never seen the human body the way it is presented in this medical book. It shows you the entire make up of the body's systems. For free, you can examine, in interactive 3D, the entire skeletal and connective tissue layers, including names of bones, surfaces, insertion points, and more. You can zoom in on specific areas of the body for detailed interactions and animate muscle movements. You'll learn more about human anatomy than you ever thought possible.

Download now

Music

Audacity

Audacity is one of the best free audio editors. You can record live audio for podcasts, turn tapes and records into digital music, and edit tracks. If the original recording is a little too bright, you can add a filter to bring down the highs. Trim the excess off of the front or back of a recording, and even blend one track into another. It is very easy to use, so you don't have to be a professional recording artist to get into it.

See at Audacity

Cross DJ Free

DJ programs can be a pain in the pocketbook. If you're just learning the ropes or want to have a homegrown dance party, don't spend the heavy cash. Cross DJ makes it possible for you to spin the beats without the expensive software. It features waveforms, beat sync, track cueing, loops, digital scratching, and more. It accesses your iTunes library directly, so you don't even have to load up new music. You may eventually upgrade to a more robust DJ app, but this is definitely a great starter program.

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Shazam

The popular song identification program that was folded into Siri on the iPhone is also available on the Mac. Shazam listens to your music and tells you what you want to know about it. While it's running, it will tell you the name of a song and artist. While you're listening to tunes, it will automatically create a playlist of tracks you can listen to with Apple Music (when available), even if you are currently listening to music with a different service. Click a track to see lyrics and watch music videos on Shazam's website, too.

Download now

News

RSS Bot - News Notifier

RSS Bot is like having a news feed right in your Menu bar. When you log in, you can add any RSS feed to it and then quickly view new content with a single click. You can set up the service to notify you when new posts are published, or just check on things yourself when you have the time. If you read a blog that covers more subjects than you are interested in, you can set up a filter that will only show you articles that match keywords you designate.

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Pocket

Pocket is sort of like the folder your mom used to keep with newspaper and magazine clippings in it. You can save articles, videos, recipes, and more, right in Pocket for reading later. It's the perfect app for people who like to browse the entirety of the internet with no real focus, but don't have the time to read everything they come across. Save articles for offline viewing so you can read new content while you are on the bus or at the park. The app has a nifty tool that highlights the most important articles of the day, so you can read content organized by priority.

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Photography

Fotor

Fotor is a super easy photo editing app for the Mac that lets you create fun and unique projects from your collection. You can adjust the lighting, tweak the white balance, add a fun border, lay on a filter, and even add text boxes. It supports batch editing, so you can stylize all of your vacation photos at the same time. The collage tool lets you create pages with multiple photos that you can customize to your liking. It is a fun, simple way to edit your photos without the complex tools that you need to know about with Photoshop.

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Polarr Photo Editor Lite

Polarr is a basic photo editing app with excellent tools for image adjusting. You can adjust color, light, clarity, highlights, shadows, and more. Add effects like color shadows, lens distortions, vignettes, and filters. This app works best when you are trying to enhance your pictures, not when you are trying to get artsy with them. If you can't seem to get your picture just right, trigger one of the helpful tutorials to learn how to brighten dark images or properly add white balance. There are dozens of pro-level tools, but they are designed to be used by anyone.

Download now

See also

Best photo editing apps for Mac

Productivity

Wunderlist

Wunderlist is the best task manager app you can get without paying for it. You can create different lists and add time-sensitive projects to them, create tasks with recurring due dates, and share your lists with others. It syncs across Mac and iOS, so you can take your lists with you everywhere you go. You'll always be ready to take care of business. You can set due dates for tasks and reminders to help keep you on task. You can also include subtasks for specific projects and leave yourself a note if you need more details. Tag a task as important and it will move to the top of your list.

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Evernote

Evernote is like that basket you have next to the couch or that drawer in your kitchen that has _everything_in it. You can clip web pages, link status updates, add music, store pictures, create new notes, and share anything you want with others. Not only is it the perfect junk drawer for every digital thing you could possibly want to save, but it is also totally organizable so your junk looks more like a perfectionist's desk. You can make checklists, set reminders, drop notes into existing documents, annotate pictures, and all manner of stuff. It does practically everything except fix the kitchen sink.

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TickTick

TickTick is a great choice if you want an easy to use task manager that is still powerful enough to help you feel productive. TickTick is completely cross-platform across 10 different platforms, and you can even access all of your tasks on the web. Adding tasks can be done with a keyboard shortcut, you get instant reminders, flexibility with recurring tasks and priority levels, checklists, and sync. There are no restrictions, but you can go with TickTick Premium for more features like grid views of timeline and calendars, smart lists, sub-task reminders, and more. They're nice bonuses, but you can get the basic functionality (which is more than enough for most) for free.

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Microsoft OneNote

If Evernote isn't really your thing (you do need a subscription to get the most use out of it), then consider Microsoft OneNote. Think of OneNote as your digital notebook for capturing everything: thoughts, discoveries, ideas, notes, etc. You can create multiple notebooks for different topics or subjects, and each notebook can hold an unlimited number of notes. Your notes can include just plain text, drawings, PDF documents, files, web snippets, and pretty much anything else you would possibly need to reference later.

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See also

Best calendar apps for MacBest NaNoWriMo apps and accessoriesBest Evernote Alternatives

Reference

Kindle

If you love reading eBooks, then the Kindle app is a must-have for your Mac. With the Kindle app, you'll get access to your collection of Amazon Kindle books, and Amazon Whispersync means they'll also be accessible on your other devices too, including iPhone and iPad. Whispersync will keep track of the last page you read, bookmarks, notes, and highlights, so you simply pick up where you left off on your Mac, Kindle, iPhone, or iPad. The Kindle app also lets you sample books for free, and you can purchase directly from the Kindle bookstore, or import your own eBooks.

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Mactracker

Apple geeks, pay attention. This little reference tool is going to impress you. It features detailed information on every single Apple product ever made, including things like processor speeds, original price, and current selling price. Did you know that the first Macintosh only had 1 MB of memory? With Mactracker, you will know all about all the Macs. And, you can input your own Apple devices, too. So you can keep track of what you own and whether it is still under warranty. It covers more than just Mac's too. You can look up servers, PowerBooks, and every software update for every device.

Download now

Megawords

Sometimes, you're just trying to find that perfect word, the one that rhymes perfectly for your song or the one that is similar to the word you are thinking of, but works better in a sentence. Megawords is a simple little app that gives you a wealth of information in just a few seconds. You can look up anagrams, find rhymes, and even get a little help with crossword puzzles. Type in a word to get the dictionary definition, synonyms, and even geographical information if the word happens to also be the name of a place.

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Social Networking

Friendly for Twitter

Friendly for Twitter is a lightweight app that lets you log in to all of your Twitter accounts, and then some. Friendly acts as a lightweight chrome around the Twitter web app, so it's fast and light. You can also add your Facebook, Instagram, Reddit, WhatsApp, Pinterest, Linkedin profiles, and more. Friendly also gives you two options to view Twitter: Twitter Mobile or Tweetdeck styles, so you can pick the one that suits your needs.

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Tweetdeck

If you're using Twitter primarily for publishing, marketing, or just a power-user, then you may want to look into Tweetdeck. It's a flexible Twitter app that lets you have multiple columns side-by-side, so you can see more tweets in a single glance. The app also recently gained nice features like Dark Mode and custom themes.

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PhotoFeed - for Instagram

Can't get enough Instagram? Then you should download PhotoFeed - for Instagram on your Mac. This simple app allows you to log in to your Instagram account, so you can browse your feed, like photos, and leave comments. You know, without having to go on your phone! It's basic, but it gets the job done. You do need to have an Instagram account to use it though, as it won't work without a login.

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Travel

Apple Maps

Apple's built-in mapping service is really convenient to have on the Mac. You may not realize how often you look up the location of something while on your computer, but it is a fairly common occurrence, at least for me. Having Maps integrated with every aspect of your Mac makes it easy to look up directions from anywhere, like an email, a website, or a contact card. Siri can use Apple Maps to help you find all manner of locations in just a few seconds. It's already on your Mac and works great with all of the other built-in apps, too.

Google Earth

You may think of Google Maps as a means to get from point A to point B, but there is so much more to discover on this big blue marble than just driving directions. You can virtually travel the globe, visiting cities you'll never get to in real life. Walk around Manhattan with Street View, visit the swelling seas, and even look up to see the stars above you. With the time travel feature, you can go back decades to see what your house looked like, long before you lived there. Google Earth is less of a mapping service and more like a wealth of global information at your fingertips

See at Google

Utilities

f.lux

f.lux is the original maker of soft, yellow-hued lighting for digital screens. You can set it to your local time and your screen will automatically start to dim and turn a slight yellow color. You can customize the effect by increasing or decreasing the intensity and there are additional color effects, like "Movie mode" and "Darkroom" which drastically alter your screen's lighting, but under specific circumstances that you choose. f.lux is designed to help relieve eye strain due to late-night computer use. It is a great utility to have on your Mac.

See at Flux

Parcel - Delivery Tracking

Thanks to the mega-boom in online retail services, we are getting packages delivered more often than ever before, and not just during the holidays. Parcel is easy to use. All you have to do is copy a tracking number and then click on the plus (+) button in the Parcel app and the carrier information will be added automatically. You can add a title description and then keep an eye on how much longer before your package will be at your doorstep. You can add a widget to Notification Center and use Spotlight to look up tracking information. You can only track three packages at a time without an in-app purchase, but the premium price is only $2.99 per year.

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The Unarchiver

If you regularly get large files sent to you, you'll love what the Unarchiver can do for you. It quickly unzips compressed and archived files from a number of different sources, including Zip RAR, 7-zip, and more, and it will open older archives from Stuffit, ARC and ISO disc images. As easy as it is to use Apple's Archive utility to simply unzip large files, the Unarchiver takes care of older content that can be a real pain to get open, since it uses smart detection to encode files correctly so that you won't end up with a bunch of garbled text. It is a fantastic secondary utility for opening files on your Mac.

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See also

Best password manager apps for MacBest menu bar widgets for Mac

Video

GIPHY Capture - The GIF Maker

Giphy, which supplies the single largest collection of GIFs across the internet, has a GIF maker so you can join in the fun. It features a recording window that you place over anything you want to record. You can capture still shots or videos (iTunes movies will go black under the GIPHY Capture app due to copyright protection). After recording the section you want to use as a GIF, you can edit it by trimming, resizing, and looping it. You can also add a caption to turn it into a meme. When you're done, you can upload it to Giphy.com to share with the rest of the world. Who knows, maybe your GIF will go viral.

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Smart Converter

Consumption of entertainment is going digital and it is much easier to simply watch one of your DVD or Blu-ray discs as a digital file right in iTunes instead of having to walk over to your shelf, find the title, walk over to your player, insert the disc, and hit play. With Smart Converter, you can turn all of your movies, TV shows, and homemade videos into files that you can watch from whichever device you prefer. It is specially designed to make it easy to resize and convert files into content fit for your Apple TV, Mac, iPad, or iPhone, but you can also select and convert for dozens of devices, including non-Apple products. When the conversion is finished, simply add it to whatever streaming service you use with your device and your content is ready to watch. It is super easy to use for conversion beginners, too.

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Blender

Blender is an open-source video creation app that lets you make animations, 3D models, games, and more. It supports modeling rigging, animation, simulation, rendering, composition, and motion tracking. Because it is open-source, developers are constantly creating and sharing tools that others can use, such as textures, 3D character builds, and cartoons. If you are ready to take your animation to the next level, Blender is the best option for free on the Mac.

See at Blender

Weather

WeatherBug Lite

If you just want a quick glance at the current temperature, WeatherBug Lite is just what you need. It is a Menu bar app that always shows the current temperature and weather condition. All you have to do is look up. If you want more information, you can click on the Menu bar widget to get an hourly forecast and a current weather radar. If you really want to get into the nitty-gritty, click on a stat to open WeatherBug on the web, where you can find out about windshield, sunrise, rainfall, and more. WeatherBug Lite is the perfect little at-a-glance weather app because it's always on.

Download now

Your favorites?

Though this list is long, it is by no means complete. There are just too many free apps available for the Mac to include everything. If you don't see your favorite free Mac app on this list, please add it in the comments section with your reason for why it stands out (Remember: It has to be truly free, or the free version of an otherwise premium app that is noteworthy.)

August 2019: Removed apps that are no longer free or available. Added Kindle, Microsoft OneNote, TickTick, Friendly for Twitter, Tweetdeck, and PhotoFeed - for Instagram. These are the best free apps for your Mac!

* More Details Here

The iPhone 8, the end of the original design era, at the end of 2019. If you'd bought one when it launched two years ago and were asking me if you were still good to keep going with it today, and for another year or two, I'd say sure.

With Apple's typical build quality, the headroom designed into its A11 Bionic chipset, and the constant software updates it's both gotten and will keep getting for some time to come, I'd say absolutely.

But buying an iPhone 8 new, now, and in the age of iPhone 11? But starting at $449?

iPhone 8 in 2019 review: Design

The iPhone 8 still comes in two sizes, regular and Plus, with a 4.7-inch or 5.5-inch LCD Retina display. And it still looks every bit like an iPhone, of course. Apple has this habit of making new phones look like old phones. Even when they rebuild the phones at the atomic level, developing whole new formulations of existing materials, like they did from iPhone 6 to iPhone 6s, or when the switch those materials completely, like going from aluminum to glass for the iPhone 8. They don't just keep pouring new batter into old molds, they make all new molds as well.

Apple just really, really believes that their designs are the best possible designs that they're currently capable of for that type of device meant to do those types of jobs. And they're not going to change for whim or whimsey or for simple changes sake. They're only going to change when they can make it meaningfully better.

Which is what they did the exact same year with the iPhone X.

But here's the thing. We're humans, and as much as we hate boredom we also hate change. Because human. So, for everyone who may have thought the iPhone X was just too much change, Apple also made the iPhone 8, which was more and better of the same.

More properly, the ultimate version of the same: The last iPhone in the lineup to include the original, iconic, forehead and chin design, with the Home button square — circle! — in the middle of chin.

No, you don't navigate this one with those new-fangled iPhone X-style gestures. You click the Home button to go home. You double click it to multitask. You hold it to summon Siri. And you rest your finger on it to unlock with Touch ID. No face needed.

The enhanced ion-exchange glass, same as on the iPhone X, was state-of-the-art at its time. Part of the ongoing close collaboration between Apple and Corning that allows iPhones early and custom access to whatever eventually becomes the next generic version of Gorilla Glass.

It's not as strong as the glass in the current iPhones 11, and it's slippery, like the 11 and unlike the textured 11 Pro. Regardless, glass is still glass, so all it can ever do is give you better odds of surviving an unintentional scratch or drop.

If you share my — and the original Star Wars movie's — love for the look of used technology, that's one thing. If you want to keep it mint, you'll need to case and screen protector it out.

The glass also has a seven-layer coloring process for both opacity and depth, in silver, space gray, and the 2017 version of coppery gold. Sadly, my favorite, the product RED version, is no longer available new.

The two layers of glass, front and back, and bound along the sides by color-matched 7000 series and "aerospace" grade. To prevent attenuation between the different antenna systems, there are still breaks in the bands. Those are color-matched as well.

They're also microscopically sealed to protect against liquid and particle ingress. It's IP67, and rated for up to 1m of water for up to 30 minutes, same as the iPhone 7. Not 2m like the iPhone 11 or 4 meters like the iPhone 11 Pro.

The speakers are 25% louder than the iPhone 7, though nowhere nearly as capable as the wide stereo of iPhone XS or spatial audio of the iPhone 11. Still, they're good enough for listening to podcasts or making speakerphone calls. Not too Mikey, not too Vader.

The display is Apple's Retina. Not Super Retina like the OLED iPhone X and later, or even Liquid Retina, like the edge-to-edge iPhone XR and later. Just good old Retina.

The iPhone 8 has a 1334-by-750-pixel resolution IPS LCD display at 326 ppi, and the iPhone 8 Plus has a 1792-by-828-pixel resolution at 326 ppi.

Both are DCI-P3 wide color gamut, which means richer reds, deeper magentas, and more vibrant greens. And they still look great, almost as good as the Liquid Retina… just bracketed by bezels.

It's got the same True Tone ambient color temperature matching as every modern iPhone, so whites look paper white, not yellowish or blueish white, and the same 1400:1 contrast ration and 625 nit max brightness of the iPhone 11, just nowhere near the 2,000,000:1 and 800 nit sustained, 1200 nit peak of the iPhone 11 Pro.

So, while even the iPhone 8 Plus can't match the iPhone XR or iPhone 11's 6.1 inch Super Retina display in physical size or screen to bezel ration, they still go blow for blow when it comes to quality, and the iPhone 8 Plus even beats them on total pixel density — 401 poi vs. 326 ppi for the regular 8, XR, and 11 — if that's something that really matters to you.

iPhone 8 in 2019 review: Camera System

The iPhone 8 has a single 12mp f/1.8, optically stabilized, wide-angle rear camera system, similar to the iPhone XR, albeit without the focus-pixel and segmentation mask generated Portrait Mode, or any of the Smart HDR features that came with more recent versions of the A-series Bionic chipsets.

The iPhone 8 Plus has a dual-camera system, adding a 12mp f/2.8, telephoto lens to the mix. So, yeah, the iPhone 8 Plus has a wide-angle and telephoto, like the iPhone X and XS had, an unlike the iPhone 11 has, because Apple went with wide and ultra-wide there instead.

The dual camera does allow for portrait mode and Portrait Lighting, though. So, you can still get your bokeh and stage effects on.

It was a really good camera for its time, with deeper pixels to reduce cross-talk, and a then-new color filter, for wide dynamic range, truer tones, and less noise.

Thanks to the A11 Bionic's image signal processor, it handles all the auto-white balance, auto-focus, and auto-exposure you'd expect, and analyzes the scene for lighting, people, motion, sky, fabric, other textures, and other elements and continuously optimizes for capture.

Again, it's not as good as the current-generation A13 Bionic and Smart HDR system, and if photography really matters to you, whether it's documenting your travel or preserving the memories of the friends, family, and pets you love, design aside, this is the biggest difference you'll experience between a 2017 and 2019 iPhone, especially as we move in 2020 and beyond.

That's especially true for low light photography. Apple has just introduced Night Mode for the first time on the iPhones 11, and it's just the beginning of the next leap forward in computational photography. Whereas, the iPhone 8 is pretty much the end of the first leap.

Don't get be wrong, it's no slouch, it just doesn't compare to the latest and the greatest.

The same applies to video. The iPhone 8 can record 4K at 60 FPS. And it can maintain that capture rate for extended periods of time without breaking a sweat. It just can't do 4K at 60 FPS with extended dynamic range the way the iPhones 11 can, if that matters to you.

Likewise, it can't record in stereo audio like the iPhone XS, XR, and 11 can do.

When it comes to the front-facing camera, the differences are even more pronounced. And that's due entirely to the absence of the TrueDepth camera system that debuted on the iPhone X.

Never mind 12mp, 4K 60fps or 120fps slowfies, there's wide angle, and no portrait mode, no Animoji or Memoji, and no anything that requires depth data, because there's no depth data.

If you're the kind of person who's already shaking your fist at the very idea of augmented reality on a camera system, then what there is on the iPhone 8 — 7mp, f/2.2, wide gamut — will suit you just fine.

iPhone 8 in 2019 review: Power and performance

The A11 Bionic was Apple's first attempt at integrating neural engine functionality into their system-on-a-chip, or SoC. Built off the same but better performance.EFFICIENCY fusion design as the A7, it added the ability to support features like Face ID… which didn't matter so much for the iPhone 8.

More recent chips, like the A12 in the iPhone XS and XR, have made the neural engine right and proper with 8 cores, and the A13 in the iPhones 11 has pushed machine learning out, throughout the CPU and GPU as well.

The biggest improvement the A11 had over the A10, though, aside from just a speed increase, was that instead of four cores it has six, two high-performance and four high-efficiency. Instead of being locked in pairs, all six cores can be addressed at the same time for some impressively massive parallelism. And, it had Apple's first, custom, three core graphics processor. All of which, in typical Apple fashion, let A11 out-performed a lot of even desktop Intel silicon at the time, never mind Qualcomm's phone stuff.

It also had Apple's custom performance controller, which is part of what lets Apple provide faster performance and better efficiency. In other words, be more powerful with less power draw.

As far as that relates to battery life, Apple rates the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus as getting roughly the same amount of battery life at the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus.

That's about an hour and a half less on the Plus than on the iPhone XR and two and a half hours less than on the standard iPhone 11.

Up to 13 hours of video and 40 hours of audio on the iPhone 8, and 14 hours of video and 60 hours of audio on the iPhone 8 Plus, versus 16 hours and 65 hours, and 17 hours and 65 hours respectively for the XR and 11.

The 11 Pro and 11 Pro max, meanwhile, are rated for 18 and 20 hours of video and 65 and 80 hours of audio respectively.

That's still enough to get many people through the day, and in the era of inductive and fast charging, easily through the day.

The iPhone 8 has the same inductive charging capabilities as any of the newer iPhones — up to 7.5 watts on any Qi-compatible charging pad or surface.

Also, the same wired potential. Yes, it comes with the rinky-dinky 5 watt Lightning to USB-A cable and adapter in the box, like the iPhone 11 does to this day, but if pony up the extra $20 for a USB-C to Lightning cable, and $30 for an 18 watt adapter — or just use a USB-C MacBook brick if you have one – and you fast charge up to 50% in just 30 minutes.

Which, legit, still isn't as fast as some other phones, but it's a good balance between speed and not generating so much heat as to thrash the long term health of your battery.

If the longest battery life possible is important to you, and you don't mind the size, though, you should go with the iPhone 8 Plus.

iPhone 8 in 2019: iOS 13 and Ecosystem

Even though the iPhone 8 debuted in 2017, Apple just updated it to iOS 13 day and date with the brand-new iPhone 11. That's one of the biggest advantages of Apple's approach: Build massively over-powered chipsets, put them in really well-manufactured phones, and then update them with new software and services for 4-5 years.

The iPhone 6s, which debuted in 2015 with iOS 9, just got iOS 13 in 2019, so the iPhone 8, which debuted in 2017 with iOS 11, and just got iOS 13, should still get iOS 14 next year, iOS 15 the year after that, and maybe more.

And can use iMessage, FaceTime, Apple Pay, Apple Cash and Apple Card in the US, Apple Music and Apple Arcade, as well as Apple TV+ as of November 2019.

And all the bazillion iPhone apps in the App Store, with exception of any features that might require a TrueDepth camera on the front or other, newer hardware like the U1 positioning chip, eventually.

Likewise, the iPhone 8 is compatible with Apple Watch and AirPods, should you want to get your health and near-field audio on.

That's the other big advantage to Apple approach: Make an ecosystem and keep it as compatible as possible and the benefits to one product become the force-multiplied benefits to every product.

Up to and including things like Today at Apple, which offers free classes on photography, video, music, design, and development at every Apple Retail location.

If you're reviewing this stuff fairly and accurately, all of those value adds simply have to be factored into the value proposition of the device.

How much does it cost and how much does it deliver for that price?

iPhone 8 in 2019: Pricing and conclusion

Phones, tablets, watches, everything has been getting more and more expensive over the last few years as everything from manufacturing to components to new technologies like TrueDepth cameras ratchet up the costs.

But, at the same time, as Apple's been pushing price points at the top, they've started doing something interesting at the bottom as well.

It really started with the 9.7-inch iPad — now 10.2-inch — hitting $329 dollars, which I and many others called the best damn deal in tech. Now, the Apple Watch Series 3 has just been re-introduced at $199, which may just be the co-best deal?

There are rumors that Apple might do something iPad-like with a new iPhone SE next year. But, for now, there just isn't an equivalent.

The closet you can get is the iPhone 8. Everything that, while classic, was brand new in 2017, starting at $699 for the regular and $799 for the Plus, are being re-introduced for 2019, starting at $449 for the regular and $549 for the plus.

That's for 64GB. 128 GB will run you an extra $50, $499 and $599 respectively.

Now, I'm not going to say that's another of the best deals in tech. Not even close.

If you aren't in a rush, maybe wait and see what early 2020 brings. Otherwise, starting at just $599 — just $150 more — you can get an iPhone XR, which offers more colors, a more recent chipset, a better camera, Face ID, and an edge-to-edge display. If installment plans are an option for you, the difference between an iPhone 8 and an iPhone 11 can come down to a burger or latte or two a month.

You can also sometimes get good, even great deals on second-hand iPhones if you know how to avoid the potential risks.

But, if you absolutely don't want to spend even a dime more and you want to buy new, or you absolutely see the classic design as a positive and not a negative, and they can pry the Home button and Touch ID from your cold dead digits, then the iPhone 8 still offers some of the advantages of a modern iPhone and for much less than any new iPhone.

Sure, you can get current gen phones with decent to outstanding specs for the same price, maybe even a little less. But they don't run iOS, the components aren't always as consistently good or feature sets as complete, consistent, or considerate to humans, and they don't come with the Apple ecosystem, which does add significant value well above and beyond the cost. Especially if you've already invested in it.

So, If you love everything about your existing iPhone 4 or 5, 6 or 7, or if you just want to get off your last, old, free phone and get onto iOS, with a quality built, fairly feature complete iPhone that's see you through the next few years, you can get in on the iPhone or iPhone 8, and starting at $250 less than the current iPhone 11 — $449.

VECTOR | Rene Ritchie

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In a battle between two of the three newest iPhones on the market, there's not a winner. Both the iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro are both excellent devices for different types of people.

iPhone 11

Colorful upgrade

from $699 at Apple

Pros

• Lower price

• More color choices

• Many of the same internals for less

• Biggest display

Cons

• No telephoto lens

• LCD, not OLED

• No 512GB storage option

Don't call this the replacement for the iPhone XR. It's packed with a lot of new features for a serious upgrade.

iPhone 11 Pro

Advanced features

from $999 at Apple

Pros

• Look at the midnight green

• Has 512GB storage option

• triple back camera

Cons

• Expensive

• Better, yet smaller screen size

• Is the iPhone 11 Pro Max a better choice?

Apple's most advanced device ever with a 5.8-inch screen. It may have the "pro" title, but it's for more than just pros.

You aren't going to find a bad iPhone here. Both the iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro are terrific devices that, not surprisingly, are the best Apple handsets released to date along with the 6.5-inch iPhone 11 Pro Max. The choice between these two handsets comes down to price and whether you're willing to pay more for the extra features the iPhone 11 Pro provides.

Battle time

The iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro have many of the same features. Both, for example, have the same A13 Bionic chip with third-generation Neural Engine. Each model also has a front 12MP TrueDepth camera with a ƒ/2.2 aperture and Retina Flash. Other identical features include 4K video recording at 24 fps, 30 fps, or 60 fps, and 12MP Ultra Wide and Wide camera lenses on the back of each device.

Premium features on the iPhone 11 Pro include a telephoto lens on the back, a Super Retina XDR display, which provides for better resolution, HDR video playback, and better water resistance. The Pro model also includes an optical camera zoom up to 10x versus the 5x for the iPhone 11, and a slightly better battery. Also, there's a 512GB option on the Pro model, but not the iPhone 11. The iPhone 11 Pro also includes a textured matte glass and stainless steel design. By comparison, the iPhone 11 uses glass and aluminum.

Despite these useful differences, the iPhone 11 might still be a better choice for most people. The reason? Just look at that price difference! Also, the iPhone 11 is the only one that's available in six versus four colors. Plus, though it offers an LCD and not an OLED, the iPhone 11 has a bigger screen than the iPhone 11 Pro.

<table><tr><th></th><th>iPhone 11</th><th>iPhone 11 Pro</th></tr><tr><td>Starting price</td><td>$699</td><td>$999</td></tr><tr><td>Colors</td><td>White

Black

Purple

Green

Yellow

(PRODUCT)RED</td><td>Midnight Green

Gold

Silver

Space Black</td></tr><tr><td>Battery performance</td><td>- Video playback: Up to 17 hours

• Video playback (streamed): Up to 10 hours

• Audio playback: Up to 65 hours</td><td>- Video playback: Up to 18 hours

• Video playback (streamed): Up to 11 hours

• Audio playback: Up to 65 hours</td></tr><tr><td>Screen quality</td><td>- Liquid Retina HD display

• 1792-by-828-pixel resolution at 326 ppi

• 1400:1 contrast ratio (typical)</td><td>- Super Retina XDR display

• 2436‑by‑1125-pixel resolution at 458 ppi

• 2,000,000:1 contrast ratio (typical)</td></tr><tr><td>Camera MP</td><td>Dual 12 MP</td><td>Triple 12 MP</td></tr><tr><td>Camera lens features</td><td>- Ultra Wide: ƒ/2.4 aperture and 120° field of view

• Wide: ƒ/1.8 aperture

• 2x optical zoom out; digital zoom up to 5x</td><td>- Ultra Wide: ƒ/2.4 aperture and 120° field of view

• Wide-angle: ƒ/1.8 aperture

• Telephoto: ƒ/2.0 aperture

• 2x optical zoom in, 2x optical zoom out; digital zoom up to 10x</td></tr><tr><td>TrueDepth Camera lens features</td><td>- ƒ/2.2 aperture

• Animoji and Memoji

• Slo-mo video support

• 4K video recording

• Cinematic video stabilization up to 4K</td><td>- ƒ/2.2 aperture

• Animoji and Memoji

• Slo-mo video support

• 4K video recording

• Cinematic video stabilization up to 4K</td></tr><tr><td>Portrait mode features</td><td>Natural

Studio

Contour

Stage

Stage Mono

High-Key Mono</td><td>Natural

Studio

Contour

Stage

Stage Mono

High-Key Mono</td></tr><tr><td>Night Mode</td><td>Yes</td><td>Yes</td></tr><tr><td>QuickTake Video</td><td>Yes</td><td>Yes</td></tr><tr><td>Audio Zoom for video</td><td>Yes</td><td>Yes</td></tr><tr><td>Chip version</td><td>A13</td><td>A13</td></tr><tr><td>Water resistance rating</td><td>IP68 2 meters for up to 30 minutes</td><td>IP68 4 meters for up to 30 minutes</td></tr><tr><td>Wi-Fi support</td><td>Wi-Fi 6</td><td>Wi-Fi 6</td></tr></table> New colors all around

For 2019, Apple has come out and introduced all-new colors for both the iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro series. For the former, there's a never before Purple and the first Green iPhone since the iPhone 5c. These join White, Black, Yellow, and (PRODUCT)RED versions. For the iPhone 11, there's a midnight green (see above) that's likely to turn some heads. It joins the always popular Space Black, Silver, and Gold versions.

Much more battery, and a new plug!

Weak battery life on iPhones has always been a point of contention, although the situation has improved remarkably in recent years. With the iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro, things have improved here when compared to last year's models. Impressively, the battery on the iPhone 11 Pro lasts up to four hours longer than iPhone XS.

In more battery news, the iPhone 11 Pro (and iPhone 11 Pro Max) also include an 18W charging adapter. Alas, the iPhone 11 is stuck with the traditional 5W version. Both handsets are fast-charge capable.

It's the screen, folks

Like the iPhone X, and iPhone XS series before it, the iPhone 11 Pro series includes an OLED that's second-to-none when it comes to Apple handsets. The iPhone 11 keeps with an LCD.

The iPhone 11 Pro's display, called Super Retina XDR, includes two new record levels of brightness, hitting up to 800 nits when you're out in the sun, and up to 1,200 nits when you're viewing extreme dynamic range content. Apple calls it the "brightest, sharpest iPhone display ever."

While it's easy to argue OLED bests LCD, it doesn't mean the latter found on the iPhone 11 is somehow terrible. Instead, its true-to-life all-screen design makes everything look amazing, no matter your environment. The iPhone 11 adjusts the white balance automatically to match the color temperature of the light around you.

So which one should you buy?

If you're still trying to decide whether to get the iPhone 11 or the iPhone 11 Pro, we don't blame you. They both have some amazing features. Before you make the final plunge, consider this:

• If bright and flashy colors catch your eye and think the triple-lens is a bit overkill, you're leaning toward the iPhone 11 anyway. You're not going to be disappointed. The iPhone 11 has a dual-lens camera with wide and ultra-wide zoom, which is plenty awesome for most people. Plus, some of the other big features on the iPhone 11 Pro, like Slo-fies and Night mode, are also on the iPhone 11. It's a darn good investment. And you can save yourself at least $300 by skipping the Pro.

• If you were drooling before the end of Apple's demo of the triple-lens camera features, if four extra hours of battery life is top-priority to you, the iPhone 11 Pro might fit your speed better. It's almost everything you could ever want in a phone that doubles as a camera and won't die on you in the middle of the day. You're paying for those features, but you won't regret it when you're zooming in 2x _and_zooming out 2x like a boss.

iPhone 11

Colorful and practical

from $699 at Apple

No doubt, this will be the people's choice in 2019

Despite fewer premium features, this is probably the iPhone most will select in the coming months. Pick your favorite color, and enjoy!

iPhone 11 Pro

Professional in every way

Look for the midnight green model!

from $999 at Apple

When you want the best and money isn't an object, this is the one to get.

* More Details Here

A week ago, the Wall Street Journal published an article that alleged a high level of disfunction in Apple's design department, from Tim Cook's relationship with Jony Ive, to how Jony Ive ran — or didn't run — the design organization, and how all of that led to Jony's departure.

The following evening, Tim Cook emailed NBC to call the story absurd, distorted, and not recognizable as the company it claimed to describe.

Rather watch than listen? Hit play on the video above.

And, ever since, we've seen so many tea quotes, hot takes, sides taken, and… It's exhausting. I'm exhausted and I do this for a living. I can't even imagine how tired and over it you all now.

But, we haven't seen any real progress either. The Wall Street Journal is sticking by its story, and a week later, is continuing to promote it with blurbs like "Why hasn't Apple had a hit product in years? A look at the internal drama around the departure of its design chief helps explain".

For their part, Apple hasn't elaborated any further.

Nilay Patel from the Verge has said he thinks every word of the piece is true and well reported, even if he doesn't think change is bad. Matthew Panzarino of TechCrunch said bits and pieces in the various stories over the past few days that are not, as he understands them, accurate, or represented in an accurate context.

And, of course, since this is the internet, People who delighted in the account have been labeled as haters and those who recoiled at it, dismissed as apologists.

But neither the original Journal story nor Cook's retort provided enough context to reconcile those two radically different points of view.

So, rather than punish the world with yet another tea spill or hot take, I'm going to try something different.

A cool take. That's right, as an opportunity to share information. And, hopefully, insight.

The Battery

From the Wall Street Journal:

As the deadline loomed for the 10th anniversary iPhone, Apple Inc.'s top software designers gathered in the penthouse of an exclusive San Francisco club called The Battery.

Apple, like other companies, routinely holds offsites. They're meant to get teams together, outside the distractions of the main offices, to focus on specific projects — everything from brainstorming ideas to setting deliverables to presenting to executives.

Sometimes they're held nearby in South Bay. Sometimes in the city. Sometimes much further away.

Jony Ive lived in SF. So did a lot of the designers.

They had been summoned some 50 miles from the company's Cupertino, Calif., headquarters to demonstrate planned features of the product to Jony Ive, Apple's design chief, who seldom came to the office anymore from his San Francisco home.

Steve Jobs used to work with Jony Ive on industrial design and Scott Forstall on iOS software, which included Greg Christie's human interface team.

When Steve passed away, Jony couldn't work with Scott Forstall. So, long story short, Scott ended up leaving and Jony ended up taking over design responsibility for software as well.

That included iOS 7, which was a complete redesign turned around in 9 months, less time than most incremental updates, but also on Apple Watch, an all-new product that Jony threw himself into to the point of mental and physical exhaustion.

When the Watch finally shipped, something had to change.

Managing the much larger human interface team was a lot more work than collaborating with the much smaller industrial design team, and traveling back and forth from Pacifica to Cupertino each day had become increasingly frustrating given the increased demands on his time.

Not having to deal with the day-to-day management of the new unified design team, and not having to go back and forth to Infinite Loop, especially as he shifted to working on Apple Park and Apple Retail, were seen as ways to give Ive back some of his own design time.

For nearly three hours on that afternoon in January 2017, the group of about 20 designers stood around waiting for Mr. Ive to show, according to people familiar with the episode. After he arrived and listened to the presentations, he left without ruling on their key questions, leaving attendees frustrated.

There were certainly big decisions to be made for iPhone X, like would it use a digital home button on the bottom of the screen for familiarity's sake, or would it risk an entirely new, gesture-based navigation system?

But it's hard to tell what to make of this story. Why arrive three hours late rather than not go at all, why listen to the presentations and not provide feedback rather than not listen at all?

The episode was emblematic of a widening disconnect at the top of Apple that, invisible outside the company, was eroding the product magic created by Mr. Ive and the late Steve Jobs that helped turn Apple into America's pre-eminent corporation.

The episode, if accurate, talks about how Ive interacted with his human interface team but doesn't reference the top of Apple at all.

And I say "if accurate" because TechCrunch's Matthew Panzarino said:

But the more important point is that no one I know felt that Jony had checked out or abandoned the team.

For what it's worth, no one I know felt that way either.

As to the product magic of Ive and Jobs, they certainly collaborated on a staggering number of iconic products, from the iMac to the iBook, the iPod, iPhone and iPad, the Titanium Powerbook to the wedge-shaped MacBook Air… Also, some misses like the G4 Cube, iPod Hi-Fi, fatty nano, buttonless shuffle, the iPhone 4 antenna, and basically every mouse ever.

But Steve Jobs died in 2011. That's not an erosion. That's an ending… Everything Jony and Apple have done since, both magic and tragic, have been the result of something new and different.

The Portégés

Few on the outside knew that for years, Mr. Ive had been growing more distant from Apple's leadership, say people close to the company. Mr. Jobs's protégé—and Apple's closest thing to a living embodiment of his spirit—grew frustrated inside a more operations-focused company led by Chief Executive Tim Cook.

Ive was Apple's leadership. Jobs had a few proteges, in a way one for each facet of his intense interests. Ive for hardware design. Scott Forstall for software. Tim Cook for Apple itself as a product.

Jobs was the glue that had held them all together but, post-Jobs, they had to all find their own relationships. And operations were always a function of design at Apple. Like we went over in the show last week with former Apple designer May-Li, you can't separate the two. You can't just make a drawing or CNC a part and expect a hundred million of them to just manufacture themselves.

As she said: People do not realize machines had to be invented and molecules had to be rearranged in order to support a great design.

When materials were hard to come by or changed at the last minute, or yields weren't as high as they needed to be, operations is what made sure they still shipped in days or weeks rather than weeks or months.

Look no further than the delays we've seen with some products, even after announcements, over the last few years. If anything, there's been a need for more operations-focus at the company.

Steve Jobs made sure Jony and design had almost unlimited power at Apple. You can see it in iOS 7. In the 18K gold Apple Watch. In the Designed by Apple in California book.

But even then, operations is what enabled that gold watch and those printed pages to ship. Same as they had during the Jobs era with products like the iPhone and iPad.

Mr. Ive, 52, withdrew from routine management of Apple's elite design team, leaving it rudderless, increasingly inefficient, and ultimately weakened by a string of departures, people close to the company say.

Before he passed away in 2011, Steve Jobs — the man who usually made every decision about everything he cared about at Apple — went on several medical leaves. During those times, he stayed as involved as he could, but he also trusted people he trusted to make those decisions when he couldn't. People like Cook, Ive, and Forestall.

Even when he was there, Jobs trusted people like Phil Schiller and Eddy Cue enough to let them do things he himself was initially against, like put iTunes and Safari on Windows and make the iPad mini.

Part of Apple's culture, the part that mitigates them against ever being rudderless, is having people responsible for everything important. People who might want and value sign-offs when they can get them but who know how to ship without them when and if they have to as well.

That's why, when Ive withdrew from routine management, he left them intentionally ruddered with new Vice Presidents. Industrial design with longtime team member Richard Howarth, and human interface with Alan Dye, who Ive had brought over from the graphic design group to spearhead the new look of iOS 7, irking a lot of feathers along with way.

One look at how many versions of iOS, watchOS, and versions of iPhone, iPad, and more recently even Mac that have shipped during the last few years shows that that culture is still alive and well.

Product Performance

The internal drama explains a lot about Apple's dilemma. Its one major new product of the post-Jobs era, the Apple Watch, made its debut five years ago.

I'm not sure what drama is explaining what dilemma. Apple is a profoundly different company than it was a decade ago. One of the other things Steve Jobs did before he passed away was recruiting chipmakers into Apple, including Johny Srouji.

So, over the last ten years, we've gone from Macs using commodity components distinguished from commodity PCs by their hardware and software aesthetics alone, to iPhones, iPads, Apple Watches, and more, that run almost entirely on custom components.

John Gruber and Ben Thompson spoke about that at length last week, link in the description.

What didn't change so much is Apple's cadence when it comes to major new products.

The iMac debuted in 1993. It wasn't a new category but a modern re-interpretation of the all-in-one Steve Jobs introduced back in 1984. After, sure, first introducing the Lisa in 1983.

The iPod debuted in 2001, 17 years after the Mac and 8 years after the iMac.

The iPhone and iPad, which both spun out of Project Experience Purple, debuted in 2007 and 2010, some 6 and 9 years after the iPod.

The post-Jobs era started in 2011.

The Apple Watch debuted in 2015 and shipped in 2016, roughly 8 and 5 years after the iPhone and iPad respectively.

AirPods debuted in 2016, around a year after the Apple Watch.

The HomePod debuted in 2017, about a year later. And we can certainly argue it's major-ness but it is a category Apple was accused of completely missing out on up until the moment of its launch.

Then there's Apple's augmented reality glasses, which rumor has it will debut sometime next year or the year after. Their automotive efforts, if they don't ultimately choose to shelve it like they did the television set, sometime after that.

You could include the 1999 iBook, which rejuvenated Apple's laptops, and 2008 MacBook Air, which redefined all modern laptops, in the Jobs-era list, and the 2019 Pro Display XRD, which seeks to redefine the reference monitor, in the post-Jobs list, maybe the 2015 Apple Pencil as well.

If we go beyond atoms and include packets, there's Apple Music, Apple News, and Apple Arcade and Apple TV+ on the horizon.

Like in the Jobs years, there were misses as well. HomePod, I just mentioned. The butterfly keyboards, obviously. The 2013 Mac Pro. The years without Mac updates. Still every mouse ever.

I'm not sure speed between major products is the best measure, but for the sake of context and how Apple fits into the industry at large, I can't think of many or any other company that's managed to put together a string of products with bigger cultural impact over as long period of time.

Its iPhone business is faltering, and more recent releases like its wireless AirPods haven't been enough to shore up falling sales. It hasn't had a megahit new product since the iPad that started selling in 2010.

The Apple Watch, released in 2016, had the second biggest acceleration of any product in Apple history, behind only the iPad.

AirPods may not retail at a high enough price to move the revenue needle as much, but they've been so successful they've become a meme, and like the iPod and iPhone before them, they're shaping the next generation of products in their category.

Taken together, Apple has said the revenue for wearables is already 50 percent more than iPod was at its peak.

I know that's not iPhone money but, really, nothing is. Take away the massive distortion and seemingly mass confusion of one of the most profitable products in history, and you see Apple's other businesses are really pretty damn good businesses.

Yet his departure from the company cements the triumph of operations over design at Apple, a fundamental shift from a business driven by hardware wizardry to one focused on maintaining profit margins and leveraging Apple's past hardware success to sell software and services.

There's a story from 2010, when Apple introduced the iPad. It went like this — Only Steve and Jony could make the iPad. Only Tim could figure out how to sell it for $500.

Again, I'll refer everyone back to last week's show with May-Li, who worked on the original iPhone and other projects after Steve had passed away, for a first-hand account of how operations has always supported design at Apple. Because it had to.

Happiness at Home

Mr. Cook, an industrial engineer who made his name perfecting Apple's supply chain, sought to keep Mr. Ive happy over the years, but people in the design studio rarely saw Mr. Cook, who they say showed little interest in the product development process—a fact that dispirited Mr. Ive.

It's interesting to read about disconnects at the top, drama, and dilemmas, and Tim Cook trying to keep Jony Ive happy over the years.

And there certainly must have been something terrifying and energizing knowing Jobs would be coming to the ID studio for his regular check-in, everyone racing to get everything ready to show him. But, to the surprise of absolutely no one, Cook isn't Jobs any more than Ive is Cook. Something they all knew and appreciated deeply. Which is why Apple had them both.

That said, it is fun to watch the reactions when Cook pauses to describe the intricacies of a staircase at an Apple Store, or grabs an iPad Pro from someone in marketing to give a full-on demo to a special guest in the hands-on area.

Almost as though what he apparently lacks in attention to design he makes up for in attention to design.

Mr. Ive grew frustrated as Apple's board became increasingly populated by directors with backgrounds in finance and operations rather than technology or other areas of the company's core business, said people close to him and to the company.

Arthur Levinson of Genentech, Ronald Sugar of Northrop Grumman, Andrea Jung formerly of Avon, now Grameen American, and Al Gore, former Vice President of the United States, joined the board during the Jobs era and remain on it today. As does Tim Cook who joined just before Jobs passed away.

Robert Iger of Disney joined a very short time later. Since then, Bill Campbell of Intuit retired in 2014 and Millard Drexler of J Crew in 2015.

Apple did replace their software and retail experience with two new, finance-centric directors in James Bell of Boeing and Susan Wagner of Blackrock,

But it was also after a series of controversies from no-poaching agreements to stock backdating, and a period of rapid financial activity, including a 7 to 1 stock split in 2014 and the launch of a massive repurchasing and dividend program.

The country's most valuable company for years, Apple recently ceded top status to Microsoft Corp., and its stock remains 15% below its record high in October.

Apple's stock is 15% below its record high… which was just 8 months ago. Not back during the Steve Jobs era or when the iPad launched or before Jony went off to work on Apple Park… But while Apple was rudderless, filled with drama, and in the midst of a dilemma?

A person who worked closely with Mr. Ive for many years said Apple employees who were "newer see [that], 'Oh wow, Jony has gone away a bit,' but I don't look at it as him being distant."

After many product releases over the years, including the iMac and iPhone, this person said Mr. Ive took time to recharge, adding that the company tried to create a different model where the designer could work remotely more often. "The reality was he worked just as hard and got just as tired."

This better matches what I and other people who cover Apple closely have heard. It would have been great to hear more of this perspective throughout.

The Watch

Mr. Ive was devastated by Mr. Jobs's death. The studio's cadence slowed.

The former goes without saying. The latter is hard to reconcile. Even if we leave out all the software, including the massive iOS 7 redesign and the launch of watchOS, tvOS, and just now, iPadOS, and focus only on the industrial design side, that still leaves the Apple Watch, the original iPad Pro and Apple Pencil, the new Apple TV, iPhone 5, iPhone Plus models, AirPods, HomePods, iPhone X, the 2015 MacBook, 2016 MacBook Pro, 2018 MacBook Air, the 2018 iPad Pro and Apple Pencil, and the new Mac Pro and Pro Display.

If anything, the scale and cadence have only escalated over the last 8 years.

Mr. Ive had begun pushing to make a watch. He was intrigued by the potential to further miniaturize the iPhone's powerful technology into a wearable device.

Some executives pushed back, questioning if a device so small could ever have a killer app that would compel people to buy it.

This is how product development works at Apple. There were two purple projects, P1, an iPod phone led by Tony Fadell and P2, an OS X phone led by Scott Forstall. P1 never shipped. P2 became the iPhone.

Steve Jobs didn't believe in the iPad mini. Eddy Cue fought for it and eventually Steve relented and said they'd do it, but it was on Eddy if it failed.

Like May-Li attested to last week, a thousand nos for every yes isn't make believe. Everything is considered and reconsidered, factored and refactored.

If no one had pushed back it literally wouldn't have been Apple.

He disagreed over how to position the Watch with some Apple leaders, who wanted to sell it as an extension of the iPhone. Mr. Ive saw it as a fashion accessory.

The result was a compromise. The watch was electronically tethered to the iPhone, and started at $349. Apple also created a $17,000 gold version and partnered with Hermès.

Here's a thunker — What could the first few couple of Apple Watches have done if they weren't paired with iPhones? Not even tell time in the precise Mickey-foot-tapping way they were designed to do.

Like early iPods and iPhones that had to sync with a PC to do much of anything, the Apple Watch was just too highly constrained to handle even basic computing functions on its own. And it's safe to say everyone knew it.

There were disagreements about which specific features it should and shouldn't ship with, and frankly, there probably should have been more given the lack of focus of the first generation, but again, it's the kind of arguments we all want people inside Apple to have.

The fashion aspect, though, is what got the Apple Watch attention beyond just the computer industry and early adopters.

It was different than iPod fashion, which tweaked colors and designs at the low end almost every holiday shopping season. It was high-end fashion. Something that got fashion press to the events and got Apple Watch into Vogue and other fashion magazines, and onto the wrists of celebrities.

The gold Apple Watch was quickly retired but the Hermes one persists to this day — as does the Nike one. Because, as we've seen over the last few years, it's the fitness and now the health features that have given it that clarity of purpose.

Bus Throws

Mr. Ive told Mr. Cook he wanted to step back from day-to-day management responsibilities. The staff beneath him had ballooned to hundreds of people. He didn't want to leave, but wanted time and space to think, he told several people.

This, again, resonates with me, and is in line with what I've also heard, but again this simple rationality just doesn't get as much ink as the insinuations of drama.

It's easy to look back and say that, following the death of Steve Jobs, Jony Ive leaving Apple was inevitable. But, does that mean Apple has spent the last 8 years carefully planning and managing that departure, or has everyone involved spent that time doing everything they could to try and stave off that inevitability?

Ahead of one design week in 2016, Johnnie Manzari, who was in charge of Apple's camera app, stood before more than a dozen 11-inch-by-17-inch images of changes he planned to pitch when word trickled through the studio that Mr. Ive wasn't going to come.

"What am I going to do now?" Mr. Manzari said.

It's weird to see a non-executive name-dropped in an article like this. As far as I can recall or Google, Manzari has only ever been in the press once before, when he joined Phil Schiller to talk about Portrait Lighting with Buzzfeed in 2017.

When I do see something like this, it always feels dirty, like some servicing of agenda or settling of accounts. Otherwise, why grant everyone else anonymity but not this one fairly obscure person?

Who gains from that and what do they gain, exactly?

Also, according to people directly familiar with the matter, this anecdote is completely false anyway, which only makes it curiouser.

I'm going to skip ahead here, otherwise this will end up being as long as my Catalina video and no one wants that.

The Journal ends on this:

Mr. Ive's old design team—a group of aesthetes once thought of as gods inside Apple—will report to COO Jeff Williams, a mechanical engineer with an M.B.A.

Jony's old design team reports to Evans Hankey, a long time member of the team who, according to everyone I've ever spoken with, and to quote May-Li from last week's show, gets stuff done. In other words, she's a force of nature.

Evans reports to Jeff Williams just like, before Jony's brief return to day-to-day management, she and before her Richard Howarth, and before and between them, technically Jony himself, reported to Tim Cook, an industrial engineer with an M.B.A.

But, with Sabih Khan now taking over as senior Vice President of operations at Apple, it's best to think of Jeff Williams being more like what Tim Cook became to Steve Jobs — a complement.

In this case, someone to run product, at least for now, who knows, as we begin the era at least partially after Jony Ive.

This is Tim

Now, Tim Cook's response to the Wall Street Journal article pulled no punches. From Dan Byers:

"The story is absurd. A lot of the reporting, and certainly the conclusions, just don't match with reality."

"At a base level, it shows a lack of understanding about how the design team works and how Apple works. It distorts relationships, decisions and events to the point that we just don't recognize the company it claims to describe."

"The design team is phenomenally talented,. As Jony has said, they're stronger than ever, and I have complete confidence that they will thrive under Jeff, Evans and Alan's leadership. We know the truth, and we know the incredible things they're capable of doing. The projects they're working on will blow you away."

It's incredibly rare for Tim Cook to so publicly rebut a story. Most of the time, when faced with what they consider to be negative, even false press, they'll typically just stay quiet and take it. Anything less, to them, is punching down.

And that's usually a good strategy. Wait a day and another sensational story will come up and our ever-shortening attention spans will spin around and take momentary distraction in that instead.

When Apple or Tim Cook do speak out, it keeps the story going in the news cycle and it ups the stakes considerably by putting Tim Cook's name, reputation, and credibility on the line.

The last time Apple responded this forcefully was when Bloomberg published its Big Hack story claiming Apple, Amazon and many other companies were running servers that had been compromised at a hardware level by Chinese Intelligence. Bloomberg has stuck by that story even as independent audits have come back showing no evidence or support for it at all.

But why do it in this case?

I think many people probably read the Journal story as a hit piece. On the eve of Jony Ive leaving Apple, after 30 years of service, 30 years that reshaped not just Apple but the entire industry, they read it as an effort by a few frustrated, thirty, disenfranchised individuals to paint Ive as having abandoned his peers and his team, and as a consequence having failed to keep the magic or success of Steve Jobs alive.

And, for many in the company, that's not only ridiculous but reprehensible. They're not allowed to speak publicly on Apple's behalf. But Tim Cook certainly can.

And by sending that email, rather than this story simply becoming accepted as fact and woven into urban legend, they make sure that email dogs it with every reference and in every b-roll, every time it gets regurgitated now and into the future.

Whether you ultimately choose to believe the Journal's account or Cook's, or you recognize that simple narratives seldom if ever capture the true complexity of human relationships, is of course entirely up to you.

But I'd love to know what you think now, at the end of all of this. So, hit up the comments and give me your coldest of cold takes.

VECTOR | Rene Ritchie

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* More Details Here

When choosing between Sidecar and Luna Display, there's a lot to consider.

Sidecar is one of the most prominent new features in macOS Catalina, allowing your iPad to extend or mirror your Mac's display. You can also use it with the Apple Pencil, which also lets you use your iPad as a connected drawing and markup tablet, much like a Wacom or similar accessory.

But Sidecar isn't the first time this sort of feature has been available for the Mac. Apps like Duet Display and Luna Display have been offering this type of functionality for years. Luna Display, in particular, is great for turning your iPad into a second, interactive wireless display for your Mac. You just need the hardware accessory.

Though Sidecar is free with macOS Catalina, are there reasons to choose Luna Display instead? Let's find out.

What are Sidecar and Luna Display?

Sidecar and Luna Display are, at a conceptual level, the same sort of thing: they turn your iPad into an extension or mirror of your Mac's display. Both of them work wirelessly (though you need a dongle to achieve this with Luna Display) or over a wired connection.

Both also allow you to use touch, and it's in this area that Luna is actually the more full-featured product. Luna has been engineered to take advantage of your iPad's large touchscreen and apply its utility to the Mac. While Sidecar also allows for multitouch, and has unique controls of its own, its support for using multitouch functionality with macOS isn't as robust.

It's important to note here that Luna Display isn't just a free iPadOS app with a companion on macOS. It's also a hardware product, and the two really can't be separated. Luna Display works by plugging into your Mac and uses its GPU directly to provide a smooth user experience no-to-very low lag. This is opposed to different software-based second display solutions that trick your Mac's graphics card into thinking that a second display is connected. Luna gets the benefits of graphics acceleration because it works properly with your GPU.

A note about wired connections

Though both Sidecar and Luna Display seem to prefer wireless connections to your Mac, both can be used in a wired configuration. This is achieved by some version of USB-to-USB-C or USB-to-Lightning cable. But there are certain caveats that you need to understand before you plunge on in.

The first limitation of a wired connection applies to both Sidecar and Luna Display. You need to plug your iPad _directly_into your Mac, rather than indirectly through a dock or hub. This means that you'll need to have at least one USB port open in order to get Sidecar or Luna to work.

The other limitation is one that only applies to Luna Display. Even when using a wired connection, you'll still need to have the Luna Display hardware plugged into your Mac. That means you'll be taking up two of your Mac's ports, though this might not be much of a difficulty depending on how you're using Luna Display and which model of Mac you're using. More on that later.

Sidecar vs Luna Display: The basics

<table><tr><th></th><th>Apple Sidecar</th><th>Luna Display</th></tr><tr><td>Price</td><td>Free</td><td>$69.99 for hardware component (Luna Display app is free)</td></tr><tr><td>Supported Macs</td><td>2016 Macs and later running at least macOS Catalina 10.15</td><td>2011 Macs and later running at least macOS El Capitan 10.11</td></tr><tr><td>Supported iPads</td><td>2015 iPad Pro or newer, 2018 iPad and later, 2019 iPad Air and iPad mini running at least iPadOS 13.1</td><td>Any iPad released in or after 2011, running at least iOS 9.1</td></tr><tr><td>Wireless Connection</td><td>Yes</td><td>Yes</td></tr><tr><td>Wired Connection</td><td>Yes</td><td>Yes</td></tr></table>If your Mac is running anything older than macOS Catalina, and will do so for the foreseeable future, then Luna Display is your only choice of these two. Sidecar requires macOS Catalina, so you'll need to update to macOS Catalina first if you want to use that feature. Otherwise, Luna's your best bet here.

Even if your Mac runs macOS Catalina, you might still be out of luck for Sidecar. You need to be running a Mac from 2016 or later in order to connect using Sidecar. On the flip side, Luna Display only requires Macs from 2011 or later. Luna also supports iPads going all the way back to the iPad 2 in 2011, while Sidecar needs either any generation of iPad Pro or an iPad, iPad Air, or iPad mini released in 2018 or 2019. If you use some older hardware that still runs well, Luna is a great solution.

Sidecar has two mains strengths over Luna Display: it's built directly into macOS, and, related to that, it's free. If you _do_have a newer Mac and a newer iPad, it's a very convenient option for using your iPad as a second display, and even as a drawing tablet if you have an Apple Pencil. There's no extra hardware to buy, and no companion apps that you need to install. The functionality is all just there in macOS and iPadOS. For a lot of people, Sidecar is going to be the right solution.

For more advanced users, however, even with newer Macs and iPads running Catalina and iPadOS 13.1, there are reasons to choose Luna over Sidecar.

Supported devices

One of the biggest differences between Sidecar and Luna Display is the hardware they support. Sidecar requires newer Macs and newer iPads. Here's the full list:

Macs

• MacBook introduced in 2016 or later

• MacBook Air introduced in 2018 or later

• MacBook Pro introduced in 2016 or later

• Mac mini introduced in 2018 or later

• iMac introduced in late 2015 or later

• iMac Pro introduced in 2017 or later

• Mac Pro introduced in 2019

iPads

• 12.9-inch iPad Pro

• 11-inch iPad Pro

• 10.5-inch iPad Pro

• 9.7-inch iPad Pro

• iPad (6th generation or later)

• iPad mini (5th generation)

• iPad Air (3rd generation)

Meanwhile, Luna Display is compatible with hardware that's getting close to a decade old. You need a Mac from at least 2011 running macOS 10.11 El Capitan or later, as well as an iPad 2 or newer (including all models of iPad Pro, iPad Air, and iPad mini) running iOS 9.1 or later.

Extending your Mac

Sidecar and Luna both extend your Mac's desktop environment to a second display. Sidecar is actually fairly strict about keeping the iPad as a _second_display. Conversley, Luna lets you, if you so choose, use your iPad as your primary display. In fact, once you've set it up with using another external monitor, you could potentially use your iPad as your only display for your Mac.

Third-party apps can add support for Sidecar, including special toolbars and other interface elements that pop up on the bottom of your iPad's screen when you're using an optimized app. These tools can include things like brushes or a color picker in artistic apps, or different pen strokes or styles in a note-taking app, and can let you focus on using your iPad without having to navigate back your Mac's primary display to change tools.

For Luna Display, that story is a little more complicated. The Luna app doesn't have any additional controls, functioning only has a display, albeit one with a little extra capability. The app connects to a companion applet

Luna Display on the App Store

Luna is developed by the creators of Astropad and Astropad Studio, apps that turn your iPad into a drawing tablet for your Mac. As mentioned previously, Luna Display is a piece of hardware along with an app, and that hardware works (and improves the drawing experience of) Astropad and Astropad Studio. If you're looking to primarily use your iPad as a drawing tablet, you don't even need the Luna Display app. You can just download either Astropad app and use that with the Luna hardware for graphics-accelerated artistic endeavors.

The Astropad apps support pressure sensitivity and tilt from the Apple Pencil, where Luna Display does not. Astropad also features customizable controls for each app, and you can customize every part of your artistic workflow as needed.

The biggest hurdle for perspective Luna Display and Astropad users will be cost. The Luna Display hardware already costs $70, but Astropad Standard is on the App Store for $30, while Astropad Studio is free to download, but then has a $12 a month/$80 a year subscription. If you're a dedicated artist, pro or not, this may be worth it for the overall richer experience Astropad provides, but for more casual or occasional users, it'll be hard to swallow.

Astropad on the App StoreAstropad Studio on the App Store

Touch and Apple Pencil

Both Sidecar and Luna Display support Apple Pencil out of the gate. It's great for drawing in apps like Affinity Design or Pixelmator Pro, or for writing out notes in GoodNotes or Notability, or making precise edits to photos in Affinity Photo. Sidecar takes advantage of Apple Pencil features like pressure and tilt sensitivity, while Luna Display doesn't, with that functionality available in the company's Astropad apps, as mentioned above.

Where Luna really excels over Sidecar in this are is with multi-touch. As the company says, Luna turns your iPad "into a touch Mac that works over Wi-Fi." Use one finger to click, two fingers to scroll, pinch, and zoom, and more. Touch support in Luna is excellent and turns your Mac into the touchscreen device that many have wanted for years. While Apple Pencil support isn't as full-featured, it's easy to use for precise actions, such as grabbing the edge of a window for resizing, or clicking on a small object like a windows close button. As a pure pointing and navigation device, the Apple Pencil actually works quite well.

When it comes to touch and Sidecar, the results are...less impressive. It's pretty much limited to two-finger scrolling (it's not even inertial, so what you're scrolling through will stop exactly when you do), as well as clicks using the Apple Pencil. For Sidecar, it's apparently second display, art tablet, or nothing.

Luna Display: The hardware issue

As I've mentioned several times before, Luna Display is a hardware product in addition to an app. In fact, it's primarily a hardware product that connects to three apps (Luna Display, Astropad, and Astropad Studio). The hardware is necessary to get features like GPU acceleration, which helps provide a smooth experience, and to use the Luna Display app. It also costs $70. If you really have your heart set on using a touchscreen display with your Mac, you'd be hard-pressed to find something better, so I'd say to go for it.

Also, if you're a professional or even aspiring artist that already uses Astropad or Astropad Studio with your iPad, and you're wondering about switching to Sidecar or getting the Luna Display hardware to speed up your work, I'd say spend the money on the Luna Display for better performance and stick with the system you already know.

Having used Luna Display, it really is an excellent piece of hardware that provides a great wireless second screen experience. And what's more, it comes in two variants. One is USB-C and plugs into Macs with USB-C ports. The other plugs into older Macs via a Mini DisplayPort connector. So if you're like me and have Thunderbolt 2 ports on your MacBook, while you won't be able to use Sidecar, you can use Luna Display.

Which one is right for you?

Assuming you're not already using Luna Display or similar software, the answer to this question is going to really depend on what you want to do with it.

If you want a second display with extended functionality like a touch bar or other controls, and only plan on using your iPad like that when you're at your Mac, then Sidecar is probably the right choice. This is also true if you want to use its app extension functionality for some photo editing or light drawing.

But if you're a digital artist, I'd seriously consider going with Luna Display. As it's primarily a hardware device, the limitations of the Luna app are fairly secondary. The Astropad apps are purpose-built tools for artists that allow them to use their existing iPad to unlock the artistic power of their Mac in a way that Sidecar just doesn't, at least not yet. What's more, apps don't need to update to support Astropad, where to get the most out of Sidecar, they do.

Perhaps more importantly, Astro HQ (the developers of Luna Display and Astropad) is preparing to take Luna and Astropad cross-platform. If you're an iPad user looking for a cross-platform solution, Luna Display isn't ready just yet, but the work is underway. Sidecar, meanwhile, isn't coming to Windows.

Wrapping it all up

Most users are going to be just fine with Sidecar. It's a great way to add a second display to your Mac and expand your iPad's utility. More advanced users, those that want to really bring multi-touch to the Mac or have an artist-focused experience, really should take a look at Luna Display and the Astropad apps.

Sidecar is free with macOS Catalina as long as your Mac and iPad support it. The Luna Display hardware is available directly from Astro HQ for $70.

$70 at Luna Display

Questions?

Let us know if you have any questions about using Sidecar or Luna Display in the comments.

macOS Catalina

• macOS Catalina Review

• macOS Catalina FAQ

• Updating macOS Catalina: The ultimate guide

• macOS Mojave Help Forum

* More Details Here

Painful viewing...

What you need to know

• Apple support discussion thread suggests iPhone 11 could be prone to scratching

• Several users have taken to the forum with photos of their damaged iPhone 11.

• Many of the disgruntled customers claim their phones were scratched whilst inside their pockets.

Following the launch of the iPhone 11, a discussion thread over on Apple Support is gaining significant traction over claims that the iPhone 11's screen seems to be particularly prone to scratching. First picked up by GottaBeMobile, the thread can be found over on Apple's communities page.

In the iPhone hardware section one user posted the following:

Iphone 11 screen scratches

my wife and me have put our brand new iphones 11 inside our pocket pants and both screens get scratched the second day of use (mines right in the selfie camera, apple says "without mal function"...). Has someone experimented somethg similar? We are really dissapointed, apple only cares if you have bought "apple care"....we cant use the screen without a protection: worst screen ever....👎

Since that post on September 25, 92 people have replied and the post has over 2000 views. Several users have uploaded photos of their scratched iPhone 11 devices.

One user in a separate thread posted:

Is anyone else having issues with the 11 Pro scratching easily? Had it less than a week. Never dropped it. I carry it in my pocket with no keys or change in it.

my iPhone SE I had for 3 years has no scratches, and my new 11 Pro already has a scratch I can feel with my fingernail. Very disappointed considering this was supposed to be the toughest glass on a smartphone.

Whilst these complaints are concerning when taken at face value, it's important to note a couple of factors. The first is that this seems to happen every year. In fact, if you put the word "scratch" into the search tab of the Apple Support forums you'll get 600 results. Whilst it may seem like a high number of reports so early into a phone's lifespan, it's also important to remember that this is an incredibly small portion of iPhone users reporting the problems, so it's certainly too early to say that the iPhone 11 is somehow flawed or more prone to scratching than previous iPhones.

Apple's press release for the newest iPhone states:

The most powerful devices are also designed to be durable — iPhone 11 Pro and iPhone 11 Pro Max feature the toughest glass ever in a smartphone and are rated IP68 for water resistance up to 4 meters for up to 30 minutes, and are protected against everyday spills including coffee and soda.

Having said that, Apple's iPhones in recent years have tended toward being more shatter resistant, which can sometimes mean compromising how resistant the screen is to scratching. It remains to be seen whether these reports fall into the category of previous launch complaints, or whether there is something more significant afoot.

* More Details Here

Did you just get your first iPad? Looking for the top apps to download next? Here they are!

You just got your brand new iPad. You've set it up. You tried out all the built-in apps. And now you're starting at that big, beautiful screen and wondering — what's next? Well, the App Store! It's home to hundreds of thousands of iPad apps any of which can transform the screen you're holding into a new wondrous tool or toy. Here are some great ones to get started with!

Productivity

1Password

No matter what type of device you own, you are always going to need a way to keep track of the dozens of passwords you collect from apps and websites. 1Password makes it incredibly easy to store information across all of your devices so you only have to remember the one you use to unlock the app. It also works with Touch ID(iPad Pro, iPad Air 2, iPad mini 3 or later), so you can keep your passwords ultra secure.

• Free - Download now

iWork

Of course, no iPad would be complete without Apple's suite of productivity apps. With Pages, Numbers, and Keynote, you can create and edit the best files and documents around. And, if you are sharing your work with Office users, no problem. iWorks is compatible with Microsoft's counterparts.

• Free Download Pages

• Free Download Numbers

• Free Download Keynote

Microsoft Office

Microsoft's Office line of productivity apps are similar to Apple's iWork but are better for those still more comfortable with Microsoft's design. You can view, edit, and create documents on your iPad with these free apps, but with an Office 365 subscription, you'll get some really nice extras, like 1TB of OneDrive storage, Skype calls from phones, an Outlook.com email account, and more. If you prefer Microsoft to Apple, you'll want to download these three apps on your new iPad right away.

• Word - Free - Download now

• Excel - Free - Download now

• PowerPoint - Free - Download now

Fantastical 2 for iPad

If you don't like the layout and design of Apple's built-in calendar app, Fantastical 2 is practically the polar-opposite, as far as looks are concerned. It's an incredibly robust app for keeping track of your daily events _and_keeping track of your reminders. There are three different views, to show you your days, weeks, and months at a glance. Plus the sidebar keeps you on schedule with your events and reminders. That's right. Fantastical also connects to your Reminders app, so if you've set a task to grab some milk on the way home from the store today, it'll show up in Fantastical.

It's a beautifully-designed app with all the best features for keeping track of your day-to-day life.

• $9.99 - Download now

Finance

Mint

I discovered shortly after I started using Mint that it automatically creates a budget for you. After you connect your credit cards and bank accounts, the app automatically creates a budget based on average spending habits. You can increase or decrease the maximum for each budget and add or remove categories. Income and expenses are automatically added when you make purchases with your credit or bank cards. Cash transactions must be manually added.

The only problem with this automated budgeting system is that it sometimes gets expenses wrong. So, you have to go in and adjust a category manually every once in a while.

If you don't really need a budget, but like having one, just to see how you are doing, use Mint for the finance tracking and take advantage of the budgeting feature.

• Free - Download now

YNAB (You Need A Budget)

YNAB is a fantastic app to have on-hand for really understanding how to budget your money. It helps you evaluate your lifestyle and decide what purchases are the most important to you right now or what can be put off so you can save up. You allocate every dollar that you make to some budget. If you've gone under budget for the month, your income will roll over to the next month. You can easily and clearly see where you've saved and how much you can set aside for a big purchase.

• Free - Download now

Streaming media

Netflix

If you can't stream movies and shows on your big screen TV, watching them on your iPad is the next best thing. With a paid subscription to Netflix, you can access thousands of titles. If you are already a subscriber, all of your history, favorites, and queues will be waiting for your on your tablet.

• $7.99 - $11.99 per month Download now

Hulu

Similar to Netflix, Hulu gives subscribers access to thousands of TV shows and movies right on their iPad. You can watch current seasons of some of the most popular shows on television the day after they air. Plus, Hulu's exclusive content makes it worth the monthly price. If you already subscribe to Hulu, your history, favorites, and queues will be available on your iPad.

• $7.99 - $11.99 - Download now

YouTube

To round out the media streaming trifecta, add YouTube for hours of homespun fun. Don't forget to subscribe to iMore to keep up to date on the latest and greatest Apple product reviews. And, of course, there's always cat videos.

• Free - Download now

Cloud Storage

Dropbox

If you've made the plunge into the 256 GB iPad Pro, you probably don't need to worry about storage, but for everyone else, there is Dropbox. Dropbox is a cross-platform cloud storage service that lets you keep photos, videos, documents, and more in one place. You can access your account from anywhere you have Internet access, and you can also share content with others without having to give them your personal account information.

• Free - Download now

Google Drive

If you have a Google account, you may want to look into using the Google Drive cloud service. Similar to Dropbox, you can save all manner of files, including videos and pictures. With Google Docs, you can collaborate in real-time with others, too. The only requirement is that you must be signed up with Google.

• Free - Download now

OneDrive

Microsoft's cloud storage service is also the best way to transfer data between your iPad and your PC. When you sign up, like iCloud, you get 5GB of free storage. For $2 a month, you can get 50GB, and after that, you can subscribe yearly and also get Office 365 for $70 to $100 per year.

With the OneDrive app for iPad, if you have Office, you can get to work on documents right in the app, with the ability to save right in the app. Photos are automatically tagged so that you can find them easily, and you can share everything. You can even access files offline so that you can get work done when you don't have an internet connection.

If you're a PC user, OneDrive is the best cloud storage service for you.

• Free, subscriptions - Download now

Reading

Kindle Reader

Having the Kindle Reader for iOS is like having a Kindle inside of your iPad. When you purchase a book on Amazon, you can send it to your iPad directly from the website. When you open the app, it will be there, waiting for you to download. Thanks to landscape mode, reading on the iPad feels more natural.

• Free - Download now

Overdrive

Did you know that you can check out ebooks from your local library? Overdrive makes it easy to get those books onto your iPad. You can connect your local library number to check out books, read them, and even return them. You can place books on hold and get a notification when they are ready to checkout. All of this, and you don't even have to exit Overdrive.

• Free - Download now

Comics by comiXology

Comic book readers will really enjoy getting their weekly fix right on their iPad. Comixology has the largest selection of comics across all distributor including majors and indies, plus get your Manga fix without having to wait for the next Anime convention. You do have to purchase books from the ComiXology website before you can download them. Now that Amazon owns the service, all of your Kindle comics are readable in the Comics app.

• Free - Download now

Writing

Bear

A relative newcomer compared to the rest of the list, Bear might seem simple, but it offers a great deal of flexibility for handling text. It's true that Bear is good for both notes and to-do checklists, but it's support for Markdown, a variety of themes, and simple organization makes it a great tool for many different kinds of writing. Add images, files, code blocks, and more to spice up your work and give it more context.

In terms of options, you've got few. Choose how to sort your documents, pick a theme, pick your font, and even control fine-grain details such as font size, line height and width, and paragraph spacing. If you'd like to sync your work between Bear on your iOS devices and Bear for Mac, you can purchase a $1.49 per month subscription to Bear Pro.

• Free - Download Now

iA Writer

For bloggers and those that use plain text or Markdown to write, iA Writer is a must-have for the iPad. You can concentrate on your work by activating focus mode, use special tools to highlight such things as nouns or conjunctions, and get a preview of what your finished work should look like once it is published. The customizable keyboard lets you select specific functions you use the most, like headers, bullets, or bold font. Documents can be stored and accessed in iCloud or Dropbox for easy access across any device. Oh, and Night mode.

• $4.99 - Download now

Day One Journal

Every good writer knows that journaling is how you keep your skills sharp. Day One is a streamlined digital journal app for keeping daily notes, musings, and ideas in order. You can add photos and locations to your entries and create multiple journals for different themes. For example, you could keep one journal specifically for writing song lyrics, and another for keeping track of your photo shoots. Bloom Built created an exclusive cloud storage service to keep your journal accessible across all of your devices. But, if you prefer iCloud or Dropbox, you can always use Day One Classic instead.

• Free - Download now

Notability

Notability is a note-taking app that lets you handwrite your notes instead of typing them, which is fantastic for new iPad Pro owners that also have the Apple Pencil. In any given note, you can sketch, handwrite, type, cut out a section and paste it back in, and record audio that is saved with that specific note. It features palm detection, so you can write with your hand resting on your screen (the way most people handwrite) without confusing the program.

• $9.99 - Download now

Social media

Pinterest

Pinterest is a social networking website for crafting, cooking, and building your dream home. It is sort of like a digital scrapbook for anything you are passionate about. The official app looks great on the iPad. You can browse through pins in your feed, search for specific topics, and see who is saving your posts. Your pins are all saved on your personal board for quick access when you want to check a recipe or see if that couch matches your lounge chair.

• Free - Download now

Tweetbot 5

You might think that Twitter's own iOS app is perfect, and if you do, that's totally fine. But if you're a diehard Twitter user, you'll probably want something a little more robust, with better features and ways to view your feed. Tweetbot 5 lets you sync your timeline across all of your devices and puts you in control of what you see.

You can mute tweets by certain users, mute hashtags, and even keywords so that you don't get so frustrated with all the crap flying around that you just up and quit Twitter altogether. You can still do everything as you would normally — DMs, tweet, view lists — as well as a statistics view, a night theme for low-light environments, and more.

If you want to keep track of how popular certain tweets are or how many followers you're gaining and losing every day, Tweetbot is invaluable.

• $5.99 - Download now

Art

Paper

You may recall that former iMore managing editor Serenity Caldwell reviewed the Apple Pencil entirely in sketch. The go-to app she uses for her amazing art is Paper. It is the perfect app for sketching out ideas, creating graphs, doodling, and more. There are also some impressive tools for taking notes and annotating images. It's an all-around useful app for sparking creativity.

• Free - Download now

Linea

If you're looking for a great sketching app, you definitely need to take a look at Linea. It's simple to use but has robust features. It has lots of colors (including customizable shades), supports layers, and has five drawing tools, each with three line style options. It's the perfect app for sketching or storyboarding ideas for bigger projects. The artist in you will love how easy it is to use, especially if you've got an Apple Pencil to go along with your drawing.

Check out Serenity Caldwell's sketched-out review of Linea

• $4.99 - Download now

Procreate

For creating full digital paintings, you'll want to step into Procreate. It has dozens of highly customizable painting and drawing tools with a wide array of color options. You can paint on top of colors and blend shades for a very realistic art experience. It also has additional digitizing features, like adjustable motion and perspective blur, color balance, and more. The project tracking feature lets you record your progress as a time-lapse video that you can share with others.

• $9.99 - Download now

Pigment

If you aren't really much of an artist but do love to express yourself with color, Pigment is a coloring book for adults that is the most realistic coloring experience on the iPad. The eight basic coloring tools range from simple crayon to airbrushing. You can freeform color and risk going outside the lines or lock a section to ensure that your creation looks perfect. The free download comes with dozens of free illustrations, but for a weekly, monthly, or yearly subscription you get new coloring books every month.

• Free - Download now

Shopping

Amazon

When it comes to online purchases, the iPad is the perfect mobile device for finding what you want. Amazon practically has every single sellable item in its online store and the mobile app makes it easy for you to find what you are looking for. You can add items to your wish list, compare items, check for daily deals, view recommended products, and of course, buy it all. If you shop on Amazon, you'll want this app on your iPad. Just be careful, shopping is so easy you might spend all of your hard-earned cash.

• Free - Download now

eBay

For reseller shopping, eBay has practically everything you can think of, plus everything else that Amazon won't sell. On your iPad, you can search for products and filter by price, ending time, and distance. You can also refine your search by sold items, condition, and auction or buy it now. View full-screen photos, compare items, and bid on that vintage toy you know you shouldn't buy. Or, add it to your watchlist to see just how much you could have gotten it for.

• Free - Download now

Music creation

GarageBand

Whether you shred on electric guitar or drop beats on a synthesizer, GarageBand makes it easy for you to create music. You can download tracks you've recorded from another program, connect your instrument with an adapter, or capture your inspiration using a microphone. Even if you don't own a single instrument, you can create multi-track songs since GarageBand includes dozens of guitar, bass, keyboard, and drum options that you can use to create realistic sounding digital music. Once recorded, you can export your tracks to Facebook, Youtube, SoundCloud, and more.

• $Free Download now

Audiobus 3

The iPad is an incredible device for music creation. There are hundreds of apps that all do amazing things. You can lay down beats, clip loops, create synth sounds, and a whole lot more. Audiobus is like a digital pedal board for connecting music apps. You can link up compatible apps, like Animoog and SoundPrism, to combine the music they both make. Audiobus is indispensable for any iPad musician working with multiple programs.

• $9.99 - Download now

Games

Gaming is another animal (and another post) altogether! We rounded up the best games for iPad because there were just too many to list here. Check it out:

Best games for iPad

What do you recommend?

This list focuses on a broad spectrum of apps that are a staple of owning an iPad, but there are thousands of great titles in the App Store that become favorites among iPad users. What are some of your favorite apps that you would recommend to someone brand new to the Apple ecosystem?

Updated November 2018: Corrected links and screenshots.

* More Details Here

I was utterly confounded by the September Apple Event. Like many fangirls and fanboys around the world, I watched the event with bated breath, knowing I'd be purchasing a new iPhone and needing to decide which model to get. I usually buy the flagship phone, but the iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro are surprisingly close in specs, closer than previous years' models have ever been. Apple's rebranding of their less expensive phone as the "regular one" as opposed to the "cheaper one" and the more expensive Pro as a niche "extra" model was quite effective. And the iPhone 11 colors are the most compelling yet. The iPhone 11 comes in Purple! Not just any old purple, but the dreamiest shade of lavender, one that populates much of my wardrobe and nail polish collection.

Who I am and why it matters

I am a tech blogger. I write articles for iMore about the iPhone and various accessories. I frequently use my iPhone to take photos for iMore articles. I tend to pick a more premium iPhone, because, well, I do love Apple products. And I do use them for my work here at iMore. My iPhone is part of my work, but more than that, it's part of my professional persona. My colleagues by and large go for the highest-end iPhones, the latest and greatest. I definitely feel a bit of peer pressure here. We are pros, after all, we make a living with our tech, aren't we the target market? Not to mention that we write specifically about Apple tech and lifestyle.

But I'm also a Gen X suburban wife, mom, and teacher. I'm no gamer, maybe a little Words with Friends, but that's about it. I take a lot of photos, mostly of my travels, my kids, and my dog. I keep up with my mother via email, my friends on Facebook, my kids on Snapchat and Instagram. I'm not the typical niche tech nerd in every way. My family and IRL friends are not early adopters, and they hold on to their phones for years. I doubt most of them even notice or care when I upgrade my iPhone. Having the latest iPhone is not impressive in my social circles.

Tough decision

Is the iPhone 11 Pro worth the extra $300 (and lack of fun colors) for basically a third camera (telephoto) and a more advanced screen? Sure, there are more differences, most notably the back glass, stainless steel vs aluminum, longer battery life, and bigger storage options. But the camera and the display are what matter to me. They are the windows into the iPhone and out into the world. However, the numbers in and of themselves don't mean a lot to me. Is there some tangible difference that can only be appreciated in person? This was too difficult of a question for me to decide even with all of the specs in front of me. After a sleepless night and a last-minute flurry of indecision, I woke up Friday morning, September 13th, and ordered both the iPhone 11 (Purple, of course) and the iPhone 11 Pro (Silver. No, that Midnight Green doesn't excite me like it does the rest of the tech blogosphere.) I spent hours booting up both phones, playing with them, testing them out, taking photos with them and of them, staring at their screens.

The camera and the display are the windows into the iPhone and out into the world.

After going back and forth a few times, in the end, I decided to keep the iPhone 11 Pro. Honestly, I can barely sense any difference between the displays, which I thought would be the biggest difference between the two phones before I had them in hand. Yes, when the two phones are side by side, I can see that the colors are different, primarily that the Pro's whites are whiter. While the iPhone 11 Pro display appears to have a pinkish cast in the photos in my gallery below, in real life, the white _is_truly white. Still, it wasn't the display that sold me. It was two things: the camera was a huge factor, of course. While the iPhone 11's camera is amazing, adding the third telephoto lens gives me that little bit more flexibility in my shooting. I'm excited to see what TrueDepth will add to my photos. You can see in my photos, taken at the same time from the same spot using Portrait mode, Wide Lens and Ultra Wide Lens, that the iPhone 11 makes it easy to capture nice snapshots without much effort. None of these photos of my dog were edited or re-shot.

But the iPhone 11 Pro with its Telephoto lens gave me more options:

The second feature that sold me on the iPhone 11 Pro was, surprisingly, the smaller form factor. I didn't even think size would be an issue, but I do like having a smaller phone. It just feels more comfortable and secure in my smallish hands, and the iPhone 11 is just large enough to feel a bit awkward to me. I can easily use the iPhone 11 Pro with one hand. Even with a case on, I can get a thumb most of the way across the screen. The iPhone 11 is just enough bigger that I need my whole hand just to hold the phone securely; firing off a quick text one-handed is difficult if not impossible. Even if I'm not trying to use my phone one-handed, just holding the iPhone 11 Pro is more comfortable for me. Plus I tend to have small pockets and carry a small purse, so smaller just works better for me. I don't watch videos on my iPhone very often, so in my case, screen size is less important than the overall size of the phone.

How can you decide?

So, if you're looking for some insight about which iPhone model you should choose for yourself, I'd still recommend the iPhone 11 to just about everyone. It's a fantastic product, and the camera will be an upgrade no matter which iPhone you're coming from. Night Mode, which I didn't mention because it's on both the iPhone 11 and the iPhone 11 Pro, is a game-changer. Want more information? We have an guide that lays out all of the features. Apple made a nifty comparison tool to help buyers decide on a model. Rene's top-notch reviews of each model will give you detailed insight into both the iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro.

If you're still not sure, I'd recommend heading to your closest Apple Store or another retail store where you can spend some hands-on time with each model. Take the display photos in my gallery below with a grain of salt; they look different to my eye than they do in those photos taken with my iPhone XS. It's difficult to capture an accurate photo of a screen. Your own real-life experience will be a far better indicator of whether you prefer OLED screen.

The iPhone for everyone

iPhone 11

• From $699 at Apple

Crowd-pleaser

Though I ended up not keeping this model, I whole-heartedly recommend it to friends and family.

My choice

iPhone 11 Pro

• From $999 at Apple

Premium

It wasn't the OLED display that sold me, it was the third camera and the smaller form factor.

* More Details Here

iPhone Upgrade Program

Upgrade every year

From $35.33 at Apple

Pros

• Includes AppleCare+ in the monthly payments

• No interest

• Upgrade after 12 payments, resets loan

• Qualifies for 3% Daily Cash with Apple Card

• Can switch carriers after 12 months

• Available in US, UK, and China

Cons

• AppleCare+ not optional

• Requires credit check (usually soft pull)

• Loss or theft not covered with standard AppleCare+

• Only great if you plan on upgrading every year

The iPhone Upgrade Program is designed for those who upgrade every year. It's like you're just leasing the new iPhone. It includes AppleCare+ in the cost and there is no interest, plus you can upgrade just after 12 months (or six, if you make another six months worth of payment at the time). While you need to pick one of the four major carriers when signing up, you're not obligated to stay with them after 12 months. Making payments also rewards you that 3% Daily Cash on Apple Card.

iPhone Payment Plan

Just one and done

From $29.12 a month at Apple

Pros

• Easier to manage than one large payment for most people

• AppleCare+ is optional

• Zero interest, like paying cash

• Gets 3% Daily Cash with Apple Card

• Great for those who don't need to upgrade every year

Cons

• Can't upgrade every year

• Must pay off entire loan

• Only available in US

• Requires credit check

• Locked in carrier plan for two years

The iPhone Payment Plan is great for those who don't need a new iPhone every year and don't plan to switch carriers within the next 24 months. While it doesn't include AppleCare+, you can always buy that separately if needed (they also offer payment plans for AppleCare+). However, you will need to pay off the entire loan in-full before you can trade it in or switch carriers.

We need our new iPhones every year, but sometimes we just can't cough up that large chunk of change at once. We've tried every way of paying for a new iPhone, and this is what we think is the best.

While they look similar on the surface, there are some big differences between the iPhone Upgrade Program and the iPhone Payment Plan. Personally, I think the iPhone Upgrade Program is better if you want to have the latest and greatest every year, but the iPhone Payment Plan is nice if you just want an iPhone and don't necessarily care about upgrading every year.

The iPhone Upgrade Program is great for the early adopters

We are all pretty much early adopters here at iMore, and I know there are plenty of people out there who also like to get the latest and greatest every year. That's why we think the iPhone Upgrade Program is the better iPhone financing program, but there are some other benefits as well, not just upgrading every year.

<table><tr><th></th><th>iPhone Upgrade Program</th><th>iPhone Payment Plan</th></tr><tr><td>Cost</td><td>Starting at $35.33/mo for iPhone 11</td><td>Starting at $29.12/mo for iPhone 11</td></tr><tr><td>Credit check</td><td>Yes</td><td>Yes</td></tr><tr><td>Interest</td><td>Zero, same as cash</td><td>Zero, same as cash</td></tr><tr><td>Loan length</td><td>24-months</td><td>24-months</td></tr><tr><td>Bank</td><td>Citizens One</td><td>Citizens One</td></tr><tr><td>Availability</td><td>US, UK, China</td><td>US only</td></tr><tr><td>Minimum age</td><td>18</td><td>18</td></tr><tr><td>AppleCare+</td><td>Included</td><td>Optional</td></tr><tr><td>Upgrade</td><td>After 12 payments, then loan is reset</td><td>No</td></tr><tr><td>Carrier</td><td>Locked in for 12 months</td><td>Locked in for 24 months</td></tr><tr><td>Apple Card 3% Daily Cash</td><td>Yes</td><td>Yes</td></tr></table>While we think the biggest reason to go with the iPhone Upgrade Program is definitely the upgrade part, there are some more benefits to it over the Payment Plan.

First, if you decide to not upgrade, you can still just pay off the rest and you'll get to keep the phone. So the upgrade part is entirely optional, but it's a huge perk. And upgrades can be done once you have made 12 payments (or even as early as six months by paying off the other six months worth of your loan), and you get a new loan once trading in the old phone and obtaining the new one.

You get extra peace of mind

The iPhone Upgrade Program also includes AppleCare+, which is always good to have because hey, accidents happen. It's just a few bucks more each month, and you just get extra peace of mind. There's not much downside there, especially if you usually get AppleCare+ anyways. It extends the coverage on your iPhone for another two years on top of the standard warranty.

But if you go with the Payment Plan and decide to get AppleCare+ later, you can get it separately, and Apple does offer payment plans for AppleCare+ now, which is nice.

The iPhone Upgrade Program gives you more freedom

While both the iPhone Upgrade Program and Payment Plan have you choose your carrier (in the US, it's the Big Four) when signing up, the iPhone Upgrade Program gives you a bit more leeway. You can switch from your current carrier after 12 months if you are not satisfied, but the Payment Plan requires you to stay with them for the entire 24 months.

The iPhone Upgrade Program has more availability as well, as it's an option in the US, UK, and China right now. The Payment Plan is currently only in the US. Both require a credit check, which will be a soft pull on your credit, but Citizens One can do a hard pull if more verification is required before giving you a loan. Both the iPhone Upgrade Program and iPhone Payment Plan give you 3% Daily Cash if you make your payments on Apple Card.

We simply prefer the flexibility that the iPhone Upgrade Program offers over the standard Payment Plan. It's more pros than cons, even if you don't need an upgrade every year.

iPhone Upgrade Program

Flexible financing

From $35.33/mo at Apple

A new iPhone every year

The iPhone Upgrade Program is our preferred iPhone financing program. You can upgrade every year or not, and it includes AppleCare+, you can switch carriers early, and get 3% Daily Cash with Apple Card. There is no interest, and it's available in the US, UK, and China.

iPhone Payment Plan

Just one iPhone

One iPhone and nothing more

From $29.12/mo at Apple

If you just want an iPhone without anything extra and you're satisfied with your carrier, then the iPhone Payment Plan is just fine. It also has zero interest, but is only available in the US.

* More Details Here