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.

Search Tips & Tricks

Enable Safari Hidden Debug Menu in Mac OS X

Nov 7, 2011 - 8 Comments
Debug menu in Safari

Safari has a hidden “Debug” menu that offers some additional features for debugging the browser, including stress and load tests, sampling, javascript error logging, the ability to intentionally crash a page, and more. Intended for Safari developers, the Debug menu is different from the Developer menu, which is geared more at web developers, although there … Read More

Backup to iCloud Manually from an iPhone or iPad

Nov 6, 2011 - 20 Comments
Back up to iCloud

Once you have iCloud set up, it becomes easier than ever to keep recent backups of your iPhone and iPad. With iCloud backup enabled, remember that the backup starts automatically any time the device is connected to a power source, and the synced computer is turned on and connected to the same wifi network. These … Read More

Sync iTunes to Android in Mac OS X with WinAmp

Nov 5, 2011 - 9 Comments
Sync iTunes with Android in Mac OS X

WinAmp, the longstanding Windows music player, has come to the Mac OS X platform and brings a few great features for Android users, most notably iTunes music syncing and library sharing, and Wi-Fi syncing. This means you can take any existing iTunes playlist and sync it directly to an Android device without having to jump … Read More

Show Photos By Location on iPhone

Nov 5, 2011 - 7 Comments
Show Photos by Location on iPhone

The iPhone and GPS-equipped iPad include a “Places” feature in the Photos app which allow you to see pictures based on geographical location. This works to show your own photos by location, and also photos that have been shared with you that you saved to your own Photos app Camera Roll. Here is how to … Read More

Kill Google Chrome Tabs and Windows with Task Manager

Nov 4, 2011 - 4 Comments
The Chrome Task Manager

Google Chrome has a built-in Task Manager tool that lets you kill individual tabs, windows, plugins, and even extensions. This is extraordinarily helpful if you encounter a page that gets tied up, beach balls, or can’t be closed due to any number of errors. For those of us who live centered around the web, this … Read More

Resize Safari Windows While in Full Screen Mode

Nov 4, 2011 - 5 Comments
resize Safari windows in full screen mode

Like using Safari in Lion‘s full-screen mode? You can resize the viewing pane of a full-screened Safari window by dragging the cursor to the far left or right edges, grabbing, and pulling in. This lets you reduce the white space and width of browser windows while still retaining the full screen view. This is a … Read More

Get a Calendar in the Mac OS X Menu Bar with Day-O, a Date & Time Replacement

Nov 3, 2011 - 24 Comments
Day-O is a free menu bar calendar and clock replacement for Mac OS X

One of my longstanding peeves with Mac OS X is the lack of a pull-down calendar in the menubars default Date & Time settings. If you click on the time, instead of seeing something useful like a calendar or more date/time details, you just have options to set an analog clock or open Preferences. I’ll … Read More

Fix “This device isn’t eligible for the requested build” Error in iTunes When Updating iOS

Nov 3, 2011 - 100 Comments
iTunes

If you’re trying to update iOS to the latest version on an iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch and you get an error in iTunes saying: The iOS Device “Device Name” could not be updated. This device isn’t eligible for the requested build. You’re most likely encountering one the following problems: either you are using an … Read More

Get the Old Pop-Up Style Alert Notifications Back in iOS 5

Nov 3, 2011 - 3 Comments
Go back to pop-up alerts in iOS

Many users are thrilled about the new iOS Notification Center and easily dismissed alerts, but some still prefer the old style of pop-up dialog notifications. You can enable the old pop-up alert style again, but you have to do it on a per-application basis with iOS 5: Tap onto “Settings” and go to “Notifications” Tap … Read More

Sync Files Between Macs with iCloud

Nov 3, 2011 - 53 Comments
iCloud File Syncing in Mac OS X

You can sync files across iCloud-equipped Macs by using an unofficial feature tied to a little known folder hidden in OS X. We’ll walk you through exactly how to get this set up, allowing you to sync files and folders across Macs seamlessly, but first make sure you meet some basic system requirements. Requirements: Macs … Read More

How to Enable the Develop Menu in Safari for Mac

Nov 3, 2011 - 6 Comments
Safari Developer menu

The Develop menu of Safari adds a variety of additional features to the web browser on the Mac, including the inspector and error consoles, javascript debugging tools, the ability to disable various page elements, enable the ‘Do Not Track’ feature, use WebGL acceleration, and it offers a simple way to change the browsers user agent. … Read More

Enable and Use the ‘locate’ Command in the Mac OS X Terminal

Nov 2, 2011 - 12 Comments
find process running to build locate db

The locate command is very useful if you’re looking to track down every instance of a file, filetype, app, extension, things hidden deep in system folders, or just about anything else that Spotlight can’t manage. It’s extraordinarily useful for troubleshooting and even more mundane tasks like completely uninstalling Mac apps. In order to use locate, … Read More

Swipe Left to Dismiss New Notifications in iOS 5

Nov 2, 2011 - 8 Comments
Swipe to dismiss notifications in iOS 5

In the newest versions of iOS, you can swipe up to hide alerts and notifications on an iPhone or iPad when they show up at the top of your screen, but what if you have an older device running older iOS software? If you want to quickly get a notification off your screen in iOS … Read More

Move Desktop Spaces in Mission Control for Mac OS X with a Drag & Drop

Nov 1, 2011 - 6 Comments
Rearrange spaces in Mission Control

Users who rely on Spaces within Mission Control to manage multiple virtual desktops in Mac OS X will be happy to know that these desktops (Spaces, as Apple calls them in Mac OS) are completely adjustable. This means you can rearrange or move your desktop spaces as necessary, and as your needs change, and it’s … Read More

How to Hide YouTube, Safari, and Other Default App Icons in iOS 5

Nov 1, 2011 - 18 Comments
Hide YouTube, Safari, and other apps in iOS 5

With iOS 5 you can hide many of the Apple default apps and their icons from appearing on the home screen of an iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch. This includes YouTube and iTunes, but also the essentials like Safari and Mail if you are opting to use third party or web apps in their place. … Read More

Spoof Your Own Mac OS X 10.8 User Agent

Oct 31, 2011 - 3 Comments
Spoof user agent Safari

Disappointed that Mac OS X 10.8 users aren’t showing up in your web logs? Spoof your own visits! In the spirit of pranking and Halloween, here’s how you can mimic a Mac OS X 10.8 user agent yourself: Launch the Terminal Enter the following command, replacing “http://url.com” no the end with the web address you … Read More

Set the Default PDF Viewer in Mac OS X Back to Preview

Oct 31, 2011 - 51 Comments
Preview in Mac

If you’ve downloaded Adobe Acrobat on the Mac you’ve probably discovered that it takes over Preview as the default PDF viewer in Mac OS X, which is annoying because Acrobat is slow to load and a fairly bloated application. Given that Preview comes bundled with Mac OS X, is extremely fast, and quite efficient at … Read More

How to Check For an LG Display in a MacBook Air and Make it Look Better

Oct 30, 2011 - 37 Comments
Select MacBook Air custom display profile

If you have a newer MacBook Air you should pay attention. Some of the MacBook Airs are shipping with Samsung displays, and some are shipping with LG displays, both are quality displays, but the LG’s default color profile is lighter and a bit flat. Most users probably won’t notice this, but if you sit a … Read More

Subscribe to OSXDaily

Subscribe to RSS Subscribe to Twitter Feed Follow on Facebook Subscribe to eMail Updates

Tips & Tricks

News

iPhone / iPad

Mac

Troubleshooting

Shop on Amazon to help support this site