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.