Not every Mac user will use the Handoff feature or want to keep it enabled, particularly if you share a Mac with a single login with other devices in the same household, then you may find Handoff to be unnecessary or unwanted as the little Handoff app resume icon appears in the Dock.

Modern versions of Mac OS default to having Handoff enabled as part of the iCloud and Continuity suite, but if you’re not interested in using Handoff or don’t want it on for some other reason, then you will find it’s very easy to disable Handoff on the Mac. When you disable Handoff on Mac OS, you will no longer see any Handoff icons showing up in the far left side of the Dock when other iCloud devices have app sessions to resume or send to the Mac. Additionally, turning off Handoff on the Mac will lose a few other Continuity features too, but if you’re not using them then you likely won’t miss that.

Read more »

Apple typically includes a series of new wallpapers with each major new operating system release, and iOS 11 will apparently be no different. Though they are not included in the beta releases of iOS 11, a freshly discovered GM (Golden Master) build of iOS 11 was found on an Apple website and it includes a collection of 20 nice new wallpapers for iPhone and iPad.

The iOS 11 wallpapers include multiple abstract colors, a few shots of planet Earth and the moon, six flowers against colorful gradient backgrounds, and a sure to be popular series of seven retro Apple logo inspired wallpapers featuring the classic six colors from the old rainbow Apple logo.

Read more »

Have you ever been watching a movie or video, or maybe you’re in a coffee shop or restaurant, and you hear a song or some music that you want to identify? If you’re on your Mac, your computer can recognize what songs are playing by using Siri. This is essentially the feature that also works to identify what song is playing by using iPhone or iPad, but it’s on the Mac, and allows for identifying songs playing from the same hardware.

Read more »

Did you know you can use AirDrop to send pictures, videos, and files from a Mac to an iPhone or iPad? AirDrop between the Mac and an iOS device is fast and works very well, and it’s quite easy to use for wireless transmission of images, documents, and other data between different devices.

This tutorial will detail how to AirDrop between a Mac and an iPhone or iPad. Of course you can go the other direction as well, as we have previously discussed using AirDrop from an iPhone to a Mac and also how to AirDrop between two Macs to transfer data wirelessly, so you may be interested in reviewing those articles too for a thorough understanding of how this great feature works.
Read more »

Apple has released iOS 11 beta 10 for enrolled iPhone and iPad devices, along with tvOS 11 beta 10 for Apple TV users participating in the developer beta testing programs.

Separately, a new public beta of iOS 11 is also available for user testing as well.

Read more »

The iPhone and iPad can capture amazingly high definition video in 4K, 1080p, and 720p resolution, and while those movies will look fantastic they also create large file sizes. While you can always change the recording resolution of video in iOS ahead of time, another option is to compress video after the fact, thereby reducing its file size dramatically. Compressing video is helpful particularly if you want to share a video from an iPhone or iPad but you’re finding the movie file size is too large for a standard file transfer, message, or email.

We’re going to show you how to compress video on an iPhone or iPad to reduce the file size or lower the video definition quality. Compressing video is not a feature that is built into iOS natively however, so we’ll be relying on a free third party app that does the job quite well.

Read more »

iOS Settings used to be easily accessed by going to the Settings app and then to the clearly labeled “iCloud” section of Settings, but modern versions of iOS for iPhone and iPad have changed how iCloud Settings are labeled and where those configuration options are located. This has led to some amount of confusion with some users who look for iCloud Settings but no longer find a clearly defined iCloud Settings section on their iPhone or iPad Settings app.

Not to worry, locating and accessing the relocated iCloud Settings on iPhone and iPad is actually easier than ever before, once you learn where to look in the latest versions of iOS anyway. So if you’ve been wondering where the heck iCloud Settings went to and how to find them, wonder no more, we’ll show you!

Read more »

If you use the Reminders app on the Mac, you may wish to print out a reminders list, maybe it’s a grocery list or a checklist of things you need to do. Curiously, the Reminders app for Mac does not include the ability to print, however. So how do you print a reminders list from a Mac or reminders in iCloud?

This guide will show you how to print reminders lists from a Mac, this is using a workaround method that offers perhaps the simplest way to print out reminders in MacOS. You can use this method to print any reminders list whether it’s on the Mac or whether the reminders are synced to the Mac over iCloud from an iPhone or iPad does not matter.

Read more »

You can determine a files encoding and character set through the command line in Mac OS (and linux) by using the “file” command, which helps to retrieve general and specific information about a file type.

Read more »

Have you ever wanted to delete every email from a Gmail account? Maybe you want to permanently delete every email message in Gmail to start fresh, or maybe you’re giving a Gmail account to someone else, or you just want to clear every email from a Gmail account for whatever the reason.

If you want to completely delete every single email message in a Gmail inbox you can do so through the Google Mail web client, and this tutorial will show you how to do just that.

Read more »

Apple has released iOS 11 beta 9, macOS High Sierra beta 9, and tvOS 11 beta 9 for users in the developer beta testing programs. Additionally, iOS 11 public beta 8 is available, which is the same release as the dev build.

Read more »

Apple is hosting an event on September 12, presumably to debut much rumored new iPhone models and perhaps a new Apple Watch and Apple TV too.

Read more »

Are you having a busy day, and wondering what is next on your Calendar agenda? Maybe you forgot when that appointment is tomorrow? Or perhaps you’re wondering if you’re free next Tuesday for a meeting at a specific time? You can ask Siri to tell you, utilizing the virtual assistant as a little personal assistant on your iPhone, iPad, or Mac.

Interacting with Calendar using Siri is one my favorite set of Siri command tricks, and if you get into the habit of using it this way it may become one of yours too. The Calendar on iPhone, Mac, and iPad is one of the most useful features of iOS and Mac for anyone who is maintaining a busy lifestyle or a lot of appointments and meetings, whether work, personal, or both, and combined with Siri the Calendar is even better since you can request all sorts of information with the digital assistant.

Read more »

Safari for Mac has a nice little known feature that allows you to expedite the process of visiting websites based on a URL stored in your clipboard. This simple trick is called “Paste and Go” and you’ll only find it available under the proper conditions, including having a website link in the Macs clipboard and if you’re in the URL field and using an alternate click. But despite being hidden, it’s simple to use and works great.

For example, let’s say you have “https://osxdaily.com” stored in your clipboard from copying that URL from anywhere – be it a document, somewhere on the web, a message, or anywhere else. You can use the Paste and Go trick to immediately load that website in Safari with a single paste action, rather than pasting the URL into the address bar and then hitting the Return key to load the webpage. It basically removes a bit of friction by reducing a step in the process, speeding up your browsing habits with Safari on the Mac a bit.

Read more »

Apple has released iOS 11 beta 8 and macOS High Sierra beta 8 for developer beta testing. Additionally watchOS 4 beta 8 and tvOS 11 beta 8 are also available for developer preview.

Read more »

Some Windows users may wish to run the Apple Safari web browser on a Windows PC. Usually this is developers or designers who need to confirm compatibility or to support a particular end user experience with the older Safari PC browser.

Well there’s good news if that describes you; it turns out that you can download, install, and run Safari on Windows still, even running Safari on Windows 10. But there’s bad news too, and a bit of a catch: it’s an old version from 2012. This is because Apple discontinued development of Safari for Windows several years ago, and thus current Safari for Window version is dated, missing many features, isn’t up to date with security patches, and likely has some other issues too. Accordingly, it is not appropriate for most users to download and install Safari in Windows, but it is available if you need it for whatever reason.

Read more »

iTunes Authorization grants the ability to access your own stuff obtained from iTunes, but each Apple ID has a maximum limitation of five computers per Apple ID that can be authorized. Because of that five computer limit, you may eventually run out of available authorization slots for an Apple ID, and a new Mac or Windows PC may be blocked from accessing purchased iTunes content until that new computer is authorized. If you have hit the authorization limit of five computers, and/or you no longer have access to a computer to directly deauthorize iTunes on a specific machine, your next option is to use a “Deauthorize All” function instead.

Using “Deauthorize All” will deauthorize every computer attached to the Apple ID from accessing iTunes content, unless or until those computers have been re-authorized again through iTunes.

Read more »

Have you ever wanted to quickly find every screen shot you have on a Mac? With a little-known search trick, you can easily list every single screen shot file on Mac OS. Going further, you can also search by names in screen shots, types, and dates as well, all by using the Mac Finder search or Spotlight search functions with a particular search parameter.

Read more »