Apple News+ includes a feature that lets you download your favorite magazines for offline reading so you can check them out even when you don't have a WiFi or cellular connection, such as while on a flight.
Choose a magazine, either from your My Magazines list, the search feature in Apple News, or the browse feature in the Apple News+ section.
Tap on the download icon underneath the magazine's title. It looks like a little cloud with an arrow through it.
Tapping on the download icon will make the magazine available to read offline.
You can use the browse feature or the My Magazines feature to add current issues for offline reading, but make sure to use the search feature or tap a magazine's name when reading it to go to the main overview that will let you download past magazine issues.
For more on Apple News+, make sure to check out our dedicated Apple News+ guide. Apple News users can follow MacRumors on Apple News using this link.
The Apple News+ service lets you access current and past issues of more than 200 magazines, but the interface for the app is a bit confusing and it can be hard to find past issues.
There are a couple methods that will let you see back issues of magazines, which we've outlined below.
Accessing Back Issues Through a Magazine's Overview Page
Every magazine has an overview page in Apple News+, and though it's not immediately obvious, it's easy to get to.
Open up Apple News.
Select the Apple News+ section.
Tap on any magazine that you want to read.
Tap on the title of the magazine at the top of the app.
This method will let you see the overview page for the magazine, where all back issues are listed. You can swipe to scroll through them and tap the download icon to download them for offline reading.
Accessing Back Issues Through Search
You can get to the same magazine overview page through the search function in Apple News, without having to open up a magazine.
Open Apple News.
Access search. On iPad, it's on the sidebar. On iPhone, it's under the "Following" tab.
Search for the magazine you want to find.
Tap the magazine's name.
All of the back issues for the magazine will be listed under "Recent Issues," and you can swipe through them as mentioned above.
While Texture users had issues dating back years, Apple News+ is limited to issues of magazines from March 2018 on, which is the date when Apple acquired the Texture app.
Back issues before March 2018 are not available within Apple News+, but going forward, Apple will presumably continue to keep older issues of magazines available.
For more on Apple News+, make sure to check out our dedicated Apple News+ guide. Apple News users can follow MacRumors on Apple News using this link.
Apple makes a keyboard designed for the 11 and 12.9-inch iPad Pro models, the Smart Keyboard Folio, but some people dislike it because of the thin keys, the lack of key travel, and the high price tag. For those who don't like the Smart Keyboard, Logitech has designed the Slim Folio Pro, a new keyboard case available for the 2018 iPad Pro models.
Logitech's Slim Folio Pro is more affordable than Apple's Smart Keyboard, with the 11-inch version priced at $120 and the 12.9-inch model priced at $130. For comparison's sake, Apple charges $179 for its 11-inch Slim Folio Keyboard and $199 for the 12.9-inch model.
Design wise, the Logitech Slim Folio Pro is a lot thicker than the Apple Smart Folio Keyboard and it adds quite a bit of weight and bulk to my iPad. I am not and have not ever been a fan of thick cases that add a lot of extra weight to my devices, and for my iPads, I almost always go case free and use a Smart Cover. With my iPad Pro, I've been using Apple's Folio, which is already more thickness than I like.
If you're like me and prefer devices with thin cases or with no case, the Logitech Slim Folio Pro probably isn't going to be what you're looking for, but let me go into a bit more detail on how it works and how it looks on the iPad.
Like the Smart Folio Keyboard from Apple, the Slim Folio Pro is available in dark gray. It would be nice to have color options, but the gray is an appropriate neutral color. The Slim Folio Pro connects to the iPad Pro using Bluetooth, so you're going to need to set it up in the Settings app the first time you use it. After that, though, it connects quickly when you put it in typing mode and start to use it.
There's a base rubber and plastic case that the iPad Pro fits into, which provides protection for the iPad when it's not in use. There's thick rubber at the corners and on the left side, but on the right, there's an open space because that's where the Apple Pencil 2 goes for charging purposes. The top and bottom are also left open because of the speakers and the USB-C port.
At Macworld Boston in 1993, Apple introduced a prototype device called the Wizzy Active Lifestyle Telephone, or the W.A.L.T., the company's first desktop telephone and, like the Newton, a precursor to the iPhone.
Little is known about the W.A.L.T., and while it's been seen in images, there's never been a video of it in action, until today. Sonny Dickson this morning shared a video that shows the W.A.L.T. being used, and it's a fascinating look at early Apple technology.
Unsurprisingly, the W.A.L.T. takes a while to start up given its age, but it's functional, running Mac System 6. The W.A.L.T. featured a touchscreen, fax functionality, on-display caller ID, a built-in address book, customizable ringtones, and online banking access.
As shown in the video, it had a series of hardware buttons for activating various functions, and it worked with a connected stylus that could be used for navigation and writing. There's a ton of lag when using the stylus, though, so writing doesn't look great.
The video walks through many of the available operating system options, from a user identification card to fax settings, which included options for customizing notifications, creating greetings, and more.
W.A.L.T., which was designed with telephone company BellSouth, was made from PowerBook 100 parts, and according to Dickson, prototypes came with an "unusual" manual that included basic instructions like "Do not use WALT near water" and "Do not drop WALT."
Apple shelved W.A.L.T. and ultimately did not release the device, but the remaining prototypes provide an interesting look back at Apple's development efforts more than 25 years ago.
Dickson also has a selection of photos showing the hardware inside of the W.A.L.T., which are well worth checking out if you're interested in classic Apple hardware.
Apple this month added Jaunt VR founder Arthur van Hoff to its AR/VR team, according to van Hoff's updated LinkedIn profile that was first noticed by Variety.
Van Hoff is now working as a senior architect at Apple, with no other detail provided. His company, Jaunt VR, created VR capture hardware, including a $100,000 3D VR camera, the Jaunt One.
Rumors of troubles at the company started in 2018, and in October, Jaunt VR let go of much of its staff, pivoting from VR hardware to augmented reality. Jaunt is now focusing on building a platform for the scaled creation of AR content.
At the time, van Hoff said he would be leaving Jaunt by the end of 2018, and it appears he ended up at Apple instead. It's not clear specifically what he's doing at the Cupertino company, but given his expertise in AR and VR, he's likely joined Apple's augmented and virtual reality efforts.
Prior to founding Jaunt, van Hoff was CTO of Flipboard, software and services CTO at Dell, and an engineer at TiVo.
Rumors have suggested Apple is working on developing a set of AR smart glasses, which could be released as soon as 2020. Apple also has other AR/VR prototypes in the works, and there have been mixed rumors that have also pointed towards the possibility of some kind of virtual reality hardware product in the future.
Apple today seeded the second beta of an upcoming macOS Mojave 10.14.5 update to its public beta testing group, a day after seeding the beta to developers and a little over a week after releasing the first macOS Mojave 10.14.5 public beta.
The macOS Mojave update can be downloaded using the Software Update mechanism in the Mac App Store after downloading the appropriate profile from Apple's beta testing website. Apple's beta testing site gives users access to iOS, macOS, and tvOS betas.
We don't yet know what improvements the macOS Mojave 10.14.5 update will bring, but it likely focuses on bug fixes and performance improvements for issues that weren't able to be fixed in the macOS 10.14.4 update.
There were no notable features found in the first two developer betas of macOS Mojave 10.14.5.
Apple today seeded the second beta of an upcoming iOS 12.3 update to its public beta testing group, one day after seeding the beta to developers and a little over a week after releasing the first public beta.
Beta testers who have joined Apple's beta testing program will receive the iOS 12.3 beta update over-the-air after installing the proper certificate on an iOS device.
Those who want to download the new beta can do so after signing up for the beta program, which gives access to iOS, macOS, and tvOS betas.
iOS 12.3 brings the new TV app that Apple first introduced at its March 25 event. The TV app is an updated version of the original TV app, offering up TV shows, movies, sports, news, and more all in one easy-to-access spot.
The updated TV app has improved content recommendations available through a new "For You" section in the app, which will suggest shows and movies you'll like based on your past watched history.
There's also a new feature called Channels. Channels are subscription services that you can sign up for and watch in the TV app without having to open up another app. Some of the new Channels include CBS All Access, Starz, Showtime, HBO, Nickelodeon, Mubi, The History Channel Vault, and Comedy Central Now. During the beta, users can subscribe to Showtime, Starz, Smithsonian, and Tastemade.
In the future, the TV app will also house Apple TV+, Apple's upcoming streaming service for its original TV shows and movies.
Apple today seeded the second beta of an upcoming tvOS 12.3 update to its public beta testing group, one day after providing the beta to developers and a little over a week after seeding the first public beta.
The tvOS 12.3 public beta can be obtained by going to the Settings app on the Apple TV and navigating to the Software Updates section under "System." "Get Public Beta Updates" will need to be toggled on, and once it is, the Apple TV will download the beta software.
tvOS 12.3 includes the revamped Apple TV app that Apple debuted at its services-focused event on Monday. The new TV app is a better version of the original TV app, offering up access to TV shows, sports, news, and more in one spot.
There's still a "Watch Now" section with an "Up Next" feature for keeping track of what you're in the middle of watching, but there's a new "For You" feature that recommends new content based on what you've previously watched.
A new "Channels" option lets you subscribe to third-party services like Showtime, Starz, and HBO right within the TV app, and you can even watch all of the content from the services included in Channels right in the TV app without having to open a third-party app.
Channels will include CBS All Access, Starz, Showtime, HBO, Nickelodeon, Mubi, The History Channel Vault, and Comedy Central Now, but during the beta, only Showtime, Starz, Smithsonian, and Tastemade are accessible. You can subscribe in the TV app and get a one-week free trial before you're charged.
The TV app is on the Apple TV and iOS devices, and it's even available on the third-generation Apple TV through an upcoming software update that Apple plans to release. Apple has said the new TV app is coming in May, so we can expect tvOS 12.3 to be released then.
Apple is now offering data migration services for free when customers purchase a new Mac or need to have a Mac replaced for repair reasons. Prior to this month, data migration was priced at $99.
TidBITS heard about the policy change from a reader and was able to confirm it with an Apple Store Operations Specialist.
Beginning April 2, there will be no cost for Data Migrations with the purchase of a new Mac or Data Transfers with a repair.
As 9to5Mac points out, data migration was included as a feature in Apple's One to One program, which was shut down in 2015. One to One allowed customers to pay $99 when purchasing a new Mac to get a year's worth of instruction and help. When Apple ended One to One, data migration was still available as a one-time $99 service.
Going forward, Apple store employees will be able to help new Mac buyers move information from their old machine to their new machine. Apple also offers do-it-yourself migration software in the form of the Migration Assistant offered when setting up a new Mac.
LG is set to launch its new G8 smartphone this Thursday, and ahead of launch, we've gotten our hands on one to try out the smartphone's new Air Motion features, which are touchless gesture-based controls.
Apple has been rumored to be working on such a feature for future iPhones, so we thought we'd see how LG's version works as a glimpse of what we might be able to expect from Apple in the future.
Air Motion is designed to let you use different hand positions, shapes, and gestures to do things like open apps, control media playback, take screenshots, answer phone calls, silence alarms, and more.
It's super cool in theory, but in practice, it's not exactly simple to use because you need to get the LG G8 to recognize the proper gesture. In our testing, it took quite a bit of time for us to learn how to use the gestures, and even now, we haven't mastered it.
You need to hold your hands pretty close to the G8's display for Air Motion gestures to activate, and the smartphone lets you know that it's waiting for a hand movement when there's a multicolored bar at the top of the screen.
Once the gesture mode is activated you can move your hands back, but need to keep them within the gesture circle. If that sounds confusing, well, it is, but the Air Motion feature does get easier to use over time.
Gesturing is no faster than picking up the phone and opening an app or changing the volume in most cases, so this certainly feels more gimmicky than something useful at the current time. It has the potential to be useful if your hands are dirty or wet, but most of the time, it's not a feature most people are likely to use.
Along with gestures, the LG G8 also has a "Hand ID" feature for reading the veins on a person's hands to unlock the smartphone. Hand ID is certainly unique in the world of smartphone biometrics, and it's limited to unlocking - you can't authenticate payments or replace app passwords and will need to use the more traditional fingerprint sensor for that.
Hand ID requires a hand to be placed palm up toward the front facing camera of the smartphone for your vein placement to be read, but, unfortunately, it's as hard to use as Air Motion, if not harder.
A 2018 rumor from Bloomberg suggested Apple is working on iPhones that will use touchless gesture controls, allowing users to hover over the iPhone to navigate through the iOS operating system using a finger, but without having to touch the display.
At the time, it was compared to Samsung's Air Gestures in Android smartphones that let users do things like jump between web pages, swipe between pictures, pages, or music tracks, accept calls, and more.
If Apple moves forward with that rumored gesture technology, it could show up in iPhones as early as 2020, according to Bloomberg's two-year timeline for the feature. It's not yet clear if Apple is continuing to experiment with gestures, though, as we haven't heard any information on such a feature coming to the 2020 iPhone lineup.
What do you think of the LG G8? Are touch-free gestures something you'd like to see in a future iPhone? Let us know in the comments.
In January, Netflix announced that it was raising the prices for all of its subscription tiers, making the popular "Standard" tier increase from $10.99/month to $12.99/month. This change took effect immediately for new customers signing up for Netflix, while existing customers were grandfathered into their prices for a limited time.
That time is now almost up, as Netflix has begun emailing grandfathered customers on the day of their subscription renewal, warning them that their monthly subscription cost will be going up in May. A warning will also appear within the Netflix mobile app. This change affects all tiers: the cheap "Basic" tier will rise from $7.99 to $8.99/month, the popular HD "Standard" tier will rise from $10.99 to $12.99/month, and the 4K "Premium" tier will rise from $13.99 to $15.99/month.
In the email, Netflix says that this price hike is required to improve the service so that subscribers can have "even more" TV shows and movies to enjoy. Netflix has been quickly increasing the amount of original content on its service as third parties remove their films and TV shows and create their own streaming platforms, like Disney has done for its upcoming service Disney+. In order to fund all of the original productions, subscription costs have now increased for all Netflix users.
We hope you have been enjoying your Netflix membership. We are writing to let you know about an upcoming change. Your monthly price is increasing to $12.99 on Thursday, May 9th 2019. Why? We’re hard at work improving Netflix so that you can have even more great TV shows and movies to enjoy.
Here’s to watching what you want, when you want, where you want. You can change your plan, or if you do not wish to continue your membership, as always you can cancel any time at netflix.com/cancel. We're here to help if you need it. Visit the Help Center for more info or contact us.
–The Netflix Team
This new price hike represents a jump of between 13 percent and 18 percent, which is Netflix's biggest price increase since it launched streaming 12 years ago. According to a CNBC report, Netflix will also use the extra cash to finance debt that it's recently taken on to "ward off streaming threats" from rivals like Apple, which just revealed its Apple TV+ streaming service that's set to launch later in 2019.
As of 2019, this is the fourth price hike for Netflix subscribers in the streaming service's history. The HD Standard tier was priced at $7.99/month, rose to $8.99/month in 2014, and then to $9.99/month in 2016, when CEO Reed Hastings reported an "unexpected" loss of subscribers due to the hike. In November 2017 the tier rose to $10.99/month, and now it will be priced at $12.99/month.
Several years ago, Leander Kahney released a well-received biography of Jony Ive, outlining how the publicity-shy "genius behind Apple's greatest products" came to play such a prominent role at Apple. Kahney painstakingly researched Ive's background, interviewing numerous friends and acquaintances from various stages of his life to put together a portrait of Apple's design guru.
Kahney has now returned with another biography of an Apple executive, and this time he has his sights focused on CEO Tim Cook. Like Ive, Cook is an intensely private person, but Kahney spoke with a number of friends and family members, as well as former coworkers and even a few current Apple executives to learn more about the leader who has had the gargantuan task of following Steve Jobs.
While Apple has had some considerable successes under Cook, some have been critical of the direction the company has taken under his leadership, whether it be product missteps, a perceived lack of innovation, or changes in the company's focus. Kahney finds little to dislike about Cook's tenure, however, as is made immediately clear by his book's title: Tim Cook: The Genius Who Took Apple to the Next Level.
Kahney centers his book around six values he argues "provide the foundation" for Cook's leadership at Apple: accessibility, education, environment, inclusion and diversity, privacy and security, and supplier responsibility.
After a quick look at Cook's 2011 elevation to the CEO position and the death of Steve Jobs, the book delves into Cook's history, starting with his upbringing in Alabama and his time at IBM and Compaq.
The book then looks at his decision to join Apple upon the return of Jobs when the company was still on the brink of bankruptcy, and his operations prowess that saw Apple streamline and outsource its manufacturing, radically improving efficiency and allowing for the scale of growth Apple was to experience.
The bulk of the biography covers Cook's time as Apple CEO, highlighting his transition into the role and some of the early major product announcements like iPhones, Apple Pay, the Apple Watch, and more. The book's focus then turns to broader themes like Cook's emphasis on the environment and sustainability, privacy and the fight with the FBI over creating a backdoor into iOS, and efforts at increasing diversity.
The book wraps up with a look at Apple Park and the company's work on self-driving car technology, and ultimately asks whether Cook is the best CEO Apple has ever had. Analyst Horace Dediu believes that he is, arguing that Jobs was "always the head of product" and "never really a CEO." That emphasis was needed when Apple was fighting for survival, but as Apple got back on its feet, Jobs largely turned over the day-to-day operation of the company to Cook, and Cook's generalist perspective has been what the company needs now that it has matured.
While the book does highlight a few missteps along the way, The Genius Who Took Apple to the Next Level is overall a glowing portrait of Cook and the job he has done leading Apple. You can agree or disagree with that conclusion, but either way, it's an interesting look at one of the most important figures in Apple's history and a story that hasn't really been told at length until now.
With material drawn from those who knew Cook in his early days, as well as current and former Apple executives like Lisa Jackson, Greg Joswiak, Deirdre O'Brien, and Bruce Sewell, Kahney does a good job of weaving new bits of information into parts of the narrative that are already well known.
If you're interested in hearing more from Kahney about his book and the process of writing it, we held an "Ask Me Anything" session with him in our forums earlier today. Stop by our forums to see what questions our readers had for him and what he had to say.
Penguin Books has also graciously agreed to offer ten copies of Tim Cook: The Genius Who Took Apple to the Next Level as part of a giveaway. To enter to win, use the widget below and enter an email address. Email addresses will be used solely for contact purposes to reach the winners and send the prizes. You can earn additional entries by subscribing to our weekly newsletter, subscribing to our YouTube channel, following us on Twitter, following us on Instagram, or visiting the MacRumorsFacebook page. By request of the publisher, only U.S. residents who are 18 years or older are eligible to enter.
The contest will run from today (April 9) at 7:00 a.m. Pacific Time through 7:00 a.m. Pacific Time on April 16. The winners will be chosen randomly on April 16 and will be contacted by email. The winners will have 48 hours to respond and provide a shipping address before new winners are chosen.
For those interested in purchasing the book, it launches next Tuesday, April 16, but you can pre-order now through Amazon, Apple's Book Store, and other outlets.
First shown off at CES, the Eve Energy Strip has three HomeKit-connected outlets that can be controlled individually or all at once, so you can make three non-HomeKit products HomeKit-compatible.
Eve Energy Strip, which connects to a HomeKit setup over WiFi, is ideal for any non-HomeKit product, allowing whatever is plugged into it to be controlled using the Home app, the Eve app, or Siri voice commands.
Along with adding HomeKit controls to existing accessories, Eve Energy Strip is able to track total power consumption and projected cost for running an accessory.
Eve Energy Strip features a black matte body with an aluminum frame and a 6.3-foot cable. Eve says the outlets were designed at an optimum angle and with generous spacing so even bulky power supplies can be plugged in without obstructing a second socket.
Three white LED buttons at the end of the Energy Strip display the socket's power status and allow for manually turning an accessory on or off. Eve Energy is equipped with protection against power surges, overcurrent, and overvoltage.
The team behind Pixelmator, the popular photo editing app designed for Mac and iOS, today announced the upcoming launch of a new app, Pixelmator Photo.
Pixelmator Photo is an app designed to allow photographers to edit images on the iPad with a collection of nondestructive color adjustment tools that match those available through the Pixelmator desktop app. Pixelmator Photo was designed specifically for the iPad and takes advantage of Apple's latest iOS technologies.
It features AI-based auto enhancing tools, RAW support, a repair tool for removing unwanted objects from photos, and preset filters inspired by analog film.
There are tools for adjusting brightness, exposure, hue, saturation, vibrance, shadows, and highlights, and there are standard features you'd expect to find in any photo editing app like levels and curves, plus options for selectively adjusting colors, fixing white balance, cropping, and more.
The ML Enhance tool powered by machine learning automatically enhances and crops photographs using a Core-ML powered algorithm that the Pixelmator team trained with 20 million professional photos. It fixes white balance, exposure, and individual color range in each image, while also cropping photos to the ideal composition.
Pixelmator has always had a powerful repair tool, which has been brought to Pixelmator Photo. It can be used to remove blemishes or cut out whole objects accurately from photos while preserving the background.
The app offers a collection of presets inspired by different photography styles, including black and white, cinematic to emulate the orange and teal film look, classic films based on classic film looks, and modern films for a more modern style. There are also presets for landscape shots, urban shots, and night shots, plus users can save their own custom presets.
Pixelmator Photo can be pre-ordered for $3.99, a $1 discount off of the $4.99 launch price. The deal will end when the app becomes available on April 9. [Direct Link]
Update: MacRumors has received Kuo's research note and it refers to a 31.6-inch monitor as we originally reported. DigiTimes incorrectly referred to this product as a 31.6-inch iMac. There is no mention of an iMac.
Apple will switch to mini LED backlighting for a raft of hardware coming over the next three years including a 31.6-inch iMac to be launched in the second or third quarter of 2019, reports DigiTimes this morning.
Apple will adopt mini LED backlighting for a 31.6-inch iMac to be launched in the second or third quarter of 2019, a 10- to 12-inch iPad to be unveiled in fourth-quarter 2020 or first-quarter 2021, and a 15- to 17-inch MacBook to be introduced in first-half 2021, according to a analyst Kuo Ming-chi at TF International Securities.
Today's DigiTimes report cites comments made by well-known analyst Ming-Chi Kuo to local media, a machine translation of which we covered on Monday. That report, which carried a warning of possible mistranslation, referred to a 31.6-inch 6K standalone display, but DigiTimes refers multiple times to an iMac with the same dimensions.
The report goes on to note that Apple is settling on mini LED technology for its wide color gamut, high contrast ratio, high dynamic range and local dimming.
The backlight unit (BLU) to be used in the 31.6-inch iMac will be made of about 500 LED chips of 600 microns in size, with Japan-based Nichia to supply the LEDs, Kuo said.
Strictly speaking, this is a quasi-mini LED BLU because the chip size is much larger than those of standard mini LEDs, according to industry sources. However, the use of such a BLU will give opportunities for the supply chain to improve mini LED production in cost and yield rate, the sources noted.
More than 10,000 mini LEDs will be needed for the "10- to 12-inch iPad," according to the report, and these LEDs will be made by Epistar. Meanwhile, LCD panels will come from LG Display and BLUs by Radiant Opto-Electronics, and all three companies will form parts of the supply chain for the mini LED-backlit MacBook.
Apple has given a straight to series order for eight episodes of "Lisey's Story," a TV show based on the Stephen King novel of the same name, reports The Hollywood Reporter.
Julianne Moore is set to star in the series, while Stephen King will write all eight episodes in addition to executive producing. As The Hollywood Reporter points out, King does not often write for TV shows, making "Lisey's Story" notable.
In the past, King has called "Lisey's Story" one of his favorite books, and one that he'd love to see turned into a television series.
The novel, which is a psychological horror with romance elements, is split between Lisey's life in the present time and her dead husband's life (a famous novelist) as she remembers it. Lisey begans to remember things about her husband that she had suppressed while being terrorized in the present by a former fan of her husband's.
Along with King and Moore, the series also boasts J.J. Abrams and Ben Stephenson of Bad Robot Productions as executive producers. This is the third series Abrams is working on for Apple, as he is also developing "Little Voice" with Sara Bareilles and "My Glory Was I Had Such Friends" with Jennifer Garner.
Julianne Moore has recently starred in movies that include "Kingsman: The Golden Circle," "Bel Canto," "Gloria Bell," and "Suburbicon," but she has not been in a television series since her stint on "As the World Turns" in the 80s, with the exception of a few appearances on "30 Rock."
Apple currently has more than two dozen television shows in the works for its upcoming Apple TV+ service, which is set to debut this fall. We have a running list of all of the TV shows and movies that Apple is working on available in our original content guide.
The HomeKit ecosystem may seem daunting and confusing if you're unfamiliar with smart home products, their functionality, and their benefits, but getting started is actually simple and straightforward. Learning the ins and outs of HomeKit after setup does take a bit of effort, but it's not a difficult process and having interlinked electronics that can interact with each other and be automated can save time and really streamline your life.
What is HomeKit?
HomeKit is Apple's smart home platform, which is designed to let you control various internet-connected home devices -- ranging from thermostats and plugs to window blinds, light bulbs, and more -- with Apple devices.
These days, more and more products are internet connected, which is why you've heard the phrase "Internet of Things." The Internet of Things is a confusing mix of "smart" products that connect to the internet and can be controlled by a range of different platforms, from Amazon's Alexa to Google Home to Samsung SmartThings.
HomeKit is Apple's "Internet of Things" solution that connects HomeKit-enabled smart accessories together in a way that lets you operate them using your Apple products.
What You Can Do With HomeKit
HomeKit isn't a product or software; it's a framework that links smart home products together and adds new capabilities to devices like lights, locks, cameras, thermostats, plugs, and more. HomeKit lets you control smart home products using apps on your iPhone, iPad, or Mac, or simple Siri voice commands.
While controlling smart home products with Siri or with an iPhone is convenient, the real magic of HomeKit comes when you have multiple HomeKit-enabled products because you can control them all at once using scenes or set up automations so that they activate automatically.
You can, for example, create a "Good night" scene that makes sure the doors are locked, closes the garage, turns off the lights, lowers the thermostat, and then activates a night light whenever motion is detected. With automation, you can set individual HomeKit devices to come on or off at specific times, or you can set entire scenes, like the aforementioned "Good night" scene to come on at a set time.
HomeKit setups, scenes, and automations can be as complex or as simple as you like, and now that HomeKit is in its fifth year of availability, there are all kinds of HomeKit products you can purchase. With a bit of time and some money, you can have a whole smart home ecosystem that's streamlined, automated, and easy to control.
Setting It Up
Getting started with HomeKit is as simple as purchasing any HomeKit-enabled device, whether it be a smart plug, light bulb, AirPlay 2 speaker, Apple TV, HomePod, HomePod mini, thermostat, or something else.
From there, open up the "Home" app, which comes pre-installed on all iOS devices. Tap on the "Add Accessory" button that's on the main screen of the Home app, and then follow the steps after it opens up to the rear camera.
All HomeKit products come with a HomeKit QR code on them, which you need to scan with the camera. Scanning the HomeKit code adds a device to the HomeKit framework, and then you can follow a few additional steps to assign it to a room, a necessary step for organizing your HomeKit devices.
How HomeKit Devices Connect
HomeKit devices connect to your HomeKit setup through Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, Thread, or a hub that connects to Wi-Fi. Many HomeKit devices in the United States use WiFi or connect to a hub over WiFi. Hue light bulbs, for example, use a hub, while smart lights from other brands like LIFX use WiFi.
There are some devices that connect over Bluetooth, and with Bluetooth devices, it's worth noting that you're going to need home hubs to extend connectivity, otherwise connection range can be rather limited. Home hubs include the Apple TV, HomePod, and HomePod mini. There's also the new "Thread" protocol that's emerging that more seamlessly connects your devices without the need for the delays of WiFi or Bluetooth.
Types of HomeKit Devices
There are all kinds of HomeKit devices on the market, some that are more capable than others. The following HomeKit categories are available:
Lights
Switches
Outlets
Thermostats
Window Blinds
Fans
Air Conditioners
Humidifiers
Air Purifiers
Sensors
Locks
Cameras
Doorbells
Garage Doors
Sprinklers
Speakers
Routers
TVs
Apple maintains a full list of HomeKit-compatible devices on its website, complete with links, so this is the best place to get an overview of all of the different HomeKit devices that you can put in your home.
Smart home devices that are compatible with HomeKit will have "Works with Apple Homekit" labeling on the packaging to make it clear that they support HomeKit.
Using HomeKit requires an iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch running the latest version of iOS, along with at least one HomeKit-enabled device.
Using the Home app on the Mac requires macOS Mojave or later, and to control devices when away from home, an Apple TV, HomePod, or HomePod mini is required to serve as a Home Hub.
Ways to Control Your HomeKit Devices
The great thing about HomeKit is the myriad ways that you can control your HomeKit compatible devices.
You can use Siri voice commands on the iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac, Apple Watch, HomePod, or Apple TV to ask Siri to complete HomeKit tasks.
Devices can be controlled manually in the Home app, or in the app that comes with the device. Each HomeKit device will have an app downloadable from the iOS App Store that offers a way to control it.
You can also purchase HomeKit-enabled button-type devices that serve as remotes to activate HomeKit scenes physically, and there are switches for controlling HomeKit products such as lights.
HomeKit Secure Video
Apple in iOS 13 introduced HomeKit Secure Video, an API that uses the iPad, Apple TV, or HomePod to analyze video captured by compatible smart home cameras right in your home.
Video feeds are encrypted end-to-end and uploaded to iCloud, which means you alone can see the video footage without the risk of hackers accessing it. Multiple camera manufacturers, including Eufy, Eve, and Logitech have debuted HomeKit Secure Video cameras.
Using HomeKit Secure Video requires a paid iCloud plan, priced starting at $0.99 per month. The 50GB $0.99 plan allows you to connect one HomeKit Secure Video camera, while the $2.99 per month plan allows for up to five cameras. With the $9.99 per month plan, you can connect an unlimited number of HomeKit Secure Video Cameras, and with all of these plans, none of the stored video footage counts against your iCloud storage.
Security and privacy are topics that Apple takes seriously, and thus every manufacturer that creates a HomeKit-compatible device has to follow Apple's security guidelines, better ensuring your devices are safe from hackers.
Apple's commitment to privacy and demand that HomeKit products be secure is reassuring at a time when our homes are filled with smart devices that can hear us and see us.
For a long time, Apple required all HomeKit products to include a hardware-based HomeKit authentication coprocessor for HomeKit certification, and many HomeKit devices continue to offer this. In 2017, Apple began allowing manufacturers to obtain HomeKit certification with software-based authentication, but HomeKit is no less secure as a result.
All HomeKit devices use the same security features, including end-to-end encryption, non-reusable encryption keys, and two-way authentication (Apple verifies your HomeKit device and your HomeKit device verifies your Apple device) when connecting to a HomeKit setup.
A HomeKit camera, for example, sends video and audio streams directly to an iOS device and those streams are encrypted using randomly generated keys to prevent someone from intercepting your video feed.
All HomeKit data stored on your devices is fully encrypted, and HomeKit syncing between devices is done via iCloud and iCloud Keychain, both of which have their own security. Apple also must approve each and every device that gets the HomeKit labeling. In a nutshell, Apple has worked to make HomeKit a secure smart home platform that people can trust.
HomeKit is not without its bugs, though, and there have been some security snafus. In December 2017, there was a bug that left HomeKit accessories vulnerable to unauthorized access, but Apple was quick to fix it.
For those interested, the nitty gritty details about HomeKit security are available in Apple's iOS Security Guide and are well worth checking out if you have security concerns about using smart home devices. [PDF]
Solving HomeKit Connectivity Problems
When using HomeKit devices, you might sometimes see an error that a device is unreachable in the Home app or have other problems connecting to a HomeKit product.
The Home app, and most HomeKit apps that accompany HomeKit products, provide very little info on why a HomeKit product isn't working properly or connecting to your network, which can make troubleshooting HomeKit issues frustrating.
There are a few basic steps you can follow that will sometimes solve connectivity issues.
Make sure the HomeKit device has power, is turned on, and is in range of your router if it's a Wi-Fi device.
Turn the HomeKit device off, wait a good 10 seconds, and turn it back on. Do the same thing with your iPhone or other device you're attempting to use with HomeKit.
Check the Wi-Fi connection and reset your router. Make sure your iOS device is up to date, connected to the internet, and that you're signed into iCloud.
Make sure your HomeKit device is on the right Wi-Fi band. There are a lot of HomeKit devices that are 2.4GHz while most devices connect to 5GHz networks, and that can sometimes cause problems. If you have a 2.4GHz accessory, make sure it's on the 2.4GHz network. Steps for this will vary based on your setup.
Remove the device from HomeKit in the Home app and then re-add it by scanning it. For some HomeKit products, this is probably a last resort step because it eliminates scenes and automations.
Remove the device from HomeKit and reset it. This is a step that's necessary when removing some HomeKit devices from a HomeKit setup. You're going to need to consult the manual of your device because resetting is different on every product.
If none of these steps work, you're going to want to contact the support staff for whichever product you're having problems with to get further information on what to do for troubleshooting purposes.
Many HomeKit manufacturers have online troubleshooting databases, so in some cases, you can just Google for a solution.
There are more drastic steps to take, such as logging in and out of iCloud or resetting your entire HomeKit setup, but we recommend contacting a manufacturer before trying these last resort options just because of the hassle involved.
Discuss HomeKit
Have a setup question or a HomeKit issue you just can't figure out? You might want to check out the HomeKit forums on the MacRumors site for additional help. There are quite a few HomeKit users on the forums, and most people are happy to help.
Guide Feedback
Want to offer feedback on this guide, ask for feature additions, or point out an error? Send us an email here.
Apple today released updated developer documentation letting developers know that as of macOS 10.14.5, all new software distributed with a new Developer ID must be notarized in order to run.
Apple plans to make notarization a default requirement for all software in the future.
Beginning in macOS 10.14.5, all new or updated kernel extensions and all software from developers new to distributing with Developer ID must be notarized in order to run. In a future version of macOS, notarization will be required by default for all software.
Notarization is a new concept introduced in macOS Mojave for apps distributed outside of the Mac App Store with the aim of protecting users from malicious Mac apps.
Mac app developers are encouraged to submit their apps to Apple to be notarized, and an Apple-notarized app includes a more streamlined Gatekeeper dialog to reassure users that an app is not known malware.
Apple provides trusted non Mac App Store developers with Developer IDs that are required to allow the Gatekeeper function on macOS to install non Mac App Store apps without extra warnings, but notarization takes it one step further.
With the new requirement in macOS 10.14.5, developers who are new to distributing Mac apps with a Developer ID will need to go through the notarization process for their apps to work on the Mac.
Apple late last year said that it would begin highlighting notarization status "more prominently" starting in spring 2019, and macOS 10.14.5 is apparently the update where that will begin happening.
The notarization process is designed for non Mac App Store apps and is not required for those that are submitted to the Mac App Store. More information on notarization can be found on Apple's developer site.
Several years ago, Leander Kahney released a well-received 
