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How-To - page 20

Take the pain out of saving Nintendo Switch screenshots on iPhone

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Save Nintendo Switch screenshots to iPhone and iPad
Nintendo's own method is way too slow.
Image: Killian Bell/Cult of Mac

If you’ve ever tried saving Nintendo Switch screenshots to your iPhone or iPad, you’ll know it’s a less than seamless experience. It seems Nintendo didn’t put a great deal of thought into designing its rather primitive transfer tool.

Fortunately, someone else did. Developer Filip Němeček has built an app called SwitchBuddy that makes fetching your Switch screenshots on iPhone and iPad faster, easier, and much more enjoyable. Here’s how to use it.

How to play unlimited Wordle and other useful hacks

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Useful Wordle hacks
Enable color blind mode, the dark theme, and play offline.
Image: Killian Bell/Cult of Mac

Can’t get enough of Wordle? There is a way to keep playing after you’ve completed the daily puzzle if you’re thirsting for more. And there are a bunch of other hidden Wordle hacks that every fan should know about.

Want to turn Wordle into an app on iPhone and iPad? How about enabling its hard mode for a tougher challenge? We’ll show you how to do all this and more.

How to fix macOS 12.2’s Bluetooth battery drain bug with one simple app

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FluTooth app for macOS Bluetooth bug
FluTooth is effective and affordable.
Image: Jordi Bruin

Is your MacBook slowly dying in its sleep? It could be because of a frustrating Bluetooth bug in macOS 12.2 that’s causing severe battery drain for some users. But there’s no need to wait for Apple to fix it.

With the help of a simple (and incredibly affordable) app, you can automatically disable your MacBook’s Bluetooth connection when you close its lid — then enable it again when it’s reopened. We’ll show you how.

How to download Wordle to your device so it stays free forever

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How to download Wordle
If you download it, it can't be ruined.
Image: Killian Bell/Cult of Mac

Wordle, the simple yet fun daily word game that became a craze in recent months, was acquired this week by The New York Times. Naturally, this led fans to worry that the game might change — or that we might have to pay for it.

But there is one way you can ensure that never happens. It’s actually surprisingly easy to download Wordle — the entire game — and save it to your iPhone, iPad or Mac so you can continue playing it in its current form.

We’ll show you how.

How to enable wide spectrum audio for FaceTime calls in iOS 15

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Enable wide spectrum audio for FaceTime calls
Make sure everyone gets heard on a conference call.
Image: Apple/Cult of Mac

iOS and iPadOS 15 bring a number of nice improvements to FaceTime, including some new audio modes that may come in handy in certain situations.

The new wide spectrum audio is one you might want to use during conference calls. Here’s what it does — and how to enable it on iPhone and iPad.

How to enable background blur for FaceTime video calls in iOS 15

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How to enable background blur for FaceTime video calls in iOS 15
Use Portrait mode to bring background blur to FaceTime on iPhone and iPad.
Image: Apple/Cult of Mac

iOS and iPadOS 15 bring a number of big improvements to FaceTime — including voice isolation and the ability to blur your background during video calls like you can on Zoom and other video calling platforms.

We’ll show you how to enable the background blur feature using Portrait mode on iPhone and iPad.

How to blur out your home in Apple Maps and Google Maps

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How to hide your home in Apple Maps and Google Maps
All you have to do is ask.
Photo: Redd/Unsplash/Cult of Mac

Tim Cook’s plush home in Palo Alto, California, has been blurred out inside Apple Maps and Google Maps — likely because of an alleged stalking incident. If you enter his address, you’ll see nothing but a gigantic, pixelated wall.

But this kind of digital scrubbing isn’t reserved for top CEOs and celebrities. In fact, anyone can quite easily get their own home hidden from online maps. All you need to do is ask Apple and Google to conceal the locations. We’ll show you how.

How to enable voice isolation for FaceTime calls in iOS 15

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Enable voice isolation for FaceTime
Keep kids' voices out of your remote meetings.
Image: Killian Bell/Cult of Mac

Remote meetings on FaceTime are a lot calmer in iOS and iPadOS 15, thanks to a feature called voice isolation that blocks out background noise. Even better, the feature works in other video-calling applications, including Zoom and Google Duo.

Here’s how you can enable it on iPhone and iPad.

How to clean your Apple Polishing Cloth without ruining it

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How to clean Apple's Polishing Cloth
Dish soap will do the trick.
Image: Killian Bell/Cult of Mac

If you have to spend $19 on Apple’s fancy Polishing Cloth, you should know how to properly look after it so that it doesn’t get ruined. You can’t just throw it in the washing machine with your mucky laundry when it starts to get dirty.

Fortunately, Apple has now provided official instructions on keeping the Polishing Cloth clean. Here’s what you need to know.

How to share your Focus status with select contacts in iOS and iPadOS 15

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How to share Focus status
Let others know when your notifications are disabled.
Image: Killian Bell/Cult of Mac

It’s possible to share your Focus status with select contacts in iOS and iPadOS 15, so that friends and family members don’t think you’re just ignoring their calls and texts.

Here’s how you pick and choose who sees that your notifications are disabled while you’re busy.

How to easily schedule HomeKit devices with Siri commands

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How to easily schedule HomeKit devices with Siri commands
You can tell Siri to turn a HomeKit accessory off in a few minutes and it’ll happen. Here’s what you do.
Photo: Cult of Mac

You know you can turn on a HomeKit accessory by talking to Siri, but are you aware you can order devices to turn on or off at some point in the future just as easily?

Here’s how to set impromptu schedules for your HomeKit accessories with Siri commands — and why you might want to.

How to translate text in images using Live Text in iOS 15

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Translate text in photos in iOS 15
Translate almost anything in an instant.
Image: Killian Bell/Cult of Mac

Live Text in iOS and iPadOS 15 is a terrific new feature that makes the text in your photos interactive. You can use it to copy and paste quotes, call phone numbers, find addresses and more.

Here’s how to use Live Text on your iPhone or iPad to translate signs, posters, and other things written in a foreign language.

Firefox for Mac stops loading websites. Here’s how to fix it.

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Firefox fix for Mac
Firefox is broke. But you can fix it.
Image: Firefox/Cult of Mac

A growing number of Firefox users on Mac (and Windows) are reporting that they are unable to load any websites. The browser hangs indefinitely and shows nothing at all, thanks to what seems like a background server error.

The good news is that there is a relatively simple fix that you can implement yourself until Firefox eliminates the problem for good. We’ll show you how.

How to get the Dropbox beta with full Apple silicon support

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Dropbox for Apple silicon
It's now available to all.
Image: Dropbox/Cult of Mac

The next-generation version of the Dropbox app for macOS, which finally adds native support for Apple silicon chips, is now available to all in beta.

It comes less than a week after Dropbox began testing Apple M1 support with a small number of users. You can try it out for yourself by enabling “early releases” in your account preferences. We’ll show you how.

How to copy text from your photos using Live Text in iOS 15

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How to copy and paste from photos in iOS 15
Live Text works surprisingly awesomely in iOS 15.
Image: Apple/Cult of Mac

iOS and iPadOS 15 introduce a brilliant new feature called Live Text, which not only identifies text in your photos, but also allows you to interact with it. You can use it for all kinds of things, like making a call, sending an email, or looking up directions to an address.

Here’s how to use the feature to copy and paste text from your images on iPhone and iPad.

HomeKit bug can send iPhone into reboot loop of death. Here’s how to avoid it.

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Apple Home app
Beware random Home invitations.
Photo: Apple

A newly discovered HomeKit bug can render unsuspecting iPhone and iPad users with a completely unresponsive device. All it takes is for a smart home gadget to be given a super-long name.

Once the bug affects an iOS or iPadOS device, the gadget will continually freeze and restart itself. The only way to fix it is to factory reset the iPhone or iPad — and avoid logging into your iCloud account.

How to make your New Year’s resolution stick with Apple Fitness+

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Make 2022 the year you achieve your fitness goals
Make 2022 the year you achieve your fitness goals.
Photo: Graham Bower/Cult of Mac

If your New Year’s resolution is to get in shape in 2022, Apple Fitness+ provides the perfect solution. Tightly integrated with Apple Watch, it offers hundreds of excellent video workouts you can do at home right now. But the question is, will you?

As the old saying goes, you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink. Subscribing to Fitness+ is all very well, but it’ll be a waste of money if you lose interest after a week.

Unfortunately, sticking to a New Year’s resolution isn’t easy. That’s probably why almost 50% of them fail in the first year.

If you want to smash your fitness goals in 2022, you need to start by getting your head in the right place. And that’s where well-formed outcomes can help. They are goals that meet certain essential criteria identified by psychologists in the 1980s using a technique called neuro-linguistic programming, or NLP.

Well-formed outcomes provide a framework that can massively increase your chances of achieving your goal. And all you need to do to turn your resolution into a well-formed outcome is ask yourself these six questions.

How to turn on COVID-19 exposure notifications on iPhone [Updated]

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Manage COVID-19 exposure notifications on iPhone
There's no good reason not to have exposure notifications enabled.
Image: Killian Bell/Cult of Mac

With the omicron variant fueling lightning-fast spread of COVID-19, it’s a good time for iPhone owners to take advantage of the exposure notifications feature built into iOS. By simply enabling this feature, you will get an alert after being exposed to someone who tests positive for the virus — as long as they also have contact notifications turned on, and they report their test results.

For obvious reasons, this automatic version of contact tracing works more effectively if more people utilize it. If you discover that you’ve been in close contact with an infected person, you can take appropriate steps (getting tested, staying away from vulnerable people, etc.)

We’ll show you how to take control of COVID-19 exposure notifications on your device.

How to use your iPhone and AirPods to spy on people

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How to use your iPhone and AirPods to spy on people
Here’s how to do an iPhone spying trick. Use it for fun, not evil.
Photo: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac

An iPhone and AirPods can be used to listen to conversations without people knowing. Such iPhone spying is really just a tricky use of the Live Listen feature built into iOS.

And, even if you’re not a budding James Bond, knowing about this trick could keep someone from eavesdropping on you. Here’s what to do if you want to use your iPhone to spy on someone. (Or what to watch out for if you don’t want to fall victim to iPhone spying.)