How Tos - Page 45

When you browse the web on your devices, websites will often leave cookies on your system so that they can remember you and what your preferences are. Some cookies are genuinely useful, as they allow sites to save your personal information (such as your login credentials) so that you don't have to keep entering it every time you visit. However, for the same reason, cookies can pose a...

Apple's native desktop browser is Safari, but just because it comes pre-installed on every Mac doesn't mean you have to use it. Chrome is actually more popular than Safari by far, and if you're new to Mac, it might already be your preferred browser. If you've tried out Safari and decided you want to switch to Google's equivalent, you can easily import any bookmarks you've used in Apple's...

Apple's  logo is pervasive across the company's branding, appearing on everything from ads for its Apple TV+ streaming service to the Apple stickers included in every iPhone box. Apple also includes the  symbol in its keyboard character set, so if you have a Mac, you can type the logo using a simple keyboard shortcut. To type the  symbol in a tweet, in a word processor, or anywhere ...

Google includes a Live Captions transcription feature in version 89 of its Chrome browser for desktop. Live Captions uses machine learning to create a real-time transcription for videos or audio played through the browser, which can make online media more accessible for members of the Deaf community and other people with hearing loss. Once enabled, Live Captions appear in a box in the bottom ...

In iOS, Apple includes a built-in screenshot feature which also provides you with the ability to capture an entire webpage on your iPhone or iPad that you can then save or share with someone as a PDF document. Don't expect this option to appear when using a third-party browser app like Firefox or Chrome, as it's only available in Safari, Apple's native web browser. With that caveat in mind,...

In macOS, you can sync any files on your Mac desktop and in your documents folder to iCloud so that you can access them on any other devices signed in to ‌iCloud‌ with the same Apple ID. In other words, you can start a document on your Desktop, and you'll be able to work on it later on your iPhone or iPad, or even through a browser on another computer via the ‌iCloud‌ website. Here's how to ...

Whenever you move a file on your Mac to the Trash, it stays there until you manually right-click (Ctrl-click) the trash icon and select Empty Trash. This system offers a useful fallback method if you decide you don't want to delete a file, because it allows you to return a file to its original place using the Put Back option (accessed via a right-click on the trashed file in question). In...

Macs powered by Apple silicon, such as the M1 MacBook Pro, can run both iOS apps and Mac apps, but they can also run x86-64 software that's been built to work on Intel architecture, thanks to something called Rosetta 2. Rosetta 2 is the translation layer that enables a Mac with Apple silicon to use apps built for an Intel-based Mac. The first time you launch an app that requires it, an alert ...

If you've got your hands on an Apple-branded MagSafe Charger, you can follow the steps below to check the current firmware version that your charger is running. Apple occasionally sends‌ firmware updates to accessories over the air that contain bug fixes and improvements, so this is a good way of checking that your charger is up-to-date. Perhaps more importantly, if you're able to follow...

If you've got your hands on an Apple-branded MagSafe Charger, you can follow the steps below to check the current firmware version that your charger is running. Apple occasionally sends‌ firmware updates to accessories over the air that contain bug fixes and improvements, so this is a good way of checking that your charger is up-to-date. Perhaps more importantly, if you're able to follow...

If you've recently updated your PowerBeats Pro or are thinking of doing so, you can follow the steps below to check the current firmware version your wireless earphones are running. Apple will occasionally send ‌firmware updates for its audio accessories over the air, though the software should install automatically if you follow these general guidelines. The method described below will also ...

In macOS, Apple includes a feature that can optimize the storage on your Mac by reducing the amount of space that data takes up on your Mac's internal drive. It does this by offloading certain files, data, and documents to iCloud and iCloud Drive when space on your Mac is running low. If you have a lot of ‌iCloud‌ storage space and a high-speed internet connection, Optimize Mac Storage is a...

Mac notebooks equipped with Apple silicon use battery health management, a feature that's designed to prolong the battery life and battery health of your Mac by reducing the rate of chemical aging. Mac notebooks use lithium-ion batteries, which like all rechargeable batteries, become less effective as they get older, but their chemical age isn't determined only by time. It's also affected by ...

In macOS Big Sur, Apple introduced an intelligent feature that's designed to learn from your charging habits and improve the lifespan of your battery by reducing the time your Mac notebook spends fully charged. When the feature is enabled (by default on Macs with an Apple M1 chip or T2 security chip), your Mac attempts to learn your charging routine with the intention of ensuring that your...

In Safari 14, Apple introduced a new feature called tab previews, where hovering your mouse pointer over a non-active browser tab shows an image preview of the tab's contents. Apple doesn't provide an option in preferences to disable tab previews, which isn't great if you find the feature less than useful or downright distracting. Fortunately, there's an undisclosed but fairly simple way to ...

In Apple's Safari browser for iOS and Mac, the built-in Reading List feature is a great way to save web pages that you want to read at a later time. Pages added to your Reading List are synced over iCloud to any other devices logged in to your Apple account, and Safari also includes an option that lets you to access pages in your Reading List even when you're offline. But how do you remove...

After installing macOS Big Sur updates, some Mac owners have been running into an error when attempting to install Steam: "Steam needs to be online to update. Please confirm your network connection and try again." Unfortunately, this is a long-running Steam issue that Mac users have been experiencing for at least 10 years now, and there's no single centralized fix, and it's not entirely...

If you're looking for a quick and easy way to transfer your iCloud photos to Google Photos, look no further. Apple now offers a service that's designed to streamline the process of moving your photos and videos to Google's cloud platform. Keep reading to learn how it works and how to get started with it. First of all, make sure that Apple's iCloud-to-Google ‌Photos‌ transfer service is available ...

Beginning March 2021, YouTube officially ended support for its YouTube app on third-generation Apple TV models. If you own the older set-top box, which launched in January 2013, you'll be unable to access the video platform directly via the official YouTube ‌Apple TV‌ app. (You're also basically in the same situation if you own the second-generation ‌Apple TV‌, which doesn't have an App Store at...

If you're a big Spotify fan, you undoubtedly know that whenever you "Like" a song in the mobile app using the heart button, these songs are automatically added to your Liked Songs collection. While it's always been possible to play the collection straight through like a playlist or tap individual songs to listen to them, Spotify recently added new filters that allow you to play only the...