iOS 8 is here – this is how to prep your iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch for the big upgrade

With iOS 8 finally here, this article will explain how to prep your iPhone, iPad (Air, Mini), or iPod Touch for the big upgrade. Just follow these simple steps: 1. Backup your device to iCloud or to iTunes To create a backup with iCloud, simply open the Settings App and tap on iCloud. Then, make sure that iCloud Backup is turned on. Lastly, tap Back Up Now to make sure you have the most recent backup of your data possible. If this is your first time backing up to iCloud, it will take a few hours to perform the backup depending on Continue Reading →

How to quickly switch to and use 3D Flyover Mode in Apple Maps App

This is a quick and easy tip on how to switch to 3D Flyover Mode in the Maps App on your iPhone, iPad (Air, Mini), and iPod Touch. The Apple Maps app on iOS devices has greatly improved since it was announced a few years back. The Flyover feature is one of my favorites. Flyover allows you to zoom in on certain cities and get a photographic 3D view of the city. It is really fun to explore new cities this way or to get a 3D birds eye view of your own city. There are dozens of cities that Continue Reading →

How to use iMessages to quickly, securely, and easily share files (between Mac and iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch)

How to use iMessages to quickly, securely, and easily share files (between Mac and iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch)

Often times there is a need to quickly transfer a file from your Mac to your iOS device or the other way around. In addition, you may want to securely send a file to someone else. You can use iMessages to quickly, securely, and easily share files. Apple is working on an even easier solution (when you are in proximity with another person or device) called Airdrop that will debut with the release of iOS 8 (coming September, 2014). Until iOS 8 is released, and in case your device is not new enough to transfer files via Airdrop, here is a quick Continue Reading →

New Features in iOS 8 – What to Expect

Apple has announced iOS 8, the next version of its mobile operating system which will be released in the fall. In this post we’ll talk about what to expect. A few weeks back, Apple gave the public a preview of iOS 8 at its World Wide Developer’s Conference (WWDC). There are a ton of new features that will be coming this fall to an iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch near you. In this post, we’ll run down and explain the most exciting new features that you can expect to see in iOS 8.   New Stock Keyboard with QuickType – Compared Continue Reading →

Notifyr Review – Receive notifications from iOS devices on your Mac

Notifyr is a helpful app that allows you to receive notifications from your iPhone, iPad (Mini, Air), or iPod Touch on your Mac.     I’ve become a big fan of apps that allow my iOS devices to interact with my Mac. A while back, I reviewed an app called Knock that allows you to unlock your Mac simply by knocking twice on your iPhone. Recently, an app called Notifyr was released that lives in the same vein. This app (which actually consists of a pair of apps, one for iOS and one for Mac) lets you receive any and Continue Reading →

iOS 7: Keep your iPhone and iPad (Mini) contacts updated with Facebook Sync

In iOS 6, Apple introduced deeper Facebook integration throughout all iOS devices. This continued with the updates in iOS 7. By default, this access is turned off. To activate it, simply go to Settings –> Facebook and login with your credentials. Once logged in, you will be able to use Siri to post updates to Facebook as well as upload or share photos directly from the Photos app. You also get the option of turning on Facebook Calendar which adds a calendar of all your upcoming Facebook events and another calendar with birthdays of all your friends. Beyond the status Continue Reading →

Microsoft Office for iPad Review – Edit Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and OneNote documents on iPad

Microsoft Office is finally available for iPad! This post reviews the Office apps for iPad and covers Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and OneNote. It’s been a long time coming, but Microsoft has finally brought a fully featured version of its productivity suite to iOS, and more specifically to the larger screen of the iPad. While it’s true that Microsoft Office has been available on the iPhone since June of 2013, the iPhone version is only able to view documents and can’t edit them. The iPad versions of Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and OneNote are a completely different story and rival the desktop Continue Reading →

Taasky – a beautiful task & to-do list for iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad (mini)

Taasky – a beautiful task & to-do list for iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad (mini) Chances are either you are great at coming up with big ideas and your “finally going to wrangle the details in your life” or you’re already pretty studious with your task management and are looking for something to better maximize your time and effectiveness. Regardless of where you land, Taasky might just be the app you’re looking for to help you keep on top of the to-do’s in your life. Like any app, if the main features take more than a few minutes to figure Continue Reading →

How to create iCloud contact groups for iPhone, iPad (Mini, Air) and iPod Touch

This post shows you how to create contact groups in iCloud and easily send emails and texts to lists of people using your iOS device. If you’re like me, there are groups of people that you send texts and emails to all the time. It used to be that every time I needed to contact a given group I had to type each of their names individually into the To: field in the Messages app or my favorite email app. However, I recently discovered an easy way to create groups of contacts and quickly send them messages all at once in Continue Reading →

What AirPlay is and how to use it in iOS 7

This post shows you how to use Apple’s AirPlay feature to share music, photos, video, and even what’s currently on your screen with another Apple device. One of the things that sets Apple apart from its competitors is their ability to create a cohesive ecosystem which allows all their products to work together seamlessly. One of my favorite examples of part of this ecosystem in action is a feature Apple introduced in 2010 called AirPlay.  It allows you to send all kinds of media (music, photos, video, screen mirroring) wirelessly between your Apple devices. If you take a photo or video Continue Reading →