Have you noticed the new image format on the iPhone running OS 11?
 
The name for the new format is HEIC which stands for high efficiency information format.  It replaces the 25 year old image standard JPG.  Technically the HEIC isn't really a format, but more of a container, that can store images in half the amount of space as a JPEG.
 
Let me ask you this: if it takes an hour to figure out what the heck is HEIC and why Photoshop won’t open it, google a solution, download it, convert it and then finally use the photo. This is the new efficient?
 
And to further compound the digital confusion for those of us in the over 40 crowd, the image marker (those letters such as JPG at the end of the image name) is now HEIC and it stands for HEIF.
 
It is supposed to be a more streamlined, advanced, modern compression format that allow images to obtain smaller file sizes yet retain higher image quality.  As the dirt farmer from Michigan would say, it’s kinda like putting 10 pounds of manure in a 5 pound bag. Better except Photoshop cannot open it!
 
So here’s what you do.  If you have unknowingly taken images in this format, (and you will have done this since it is the default after the OS11 upgrade),  you just need to get the free iMazing HEIC Converter.
 
If you're Mac user and you upgrade to High Sierra, an OS able to read the new format, there is no problem so long as you don’t have to use a program outside of Apple, like Adobe Photoshop or share it with an Android user.
 
And while Apple has revealed that iPhone users take more than 1 trillion photographs each year, the truth is that the web and Android users still make up the majority of everyone.
 
Alternatively you can set your iPhone to shoot in JPEG rather than HEIC. To do this go to Settings>Camera>Formats and then select most compatible.
 
IOS 11 automatically converts images to JPEG when you share on social media, email or airdrop a HEIC photo.  Where I got into trouble with HEIC was when I took an iPhone image I had previously text messaged, and later shared the image (while in the Messages app) via airdrop to my laptop, so I could edit it in Photoshop.  For some reason, while airdropping from Messages, the HEIC was not automatically converted to a JPG.
 
My iPhone is not my real camera, and I am good with JPG quality, and I don’t have storage issues on my 256GB iPhone.
 
It's just another example of Apple trying to dictate what we do…  anyone else here not wanting to set up Apple Pay? That dialog box that continues to nag me until I comply… which I may or may not want to do.
 
And what about that little Apple gizmo that you need an order to plug in a regular radio earphone jack… how many of you have lost yours already and had to buy another one just so you could use your noise cancelling headphones which worked perfectly fine before Apple changed their connection port.
 
Steve Jobs… I miss you.
 
Carol