The new 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models feature a camera housing built into the screen, resulting in a notch like that on the iPhone. Most developers are updating their apps to ensure that no controls or menu bar items appear blocked or hidden by the notch, but if you use an older app that […]
https://maclifeboise.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/shrink-apps-to-prevent-the-macbook-pro-notch-from-obscuring-app-controls.jpg8001280MLWPadminNEW2https://maclifeboise.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/MacLife-Logo-Finals-copy-3-300x187.pngMLWPadminNEW22021-12-01 13:05:362021-12-02 10:50:26Shrink Apps to Prevent the MacBook Pro Notch from Obscuring App Controls
It’s no exaggeration to say that videoconferencing went mainstream during the pandemic. However, Apple’s FaceTime didn’t stack up well against Zoom and others due to its emulation of the telephone call experience, questionable interface decisions, and lack of cross-platform compatibility. However, with iOS 15, iPadOS 15, and macOS 12 Monterey, Apple has nearly brought FaceTime […]
https://maclifeboise.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/facetime-gains-cool-new-features-in-apples-latest-operating-systems.jpg8001280MLWPadminNEW2https://maclifeboise.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/MacLife-Logo-Finals-copy-3-300x187.pngMLWPadminNEW22021-12-01 13:04:462021-12-02 10:50:16FaceTime Gains Cool New Features in Apple’s Latest Operating Systems
We continually recommend that every Apple user rely on a password manager like 1Password or LastPass for creating, managing, and entering passwords securely. What we haven’t encouraged as heavily is relying on Apple’s built-in password management features. Although they’re free, they’ve been too basic and hard to use over the years, relying largely on an […]
https://maclifeboise.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/should-you-use-apples-new-password-manager-in-ios-15-ipados-15-and-macos-12-monterey.jpg8001280MLWPadminNEW2https://maclifeboise.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/MacLife-Logo-Finals-copy-3-300x187.pngMLWPadminNEW22021-12-01 13:04:322021-12-02 10:50:01Should You Use Apple’s New Password Manager in iOS 15, iPadOS 15, and macOS 12 Monterey?
Between texts, alarms, reminders, calls, and myriad other notifications on our iPhones, iPads, and Macs, it’s a miracle we get anything done at all. To free us from this onslaught, Apple previously provided Do Not Disturb, which let you set times during which you could be free from interruption. In iOS 15, iPadOS 15, and […]
https://maclifeboise.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/apples-evolution-of-do-not-disturb-helps-you-focus.jpg8001280MLWPadminNEW2https://maclifeboise.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/MacLife-Logo-Finals-copy-3-300x187.pngMLWPadminNEW22021-12-01 13:02:262021-12-02 10:49:43Apple’s Evolution of Do Not Disturb Helps You Focus
If mailing your holiday cards (which you designed in Photos with a plug-in like Motif or Mimeo Photos, right?) is made harder by having to write addresses on envelopes, you can skip the handwriting step this year. Although many people don’t realize this, it’s easy to print mailing labels on standard label stock using the […]
https://maclifeboise.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/print-mailing-labels-for-your-holiday-cards-with-apples-contacts-app.jpg8001280MLWPadminNEW2https://maclifeboise.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/MacLife-Logo-Finals-copy-3-300x187.pngMLWPadminNEW22021-12-01 13:01:352021-12-02 10:49:29Print Mailing Labels for Your Holiday Cards with Apple’s Contacts App
Have you ever wanted to identify a plant, flower, or pet breed, or find out what that famous painting is called? Us too. In iOS 15 and iPadOS 15, Apple added a new AI-driven feature called Visual Look Up that provides more information about photos of plants, flowers, pets, books, artworks, and landmarks. When you’re […]
https://maclifeboise.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/use-visual-look-up-in-photos-in-ios-15-to-identify-plants-pets-and-more.jpg8001280MLWPadminNEW2https://maclifeboise.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/MacLife-Logo-Finals-copy-3-300x187.pngMLWPadminNEW22021-11-01 13:08:472021-11-02 11:18:50Use Visual Look Up in Photos in iOS 15 to Identify Plants, Pets, and More
The Apple Watch has a lot to offer older people, including heart rate monitoring, atrial fibrillation detection, fall detection, and electrocardiogram recording. But if you are—or are helping someone who is—of the generation where watches once did nothing beyond telling the time, too many options can be overwhelming. Adding to the confusion is how easy […]
https://maclifeboise.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/with-apple-watch-faces-too-much-choice-can-be-confusing.jpg8001280MLWPadminNEW2https://maclifeboise.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/MacLife-Logo-Finals-copy-3-300x187.pngMLWPadminNEW22021-11-01 13:07:072021-11-02 11:21:09With Apple Watch Faces, Too Much Choice Can Be Confusing
When you move from an old iPhone or iPad to a new one, the easiest approach is often the Quick Start device-to-device transfer. But if that doesn’t work, or if you have to give up one device before receiving the other, iCloud Backup is a fine alternative. Fine, that is, if you have enough iCloud […]
https://maclifeboise.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/apple-provides-temporary-icloud-backup-space-for-new-device-transfers.jpg8001280MLWPadminNEW2https://maclifeboise.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/MacLife-Logo-Finals-copy-3-300x187.pngMLWPadminNEW22021-11-01 13:06:122021-11-02 11:20:51Apple Provides Temporary iCloud Backup Space for New Device Transfers
With the betas of Safari 15 on the Mac and iPad, Apple experimented with a variety of interface tweaks related to tabs. By the time Safari 15 shipped, however, Apple had pulled back on the more radical changes from the betas, offering the new Compact Tab Bar layout and colorized tab bar as options. Even […]
https://maclifeboise.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/safari-15-1-reverses-course-reverts-to-old-tab-interface.jpg8001280MLWPadminNEW2https://maclifeboise.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/MacLife-Logo-Finals-copy-3-300x187.pngMLWPadminNEW22021-11-01 13:05:122021-11-02 11:20:17Safari 15.1 Reverses Course, Reverts to Old Tab Interface
Remember the heady dotcom days, when businesses were desperate to get a short, memorable, easily typed .com domain? It quickly became difficult to get what you wanted—so much so that deep-pocketed companies paid exorbitant sums for just the right domain. Before we go any further, let’s make sure we’re all on the same page. Domain […]
https://maclifeboise.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/avoid-unusual-top-level-domains-in-custom-domain-names.jpg8001280MLWPadminNEW2https://maclifeboise.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/MacLife-Logo-Finals-copy-3-300x187.pngMLWPadminNEW22021-11-01 13:04:052021-11-02 11:20:03Avoid Unusual Top-Level Domains in Custom Domain Names
The most magical feature of Apple’s latest crop of operating systems—iOS 15, iPadOS 15, and macOS 12 Monterey—may be Live Text. You’re probably familiar with the concept of optical character recognition (OCR), which turns all the text on a scanned page into normal text you can select, copy, and edit. Live Text does exactly that […]
https://maclifeboise.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/live-text-digitizes-text-in-photos-in-ios-15-ipados-15-and-macos-12-monterey.jpg8001280MLWPadminNEW2https://maclifeboise.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/MacLife-Logo-Finals-copy-3-300x187.pngMLWPadminNEW22021-11-01 13:03:432021-11-02 11:19:46Live Text Digitizes Text in Photos in iOS 15, iPadOS 15, and macOS 12 Monterey
Even those of us who don’t work with graphics professionally often find ourselves needing to resize images. Perhaps you have a large square headshot, but the site to which you’re uploading requires it to be exactly 100 by 100 pixels. Or maybe you have an iPhone 13 Pro photo that’s 4032 by 3024, but you […]
https://maclifeboise.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/need-to-resize-images-in-various-ways-give-preview-a-try.jpg8001280MLWPadminNEW2https://maclifeboise.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/MacLife-Logo-Finals-copy-3-300x187.pngMLWPadminNEW22021-11-01 13:02:412021-11-02 11:19:24Need to Resize Images in Various Ways? Give Preview a Try
It may seem early to start thinking about the holiday shopping season, but with the global supply chain suffering pandemic-related slowdowns, there’s no telling how long it will take to get something you order today. Apple has generally done a good job of managing its supply chain issues, but even still, if you want to […]
https://maclifeboise.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/the-best-apple-related-gifts-for-2021.jpg8001280MLWPadminNEW2https://maclifeboise.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/MacLife-Logo-Finals-copy-3-300x187.pngMLWPadminNEW22021-11-01 13:01:432021-11-02 11:19:09The Best Apple-Related Gifts for 2021
Last year, Apple started to transition Macs away from Intel processors to its custom M1 system-on-a-chip. The M1’s performance is stellar, but Apple has used it only in low-end models so far: the MacBook Air, 13-inch MacBook Pro, Mac mini, and new 24-inch iMac. For professionals looking for more power, Apple unveiled the future of […]
https://maclifeboise.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/new-m1-pro-and-m1-max-chips-power-the-14-inch-and-16-inch-macbook-pros.jpg8001280MLWPadminNEW2https://maclifeboise.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/MacLife-Logo-Finals-copy-3-300x187.pngMLWPadminNEW22021-10-19 14:16:512021-10-19 15:08:57New M1 Pro and M1 Max Chips Power the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pros
It’s easy, particularly when traveling, to end up connecting to a Wi-Fi network that doesn’t provide Internet access, requires credentials you don’t have, or lacks access to the network’s printer. Unfortunately, once your iPhone, iPad, or Mac has connected to such a network, it may reconnect to it later, causing consternation when things don’t work. […]
https://maclifeboise.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/when-it-comes-to-wi-fi-networks-sometimes-its-better-to-forget.jpg8001280MLWPadminNEW2https://maclifeboise.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/MacLife-Logo-Finals-copy-3-300x187.pngMLWPadminNEW22021-10-01 12:08:422021-10-01 13:49:38When It Comes to Wi-Fi Networks, Sometimes It’s Better to Forget
Here’s a tricky situation that threw one of our clients for a loop recently. Texts they sent in Messages via iMessage (indicated by blue bubbles) to their son, letting him know they were stopping by weren’t being delivered, making their visits a surprise. But other texts worked fine. The problem, it turned out, was that […]
https://maclifeboise.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/messages-not-being-delivered-to-blue-bubble-friends-check-cellular-data.jpg8001280MLWPadminNEW2https://maclifeboise.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/MacLife-Logo-Finals-copy-3-300x187.pngMLWPadminNEW22021-10-01 12:07:032021-10-01 13:53:12Messages Not Being Delivered to Blue-Bubble Friends? Check Cellular Data
In iOS 15 and iPadOS 15, Apple expanded the concept of Do Not Disturb to what it calls Focus. You can create a Focus for different types of activities, so only specific people and apps can break through your cone of silence at appropriate times. Focus subsumes the old Do Not Disturb functionality, and your […]
https://maclifeboise.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/after-upgrading-to-ios-15-check-do-not-disturb-in-focus-settings.jpg8001280MLWPadminNEW2https://maclifeboise.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/MacLife-Logo-Finals-copy-3-300x187.pngMLWPadminNEW22021-10-01 12:06:282021-10-01 13:53:01After Upgrading to iOS 15, Check Do Not Disturb in Focus Settings
You have a new iPhone or iPad—congratulations! When transferring your data to the new device, you have three options: Quick Start, an iCloud backup, or a Mac backup. All will work, but they don’t quite provide the same end result (particularly if you didn’t encrypt your Mac backup). Our advice—backed by this post from Apple […]
https://maclifeboise.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/when-migrating-to-a-new-iphone-or-ipad-try-quick-start-first.jpg8001280MLWPadminNEW2https://maclifeboise.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/MacLife-Logo-Finals-copy-3-300x187.pngMLWPadminNEW22021-10-01 12:05:222021-10-01 13:52:41When Migrating to a New iPhone or iPad, Try Quick Start First
Along with a new version of Safari in iOS 15 and iPadOS 15, Apple has released Safari 15 for macOS 11 Big Sur and macOS 10.15 Catalina. Why do this before macOS 12 Monterey ships? Some of the browser’s new capabilities—notably the Tab Groups feature—integrate it more deeply into your Apple device experience by syncing […]
https://maclifeboise.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/new-features-to-try-or-not-in-safari-15.jpg8001280MLWPadminNEW2https://maclifeboise.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/MacLife-Logo-Finals-copy-3-300x187.pngMLWPadminNEW22021-10-01 12:04:322021-10-01 13:52:14New Features to Try (Or Not) in Safari 15
As you upgrade to iOS 15, iPadOS 15 (and macOS 12 Monterey by the end of the year), you’re going to see references to iCloud+. You might even already be an iCloud+ subscriber! That’s because iCloud+ is Apple’s new name for what you get if you pay for additional iCloud storage for yourself and up […]
https://maclifeboise.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/what-is-icloud-and-what-can-you-do-with-it.jpg8001280MLWPadminNEW2https://maclifeboise.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/MacLife-Logo-Finals-copy-3-300x187.pngMLWPadminNEW22021-10-01 12:03:082021-10-01 13:51:10What Is iCloud+ and What Can You Do With It?
Shrink Apps to Prevent the MacBook Pro Notch from Obscuring App Controls
/in Internet, iOS 10, iPhone, MacBook Pro, macOS 10.12 Sierra, OS X /by MLWPadminNEW2The new 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models feature a camera housing built into the screen, resulting in a notch like that on the iPhone. Most developers are updating their apps to ensure that no controls or menu bar items appear blocked or hidden by the notch, but if you use an older app that […]
FaceTime Gains Cool New Features in Apple’s Latest Operating Systems
/in Internet, iOS 10, iPhone, MacBook Pro, macOS 10.12 Sierra, OS X /by MLWPadminNEW2It’s no exaggeration to say that videoconferencing went mainstream during the pandemic. However, Apple’s FaceTime didn’t stack up well against Zoom and others due to its emulation of the telephone call experience, questionable interface decisions, and lack of cross-platform compatibility. However, with iOS 15, iPadOS 15, and macOS 12 Monterey, Apple has nearly brought FaceTime […]
Should You Use Apple’s New Password Manager in iOS 15, iPadOS 15, and macOS 12 Monterey?
/in Internet, iOS 10, iPhone, MacBook Pro, macOS 10.12 Sierra, OS X /by MLWPadminNEW2We continually recommend that every Apple user rely on a password manager like 1Password or LastPass for creating, managing, and entering passwords securely. What we haven’t encouraged as heavily is relying on Apple’s built-in password management features. Although they’re free, they’ve been too basic and hard to use over the years, relying largely on an […]
Apple’s Evolution of Do Not Disturb Helps You Focus
/in Internet, iOS 10, iPhone, MacBook Pro, macOS 10.12 Sierra, OS X /by MLWPadminNEW2Between texts, alarms, reminders, calls, and myriad other notifications on our iPhones, iPads, and Macs, it’s a miracle we get anything done at all. To free us from this onslaught, Apple previously provided Do Not Disturb, which let you set times during which you could be free from interruption. In iOS 15, iPadOS 15, and […]
Print Mailing Labels for Your Holiday Cards with Apple’s Contacts App
/in Internet, iOS 10, iPhone, MacBook Pro, macOS 10.12 Sierra, OS X /by MLWPadminNEW2If mailing your holiday cards (which you designed in Photos with a plug-in like Motif or Mimeo Photos, right?) is made harder by having to write addresses on envelopes, you can skip the handwriting step this year. Although many people don’t realize this, it’s easy to print mailing labels on standard label stock using the […]
Use Visual Look Up in Photos in iOS 15 to Identify Plants, Pets, and More
/in Internet, iOS 10, iPhone, MacBook Pro, macOS 10.12 Sierra, OS X /by MLWPadminNEW2Have you ever wanted to identify a plant, flower, or pet breed, or find out what that famous painting is called? Us too. In iOS 15 and iPadOS 15, Apple added a new AI-driven feature called Visual Look Up that provides more information about photos of plants, flowers, pets, books, artworks, and landmarks. When you’re […]
With Apple Watch Faces, Too Much Choice Can Be Confusing
/in Internet, iOS 10, iPhone, MacBook Pro, macOS 10.12 Sierra, OS X /by MLWPadminNEW2The Apple Watch has a lot to offer older people, including heart rate monitoring, atrial fibrillation detection, fall detection, and electrocardiogram recording. But if you are—or are helping someone who is—of the generation where watches once did nothing beyond telling the time, too many options can be overwhelming. Adding to the confusion is how easy […]
Apple Provides Temporary iCloud Backup Space for New Device Transfers
/in Internet, iOS 10, iPhone, MacBook Pro, macOS 10.12 Sierra, OS X /by MLWPadminNEW2When you move from an old iPhone or iPad to a new one, the easiest approach is often the Quick Start device-to-device transfer. But if that doesn’t work, or if you have to give up one device before receiving the other, iCloud Backup is a fine alternative. Fine, that is, if you have enough iCloud […]
Safari 15.1 Reverses Course, Reverts to Old Tab Interface
/in Internet, iOS 10, iPhone, MacBook Pro, macOS 10.12 Sierra, OS X /by MLWPadminNEW2With the betas of Safari 15 on the Mac and iPad, Apple experimented with a variety of interface tweaks related to tabs. By the time Safari 15 shipped, however, Apple had pulled back on the more radical changes from the betas, offering the new Compact Tab Bar layout and colorized tab bar as options. Even […]
Avoid Unusual Top-Level Domains in Custom Domain Names
/in Internet, iOS 10, iPhone, MacBook Pro, macOS 10.12 Sierra, OS X /by MLWPadminNEW2Remember the heady dotcom days, when businesses were desperate to get a short, memorable, easily typed .com domain? It quickly became difficult to get what you wanted—so much so that deep-pocketed companies paid exorbitant sums for just the right domain. Before we go any further, let’s make sure we’re all on the same page. Domain […]
Live Text Digitizes Text in Photos in iOS 15, iPadOS 15, and macOS 12 Monterey
/in Internet, iOS 10, iPhone, MacBook Pro, macOS 10.12 Sierra, OS X /by MLWPadminNEW2The most magical feature of Apple’s latest crop of operating systems—iOS 15, iPadOS 15, and macOS 12 Monterey—may be Live Text. You’re probably familiar with the concept of optical character recognition (OCR), which turns all the text on a scanned page into normal text you can select, copy, and edit. Live Text does exactly that […]
Need to Resize Images in Various Ways? Give Preview a Try
/in Internet, iOS 10, iPhone, MacBook Pro, macOS 10.12 Sierra, OS X /by MLWPadminNEW2Even those of us who don’t work with graphics professionally often find ourselves needing to resize images. Perhaps you have a large square headshot, but the site to which you’re uploading requires it to be exactly 100 by 100 pixels. Or maybe you have an iPhone 13 Pro photo that’s 4032 by 3024, but you […]
The Best Apple-Related Gifts for 2021
/in Internet, iOS 10, iPhone, MacBook Pro, macOS 10.12 Sierra, OS X /by MLWPadminNEW2It may seem early to start thinking about the holiday shopping season, but with the global supply chain suffering pandemic-related slowdowns, there’s no telling how long it will take to get something you order today. Apple has generally done a good job of managing its supply chain issues, but even still, if you want to […]
New M1 Pro and M1 Max Chips Power the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pros
/in Internet, iOS 10, iPhone, MacBook Pro, macOS 10.12 Sierra, OS X /by MLWPadminNEW2Last year, Apple started to transition Macs away from Intel processors to its custom M1 system-on-a-chip. The M1’s performance is stellar, but Apple has used it only in low-end models so far: the MacBook Air, 13-inch MacBook Pro, Mac mini, and new 24-inch iMac. For professionals looking for more power, Apple unveiled the future of […]
When It Comes to Wi-Fi Networks, Sometimes It’s Better to Forget
/in Internet, iOS 10, iPhone, MacBook Pro, macOS 10.12 Sierra, OS X /by MLWPadminNEW2It’s easy, particularly when traveling, to end up connecting to a Wi-Fi network that doesn’t provide Internet access, requires credentials you don’t have, or lacks access to the network’s printer. Unfortunately, once your iPhone, iPad, or Mac has connected to such a network, it may reconnect to it later, causing consternation when things don’t work. […]
Messages Not Being Delivered to Blue-Bubble Friends? Check Cellular Data
/in Internet, iOS 10, iPhone, MacBook Pro, macOS 10.12 Sierra, OS X /by MLWPadminNEW2Here’s a tricky situation that threw one of our clients for a loop recently. Texts they sent in Messages via iMessage (indicated by blue bubbles) to their son, letting him know they were stopping by weren’t being delivered, making their visits a surprise. But other texts worked fine. The problem, it turned out, was that […]
After Upgrading to iOS 15, Check Do Not Disturb in Focus Settings
/in Internet, iOS 10, iPhone, MacBook Pro, macOS 10.12 Sierra, OS X /by MLWPadminNEW2In iOS 15 and iPadOS 15, Apple expanded the concept of Do Not Disturb to what it calls Focus. You can create a Focus for different types of activities, so only specific people and apps can break through your cone of silence at appropriate times. Focus subsumes the old Do Not Disturb functionality, and your […]
When Migrating to a New iPhone or iPad, Try Quick Start First
/in Internet, iOS 10, iPhone, MacBook Pro, macOS 10.12 Sierra, OS X /by MLWPadminNEW2You have a new iPhone or iPad—congratulations! When transferring your data to the new device, you have three options: Quick Start, an iCloud backup, or a Mac backup. All will work, but they don’t quite provide the same end result (particularly if you didn’t encrypt your Mac backup). Our advice—backed by this post from Apple […]
New Features to Try (Or Not) in Safari 15
/in Internet, iOS 10, iPhone, MacBook Pro, macOS 10.12 Sierra, OS X /by MLWPadminNEW2Along with a new version of Safari in iOS 15 and iPadOS 15, Apple has released Safari 15 for macOS 11 Big Sur and macOS 10.15 Catalina. Why do this before macOS 12 Monterey ships? Some of the browser’s new capabilities—notably the Tab Groups feature—integrate it more deeply into your Apple device experience by syncing […]
What Is iCloud+ and What Can You Do With It?
/in Internet, iOS 10, iPhone, MacBook Pro, macOS 10.12 Sierra, OS X /by MLWPadminNEW2As you upgrade to iOS 15, iPadOS 15 (and macOS 12 Monterey by the end of the year), you’re going to see references to iCloud+. You might even already be an iCloud+ subscriber! That’s because iCloud+ is Apple’s new name for what you get if you pay for additional iCloud storage for yourself and up […]