When you’re using OS X, you can search the web for any term you can right click on. You simply do so and then choose “Search Google for [highlighted word].”
In iOS, there doesn’t appear to be any way to do the same thing.
There is, however, a work around.
Sure, a simple passcode with four numbers will keep most casual folks out of your iPhone, but if you want it to be really secure, you should think about using an alphanumeric password, like you would on a website or your Mac.
The idea here is simple, the more characters you have (and the less obvious your password is), the better your security. Balancing a large enough number of characters with ease of recall can still be tricky, but I’d bet you’ve got it fairly worked out on the websites you visit — why not use that same acumen on your iOS devices?
Here’s how to turn off the simple passcode in iOS, and set up a more secure one.
Sure, it’s nice to know you have a bunch of unread email messages. And it’s understandable that iOS apps notify you about every little activity. But after a while, all the little numbers in the red circles on my iPhone’s home screen start to feel like a chore.
I hate having to open up apps just to clear out the taunting little numbers. I could ignore them, but they’re designed to bother me (or, more politely, to get my attention). I mean, I have healthy emotional boundaries, but this is getting ridiculous.
So I turned them off — and you can, too.
We’ve shown you how to change the default “On my way!” shortcut on your iOS device, making it just a bit less dorky. We’ve also helped you sync those keyboard shortcuts via iCloud.
Today, however, let’s look at this great use case of iOS keyboard shortcuts – the quick response template.
Cam Bunton over at Today’s iPhone has a great idea – use keyboard shortcuts to create your own short, simple message to respond to folks via Messages or Mail with this same iOS feature.
I personally can’t stand audiobooks except under one specific condition. I like them when I drive long distances. There’s something about listening to a book being read to me that puts me to sleep if I’m anywhere else, but for some reason, I’m able to listen in the car.
Now, I purchase a lot of iBooks, but not many audiobooks. One reason is that they’re more expensive, but I mainly avoid them for the reasons above. However, when I next take a cross-country trip in a car, I’m going to use this tip to turn the written iBooks into ones I can listen to off of my iPhone or iPad.
Sure, you can ask Siri to call one of your contacts; it’s one of the ways I make calls handsfree in the car. Simply say, “Call Kim” (or the name of the contact you’d like to call–you may not know Kim), and Siri will place a voice call to that Contact.
Did you know, however, that Siri can handle even more complexity? Yes, yes it can.
iOS 7 changed the visual palette on our favorite Apple mobile devices, and it may not be to everyone’s liking.
If you want to tone it down a bit, consider darkening the colors up, and reducing the white point on your iPad, iPhone or iPod touch to make things just a little bit less intense.
Seems like all the kids these days are using YouTube to listen to songs. It used to be trivially easy to play videos in the background, though, by just starting a video in the YouTube app or in Safari, and then just switching out to another app.
These days, however, the latest iOS version has changed that, and switching out of the YouTube app or Safari with a video playing stops the playback. Never fear, though, there are a couple of workarounds.
There’s a new accessibility feature built into Apple’s already pretty splendid suite of options for people of various abilities. Called Switch Control, it allows those with motor difficulties to connect a switch to their iOS device for better access.
The feature, originally released alongside iOS 7, allows users to connect a switch via cable or Bluetooth as well as setting up the screen itself as one big switch button.
In iOS 7.1, then, Apple added another useful option: to use the Camera itself as a head switch. Here’s how to set it up.
iOS 7 allowed you to switch between the day view and the list view with the tap of a button.
The new iOS 7.1 update now lets you see your events list along with your monthly calendar all on the same screen, giving Apple’s Calendar app a much-needed boost in usefulness.
Here’s how to enable it.
Ever wonder what’s going on in the skies above you at any given time? If you’re interested in airline flights in the air over your head, you can just ask Siri.
The personal digital assistant will check WolframAlpha for you and drop you a great little chart of the planes in the air overhead.
Seriously, if I have to start over from scratch one more time when I try and use Siri to send a Tweet or book an appointment, I may just give up using Apple’s much-touted personal digital assistant altogether.
As it is, I tend to skip trying to use Siri other than as a glorified app launcher and I use the built-in dictation instead from within the Messages, Twitter, or Calendar apps.
But that was before I found out that you can just tell Siri to change whatever it is she’s not getting.
So you get a seriously racy iMessage from someone incredibly inappropriate, and you want to send it along to one of your close confidants. What do you do?
It used to be that you’d tap the Edit button in Messages to be able to forward them.
In iOS 7, there is no Edit button. Nor can you swipe to the left, as that just brings up the timestamps.
Many apps these days are location aware and are able to refresh themselves in the background. It’s how apps like Facebook can refresh that little red icon badge on your home screen without you having to launch the app.
All that background activity, though, can take its toll on your battery life. Luckily, Apple has included a way to turn this off for specific apps, or altogether.
Let’s say you’re at a conference, and you meet someone you’d like to share your contact information with. You could both download one of many apps in the App Store for this express purpose, you can hand them a business card, or you can just use the simplest solution: send them an email or text message with your contact info.
It’s super easy to do, and takes way less time than downloading an app. It’s also more efficient than a business card, since you know no one actually keeps those, right?
Apple took a step away from Google when it launched iOS 7, choosing instead to have Siri search results come from Bing, the Microsoft search service.
When you ask Siri to search for a topic, she’ll just use Bing, and place the results on the Siri screen. This is fine, if you like Bing.
If you want to search, say, Google or Wikipedia, you’ll need to specify.
One of the cool things that your iPhone can do is tag your photos with geolocations. That way, you’ll know where you took the photo in addition to having the photo.
With iOS 7, you can also see your photos on a map, which is all sorts of fun if you travel a bit and like to take vacation photos while you’re there.
It’s easy to enable and access, too, which is a good thing.
This poor soul on the Apple discussion forums has just lost his iPhone, in Bangladesh of all places. He’s asking how to block the thieves from accessing his personal data.
Unfortunately for him, he didn’t have Find My Phone enabled on the device. He’s out of luck, in Bangladesh of all places.
You, though, you’re lucky and now have warning: iPhones are among the most stolen items in urban areas. Here’s how to keep your personal data safe on a stolen iPhone or iPad.
The new iOS 7 Weather app, taking a cue from the gorgeously designed Yahoo! Weather app that came out just before iOS 7 did, has all sorts of neat details and gestures to help you keep track of the meteorological realities around you.
If a list of all the cities you add to the Weather app and the extended 7-day forecast basics aren’t enough, there’s even more to find once you dig into the app a bit.
Facebook’s main iOS app has just added a feature to automatically play videos–sans sound–when you swipe the video preview onto your screen.
If you have data caps, or just don’t want to waste your cellular bandwidth on videos you don’t want to see anyway, there’s a simple way to restrict the auto-play feature to only when you’re on a Wi-Fi network.
Sadly, there’s no way to just turn the feature off, though.
While iPhone calls these days are vastly better than those of iPhone models in the past, let a lone calls made on those old flip phones, they can still be pretty cruddy, depending on your service coverage and location within that area.
If you’re at home (or at a place with WiFi) and in a bad location for cell tower reception but still need to make a voice call, you can do one thing to immediately improve the audio fidelity of your iPhone to iPhone calls: use FaceTime Audio.
While I’m a huge fan of the new Control Center on iOS, I can see where it might not be the best thing to have enabled on the lock screen. We’ve all left our iPhone or iPad out in places where folks might be able to get a hold of it, and you might not want those folks messing about with your settings.
Once you take Control Center out of your Lock Screen, you’ll have to enter your password (or use Touch ID) to authenticate to your phone before you can use Control Center, which is a pain, but so will anyone else, making your device just that much more secure.
We’ve shown you how to enable the hidden Smart Mailboxes in iOS 7, which is a great way to manage your email in Apple’s own built-in Mail app.
If you’re like many of us, though, you’ll have a few folders for organizing your mail as it comes in. I use Mailbox on my iPhone, but Mail app on my iPad, and I want to be able to access the Mailbox “Follow Up” folder on my iPad without having to tap through a ton of different folder hierarchies.
It’s relatively easy to set your Mail app up to add any folders you have in any of your email accounts.
Cult of Mac reader Rob J asks,
Having an issue with the conference call feature on iOS 7 and thought you might be able to help. Getting everyone on the call is no problem but I can’t seem to figure out how to have a private conversation with one person in the call.
Luckily, it’s pretty easy to do, if not super intuitive.
You know those times when you are just about to head out of the house, and you grab your iPhone, only to notice that you’ve got hardly any juice left? Yeah, me too.
When you need a quick charge on your iPhone or iPad, there’s a chimp-simple way to get it charged faster than usual, and it’s available with a quick tap or two.
