iOS Devices

Welcome to 9to5Mac’s iPhone Holiday Gift Guide. Bookmark it or send it to your favorite people, because either you or someone you care about is going to find the ideal iPhone holiday gift inside!

I’m genuinely excited to present this collection to you, because the iPhone is the one Apple product I take everywhere — and couldn’t give up. Since I’ve been using iPhones and their accessories since the first iPhone debuted in 2007, I have a lot of experience sorting the good and great stuff out from the junk.

My iPhone Holiday Gift Guide picks are all best-of-breed options, selected for their combination of reasonable pricing and excellent performance. Whether you’re looking for the perfect case, great headphones, a smart car mounting solution, a battery pack, or a way to improve your iPhone’s camera, you’ll find the smartest iPhone gift picks below…

Expand
Expanding
Close

Apple is making good progress with its aim of having 40 retail stores open in China by next October, announcing that the 27th store will be opening on Saturday in the Chaoyang Joy City shopping mall, Beijing. It will be the fifth Apple Store to open in China’s capital city.

Apple has doubled its year-on-year revenue from China for two quarters running, with the country already representing a larger market than Europe and on track to become a bigger one that the USA … 
Expand
Expanding
Close

Apple today has shared a new Guided Tour video to its YouTube channel that highlights Apple Pay on the iPhone. Apple has previously shared a Guided Tour showing off Apple on the Apple Watch, but this is the first video in which Apple has demonstrated the feature on its smartphone.

In the video, Apple highlights the ease of use that Apple Pay provides. The company demonstrates how you can use it at compatible checkout terminals in retail locations, as well as use it in apps for buying goods and apps like Uber for buying services.

Apple closes the video by demonstrating how easy it is to setup Apple Pay, including adding the card, verifying the card, and finally actually using it in stores.

You can view Apple’s new Guided Tour video for Apple Pay on iPhone below. Apple has previously shared a plethora of Guided Tour videos for Apple Watch. The company likes to use the format to showcase features that take some explanation to truly understand.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ez-2M3C_4wU

Yesterday I mentioned a useful tip for using physical keyboards with iPads in my guide to unlocking the full potential of the iPad Pro. The tip actually works with all iOS 9 iPads connected to external keyboards over Bluetooth, Lightning, or the Smart Connector: hold Command (⌘) to see a list of supported keyboard shortcuts for the Home screen or app you’re in.

This works in most of Apple’s built-in apps and plenty of popular third-party apps as well, but it can be monotonous prompting that sheet in each app to get a sense of what keyboard shortcuts work. Instead, I’ve compiled a cheat sheet of which keyboard shortcuts work in all the system apps and several popular third-party apps. Whether you’re using Apple’s Smart Keyboard for the iPad Pro, Magic Keyboard, Logitech’s excellent K811, or any other physical keyboard, these will make you more efficient when working on your iPad.

Expand
Expanding
Close

Apple got in to the high-end phablet game for the first time last year. And just a couple of months back, it released its follow up to the 6 Plus just as Motorola turned its Moto X into a giant. Can the X Pure compete with what many consider to be the best phablet around?

Expand
Expanding
Close

Developers of pro apps have long complained that Apple’s App Store policies are a barrier to them creating iOS versions of popular Mac apps. The launch of the iPad Pro has brought the issue front and center, with a number of developers sharing their thoughts with The Verge.

There are two key issues, they say. First, pro apps are expensive, and users want to satisfy themselves that they are worth the money before they pay. Free trials are the usual way to achieve this with desktop apps, but the App Store doesn’t allow them to offer the same option for iOS apps … 
Expand
Expanding
Close

Apple has officially acknowledged an issue reported by multiple iPad Pro owners on Reddit and Apple’s own support forum, in which some units become unresponsive after charging. We’ve even happened upon a few dead iPad Pros at the Apple Store for which an Apple employee shyly asked us to avert our eyes while he did a hard restart.

Some users report that the device won’t wake after charging, while others who left it switched on say that the Pro fails to respond to either the touchscreen or the home button. The problem can be resolved by a force restart, and this is the action Apple recommends while it investigates … 
Expand
Expanding
Close

If you haven’t mastered iOS 9 and all its new tricks introduced in September, then it’s easy to find yourself using the iPad Pro as just a jumbo iPad Air or iPad mini. But new multitasking features like Picture in Picture, Split View, and Slide Over transform the iPad Pro experience and shine on the larger display if you know how to use them and which apps work. And while the iPad Pro doesn’t have 3D Touch like new iPhones, there’s a similar keyboard cursor gesture to now about. All that plus much more on unlocking the full potential of the iPad Pro below:
Expand
Expanding
Close

Consumer Intelligence Research Partners (CIRP) is out with a new report today claiming Apple is now at over 100 million iPhones in use in the US. That means Apple has crossed 100 million active iPhone units since CIRP reported 97 million iPhones in use back in August, according to the research firm’s data.
Expand
Expanding
Close

With the iPad Pro now available and shipping around the world, the artisanal Apple accessory makers at Pad & Quill have introduced three new high-end cases to hold and protect the larger tablet. Whether you’re looking for a book-style carrying case that holds Apple Pencil or a nice leather bag that adds room for a keyboard, Pad & Quill’s three new accessories are worth checking out for iPad Pro owners.
Expand
Expanding
Close

Tim Cook has consistently spoken out against the possibility of converging iOS and OS X devices, most famously saying that “you can converge a toaster and refrigerator, but these things are probably not going to be pleasing to the user.”

He repeated this line earlier this week, stating that Apple wants to make “the best tablet in the world and the best Mac in the world – and putting those two together would not achieve either.”

However, some of your comments suggest that not all of you agree, so we’ve adopted the suggestion of one commentator and posed the question … 
Expand
Expanding
Close

Two months after the introduction of the rose gold iPhone 6s and Apple Watch Sport, Apple has refreshed its Beats Solo 2 Wireless headphones and urBeats in-ear headphones with matching rose gold color options. If you’ve already got Solo 2 Wireless or urBeats, the only difference here is the new color option, but they do look good especially if you want to match your hardware. Apple now offers iPhone and Apple Watch color-matching versions of both headphone models with gold, rose gold, silver, and space gray.
Expand
Expanding
Close

No new Apple tech survives long without being taken apart by iFixit, and the Apple Pencil is no exception. Apple didn’t make it easy, however, with iFixit having to resort to a small circular saw to open up the device and needing to break a flex cable along the way.

Inside, it found that the plastic outer casing reveals a metal inner one. The tip contains two separate emitters, used to determine both the angle and orientation of the Pencil in order to adjust the width of the pen stroke. With such little space to play with, Apple had to get creative with the logic board … 
Expand
Expanding
Close

As expected, the Apple Pay mobile payments service for the latest iPhone and Apple Watch models has gone live in Australia, where it is already Thursday. Apple Pay for apps is also available for devices without NFC, such as recent iPad models.

The service debuted earlier this week in Canada, following the late 2014 launch in the United States. Currently, the service is limited solely to American Express card users in both Australia and Canada. Apple is in talks to expand the service to more banks and cardholders in the future.

Apple’s website for Australia also notes that support for store cards and loyalty reward card for individual retailers is coming soon to the Australian version of Apple Pay. In addition to this week’s Canada and Australia launches, Apple has expanded support in the United Kingdom. Apple has said that, in partnership with American Express, Apple Pay will expand to Asia and more European regions in 2016.

Apple has also said that Apple Pay will soon expand to apps such as Kickstarter and The Fancy, while also coming to retail shops like Dominos and Cinnabon next year.

Expand
Expanding
Close

Nomad is ending 2015 with a bang. Having moved from small plastic accessories into using luxury materials including metal, leather, and wood, Nomad is flexing its design muscles with four new Apple device chargers that are equally attractive and creative. There’s a deluxe metal Apple Watch/iPhone travel charger called Pod Pro, the wood-encased iPad battery pack PowerPlant, a hybrid iPhone battery and car charger named Roadtrip, and a Lightning battery-equipped leather Wallet. Three of the accessories look as if they were expressly designed to be holiday gifts, while the fourth is less exotic, but practical.

The common thread here is “portable power.” Pod Pro steps up from Nomad’s Apple Watch-only Pod (reviewed here) by more than tripling the power to 6,000mAh, and adding iPhone charging. PowerPlant packs an iPad-ready 12,000mAh cell inside a solid American Walnut wood block. Roadtrip serves as a car charger in your car, doubling as a portable iPhone battery pack for on-the-go use. And Wallet guarantees you’ll have a 2,400mAh battery and Lightning cable anywhere you go. Below, I’ll quickly walk through all of these new accessories so you can get a sense of whether any or all of them is right for you, or your favorite gift recipient…

Expand
Expanding
Close