Category Archives: iOS Basics

How to set up, customize and use Notification Center on iPhone, iPad (Mini), and iPod Touch

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This article will show you how to setup, customize and activate Notification Center on your iPhone, iPad (Mini), and iPod Touch. Apple introduced Notification Center in iOS 5 and improved on it in iOS 6. Notification centre is a built in log of all the notifications that you have gotten as well as a couple useful widgets. It is fully customizable and includes everything from weather to emails and stock quotes and any other favorite app you want to include in the list. I’ll show you how to set Notification Center up, how to access it, how to add favorite Continue Reading →

Use Siri to add appointments to your iPhone/iPad calendar and automatically invite participants

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Adding an appointment to your calendar with Siri in iOS 6 is really easy. Just ask Siri to “Add an appointment to Review Budget Tomorrow at 12pm”. Siri will create a new calendar event titled “Review Budget” and will schedule it for tomorrow at 12pm. You can take this a step further by asking Siri to schedule the meeting with someone who is in your contact list. By doing this, Siri will create the calendar appointment and then automatically send out an invite for the appointment to the person you scheduled the appointment with (as long as you have an Continue Reading →

Ask Siri: Did you know that Siri in iOS 6 can give you nutritional information on most foods?

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Siri is able to tap into Wolfram Alpha, which is a computational knowledge engine. Because of this, there is an entire bank of knowledge that can be drawn upon by simply asking Siri. One helpful piece of information that can be computed by Wolfram Alpha is nutritional information for food. For example, you can ask things like, “What is the nutritional value of an Egg McMuffin?” Siri will look up the information and present it all in a nutritional value label right on your iPhone, iPad (Mini), or iPod Touch screen. You can also ask Siri to calculate specific quantities or Continue Reading →

Quick Tip: Hold down the backspace key on your iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch to begin deleting whole words

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If you have written a lot of text in an email or a pages document or anywhere else, you can quickly delete large sections of text. To do this on your iPad, iPhone (Mini), or iPod Touch in iOS 6 simply hold down the backspace key for 4 seconds. For the first 4 seconds, the normal delete function will happen where one letter is deleted at a time. Then, after 4 seconds, your device will enter rapid delete mode where it will delete entire words at once as long as you hold the backspace key. Remember, if you delete too Continue Reading →

How to create a custom reminders list in iOS 6 and use Siri to add items to that list

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This is a short tutorial on how to add a custom reminders list in the Reminders App on your iPhone, iPad (Mini), or iPod Touch in iOS 6. Once you have created your custom list, you can ask Siri to add items to that list. Watch Tutorial

Quick Photo Tip: Tap and hold on the screen for 3 seconds to lock focus (AF) and exposure (AE)

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One of the features in the camera app that I use all the time is the AE/AF Lock. This is where the focus and exposure settings lock in even if you point your device at a different location. For example, sometimes if I am trying to take a photo of someone or something where the object is off center, the camera will automatically focus on the background but I want it to focus on the foreground. There is a simple way to remedy this. Here is how: 1. Open up the camera app. Point the camera directly at the foreground Continue Reading →

The best hidden secret about Siri – How to edit mistakes

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Siri is the personal digital assistant that Apple introduced in iOS 5 and the iPhone 4S. Since then, Siri has been expanded to include the iPhone 5, iPad 3, iPad 4, iPad Mini, and the new iPod Touch. The most amazing aspect of using Siri is that you can talk in normal language (for the most part). You can ask Siri things like, “Will it rain today?” And, the interpreted response will include the weather forecast for the day. Siri can also send text messages and emails for you. All you need to do is say, “Send a message to Continue Reading →

Create custom vibration alerts for incoming calls on your iPhone in iOS 6

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iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPhone 5

With iOS 6, Apple introduced custom vibration alerts. This not only allows you to select one of 8 built in vibration variations, but it also allows you to create your own. I am often in meetings where I need to have my iPhone on vibrate only. I do this by flipping the little switch on the left side of the iPhone to reveal a little red line. Up until iOS 6, I was unable to distinguish between the various incoming calls I was receiving. Now, I have a custom vibration alert set up for when my wife calls. That way, Continue Reading →

Hard reset your iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch every couple weeks to maintain speed of device

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All computers and smartphones benefit from a restart periodically. Your iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch are no different. I would recommend doing a hard reset every couple of weeks. It is simple and only takes about 30-60 seconds. Here is how: 1. Navigate to the Home Screen (your first page of apps) and then double tap the “Home Button”. This will bring up the multi-tasking tray at the bottom of the screen revealing all of your recently used apps. Tap and hold on the first app in the list till it starts to shake. A little red minus with a Continue Reading →

Access open tabs in Safari from other devices using iCloud in iOS 6

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One of the features that Apple introduced in iOS 6 and Mac OS X Mountain Lion is tab syncing in Safari between multiple devices. This means that at any point, you can see any of the tabs that you have open on all of your devices. For me, I have a Macbook, an iPhone 4S, and an iPad. At any point, I can access the tabs open on any of these devices. Here is how: 1. Make sure that all your devices are updated and that Safari on your Mac is running the most recent version. 2. Make sure that Continue Reading →