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
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:
- Open Contacts
- Search for seminar name
- Tap first name on list > scroll up > Share My Location > Share for One Hour
- Return to Search
- 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.