Your new iPhone comes with a USB-C cord, but how many watts should you use for your power adapter? Brett and I start today’s episode of the In the News podcast by tackling that question. We then discuss faster 5G in the new iPhones, how to clean any model iPhone, advanced video features in the newest iPhones, tips for using and changing the face on an Apple Watch, and more.
In our In the Know segment, Brett discusses sharing a virtual business card between two iPhones running iOS 17. I discuss Stage Manager on the iPad, including why it is worth giving this feature a second look even if—like me—you were not a fan in iPad OS 16.
The iPhone 15 Pro supports log video recording. If you don’t know what that is, then you don’t need to worry about it … it wasn’t designed for you. But if you are still curious about what this means (like I was), Stu Maschwitz of Prolost wrote a great post that tells you everything that you might want to know about log and LUTs. In short, the idea is that serious video professionals can now use the iPhone along with other, far more expensive, videocameras because it is now possible to sync up the color profiles. As a result, an item that looks a certain shade of blue when filmed with one camera will look the same way when it is filmed with an iPhone, so the editor has the freedom to switch back and forth between the different recordings. It also allows pros to make their videos look even better with more compelling colors. Even though none of this directly affects me, I have no doubt that as Apple pays more attention to the needs of professional users, good stuff will trickle down to folks like me who appreciate great pictures and videos but are just doing this for fun. And now, the news of note from the past week:
What to clean the outside of your iPhone? This page on Apple’s website explains how to do so safely.
Glenn Fleishman of TidBITS wrote a detailed description of the new Check In feature of iOS 17, the digital version of “call me when you get there so that I know that you arrived safely.”
If you select the right photo for your Apple Watch clock face, you can create some pretty interesting watch faces, as journalist Harry McCracken showed off this week on Mastodon. Check out these: Porky Pig Opera, TRS-80, Classic Mac, Newton, etc.
Chance Miller of 9to5Mac reports that if you have a smart garage door (and many models have this feature even if you don’t know it), you may soon be able to open and close the door via the Honda and Acura apps in CarPlay.
Director Ridley Scott’s new movie Napoleon comes to theaters on November 22, 2023. But after that, it will come to Apple TV+, and William Gallagher of AppleInsider reports that Scott is working on a director’s cut version that is about four hours long and will hopefully come to Apple TV+ as well.
And finally, if you want to get some work done but find it too quiet to work all by yourself, how about a virtual study buddy? Apple released a video this week called Study With Me featuring Storm Reid (who is a college student at USC). There is a brief introduction and then a 90 minute video in which you see Storm get her work done for 25 minutes (with background music), then take a five minute break, in three cycles. I guess the idea is that you might play this on your iPad or on your TV while you get work done on another device. Seems like a nice idea for people who like to have a little background noise while they get work done. The video is incredibly well produced, and it features a few surprises along the way. I suspect that if this one gets lots of views, Apple will release others:
We begin this week’s episode of the In the News podcast by discussing a recent update to iOS and what it means for the iPhone 15 Pro. Then we discuss what some of the pros think about taking pictures with the new pro iPhones, the USB-C port on the new iPhones, and StandBy mode in iOS 17. We talk about the very first Apple Watch (may it rest in peace) and the new double-tap gesture for the newest Apple Watch. We also discuss the latest version of tvOS, happy tears, and more.
This episode is sponsored by SaneBox. This week, Brett and I discuss how you can save significant time by using SaneBox and explain the different plans that are offered and provide advice on picking the plan that makes the most sense for you. Go to sanebox.com/inthenews to sign up for a free trial and get a $25 credit toward a SaneBox subscription.
In our In the Know segment, Brett discusses the new crosswords in the News+ app, including why they are especially appealing to people who do not do crosswords very often. I go deep on what is new in the People and Pets feature on the Photos app on the iPhone, iPad, and Mac.
Apple announced its 2023 models of the iPhone a few weeks ago. This week, Google announced its new Pixel 8. What interested me most about this introduction is something that also jumped out to John Gruber of Daring Fireball: Google’s heavy use of AI in the camera app. Of course, Apple also uses its powerful processors to take pictures; the reason that the relatively small lenses on an iPhone can take such great pictures is that Apple uses computational photography to bring out the best in every image. But I do wonder if Google has taken this too far. Google’s new Magic Editor lets you move around objects in a photo, so if you take a picture and realize that two people look too far apart, you can just move them together. Google’s new Best Take feature works when you take a number of pictures of a group of people; the feature takes the best face for each person (eyes open, smiling, etc.) and merges that into a single best photo. I’ve occasionally used Photoshop on my Mac or even apps on my iPhone to make these types of changes in the past, but there is something about making it a part of the process of taking pictures that seems somewhat bizarre to me. Are you taking a picture or creating a picture? And is there really a difference between those two? I’ve taken courses in photography and I’ve taken courses in Philosophy, but perhaps we need some photographic philosophers to provide some advice and help us navigate these issues. And now, the news of note from the past week:
Overall, I’m happy that the iPhone now uses USB-C instead of Lightning, but it does serve of a reminder that USB-C is a pain. As Dan Moren of Six Colors notes in an article for Macworld, some cords only provide power, some provide data, some provide different amounts of power or different speeds of data, and it is often impossible to tell what kind of cord you have by just looking at it. Ugh.
Christian Zibreg of iDownloadBlog notes that if you subscribe to Apple News+ you can now do daily crosswords in the News app. There are some aspects of these crosswords that I like, but I think that Apple needs to improve the interface.
Ross Trudeau, the Puzzles editor for News+, says that Apple is trying to make its crosswords “more welcoming to newcomers.” He also says: “We also intend to eliminate the opaque and coded language often seen in crossword clues. In an old-school puzzle, USSR might get a clue like ‘Erstwhile federation for Brezhnev, briefly.’ That won’t be us. We’ll use plain language: ‘Country that broke up in ’91.'” I suppose that I understand that, but sometimes I like the more opaque clues that are used later in the week in the New York Times crossword puzzles; it seems more satisfying when you figure out the clue.
I purchased the original Apple Watch in 2015, and at the time, I was a fan of that product. But any modern Apple Watch is so infinitely better than the first generation that I cannot imagine anyone seeing a reason to still use one … except, perhaps, if you splurged and paid up to $17,000 for the gold Apple Watch Edition (which Caitlin McGarry of Macworld reviewed in 2015). But as Steve Dent of Engadget reports this week, Apple has now placed all of the original models of the Apple Watch on its obsolete list, which means that is no longer eligible for hardware service and you can no longer order spare parts. So if you had plans to try to spend thousands of dollars on just a gold digital crown spare part, you may now be out of luck.
Andrew O’Hara of Apple Insider reports that the new Double Tap feature on the newest Apple Watch works much better than the similar accessibility feature that Apple made available in the past.
Now that your Apple devices can work with smarthome Matter devices without needing to worry about HomeKit support, Bradley Chambers of 9to5Mac discusses using inexpensive smart bulbs from OREiN. For example, I see that you can get a 4-pack of standard A19 60W equivalent bulbs that you can set to be any color for less than $24, so less than $6 a bulb.
Band of Brothers was an amazing series on HBO; I cannot believe that it has been 22 years since it first aired. A sequel is coming out, produced by Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks, and it is called Masters of the Air and will premiere on January 26, 2024 on Apple TV+, as reported by Benjamin Mayo of 9to5 Mac. This one could be really good.
William Gallagher of AppleInsider reports that a woman in the UK who works in a gym and is named Siri has decided to change her name because, well, you can probably guess why.
And finally, here is a powerful video released by Apple called Another Birthday:
You know how helpful an iPhone can be while it is in your hand and you are actively using it. With the new StandBy mode in iOS 17, your iPhone can also be useful when you are not actively using it—especially if you have an iPhone 14 Pro or iPhone 15 Pro that supports an Always-On Display. StandBy mode turns your iPhone into a device that displays glanceable information that is most relevant to you in a way that is designed to be viewed from a distance.
It took me a little while to figure out how to take advantage of StandBy, but once I did, StandBy became perhaps my favorite new feature in iOS 17. Here are some tips for making the most of it, along with recommendations for two fantastic stands that will let you get the most out of StandBy if you want to charge multiple Apple devices at once: (1) the Anker 3-in-1 Cube with MagSafe and (2) the Twelve South HiRise 3 Deluxe.
Entering StandBy mode
An iPhone running iOS 17 enters StandBy mode automatically once four things occur.
First, the iPhone is being charged. For reasons I will get into below, the most elegant way to do this is to use a MagSafe charger, but you can also just plug a cord connected to a power source into your iPhone’s USB-C or Lightning port. For example, if you are working at a computer and you have a charging cable connected to a port on your computer, just plug that cable into the Lightning or USB-C port on your iPhone.
Second, the iPhone must be on its side. In other words, in landscape mode.
Third, the iPhone must be still. If you are charging your iPhone while it is in landscape mode in a car, the iPhone won’t enter StandBy mode.
Fourth, the iPhone must be in its sleep mode. In other words, you are not actively using your iPhone. You can press the side button on your iPhone to enter that mode. Or, if you don’t use an iPhone for a while, the display will dim and go to sleep and eventually enter this mode on its own.
When all four of these conditions are satisfied, the iPhone enters StandBy mode. Once there, it displays useful information on the screen, typically using big numbers and letters that are easy to see from a distance.
The three modes of StandBy mode
Once your iPhone is in StandBy mode, you have three choices for what to display on the screen. The first mode, and the most useful one, displays widgets. Swipe your finger from the right to the left to enter the second mode, which displays photos. Swipe from right to left a third time to display a huge, full-screen clock. You can swipe left or right to move between these three modes.
When you place your iPhone on a MagSafe stand, the iPhone will remember the mode it was in when last attached to that stand and start with that mode again. For example, when I place my iPhone on the stand in my office, I typically see the widget mode, which I prefer to use during the work day, but when I place my iPhone in the stand on my bedstand, I see a full-screen clock, which I prefer to see when I am going to sleep and waking up.
While you are within one of these three modes, you can swipe up or down on the iPhone’s screen to change what is being displayed. For example, in the clock mode, swiping up and down will choose between five different clocks: analog, digital, world (with the time in the left corner on top of a map of the world, with an indication of what part of the world is experiencing sunlight), solar, and float.
If you place your finger on the display and hold down for a second or two, you will enter a settings mode where you can change what is being displayed. Before entering that mode, your iPhone will use Face ID or request a passcode to make sure that you are the one changing something on your iPhone—not somebody else who happens to walk into a room while your iPhone is in StandBy mode. Once your identity is confirmed, your iPhone will let you change various settings related to the StandBy mode that you are in.
For example, in clock mode, once you enter the settings mode, you can tap on the dot at the bottom right corner to change some of the colors on the clock. Tap Done at the top right when you are finished. Using settings mode can be tricky because if you move your iPhone too much, it will exit StandBy mode completely. It is much easier to work in the settings mode if your iPhone is on a stand that is holding it still.
The clock mode is fairly simple, but let’s dig deeper into the other two modes: photos and widgets.
Photos mode
In photos mode, your iPhone acts like a digital picture frame. A photo is displayed across the entire iPhone screen. The time is displayed at the top right. And when the picture changes, for the first few seconds, your iPhone tells you at the bottom right where and when the picture was taken.
By default, in the photos mode, swiping up and down will choose between five different sets of your own photos: featured, nature, pets, cities, and people. I’m fairly certain that the only pets or people that can be displayed are the ones that are identified in the automatic People & Pets album in the Photos app. If you don’t want one of those default choices on. your iPhone, you can enter the settings mode to change what appears when you swipe up or down.
Hold down on the screen for a second or so while in Photos mode to enter the settings mode. Here, you can tap the eye at the top right to turn specific sets of pictures on or off. For example, if you never want to see nature and cities, turn those two modes off. That way, swiping up and down will only switch between features, pets, and people.
When you enter the settings and select the people mode, there is an icon at the bottom right corner. Tap on that to select which people will appear in the photos.
Additionally, if you tap the plus sign at the top left, you can select any one of your albums (from the Photos app) to turn that into a mode in Photos. Thus, you can have many, many different sets of photos to choose between when you swipe up or down.
Widgets mode
The most powerful mode of StandBy is the first one: widgets mode. In that mode, two widgets are displayed side-by-side.
Hopefully, the widget itself will show you all of the information that you want to see. However, if you want more, you can tap once on a widget and an arrow will appear at the top right of the widget. Tap that arrow to launch the app that is associated with the widget. This works especially well for apps that work in landscape orientation.
Just like the other modes, in the widgets mode you can swipe up or down to change to another widget in the stack. However, in the widgets mode, you need to pay attention to the side of the screen on which you are swiping. For example, if you swipe up on the left side of the screen, you swill change the widget on the left side of the screen (only).
To change which widgets are available in a stack in StandBy, enter the settings mode. Hold your finger on either the left or the right side for a second or two to enter the settings mode for widgets on that side of the screen. If you don’t like one of the iPhone’s default widgets, you can tap the minus button at the top left of a widget to remove it from your stack. Tap the plus sign at the top left of the screen to add additional widgets.
If you have edited widgets on an iPhone or iPad home screen before, the process here is similar. First, you select an app that supports StandBy widgets. Second, you select which of the one or more widgets provided by that app that you want to use. For example, a weather app might offer different widgets that display different weather information in different ways.
When you are changing the settings for widgets, you will see two options on the right. The first option is Smart Rotate. If you have Smart Rotate turned on, the widget on that side of the screen will change automatically during the day depending upon which widget the iPhone thinks would be useful—based in part on when that widget receives updated information from its app. Of course, you can always swipe up or down to manually change what widget you are seeing. So far, I prefer to keep Smart Rotate turned off. That way, the left side of my screen always displays a very large clock and I swipe up and down on the right side of my screen to change between different calendar apps, weather apps, and a few others. I’m not a fan of the built-in clock widget because it is analog. I find a digital clock widget to be easier (and faster) to see when I glance at it. Thus, I used the fantastic Widgetsmith app to design a big clock that I find easy to read in a StandBy widget.
The second option in settings is Widget Suggestions. When this is turned on, your iPhone will automatically add widgets to your stack from time to time that you might want to use. It’s a nice way to discover additional widgets, but I prefer to keep this option turned off.
With countless different iPhone apps available, and with each app able to provide you with multiple different widgets, the number of possible StandBy mode widgets is seemingly endless. Indeed, if you use an app like Widgetsmith, you can create your own widgets with infinite possibilities.
Live Activities
I said above that there are three modes: widgets, photos, and clock. There is actually another mode too, but it works a little differently. If you have an iPhone that supports Dynamic Island, you know that certain apps can put information into the Dynamic Island so that you can see information (like a sports score or time until your plane lands) even while you are using another app. And if you tap on the Dynamic Island, that information floats up into a larger panel. There is another mode in StandBy that reminds me of when the Dynamic Island grows to a larger panel.
When you are using StandBy, if an app is ready to display a Live Activity that might normally go in the Dynamic Island while you are using your iPhone but your iPhone is in StandBy mode (and if the app supports StandBy mode) then the Live Activity will display on your iPhone.
For example, if you are playing music and then you enter StandBy mode, you will see a small indicator at the top center of the iPhone’s screen in StandBy mode. Tap that to bring up a full-screen display that shows the album art and buttons to control the music.
I love this mode. It is like the ultimate remote control for whatever music you are listening to in a room. But lots of other apps can take advantage of this mode as well. For example, if you receive a text message, the text message and picture of the person who sent the message can appear on the screen.
When your iPhone is in StandBy mode, if you ask Siri a question, such as the score of a football game, the display will change to show relevant information as Siri is speaking the answer to you.
(Let’s not talk about what happened in the remainder of the Saints game this past Sunday. Ugh.)
Always on display
StandBy mode works best if you have an iPhone that supports an always on display, such as the iPhone 14 Pro, 14 Pro Max, 15 Pro, and 15 Pro Max. That way, whenever you glance at your iPhone, it shows you something useful. In my office, for example, I have my iPhone on a stand that is just below my main monitor. I usually have the time on the left and my calendar with upcoming appointments on the right. That way, whenever I am working at my computer, I can just glance down and instantly see the current time and what appointment is next.
I find this to be incredibly useful—a way for me to get value from my iPhone even when I’m not actively using it. StandBy essentially turns my iPhone into a new smart device, similar to one of those Amazon Alexa Echo devices that have a screen and can display useful information all of the time. But then when I want to use the iPhone as an iPhone, I just pick up my device and start using it. (This is why it is more useful to use MagSafe, avoiding the need to unplug a cord.) And because my iPhone charges while in StandBy mode, I always have lots of power when my iPhone leaves StandBy mode.
Before StandBy mode, I’ve never found MagSafe charging to be all that useful to me. After all, I can charge more quickly using a cord. But with StandBy mode, I’m now using MagSafe charging every single day. MagSafe and StandBy mode were made for each other.
In addition to putting my iPhone in StandBy mode when I am using my work computer or my home computer, I also like to put it in StandBy mode on my nightstand when I go to sleep at night. This basically turns my iPhone into an alarm clock, with a big display of the time that is easy to see. Assuming that you have Night Mode turned on for StandBy in the Settings app (which is the default), when your iPhone senses that it is dark, the standby display changes to a red tint so that it is not invasive while you are sleeping.
When your iPhone is in this Night Mode version of StandBy mode, the screen will turn off after about 15 minutes even if you have an iPhone that supports always on mode. However, if your iPhone senses any motion, the display will turn on again. Thus, if you want to see the time in the middle of the night, you can just sort of wave your hand in the general area of the iPhone to see the clock (or whatever else you are displaying in StandBy mode).
If you are using an iPhone that does not support always on mode, you can still use StandBy. Once your iPhone has gone to sleep and the display has turned black, you can make the display come on again by tapping the screen, gently nudging the table your iPhone is on, or using Siri. It is nice to have a workaround, but it means that you cannot simply glance at the screen to see information, which is one of the best parts of StandBy mode.
StandBy is better with a stand
You don’t need to have a special stand to use StandBy mode. Just charge your iPhone and place it in a steady location on its side. But StandBy mode works much better if you have a dedicated stand with MagSafe charging. That way, the iPhone stays even more steady and is less likely to exit StandBy mode by mistake. Plus, MagSafe means that you can easily pick up your iPhone without having to unplug a cord.
There are many different MagSafe iPhone stands available now, and I suspect that even more will become available as more people start to use StandBy mode. Some stands only charge the iPhone. Others give you the ability to charge one or two other devices as well.
I’ve been researching the best stands for months, and just recently, I picked out two of them that I think are fantastic: (1) the Anker 3-in-1 Cube with MagSafe, which is $149.95 on Amazon and (2) the Twelve South HiRise 3 Deluxe, which is on pre-order for $149.99 but is starting to ship now. $150 may sound expensive, but with either of these devices, you get a product that charges three different products at the same time using the fastest charging speeds that are supported by Apple, and you only have a single cord coming out of the device—not three cords, like some other 3-in-1 chargers. Thus, consider that you are getting three top-notch chargers for the price of one when you think about the price. Both stands support landscape mode for StandBy or portrait mode.
As noted above, at my desk in my office, the best place for me to use my iPhone in SandBy mode is the small area between my keyboard and my monitor. After reading many other reviews and comments, it seems that one of the best, if not the best, small device that charges multiple devices is the Anker 3-in-1 Cube with MagSafe. It supports the fastest form of MagSafe charging supported by Apple (15W), plus it has a normal Qi charging area where you can charge AirPods or Airpods Pro (or anything else that supports Qi wireless charging), plus it supports Apple certified fast charging for an Apple Watch.
True to its name, when folded up, it is a cube:
Fold open the top and you can place your iPhone on the MagSafe charger at an angle (which you can adjust), which makes it easier to see your iPhone in StandBy mode.
If you want to charge your Apple Watch, pop out the drawer on the right side.
When the top of the cube is open, you can see a Qi charger on the back. There is also a USB-C connector hole on the back, which is how you charge the unit. It comes with a USB-C to USB-C charging cord and a USB-C power adapter.
What I love about the Cube is that it is small and compact. Thus, when my iPhone is connected to it, it fits above my keyboard and below my monitor.
The small size means that the Anker 3-in-1 Cube with MagSafe is also a good travel charger. It gives you a single device in your hotel room to charge your iPhone, Airpods, and Apple Watch. One downside of this product is that when you are using all three chargers, everything is sort of on top of each other because it is so compact.
Another downside of this product is that when you are charging AirPods, because they sit behind the MagSafe platform, they are somewhat hidden. There have been a few times when I walked away from my office desk at the end of the day to go home only to realize that I forgot to pick up my AirPods.
Overall, I’m incredibly happy using the the Anker 3-in-1 Cube with MagSafe as my office stand.
Another perfect place for using StandBy mode is a nightstand next to your bed. For my nightstand, I didn’t need something compact that fits in in a small area beneath a monitor, so I could select a stand that spaces things out a little bit more. After months of research, the one that I was hearing the best things about was the relatively new Twelve South HiRise 3 Deluxe, which is an update to prior HiRise stands. After using this device myself, I can confirm that it is excellent.
The stand is black with a vegan leather-wrapped base that feels substantial and nice. Your iPhone charges on a 15W MagSafe Charger atop an aluminum post, and you can adjust the tilt up to 30º.
You can charge your Apple Watch on a flat charger, or you can fold up the charger so that your Apple Watch can take advantage of Night Stand mode.
The back of the stand has a Qi-certified 7.5W wireless charger for AirPods, a second phone, or anything else that supports Qi charging.
The single cord that runs out of the Twelve South HiRise 3 Deluxe is not USB-C but instead a different type of cord, so you have to use the cord that comes with this device. Twelve South says that they did this on purpose; the stand needs 40 watts of power to simultaneously charge all of your devices as fast as possible, and the company was afraid that if it used a normal USB-C cord, some people might use an under-powered charger. The cord that it comes with is more than long enough for me at 59" / 1.5m. The box comes with international adapters for the power supply, so in addition to North America, you can also use it in the UK, Hong Kong, Singapore, Continental Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and Japan.
I love that I can have a fast MagSafe charge and the fastest possible Apple Watch charge on my nightstand. I also love that this is a perfect stand to hold my devices when I go to sleep, and then they are right there waiting for me when I wake up. When the lights are off in my bedroom, StandBy mode switches to the red tint I mentioned above, and it is a fantastic tint—dim enough that it doesn’t keep me awake, but just barely bright enough that I have no trouble seeing the big numbers to see what time it is any time that I glance at it before my alarm goes off in the morning.
Conclusion
With StandBy mode and one or more good stands, your iPhone becomes useful to you 24/7, even when you are not actively using it. The StandBy display is easy to see from a distance, and because you control what appears on it, the information displayed is the information that you have already decided is most relevant to you. There are already lots of great apps that support StandBy mode, and I’m sure that there will be even more in the future. Apple deserves high praise for coming up with this fantastic new feature in iOS 17. If you haven’t started using it yet, I encourage you to check out StandBy mode.
If you are in the United States, your iPhone is going to make a very loud noise tomorrow, Wednesday, October 4, 2023, at approximately 2:20 p.m. Eastern / 11:20 a.m. Pacific. If you are an attorney and you will be in court, a deposition, or any other official proceeding at that time, and if it would be obnoxious for your iPhone to play that noise at that time, consider turning off your iPhone before that time or putting your device in Airplane Mode.
Why is this happening? Every once in a while, the federal government tests its Wireless Emergency Alerts system, which is the cellphone version of the Emergency Alert System-style warnings that you have seen and heard for a long time on television and radio when there is a weather or other emergency. If your iPhone is turned on and connected to a cell tower in the United States, then you will receive the test alert tomorrow. Two years ago, I wrote a full post that explains the Wireless Emergency Alerts system, so click that link if you want more information about what is going to happen to your iPhone and the smartphones around you tomorrow. You can also learn more from this page on the FCC’s website.
[UPDATE 10/4/2023: In my office, the alert came early, at 1:18 p.m. Central.]
I’ve been using an iPhone 15 Pro Max for a week now, so Brett Burney and I start this week’s episode of the In the News podcast by discussing the features that have stood out to me. I’ve also been using Apple’s FineWoven case for a week, and we discuss why so many people are upset about that case as a replacement for Apple’s former leather case. We also talk about iPhone photography, iOS 17 tips, the newest AirPods Pro, using your iPhone as a digital driver’s license, using the iPad mini on an airplane, the bittersweet end of red envelopes from Netflix, and more.
This episode is sponsored by SaneBox. This week, Brett and I explain the different plans that are offered and provide advice on picking the plan that makes the most sense for you. Go to sanebox.com/inthenews to sign up for a free trial and get a $25 credit toward a SaneBox subscription.
In our In the Know segment, Brett discusses adding widgets to the home screen of your iPad, and I discuss using the new mini-window on the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max when you use extreme digital zoom in the camera app.
Although I have heard a lot of praise for Apple this week as people start to try out the new iPhones (here is my review of the iPhone 15 Pro Max), another new Apple product has received wide criticism: Apple’s new FineWoven Case, which replaces Apple’s previous leather case which sold for the same price ($59.99). I’ve always been a fan of Apple’s leather iPhone cases. They fit the iPhone perfectly (something that always makes me nervous about a third-party case that is available to purchase when a new iPhone comes out), they felt good, and they protected the iPhone while making it less slippery. As Apple has eliminated all leather products for environmental reasons, they came up with a new FineWoven case. Arthur Shi of iFixIt took a very close look at the case (using extreme magnification) to see how it is made, which is somewhat impressive. But people are not happy about how it feels in the hand, as noted by Allison Johnson of The Verge, with some people comparing it to paper. There are also build quality issues, as noted by Stephen Hackett of 512 Pixels. I’ve been using a FineWoven case for the past week, and while I don’t hate it as much as many people, I do greatly prefer the feel and look of the leather case. Perhaps if Apple was selling this new case for less than the $60 price of the leather case it wouldn’t bother me as much. If your default every year is to buy the Apple case but you haven’t yet purchased a case for the newest iPhones, I strongly encourage you to check out the FineWoven case at an Apple Store before you buy it because you might not like it. And now, the news of note from the past week:
I have a big ask of you, but it is also an easy one. With September about to end, we are at the end of this year’s campaign to raise money for St. Jude. It would mean a lot to me if you donated any amount to help kids with cancer, and it would obviously mean a lot to so many others as well. I promise you that the entire process will take no more than 30 seconds of your time. Just click, enter your donation amount, and pay. It’s a great cause. Simply click here and donate any amount. Thanks!
If you have an iPhone 15 Pro or Pro Max, you can assign one action to the Action Button. Or, you can use this clever shortcut from Federico Viticci of MacStories to assign two shortcuts to the same Action Button.
If you want to listen to a great discussion of photography with the new iPhones, this week’s episode of John Gruber’s The Talk Show features guest Matthew Panzarino, and it is a fantastic episode. For example, John Gruber points out that with a traditional camera, you can take an amazing picture, but you need to be the photographer. You need to adjust everything—and know how to do so—to get that perfect picture. “What really jumped out buying a new, well-regarded, camera this year is how many decisions the iPhone makes automatically that are what I want it to do, without me doing anything.” The iPhone becomes the expert photographer, using its sophisticated processor to make everything look great. You just choose what to put in frame and when to press the button.
Jason Snell of Six Colors updated his great ebook Take Control of Photos. The book teaches you everything that you need to know about using the Photos app on an iPhone, iPad, and Mac, and it is updated for iOS 17 and the other new operating systems. And next week, he will add a free update to address new features added by the iPhone 15. It’s a great resource that I recommend to anyone who wants to do more with the Photos app.
We may now live in a world of streaming media, but I fondly remember the excitement of coming home at the end of the week to find a Netflix red envelope in my mailbox. Nicole Sperling of the New York Times reports that today is the last day that Netflix is shipping out any DVDs. My son is only 17 years old, but when I mentioned this to him, he told me that he distinctly remembers being a little kid and having the same excitement when he saw a red envelope—which he would always hope was a kids movie that we could enjoy as a family and not some grown-up movie that was just for me and my wife. It’s the end of an era.
If you are stuck in the middle of nowhere and need help with your car, you can use Roadside Assistance via Satellite with an iPhone 14 or 15. This video from Apple gives you an idea of how it works. I certainly hope that I never need to use this service, but it is nice to know that this lifesaver is available if I ever need it.
And finally, yesterday I saw the new trailer for the movie Argylle, which comes to theaters in February and then to Apple TV+. I suppose you would call this a spy movie with a twist. The cast is fantastic, and if the movie lives up to the promise of the trailer, this will be great fun to watch in a few months:
I received my iPhone 15 Pro Max this past Friday. And I know exactly when it was first in my hands because that occurred at the 22:30 mark (the beginning of Chapter 4) as I was recording the most recent episode of the In the News podcast. Since then, I’ve been using this new iPhone extensively. I love it, and I have lots of thoughts to share.
Titanium
Nine years ago, when Apple introduced the iPhone 6 models, it increased the size of the display in two ways. First, the iPhone 6 itself was larger than the iPhone 5s because it used a 4.7" display instead of a 4" display. Second, Apple introduced the iPhone 6 Plus with a 5.5" display—the first time a larger model became an option. Some people gravitated to the larger models instantly, but many (perhaps even most?) folks preferred the standard size, even though what constitutes the standard size has changed quite a bit over the years. The original iPhone released in 2007 had a 3.5" display; the “standard” size of the iPhone 15 Pro is 6.1". Of course, screen size doesn’t tell you everything about the size of an iPhone. The bezels are much smaller today than they were in 2007, and there is no longer a button occupying some of the face of the iPhone. Nevertheless, the trend has been towards larger screens. For nine years, I have been happy with the “standard” size, even as that standard has changed over time.
This year, Apple has made it easier to consider making the move to a larger iPhone because the case has changed from stainless steel to titanium. Titanium is much lighter while remaining very strong.
I can attest that the change makes a difference. As you can see in the podcast video that I referenced above, from the very first time that I put my iPhone 14 Pro in one hand and my iPhone 15 Pro Max in another hand, I have noticed that the iPhone 15 Pro Max feels lighter. I can switch hands, and I feel the same thing. When I spent time this past weekend taking pictures with both the iPhone 14 Pro and the iPhone 15 Pro Max to see the difference between the former 3x zoom lens and the new 5x zoom lens, I again noticed the same thing.
I realize that I am being tricked. Apple says that the iPhone 14 Pro weighs 7.27 ounces and the iPhone 15 Pro Max weighs 7.81 ounces. So in reality, this larger iPhone 15 Pro Max weighs about half an ounce more than the phone that I used for the last year. But because the small amount of extra weight is distributed across a larger area, it doesn’t actually feel heavier. The only reason that this illusion works is that there is only a small amount of additional weight, and that is thanks to the use of titanium. Last year’s iPhone 14 Pro Max model weighed 8.47 ounces, so I’m sure that the iPhone 15 Pro Max would have weighed at least that much if Apple was still using stainless steel.
For me, someone moving from the standard to a larger phone, the use of titanium means that I don’t need to worry about moving to a heavier phone. If you get a new iPhone 15 Pro model and you stay with the same size—going from an iPhone 14 Pro to an iPhone 15 Pro, or going from an iPhone 14 Pro Max to an iPhone 15 Pro Max—your new iPhone will weigh noticeably less than your prior model, which is also something you will appreciate.
The best part about using titanium is the weight difference, but that’s not the only difference. The titanium iPhone has a matte finish that is noticeably different from the shiny stainless steel used in the past on the Pro models. That makes it just a tiny bit less slippery, although to be honest, not as much as I had hoped.
Another change that may have more to do with how Apple designed the iPhone than the change in material is that the edges of the iPhone 15 models are slightly more rounded at the corners. It is a subtle but nice change that makes the newest iPhone even more comfortable to hold in a hand.
Moving to titanium was a fabulous change in the Pro line, and it is a major reason that you feel like you are getting something much better when you upgrade to an iPhone 15 Pro or iPhone 15 Pro Max. I have already seen many advertisements on TV for the iPhone 15 Pro / Pro Max that emphasize the move to titanium, and this is not just marketing hype. It makes a difference.
A zoom that makes a substantial difference
Speaking of changes that make a difference, let’s talk about the 5x zoom lens on the iPhone 15 Pro Max. While I have been curious about using a larger size iPhone for years, the reason I made the leap this year was to try out the 5x optical zoom lens, the largest optical zoom that Apple has ever offered. It is really nice, and it is the first iPhone zoom lens that I feel has really made a substantial difference. This feels like a real zoom lens, not just getting a little closer to change the emphasis.
Apple first introduced a zoom lens for the iPhone in 2016. On the larger Plus model of the iPhone 7, Apple added a second lens to add a 2x optical zoom lens (56 mm). The following year, the telephoto lens was included with the iPhone X and Apple even added optical image stabilization so that pictures taken with the zoom lens would be less blurry. The zoom lens increased to 2.5x on the iPhone 12 Pro Max in 2020, and the zoom lens increased to 3x on the iPhone 13 Pro in 2021.
Having different levels of zoom is often useful because it allows you to place an emphasis on different parts of the picture to make the picture tell a different story. I showed that off in this post from 2019 when I compared the 0.5x, 1x, and 2x lenses on the iPhone 11 Pro. The addition of the 3x zoom enhanced this even more, allowing you to get closer without the excessive blurriness that occurs when you simply crop a photo.
With 5x, however, the zoom is extreme enough that you feel like you are getting a completely different type of picture. It is especially useful when you want to get details that you could not otherwise see.
For example, as I was looking out of my office window this past Friday, I saw a tugboat pushing a barge on the Mississippi River. I took three pictures using the 1x, 2x, and 5x lenses and got these three pictures (which are compressed somewhat to make them smaller in this p0st):
When I look at just the tugboat in all three pictures, the first two pictures are very blurry, with 2x only slightly better. But with the 5x camera, I can actually read the words “Marquette Transportation” on the side of the boat.
That is the sort of difference that you expect with something called a “zoom” lens. You want to zoom in and see details.
Here is another interesting example: a picture of a French Quarter-style gas lamp taken with the iPhone 15 Pro Max in 1x. This picture is compressed for size:
That was about as close as I could get to the lamp without standing on a ladder, but I can get closer using different lenses. I took four pictures: the iPhone 15 Pro Max at 1x and 2x, the iPhone 14 Pro at 3x, and the iPhone 15 Pro Max at 5x, focusing each one on the small nameplate at the bottom of the lamp. Here are the results:
Thanks to the additional zoom of the 5x, I can see that this lamp was manufactured by Bevolo Gas & Electric Lights, the company that first invented the original French Quarter-style gas lamp and that still makes them using hand-riveted copper at their store in the French Quarter in New Orleans. What is interesting to me, though, is that the second most detailed image is not the 3x but instead the 1x. Why is that?
When the new iPhone 15 Pro Max takes pictures using the 1x lens, it takes a 24-megapixel picture using a series of pictures taken in rapid succession using the 48-megapixel lens and then merges them to create the best picture. With the 2x lens, Apple creates a 24-megapixel picture using just the center portion of the 48-megapixel lens, and while it does some additional processing, not as much as the 1x lens (because Apple doesn’t want you to have to wait before you can take another picture). With the 3x and 5x lens, the lens brings you closer, but the quality of the overall picture is less for numerous reasons, one of which is that it is only a 12-megapixel image. What this means is that you will typically see the best results with the 1x camera. If you want to get closer, the best option—when you can—is to move your iPhone even closer and stick with 1x. If that is not an option, using the 2x and 3x lens will sometimes result in a better picture with more details, but not always. With the 5x lens, however, there is enough of a zoom increase that the lens can often compensate for other factors such as the 1x camera being an overall better lens.
Here is another example that provides results that are more expected. While I was in a well-lit coffeehouse this weekend, I saw a display with some books on it. Here is what I saw using the iPhone 15 Pro Max’s 1x camera:
These are only three examples, but I took tons of pictures with both iPhones this weekend, and the results were pretty consistent. For the best picture, use the 1x lens, which you get with either the iPhone 15 Pro or the iPhone 15 Pro Max. But if you want to really zoom in to see some details, there is a substantial difference between the 3x zoom and the 5x zoom.
I should note that the 5x lens is only part of the story. Apple is also using sophisticated stabilization technology to limit how much the 5x lens moves so that you don’t get a useless, blurry picture. And there is also some amazing computational photography going on in the background as well. The net result is that the 5x camera is a great tool to have.
For those times in life when you want a zoom lens, you typically want a big zoom. You are not just looking to change the composition of your shot; you are trying to get substantially closer. You want to see an architectural detail. You want to see your child’s face on stage from the audience or from across the gym during a basketball game. You want to read something on a sign that is far away. With the 5x lens, you get a substantial zoom that makes a difference. It is a great new feature.
Portrait mode, anytime
A camera improvement for all four of the new iPhone 15 models is that you no longer have to select Portrait Mode before you take a picture to achieve a blurred background, the bokeh effect. Now, just take a picture in the normal camera mode. After you take the picture, tap the Edit button in the Photos app. If the iPhone sees a person or a pet, the iPhone will let you blur the background using the depth information that was captured automatically.
I love this change. In the past, it was always difficult to decide before I took a picture which mode I would want to use, which often resulted in me taking the picture twice, once in each mode. Now, I can make all of those decisions later when I am reviewing and editing my pictures.
By the way, this effect also seems to be better than ever, presumably because of the improved A17 Pro processor, even in difficult areas like the edges of curly hair.
USB-C
Another major change for all of the iPhone 15 phones is the use of USB-C instead of Lightning. When you first get one of these phones, it means that you need to change some cords. I forgot to change the cord in my car, so when I got into my car on Friday afternoon and tried to use CarPlay, I realized that I needed a different cord (USB to USB-C) that I didn’t have with me.
But once I got past these initial hiccups, I appreciated moving even closer to the day when all of my devices use the same connector.
Also, for the times when you need to transfer video to and from a computer, the support for USB-C 3 with 10Gbit per second speed is nice and makes a big difference.
Action button
This year, Apple replaced the ringer switch with an Action Button. When you hold down on the button, an action happens. That action can be turning the ringer on or off if you want. But it can also do just about anything else.
For now, I have the Action Button configured to launch the Camera app. This was especially nice this past weekend when I took lots of pictures to try out the improved camera. Regardless of whether my iPhone was locked or in use, and no matter what it was doing, all I had to do is press that button to launch the Camera. And then in the Camera app, I could press that same button to take a picture.
In the future, I may try associating the Action Button with a sophisticated Shortcut, perhaps even one that does different things at different times of the day. But for now, I’m happy with it launching the Camera.
One small surprise: although the Action Button is the same size as the switch that it replaces, I’m used to the larger volume and power buttons on the iPhone. As a result, the Action Button seems too small. I’m sure that is something that I will get more used to over time.
Larger screen
I know that other folks have been using a larger iPhone for many, many years, but it is a new experience for me. I’ll need to spend far more than a single weekend with this new phone to really see what I really think. So far, however, I like it. Yes, holding a larger phone in my hand is a different experience, but it isn’t uncomfortable, especially thanks to the new softer edge. And when I am looking at the screen, the extra real estate is a valuable. I started in the default mode, where I could see more on the screen at one time, such as an extra row when looking my Inbox in the Mail app. Then I switched to the Larger Text Display Mode zoom in Settings, which means that I see essentially the same amount on the screen as with my iPhone 14 Pro but everything is bigger, so I don’t have to hold the iPhone quite so close to my face to see it. I’m not yet sure which mode I will stick with, but it is the larger screen that makes them both possible.
Of course, a larger iPhone screen is no match for an iPad. But when all that you have with you is your iPhone, it can be nice for that iPhone to have a larger screen. For example, this weekend I did not only the Saturday but even the Sunday New York Times crossword puzzle (with my wife’s help!) on my iPhone, and the larger screen made a big difference in making the small boxes legible.
When I am wearing a button-down shirt, I virtually always carry my iPhone in a shirt pocket. I feared that the larger iPhone would be too big for that, but so far, that doesn’t appear to be a problem.
I told myself that if this larger iPhone seemed wrong for me, I would return it and replace it with an iPhone 15 Pro during the first two weeks when returns are easy. I’ve already decided not to do that because my initial impressions are mostly positive. The real test will come this time next year when I make the decision on whether to stick with a Max size for what I imagine will be called the iPhone 16. But for now … so far, so good.
Conclusion
The iPhone 15 Pro Max is a great new iPhone. With the titanium finish, new design, 5x lens, Action Button, better portrait mode, and USB-C, there are plenty of meaningful changes that make this year’s model seem like a real step up. And if you haven’t tried a larger iPhone size in the past but you are curious about doing so, this is the best year ever to make that transition.
We just finished a huge week of Apple hardware and software releases, which means that we are no longer just thinking about upcoming new features—we are now actually using the new software and hardware. As a result, Brett Burney I had lot of interesting things to discuss on this week’s episode of the In the News Podcast. We started by discussing some of the best new features of iOS 17 and the other new software releases. Next, we discuss the new iPhone 15 models, and the timing of this discussion in the episode could not have been better because my new iPhone 15 Pro Max arrived just as we were beginning that discussion. As a result, if you watch the version of this week’s episode on YouTube, you can see one of the few live unboxing videos that was in no way pre-planned! We also talk about our initial thoughts on the new features added to the AirPods Pro, as well as other recent changes to Apple products like the HomePod and Apple TV.
This episode is sponsored by SaneBox, and Brett and I both explained why the @SaneNews folder makes such a dramatic difference when you are reading your emails because everything is pre-sorted. Imagine having an assistant pre-sort your physical mail so that you can go through it more efficiently; that is the idea. Go to sanebox.com/inthenews to sign up for a free trial and get a $25 credit toward a SaneBox subscription.
In our In the Know segment, Brett identifies some of the great new features in Safari in iOS 17 and iPadOS 17. I describe the level indicator in the Camera app in iOS 17 and how it makes it so incredibly easy to take perfectly level photos.
