How Tos - Page 79

When an over-the-air iOS update starts downloading on your iPhone or iPad, you can monitor its progress in the Settings app via General -> Software Update. The lack of a cancel option on this screen seems to imply that there's no way to prevent a software update from downloading once it's started, but don't be fooled. You can stop the update process in its tracks at any time and even delete ...

Apple doesn't have an official method for individually locking sensitive apps like Photos with a passcode, but there is a workaround that was introduced with the Screen Time feature that first came out in iOS 12. This article explains how it's done, but if your device is running iOS 16.4 or later, you can use a new Lock Screen action to lock specific apps behind FaceTime or your iPhone's passcode,...

If the screen of your iPhone or iPad is too bright for comfort, the usual solution is to go to Settings -> Display & Brightness and drag the Brightness slider to the left, or open Control Center and adjust the corresponding setting from there. However, if the lowest setting offered by the Brightness level just isn't dim enough for you, there are a couple of ways to make your screen even...

The ever-present Help menu in your Mac's menu bar is an easily overlooked aspect of macOS, but it's home to some surprising and extremely handy features that every user can benefit from. Apart from being a useful first port of call for any queries you may have about the application in use or your Mac in general, it also serves as a menu navigator. Let's take a closer look. How to Use the...

If you've set up first-generation or second-generation AirPods with your iPhone and your Mac is signed in to iCloud with the same Apple ID, then your AirPods should be ready to use with your Mac. Ideally, all you need to do is put your AirPods in your ears, click the Bluetooth icon in your Mac's menu bar, select your AirPods from the dropdown list, and click Connect. If you don't see...

Apple AirPods offer around five hours of listening time and two hours of talk time (or with second-generation AirPods, three hours of talk time) on a single charge. And if you pop your AirPods for 15 minutes in their case, you can get up to three hours of listening time or over an hour of talk time. During use, you'll hear a tone when your AirPods' batteries are low, and another tone just ...

After testing some apps on an old iPhone 6 recently, I started to notice the device's Home button was becoming less and less responsive to finger presses, especially when it came to double-clicking it. Sure enough, after a few more days' use, the Home button stopped working completely. In memory of the Home button Now, ordinarily this would have left me in the unenviable position of having...

In early versions of Mac OS, users looking for a way to quickly rename multiple files simultaneously (commonly referred to as batch renaming) had to use the command line or download and install a third-party tool dedicated to the task. Since OS X Yosemite however, Apple has integrated several useful batch renaming capabilities directly into Finder. To rename several files of the same kind ...

Google Lens can now recognize over a billion items in the world around us, the search engine giant announced this week. That's four times as many things that the AI-powered feature could identify when it was first launched last year, thanks partly to a huge number of Google Shopping products which have been added to its knowledge base. While its optical character recognition engine has...

In a previous how-to, we explained how to add a special stack to your Mac's Dock that enables quick access to recently opened or favorite items. This unique stack can be configured to show your most recently opened apps, documents, or servers, but what you can't do is make it show all your recent items, regardless of kind. One solution is to add a recently opened items folder to your Dock ...

When you set up a new Apple TV and power up the set-top box, the Apple Remote that comes in the box should pair automatically as soon as you press one of the buttons. If the Apple Remote stops working, it's probably out of juice and needs charging for 30 minutes via a USB to Lightning cable connected to a USB outlet. But if that doesn't fix the problem, your best bet is to re-pair the...

Apple's iPad Pro models, available in 11 or 12.9-inch size options, feature edge-to-edge displays with no Home buttons included. The lack of a Home button has resulted in some re-mapped gestures and features, with Apple introducing new restart, shut down, and force restart methods in the tablets. A shut down and a restart are the same gesture now, while a force restart, used if a regular...

Have you ever woken up to your iPhone or iPad alerting you to the fact that "You Have a New Memory" on this day, in the form of photos and videos you shot years ago? If the answer is yes, you've been the willing (or unwilling) recipient of a Photos feature notification called Memories. In iOS 12, the Photos app automatically curates photos and videos that you've taken into specific memory...

To go with the new 11 and 12.9-inch iPad Pro models, Apple designed a second-generation Apple Pencil. In addition to doing away with the Lightning connector thanks to a new built-in magnetic charging method, the Apple Pencil 2 also supports tap gestures. Tap gestures can be used to do things like swap between a drawing tool and an eraser in a sketching app, which is a super handy way to...

In macOS Mojave, you can choose to encrypt and decrypt disks on the fly right from the desktop. Using this convenient Finder option, we're going to show you how to encrypt a USB flash drive (or "thumb drive"), which is useful if you're traveling light and want to take sensitive data with you for use on another Mac. Finder uses XTS-AES encryption, the same encryption that FileVault 2 uses to...

Apple's newest iPad Pro models, available in 11 and 12.9 inches, are the first iPads not to feature a Home button. On traditional iPads, you press on the volume button and the home button to take a screenshot. On the new iPad Pro models, taking a screenshot is just as easy, but the gesture is a bit different. To capture a screenshot, press on the power button located at the top of the device...

In macOS, transparency – or more properly, translucency – is a visual effect many apps use to create a sense of depth by hinting at content residing in the background. An example of transparency is when content behind a window shows through in interface elements like menus and sidebars. It's evident in the screenshot above, for example, in which the colors of the desktop wallpaper bleed ...

Duet Display is an app made by former Apple engineers that allows you to use your iPad as a second screen for your Mac. In this article, we'll explain how it works and the steps you need to follow to get things up and running. Duet Display is a great way to extend your Mac's desktop and can come in especially handy when you're working away from home and want to broaden your productivity...

Over the next few weeks, YouTube is rolling out a new feature for its mobile app called "Autoplay on Home," which automatically plays videos that appear on your Home tab. As you scroll through your Home feed, videos will begin to play on mute with captions auto-enabled. Google claims the previously Premium-only feature is a better way to experience new content on the go, and will help you...

In iOS 12, Apple has included a somewhat hidden feature that lets you see the day's weather forecast on your iPhone's Lock Screen when you check it for the first time after waking up. The feature is part of Apple's Do Not Disturb at Bedtime mode, which prevents notifications from being displayed on your iPhone's Lock Screen when you're supposed to be sleeping. Many users don't realize...