Friday, February 28, 2020

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.)


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 ...

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.

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.

Monday, February 24, 2020

Report from Day 3 - 2/21/20

Carol presented on Calendar, Control Center and Today’s View while Melissa continued to harangue about the free Apple User Guides


 lecture at length in an aggressive manner


QUESTION: Why don’t my iPhone and iPad show the same information for Calendar or Contacts? This is a sync issue with your iCloud settings. It would be best to call Apple Support for help with this issue. You want the magic to happen.

Best tip today - Apple Customer Support phone number 800/275-2273. If you suspect your iCloud settings are not working (aka, no magic) then call the experts.

Hey, try making a new Contact with that information. We’ll cover Contacts on Day 4, but try to make several new contacts before class, and preview the chapter on Contacts.


How to Review Saved Passwords was brought up last week and is tied to your Apple ID and Password. If you use a Mac computer this feature is known as Keychain. You will also need to know how to unlock your device, maybe with your fingerprint ID or your code or your face ID.

On our devices, when a web site asks us to sign up using an email address, Safari offers to help by creating a hard to crack password. Accept this offer and the website, your username and password will be saved to Settings > Passwords & Accounts > Website & App Passwords. Next time visiting this website, Safari will remember your details, helping swiftly log you into your account. It might be best to not save passwords on your mobile devices for your financial and banking type of accounts. But your online life for communication and shopping will be helped with this feature.

Let’s see what our device knows about us
. Go to Settings > Passwords & Accounts > Website & App Passwords > (unlock your device now). Maybe no passwords have been saved. Or maybe some are listed here. There is rarely one URL for a large company like Apple. On my iPhone there are 5 unique addresses that end in .apple.com and have prefixes like appleid www.seminars idmsa concierge id www When I scroll down there is www.icloud.com and api.id.me websites that are also related to Apple.

QUESTION: How to add a password to a site after initially declining the offer. Answer -- try reading the User Guide, make a Google Search. Maybe another reason to call Apple Customer Support.

Calendar app - read this chapter in the Apple User Guide.
Views depend on device - Look for options to display Day, Week, Month, Year
In addition to your personal calendar you can subscribe to Holidays and even your favorite sports team. Tap on the word Calendars at the bottom of the screen to open up the calendars options screen. Calendars can be assigned colors for your devices. When you share a calendar, others may choose different colors for shared calendars.

But you don’t have to create an event from the Calendar app. Carol demonstrated creating a calendar event from an email message. Open an email where someone has proposed a get together, maybe lunch. The text seems plain but there is magic here - “data detectors” are at work - just touch the words ‘lunch on Monday’ to see a pop-up template ready to create a calendar event from inside the Mail app. Practice, it works! Ok, I sent myself an email with several invitations with a mix of subject, date & location. When you look at the event from a mail message you will see a link back to the original message. Your digital life goes full circle.

Carol’s description of the event template was new to me but a terrific description. At the top are fields for Title and Location followed by dials to set date, time, AM/PM and other details. Just fill out the template. Or fill in the known information and later edit the event to add details.

Another way to create a calendar event is to use Siri - your personal assistant! This will require practice to get good at making your requests. Remember that Siri requires Internet access - wifi or cellular data. Do a Google search and you will find this iMore article How to Use Siri with Calendar.

Several people noticed additional details on the Event Template, specifically Alerts. You know my answer - read the User Guide chapter on Calendar. Or do a Google search. Here is an iMore article on Alerts

Check out the Month View on iPad - and press and hold an event then (keep pressing) drag your finger to a different day or week. Cool, an easy edit.

HOMEWORK: pick up your KVIE programming guide, Sac News & Review or the weekly TICKET for shows you are interested in watching/attending. Ask Siri to make a calendar event. This will be an interactive experience - you begin, Siri asks a question, you answer, Siri asks another question, you answer ... or edit. (Funny story: I asked to add “Rob on the Road” on 3/23. Siri got the title “The Road” but kept asking me which Rob out of my contacts would be at the event.)

Add a Calendar Event the Hard Way: Open the Calendar app and browse to a date later this week. Yes, in the Day view, find a future day. Tap on the + to open the event template and begin by reviewing all the elements. There are fields, a toggle switch, item with > additional pages and an option to add an attachment ... The essentials are: Title, Location, and Starts then finish by tapping the Add button. To edit an event .. touch the title to see all the details and ... well, tap the Edit button. Explore Alerts if you want to be notified before this event happens. Then go to Settings > Sounds & Haptics > Calendar Alerts to set an audio or vibration alert for all calendar alerts.

Once More With Feeling! Reoccurring Events might be all-day for several days in a row, on the 4th Wednesday of the month or on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 1:30 pm for the next two months. You won’t find “reoccurring” on the event template, instead look for “Repeat” and then tap on “Never” to see options including “Custom.” Explore and review the possibilities. Before setting up a Reoccurring/Repeat event, write down the details on a scrap of paper then add the details. For two-day repeating events (Tu/Th) you will make a repeating Tuesday event and then make a repeating Thursday event.

One feature I setup once and it just keeps going is the Energizer Bunny ... no, it is a Shared Calendar. This feature will work for you and your family or friends as well. Create your BOOK CLUB calendar and invite other readers to join. Everyone can then see the events, add new ones and edit existing events. Every so often, talk with your subscribers to be sure they still see the shared calendar. For family, just share your personal calendar.

Your homework is to touch every button and explore every view (day, week, month and year). What does the magnifying glass icon do? On the iPhone the trick to viewing the week is to rotate the phone to horizontal position! Remember to practice gestures too - swipe, tap, touch and hold.

Let’s see how all these parts work together.

Take a moment to visit Settings > Privacy > Location Services and turn it on. Read more about this in ... the AUG!

And in Summary ... From the Home Screens, you will see small dots centered just above the Dock on either iPad or iPhone. Swipe from right to left to change to the next Home Screen. Now swipe left to right until ... you can swipe no more. This is the Today View. The boxes are called “widgets.”
Many apps would like to crowd onto the Today View, but you are in control of what information is displayed and the order of widgets. Scroll the screen up until you see the Edit button. The list that appears will have red or green buttons on the left side. The top group of apps have a special icon on the right edge. When you encounter other lists, this icon of three stacked lines is your clue to press and hold a list item then move up or down to change the order of the list. Press Done when you have finished modifying the order of your list.

Back to events. When you have a calendar event with a location - your device knows where you are - the Today View can report traffic conditions including how long your commute will be.

The Today View is something you might change when on a trip or after you have new apps. Nothing is set in stone. You are in control of your television set ... Oops, Siri tells me I got the Outer Limits tagline wrong. Maybe you were a fan and remember it.

In addition to calling Apple Support or opening the User Guide, you can search Google or YouTube for assistance with iOS questions. For example you might read 10 Tips For Mastering Apple Calendar at PC Magazine, 2/18/2020. 

In Calendars, look for Today, a button to jump back to the current day on a view. Not all views will have a Today button on the iPhone.

OUR NEXT ADVENTURE IS CONTROL CENTER has common apps or settings you use often, including Do Not Disturb, Camera, Flashlight, Screen Brightness, Audio Volume, Airplane Mode and more. You can open the Control Center from any Home Screen or when working in any app - on my newer devices - swipe down from the top right corner; if you have a physical Home button then swipe up from the bottom edge of your screen. Read the User Guide to confirm.  An important button here the the Paddle lock - to stop your device from rotating. You will forget this you turned this on. Control Center is very helpful, I use it 5-10 per day. It saves time by giving quick access to common controls without going into Settings and rooting around to find them there. For Do Not Disturb, crescent moon icon, press and hold your finder on the button for options: 1 hour, until this evening, until I leave this location, until the end of this event (if you have set a Calendar event). An iPhone always has GPS/location awareness but a WiFi-only iPad will not know location unless it is online.

Customize the Control Center
to your needs. Open Settings > Control Center > Customize Controls > to see a list (like in Today View edit mode). Is the Magnifier, Font size or Voice Memos on your Control Center? Why not?

Read more at Digital Trends How to Take Control of the Control Center in iOS and iPadOS.

Our audience knows their stuff! A great tip was to ask Siri to “Turn on the Flashlight” and “Turn off the Flashlight.” This helps when it is dark or the lights go out. Maybe you ask Siri to “Turn up the volume” as a song plays on your device. Try “Increase my screen brightness by 10%” and you will also see a slider appear for additional refinements. Using voice commands in class just creates bedlam as all devices try to respond. It is best to practice Siri at home.

When searching the web using Google or YouTube don’t find the answers you need, call Apple Customer Support at 1/800-275-2273. Actually, let’s make a new Contact with that information so you always have it at your fingertips! (I am repeating myself.)

Meetings #4 will introduce Contacts, Find My, SOS and some Accessibility features. Read your User Guide as a preview for Friday's class.

Friday, February 14, 2020

Report from Day 2 - 2/14/2020

Reported by Melissa ...

Per agreement that Renaissance has with the University: Please do not enter any classroom until the appointed seminar start time. We are guests at this university and it is beyond rude to enter when an instructor is meeting with students. Do not knock on the door or otherwise intrude on faculty. Also, my bad, we should not enter an empty classroom either. In the AIRC there are gathering spaces with chairs, tables and even whiteboards where we can meet ahead of class, near the bathrooms on the first floor.

Remember, you need to know your Apple ID and the password to download new apps and make some changes to your device. If you cannot remember your Apple ID or password then it is time to call Apple or visit the Apple Store for help. Try this step to find your Apple ID & password:
Settings > Passwords and Accounts > Websites > Apple

For all of the apps we demonstrate in class, I hope you go home and “touch every button” to explore each app and find the common elements and the differences for searching, writing, games, photographing and more.

Tom presented today on News, Podcasts and Books (also Kindle and Libby). He also mentioned you can look for deals on recent iPads at discount stores. These iPads will not have the newest chip (processor) but for reading emails, messages, and surfing the Internet these devices might be a significant upgrade to your current model.

The News app is on your device (unless you deleted it) and will show articles from various sources. News presents articles as boxes with headlines, brief text and sometimes photos - tap a box to read more. As you read an article, the News algorithm begins to learn more about your interests and soon more of that topic will appear in your “news feed” or “channel” as an item in the News app. You can also control the channels that appear in your News app - press and hold on on a box to see the many choices for control over what is presented on your screen. News will look very different on the big screen of an iPad over the narrow screen of an iPhone. The User Guide for iPad and iPhone include a chapter on the News app. Read about “following” or “blocking” a channel.

On an iPad, look for the button to show/hide the sidebar where you can easily jump to topics or sources. At the top of the sidebar is a Search field. Try typing in a couple words based on your interests. The sidebar list changes to show Stories, Topics and Channels that relate to your search. Explore. This is a great app.

News+
is a $10/month subscription service that opens up magazines, current and recent past issues, for reading on your iPad. Think of the convenience of having Consumer Reports delivered to your screen. Many other magazines are available through the News+ service. Your first month of subscription is free, after that it is automatically billed to the credit card associated with your Apple ID. News+ subscriptions are included in Family Sharing just like apps. [What? Read about Family Sharing chapter in the User Guide.]

Have you been to your local public library branch yet? Go, now! Libraries in the Sacramento Valley are members of a consortium offering books and magazines through apps like Libby, Overdrive, Hoopla and Flipster. You need a current library card and a PIN number to access these free services. (My favorite way to garden is with Libby playing back an audiobook.) You might not need to subscribe to News+ if the Library resources include the magazines you are most interested in reading.

Apple Pay and Wallet app were mentioned briefly today and will be covered in more detail when Tom presents again in a couple weeks. This is a service used on your iPhone or Apple Watch when purchasing at a retail store, where your physical credit card is not used. This is a very secure way to pay for shopping items. Read about Apple Pay in the User Guide.

For security purposes, it is a good idea to set the Auto Lock on your devices to 3, 5 or 15 minutes. Do this in Settings > Display & Brightness > Auto Lock > touch the time listed before your device goes into sleep mode and will require Face ID, fingerprint ID or your device passcode to unlock. You do want your device to lock and require you to unlock it so a thief cannot steal your personal information.

Listening to music, videos and podcasts can use the built-in speakers, wired speakers, wired ear buds, wireless Bluetooth ear buds or wireless Bluetooth speakers. Bluetooth range is about 25 feet between ear buds and iOS device. Other Bluetooth connections might be to your car, hearing aids, blood pressure monitor, Home Pod or an Echo Dot.

The Podcast app by Apple is a purple icon. Listening to podcasts is another way to get ... audio content! Most podcasts are free and you can subscribe to automatically download the next episode. The player can adjust playback speed -1/2X, 1X, 1 1/2X and 2X speed. Both professionals and amateurs create podcasts for others to enjoy. While podcasts are often just audio, some are also video episodes, like TED Talks. Video episodes take up more space on your device than audio episodes. Some common radio shows are also presented in podcast form - search for NPR to see how you might never miss “Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me” every again!

Many RenSoc seminars cover topics that you want to know more about. Search for those as podcast topics. Are you learning a foreign language? Search for “News in Slow French” or “Italian for Beginners” to name two.

There are other apps to use when you become a podcast expert. Explore this universe by searching “podcast” in the App Store.

[One reason why I continue to be a part of the iOS Basics team is because there is always something to learn. In exploring Apple Podcast app for this report I found Rick Steves’ Edinburgh Royal Mile Walk. But wait, there’s more. On my iPhone I can scroll down to see a description of the podcast episode and chapters! Whoa! The chapters have timemarks that jump to segments in this episode. Not all podcasts have this feature, but I’m happy to have made this discovery as preparation for my trip in the fall. ]

On an iPhone, using iOS 13, touch and hold on a podcast block to bring up a menu of options including: Subscribe, Play Next, Delete, and Share.

Are you worried about podcasts (or anything) taking up too much space on your device?  Keep track of your iPhone/iPad Storage! Settings > General > iPhone/iPad Storage ... Now wait for this screen to refresh and show the details. Podcasts do show up as taking 27GB of space on my iPhone. Touch Podcasts on the list to see specific details about the episodes stored on your device. Scroll down to see the Edit link. Touch a red (-) button to delete the episode.

Apple Books app is a hidden gem. After downloading a book, touch-hold-swipe to turn a page with an animation like ... turning a real page! For your comfort, set the text size and page color to minimize eye strain. If you are reading a book in single page view, consider turning on Auto Scroll instead of page turning.

The Books app was probably on your device at purchase, but you might have deleted it because ... who reads online? Go back to the App Store, search for Books and re-download this app. It is free, but some books you will need to purchase. Remember earlier hearing about Family Sharing? Purchases in Apple Books can be shared.

There are several views to using the Books app: Reading Now, Library, Book Store, Audiobooks and Search are buttons at the bottom of the screen. When you are viewing a page it is uncluttered - no icons or buttons. But to see the buttons, tap the center of the page and details appear at the bottom of the screen and button controls appear at the top of the screen.

Actually, explore words on the page, explore a page:
  • Touch and hold your finger on a word. A pop-up menu appears with options: Copy, Speak, Look-Up, Highlight, Note, Search, Share and Spell.  Touch an option to see what happens. 
  • Touch and hold and swipe your finger across a phrase or sentence to automatically add a highlight. 
  • Tap on highlighted text to see a pop-up menu with an option to add a Note. 
  • Tap the center of the screen to reveal the top button controls: Return to Library view, Table of Contents, Font Size - Fonts - Page Color - Scrolling View, Search and Bookmark.

Sounds simple, yes? Don’t overlook a book’s Content page’s tabs: Contents, Bookmarks and Notes, plus the Share button. How would you use these features?

Try to keep two things separate: search and search. You can Search the Book Store to find authors or new titles. You can search the content of a book and view feedback on how your search term fits in context. Tap on a reference to jump to that page in your book.

When browsing for books you will find a Download Sample option and you will find some free books. Better yet, search for “Project Gutenberg” to see the vast array of free books - released from copyright. Find your favorite authors: Jane Austen, Mark Twain, Frederick Douglass, Edgar Allan Poe, Agatha Christie, Robert Lewis Stevenson and many more.

Tom’s best trick about Books is to download the manuals for any appliances or devices you own. Use Safari to Search for the product by model number and brand, find the manual as a PDF file and look at the Sharrow button options for Save to Books.

Organize your Books Library into Collections. Remove books you’ve read - by deleting them - but know that you can download them again because each purchase is tied to your Apple ID.

You have other free choices for reading and listening to books - go to your local public library and talk to librarians about Libby, or Overdrive or online trends in service to patron needs. Do you live near the county line? Many libraries offer non-resident library cards for the checkout of physical and online materials. Scroll up to find direct links, marked with a green highlight, to the App Store for Libby, Overdrive, Hoopla and Flipster.

There are issues libraries face in providing services to patrons - to us! Show you care, download the apps.

A few semesters back Dierdre Wolownick spoke to our Forum group about her new book, The Sharp End of Life, and her famous son, Alex Honnold - featured in the rock climbing documentary Free Solo. Dierdre's audiobook is available in Libby - under the Always Available listing.

Not for Everyone: An interesting question came up about how to do iOS updates when you don’t have WiFi at home - just unlimited cellular data? This one stumped me. A quick look at Settings > General > Software Update > Automatic Updates > ON might be helpful. Or make a visit to either the Apple Store to use their WiFi or visit a store for your cellular provider and ask them how to stay updated. Maybe it is time to visit a friend for a couple hours who will allow you to log into their WiFi and complete the download/install. (Take flowers or a bottle of wine...) It would be best to use a WiFi that required some type of login, maybe at a public library. iOS updates require your device over 50% charged and to be plugged in during the update process. There are two phases to an update, the download and the install. Read the comments at Ask Different.

Monday, February 10, 2020

Reading on iPhone?

You are not seeing the whole picture on an iPhone! You just see summaries of recent posts. TOUCH the summary text titled Report from Day 1 - 2/7/2020 to see ALL the details.

Report from Day 1 - 2/7/2020

Seminar Team leaders are Carol, Jennifer, Tom and Melissa. 
We are just volunteers who are enthusiastic about our iPhones and iPads. We’d love to have you join our team to share what you have learned about these magical mobile devices.

iOS Basics is a seminar focused on the apps that came with your device. We hope you will embrace this technology. Your learning has just begun and is a journey to discover what will empower your curiosity as you use iPhone and iPads as windows to your world.

Make our website a Home Screen icon. From this email, touch the link below to open our website (in the Safari browser app). Look for the Share icon, a box with an arrow, in the upper right corner on an iPad and in the middle at the bottom of an iPhone screen. Touch the icon to open the Share Sheet and scroll up to see Add to Home Screen [+]. Touch Add to Home Screen. The top field is often a long name - tap the (X) to delete the name and type iOS Basics then touch the Add button. Now an icon for our website will be on your Home Screen. Just a touch away from the latest info we post.

Gestures are key to using a touch screen. One finger or multiple fingers, swipe right to left/left to right, up from the bottom, down between icons, down from the top and down from the top right corner are all gestures that you will be using. Also, tap, touch and slide, touch and hold. A great way to practice with gestures is to download a solitaire game. Tap, drag, double-tap cards to see what happens. Other games as well will help you get comfortable with iPad and iPhone.

Apple has designed iPhone and iPads as individual devices where one Apple ID is used for several devices. It is best NOT to share your Apple ID with another person. The IDs are free and come with 5 GB of iCloud storage space. But each Apple ID (user name is often an email address) has a unique password (created by you) that must be typed when buying an app, song, book or making a purchase through the Apple Store app. Most app purchases include the option for Family Sharing where your spouse can also download the app to their device.

Attention Everyone!
As a courtesy, use the Control Center to access Do Not Disturb and silence your iPhone by tapping Until I leave this location. All of your seminar leaders and peers will appreciate this action. In afternoon seminars, share this tip with others for the sanity of all.

How to bring up the Control Center …? More on that in a minute, keep reading.

WiFi at home, not on campus. You will NOT be encouraged to use WiFi in our seminar. In fact, we won’t answer any questions about how to get online with your device. If you insist on using WiFi on campus, read the instructions on the RenSoc Tech Help page at https://www.csus.edu/college/social-sciences-interdisciplinary-studies/renaissance-society/spotlights/tech-help.html - 4 hours max per login and your experience will be slow (frustrating and break your concentration on seminar activities).

Spotlight Search will help you find any app or content on your device. Try it by swiping down in-between icons on any Home Screen. The search field appears at the top of the screen with Siri Suggestions for recently opened apps. As you type the suggestions will change to reflect the letters or words in the search field.

The gear icon is the operating system Settings app. Don’t be nervous about looking at the information presented by this app. There is a Search option here that will help you target the element for review or change. To access the search field on the Settings screen swipe down with one finger. You want to know details on your device, type “about” then touch About (General). This screen shows the Name, Software Version, Model Name … AppleCare+ Expires date, number of Songs, Videos, Photos, Applications, Capacity and Available.

In the Settings app there are detail pages hidden behind a “>” button. If you don't use search here, you can browse following this path of cookie crumbs: Settings > General > About >

You need to know the iOS version on your device to get your free Apple User Guide where you can read about the features discussed in class. Control Center is a good place to start! Depending on your device - do you have facial recognition or a physical Home button?

When I write instructions I am using the latest operating system, iOS 13.3 and Face Recognition on an iPhone XI Pro or an iPad Pro, 3rd Generation. Your details will be different on a past operating system and older devices with a physical Home Button. So, you will need to adjust my notes to your situation by reading the free user guide for your device. In Apple Books, search for “user guide” and then tap (Get) for the device and iOS version you have. Every semester I download the newest user guide and review it for details that I missed in the last edition! Yes, I learn new things every semester. Just re-reading the guide again after taking IOS Basics you will learn new things. Scroll down this page to see additional links for help with your iOS devices on the post dated 2/7/20. 

If you want to carry a book around, consider visiting your local public library or a nearby Barnes & Noble bookstore. In the computer section you will find books introducing you to iPhone or iPad, or both. You might look for a publisher that writes with Senior audiences in mind. In addition to iPad for Seniors you might look for iPhones for Dummies - a series of software and hardware books intent on pealing away the confusion of technology. It is a great idea to read instructions on a different book/device while doing the described steps. And it is easier too! 

Personalize your device by rearranging apps to meet your needs. There are three Home Screens (at least) on your devices. Look for faint white dots just above the Dock, center screen. Swipe from right to left with one finger to see the second Home Screen, swipe again to see another. To go back, swipe left to right.

Move icons/apps to different Home Screens. Move one app over another to start a folder of like apps. On an iPhone, a folder of most used apps is very handy because only 4 icons fit on the Dock. On an iPad, your can arrange the apps on the Dock to meet your preference. Jiggling apps will also show (X) or (-) that allows you to delete an app (not immediately, you are prompted to confirm the deletion). I have seen many RenSoc users that have successfully deleted core Apple apps like Mail, Contacts, Calendar, Books, Maps, Stocks … A “best practice” is to move these apps into a folder and move the folder to the last Home Screen. As you continue through this seminar these apps will become more important to your success and you might promote them to a different Home Screen.

Practice using Spotlight Search
on your device for the helpful apps that might be hidden or deleted:
  • Tips
  • Apple Support
  • Tips changes and updates with new suggestions.
  • Apple Support is tied to your Apple ID and can give you specific details on your devices.
Public Enemy - A classmate offered warnings about using any public charging port, including at airports, hotels, coffee shops and even public libraries. Evidently hackers have found ways to steal information out of devices plugged into USB charging ports. Best practice - bring your iPhone plug-in charge adapter and your cable. Watch this WKYC TV report about "Juice Jacking" and watch NBC 5 Rossen Reports: Hackers taking advantage of public phone chargers to see how easy it is for personal information to be stolen. There are also many varieties of portable power bank for recharging your devices. What to buy depends on how many devices you'll need to charge and how many charges inbetween the last time your power bank was charged. I suppose it would be best to use your plug-in adapter to charge your power bank ...

We covered more information, but I bet you can't absorb anymore details so I’ll stop writing here. See you in class on Friday.

Friday, February 7, 2020

Welcome to iOS Basics



iOS Basics for iPhone and iPad
Seminar leaders are volunteers, not experts

Here are the places you can get additional information and go at your own pace.

Be sure to download the free user guide for your devices and the current operating system in Apple Books app.


Apple iPad User Guide for iOS 13
https://books.apple.com/us/book/ipad-user-guide/id1464778568

Apple iPhone User Guide for iOS 13
https://books.apple.com/us/book/iphone-user-guide/id1464778115

Apple Support options for both iPhone and iPad
https://getsupport.apple.com/?caller=smhttps://getsupport.apple.com/?caller=sm

Apple Support on YouTube channel
https://www.youtube.com/applesupporthttps://www.youtube.com/applesupport

Apple Support on Twitter
https://twitter.com/AppleSupport

Today at Apple - Roseville Galleria or Arden Fair
https://www.apple.com/today/https://www.apple.com/today/

MacNexus - local Apple User Group, $40/year, attend 2x free
https://www.macnexus.org https://www.macnexus.org
4th Wednesday, 7-9 pm & 1st Saturday 9-noon for workshop/triage

It would be a good idea to save this website to your Home Screen. Use the Share button (it looks like a box with an arrow pointing up) and scroll down the list to find Add to Home Screen. You can shorten the name before saving to your device. (Did you attend Muffy's noon classes in past semesters? She calls the Share button "Sharrow.")