Dorchester — Jul 14th 2026

Mick opened the evening with explaining Private Relay and how it works. Anyone with an iCloud+ account, i.e. paying for any extra storage even as low as the first level 50GB @ £0.99 per month, qualifies and can turn it on in their iCloud+ settings, each device needing to be set separately.

David M talked about and demonstrated Apple Home. The key point is that the industry, including Apple, has agreed on the language used to control devices called Matter and the networking system used to convey that language called Thread. Thread is a mesh system, so messages can be passed through Thread-enabled devices. David demonstrated a roller blind using an earlier mesh network system ZigBee, which is still very popular but it doesn't "speak" the same native language as modern smart home systems, so it almost always needs a translator (a Hub/Bridge). When buying home automation items, look out for Matter & Thread compatibility.

Mick then explained how he monitors his email by checking it first via WebMail. His particular provider includes a quarantining folder where suspected spam is put. This folder is not duplicated on the Mail app, so spam never gets downloaded to devices. Mick showed that he could choose between three levels of scrutiny and could make individual accounts always being blocked and other accounts always treated as valid. Mick also showed the app MailboxManager, controlling what is ever downloaded to the device, but this only works with POP accounts. However, a similar app, Mailwasher, is available for iPhones & iPads. Mail accounts like iCloud and Gmail do not offer spam settings, but rely on their own algorithms and user feedback. So it is important not to just bin mail you consider spam, but to move it to Junk so the system learns.

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