Tips for Apple Products
Some of these features are best “seen” rather than described in words. Use YouTube search to find videos that help use them or Google the term/concept.
MacOS
Make a web app in Safari such as a favorite website that you visit frequently. Essentially it is a way to save a website and then use it by clicking on an icon. You’ll need Safari 17 which is part of Sonoma (the latest MacOS update). Type the URL of the site you need, then click on the FILE menu and go to “Add to Dock”. Select a name that means something to you. Now you can use the options, like other icons in the dock to change your preferences. If you remove the app/icon, you can still find it in the Launchpad or via Spotlight.
Apple TV
Check to see if there are any updates to install. Turn on your TV and Apple TV box. Open settings menu on Apple TV, Go to System icon, scroll down to Software Updates and select the update if available. It will take a few minutes to download and install.
HomePod
In order to install HomePod Software 17 on your HomePod, your iPhone or iPad must be running iOS 17 or iPadOS 17. If your iPhone or iPad is already running iOS 17, you just have the following steps to get the HomePod Software 17 update on your HomePod:
1. Open the Home app on your iPhone or iPad.
2. Tap the “…” button in the upper right corner of the screen.
3. Tap Home Settings.
4. Choose the Software Update option.
IOS 17
Look for the new Journal app to be released with IOS 17.2, probably in December. Looks like the app won’t be available for a while on the iPad or MacOS. This app is secured with encryption to protect your entries and data is stored locally. It is expected to be minimalist in its first release. You can include photos, videos, music , workouts, and more as you write about your experiences and reflect on life. The app includes prompts to help you write based on what’s on your iPhone. Important entries can be marked so that they are easy to return to in the future. You can lock the app to keep things private and it is stored locally.
Live Voice Mail – when a call comes in and someone starts to leave a voice mail, you can see a live transcription so you can decide whether to answer or let it go to voice mail.
In FaceTime you can now leave a video or audio message if the person does not answer.
With Apple TV you can use your TV as the screen and your iPhone as the camera and have FaceTime video chats appear on the larger screen.
If you are charing your iPhone and turn it up on its so it’s horizontal, it will display the time, temperature and more depending on the widgets you use.
In Messages you can “lift” the subject from a photo and make a sticker out of it.
Improved Autocorrect which will temporarily underline words it has corrected. You can use it or revert back with a tap. Multi-word predictions while typing can be utilized by tapping the space bar. When you get a code for entry to a website, even it’s in an email as well as SMS, you can utilize it by tapping to fill it in.
In Settings>Music, you can turn on/off crossfade so that when one song ends it fades our while the next one starts so the music never stops. Look for it in the AUDIO section just after Sync Library.
In AirDrop, there is a new feature, Name Drop, to exchange your contact information when you bring two phones close together. You’ll get a little animation to show that the record is being transferred.
In the Map app, you can finally get off-line maps to use when you don’t have a Wi-fi or cellular connection. Go to the area you are interested in, type in a feature or location and when the item displays to offer directions, press the … (More) button and select Download Map. You can zoom in/out on this to see more details.
New features in AirPods Pro 2. From home screen, go to the Control Center (by swiping from upper right corner of screen down towards left. Press the “ear” icon and you have options to adjust settings to personalize your listening experience. Also in Settings>Bluetooth, tap on the AirPods name to open a screen to adjust a number of settings to suit your needs.
As well as inline PDFs, the Notes app has gained a few new features in iPadOS 17. You can now create links between notes. For example, if you’re visiting a new city, you might make a note for your travel information, and then add links to other notes about the location’s amenities, hotels, restaurants, and more. Using the Format menu, you can format a portion of text in your note as a block quote, indenting it from the rest of the text. Also using this menu, you can opt for a monostyled format, which basically turns it into plain text. If you’d rather continue editing a note in Pages, you can do so by tapping the Share icon and choosing Open in Pages
The iPad now gets the Health app. The bigger screen helps with viewing your important information.
Apple Watch 10 gets news features. When you swipe up from the bottom of your Apple Watch or turn the Digital Crown, you’ll see the new Smart Stack feature (Control Center is now in the side button). Smart Stack looks a lot like the Siri watch face, and it’s designed to bring you info in little glanceable widgets, just like widgets do on iPhone, iPad and in macOS Sonoma. You can choose which widgets appear, and the stacks will change based on the time of day, your location, whether you’re working out, and so on. The big benefit of Smart Stack is that it provides quick access to info you might not want or need to have as a complication (or because your favorite face doesn’t have room for enough complications): simply swipe or turn and they’re there.
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Sign recently seen: Creater of autocorrect recently dyed and his funnel will be tomato. 🙂