Apple’s “Hi, Speed” event last week marked the unveiling of the iPhone 12, iPhone 12 Pro, iPhone 12 Pro Max, and finally, what many TidBITS readers have been clamoring for, the iPhone 12 mini. We have all the details and try to break them down so you can understand all the differences and choose the right iPhone… if you need to upgrade at all. Apple also announced the $99 HomePod mini, a smaller and more affordable sibling to the HomePod. If you’ve been having Apple Watch battery life problems, try upgrading to watchOS 7.0.2, which promises to fix them, along with ECG bugs. Also new last week was BBEdit 13.5, a free update that provides a variety of efficiency refinements. Finally, if Apple’s announcements have been keeping you up at night, Adam Engst evaluates the new sleep tracking features in iOS 14 and watchOS 7 to see if they might help you get a better night’s sleep. Notable Mac app releases this week include GraphicConverter 11.3, Microsoft Teams 1.3, Yojimbo 4.5.1, Carbon Copy Cloner 5.1.22, and Coda 2.7.6.
Apple has released watchOS 7.0.2 to fix a bug that caused the battery to drain more quickly than it should and another that prevented access to the ECG app even in supported regions.
Apple announced the HomePod mini, a smaller, less expensive, and more rounded version of its two-year-old HomePod. The expanded speaker line has little in the way of groundbreaking features as it competes with speakers from Amazon and Google, but at least it’s now more affordable.
The latest version of the powerful text editor from Bare Bones Software offers a wide variety of new features, refinements, and bug fixes. Adam Engst explores a few of the most notable.
Apple has added sleep tracking technology to iOS 14 and watchOS 7 that, when you wear your Apple Watch to bed, records when you’re in bed and when you’re asleep. In an ideal world, the data could help you identify factors that hamper your sleep, but the data is messy and may not tell you more than you already know.
Apple has thrown back the curtains on the iPhone 12 lineup, which includes the tiny iPhone 12 mini, the iPhone 12, and the camera-focused iPhone 12 Pro and iPhone 12 Pro Max. They’re impressive devices at roughly comparable prices to previous years’ models.
Watchlist
Adds several new features and enhancements to the Swiss Army knife of graphics programs. ($39.95 new, free update, 161 MB, macOS 10.9+)
Adds the capability to view meeting details from your calendar without opening the meeting. (Free, 92.9 MB, macOS 10.11+)
Maintenance update with a variety of enhancements and fixes for the information organizer. ($30 new, free update, 7.9 MB, macOS 10.13.6+)
Addresses an issue that prevented the drive-cloning and backup utility from accessing a new Apple data store introduced in macOS 10.15.7 Catalina. ($39.99 new, free update, 14.7 MB, macOS 10.10+)
Brings Dark mode improvements and bug fixes to the Web site development tool. ($99 new, free update, 68.6 MB, macOS 10.13+)
