Want to make sure your WhatsApp chats and conversations are backed up? You’re in the right place. Regardless of what instant messaging platform you may use, your messages and other media are of huge importance. These could include work-related conversations with colleagues, important plans with family, friends and the list just goes on. This is exactly why you should consider backing up these data to cloud storage services, so you don’t exactly lose them because of a corrupted software update or a simple uninstall/reinstall of the messaging application.

The stock Messages app that’s baked into iOS devices automatically backs up your conversations to iCloud as long as it’s turned on. However, popular third-party messaging services like WhatsApp take a slightly different approach when it comes to backing up your chats.

Read more »

When Apple released AirPods Pro it changed the way they are controlled compared to standard AirPods. Whereas tap controls of the earbuds handled playback controls and Siri of AirPods, AirPods Pro now have a squeeze gesture.

This new gesture can be used to either toggle active noise cancellation (ANC) and transparency modes, or invoke Siri – the choice is yours.

Read more »

You can change how AirPods respond when you double-tap on them while they’re in your ears. For example, if you want to be able to double-tap on the left AirPod to summon Siri, and double-tap on the right AirPod to play or pause audio, you can configure that easily.

There are a variety of double-tap customizations available for AirPods, including Siri, play/pause/stop audio, skip track, and go back a track, and you can set those double-tap controls separately for both the Left and Right AirPod.

Read more »

Want to decorate your Mac for Christmas and the holidays? How about putting some blinking Christmas lights and a tree on your Mac desktop?

If you’re feeling festive then you’re in luck, because the classic Mac app TreetopLights still works on many Macs (as long as they have 32-bit apps support anyway, sorry Catalina).

Read more »

Recovery Mode can be initiated on iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro, or iPhone 11 Pro Max as a means of troubleshooting some particularly challenging problems with the device.

Typically Recovery Mode is only needed in rare occasions, like when the iPhone 11 or iPhone 11 Pro is stuck on  Apple logo during boot, or the device is stuck with a connect to computer screen indicator, or sometimes if the computer doesn’t recognize the iPhone at all and the device is stuck in some unusable state.

There are other troubleshooting scenarios as well, where using Recovery Mode can be helpful, in which case the instructions below will guide you through putting an iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro, or iPhone 11 Pro Max into Recovery Mode.

Read more »

Force restarting an iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro, or iPhone 11 Pro Max may be necessary as a troubleshooting measure sometimes. Usually you’d only need to force restart iPhone 11 / iPhone 11 Pro if the device becomes unresponsive or otherwise unusable for some reason, like an app has frozen or the system software itself has become frozen.

This article will show you exactly how you can forcibly reboot an iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro, or iPhone 11 Max.

Read more »

Wondering how to turn off iPhone 11 or iPhone 11 Pro? You might expect that by holding down the Power button it would allow you to turn off iPhone 11 Pro, iPhone 11, and iPhone 11 Pro Max and then power down the device, but that actually just activates Siri.

Instead, if you wish to turn off and power down the iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro, you will use a button combination as described here.

Read more »

If you have an Apple TV and iPhone or iPad, you can easily mirror the iPhone or iPad display to the TV screen that is connected to Apple TV. This offers by far the simplest way to wirelessly connect an iPhone or iPad to a TV, and it allows you to show off whatever is on an iPhone or iPad screen on a much bigger TV display. This capability is commonly used in presentations, meetings, schools, homes, and for much more, as the uses cases are myriad.

To get started using wireless display mirroring, you will need an Apple TV connected to a TV, an iPhone or iPad, and all of the devices must be on the same wi-fi network, and running modern iOS or ipadOS system software. The rest is quite simple, as you’ll quickly see in this tutorial that demonstrates connecting an iPhone to an Apple TV and mirroring the display.

Read more »

The more you browse the web, the more you’re likely to find that you’re drowning in a sea of open tabs. We all do it, and it can be a real nuisance on iPhones and iPads where we’re tapping links left and right and scrolling through endless open Safari browser tabs. But with the latest versions of iOS and ipadOS (iOS 13 and iPadOS 13.1 and later), you can have Safari browser tabs automatically close.

Read more »

Want to remove an application from the Dock on Mac? You can easily remove app icons from the Mac Dock. This can offer a simple way to reduce clutter of the Mac Dock, but also to remove unwanted or unused apps from the Dock, or even just to customize the Dock for your personal preferences.

Removing app icons from the Mac Dock is simple and aside from removing it from the Dock it has no impact on the application. This will not uninstall the app or remove it from the Macintosh otherwise, it simply removes the app icon from the Dock.

Read more »

How would you like to be able to set your own profile picture and display name to be shared with other iMessage users? This profile name and picture then shows up as your contact information on their device when you’re communicating. If you have an iPhone or iPad, you can easily set this up.

Popular messaging platforms like WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger and Telegram have always allowed you to set the display name and profile picture that you use. Apple on the other hand, whose iMessage service is baked into every device running iOS, did not have this capability until recently within the Messages app. Since the service is a part of the stock Messages app that’s also used to send SMS, users are just shown phone numbers and Apple ID email addresses when they receive texts from someone who’re not in contacts. This can be confusing or even frustrating because you’d then have to go through an awkward conversation asking the person who sent you a message who they are – but this awkward scenario can be easily avoided by setting a profile photo and name. Now that Apple has introduced tis feature, you can now set a display name and profile picture that’ll be visible to anyone else you message or text, even if you’re not on the receiver’s contacts list.

Read more »

Apple has released the first beta versions of iOS 13.3.1 for iPhone, iPadOS 13.3.1 for iPad, MacOS Catalina 10.15.3 for Mac, and tvOS 13.3.1 for Apple TV.

Read more »

We don’t always listen to music on a single device. Depending on what we’re doing, we often switch between our smartphones, tablets, computers and even smart speakers. This is why popular music streaming services offer apps on a variety of different devices. If you’re an iPhone or iPad user, there’s a pretty good chance you utilize Apple Music to listen to all your favorite songs while you’re on the go.

In addition to streaming music that’s available on the platform, Apple Music unlocks a nifty feature called iCloud Music Library, which as the name suggests, allows you to sync your music across all your supported Apple devices, including iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac, and iTunes on Windows.

Read more »

The iPhone and iPad automatically switch the orientation from Portrait to Landscape upon rotating the device. This could be frustrating at times when you’re not in an upright position, as the screen switches orientation even if the device is just slightly tilted. And since we don’t always use our iPhone and iPad in an upright position, whether we’re laying on our beds while we’re browsing the internet or scrolling through our e-mails, the screen can rotate sometimes when you don’t want it to. This is exactly where the screen orientation lock comes in, as it allows the user to lock the orientation of the device screen to Portrait mode, so they don’t have to worry about holding the iPhone or iPad at a certain angle.

Do you want to stop your iPhone or iPad from switching to landscape mode automatically? Then you’ve come to the right place. In this article, we’ll be discussing how you can lock screen orientation on your iPhone and iPad within a matter of seconds. So, without further ado, let’s take a look at the procedure.

Read more »

If you’re using a VPN with iPhone or iPad you may wish to eventually delete that VPN from your device, perhaps because you are no longer using the VPN service, or if the VPN is no longer needed. For example, maybe you used a VPN while traveling and are back home and no longer find it necessary, or perhaps you changed jobs and a work-specific VPN is no longer needed.

This article will show you how to delete a VPN from iPad or iPhone.

Read more »

You can quickly draw, sketch, scribble, and write by hand in an email using iPhone, iPad, or an iPad Pro with Apple Pencil.

This capability is thanks to the handy Markup tools that exist in the Mail app for iOS and iPadOS, and you can use them to insert any drawing or sketch directly into an email. This works the same with any new email, an email reply, or an email forward, too.

Read more »

One of the best features of iOS 13 is the new QuickPath keyboard on iPhone and iPad. It makes it easier to type one-handed by swiping your thumb across the keyboard, rather than hunting and pecking at individual keys.

Here we will demonstrate how to use QuickPath swiping keyboard, and also how to turn the feature on (or off) for iPhone or iPad.

Read more »

Apple has released iOS 12.4.4 for users of some older iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch hardware that are not eligible for the latest iOS 13.3 and iPadOS 13.3 release.

The update includes security updates and is therefore recommended for all users who are running a compatible device.

Read more »