How Tos - Page 81

In iOS 12, Apple added several new ways for users to control how and when they receive app notifications, including the ability to group notifications and change their behavior on the fly with Instant Tuning. A lesser known feature in this subset of options is called Critical Alerts. So what are they exactly? The idea behind Critical Alerts is that if specific apps have crucial information...

All of Apple's Macs come with Preview, the powerful file viewer that's built into macOS. Preview is the default app that opens up whenever you double-click an image or a PDF, and features several annotation tools for you to use when working with these file types. The most obvious and oft-used markup tools include things like arrows, lines, ovals, rectangles, and text, but in this article...

With the launch of the iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, and iPhone X last year, Apple made some changes to the way a forced restart is performed and also to the way the devices are put into DFU mode. These changes remain in place for Apple's latest iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, and iPhone XR devices. A forced restart can be used if an iPhone is freezing, throwing up errors, or has stopped responding...

Burst Mode refers to when the camera on your iOS device captures a series of photos in rapid succession, at a rate of ten frames per second. It's a great way to shoot an action scene or an unexpected event, since you're always more likely to end up with the picture you were aiming for. For instance, the picture below was taken when the sun came out momentarily from behind the clouds to throw...

In macOS Mojave, Apple has introduced a screen capture interface that unifies the screenshot and screen recording features on Mac, making accessing them easier from one place. A new floating palette brings the traditional Mac screen capture functions together under a single menu. You can access it by hitting Command-Shift-5. Let's take a closer look at what's on offer. The three buttons...

With social media account hacking becoming increasingly more widespread, users would do well to make sure they're taking every security measure available to them. That goes doubly for frequenters of Facebook-owned Instagram, where account hijacking in particular is a recurring problem. One of the best ways to protect any online account is by using two-factor authentication (2FA). 2FA offers...

Apple has little known iCloud tools that are designed to let you recover files that have been deleted from ‌iCloud‌, as well as recover Contacts, Calendars, and Reminders that have been lost. Lost ‌iCloud‌ data isn't a situation that comes up often, but these tools were introduced following an iCloud Drive bug in 2015 that caused some users to lose documents stored in ‌iCloud Drive‌, prompting the...

Apple's newest crop of devices, the iPhone X, iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, and iPhone XR don't have a Home button and feature new Side buttons with unique functionality, so Apple has introduced a new method for forcing a quick restart. It takes a unique combination of button presses to cause your iPhone to restart, and while it's not immediately obvious, once you've learned the steps, a force...

The macOS menu bar is a great place for quickly accessing system and application functions using menu extras or "menulets", but it can get cluttered pretty quickly as more and more icons vie for a space there. If the corner of your Mac's screen is fast becoming an eyesore, here are some quick and simple actions you can perform to bring order to the chaos, plus a few additional tips for making ...

Sometimes you might not want certain pictures shot on your iPhone or iPad to take pride of place in your Photo Library, but for whatever reason, you don't want to just outright delete them. Fortunately, Apple's Photos app includes an option to hide certain photos from the main library. This article shows you how. Bear in mind that hiding pictures via the following method ensures they won't ...

If your iPhone 7 or iPhone 7 Plus is acting up and needs a quick restart, you can follow these steps to force it to reboot without the need to shut it down. The iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus feature a haptic Home button rather than a physical Home button, so forcing a restart is different than on earlier devices. It's also different than restarting an iPhone 8 or later. How to Force Restart...

Apple in iOS 11 revamped the iPad's interface and changed the way we interact with the tablet through a new Dock, a revamped App Switcher, and Drag and Drop, and with iOS 12, further iPad changes have been implemented. There are new gestures to learn for accessing the Home screen, App Switcher, and the Control Center, along with a new status bar. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel ...

Starting with iOS 11, Apple introduced a Do Not Disturb While Driving Feature that's designed to mute incoming calls, texts, and notifications while you're driving to cut down on accident-causing distractions. Do Not Disturb While Driving is not a feature that's enabled automatically, but you will see a popup prompting you to turn it on when Apple detects the motion of a car after installing...

In the iOS operating system, there's a handy feature that's designed to let you quickly share your Wi-Fi password with a friend, and, if you're at a friend's house, to get the Wi-Fi password with just a tap. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. There are two prerequisites to use this feature: you must be running iOS 11 or later and you and your friend need to have each...

Apple in 2017 changed the method to force restart or hard reset an iPhone 8 or iPhone 8 Plus. While rebooting an iPhone 7 or iPhone 7 Plus requires pressing and holding both the Sleep/Wake and Volume Down buttons for at least 10 seconds until the Apple logo appears, restarting an iPhone 8 or iPhone 8 Plus is a three step process that involves the Volume Up button, the Volume Down button, and...

When you receive a PDF document by email that you must sign, the process of printing out the file, signing on the dotted line with a pen, scanning the signed document and sending it back can be a rather tedious task. Fortunately, Apple has added the ability to electronically sign a PDF document using Preview, a program that comes preinstalled on every Mac running OS X Lion or later. The...

If you signed up to test an early beta version of macOS Mojave, it's very likely that your system hasn't been updated to the final official release. Before your Mac can be updated to the latest stable version of Apple's new desktop operating system, you'll need to manually opt out of the beta program. This article shows you how. Note that after following the simple steps below, you'll stop...

The monogram complication on Apple Watch is designed to let you choose up to four letters to appear on your watch's display. Previously it was only available on the Color watch face, but if you're a Series 4 owner, you can also use it on the new Infograph watch face. The idea behind the monogram is to let you add your initials to your watch display, but there's nothing stopping you from...

Apple Watch apps rarely misbehave, but if one becomes non-responsive or fails to refresh data, sometimes force-quitting the app and relaunching it can solve the issue. Fortunately, it's a simple procedure. The following steps show you how it's done on Apple Watch models running watchOS 4 or later. Open the misbehaving app on your Apple Watch, either by tapping its complication or...

Apple in macOS Mojave introduced Dynamic Desktops, which are wallpapers that shift with the time of day, changing the lighting and look of the wallpaper with the progress of the sun across the sky. For example, in the afternoon, the lighting in the wallpaper is at its peak brightness and the image of the Mojave desert is depicted as it would be if you visited it in the daytime with well-lit...