Spring 2021

After the feedback of what worked and where we could improve after our first Zoom semester of iOS Basics, two changes were made. First, iPhone Basics will be the first 6 weeks and iPad Basics will be the second 6 weeks. Second, we will go slower in our online demonstrations. 

Both seminars will have a pre-meeting the week before classes begin to review the Zoom features we will use. 

We recommend you attend the seminar using your computer so you can watch the demonstration and follow along on your mobile device during the walk-through steps. 

Video Tutorials

 We encourage you to explore your specific questions by Googling topics related to your iOS device and to also search the channels of YouTube to see how others use their devices. 

And, we are making a few video tutorials related to the questions from our audience. There is now a page in this blog dedicated to Video Tutorials. Check it out and come back often to see new tutorials posted to our YouTube Channel. 

The beauty of a video is that you can stop/pause and then try the techniques demonstrated. You might also watch videos again after attending this seminar to see if you can even learn new tricks that you missed during the first viewing. 

Pat's Tips

To really take advantage of your investment consider joining ... 

iPhone Life has free daily email tips and offers subscription to tutorials, videos, one-on-one help. They also offer a podcast. Check for the Senior discount! 

MacNexus - local Sacramento group. Saturday classes and a Wednesday evening meeting with a presentation. 

The Tips app will appear when you update to iOS14. 

Barbara suggested to regularly visit The Lincoln Hills Apple User Group. 

Spring 2021 Plans

Well this Zoom experience taught us many lessons. We have learned from you and hopefully you have learned from our presentations as well as the notes and links provided on this website. 

Next time we will provide seminars that focus on each device - the iPhone Basics will be the first six weeks and the iPad Basics will be the second six weeks. Both seminars will feature iOS 14 on iPhone and iPadOS14 on the iPad. 

Apple's October 13th Announcement

iPhone 12 is the newest thing in two sizes with 5G cellular speed and the Camera does night mode! The OLED Display technology is high resolution, meaning that text is easier to read. 

If you think photography or video recording is in your future, don't buy the phone model with the minimal storage, take time to Compare iPhone Models.

Many ways to upgrade your device

1. Trade-In your current device (or older devices) for store credit to a newer iPhone or iPad
2. Buy on a monthly plan with 0.00% loan, charged to a credit card 
3. Buy a refurbished device as new ones are announced (see #1)
4. Apply for Apple Credit Card and get 3% cash back on all purchases at Apple

Preview iOS 14 - iPad OS14

Tom will give us some hints on how iOS and iPad OS have changed with v14. 

For a preview read New features available with iOS 14 or New features available with iPadOS. 

For a kick and a laugh - watch The Whole Working From Home Thing - a YouTube video by Apple. I'm glad to be retired. But we all can relate to the circumstances of this team. See the in-office prequel Apple at Work - The Underdogs. 

Go ahead and update to iOS 14, 

Compatible iPhones: 

• iPhone 12 and 12 Pro
• iPhone 11 
• iPhone 11 Pro
• iPhone 11 Pro Max
• iPhone XS
• iPhone XS Max
• iPhone XR
• iPhone X
• iPhone 8
• iPhone 8 Plus
• iPhone 7
• iPhone 7 Plus
• iPhone 6s
• iPhone 6s Plus
• iPhone SE (1st generation)
• iPhone SE (2nd generation)
• iPod touch (7th generation) 

Camera and Photos

Don't get rid of your shoebox full of photos but be prepared to enjoy the features tech brings to your fingertips! '

Camera 

Barbara will introduce you to the features of the Camera app - the best camera is the one you have with you. It is called "iPhone" but most of us use other apps more often than making phone calls. 

Review the online User Guide chapters for Take Photos, learn about different modes and camera settings. Reviewing these articles ahead of class will help you absorb the new information.

Zoom with your feet. Avoid using the digital zoom.

The Shutter button is a big round circle. But you can also use the Volume buttons to take a picture, your earbuds or an Apple Watch; also set the Timer to take a photo.  

Burst mode to take may photos 

QR Codes (quick response codes) scan from the Control Center.

View the 35 short videos in the Apple Playlist How to shoot on iPhone. 

Photos

Ok, this is the smallest shoebox ever! But it is well organized with options for you to edit (improve) photos, to share photos and to organize to tell your best stories. 

Review the iOS13 online User Guide chapters for View photos and videos, Edit photos and videos, Organize photos in albums, Search for photos (yes, use Siri to search!), Share photos and videos, Browse photos by location, and other articles.

Melissa will introduce a few of the critical features in Photos today and encourage you to explore your own interests with Google  and YouTube searches. 

• How much available space is on your iPhone/iPad? Open Settings > General > About > Capacity and Available. You can add "available space" by using iCloud Photos and increasing your iCloud Storage Subscription. If photography is important to you, next time you purchase a new iPhone consider the storage size and choose 128GB over 64GB. 
• How much available space is on your iCloud account? Open Settings > tap on your name > iCloud > under the Storage graph is available and subscription level. Tap Manage Storage to see what app data is taking up the most of your storage. Pay attention to apps with XX.GB size. 
• There is lots more to read and learn about your device. You made a wise investment of cash, now begins the investment in your time.

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The Photos app has many views: Years, Months, Days, All Photos; People, Places. How do you know where you are after opening Photos? Look at the bottom of your screen for a blue highlight. The icons here are like tabs in a file drawer.

A very handy tool to use is Markup. Rea Draw in apps with Markup for more information. This app is available on iPhone and iPad. For art therapy, consider How to Use Markup in Photos from Apple's YouTube Channel.

(Melissa can update her iPhone and iPad to iOS 14 because she is finished with demos for this class.)

Watch this YouTube video from AppleInsider Everything New with Camera and Photos in iOS 14! 30+ Changes & Features and be ready to pause often because Andrew O'Hara talks fast!

Tips - Scan a Document in the Notes app

Sometimes reading the User Guide or attending class is just way too much information. But if you pause and listen, then re-read your notes, new possibilities come into focus. 

Not long ago workplaces or home offices had to purchase new equipment to scan documents. Not anymore. Find a sample document or article clipped from the newspaper. Place it on a table with good side light. For best results, a contrasting tabletop works best with white pages. Open the Notes app on your iPhone or iPad. Tap the icon to open a new note page. Tap the Camera icon to bring up the camera features > tap Scan Documents. Adjust the camera up or down to fit the page to your screen. 

This feature takes practice. View the online User Guide Add Attachments to Notes on iPhone article or better yet, view the Teacher's Tech YouTube Use Notes on Your iPhone to Quickly Scan Documents to see the process in action.

Contacts and Calendar

 Melissa and Carol will report on the core apps Contacts and Calendars. 

We want to encourage you to read the iPhone User Guide or iPad User Guide also available in Books for off-line reading, bookmarking, highlighting and personal notes. 

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Contacts 

You will want to read the guide chapter on Contacts and begin adding people, businesses and locations to your Contacts app. Our presentation will cover some uses of Contacts. Create your personal card and then marking it as 'My Card', updating contact cards, setting SOS contacts, adding a photo ... 

Contacts is a core app on your devices. It connects to other core apps, phone, maps, messages, email, Safari, Search and Siri - your personal assistant - can access Contacts! 

Contacts with many entries will not take up much space on your device. Feel free to add people from your paper address book or rolodex. And in these COVID-19 times, use your entries to reach out and reconnect with your people! Edit the contact card details as you learn more about your friend network. 

If your are a multi-Apple-device household, then designate one person to create the master Contacts list and maintain it. Then every 6 months or so, sit down and Share individual contact cards with others to get them updated. (The receiver can delete the contact card before getting the new card to avoid duplicates.) For shared contact cards, add "Updated" in the Notes field and then use Contacts > Search to find names to share. 

Share Contact Cards - open a contact and scroll up to see Share Contact, tap to bring up the Share Sheet and see the best way to share - AirDrop, or send as a Message or Email. 

Mark important cards as Favorites so they show up on the Phone app for easy dialing. Scroll up the card to see Add to Favorites.

Mark critical cards for Emergency Contact - SOS. Scroll up the card to see Add to Emergency Contacts (in red type) and tap the text > tap to choose the best phone number to be called. Mobile numbers are best. On your iPhone, review how Emergency SOS works. Settings > Emergency SOS > read info ... Also, set your Emergency Contacts in the Health App after you have created individual contact cards for each person. 

Phone and Contacts apps - do you want to avoid unknown callers? Settings > Phone > scroll up > Silence Unknown Callers > ON. What if your significant other's phone is dead and a stranger allows them to call you? Unknown Caller! Leave a voice mail message! Repeat the call 2 more times, with voice mail. Make a contract with your friends/family to review repeated Unknown Callers. 

Update a contact card from the Phone app. 

Phishing Report via Contacts - for me, Apple, Amazon and Comcast. When I get a suspicious email, it is easy to forward the message to the real vendor. 

Do a Google Search for topics on Contacts? Do a YouTube Search for Apple iPad Contacts. 

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Calendars

 

Carol reminded us that there are MANY views to your calendar! Day, Week, Month and Year views are part of the experience, but also remember to rotate your iPhone to landscape for the week view to show. Open your Books app to the iPhone User Guide or the iPad User Guide to read the chapter on Calendar. Then start to play with the features that are most useful to you. 

When you get an email with an invitation to participate on a day and time --- touch and hold on the date so the pop-up appears > tap on CREATE EVENT from the list. This is the best choice (for now) and links the calendar event to this email message. Fill in the TITLE. LOCATION and Time. To finish this event tap ADD at the top right corner. 

Calendar events are most useful when you add a specific location because with a tap you can open the Maps app and get directions or travel time. Events can also have your personal Notes and even an Attachment. (Who knew? Carol was surprised at this new option in iOS13.) When you are visiting friends and you have a Contact card, just begin typing their name to see the address appear.

Many events are REPEATED on a weekly or monthly basis. Before setting a repeating meeting, know when it ends so you can set the last date for the event. OK, just make the first event date and then practice editing the event. Find the EDIT button in the top right corner. After editing, tap the DONE button in the top right corner. 

The best news is that if you have an iPad and iPhone (maybe even a Mac computer) the Calendar events can SYNC to all your devices. ADD a new event on your iPad and it will also appear on our iPhone! Open Settings app on your devices > iCloud > Calendar ON. Also, Settings > Calendar > Sync > All Events (so you can look back at all you've done and recorded on your Calendar). 

Today View on the first Home Screen of iPad in iOS 13

In the online iPad User Guide read the article View and Organize the Today View on iPad to get an overview of the process. At the top of the screen is a button to Keep on Home Screen - for an at a glance view of your favorite apps. Carol's strategy is to add the Up Next Calendar item to the top of this list. Review the list of available widgets and tap the green (+) to add to the Pinned Favorites list. Change the order of your favorites list by holding on the button with 3-vertical lines and moving the floating box up or down.

As always, Touch Every Button. You can't break your iPad or iPhone by exploring the features.

Tips for the Flashlight

Barbara shared several tips on using the LED flashlight on your iPhone. This is a reminder that there are often several ways to do something on a "computing device". 

Three ways to open the Flashlight app

• ASK SIRI

- Hey Siri, turn the flashlight on, Hey Siri, Flashlight on please
- Hey Siri, turn the flashlight off, Hey Siri, shut off the flashlight; or tap the rotating rainbow-like symbol at the bottom of the screen to get Siri’s attention again
- Press and hold the home button or the side button to wake Siri and ask her. 

• CONTROL CENTER

- iPhone X or newer: swipe down from the upper right corner of the home or lock screen. Tap the icon to turn on. Tap again to turn off.
- iPhone 8 or older, swipe up from the bottom edge of the screen. Tap the icon to turn on. Tap again to turn off.

• LOCK SCREEN

On iPhone X or later, turn on from lock screen by hard pressing (3D Touch) the flashlight icon at lower left. Hard press again to turn off.

ADJUSTING BRIGHTNESS
Open Control Center. 3D Touch the flashlight icon. Swipe up to brighten, swipe down to dim. Tap screen to return to Control Center.

QUICK TURN OFF
You can turn off the flashlight without opening Control Center. From the lock screen, swipe left as though to access the camera, and release before you reach the halfway point.

MISSING FLASHLIGHT ICON?
Go to Settings/Control Center/Customize Controls/Flashlight and tap the green + button to move the flashlight function from “more controls” at bottom to “include” at top.

Did you know? To use Siri you must be connected to the internet?
To prevent Siri from responding to “Hey Siri”, place your phone face down.

 

Read Apple's online article about Siri on iPhone with iOS 13.

 Here are the notes from the Sept. 23 session:

Messages and Maps Basics

 

By Jennifer Kerr

iMessages: Fun with Texting

You can text not only words, but also photos, videos, music and more. And you can have a lot of fun—and impress your grandchildren! Practice with a friend or relative. You can also send messages to yourself to practice.

There are two kinds of texting: iMessages are with another iPhone or iPad or Mac; you will see a blue message bubble. If you are texting with someone on another kind of phone, those are SMS and you will see a green bubble. If texting to a group and one person is non-Apple, it will be green. Blue texts are free and everything you send or receive is encrypted; green ones use your texting minutes (but most plans are unlimited these days) and are NOT encrypted. 

To use iMessage, turn it on in iPhone and iPad in Settings > Messages. You can also do iMessages on Macs if it is on iCloud with your phone (open Messages on your Mac, choose Messages > Preferences, click iMessage, then select the Enable Messages in iCloud checkbox). You might need to put in your Apple ID.

To get Green messages to show up on your iPad and Mac, in phone Settings > Messages, tap on Text Message Forwarding and list the devices you want to send and receive green text messages i.e., iPad and/or Mac.

In Settings > Messages go down to Filter Unknown Senders. This option will list people not in your contacts in a separate list on your Message app. You can then screen them.

How to delete messages: To delete an entire conversation with one or more contacts, tap the three dots on the main Messages page and tap on Select Messages.  Mark the ones to delete, then tap Delete in the bottom right. To delete just one or more individual messages, press down on the message itself. You will see More… in a bottom bubble. Tap that and you can then check any messages you don’t want and hit Delete All in the top left.

You can send messages not only from the Messages app, but also from the Mail, Calendar, Contacts, Photos or Safari apps (anywhere you see a phone number or the “Sharrow.”)

 

To send a message, open Messages and tap on the blue circle with the “pen” in the upper right. Enter a phone number or name. Or click on the blue circle with a plus and it will go to Contacts. Once you have one person, you can add more to this message with the blue plus sign. Once you have one person or a group, you can type or dictate a message in the box below and hit the blue or green arrow to send it.  If you get an Exclamation Mark, the message can’t be sent right now (no service) but it will go when you get service.

To see when the message was sent and received, pull the message bubble to the left.

To reply to a message, dictate with Siri or tap into the box and type a reply. When you start typing, a keyboard will pop up. You will also see a symbol for emojis that you can add to a message.

For a Quick Tapback to respond to a message, either double-tap or hold a message and get your choice of gray emojis above the message. Tap one and it goes. 

You can send an audio message. Tap on the gray circle in the message place. If you start typing instead, that gray box will turn into the blue send arrow.

SPECIAL EFFECTS in iMessage. Practice these!!!

Quick and Easy: If you type one of these three common messages in the box, it will be sent with special effects: Happy Birthday (balloons), Congratulations (confetti) and Happy New Year (fireworks).

-Send with Effect: To see these, you must first write your message (or even part of it). Then the mic in the message bubble will turn into a blue arrow. Press firmly on this. NOTE: a quick tap will just send the message; you want to hold it down until you get the screen that says Send with effect.

1. The Bubble screen gives you four choices to change how your message is received: Slam, Loud, Gentle and Invisible Ink. Try these out!

2. The Screen screen gives you nine choices of special effects to go with your message (most have sound effects, too): Echo, Spolight, Balloons, Confetti, Inflating Heart, Lasers, Fireworks, Shooting Star and Celebration. Try all of these. They are fun and recipients love them!

-Photos. To the left of the iMessage space, slide over to the Camera. You can take a new picture or access one in your Photos (tap on the overlapping photos in top left). You can mark up your photo by tapping on it until it goes full screen. Tap Markup in the bottom left and you can write or draw on the photo, then send it. You can also add stickers.

-Apps. Tap the App between the Heart and the iMessage bubble. You will get a choice of different things to use. The four balls on the bottom left give you your choices:

1. #images gives you tons of funny GIFs (tiny movies). You can search to get ones on specific topics (birthday, etc.) or featuring someone or something (Star Trek, Spongebob, snakes, cats, etc.).

2. Music. If you have music on your phone, it will give you some of your recently played songs. You can send them.

3. Store. This takes you to the App Store, where you can get (free or small fee) sticker packages. Once you download them, they automatically show up right there in iMessages.

4. YouTube. You can send these in your messages.

-Other quick messages. Turn your phone sideways and look for the swirl on the bottom right. You can use any of the canned messages or hand-write your own.

-Digital Touch. You can write or draw in the box (choice of colors) or choose one of the Digital Touch tapping effects. These are kind of weird and they send themselves when you do them:

-tap to get a burst of color.

-touch and hold for a fireball

-tap with two fingers to get a kiss

-tap and hold with two fingers for a heartbeat

-tap and hold with two fingers and drag fingers to break the hears (this one is hard!)

Animojis and Memojis. These require Facial Recognition. 

Animojis map your face and put your facial expressions on an assortment of cute animals and figures. Your voice will be coming out of them as a message!

You can create a Memoji of yourself (as many as you want). Go to the left of the Animojis and click on the plus sign. You can also do a message with your Animoji doing the talking! 

There are Sticker Packs that go with them both and you can send them in Messages, too.

Practice all of these with a relative or friend. They are great for birthdays and other special occasions.

Here is a YouTube about a way to send a message using your voice.

Here is a YouTube link about creating a Memoji of you.

Search YouTube for Apple Support and Subscribe to get lots of short instructive videos like these.

Maps: A Few Quick Tips

Maps, like many apps, uses your location. If you would like to know which apps know where you are and when, and how you can control that, go to Settings > Privacy > Location Services

You will see a list of apps that seek your location. You can tap on each one and decide when to share your location with it: Never, While Using, Ask Next Time or Always. I think the best answer for most is While Using. Some should be on Never!

Note that a little gray arrow shows an app has used your location in the last 24 hours. A purple arrow that one has recently used your location. 

Open Maps. Your current location will be in the center of the map, a blue pulsing circle. If your phone is regularly connected to your car with Bluetooth, Maps will show where your car is parked when you leave it (including your garage!).

At the bottom right is the temperature and the Air Quality Index.

Tap the i with a circle around it at the top right. You can choose map settings: Map, Transit or Satellite. Traffic or not. You can also report issues. The arrow under that indicates your location is being tracked.

The top of the map is North by default. If you move around your map so it is not, a round compass will appear under the arrow.

Use your fingers to move around and drag the map. To zoom in or out, pinch with two fingers. It will show the scale in the upper left as you zoom.

Turn on Satellite and you will see 3D by the arrow. Rotate and move with your fingers to get closeup looks. Tap 2D to go back. Tap the compass to get north back at the top.

In Map settings, look for places where it says Look Inside. Like Arden Fair. It will show you all the shops and where they are in the building.  You can get details on the various stores, and restaurants, including hours and which ones take Apple Pay. But not many pictures. In bigger cities like SF, you can get lots of pictures when you see Look Inside. In some cities or places you will see a binocular symbol. Tap on that to get views of a street or attraction. Try Chinatown in SF. Note that license plates and faces are blurred for privacy.

For directions, tap in the search bar and type the city or place where you want to go. The map will show it and offer you directions for you choice of car, walk, transit or ride-share. 14 adding bicycle routes. It often will give you several route choices, its preferred one in blue. Just tap on the gray route if you want that. 

Be sure your home address is in your contacts and is labeled as your home. Then when you want directions from some place to your home, the map knows where to go!

HOLD OFF on iOS14 and iPad14 installations

Apple made their announcements on Tuesday, September 15th and we suggest you NOT INSTALL iPhone or iPad operating system updates until the early bugs are worked out. We'll be looking for iOS 14.02 or 14.1 before installing. 

Zoom Day 2 Preview and Presentation Notes

Preview of presentation

Tom Holt will introduce us to the app worlds of Books (including Apple's free User Guides), Libby by Overdrive (your public library at your fingertips), Podcasts for audio listening and learning and where to store your PDF Manuals. 

This will be a resource packed meeting. Oh NO!!! 

New strategy: Join the meeting, relax with your notepaper and pen - with an emphasis on RELAX. Watch the demonstrations to SEE what is possible. Let your curiosity get sparked. Then access this website and compare the notes posted here to your thoughts and questions written at the time of our meeting. Explore the links here that match your questions. Try the Search option on this site to find past topics that match your interests. Talk with your friends about their discovery process. 

Books is the app that came on your device. Use the Search feature to find an author or title.

• Free Apple iPhone User Guide iOS 13.6 or iPad User Guide iOS 13.6 where Get is for free books and the listed price is what will be charged for other titles. Read ebook or listen to audiobooks with the Books app. Store your PDF manuals here. Save photos and other documents to Books. 

Podcasts is another app that came on your device. Use the Search feature to find an author or title. 

• In our time - we heard these speeches or read about them. Checkout Jon Meacham's It Was Said podcast now at 3 of 10 episodes. 
• Remember, back in 2019, when you travelled? Go on an adventure again with Travel with Rick Steves.

Other apps you download from the App Store app

• Libby by Overdrive is a free app for audiobooks and ebooks. Add a title to your queue if it is not currently available for automatic delivery when it is available. 
• Recorded Books also offers iOS app for magazines from the library. 
• Amazon offers Kindle and Audible as free apps if you purchase content from Amazon. 

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Notes from actual presentation.  - Links to come soon. 

Apple Announcement 

• Watch Version 6 has blood oxygen sensor, fall detection and more.
• Refreshed iPad line 
• Fitness+ Service will be added this fall
• Bundled Apple ONE services (arcade, Music, News+, AppleTV+, Fitness+, iCloud) for individuals or families or Premiere at different price points 
• iOS14 and iPad14 - released 9/16/20 > Turn off Auto Updates Settings > General > Software Update > Customize Automatic Updates > move sliders from green to gray
• Watch Announcement at https://apple.com 

Tom covers the entertainment features of our devices 

Radio apps, TV apps, Games, and more

• TuneIn Radio uses WiFi or Cellular Data - popular in your area, BBC, french, etc. App is FREE but Subscription is optional for premium ad-free content.
• Audio content plays on speakers, earbuds, bluetooth speakers 

 

Podcasts 

What is a podcast? Audio available on-demand and can be automatically delivered (FREE subscriptions). Can be downloaded to device so playback is not using WiFi or Cellular Data! 

Wait, Wait Don't Tell Me and Science Friday

Other recommended podcasts. 

Search for your favorite topics or radio personalities.

Tap the Subscribe button (podcasts are free) 

Quick downloads because the audio is compressed and will not take up lots of room on your device. 

Tap ( ... ) to see Settings and make choices on the number of Episodes to keep and the order to playback. 

Podcasts can be created by anyone, not just famous people or radio personalities. Podcasts are supported by advertisers.

Look at all the buttons. The Library is where to see how long episodes last. 

Post your favorite podcasts to the Chat to be included on the seminar website: 

• Tom Holt - Gastropod by Cynthia Graber and Nicola Twilley
• Barbara Beddow - Sacramento Bee & NPR Up First - short news updates, also Hidden Brain, Planet Money, Money Matters, This American Life, Fresh Air, iPhone Life, Pod Save America
• Karen Martin - The Minimalist
• Jennifer Kerr - Star Talk with Neil deGrasse Tyson
• Larry Clark : Good podcasts: Freakonomics, Story Corps, The Moth
• Carol Dabrowiak : NYT Book Review

Books - on iPad (also iPhone and on Macintosh computers/laptops) 

Tom's older iPad is great to use in the kitchen as a cookbook.

eBooks v paperback and hardback 

eBooks come in three flavors: free, only available in the Apple ecosystem and available from Amazon Kindle. Copyright issues 

Amazon Kindle users? Read ebook on a Kindle device or on your iPhone or iPad using the Kindle app. 

Free books - 

View the RS Catalog online and Share to Books! Browse by page thumbnails, select text and highlight, add bookmark to a page, search for text, add mark up. 

• RS website > It's Here ... see catalog > open the PDF in Safari web browser > Share button > 2nd row of icons > Books. Now RS catalog is available to read off-line. 

Books Library view shows eBooks, PDFs, 

Download manuals for new purchases: refrigerator, car, robot vacuum, iPad User Guide, iPhone User Guide, garage door opener. 

Collections view is a view to master how your books are automatically organized and you can download documents and move them into your personal collections. 

Free books out-of-copyright - search for Project Gutenberg. 

https://gutenberg.org - search for the complete works of Charles Dickens, Darwin's Origin of the Species, local boy Mark Twain's Roughing It. 

Use the camera on your device and point at the QR Code to open Safari to one of the books. 

iPhone User Guide iOS 14 and iPad User Guide iOS 13.6 because you don't get a guide in the box with the device. iOS 14 is FREE and tap the Get button to download. This book is searchable, add highlighting, bookmarks and your own notes. In the Books app go to Search and type "user guide ios 14" or user guide ipad 14" (not available yet). You can also view the Apple user guides as online pages (not a downloaded book) when you have wifi access - iPad 13.6 User Guide or iPhone iOS 14 User Guide and specifically read about What's New in iOS 14 for iPhone and What's New in iPad OS 14. 

Paid books in Book Store - Search by title or author. 

• eBook or audiobook will be paid by your Apple ID account. 
• Can't load an ebook to others. Just on your device or use family sharing. 
• Family Sharing is an option for Books, Apps, Music ... 

Once you have purchased a book you can delete it. Apple keeps a record of your purchase and you can re-download at no additional expense.

Watching out for big files 

• Videos and Photographs take up the most space
• Sound music or recordings are sometimes compressed
• Text is very efficient for space

Public Library Borrow Books with Libby app. 

Need a public library card and can be a member of two + libraries. Search for a book by title or author. Tap the Borrow button, 21 day period with auto return or return early. Get on the waiting list for books. 

Libby also supports Kindle format and audiobooks. 

Tip from Karen Martin - iPhone Demo - Change the Wallpaper behind Home Screen or Lock Screen. Settings app > Wallpaper > Choose a New Wall Paper > below the options from Apple are your Photos Albums! Tap an album to see thumbnail photos. Tap a photo to show it full screen and use two finger tips to move the image to the best position and pinch in or out to zoom the photo. Tap Set button and choose Set Lock Screen or Set Home Screen or Set Both. Suggestions: Change wallpaper for the seasons. Change wallpaper when you travel to show the list of dates and locations on your lock screen. 

Barbara & Karen - iPhone Life classes, guides and email tips

Senior discount available $55/year - a great resource to learn more about your big investment in iPhone and iPad devices. Then, teach your grand kids new tricks! 

Question: NPR One app drops audio on my morning walks. Consider a downloaded podcast instead. Control Center Review - WiFi, Cellular & Bluetooth ON, Airplane Mode OFF.  Dropping audio could mean you are beyond the range of your WiFi connection and not on your Cellular Data connection. It could also mean you have cellular data on but you have moved into a "dead zone" that cannot reach cell towers. 

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Jennifer - Messages and Maps  next week 

Zoom Day 1

What fun that we are all together again. Ok, apart but together. Together with our iPhones and iPads. Hurray for a new semester.  

Review the details of how to create Note pages to keep track of your Zoom classes based on iOS 13.7. 

Point your iPhone to this Quick Response Code to get right to our website. 

Come back soon - this page will have additional information and links.  There is a ton of information on this page. Don't try to absorb it all in one reading. Take small sips and then explore options hinted at on your iPhone or iPad. 

Websites recommended for more information have a green background. Just tap the words to open Safari on your device and read at your leisure. 

• Carol gave us the button and screen tours for iPhone and iPad. Then she revealed the secrets to using the multi-touch screen > gestures! Gestures can be one finger up to five fingers, a long stroke or a flick, a tap, touch-and-hold or a long press. Gestures replace the mouse and keys used to give a computer instructions. 
• Web browsing with Safari and using the Search field is powerful but so is Spotlight Search on your device. Swipe one finger down in between icons on your Home Screen to bring up the Spotlight Search field at the top of your screen. Search for any term or name to see results from your Contacts app, Notes app or even the Internet. You should also explore how to begin a search using your personal assistant, Siri. Try a long swipe and then try just flicking your finger down. 
• Swipe with one finger from right to left on your Home Screen to see additional Home Screens - watch the dots just above the Dock. 
• Swipe using one finger left to right and keep going until you see the Today View. Welcome to Widget-Land! These boxes are sub-components of the apps on your device. You can control what widgets are visible and the order of widgets on your list. If you add many widgets, then scroll up to see more. To add new widgets to your device, scroll the list up until you see [Edit]. Tap Edit to reveal Today View options. The top box are the current widgets and they are marked with a red (-) button on the left and an icon with three parallel lines on the right. The bottom box, More Widgets, have a green (+) button. The list of available widgets in the bottom box depends on the apps you have downloaded. Not all apps have a widget for the Today View. The widgets you show on your iPhone do not have to be the same ones you show on your iPad. Transit information (Google Traffic or Maps Destinations) are good for iPhone because you are ... on the go. 
• On your iPad, the vertical bar in the Dock | separates your chosen apps (on the left, they always appear here) from the recent apps (that rotate as you use more apps on your iOS device. 
• Control Center has helpful buttons for quick controls like Brightness, Do Not Disturb, Flashlight, Camera, WiFi and more. To access the Control Center on older iPhones with a physical Home button, swipe up from the bottom of your screen. On face-ID iPhones, swipe down from the top right corner. Add features to your Control Center from the gear app icon - Settings > Control Center > Customize Controls > tap a green (+) to add the feature, tap a red (-) to remove the feature from your Control Center. Use the three parallel line icons on the right side to change the position of the feature in your Control Center. 
• Is your iPad ever stuck in landscape position? Is it broken? Did you do harm? NO! You probably turned on the Rotation Lock in the Control Center. Active / Enabled settings are light colored and inactive / off settings are black. 
• The long press gesture on an app icon is how you bring up the option to Delete or Share or Edit Home Screen. If your apps are wiggling, you are in the Edit the Home Screen mode. Some apps will have a small (x) and tap this to bring up the Delete option - you must confirm that you want to delete this app. If you delete a game, your scores are also deleted. You can return to the App Store and re-download past purchases - at no new expense. The App Store remembers what you have downloaded and there will be a cloud-icon - tap it to download again. On devices with a physical Home button, stop the wiggling of apps by pressing the Home button. On face-ID devices, look for the Done button in the top right corner of a Home Screen. 
• The Sacramento-based Apple Support Group is called MacNexus and membership is $40 per year. They offer two Saturday morning workshops each month as well as a general meeting on the 4th Wednesday of the month. All meetings are now on Zoom! This is a great group of skilled Apple Device users as well as newbies. You can get your questions answered here and connect with other iPhone and iPad users https://macnexus.org 

Additional comments ... 

• Remember that to learn more, you are just a tap away from more information. There is the Tips app on your devices - Remember how Carol demonstrated the Search feature by swiping between app icons on the Home Screen. Find Tips - open it to see iPad specific tips on your iPad and open on an iPhone to see specific tips for iPhone! 
• Know more about your device by searching for the Apple Support app. It will tell you about all your Apple devices associated by your Apple ID. Tap on the name of your iPad then tap on Device Details to see your Model, OS Version, Serial Number and the date when AppleCare expires. In the Topics box you can get more information. For example if you think your battery is not holding a charge, open Device Performance > Battery Performance and read Maximize Battery Life. Do you struggle with Touch ID (a physical Home button) or Face ID? Open Device Performance > Help with Face ID or Touch ID and read one of the articles there. 
• Use your web browser to open the Apple Support YouTube Channel to find short videos on many topics - iPhone, iPad and Mac computer. 
• Search YouTube for videos on topics you want to review. Type "iPhone Gestures" in the YouTube search field revealed several helpful videos: Zollotech: 10 iPhone and iPad Gestures You Might Not Know - Zollotech: 5 iPhone Gestures and Tips You Should Be Using - Apple Insider: All iPhone XS Gestures in under 5 minutes!   Your search terms should be as specific as possible. Use the iPhone model name and your question. "iPhone SE AND Contacts" where the AND creates a boolean search for the words before combined with the words after. This type of search helps reduce the number of false hits to your inquiry. Use this same technique with a Google Search or a Bing Search. 

Melissa's Email-to-Notes demonstration went by quickly and was too much to push into our brain. But that is why this website exists. Come by often and re-read past entries - you'll be pleased at what you now know and surprised at what you missed the first time. 

Several people shared their glee at learning more about the Notes app. James said it is "Under-appreciated for all it can do!" Pat shared that "After attending this seminar many times I've started to use Notes more. The best example is my grocery list! I always have my list with me." Everyone agreed that using Siri is a habit worth practicing ... 

Meet, Greet & Zoom Practice

A new semester begins! The iOS Basics Team are volunteers that love and use Apple technology everyday. We want to share our discoveries with you.

We suggest using a computer, desktop or laptop to attend our Zoom meetings and have your iPhone and iPad fully charged before class begins you will then be able to watch the demonstrations on a larger screen and practice using your iPad or iPhone. 

We will send a Zoom link in an email every Wednesday morning. Just click on the link to join. The Meeting ID and Password will be the same every week. You can keep track of this in your Notes or Calendar apps.

The iPhone/iPad Basics Fall 2020 Schedule is

Sep 2, 2020 10:00 AM - Meet, Greet & Zoom Practice is optional
Sep 9, 2020 10:00 AM - First class meeting
Sep 16, 2020 10:00 AM
Sep 23, 2020 10:00 AM
Sep 30, 2020 10:00 AM
Oct 7, 2020 10:00 AM
Oct 14, 2020 10:00 AM - Last class meeting

One last tip....be sure to keep your iPhone nearby for all your RenSoc Sessions. If you see something on the screen that you want to save, use your phone to take a picture of it!

BONUS: We have a secret that you want to know. Hint: You need a library card.

How to Zoom - video tutorials available

Videos and Guides, oh my!

Just for you! Sarah Ryan-Roberts has recorded video tutorials to acquaint you with Zoom and the Zoom features/buttons. Marian Kile has created Learning Guides for Windows, Mac, iPhone and iPad. Visit the Online Learning Resources page on the Renaissance Society website.

We suggest using a computer, desktop or laptop, to attend our Zoom meetings and have your iPhone and iPad fully charged before class begins. You will be able to watch the demonstrations on a bigger screen and practice using your iOS device.

The Zoom app on all devices is periodically updated. Open the app the day before class begins and check for updates. Install when prompted.

Anita Fante from the Cracker Barrel discussion group created a handout on Zoom and shared it with other seminar teams.

Basics Seminar to Zoom In

Your iOS Basics team is practicing using the Zoom platform as preparation for the fall semester. Class will meet on Wednesdays at 10 am beginning September 9th for six meetings.

This is an exciting turn of events. The topics we covered in class - the apps that came on your device - will be part of our sessions AND there will be more topics covered.

If possible, attend the Zoom meeting on your computer or laptop and then follow the demonstration on your iPhone or iPad.

See you soon!

All Seminars Cancelled

The RenSoc Board has asked for all seminar leaders, on campus and off campus, to cancel classes until after Spring Break. Look for an announcement the week of April 6th.

This is a great opportunity to read the User Guide for the topics covered and to experiment with other topics that catch your interests.

Meanwhile, practice Asking Siri, making Google and YouTube for topics.

• Ask Siri: How can I check the status of my battery health? But you might not know that the keywords for this search are "battery health" unless you read the User Guide.

• Search Google: How do I use Siri to change the brightness of my screen?

• Search YouTube (decline the subscription offer): Apple iPad

Report from Day 5 - 3/6/20

Carol presented on Notes and Reminders today.

Perry White at the Daily Planet always advised reporters to not bury the lead. So here goes. What you really want is the link to the Interlinked YouTube Channel and the video on How to get the most out of Apple’s Reminders: iOS 13 Edition or How to Get the Most Out of Apple’s Reminders: iOS 12 Edition. 

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Opening Frustration & Solution 
SacBee digital edition login/account problems were shared. Emailing customer service is waste of time. Call Customer Service instead but don't expect real help - “All accounts are experiencing log-in failures. Should be fixed tomorrow.” In disgust I deleted the SacBee app and all the data/account info along with it. Then downloaded the app again from the App Store. After opening it and using my Keychain login information the preview appeared. The button to see the “print” edition also worked - for the first time in three days! Lesson: When an app misbehaves, think about deleting it off your device and reinstalling it. If the app cost money, there is no charge to re-downloading. If the app stored any information then you will lose that info - game scores especially. I wonder what would happen to my Starbucks card with rewards and some prepaid cash?

Here is what was really discussed in class so you can compare to your notes:

Using iOS 13 with enhanced features today - if you are using an older iOS then please refer to your User Guide. Carol used her iPad for most demonstrations today, the iPhone has the same features but at a smaller size, there are more screens to navigate than when using an iPad. The VIEWS of apps change from a top-level view with a way to navigate into a detailed view. For the Notes app, you see a list of Titles, tap to open the page view - the details. Tap “Back” to return to the top-level view of Titles.

iPad View or the iPhone View
I’m typing out this report on my iPad and using Notes and Reminders on my iPhone. So the details below might not match the iPad - just the opposite of what we usually show in class because the iPad screen projects a bigger image than the iPhone. These notes = retribution.

Notes is a great app that is like a scratch pad and pencil that is always with you. Take some time to open Notes and look around the screen to see symbols and icons and words that are buttons for the actions you will take. Also, if you have an iPhone, place your devices side-by-side and compare the layout of Notes on the big screen and the small screen. Or if you have a Macintosh computer, you want to compare the screen layout there to the iOS devices available. Again, if you have all these Apple tools and you do not see the same Notes on them, then it is possible your Apple ID and iCloud settings are not in sync. Time to call the Apple Customer Support or visit the nearest Apple Store for help. Open the User Guide to read and re-read the chapter on Notes.

Since you might not have many Notes yet, the place to start is where the controls for many apps begins, in the Settings app, the Gear.

• Settings > Notes > Siri & Search > ON
• Settings > Notes > Default account > iCloud
• Settings > Notes > Sort by Date Edited
• Settings > Notes > New Notes start with Title

Gestures are all over the place in the Notes app. Tap, Swipe left-to-right and Swipe right-to-left. Draw with the tip of your finger ...

Go back to a Home Screen and open the Notes app again. Look around. Touch all the buttons and text to see what happens. We had quite a discussion in class about creating Folders vs Searching for content. You want to find the Search field and the Folders button.

Start by creating a new Note page. There’s an icon for that! Tap the square+pencil icon to see the on-screen keyboard appear with a blinking cursor (vertical line). Before typing anything, see how the screen has changed. New icons appear above the keyboard. Do you see gold text, gray symbols and black symbols?

Keyboarding
Are you comfortable with typing on the glass? Do you have an external keyboard? Text manipulation is a skill you will want to practice. Setting the cursor on a spot to add new text, touching a red underlined word to fix a typo, double-tapping a word to select it and type over to replace it. Triple tap on a paragraph to select an entire paragraph. Expand or contract the text selection using the “handles” on a selection. After making a selection there is a hidden menu to Cut, Copy, Paste, Replace, BIU, Look Up, Speak, Share..., Indentation, and Spell. There must be a YouTube video demonstration on that too. Of course, check the User Guide.

Tools: Table, Checklist, Camera or Draw
Look at the symbols/icons/tools available in Notes: Font and Size, Table, Checklist, Camera and Draw. These tools take practice. No, actually these tools take play! Experiment. Explore and have fun. Share what you discover with others. For example, the Camera > Scan Document is a powerful feature! Practice getting your passport or your eye glasses prescription or ... something critical to you. You want to move to where the lighting is even across the table or desk before scanning. Try to not cast a shadow on the page. Hold your iPhone or iPad parallel to the tabletop and take the picture. Now use the circles to square up the page and tap the Keep Scan button and tap the Save button. Scan additional pages as needed. WOW this is an incredible tool that has been hiding in your pocket all along. For a scanned page, you will want to add a first line to the Note, your Title will be the subject or form you just scanned. You might add additional text after the scanned page - maybe the date of the form or the date scanned or anything you might need for a SEARCH to find this reference.

Folders
After you have a couple Notes you must go look in the mirror and ask “Mirror, Mirror on the wall, do I need organize my Notes in Folders?” If the answer is “No,” then just let Search help you find the details at any time. If the answer is “Yes,” then you need to find the top level of Notes, find the “Back” button and then look for the “Folders” button. On this screen are two phrases in gold - “Edit” and “New Folder.” Explore! Before you even make any folders is an important one, “Recently Deleted” is where note pages go into limbo for 30 days before they are truly deleted. Experiment with making a folder or two, and type a meaningful name then tap Save.   

Did you jump ahead and read the User Guide on how to move notes into a folder? Did you Google this question and find a YouTube source to demonstrate the two ways to move a note into a folder? Let me back track one step. If you have a folder, you can open it and then create a new note in place. But if you have created notes before creating folders or you refine your organization and add new folders, there are two ways to move a note into a folder. 1) Open the note and find the Share button (a box with an arrow pointing up). The SHARE SHEET appears and many choices confront you, organized with circles and text choices listed in boxes. On my iPhone (iOS 13) the second box is specific to Notes, the first and third box include choices I’ve seen in other apps that share information. Share Sheet Notes options: Add People, Pin Note, Lock Note, Find in Note, Move to Folder, Lines & Grids. Guess which choice ... naw, never mind, you get it. 2) Get back to the top view where you see the list of Topics (like a table of contents) and swipe from right-to-left to reveal three color-coded options: Lock/gray, Folder/purple and Delete/red. Did you swipe by mistake? Touch anywhere that is not a color block to dismiss the options. The swipe gesture works both ways, soon you’ll learn why to swipe left-to-right.

Old Dogs Learn New Tricks
I’m always learning new things in this class. Many times in my own work I barrel ahead at full steam to get the job done ASAP. But when working with Carol, Jennifer and Tom to present topics in this class I must slow down and see the details, listen to your questions and look for the details I ignored before. There is magic in using these devices as my daily life unfolds. On Friday during the Notes activity one member showed me how her shopping list that reordered itself — after unchecking an item it went to the bottom of the list! Yes, create a new checklist and a pop-up message will prompt you to make a self-sorting list! Cool. News to me.

Play Nicely with Others
Back at the Share sheet in Notes, options included Add People as collaborators. These are “Apple People,” people with iPhones, iPads and Macintosh computers. These will not be Windows people or Android folks. Pay attention to the devices your friends use. Encourage them to switch ... naw. Not really. Maybe. Sorry, I digress. The Add People choice brings up the Share Sheet details with options for you to send an invitation to this note: Messages, Mail, and more. The Share Options gives your permission so that people Can made changes or View only.  Really? Yes, you want to let them edit/make changes. View only, naw, send an email instead!

Back at the note detail screen there is a gold icon with a person in silhouette with +. This Share Sheet will look familiar and is the shortcut to Add People - your ... Apple people!

Shared Note Scenario
Let’s think through a shared note scenario including a table for your Book Club. Create a new Note with “Book Club Votes” as the Title. Now add a sentence about how you will choose the three titles to read next semester. Each member votes for one title. List the seven books in a numbered list. Now add a table of two columns (the default) and in the first row add “Member” in the first column and “Vote” in the second column. Then list every member name down the first column. Share the Note with your Book Club Apple Device owners and let them type the number of their book vote to the right of their name. [This is not a perfect example, but it is the best I can do on an empty stomach. Dinner awaits and I’ll not return to revise this scenario.]

Other Apps can share to Notes
Carol demonstrated the Amazon app without a Sharrow icon but a button named Share. Remember, touch every button and explore every app.

Pin Note to top of the list
You can store many, no, let’s say lots of note pages in the Notes app. Carol had 165 notes and my devices have over 600. Don’t worry about keeping too many of your brainstorms. But if there are a few notes that you’d like to keep at the top of the list - then Pin is your goal. Find the note page on the list and swipe left-to-right to see a pushpin icon. Tap it. Now this note stays above all others in the global list and in your folder item list.

Lock It Down
You can also set a password on a note page. Swipe right-to-left to see a paddle lock icon. There is one password for any Notes pages you want to hide from casual eyes. Do not be cavalier when setting a password. If you can't unlock the note, no one can hear you scream. No one can help recover the information. 

Add Notes to Control Center and Lock Screen
Quick access to the Notes app can be by arrangement - place it on the first Home Screen or in the Dock. You can also add it to the Control Center so it is available from any Home Screen or when you are using any other app. Open Control Center and take stock of the current app icons in the bottom two rows. Open Settings > Control Center > Customize Controls > tap  Notes if it has a + inside a green circle. Now open Control Center and see the new icon. Would you like to start your Note with lines or grids instead of blank paper? Open Settings > Notes > Lines & Grids > choose one. You can leave the default as no lines here and in Notes change the background of an individual note page with the Sharrow icon > Lines & Grids.

There is a feature to access the Notes app in Control Center from the Lock Screen. Settings > Notes > Access Notes from Lock Screen > ... many options. This might be a good screen to return to after you are fluent in Notes.

Notes to Email
My favorite way to use Notes is to draft an email message. The first line of the note becomes the Subject Line of the email and the body of the note becomes the body of the email message. I often want the the same subject line on all my seminar emails so this helps speed my communication.

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REMINDERS in iOS 13
Carol found helpful demonstrations on the Interlinked Channel on YouTube: How to get the most out of Apple’s Reminders: iOS 13 Edition. Maybe your device has not been updated, Interlinked has you covered with How to Get the Most Out of Apple’s Reminders: iOS 12 Edition. I watched other videos posted on this channel and learned new things. Thanks Carol for sharing this resource! Lesson: Touch every button, touch and hold on buttons for hidden features.

The beauty of a video tutorial is you can watch it all the way through and then watch again. You can pause the video while you practice the touch screen activities. A video can be rewound 5 seconds or 10 seconds to see the details. On a computer, press the spacebar to pause or play a video.

When using Reminders you gather items into lists. Again, give the list a meaningful name, set a color, an icon and tap Done. Add several items quickly by type + Tab + type + Tab + Type. The Tab key end the item and starts a new one. Use the ( i ) to add details to an item. In iOS 13 you can set a repeat and delay interval for reminders. Very powerful.

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Read the User Guide chapter on Reminders, watch the video links and then search for more how-to articles or videos on Reminders. It will be important to know which version of iOS you are running before reading/watching - Settings > General > About > Software Version ____.

Remember to use Spotlight Search to find apps on any Home Screen and it will also find words and phrases in Notes pages and Reminder items!

Tom will lead us on ApplePay and Wallet apps on March 13th. Read about these services in the iPhone and Apple Watch User Guides. Melissa will lead on Camera and Photos apps on March 20th.

NEW info: See features posted on the Apple website iPhone Can Do Whaat?  AirDrop, Larger Text; Find a lost phone; Dictate: To type it, say it; Boarding Passes in Wallet; Read the Fine Print ... and more.

Battery Issues
After class one participant claimed his iPhone battery was not lasting very long after a charge. There is a report in Settings that tells the Battery Health and what apps are draining your battery! Here are some tips to save battery power:

• Use Control Center to lower the brightness of your device's screen
• Set the auto-lock to 5 minutes or less
• Use WiFi instead of cellular when you are at home

Settings > Battery > scroll up to see Battery Usage by App
Settings > Display & Brightness > Auto-Lock > 5 minutes
Charge your iOS devices overnight; buy a car charge adapter and charge while driving.  Older devices will lose capacity to hold a day-long charge. You can look at buying a small rechargeable power source.

So much to learn. Time to play and discover new things!

Report from Day 4 - 2/28/20

Melissa presented on Contacts, Find My, SOS and how to search for Accessibility features

Out of the box, your iOS device is both hardware and an ecosystem of software. One example you will appreciate is Spotlight Search. We introduced that on Day 1. But now that you have more experience and Calendar appointments, you will begin to see it’s power. Remember to invoke Spotlight by flicking down between app icons on any Home Screen. I’m a member of the Apple User Group in town, MacNexus. When I type “macnexus” I see web search suggestions, Files (a list of documents on my device or iCloud), Calendar dates, Contacts, Mail, Notes, Safari ... and more. Tap any suggestion to open that app and detail.

WHO ARE YOU?
Make a Contact for yourself. Go to Settings > Contacts > My Info and tap your name in the list of contact cards. Later go back to your contact card and fill in other details and fields (friends, family, work address, linked contacts ...) Read the User Guide for the Create or edit your Medical ID reference.

REVIEW
Use Spotlight Search to see if you have these apps:

•     Tips
•     Apple Support

IN CLASS PRACTICE - EMAIL (or website if you are online) 
GESTURE trick is to Touch and Hold your finger on information ("data detectors". If you just tap on a data detector, address, then the Maps app will open to that location. Touch and hold on the data detector to get the pop-up menu. Practice with the information below:

Minnie Mouse, 12345 Main Street, Disneyland Park, Anaheim, CA 92802

Daisy Duck, 12344 Main Street, Disneyland Park, Anaheim, CA 92802

Pluto, 12367 Main Street, Disneyland Park, Anaheim, CA 92802

WHEN YOU WRITE EMAIL think about how your audience might use the information in your email and write the text to help them create Calendar events or adjust your Contact info on their devices. There is no specific template for you to use. Experiment with your own event information and send yourself an email. Then try using the "data detectors" to complete a contact or event.

Let’s make your devices more useful by practicing adding addresses to the Contact app using the addresses above. (Substitute a message from your email instead.) Touch and hold your finger on the address to get the popup Contact template then tap New Contact to reveal the full template. Fill in the name details while the data detector adds it's element. In real life using Contacts could be life changing, especially if you are logged into your devices using the same Apple ID with iCloud sync enabled. Add a new contact on your iPad and it will also appear on your iPhone (or Mac computer). Edit the contact information on your iPhone and the change will appear everywhere.

Open Contact app to see your card and the list of contacts.

START FROM SCRATCH Open Contacts app. Find the + and tap it to open the Contact template. At the top is a photo, phone, email, ringtones, URL, address, birthday, related name, etc. Notes is a powerful field and works in the Contacts Search field. Look at the Add Field options. Each field has a specific purpose! The Birthday field will report to the Calendar app, but if you add a birthdate in the Notes field it will not report to Calendar. It is fun to add a photo to a contact, use a head-and-shoulders shot.

GROUPS - for your personal activities like "book group" or "walking club." Use the Business field and type the group name for easy searching.

FRIENDS IN HIGH PLACES
As you add new contact cards on your iPhone you can designate VIPs by tapping the Add to Favorites option. Now in the Phone app under the Favorites tab you will see names appear. The Edit button will let you change the order of this list. While you are in the Phone app, notice the Contacts tab will bring up your full list of Contacts.

MERGE DUPLICATES or not, but create a Unified Contact Card
Read the User Guide on Link Contacts.

EMERGENCY CONTACTS - grab your iPhone
Create or find the Contact Card for one of the people in your life that should be notified if there is an emergency.
Settings > Emergency SOS > see name listed. Edit or add contacts in the Health app
Settings > Health > Medical ID > Emergency Contacts (Edit to add or delete contacts)
Important Note: Emergency information is tied to iPhone and Apple Watch - devices that are always with you.
Now add or edit other contact cards for the people who need to be contacted.
The Today at Apple sessions are not listing Health topics. If you are concerned and want to get your health contacts set up correctly, then call Apple Support. Actually, make a new contact card for this service -Apple Customer Support at 1/800-275-2273. When data detectors do not work to bring up the Contacts template, use copy and paste to copy the essentials (phone number) and type the name.

EXPECT CONFUSION - iOS 13 - iPhone Vs iPad
Read the User Guide Health Chapter. Your first use of the Health app will prompt you to make a health profile. Look at the places where your health profile and ICE information is entered/stored:
Settings > Emergency SOS > (see who is to be contacted) > Edit EC in Health opens the Health app with Emergency Contacts at the bottom of the page. Tap Edit and scroll down to see + to add new contact card > DONE
Settings > Health > Medical ID > Edit > scroll down > + add emergency contact > DONE
Health > tap face to open profile > Medical ID > Edit >  scroll down > + add ... > DONE

Make a new contact for iOS Basics with URL https://rsiosbasics.blogspot.com Notes: Spring 2020

Practice with Touch and Hold on phone number in email or on a web page then follow the prompts to add this info to an existing Contact. Repeat with the email address. Now you are ready to work with email messages to update Contacts.

Now try the Search within Contacts, “book group” and then exit Contacts and try Spotlight Search for “walking club” - are you feeling the magic?

You will not have all the information to complete a Contact Card when you create it. Or the information will change. At first you have First Name, Last Name. Then you get an email invitation to dinner and the address is spelled out in the message. Tap the email address and the popup option Add to Contacts... 

BLOCKING UNKNOWN NUMBERS
If you are not getting phone calls offering unwanted services or text messages promoting unwanted items - congratulations, your time will come. The Contacts app is a specialized database. With iOS 13 a wonderful option appeared on iPhone - Settings > Phone > Silence Unknown Callers & Blocked Contacts > ON. I still get a banner notification that a call came in, but no ring, no vibration. The call went straight to voicemail and 99.9% of the time there is no voicemail message.
REVIEW BLOCKED NUMBERS
Settings Phone > Blocked Contacts > tap a number and swipe right to left > Unblock. Also add this number with a name to your Contacts so the call is recognized.

TAKE AWAY > Add your friends, family, businesses as Contacts. To see how much space your Contacts takes go to Settings > General > iPhone Storage > scroll down to see app ( for me, 601 contacts, 83MB of Documents & Data). Jennifer found that the limit on named Contacts per Apple ID account is over 30,000.

DISCUSSION & STRATEGY - household with two+ Apple IDs and iPhones/iPads. How to get Contacts on both devices without duplicates? Designate one person as the keeper of Contact information. Use the Notes field to indicate "Updated 3/2/2020" words and date. Search for "Updated" to see cards that have changes. Periodically, every six months, use AirDrop to copy a contact card to others. Return to each contact card and remove "Updated" text.

GROUPS
Groups cannot be made on an iOS device as of iOS 13. If you have a Mac computer you can make groups that will appear on iOS. Or you can use the Business name field to designate a group name and then search for members of that group. For my seminars, the group email app I use is called MailShot Pro by Soluable, $4. Always read app reviews before purchasing.

BACKUP CONTACTS
The easiest way is to use your Apple iMac or laptop. Open Contacts > File > Export > Contacts Archive. Save the .abbu file to your Documents folder.

GET OUT YOUR IPHONES NOW
ICE - In Case of Emergency - search for SOS in iPhone User Guide!

You can help yourself or someone else. Practice this at home with loved ones.
From the Lock Screen you see the numeric passcode screen with Emergency below.
(With Face ID, cover up the top camera.)

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FIND MY
Use Spotlight search to open the Find My app to see People, Devices and Me tabs. If you have shared your location with friends and family they will be listed here with a note on distance from you. Tap on Devices to see the location of any device with your Apple ID. If you have Family Sharing enabled, you will see their devices.

It is a good idea to name each device. By default the iPhone is named "iPhone" and the iPad is "iPad" which makes it hard to distinguish one device from the masses - especially when using AirDrop to share photos or information. To name a device, go to Settings > General > About > Name. You can use emojis as well as letters and numbers, Mel's 11pro 😜

In addition to Family Sharing, adding VIPs to your Phone app and emergency numbers in the Contacts app, sharing your location can be a safety feature. Review the User Guide and then look at Settings > Privacy > Location Services > Share My Location > ...
Open a contact card and scroll down to see Share My Location > Share for One Hour, Share Until End of Day or Share Indefinitely.

When I lead a seminar field trip, all the participants are in my Contacts with the seminar name in the Business field. When I'm at the carpool location, I begin sharing my location with these steps:

1. Open Contacts
2. Search for seminar name
3. Tap first name on list > scroll up > Share My Location > Share for One Hour 
4. Return to Search 
5. Tap next name ...

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ACCESSIBILITY
Our iOS devices can help us in many ways. Read the Accessibility chapter in our User Guide or search online and YouTube for demonstrations.

As we help folks in class sometimes it is noticeable that the font size is large and bold. The Zoom feature lets you pinch to magnify part of the screen. Add Magnifier to the Control Center for easy access and a big help in reading menus in dark restaurants. If your fingers shake, experiment with Touch Accommodation and Hold Duration. Your device can read the text on screen - swipe down with two fingers from the top of a screen to bring up the Speech Controls. Practice this on a short Note page to see the controls. Add AssistiveTouch features that help you. I use AT to make Screen Snapshots on my iPhone with Face ID. Pair Bluetooth Hearing Aids to your iPhone Settings > Accessibility > Hearing Devices > MFi Hearing Devices (read instructions on your hearing aids to learn how to invoke BlueTooth pairing). Use Live Listen with Apple AirPods and your iPhone. Use Guided Access to limit distractions while you work.

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TALK TO ME
Sometimes in a presentation we mention Siri - the Apple personal assistant that hides on our devices. Siri is voice activated by saying "Hey Siri" and then the screen goes black waiting for the next phrase, question or command. Siri can open the Notes app or invoke an assistive feature.

Another way to talk to your device is to DICTATE instead of typing. Any place you see the text cursor look at the on-screen keyboard for the microphone icon on a key (iPad) or below the keyboard (iPhone). Tap and wait for a beep then begin speaking. Watch the text appear on screen! Magic! There are tricks to dictation - speak punctuation like "comma" or "period." To add spaces after a paragraph say "new line"  "new line"  and then continue speaking. A search of the web for more tips on using the Dictation feature in iOS found this ad-free article at Apple.