How Tos

Browser tabs in Safari are a great way to visit multiple webpages in the same browsing session without having to close any of them, which makes them particularly useful for cross-referencing and researching things online. But all too often, the number of tabs you have open can get out of control. This makes navigating them tricky and it can also sap system resources, so to avoid being...

Apple designed its iPadOS software so that you don't have to close an app when you're not using it, since most apps that are not active remain in a suspended state and don't use up any resources or eat up battery. However, if an iPad app becomes unresponsive, you may need to force quit the app and restart it to get it to work properly again. Here's how you can do that on both older and...

Apple designed its iPhone software so that you don't have to close an app when you're not using it, since most apps that are not active remain in a suspended state and don't use up any resources or eat up battery. However, if an iOS app becomes unresponsive, you may need to force quit the app and restart it to get it to work properly again. Here's how you can do that on both older and newer ...

Macs aren't infallible, and at some point during your time using them you'll come across a situation in macOS where an app has become unresponsive, leaving you without access to its contents and functions, and only a continually revolving beachball for your troubles. If the beachball stays on the screen for more than a few minutes and you can't interact with the app's interface, this usually ...

On a Mac that has a top row of function keys, Apple includes volume and brightness controls that can be used to make adjustments in stepwise increments. However, there may be times when you want to make more fine grained adjustments to these settings than the default increments allow, in which case, read on. Whenever you tap the volume or brightness controls on your keyboard, you'll see an...

When Apple Music first launched in 2015, playing it on anything other than an Apple device was impossible. Thankfully though, over the years Apple has made its streaming service available to access through third-party devices and speakers, including Amazon Echo and Google-owned speakers. This article focuses on Google devices. If you have a Google Home mini or a newer Nest-branded smart...

Most social media networks and chat platforms these days include a feature that shows when a user was last online or last active on the service, which can be either helpful or a hindrance, depending on your personal or business situation. WhatsApp includes an optional "Last Seen" status for the person you're chatting with in a conversation thread, while Instagram tells you how long it was...

For a long time now, WhatsApp has included a feature that shows when a user was last online or last active on the messaging platform, which can be either helpful or a hindrance, depending on your personal or business situation. As regular WhatsApp users will know, the "Last Seen" status of a contact sits atop the conversation thread, informing you when that contact last opened the app and...

Despite strong competition from the likes of Telegram and Signal, WhatsApp remains the most popular mobile messaging platform by a mile, connecting over a billion active users around the world every day. As a smartphone app, WhatsApp messages are principally exchanged between iPhones and Android phones, but WhatsApp is known to be developing an iPad app that would increase the number of...

In macOS, you can copy a file or folder to another location in Finder with ease. Simply right-click (or Ctrl-click) the item and select Copy from the shortcut menu, then navigate to the location where you want to copy it, right-click in the Finder window and select Paste Item from the shortcut menu. In macOS Monterey, a pie chart progress indicator next to the copying item's name shows you...

In macOS Monterey, when you take an app fullscreen by clicking the green traffic light icon in the top-left corner of the app window, the menu bar may be hidden from view in order to draw your focus to the window's content. If you're using a Mac that has a camera housing or "notch" centered at the top of the screen, like a 14-inch or 16-inch MacBook Pro, hiding the menu bar effectively makes ...

If you live in the United Kingdom, there's a good chance you enjoyed yesterday's first official bank holiday of the year with your feet up. But if all you'd done was rely on the Calendar app on your iPhone, you may never have even known you were due a day off. That's because a persistent bug that has plagued the app for months still prevents Apple's UK bank holidays subscription option from...

Since Apple launched AirTags, the company has been enhancing their security to prevent stalking using the Bluetooth devices. One of these enhancements includes giving Android phone users the ability to detect an unknown AirTag if it is close to them. ‌‌AirTags‌‌ are designed to play a sound when away from their owner and will also alert iPhone owners if there's an unknown tag nearby, but...

Apple's 2021 iPad mini features an edge-to-edge display with no Home button included and Touch ID built into the Power button instead. The lack of a Home button has resulted in some re-mapped gestures and features, with Apple introducing the restart, shut down, and force restart methods that are common to other iPads with no Home button. A shut down and a restart are the same gesture now,...

Flight tracker apps are a popular way to keep tabs on planes in the sky, because when you're preparing to fly or when someone you know is on board a flight, you can use them to check that things are still on schedule. But if you have an iPhone, you don't need to download and install a third-party app to track a flight – it's a handy built-in feature of the operating system. The ability to ...

AirDrop is a handy feature on Apple devices since it lets users discover nearby Macs and iOS devices and securely transfer files between them over Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. The only problem is that it doesn't always work. If that sounds like your current experience with AirDrop, this article offers some troubleshooting steps that may help. AirDrop is designed to let you send and receive photos,...

Apple in iOS 15 introduced a Focus feature that's designed to let you set up your device to help you be in the moment and zone in on a single thing. When a Focus mode is active, it displays a little customizable emoji/icon in the status bar of your iPhone, next to the time. Setting up a Focus mode can be complicated, but if all you want is to see a symbol in the status bar, it's easy to do once...

If you've ever handed your iPhone or iPad to a baby or toddler to entertain them while you do something else, you'll probably know just how easily their little fingers can navigate into all manner of screens and settings they shouldn't be messing with. Fortunately, Apple includes a feature in iOS that allows you to keep your device locked into a single app and control which features are...

If you've forgotten the passcode for your iPhone or iPad, you can erase and reset or restore the device using your Apple ID and password. This article explains how. ‌iPhone‌ passcodes are usually six digits long, but they can still be forgotten, especially if the device hasn't been used for a while. If you find yourself in this predicament, you have the option to erase and reset it, after...

In macOS Monterey, Apple brought several enhancements to FaceTime on Mac, including new visual and audio effects to improve the video call experience. One of the new visual features is Portrait mode in calls. With this mode enabled, you can blur your background so that the focus is on you rather than what's behind you. The feature is commonly used by other video conferencing apps like...