What's the best external backup drive for Mac?
My recommended external drives for Mac Time Machine backups, how much storage you actually need, and setup tips. One-on-one Mac help in SF, DC, or Zoom.
Tips and Guides
I explain what matters in plain English, with practical steps you can use and recommendations based on my experience helping clients.
Showing 163–180 of 538 articles
Search is temporarily unavailable.
Sick of these new cookie popups? There's an app for that!
Because of recent laws enacted , many websites have a popup banner that asks you to accept their cookies. There is usually an option to choose which specific types of cookies you accept or reject. But just like the cholesterol found in cookies made of flour and butter, there are good cookies
Delete Contacts More Easily in iOS 16 and iPadOS 16
Deleting contacts on the iPhone and iPad used to be a pain, especially if you wanted to trash multiple contacts. You had to open the contact, tap Edit, scroll to the bottom, and tap Delete Contact. Although you still can’t swipe left on a contact in a list, as you do when deleting in Mail and Messag
Merge Duplicate Photos and Videos in iOS 16, iPadOS 16, and Ventura
It’s all too easy to end up with duplicate photos and videos in your Photos library. The most common way is to use the Duplicate command, but I've seen duplicates appear due to accidentally repeated actions in other apps, repeated screenshots, multiple imports that include the same image (much as Ph
Smaller screen size adjustments on macOS
If you've ever tinkered with your screen size adjustments (larger text vs. more space) on macOS, you may feel limited by the 4 to 5 options presented in the Displays Settings pane. Maybe you want something in between those settings. Fortunately, there is a trick to picking other sizes if you are us
Share Airline Boarding Passes Using Wallet and AirDrop
It’s common for one person in a family to handle booking airline tickets and thus to be in charge of checking in for the flight online and downloading boarding passes. If that’s you, what’s the best way to send each iPhone-wielding person in your family their own boarding pass? Rather than tussle wi
Apple Is Driving the iPhone to eSIM: Here’s What You Need to Know
Perhaps the most surprising change in the iPhone 14 line, at least in the United States, was the shift from using removable SIM cards to eSIM. Before you read on, let me just say that at this point, if you don't know what a SIM is or haven't had to deal with them before, save yourself the time and
Text Flight Numbers to People You’re Visiting So They Can Track Your Flight
Next time you’re flying to visit your Apple-using family or friends, send them your flight number using Messages when you leave. Then they can easily track your flight in the air and see when you’re arriving. Just text them the flight number beginning with the airline’s abbreviation, like AA for Ame
Emergency SOS via satellite launched on iPhone 14
Today Apple launched the previously-announced Emergency SOS via Satellite function which works with the new iPhone 14 and 14 Pro. If you are outside of cellular service with a clear view of the sky, you can activate the feature either by calling 911 when there is no cellular signal or by holding the
Mail Gains Welcome Features in iOS 16, iPadOS 16, and macOS 13 Ventura
Email may not be as sexy a way to communicate as modern-day darlings like Messages, Slack, or Microsoft Teams, but it remains the workhorse of business and personal communications because everyone has it. While Apple Mail is a mature app that has long provided the necessary basics, there has been ro
Check the Weather on Your Mac and iPad, Finally!
At long last, Apple has plugged one of the most inexplicable holes in its app library—the lack of a Weather app for the iPad and Mac. In iPadOS 16 and macOS 13 Ventura, you’ll now find a large-screen version of the iPhone’s iOS 16 Weather app. Locations you enter on one device automatically sync to
Allow/Don't Allow Paste popups driving you crazy on iOS 16? You can disable it
Each upgrade to iOS and iPadOS brings new security features. In the end, it's better for security but there may be some difficulty along the way. One of the things that iOS 16 introduced is a popup alert asking you if it's okay for an app to read your clipboard (the place things go when you choose &
New iMessage features in iOS 16, iPadOS 16, and macOS Ventura: Mark as Unread, Edit Messages, Undo Send, Report Junk, Undelete
After years of user requests, Apple has finally beefed up Messages with a few welcome features—options to mark conversations as unread for later reference, edit messages after they’ve been sent, and undo sending entirely. Plus, when you delete junk texts in Messages, you can now report them to Apple
watchOS 9’s New Low Power Mode Could Help Older Apple Watches
Until watchOS 9, Low Power Mode on the Apple Watch turned the smartwatch into a dumb watch that only told the time. With watchOS 9 on an Apple Watch Series 4 or later, however, a new Low Power Mode reduces the watch’s capabilities while keeping it largely functional, which could be particularly usef
Add Haptic Feedback to the iPhone Keyboard in iOS 16
The iPhone has long been able to play clicking sounds when you tap the keys on the virtual keyboard, but that feedback, while sometimes welcome, can become annoying when you’re trying to be quiet. A new feature in iOS 16 provides haptic feedback—tiny taps you can feel in your fingertips as you tap k
Bring Back the Battery Percentage Indicator in iOS 16
Back in 2017, when Apple added the notch to the iPhone X for Face ID, the resulting loss of usable screen real estate caused the company to remove the battery percentage indicator from the status area. Since then, you’ve only been able to estimate how much battery life you had left from the icon; yo
The Many New Lock Screen Customizations in iOS 16
iOS 16 has been out for a bit now. And iOS 16.1 was released earlier this week so it’s likely safe to upgrade. When you take the plunge, the first new feature to check out is the capability to create, customize, and switch among multiple Lock Screens, each with its own wallpaper, clock font, and
Make the current selection more obvious on Apple TV
I love my Apple TV. But there is one thing that can drive a lot of people crazy: the currently selected icon or movie can be difficult to discern. It's slightly larger so that it looks like it's floating above the others. As you move around the screen you can tell where the selection is, and if you
No matching articles
Try a shorter search or choose a different topic.