iOS

In iOS 7, from time to time, a pale bue dot will appear in front of the app's name. What is that exactly? For example, if you look closely, you may see something like this on your iPad or iPhone. Those pale blue dots are not the Earth, as seen from 6 billion kilometers by…

___________________________ The first place to look is Apple's own iPad User Guide for iOS 7 which explains the new search method, both for the Internet and on the page being viewed. Here's an excerpt from page 46. IPad User Guide for iOS 7 (Credit: Apple) What happens in iOS 7, when you tap the integrated…

The iBag—It Just Works™ Apple has a motion sickness problem on its hand, and it's a problem the company should fix ASAP. Complaints have been mounting since the release of iOS on September 18th, and there's enough evidence to indicate it's a serious issue for a small number of users. The problem appears to be…

The slider toggle switches in iOS 7's settings don't include any words to indicate whether or not something is active — like On or Off — but they do turn green to show they're active. That's nice, but not all apps offer the green visual cue, and some people may have trouble with colors, too.…

iOS 7's Control Center feature is great because it gives you quick access to the system settings you're most likely to use. If you use any apps that also rely on the up-from-the-bottom-of-the-screen gesture, however, that can actually be a pain. Luckily Apple thought of that, and the fix is easy. Control Center gives you…

We tend to think of using FaceTime for a face-to-face video and audio call to a smiling face. But did you know that iOS 7 introduces the ability to make audio calls only? Here's how to do it. _______________________ First, it may be helpful to review how to make the initial FaceTime connection to another…

For some users, there's a new, odd looking bar at the top of the iOS 7 Lock Screen. What is that exactly? Here's what the bar looks like. It turns out that the bar is both a notification and a touch prompt that you can pull down from there and see notifications from the Lock…

Police in New York City are asking “Apple users” to upgrade to iOS 7, and they're going so far as to hand out flyers to encourage you to do so. The effort is part of the NYPD's Operation Identification Program, which is part of the city's larger effort to reduce iPhone-related crime. Michael Hoffman tweeted…

iOS 6 users who have upgraded (or will upgrade) to iOS 7 may lament the loss of their “swipe to delete” functionality. In iOS 6, swiping to the right brought up a 'Delete' button, whereas now in iOS 7 that to-the-right swipe causes a different type of navigation. Never fear: Apple hasn't left you in…

In several of iOS 7's built-in apps—such as Notes, Settings, Messages, Safari, the App Store, iTunes, the Music app, and Mail—you can swipe from left to right to go back to the previous screen. Swipe like this… …to go back. Of course, this is most useful in Safari, where swiping left to right will take…

The introduction of automatic app updates in iOS 7 is terrific. But there may be times when you don't want that to happen. Here's an explanation of when you might want to turn it off and how to do it. ________________________ In iOS 7: Tap on Settings. Tap on iTunes & App Store. Select “Updates”…

Messages in iOS 7 are very economical in their presentation. Not every message bubble is time stamped. Here's a quick tip on how to reveal the time of every bubble. ________________________ Let's say you're reviewing a message stream and you really need to see the exact time of each message. Or one in particular. The…

Now that iOS 7 is in the wild I'm getting some interesting questions, like one from a friend who discovered the parallax motion effect that moves the background behind the Home screen icons triggers their migraines. How do you fix that, they asked. Simple: enable Reduce Motion. Tilting your iPhone 5, iPhone 5c, or iPhone…

iOS 7 dramatically changes the look and feel compared to iOS 6. At first, we're not quite sure about our feelings. However, in time, important design elements surface in our consciousness. It's a fascinating journey. _______________________ When I look at iOS 7, it generates very strong, positive feelings. The strongest feeling I get is that…

iOS 7 sports a new look all the way down to the fonts used to display text and the time, and it turns out it's just a little too difficult on some people's eyes. If that's you, it's easy to make iOS 7's text more eye-friendly. Read on to learn how. Standard text (left) isn't…

You know when someone says they remodeled and you show up expecting to see a fresh coat of paint and a new rocker chair from Ikea, but instead find a new kitchen, hardwood floors instead of shag carpet, and a bathroom with a heated floor that's been enlarged to take up that old spare bedroom?…

Apple has been busy rolling out app updates ahead of the release of iOS 7 on Wednesday, and the latest to get some love is iTunes for the Mac and Windows. Version 11.1 is now available, and it includes support for iOS 7 and Apple's new music streaming service iTunes Radio. Download iTunes 11.1 ahead…

Apple rolled out an update for its iCloud website ahead of Wednesday's official launch of iOS 7. The site refresh brings iOS 7's look and feel to the web-based versions of Mail, Contacts, Calendar, Notes, Reminders, and Find My iPhone. iCloud's new look is very much iOS 7 iCloud users can try out the betas…

If you have multiple email accounts set up on your iOS 6 or iOS 7 device, you can have each one play a different sound when new messages arrive. That way, you could instantly know whether an email is work-related or whether you can safely ignore it. Sweet! You'll start configuring things by visiting Settings>…

If you're like me, you think that using passwords is a pain. You probably use Automatic Login on your Mac and have no password on your iOS devices. “It's no big deal,” you tell yourself, “I can remotely lock or wipe my iPhone if it gets lost or stolen.” Of course I'd have to agree…

If you are a user of any iOS device (if you are reading this you most likely are) then next Tuesday (9/10/13) will be a day of interest for you. That's when Apple will be holding a media event that will likely focus on Apple mobile products (iPhones, iPads, iPods) and, hopefully, the OS that…

When you're messing around with a PDF in Preview, you may need to select elements like text or images. There's an easy but fairly non-obvious way that you can control what's being selected. The secret lies in two toolbar icons—the Text Selection and Rectangular Selection buttons. To reveal these useful features, the first thing you'll…

One of iBooks' iOS preferences that I love more than cake is within Settings> iBooks, and it's labeled Both Margins Advance. Turning this on means that when you're reading a book, you can use either the left or the right margin to move to the next page. By default, touching the red area in my…

Typically when you send an iMessage from your iPhone to another, if it doesn't get to the recipient in a timely manner, it will automatically be sent as a text message, but sometimes that fallback just doesn't work. Thankfully, there's a way to force your iPhone to comply with your desire to send a message…