Getting Apple Device and Software Names Right

It is common to see Apple names misstated online. But being clear when asking for information or help is important. How many of these incorrect Apple product names have you used?
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Video Transcript: Hi, this is Gary with MacMost.com. Today let's talk about using the proper names for Apple products.
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So anybody in tech support or that answers questions about Apple products, like I do, knows that a lot of people don't use the proper name when referring to Apple products.  This can make it difficult sometimes to convey the issue that you're having or the problem you want to solve. Sometimes people are using older names for Apple products or using the name of an older product that has since been replaced. Other times people are just using slang instead of the proper product name. But using the right product name can really help with trying to communicate. 
Here's my first example. Sometimes people may say that they have an "Air" or a "Mac Air" or even an Apple Air. But Air is a term used by Apple for several different products. So it helps to clearly state that you are using, say, a MacBook Air or an iPad Air. There is no product simply called the Mac Air. Another example is somebody might say they have a MacBook. Apple actually did produce a MacBook just called a MacBook for a few years. Chances are that if you don't have an actual MacBook you have a MacBook Pro or a MacBook Air. Now I may use the term MacBook but when I do it I'm referring to something about a MacBook, MacBook Pro, or MacBook Air. Something that can apply to all three. But, for instance, saying that when you close the lid on a MacBook it goes to sleep. In that case it doesn't matter which MacBook you have. But if you're asking for help for something it's very useful to say that you have a MacBook Pro or MacBook Air rather than just saying MacBook.
I've also seen some people just say that they've got a Pro when asked what type of Mac they have. Apple uses the term Pro through a lot of different product lines. So it's helpful to really define what you have. Chances are you probably are talking about a MacBook Pro. But you may also have a Mac Pro which is an expensive tower that Apple sells. Also for a number of years Apple produced an iMac Pro. Apple also uses this term in other lines. For instance you can have an iPad Pro or even an iPhone12 Pro. Less frequently I hear people talking about having an iPod now. Now Apple hasn't produced an actual iPod in many years. Chances are if you say you have an iPod now you're actually talking about an iPod Touch. But it definitely helps to be clear because an iPod Touch is an iOS device similar to an iPhone. Whereas an iPod is a much older device with a very limited operating system. It basically just stores and plays back music. 
Now if you say you have an iPad you may actually have an iPad. Apple does, of course, produce a model called just the iPad. But you may also have an iPad Pro, iPad Air, or iPad Mini. It helps to really talk about which one that you've got especially now where iPad Pros have a very different processor and capabilities from the standard iPad and iPad mini. Another one I hear often is somebody saying they have an iPhone SE. Now the SE is the lower end iPhone model. So if you say you have an iPhone SE it's very possible that you're referring to the original iPhone SE which is many years old now and is very limited in what it can do compared to current iPhones. However there is an iPhone SE2. It's not called that. Apple actually contributes to this because they call both of them just the iPhone SE. But the original iPhone SE from several years ago and the iPhone SE that you could buy today are very different in terms of their capabilities. In general when referring to iPhone or iPad models it's important to state the exact model name or if the model name doesn't have any specifics like the iPhone SE talk about the year that it came out.
Here's one that is completely wrong. There is no product called the iWatch. Apple has never produced an iWatch. However, that was a rumored name for the Apple Watch from a long time ago and of course there's the iPhone. So it makes sense to call it the iWatch. But Apple actually doesn't make an iWatch. It's called the Apple Watch. 
Another one I see is often people just say HomePod. But there are actually two different HomePods. There's the HomePod and the HomePod mini. Now Apple originally produced a HomePod which is larger than the Mini and they have since discontinued it. Now if you buy a HomePod it's actually the HomePod mini. But when referring to them it's important to use the right name because they have different capabilities. Now this is very much misused in the press especially because it's often mentioned that the HomePod has been discontinued. Of course if people want to get a HomePod they can get a HomePod mini, a fairly new product and very much supported by Apple. So when you see a headline that says the HomePod has been discontinued or it's impossible to get a HomePod now, keep in mind the HomePod is the original product. The HomePod mini is the one that you could easily get now from Apple's site.
I often here people misuse the name of Apple's EarPods. Not the original earphones, the ones that had an audio jack, people referred to them as simply EarBuds. EarBuds is actually a generic name for earphones that fit into your ears and are wired and you connect them to a device. Apple then went to EarPods. EarPods have a lightening connector on the end of them and they are a little more advanced than the old EarBuds. AirPods, of course, are the wireless devices that are really popular now from Apple. 
Here's a big one. People will still use the term OS ten or OS X sometimes and Apple actually hasn't produced OS Ten in awhile. They changed the name to macOS. If you've got an older version of macOS it may have originally been referred to as OS Ten. In that case it's technically fine to refer to it. You can say OS Ten Sierra, for instance, and that is fine. That is correct. But if you say macOS Sierra that's correct too and it's a little clearer. 
Now iPhoto is the app that came with Macs for a long time that helped you manage your photos. The name actually really stuck with people. People still use it. However, for years now the name of the app that comes on your Mac is called Photos. iPhoto and Photos are different apps. Photos was created from the ground up. It wasn't simply a new version of iPhoto. A major difference, for instance, is iPhoto has no iCloud capability so you couldn't store your photos in the Cloud, one of the best features of the Photos App. I still see people referring to Photos as iPhoto. It's very confusing when you're trying to give somebody help because when I see somebody say iPhoto I immediately think they are using a much older version of macOS or they are still sticking with the old iPhoto app. When trying to provide help and instructions you really want to know which one it is people are using. Other examples of this are iCal and iBooks. These are previous names for apps that Apple has since replaced. They are now simply called Calendar or Books. Books is a little confusing because Apple often refers to the Books App as Apple Books. Sometimes Apple refers to the Store inside of the Books App as the Apple Books Store or just the Book Store. So it's a little confusing there. But it's definitely not called iBooks. 
This is getting rarer but sometimes you'll see people refer to iWork. iWork was a marketing term that referred to Pages, Numbers, and Keynote. They originally were sold on optical media as a single piece of software. You installed it and you got these three apps. But when Apple moved these to the App Store they became individual apps and they are simply referred to as Pages, Numbers, and Keynote. To confuse things further Apple has still kept referring to them, for awhile, as iWork or iWork Apps sometimes on their website or in support forms and things like that. But I find it's much better to just forger about the iWork name completely and talk about Pages, Numbers, or Keynote specifically. 
Another one here is people will refer to Final Cut as Final Cut N or Final Cut X or Final Cut Pro X. Well, the actual name of the app is simply Final Cut Pro. 
iTunes is a big one and it's made more confusing by the fact that Apple used the word iTunes for a lot of different things. For instance there was an app on the Mac called iTunes. But there was also the iTunes Store. Today iTunes is still technically a term. Inside of the Music App, for instance, you can purchase music in the iTunes Store. But on the Mac the apps are called simply Music, TV, Podcasts, Books. These are the apps that have taken over all the different functions of the old iTunes App. So when talking about one of these be sure to refer to it by name, like Music. If you say iTunes then immediately someone like me would think that you're using a much older versioin of macOS that still has the iTunes App.
Related to that is the term Apple Music. Now this one is particularly confusing because people use Apple Music to refer to the App on their Mac which is just called Music, not Apple Music. Also the service, the streaming service that's kind of like Spotify where you can pay a subscription fee and stream any music that you want. So technically the app is just called Music and the streaming music service is called Apple Music. This term can lead to a lot of confusion as I've had a lot of back and forth with somebody asking about Apple Music and I think they're talking about the Streaming service and they are just talking about the app on their Mac. They're not using Apple Music at all. 
Apple News is another one. This is a little clearer but remember that the App on your Mac is actually just called News. Apple News doesn't really apply to anything but the Apple News+ is the subscription service for $5 a month where you can get all sorts of magazines in the News App for that one monthly fee. 
Apple TV is another one. Apple TV actually refers to the physical  device. The one that you buy and hook up to a television. The Apple on your Mac is just called TV. So don't refer to that as Apple TV else people will think you're talking about the actual device you connect to the television. Apple TV+ is the service that you get for $5 a month that includes shows like Mythic Quest and Ted Lasso. 
iCloud is another term that's misused. iCloud refers to the entire service which includes things like syncing up your Contacts and Calendars using space for backups of tons of different things. A lot times people are talking about specifically iCloud Drive which is the part of iCloud that lets you store files. So say if you have your documents and desktop folder in iCloud you're actually saying they are in iCloud Drive which is part of iCloud. In addition this is going to get more confusing because Apple is adding the term iCloud+. Basically iCloud is just going to be the generic term for the whole service. If you actually pay for extra storage you have what's called iCloud+. This term is going to come into use with the new operating systems in the Fall.
So those are the most common misuses of Apple product names that I see from day-to-day either in questions I get or on forums online. It may seem trivial to talk about the differences between terms like MacBook, MacBook Pro, or iCal and Calendar but if you're searching for information and are trying to get help being clear about these terms can really help you get the information that you want.
Comments: 2 Responses to “Getting Apple Device and Software Names Right”

Tim A.
4 years ago
And then there is MagSafe.
Gary Rosenzweig
Tim: Good one. I hadn't thought of that. MagSafe 2006-2019 was a MacBook power adapter connector type. Then MagSafe 2020 now is anything related to the magnetic charging connector for iPhones.
Comments Closed.
Getting Apple Device and Software Names Right

Comments: 2 Responses to “Getting Apple Device and Software Names Right”

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