iOS

Here's how to make sure you have a current backup for your iPhone if you're using iCloud: Tap Settings Tap iCloud Tap Backup Tap Backup Now Use iCloud's settings on your iPhone to force a backup and see when your last backup happened The Backup screen in iCloud's settings also shows when your last successful…

Apple fixes a handful of bugs with iOS 9.0.1 update The iOS 9.0.1 update also fixed an issue where timers failed to play, corrected a problem that caused paused video to appear distorted in Safari and Photos, and fixed a problem where custom APN setups in profiles could cut off cellular data. The update weighs…

What are Content Blockers? Content Blockers filter what comes from online servers into your Web browser. That can include certain types of code, online trackers, Web cookies, images, and even complete sites. No content blockers (left), and content blockers in action (right) Most people equate ad blockers with content blockers because they are—for practical purposes—pretty…

1. Contacts in Email. What happens here is that you may have, in the past, received an email from someone who is not in your Contacts list. That email may contain a phone number. Later, when you get a phone call from that number, instead of showing up as “Unknown,” iOS 9 will suggest that “maybe”…

As you can see, if you’re touching the on-screen keyboard with two fingers, it’ll helpfully fade out to show you that you’re ready to do some fancy text-selection stuff. So as I noted, this has two important functions. First, if you don’t have any text selected, it’ll let you move your cursor within your text.…

Put another way, only an encrypted backup will save your passwords, Wi-Fi settings, website history, and Health data. While all iCloud backups are encrypted, doing an Encrypted Backup in iTunes requires a couple of simple steps. Here's how: First, connect your iPhone to your Mac or PC. Secondly, sync it. You don't technically have to…

So to do this, just open your phone app, touch the “Voicemail” tab at the bottom, and then select the message in question. When you do so, you’ll see the familiar “Share” arrow appear. Touch that, and you’ll get choices for what to do with that voicemail. So obviously you can share the voicemail with…

KeyRaider malware steals Apple IDs from jailbroken iPhones “KeyRaider has successfully stolen over 225,000 valid Apple accounts and thousands of certificates, private keys, and purchasing receipts,” PAN's report said. “The malware uploads stolen data to its command and control (C2) server, which itself contains vulnerabilities that expose user information.” Once hackers have victim's Apple IDs, they…

It's immediately obvious that blocking content which causes web pages to load slowly also means blocking ads. In fact, it almost primarily means blocking ads. Today's standardized web ads are delivered using a series of cascading scripts, meaning one script triggers another and then yet another until one of them has an ad to display.…

Stop procrastinating and install iOS 8.4.1. It has some seriously important security fixes. The Ins0mnia threat is pretty serious because it can run on iOS devices without crafty hacks. Bad guys simply needed to code otherwise legit apps to trick iPhones and iPads into thinking they're in debugging mode. That disables the auto shutdown for…

First, load up Apple's Retail site, apple.com/retail. When you get there, feed it your zip code to get the list of stores in your area. Once the list shows, you can choose one: Here's the list I get in my area. What a pretty store! When you get the details page for the store, you…

On the security of iOS 9, however, Apple says this: The default for passcodes on your Touch ID–enabled iPhone and iPad will now be six digits instead of four. If you use Touch ID, it’s a change you’ll hardly notice. But with one million possible combinations—instead of 10,000—your passcode will be a lot tougher to…

Episode #137 I have what I think of as a real first-world problem: I have too many photos — nearly 100,000 — to synchronize among my Macs and iDevices. What I want is to be able to look at any picture I’ve ever taken, on any device (or on the Web) at any time. That’s a tall…

When that page loads, scroll to the bottom of the screen and look for the “Advanced” section. There you’ll see options for restoring different types of data. After you choose the type of info you need to recover, you’ll be taken to a screen where you can pick what date to restore, say, or which…

Last year, Lynktec improved on its original battery powered electronic stylus by including a rechargeable battery. TMO gave it a 5 out of 5 rating (in the old review rating system), and you should check out that review for all the technical details. On Aug 13, Lynktec relased an improved version that's lighter, has a…

So first of all, check out this tip I wrote on a similar feature in iOS 8 a while back. With that, you can see the percentage of battery each app has used, and it’s fairly simple to then nix any energy hogs if you need to. In iOS 9’s beta, though, this feature is…

AT&T Wi-Fi calling support finally shows up in iOS 9 beta Wi-Fi calling is a feature that lets smartphone users send and receive calls over wireless networks instead of relying only on cell towers. The benefit is that you aren't limited to potentially weak cell signals, and calls that happen on Wi-Fi networks don't count…

Here’s a neat and fairly unknown trick you can use, then, with this awesome service: You can ask it to search for purchasable media (like books, music, and apps). When you do so, your device will open the appropriate store and show you the results of the search. So for example, you could invoke Siri…

Note: On your Mac you can create as many signatures as you wish and choose which one(s) go with each email address. Note: You can only have one signature on your iOS device. Be sure you are running the latest version of the iOS, and it works on all recent versions of OS X. On…

See how the horizon line there is off-kilter? Believe it or not, this is pretty simple to fix; in iPhoto, there’s a big ol’ “Straighten” button within Edit mode that’ll let you do just that. In Photos, that option is still there, but the tool is less “here’s a straightforward button” and more “look, a…

Episode #132   Not so long ago, Apple required beta testers to sign a draconian non-disclosure agreement. Then, if you spoke publicly about a beta you’d not only be banished from the Apple Developer program, but possibly subject to legal action. That was then. These days anyone can join the beta testing fun by downloading…

Turns out iCloud Music Library's DRM is confusing, not draconian iCloud Music Library is Apple's online music storage and streaming service included with Apple Music. It'a like iTunes Match, but not exactly the same. iTunes Match pulls songs from the iTunes Store when it can instead of uploading from your library, while iCloud Music Library…

Making the problem worse is that the researchers were able to upload apps to the App Store and the Mac App Store that contained this malware. The software bypassed Apple's vaunted vetting process, and this was after the researchers alerted Apple to the problem going back to October of 2014. Apple asked the team to…

After a nine year journey, NASA's New Horizons spacecraft will arrive at Pluto on July 14. The Pluto Safari iOS app from Simulation Curriculum has all the details: news, the spacecraft's timeline, current location, various views from different locations and a countdown timer. Here's a quick look at this terrific free app. ______________________ This iOS…