The apps that run on your Mac or iPhone/iPad.
Turn on the iPhone’s Do Not Disturb feature to completely silence your iPhone (or iPad). This feature can be very handy if you sleep with your iPhone or iPad close to your bed. I typically have my iPhone’s ringer set to Silent mode, but if I’m in a meeting and I don’t want my phone to buzz or … Read more
Is your iPhone or iPad configured to backup to Apple’s iCloud servers? If so, your iOS device should automatically get backed up daily. If your iOS device is displaying a message indicating that it has not backed up in a few weeks (or more), here are some basic items that you should review. Read another Tech Tip … Read more
If you don’t know how to use the search feature on your iPhone or iPad, I think you are doing yourself a disservice. The search feature is easy to use and powerful. Here are instructions for using it. Wake up or unlock your iPhone (or iPad). Place your finger in the middle of the screen … Read more
Are you missing your email folders in Apple Mail? Did these folders disappear after you upgraded your Mac’s operating system or after you migrated your data to a new Mac? If so, there’s likely an easy fix. Apple added a Show/Hide button to Apple Mail. I believe they added it to Mail starting with OS X … Read more
Here’s a list of common ways to eject a disk from a Mac. This disk could be a CD, a DVD, a USB flash drive or an external hard drive. Some Apple keyboards have an eject key. It is commonly located in the upper right corner of the keyboard. Press the eject key to eject … Read more
Here’s an overview of how to install a major upgrade to OS X. For example, if you would like to upgrade from OS X Yosemite (aka OS X 10.10) to OS X El Capitan (aka OS X 10.11) then you could follow the instructions below. (These instructions assume you have at least OS X 10.6.8 or … Read more
Do you have an iPhone? Here are two undocumented features that I use everyday on my iPhone. Silence incoming calls – You can instantly silence an incoming phone call by pressing either of the volume buttons. By pressing one of the volume buttons one time you’ll immediately silence your phone if it’s ringing or buzzing. Jump … Read more
Would you like to be able to export some or all of your email messages as PDF files that you can store in a regular folder on your Mac? If so, check out Email Archiver Pro (time-limited demo version available). Previously, I wrote about how to archive email if you use Microsoft Outlook (or Entourage) and using EagleFiler to archive … Read more
Do you type on your iPhone? If so, you should make sure you know these four typing tips. Tap the Space key twice at the end of a sentence. This inserts a period and a space and also activates the shift key. You’re now ready to type the next sentence without missing a beat. Hold down … Read more
Have you ever had problems locating your Library folder on your Mac? If so, let me help you locate it. There are two complicating factors. First, there are typically three Library folders on the Mac so locating the correct one can be tough. Second, Apple made one of these three Library folders invisible starting with OS X Lion … Read more
Do you have dozens or hundreds of messages that you want to delete from your iPhone? Here are two ways to delete multiple messages. [Be aware, that if you’re using an IMAP or Exchange email account that when you delete a message from your Inbox on your iPhone that it’ll be deleted from your Mac’s … Read more
Do your friends send you a lot of photos and videos as attachments to text messages? If so, these photos and videos could be consuming a fair amount of space on your iPhone or iPad. I recommend that you periodically review these images, save the ones that you want and then delete them. Here are instructions on … Read more
Some iPhone or iPad problems are only resolved by restoring your iPhone or iPad to factory settings. Apple’s support article details how to restore an iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch. Restoring a device is definitively one of the last techniques I invoke when troubleshooting iPhone or iPad problems. I have only invoked it when more traditional … Read more
Do you find it tough to read news articles on web sites because of all of the distracting ads? Do you ever want to print web pages without the clutter of ads around the perimeter? If so, use Safari’s Reader view. It’s easy.
Read moreDo you use Pandora, the music streaming service? To listen to Pandora do you open a web browser and visit the Pandora website? If so, consider using Hermes instead. Hermes is a free application which you would install on your Mac. Hermes works with both free and paid Pandora accounts. While Pandora offers their own Mac app, … Read more
Do you own an iPhone 6, 6S, 6 Plus or a 6S Plus? If so, use Reachability to make it easier to use the phone with only one hand. The iPhone 6 (or 6S) and iPhone 6 Plus (or 6S Plus) come with 4.7″ and 5.5″ screens, respectively. Apple added a feature named Reachability to make … Read more
Do you know you can access your iPhone or iPad’s Flashlight, Clock, Calculator, Airplane Mode, Do Not Disturb feature and more with only two taps? All of these features are available via the iOS Control Center. In iOS 7 through iOS 11, you can to quickly access the Control Center, tap on the Home button on … Read more
If you own an iPhone make sure your Find My iPhone feature is enabled. Find My iPhone is one of the services offered by Apple’s iCloud service. The Find My iPhone feature helps you locate your iPhone, lock it and potentially erase it. Best of all, Find My iPhone is a theft deterrent since this feature … Read more
You should consider using Apple’s easy-to-use Image Capture. Image Capture can both copy photos off of digital cameras and control a scanner to scan paper documents. Today’s tech tip focuses only on scanning. Image Capture can control hundreds of scanners made by Brother, Canon, Epson, HP and other manufacturers. Image Capture is one of many free applications that … Read more
Have you ever deleted a text message from your iPhone and then quickly regretted doing this? If so, here’s an overview of some options that might let you recover that text message. Unlike deleted voicemail messages or deleted email messages, there isn’t a Trash or Deleted Items folder for text messages. In other words, you … Read more