Tips & Tricks

Tips and tricks for all things Apple! Whether you want to learn tips for a Mac, iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, or much more, you will find many tricks, tips, tutorials, and excellent walkthroughs for Apple devices and software here.

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7 Genuinely Useful Things To Do with Siri

Oct 4, 2012 - 27 Comments
Siri

Siri is surprisingly useful, and though the voice assistant can do a ton of stuff, it’s really best used when it’s either faster than manually tapping around a screen, or when you’re unable to because your hands are busy from driving or something else. Now that Siri can be enabled on more iOS devices than … Read More

Access iCloud Tabs from iPhone & iPod touch in iOS 6

Oct 3, 2012 - 5 Comments
Access iCloud tabs on iPhone and iPod touch

Update: Note this article is for devices running iOS 6, if you’re running a modern version of iOS than go here to learn how to view and access iCloud Tabs in Safari for iOS as the steps have changed slightly, and the appearance is different too. Thanks to Safari in Mountain Lion and iOS 6, … Read More

How to Use an iPhone 5 on T-Mobile Right Now

Oct 3, 2012 - 26 Comments
iPhone 5 on T-Mobile data speeds

Many of us were disappointed to learn T-Mobile didn’t officially pick up the iPhone 5, but it hardly matters when T-Mobile is making it easier than ever to use the newest iPhone on their network anyway. Not only that, but with the T-Mobile HSPA+ network rollout the reported data speeds in many regions are impressively … Read More

Get AirPlay Mirroring on Older Macs with AirParrot

Oct 3, 2012 - 7 Comments
Get AirPlay Mirroring on Old Macs

AirPlay Mirroring arrived on the Mac with OS X Mountain Lion, but Macs built before 2011 don’t support the feature, and obviously any OS X version prior to 10.8 won’t have it either. That is, until you run AirParrot, which enables AirPlay Mirroring on any Mac (or Windows PC) running OS X 10.6.8 or later.

How to Easily Tell If Someone Opened Your Files on a Mac

Oct 2, 2012 - 13 Comments
Determine if someone used your Mac and opened files

If you suspect someone is using your Mac while you’re away and getting into personal documents and files, the easiest way to quickly find out is by looking at the Recent Items list in OS X.

Stress Test a Mac by Maxing Out CPU

Oct 2, 2012 - 25 Comments
Stress test a Mac by maxing out CPU

If you want to completely peg CPU to stress test a Mac, turn no further than the Terminal. Using the command line you can easily max out all CPU cores and induce huge load on a Mac, making it easy to determine things like what temperature the processor reaches under heavy load, if fans are … Read More

How to Email Photos from iPhone or iPad the Easy Way

Oct 2, 2012 - 6 Comments
Insert a photo into email on iPhone

Emailing photos from your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch is easier than ever in modern versions of iOS and iPad, because you can actually attach pictures right from the mail composition screen. This is much simpler than the copy and paste method that was often used before to email out pictures from an iPhone, iPad, … Read More

Automatically Add Twitter Usernames & Profile Pictures to Contacts from OS X

Oct 1, 2012 - 5 Comments
Add Twitter usernames and profile images to Contacts

Now that Twitter is deeply integrated into OS X from Mountain Lion onward, you can easily add Twitter usernames and their accompanying profile pictures to your existing Contacts information automatically. This is done by crossmatching data in your Contacts list with Twitter email addresses and phone numbers, which basically guarantees accuracy.

Navigate iPad & Switch Apps with Shortcuts and an External Keyboard

Oct 1, 2012 - 16 Comments
iPad with an external keyboard

Did you know you can navigate around the iPad using only a keyboard, without touching the screen at all? It’s part of iOS Accessibility options called VoiceOver, and using keyboard navigation makes the iPad feel a lot more like a traditional computer, even sharing some of the keyboard shortcuts that Macs have to do things … Read More

Use Notes as a Super Clipboard to Sync Data Between Macs and iOS Devices

Sep 30, 2012 - 39 Comments
Store files, images, and more in OS X Notes app

Notes has been around in iOS for a while, but it’s new to the Mac with OS X Mountain Lion, and if you think it’s just a place to keep track of a few thoughts you’re greatly underestimating the usefulness of this app. In fact, Notes can function as a powerful cross-platform clipboard, because not … Read More

How to Set a Song as Alarm Clock Sound on iPhone, iPad, & iPod touch

Sep 30, 2012 - 13 Comments
Clock icon

If you’re tired of the existing alarm clock sounds and ringtones, you can select individual songs to be the alarm clock sound played by iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. Yes, that means you can wake up to the sounds of your own music, if you so desire! So, want to start the day hearing your … Read More

App Store Slow in iOS 6? Here’s How to Fix the Sluggishness

Sep 28, 2012 - 32 Comments
Fix the Slow App Store in iOS 6

Other than the Maps issues, the App Store in iOS 6 is probably the next most talked about change of the latest iOS system software. Though it’s undoubtedly a better user experience in a lot of ways, one area that really suffers is speed, and a lot of users are experiencing very sluggish behavior in … Read More

How to Use Panorama Camera on iPhone to Take Panoramic Pictures

Sep 28, 2012 - 10 Comments

The Panorama camera is one of the better features of the iPhone Camera app, it makes taking incredible high-quality panoramic pictures ridiculously easy without adding any additional apps to your iPhone. The amazing photography feature is built directly into iOS now and works on all modern iPhone devices as part of the Camera app. If … Read More

Use a Keyboard Shortcut for Instant Help Menu Access in Mac OS X

Sep 28, 2012 - 3 Comments
Help Menu keyboard shortcut in Mac OS X

The Help menu in Mac OS X is an often underutilized feature that can quickly resolve a lot of questions about apps and the OS itself, making it an excellent resource to query any time you’re trying to find out about a particular feature, troubleshooting an issue, or you just want to learn more about … Read More

Hide Software Updates from the App Store in Mac OS X

Sep 27, 2012 - 17 Comments

Ignoring specific software updates is a bit different now in modern versions of OS X now that updates are handled by the Mac App Store. From OS X El Capitan, Yosemite, Mavericks, Mountain Lion and onward, if you don’t want to install an update you will need to hide it from being visible within the … Read More

iPhone 5 Wi-Fi Problems Fixed By Manual DNS Settings

Sep 27, 2012 - 33 Comments
iPhone 5 Wi-Fi Problems Fixed

Some iPhone 5 users are experiencing a variety of issues with wifi on the device, almost always revolving around inconsistently slow wireless connections. If you’re having this problem, you’re not alone, and the good news is you can almost certainly get an immediate improvement by setting manual DNS on the device. Fixing Slow iPhone 5 … Read More

How to Mark eMail as Unread on iPhone & iPad Mail

Sep 27, 2012 - 5 Comments
Mark mail as unread in iOS

One of the many subtle changes to iOS Mail app in modern versions is how marking emails works in the Mail app. The latest versions of Mail for iPhone and iPad now tuck the Mark as Unread option into a flag menu, which resides in the toolbar of an active email message. This replaced what … Read More

Encrypt Time Machine Backups with Mac OS X

Sep 26, 2012 - 4 Comments
Encrypt Time Machine backups in Mac OS X

Time Machine backups can be encrypted right from your Mac. This means the backed up data is extremely safe from prying eyes and the very unlikely event of a cracking attempt, and it also means you’ll need a password to access the encrypted backups yourself. Enabling encrypted backups in Time Machine for Mac OS X … Read More

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