How Tos - Page 3

When you're part of a busy group chat in Apple's Messages app, the notifications can come fast, and quickly become tiresome if you're not participating as actively as others in the same chat thread. That's why Apple includes a mute option to silence noisy chats. Apple includes a similar mute option in the Mail app, so you don't get a notification every time a new email in a particular thread ...

Unlike a regular restart, a force reboot is often the first port of call for resolving software issues impacting your iPhone 16e – like if the device is frozen, for example. If your iPhone isn't responding, and you're unable to turn it off and on normally, here's how to perform a force reboot. The method of hard resetting or force rebooting/restarting hasn't changed in recent years....

Most long-time macOS users will be aware of the Application Switcher. It's invoked using the Command+Tab keyboard shortcut, and lists all of the apps currently running on your Mac, enabling you to quickly switch between them. In this article, we'll run through the Mac App Switcher's most basic functions, and then highlight some of our favorite lesser-known App Switcher tricks that you're...

Since macOS Ventura, Apple has made hiding scroll bars when not in use a default behavior of the operating system, but you can prevent this from happening if you know where to look. Keep reading to learn how it's done. If your Mac is running macOS Ventura, you may have noticed that it makes window scroll bars visible only when you are actively scrolling with your mouse or trackpad. Apple ...

In macOS, a Text Clipping is a selection of text that you've dragged from an application to another location on your Mac, where it becomes a unique kind of standalone file. The relatively little-known feature has been around since at least Mac OS 9, and it offers a convenient way to save out pieces of text from pretty much anywhere for later use in another app or document. To create a...

When macOS Mojave was introduced back in 2018, Apple added Quick Actions to Finder that make it easier to perform quick edits to files without having to open the apps associated with them. In macOS Ventura and later, Apple has expanded what you can do with Quick Actions, making them an even more powerful workflow ally. Here's how to make them work for you. Quick Actions are there to help you ...

On iPhone 16 models, Visual Intelligence lets you use the camera to learn more about places and objects around you. It can also summarize text, read text out loud, translate text, search Google for items, ask ChatGPT, and more. And thanks to the latest iOS 18.4 update from Apple, iPhone 15 Pro models can now get in on the action, too. Until recently, ‌Visual Intelligence‌ was a feature...

Have you noticed your iPhone videos keep playing on repeat in the Photos app? In iOS 18.2 and later, the stock Photos app automatically replays videos until you manually pause them – a feature that might be fine at first but can quickly become annoying, especially with longer clips. The auto-loop feature can be fun for short clips or when showing someone a quick video, but it forces you to ...

In macOS, you can easily convert the format of images using a Quick Action in Finder or you can achieve the same thing via the Preview app, but if your daily workflow requires you to repeatedly convert images – for uploading to a blog, for example – then using a Folder Action can be a much faster way of getting the job done. In this article, we'll show you how to use the macOS Automator...

In iOS 18.2, Apple introduced a major change to iPhone's Mail app with a new Categories feature, which has now been rolled out to iPad and Mac with iPadOS 18.4 and macOS Sequoia 15.4. Categories automatically sorts your emails into four distinct sections: Primary, Transactions, Updates, and Promotions. However, while this organizational system aims to help manage email overload, not everyone will ...

Resizing images in macOS is easily done in the Preview app, but if your daily workflow requires you to scale images to a specific size – for uploading to a blog, for example – then using an image resize Quick Action is a much faster way of getting the job done. In this article, we'll show you how to use the Automator app to create a simple Quick Action that, once saved, will have you...

Apple's AirPods 4 and second-generation AirPods Pro have an Adaptive Audio feature that includes Adaptive Noise Control, Personalized Volume, and Conversation Awareness, which are all features that adjust sound and Active Noise Cancellation in response to the environment around you. If you haven't used Adaptive Audio, it could be worth a look – especially since iOS 18 allows you more control...

Stationery Pad is a handy way to nix a step in your workflow if you regularly use document templates on your Mac. The long-standing Finder feature essentially tells a file's parent application to open a copy of it by default, ensuring that the original file remains unedited. Stationery Pad doesn't get much attention these days, but it's a neat alternative to repeatedly editing templates and ...

In macOS, the Hot Corners feature turns each of the four corners of your screen into a designated action, allowing you to quickly access certain functions built into the system, such as Mission Control, Notification Center, the Screen Saver, QuickNote, and more. Many Mac users would agree, there's something satisfying about bringing up these commonly used functions with a simple, swift cursor...

There are several ways to search the web in Apple's Safari browser. In this article, we're going to highlight a way of searching specific websites using a lesser-known Safari feature called Quick Website Search. The option is designed to work with sites that have a built-in search field, like the one you can find at the top of the main page at MacRumors.com. Here's how it works. Let's...

With iOS 18.2, Apple introduced ChatGPT integration with Apple Intelligence to expand the range of AI capabilities accessible to users on supported iPhone models. One skill in particular that you may not be aware of is the ability to generate images in the Messages app, ready for sharing. ChatGPT leverages DALL·E to generate the images, and the results are almost invariably better than Apple's...

If you have an Apple Account (formerly Apple ID), Apple allows you to request a downloadable copy of the data associated with it. This article outlines the steps you need to take to request a copy of your data from Apple. As part of putting you in control of your data and privacy, Apple gives you the ability to request a copy of data associated with your Apple Account. This can include your ...

Apple's Advanced Data Protection for iCloud feature uses end-to-end encryption to provide the highest level of cloud data security that Apple offers. Here's everything you need to know about enabling it on your devices. The encrypted security feature gives you the choice to further protect your important iCloud data, including iCloud Backup, Photos, Notes, and more. Apple's use of...

Apple this week released iOS 18.3, iPadOS 18.3, and macOS Sequoia 15.3, software updates that enable Apple Intelligence on supported devices by default. Whether you own an iPhone, iPad, Mac – or indeed all three – regardless of what you think about Apple Intelligence, there's one reason why you may want to disable Apple's AI features at the earliest opportunity: To reclaim storage....

When Apple released iOS 18.2, it introduced a major change to the Mail app with its new Categories and priority messages features. Categories automatically sorts your emails into four distinct sections: Primary, Transactions, Updates, and Promotions. The change also adds contact photos and business logos for conversations in your inbox, but if you don't like how they look, it's easy enough to...