Tips and Help

Amazon Prime Video Finally Comes to the Apple TV

Prime Video tvOS

If you have an Amazon Prime membership, you’ll like this! Amazon Prime membership provides various perks, including free 2-day shipping from the Amazon online store and streaming access to Amazon’s vast media libraries. Unfortunately for Apple TV users, accessing Prime Video content has been frustrating. Why? There was no Amazon app for the Apple TV. That has all changed now, and if you have an Amazon Prime membership and an Apple TV, you can download the new Amazon Prime Video app. It gives you a boatload of additional video content, including Amazon’s original programming. Find it on your fourth-generation Apple TV or Apple TV 4K in the App Store app. If you are still using a third-generation Apple TV, Amazon Prime Video should appear automatically on your Apple TV Home screen.

How to Switch Apps on the iPhone X

IPhone X switch apps photo 1080x675

Since the iPhone X lacks a Home button, how do you now switch between open apps? You used to press twice for the app switcher, now you’ll need to switch apps in a new way. To bring up the app switcher, swipe up from the bottom of the screen to about halfway, and then pause until the app thumbnails appear. The key is the pause. Then you can scroll through your launched apps by swiping horizontally and switch to an app by tapping its thumbnail. While in the app switcher, you can also force-quit a frozen app: press a thumbnail to get a red minus button and tap that button. Alternatively, you can skip the app switcher entirely. Just swipe right on the very bottom of the screen to switch to the previous app. Swiping left switches to the next app.

IPhone X switch apps 1080x1222

Watch Out for Phishing Attacks Hidden in Your Email

Phishing photo

One of the most important things you can do to stay safe on the Internet is to be careful while reading email. This can’t be stressed enough. Online criminals know that we’re all busy, and we often don’t pay enough attention to what we’re reading or where we’re clicking.

To take advantage of our inattention, these Internet information thieves send email messages to us that look like they come from Apple, Facebook, Amazon, along with well-known banks, payment services, retailers, and even government agencies. Even more dangerous are messages that appear to come from a trusted individual and include personal details—these messages are often targeted at executives and company managers. Generally speaking, these attacks are called phishing—you can see examples here.

What is their goal? To get you to click a link in the message and visit a malicious Web site. That site usually continues to look like it is being run by a company or organization you trust. At a quick glance or even upon closer inspection, these sites look legitimate, but they re not. The aim is to sucker you into revealing confidential information by asking you to log in, pay for a product or service, or fill out a survey. The site—or an attachment in the email message—might also try to install malware. Although macOS is quite secure, if you approve security prompts, it can still be infected.

Although phishing is a huge problem that costs businesses hundreds of millions of dollars every year, you can easily identify phishing messages by looking for telltale signs:

  • Be suspicious of email messages, particularly from people you don’t know or from well-known companies, that ask you to click a link and do something with an online account.
  • Look closely at email addresses and URLs (hover the pointer over a link to see the underlying URL). Phishing messages don’t use official domains, so instead of paypal.com, the addresses and links might use paypa1.com—close enough to pass a quick glance, but clearly a fake. And again, the site the link takes you to will look like PayPal as well, even though it isn’t.
  • Watch out for highly emotional or urgent requests. They’re designed to make you act without thinking. Take any such messages with a grain of salt.
  • Channel your inner English teacher and look for poor grammar or odd phrasing, which are red flags for phishing messages. Email from real companies may not be perfect, but it won’t have multiple egregious errors. Most phasing emails have typos and grammatical mistakes.

Phishing example

So what do you do if you get a message that may be phishing for sensitive information? Most of the time you can just ignore it. If you’re worried that it might be legit, instead of clicking any links in the message, navigate to the site in question manually by typing the organization’s URL into your browser—use a URL that you know to be correct, not the one in the email message. Whatever you do, do not open attachments that you aren’t expecting and never send confidential information via email.

If you think you’ve fallen prey to a phishing attack and given away a password, you’ll want to change passwords on any affected accounts. If you’ve opened any attachments or approved any installs, run anti-malware software to determine whether your Mac has been infected. And remember, regular backups protect you from a multitude of sins.

Quick-Start

Here’s the Fastest Way to Set Up a New iPhone

Quick-Start

When you replace your old iPhone with a new iPhone, one thing you’ll need to do is transfer your information from your old iPhone to your new one. If your old iPhone is running iOS 11, you can use Quick Start, a new iOS 11 feature that makes the transfer easy. Just turn on your new iPhone, set it next to the old one, and tap Continue when asked whether you want to use your Apple ID to set up your new iPhone. You will see an animation on your new iPhone for you to scan with your old iPhone. Once you’ve done that, follow the rest of the instructions to enable Touch ID or Face ID and then restore your data and settings from your most recent iCloud backup (you can update the backup first if necessary). Leave the two iPhones next to each other while data is being transferred, and if possible, keep the new one plugged in and on Wi-Fi after setup so it can download your apps, photos, and music from Apple’s cloud-based services. It may seem like a lot of steps, but Apple will steer you through them. It’s all pretty easy. Hope it helps!

Quick-Start-process

Tips and Help

What products to use – and not use – to clean your iPhone and iPad

Cleaning-iPhone-photo
All iPhones and iPads pick up fingerprints, and with your iPhone, it’s all too easy to get it dirty with ink, lotion, makeup, dirt, food, and oil. When you are cleaning your iPad or iPhone, resist the urge to spray it with window cleaner, rubbing alcohol, or ammonia, or, even worse, to scrub it with baking soda or Borax. That’s because all iPhones have oleophobic—oil repellent—coatings on their glass surfaces that make it easy to wipe off fingerprints. This coating will wear of naturally on it’s own, but by using these products, that coating will wear off faster than normal. Instead, Apple recommends a soft, lint-free cloth such as you would use for glasses or camera lenses. By the way, even though the iPhone 7 and later have some level of dust and water resistance, it’s important to avoid getting moisture in the openings—most of the time, a lens cloth should be all you need.
Cleaning-iPhone

Tips and Help

Follow This Quick Tip to Put Events in the Right Calendar

Set-default-calendars

Apple’s Calendar apps on the Mac, iPad, and iPhone let you manage multiple calendars, some of which may be your private events and others may be shared with family or friends. Did you know that you can set one of these calendars as your default calendar? Most of my events go into a calendar called Dan’s Schedule, this is also my default calendar. So now when I create an even, by default it will go into this calendar. On the Mac, you do this in the Calendar app, in Calendar > Preferences > General > Default Calendar. In the iPad and iPhone, set it in Settings > Calendar > Default Calendar.

Set-default-calendars

Tips and Help

Scan QR Codes with the Camera in iOS 11

scan-QR-codes-photo

You’ve seen those odd-looking square QR codes on ads, store windows, business cards, or flyers. Prior to iOS 11, you needed a special app to scan these QR codes to see what Web URL, contact card, Wi-Fi network, or other piece of information it held. New in iOS 11, though, you can just point your iPhone or iPad camera at a QR code, no need to take a picture! You’ll get a notification, just tap the notification to display whatever data was encoded by the QR code.

Tips and Help

How to Get Back to Siri’s Web Results Quickly

Siri-Web-results
If you ask Siri a question and she searches the Web for the answer, you’ll get five results back from Google (Siri does not use Bing anymore!). Tap one of the results and it opens in Safari. But what if that page doesn’t contain the information you want? How do you get back to Siri’s results? The easy way is to tap the little Siri button that appears in the top-left of the screen. Or you can activate Siri again, but instead of speaking, swipe down on the screen until “What can I help you with?” disappears and your recent Siri queries appear with your last search results in view.

Siri-Web-results

Tips and Help

Merge Recognized Faces in Photos in Both iOS and macOS

An extremely welcome feature for your photos in iOS 11 and macOS 10.13 High Sierra is that the Photos app facial recognition syncs across iCloud Photo Library. Previously, people you identified on one of your devices remained unidentified on others. But what if Photos now identifies the same person twice, such that they have two separate entries in the People album? Just drag one entry on top of the other, in either the Mac or iOS version of Photos, and agree that they’re the same person when Photos asks. And with iOS 11 and High Sierra, these merged albums will sync across all your devices!

merge-faces

Tips and Help

Siri learns new Languages for Translation

Siri-translations

While you were enjoying your summer, Apple kept Siri busy by giving her intensive language classes. In iOS 11, Siri can now translate English words and phrases into Mandarin Chinese, French, German, Italian, and Spanish. So if your next vacation takes you to Paris, you can now ask Siri for help you with commands like “How do I say ‘where can I find a bathroom’ in French?” or “Translate to French: ‘How much does the baguette cost’?’” Even better, tap the triangular play button to have Siri read the translation aloud so you can mimic it or let a someone hear Siri say it for you.

Siri-translations

Tips and Help

New Shortcut for accessing the Camera in iOS 11

iphone-camera-tip

We’ve all done this. We are in a mad rush to open the camera on our iPhone as quickly as possible to catch the perfect action shot or incriminating video. You may know Apple lets you get to the camera in multiple ways: by swiping left on the Lock screen, using the Camera button in Control Center, and tapping the Camera icon on the Home screen. Well with iOS 11, Apple added another shortcut that could be useful: try this from within any app – swipe down from above the top of the screen to display the Lock screen, and then swipe left to get to the camera. I’ve been ‘training’ myself to open the camera using this technique as it’s a simple two-step process from within any app.

iphone-two-swipe-camera-shortcut

Tips and Help

7 New Features to like in watchOS 4

watchOS-4-photo

With watchOS 4 now arriving on Apple Watch users’ wrists, it’s time to make sure you aren’t missing out on any of the important and fun features the new watchOS has. watchOS 4 works on all Apple Watch models, even the original Apple Watch. It does require iOS 11, so if you’ve been waiting to upgrade the iOS on your iPhone, you’ll need to update it first.

#1: View Apple Watch apps in List View
This is my favorite feature. While selecting an app on the Apple Watch looks impressive, it can be challenging to locate and tap a specific app. What icon do I press? Now you can show all the Apps in a List view, accessed by force-pressing the App screen. No more selecting the wrong icon when trying to open an app.

watchOS-4-app-list

#2: Dock Scrolls Vertically instead of Horizontally
This is a close second on favorite new features! The dock now scrolls vertically instead of horizontally. It seems much more natural. Just press the side button to see the Dock, and you’ll notice that it now scrolls vertically—this makes sense since one of the ways to scroll it is by turning the digital crown. You can also now arrange Dock items based on either your favorites or which Dock items were used most recently. You set this via the watch app on the iPhone.

#3: Siri Watch Face
The new Siri watch face doesn’t add new speech capabilities, but it does show timely information, pulling in personal details and suggestions from apps such as Calendar, Reminders, and News. It also shows Now Playing controls when you’re playing audio on your iPhone, along with Apple News headlines and stock tickers. You can customize what data is shown in the Watch app on your iPhone. I really like this new watch face.

There is also a new Toy Story face and a Kaleidoscope face that changes slowly as time goes by—you can speed it up by turning the digital crown.

watchOS-4-new-faces

#4: Flashlight on Your Wrist
You can now use your Apple Watch as a flashlight. Just swipe up to find and tap the new Flashlight button in Control Center. When you select this, your Apple Watch turns the screen bright white. Out walking or running at night? Swipe left to access a flashing option. Press the side button or digital crown to turn the flashlight off. You can also swipe left again to turn the display to red.

#5: More Fitness Encouragement and Options
Need a little encouragement for the day? Or to close your rings in the evening? The Activity app is now more chatty and will make suggestions in the morning to inspire you. It will also remind you at night if you are close to closing a ring.

Apple gave the Workout app some nice attention, too. Starting a workout is easier than before: it now requires only one tap, Do Not Disturb turns on automatically, and your default playlist can even start playing. With the workout underway, you can now switch easily to a different workout type (swipe right and tap the + button), and see a multi-workout analysis at the end of the entire session.

watchOS-4-Workout

Swimmers using an Apple Watch Series 2 or 3 can now track sets and rests, pace for each set, and distance for each stroke type. Apple also has added a High Intensity Interval Training workout type.

Finally, your Apple Watch can connect with some gym equipment, like ellipticals and indoor bikes, allowing it and the machine to share data. Look for an NFC label on your machine, and tap it with your watch.

#6: Multiple Playlists On the Go
Do you have AirPods and listen to music from your Apple Watch? With watchOS 4, you can sync multiple playlists and albums via the Music settings in the iOS Watch app. In previous versions of watchOS, you could only sync one playlist. Plus, for Apple Music subscribers, your automatically generated favorites mixes can sync automatically.

#7: More App Enhancements: Phone, Timer, and Camera
This is not necessarily a single features, but Apple also made improvements in other apps in watchOS 4. I use the Timer quite a bit and now the Timer now has a Repeat button, so you can repeat a timer with a single tap. I find myself using this more often than I thought. You can dial phone numbers manually with a new keypad in the Phone app. And the Camera app offers some new remote options, including support for starting and stopping videos.

watchOS-4-other-apps

All-in-all, watchOS 4 is a solid upgrade, and the changes will make your Apple Watch both more useful and easier to use. Look for an all new tutorial soon on watchOS 4 showing these new features and more!

Tips and Help

Is iOS 11 the Most Important Version Yet for iPad Users?

iOS11-photo

The short answer is yes. Apple has long argued that you can use the iPad for productivity but hasn’t backed that claim up with the necessary features in iOS. That is until now with the new iPad-centric capabilities of iOS 11. These changes mske an iPad running iOS 11 more like a Mac, and that’s a good thing for those who want to do be more productive with their iPad.

Dock and Multitasking
Just like before, the new iOS 11 Dock is easy to find at the bottom of the Home screen. But more Mac-like than before—the left side shows apps or folders you’ve placed there by dragging them on (no need to touch and hold until icons shake anymore!) while the right side helps you get around more quickly by displaying recently used apps and any Handoff apps from your other Apple devices.

iOS11 iPad Dock

Most importantly, you can now view the Dock within any app, Just like the Mac. You no longer need to return to the Home screen as in previous iOS versions. Just swipe up slightly from the bottom of the screen in any app, and the Dock appears so you can switch apps with a single tap right away.

Or—this is great!—drag the app up from the Dock to where you want to go Dock to go–in Slide Over or Split View. Now you can easily work back and forth between two apps at once on the same screen.

The dock also holds more apps as favorites! Unlike the Mac, when you place an app in the Dock, it does remove it from the grid of other apps. On the Mac, you may recall, any app in the Dock is still found in the Applications folder, or wherever it is placed. So if you have an app in the Dock on your iPad, don’t look for it anywhere else.

Control Center and App Switcher
Switching apps with the Dock like you do on the Mac is easy, just swipe up to show the Dock and select the app you want to switch to. But when you invoke the App Switcher by swiping up to see the Dock and then continuing to swipe up (or by double-pressing the Home button or swiping up with four fingers), it now shows large thumbnails of the four most recent apps (or Slide Over or Split View screens) on the left, and the new Control Center to the right. Tap any app to switch to it. Swipe to the left to view more apps that are open. Tap on any Control Center button to toggle it. On most buttons, you can long press to view more options.

iOS11 iPad App Switcher

Don’t like all the buttons on your Control Center? You can now customize the buttons that appear in Control Center—visit Settings > Control Center > Customize to make it look the way you want.

Drag and Drop
With iOS 11, Apple finally brought drag and drop to the iPad! Touch and move text, graphics, or files between apps—you can even pick up an item with a finger and use your other hand to reveal the Dock and switch to your destination app before dropping the data.

Use this maneuver in situations where you would previously have used copy and paste or the awkward Share sheet—or just given up! Practice a few times to accustom yourself to the two-handed process. Once you get used to it, you’ll wonder how you did without it.

Files
Just like the Mac, the iPad now provides a single place to browse and open all your files, and you can open a file with a single tap. All this happens in the new Files app, which replaces the iCloud Drive app. The new Files app includes a broader view of your files, providing access not just to iCloud Drive, but also to files on your device and in other cloud sharing services like Dropbox and Google Drive. (To add a sharing service whose app you’ve installed, tap Edit in the left-hand Browse panel).

iOS11 iPad Files app

Keyboard Flick
This is one of my favorite features. On iPads other than the 12.9-inch iPad Pro, iOS 11 simplifies typing on the virtual keyboard. You can now type numbers and many punctuation characters by swiping down on the appropriate key, rather than switching keyboards. Swipe down to see the key turn gray and show only the desired number or character, and then lift your finger.

iOS11 iPad keyboard

Apple Pencil
In iOS 11, the iPad Pro’s Apple Pencil becomes even more useful. Want to start a note? Just tap the Lock screen and start writing. Want to search your handwritten notes? Pull down on the Notes list to type your query, and Notes will find handwritten terms… as long as your handwriting is legible.

A new scanning feature in Notes makes it easy to bring a paper document into the iPad, where you can sign it with the Apple Pencil and send it on its way. We also like the new Instant Markup feature that lets you write on a PDF or screenshot easily—tap the Pencil icon at the upper right of the screen to start writing and to access the controls for color and tip below.

iOS11 iPad Instant Notes

With iOS 11, Apple has finally acknowledged that the iPad is not just an iPhone with a larger screen, they acknowledged the iPad needs its own features to be a productivity machine. With a little practice, you can be using an iPad, particularly an iPad Pro, for all sorts of serious tasks like email, word processing, Web research, and more. I know I am.

Tips and Help

iOS 11 Features You’ll Want to Try

New in iOS 11
Not buying a new iPhone this year? You can still enjoy a number of the “New and Improved” features Apple’s iOS 11 includes. There are quite a few new features and improvements in iOS 11, let’s take a lok at a few of these.

Getting Started
You’ll notice a few things right off after you install iOS 11. Dock icons no longer have names, and many Apple apps now have the bold text design Apple brought to the Music and News apps in iOS 10.

Although the new Automatic Setup feature won’t help you today, when you next get a new iOS device, it can transfer many settings from an older iOS 11 device automatically. Similarly, the new Share Your Wi-Fi feature lets you send your Wi-Fi network’s password to another iOS 11 device that tries to connect.

Need to recover precious space? Don’t want to buy a new iPhone with more storage? Choose Settings > General > iPhone/iPad Storage and you can offload unused apps (while keeping their settings and data), delete old Messages conversations automatically, and see how much space each app consumes. Deleting music from the Music sub-screen (tap Edit) will help too.
iOS 11 iPhone Storage

Special Screens
Apple redesigned the Control Center, which most people still get to by swiping up from the bottom of the screen (iPad users keep swiping up after the Dock appears, and iPhone X users will have to swipe down from the right-hand top of the screen). It’s back to a single page of icons, and you can access additional options by pressing and holding on any set of controls. Even better, you can add (and remove) controls in Settings > Control Center > Customize Controls.
iOS 11 Control Center

In the car? The Lock screen is all you’ll see by default now, thanks to the Do Not Disturb While Driving feature. This new feature blocks notifications and prevents you from using your iPhone while at the wheel. Your iPhone will also auto-replying to people who text you. Calls still come through to your car’s Bluetooth system, and texts from people designated as favorites can break through the texting cone of silence. Are you a passenger? You can disable Do Not Disturb While Driving easily from a notification on the Lock screen.
Do Not Disturb in iOS 11

Smaller Changes and App Updates
Here are a few smaller changes that you’ll appreciate include:

Siri sounds more natural, can do translations, and uses on-device learning to understand you better and provide more useful results.

On an iPhone, press the Sleep/Wake button five times quickly and swipe the Emergency SOS button, a new Emergency SOS feature will call 911 and notify your emergency contacts of your location. Tap Settings > Emergency SOS to set this up.

The password auto-fill feature now suggests stored login information for many apps right from the QuickType bar above the keyboard—manage this in Settings > Accounts & Passwords > App & Website Passwords.

Many of iOS 11’s built-in apps receive significant changes as well:

Camera: New file formats will make your videos and photos take up less space. There are a few new filters, and Camera can finally scan QR codes, which simplify loading Web sites, getting contact info, and connecting to Wi-Fi networks.

Photos: You can now apply looping, bouncing, and long exposure effects to a video in a Live Photo. Photos can at long last play animated GIFs and has a new Animated smart album to hold them.

Files: This is a major new app that replaces the iCloud Drive app. Look in Files for access not just to iCloud Drive, but also to files on your device and in other cloud sharing services like Dropbox and Google Drive. Think of it as the Finder from your Mac for your iPhone and iPad.

Messages: A new app drawer at the bottom of the screen tries to entice you to use iMessage apps. Most are just stickers, but some are useful and Apple provides a new Apple Pay app here (coming our with a later update to iOS 11) that lets you make person-to-person payments.
iOS 11 Messages app
Maps: Apple has added indoor maps of some airports and malls to Maps. Maps also now provides lane guidance on more complicated roads.

Notes: The new Instant Notes feature make starting a note as simple as tapping the Lock screen of an iPad Pro with an Apple Pencil, or the optional Notes button in Control Center. A note can now look like lined paper or graph paper (tap the Share button, then tap Lines & Grids). You can also now scan a document. The idea is that you then sign it with the Apple Pencil and send it on its way. Notes can also now find text in Apple Pencil handwriting.

Take some time to explore—we’re liking these new features and we think you will too!

Tips and Help

Identify Old Apps that Won’t Work with iOS 11

32-bit-photo

If you’ve been using an iPhone or iPad for more than a few years, it’s possible that some of your apps won’t even launch in iOS 11. Here’s what’s going to happen, and what you can do about it.

Apple used 32-bit processors through the iPhone 5, fourth-generation iPad, original iPad mini, and fifth-generation iPod touch. In 2013, Apple began putting 64-bit chips in all new iOS devices. Apple encouraged developers to make their apps run in 64-bit mode for the new iOS devices, but kept iOS 7 compatible with older 32-bit apps. Then in 2015, Apple required apps to run in 64-bit mode to receive App Store approval. If you open a 32-bit app and you are running iOS 10, your iPhone or iPad warns you that the app might slow down your device and later said that 32-bit apps would need to be updated.

32-bit-warnings

So that’s the history. Now what? First off, don’t worry about what 32-bit and 64-bit mean — all you need to know is that 32-bit apps are old and won’t run in iOS 11, and that 64-bit apps will continue to work as they always have.

How do you know which of your apps are 32-bit? For apps that you use regularly, you’ve probably seen one of those warnings. But what about other apps that you open only occasionally — how can you figure out which of those will not work in iOS 11?

In iOS 10.3, Apple added a feature to call out these 32-bit apps. All you need to do is open the Settings app. Now go to > General > About > Applications to see a list of 32-bit apps that don’t have direct updates available (if Applications isn’t tappable, either you still need to upgrade your device to iOS 10.3 or your device doesn’t contain any 32-bit apps). Tap an app in the list to load it in the App Store, where you may be able to find more info or a support link for the developer. Unfortunately, many old apps aren’t in the App Store anymore.

32-bit-App-Compatibility

Now that you know which of your apps won’t survive the transition to iOS 11, what should you do? You have a few options:

  • Delete the app. If you haven’t used an app in years, or don’t remember what it does, there’s no reason to keep it around. To get delete it, go back to your Home screen, press and hold on any app icon until all the icons start to wiggle, now tap the X badge on the app icon you want to delete. When you are finished deleting your apps, press the Home button to stop the wiggling.
  • Look for an update that’s a new app. Because Apple doesn’t let developers charge for updates, many developers have been forced to make their updates into new apps so they can afford future development. To see if this has happened, search in the App Store for the app and see if a new version appears. Or look for information on the company’s Web site.
  • You can look for an alternative app. Few iOS apps are truly unique, so you may be able to find an alternative app that does basically the same thing as the oder app.
  • Don’t upgrade to iOS 11. Or, at least, don’t upgrade right away. In general, you should stay up to date with new versions of iOS to ensure that you’re protected from security vulnerabilities that Apple has discovered and patched. But there’s no harm in delaying an upgrade for a little while as you wait for an app to be updated or look for an alternative. You may want to contact the developer of the app to see if an update is being developed. They may be able to recommend a replacement app as well.
  • You can also stick with an older device. If you have an extra iOS device that can’t run iOS 11 anyway, keep the app on that device. This approach may not work for an app you need on your primary iPhone, for instance, but it would for an old game that you could play on an elderly iPad 2.

Take a few minutes now so you won’t be surprised if one or more of your favorite apps can’t make the transition to iOS 11 when it ships in a few months!