Clean My Mac X

CleanMyMac X is an all-in-one cleaning and optimizing software for your Mac. 

With powerful functionality and lots of useful features, CleanMyMac X helps you to stay aware of all apps that are installed on your Mac and their permissions. So, you can find out which programs can access your camera and microphone.

The app’s most popular feature is the Smart Scan. It examines your system for system log files and user cache that is no longer needed. Smart Scan also does a quick malware check and run some optimization tasks to speed up your Mac. And all of these will only take a couple of seconds.

Another superpower of CleanMyMac X is its ability to handle all performance-draining processes on your Mac. Its Optimization feature is way more straightforward than the built-in Activity Monitor.

CleanMyMac X gives you more control over apps and their files – you can find out what apps and programs you have on your Mac and uninstall those you don’t need.

MacPaw is getting ready to be fully compatible with Big Sur!

Learn more about CleanMyMac X and download it for free at:  https://macpaw.app/maccast

Apple ‘Time Flies’ Special Event

A produced event like the WWDC keynote

It was quick too, just a little over an hour in length

Apple Watch

Apple Watch Series 6

same design as Series 4 and 5

New blood-oxygen sensor

Apple S6 processor

Dual core processor based on the A13

Also a U1 chip for Ultra Wideband support

Two times brighter always on display

Always on altimeter

Supports 5GHz Wi-Fi, finally

Apple says can charge 20 percent faster

New color options

blue aluminum, gold stainless steel, graphite stainless steel, plus PRODUCT(RED) aluminum

No longer a steel space black, unless you opt for the Hermès model

Starts at USD $399 an

Apple Watch SE

Dual core S5 processor, Apple says 2x faster than the Series 3

Starts at USD $279

Apple Watch Series 3 is available starting at USD $199

Family Set-up

For users who don’t have their own iOS device to pair with

Requires a cellular model

Up to 5 Apple watches set up with one iPhone

Set location based and contact based restrictions

Schooltime Mode which set up a special distraction free watch face and DnD

Apple no longer including a USB power adapter in the box

They say it’s an environmental decision and it likely is, but they also didn’t pass on any price savings to the consumer, so…

New faces and watchbands

“Loop” bands with no clasp

Stretchy “sport” one or a braided leather one.

Sizing PDF you can download and print out

Apple Watch can now be purchased with 24 0% interest payments on an Apple Card.

iPads

iPad (8th Generation)

A12 Chip with Neural Engine

Same design an features as the 7th gen

10.2-inch display

Still home button and Lighting connector

Still priced starting at USD $329 ($299 for education)

Original Apple Pencil Support

iPad Air

All new design and edge-to-edge display

mimics the iPad Pro design

New color options green and sky blue

10.9-inch liquid retina display, in same dimensions as the previous iPad Air

2360×1640 with full lamination, P3 wide color gamut, True Tone, and anti-reflective coating.

First Apple product with a six-core A14 Bionic chip using 5nm

Apple says 40% faster CPU and 30% faster GPU performance

TouchID built into the power button

12-megapixel camera as the iPad Pro

Uses USB-C

Second generation Apple Pencil support

Magic Keyboard support and new Smart Cover

Available next month starting at USD $599.00

Apple One

Oddly there are three Apple One plans

Apple One Individual - Apple Music, Apple TV+, Apple Arcade and 50 GB of iCloud for USD $14.95/mo.

Without Apple One, this would be USD $20.96/mo. (~$6 off or ~$72/year savings)

Apple One Family - Apple Music, Apple TV+, Apple Arcade, and 200 GB of iCloud storage for USD $19.95/mo

Supports up to six people

Without Apple One would cost USD $27.96/mo (~$8/mo or ~$96/year savings)

Apple One Premier - Apple Music, Apple TV+, Apple Arcade, Apple News+, Apple Fitness+, and 2TB of iCloud Storage for USD $29.95/mo.

Supports up to 6 people

Separately would cost $54.94/mo. (~$25/mo or $300/yr savings)

Apple One Premier will only be available in the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and Canada at launch

Coming this Fall

likely with the launch of macOS Big Sir?

Sounds like you can still get additional iCloud storage and it will “add-on” top of whatever storage you have in your selected plan

All plans will be available as 30-day free trials

There have been a few people asking if the new plans will work if you have separate Apple ID (iTunes) and iCloud accounts

Chris Espinosa (Apple employees #8) asked and was told yes.

Apple Fitness+

Variety of workouts and trainers on your Apple TV

Integrates and syncs with your Apple Watch

$9.99/mo or $79.99/year

Family support

3 moths free with Apple Watch Series 3 or newer purchase. One month free trail for all customers

BestBuy and CVS Health customers will be offered a six month free trial

Odds & Ends

Updates to AppleCare+

Two incidents of accidental damage protection every 12 months, so 4 instead of two for the 24 month period.

Theft or Loss plan deductible for the ‌iPhone‌ is now $149.00 for all models. Was up to $269 depending on the device

Changes apply to existing plans

watchOS 7 will let you set your own Stand and Exercise goals

Set in the Exercise app on Apple Watch

As low as 10 mins or exercise a day or 6 stands per day.

Also remember it removes force touch in favor of new UIs

Buttons, long press, swipe down (all those great hidden UIs)

Had one Maccast listener contact me about a bug that seems to be impacting some users of iOS 14 and Apple Watch

The tracking data is missing from Exercise maps in Apple’s Activity app after upgrading

Seems to be impacting a small set of users and Apple is apparently aware of the issue and working on a fix.

Spatial Audio on AirPods Pro is great.

In Control Center when connected to the AirPods Pro

Tap and hold (long press) the volume slider to enable / disable spatial audio

Need to play content that supports it, like Dolby Atmos movies

iOS 14 is here

Apple gave developers just a days notice to submit their apps

they usually have about a week.

Expect a LOT of fast updates

I think I have over 50 in the first day.

I’m really enjoying widgets on my iPhone and also cleaning up my apps with the App Library

I moved most of my apps off to the library and am cleaning my home screen and folders to just be “A” level apps.

The privacy feature that hides your MAC address from the WiFi can break access to some corporate or school networks, or maybe even your own

Settings > WiFi > Private Address

Some MDM use the Mac Address to locate and allow access for specific devices

I use DHCP reservations based on Mac Address

Setting the default Mail and Browser will get reset to Mail and Safari on Reboot

It’s a bug

You set the defaults in the settings for your preferred apps.

Leaked AirPods Studio Sports

A rumored image of Apple’s AirPods Studio over the ear headphones surfaced via the @choco_bit account on Twitter

Supposedly there are going to be two versions

A “premium” with leather-like fabrics and a “sport” with lighter breathable materials

A magnetic system to interchange styles

Shows pretty much what has been rumored

A “retro” design with oval ear cups and headband connected with thinner metal arms

Head and “neck” detection for play/pause like AirPods

Customized equalizer settings

Rumors pricing is expected to start around USD $349

Sketchy video of a prototype Apple magnetic wireless charger

Could be for iPhone 12

FightCamp

Do you get bored with your workouts? If you’re looking for a workout that keeps you engaged, learning, excited, and motivated... a workout that’s never boring, and always challenging... you’ve got to check out Fight Camp! FightCamp brings the boxing gym to your living room! They provide all the gear and top trainers-- everything you need to get great workouts in! The boxing workout has always been ranked as one of the best ways to get in shape and it's honestly one of the most fun ways to combine cardio and strength training.

It comes with all the gear you need. The best free-standing punching bag on the market, great boxing gloves, quick hand wraps, and their unique punch tracking sensors that show you real-time progress and stats on any iOS device

Great for kids. FightCamp even offers kids gloves because it’s meant to be enjoyed by the whole family. It’s one of the only workouts that kids can get involved in, unlike weight machines, cycling, and other at-home workout gear that is often dangerous or not sized for kids.

New to boxing? Their 12-week starter program teaches you the fundamentals of boxing while you get a great workout every time.

Try FightCamp workouts for free! just download the FightCamp app and select the workout of your choice. This is a great way to test your trainer!

FightCamp offers flexible financing for as low as 0% APR! And right now as a limited time offer, you can try FightCamp for 30 days with their money-back guarantee, just go to https://joinfightcamp.com/mac.

That’s right. Try FightCamp for 30 days and if you don’t love it they’ll refund your money!

Train like a fighter and turn your sweat into results.

To try FightCamp for 30 days, just go to JoinFightCamp.com slash MAC. JoinFightCamp.com slash MAC.

Apple PiP behind a paywall?

One new feature in iOS 14 is a native PiP feature for videos

In theory this should work for videos in Safari, but it doesn’t now for YouTube

It was working until recently, so not clear if it’s a bug or intentional

YouTube is making PiP support a “premium” feature (it’s not currently supported in their iOS app at all)

They might run afoul of Apple’s App Store rules if the choose to add it to the App and only make it available for “paid” customers.

App Store rule 3.2.2 ii. Which they would also seem to be in breach of:

Monetizing built-in capabilities provided by the hardware or operating system, such as Push Notifications, the camera, or the gyroscope; or Apple services, such as Apple Music access or iCloud storage.

Maybe they don’t because they use a custom vs native player?

Where’d my iCloud Files go?

I feel like this question come up from time to time and it seems like each time I look into it, maybe with different macOS versions, the answer is a bit different

Robert wrote me because he uses iCloud a lot for storage of files on his iPad and his Mac

He could see his files in the Finder sidebar and they are there when he’s “offline”, but he wanted to be sure that his files were locally stored and being backed up by local backup

So he was curious, where is the actual location of these files / folders?

There are a couple of cool tricks for finding the “path” for files and folders on your Mac

One easy one is the “Show Path Bar” option under the “View” menu in the Finder

Shows a path to the selected item at the bottom of the Finder window.

Not always the “real” full path… as is the case for the “iCloud” folder

In Spotlight you can hover over the item in the results holding down the Command key

It will show the path at the bottom of the window.

Command double clicking the item will take you to it’s location in the Finder (vs opening it)

Control+click (right+click) the item in the Finder while holding the option key.

The will give you the “Copy as Pathname” option

Select that and copy the path into a text editor or the Terminal

Use Terminal

Open the Terminal app (in Applications > Utilities)

Drag the item from the Finder into the Terminal window and it will output the full file path

So you can use that to find the path to files yourself.

But to directly address Robert’s questions

As long as you have the option for “Optimize Storage” turned OFF in your iCloud Storage settings, then yes, your files will all be stored locally.

The setting is in System Preferences > Apple ID > Optimize Mac Storage.

The files themselves are stored in a special “folder” in your home Library folder ~/Library/Mobile Documents/iCloud Drive, but you can’t access it directly from the Finder (at least not in macOS Catalina).

Or maybe just at least not if you’re using Documents & Desktop in iCloud Drive

I did notice I had an iCloud Drive (Archive) folder in my Home folder

I believe this gets created if you turn Off iCloud Drive after enabling it.

Move the files back from the special iCloud Drive location to this folder

You just access it from the iCloud Drive item in your Finder sidebar. Hope this helps clear things up?

Apple Watch upgrade time

Well, I took the plunge. I wasn’t sure, but then saw that I had an Apple Store gift card in my wallet that I had forgotten about.

My Series 2 is great and long in the tooth, plus it can’t run watchOS 7.

Went back to aluminum (space gray) as I couldn’t really justify to myself the added cost just for the sapphire glass (I’ll live with the scratches)

I considered the SE, but the lack of new sensors and always on display support, plus the gift card offsetting a chunk of the upgrade cost pushed me to the Series 6

With the Series 3 and SE options I think we’ll probably have a number of folks in the Maccast community upgrading or becoming Apple Watch owners for the first time.

Tracy also thinks so and asked about resources for new Apple Watch owners

A place to start might be Apple’s [Apple Watch User Guide](https://support.apple.com/guide/watch/welcome/watchos)

You can also get it on Apple’s Books app, search “Apple Watch User Guide”

iMore tends to do a good job aggregating their [articles on Apple Watch](https://www.imore.com/apple-watch-beginners-guide)

Podcasts

[Today in iOS](https://tii.libsyn.com)

[Watch Time](https://9to5mac.com/guides/9to5mac-watch-time/)

[inTouch with iOS](https://intouchwithios.com)

I’m probably not much of a “power user” with my Apple Watch

I use it for Time, quick weather glances, HomeKit control (usually via Siri), timers, occasionally health stuff.

I guess, set it up to unlock your Mac as that is really convenient

Turn on auto-unlock

1. On your Mac, choose Apple menu > System Preferences.

2. Click Security & Privacy, then click General.

3. Select “Use your Apple Watch to unlock apps and your Mac.”

If you don’t have two-factor authentication turned on for your Apple ID, follow the onscreen instructions, then try selecting the checkbox again.

Your Mac must also have Wi-Fi and Bluetooth turned on.

The as long as Apple Watch is on your wrist and unlocked and you’re near your Mac, it will unlock automatically.

Won’t work first time after a restart.

I’ll throw it out to our community, do you have favorite Apple Watch tips or tricks?

Power user Things of the Moment

Dan wrote in to share some of his “Things of the Moment”

They are a little more “developer” oriented, we’ll and one older Mac owner oriented, but need to technical skills to pull it off.

Running macOS Catalina on older unsupported systems

[Dosdude1 Patchers](http://dosdude1.com/Catalina/)

Obviously this is not supported by Apple and you’ll probably encounter some hiccups, but it does make it possible.

I would recommend an SSD upgrade and RAM upgrades too if you are low

[SwiftIO](https://www.madmachine.io) Circuit board

Like an Arduino, but one that allows you to write and run Swift code

[Hacking With Swift](https://www.hackingwithswift.com)

And if you want to learn Swift he recommends Paul Hudson’s hacking With Swift lessons

Free 100 days with Swift and 100 Days with Swift UI

Cool stuff!

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