macosxhints.com iPhone tips

iOS 5: iPad show mailbox gesture

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 07:30:00 -0800

Maybe everybody already knows this, but I missed it in all the new features of iOS 5. The iPad mail app adds a new gesture to show and hide the message list window when in portrait orientation.

I always use my iPad's Mail app in landscape mode because I get to see my message list in addition to the message detail. And for some reason, I find it tedious to push the mailbox button at the top left of the screen to see the message list. iOS 5 added the ability to swipe right anywhere on the message window to pop up the message list and to swipe left to hide it again. Nice! Not having to move my finger six inches has somehow made portrait mode much more bearable for me.

[crarko adds: Well, I didn't know it either, so here's the hint. I also was a landscape mode only iPad mail user.]

iOS 5: Automatic Recognition of UPS Tracking Code in Mail

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 07:30:00 -0800

As you know, there are plenty of tools to keep track of shipments that are shipped with UPS. There is an app called Delivery Status which even recognizes an UPS shipment by just copy and pasting the tracking number into the app.

I just noticed that iOS seems to recognize the shipment all by itself.

In iOS Mail (iOS 5.0.1) every number is highlighted to be called as a possible phone number. But in this case the number was my UPS tracking code. Upon tapping the number I got the options to either copy it or track it.

By tapping tracking it opens an ups site with the tracking number already applied to the script so that you can see the status of your shipment. Ergo no need to copy and paste an UPS tracking code to any other program or the UPS site itself.

[crarko adds: I tested this, and it works as described. As mentioned in this previous hint this was a new feature i ...

iOS Device Screenshots & iPhoto Smart Albums

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 07:30:00 -0800

If you're looking for an easy way to sort your iOS device screenshots in iPhoto, here's a few handy smart album configurations that may help.

For documentation at work I take numerous screenshots of the different iOS apps we use.

In an attempt to organize these screenshots easily in iPhoto, I came across these two Smart Album configurations that might be helpful to others.

For iPad match all of the following conditions:

Aperture is Unknown
ISO is Unknown
Filename starts with IMG_
Filename contains PNG
Any Text contains 1024

The last step filters out the iPad screenshots from other iOS device screenshots (iPhone, iPod Touch).

For iPhone (or iPod Touch) match all of the following conditions:

Aperture is Unknown
ISO is Unknown ...

Can't change Game Center settings on a localized system

Thu, 29 Dec 2011 07:30:00 -0800

On a French system, one cannot edit Game Center settings (country, emails, and more importantly, confidentiality -- if your profile is public, you can't switch it to private).

Steps to Reproduce:

Setup iOS in French.
Go to Game Center.
Touch the mail address (it has to be already configured).
Choose to view the account.
Try using one of the following actions:
- change email address
- confidentiality
- country

Additional note : there is no Save button on the upper right corner.

Workaround :

A solution to perform changes is to switch the system to English and when done, switch it back to French.

[crarko adds: I haven't tested this one. I presume this affects other non-English language localizations as well, and they would use the same workaround, until Apple improves on international support for Game Center.]

iOS 5: Quickly reopen recently closed tabs in mobile Safari on iPad

Wed, 28 Dec 2011 07:30:00 -0800

In the latest version of Safari for iOS, pressing and holding the add tab [+] button will show a list of recently closed tabs. Touching one of the listed pages will open it in a new tab.

[crarko adds: I tested this, and it works as described, although it seems a bit inconsistent in how it handles the list. Closing Safari with no open tabs clears the list, but if there are tabs still open the list is maintained. Actually quitting Safari (clicking the 'X' in the multitasking bar) clears the list whether there are tabs still open or not.

Note: As mentioned in several of the comments, this only works on an iPad.]

Get charge status on the iPad2 while charging

Tue, 27 Dec 2011 07:30:00 -0800

I'm using the iPad 2's 10 Watt wall charger and wireless sync, and it works very well. The only thing that kept bothering me was how to tell how much the battery was charged without unplugging it.

Here's how: If you have the iPad's screen locked, press and hold the Home button. After a few seconds the battery charge percentage will show up next to the 'Charging' icon in the top right of the screen.

[crarko adds: I tried this with a first-generation iPad and it did nothing. However, going to Settings » General » Usage and turning on the 'Battery Percentage' slider makes the charging level always visible. Does the iPad 2 behave differently?]

Mass delete photos from iPhone's Camera Roll

Fri, 23 Dec 2011 07:30:00 -0800

There is no easy way to mass delete some (but not all) photos from the Camera Roll from the iPhone. Here is the solution I found.

Before iOS5, I'd never used the iTunes app to sync my photos. Instead, I've used the highly rated app called PhotoSync (wireless sync for iPhoto/iPhone). When doing this, my iPhone collected many photos, all 1561 of them and never deleted them. The solution was to mount the iPhone as a camera in Apple's Image Capture application. This allowed me to select my 1000 photos I didn't want and delete them with ease.

[crarko adds: Once again, Image Capture comes to the rescue. Note that iPhoto will either let you keep or delete all the images on an import, but doesn't give much choice beyond that.]

iOS 5: Use Siri with Find My Friends

Wed, 21 Dec 2011 07:30:00 -0800

If you use Find My Friends, you can ask Siri to locate your friends for you.

Simply say 'find my friends' to locate friends near you. You can also ask for friends by name, saying 'find [friend name].' This also works with relationships, like 'find my wife.'

To top it all off, you can say 'hide me from my friends' to hide your current location�great for last minute holiday shopping trips!

[crarko adds: Yet another example of the wonders of Siri. My prediction is that the next version will be enabled to shop for you, at least in iTunes, the iBookstore and the App Store.]

iOS 5: Use keyboard shortcuts for frequently used words in other languages

Tue, 20 Dec 2011 07:30:00 -0800

Sometimes, you use words in other languages so often that as convenient as it already is, it's still a hassle to switch keyboards.

But you can use the keyboard shortcut for such words. It's faster and doesn't break your flow. Like so.

Also useful for special characters.

[crarko adds: I know we've had hints about using this for special characters before, but this seems to illustrate the idea of what this feature was designed for perfectly.]

iOS 5: Show hourly forecast in the Weather app

Mon, 19 Dec 2011 07:30:00 -0800

Here's a piece of new functionality with iOS 5 Weather app.

The Weather app doesnt look like it has changed much, but when looking at the forecast for the week, tap and pull down below a day and it will give an hourly forecast.

[crarko adds: Hey, that's pretty cool. I hadn't noticed this before.]

iOS 5: Safari Private Browsing

Thu, 15 Dec 2011 07:30:00 -0800

iOS 5 introduced Private Browsing, which can be set via Settings » Safari.

To tell whether you have Private Browsing turned on when using Safari on an iOS device, the chrome around the browser window will be black. When Private Browsing is turned off, it's the standard bluish-gray.

[crarko adds: A useful find, and I admit I hadn't noticed the addition. I always used a third party browser if I wanted this feature.]

iOS 5: Selecting multiple photos on iPad

Tue, 13 Dec 2011 07:30:00 -0800

The old tap and drag to mass select photos has been reassigned to rearranging photos. So it isn't obvious how to select large groups of photos anymore. Many people have commented on the Apple Discussion Forums having trouble with this.

The new method is simple but not so intuitive. Just use two fingers, close together to tap on a photo, hold for a second and then drag across all the photos you want to select.

It works just like the old method, just needs two fingers instead of one.

[crarko adds: I tried this with the iPhone but I think you'd need far smaller fingers than mine to do this.]

iOS 5: Unlock device by swiping Notification

Fri, 09 Dec 2011 07:30:00 -0800

After a quick Google search (as well as on macosxhints.com), I'm sharing this feature I discovered by accident. If your iOS 5 device is locked and you receive a notification, you can swipe the notification instead of the 'Slide to Unlock' widget, and you will be automatically directed to the related app. If you have a passcode, you'll still be prompted to enter it.

I've tested this on the following devices:

iPhone 4 with iOS 5.0.1
iPhone 3GS with iOS 5.0
iPad 2 with iOS 5.0.1 in both portrait and landscape mode

[crarko adds: I tested this, and it works as described.]

iOS 5: Adding the date to Notification Center

Wed, 07 Dec 2011 07:30:00 -0800

Sometimes when I browse through the web on my iPad, I need to know todays date.

Unfortunately, iOS 5 has no way to show the date without quitting the current app to have a look at the Calendars icon. As there is no jailbreak yet for iOS 5 on iPad2 I was looking how this could be achieved using the Notification Center in iOS 5.

You need to create a new iCloud calendar which has an all-day event for everyday which tells the current date. Of course, this is a tedious task if you need to create an event for everyday.

So I made an AppleScript where you can select a range of dates for which those events will be created.

By default it creates the Events in an calendar called 'Todayis.' Please create this Calendar on iCloud before running the app, or your new calendar will end up on your Mac. The name of the calendar can be changed if you want to add the events to your default calendar. You will be prompted for a calendar name when running the script. ...

iOS 5: Use Siri to dictate emoticons

Mon, 05 Dec 2011 07:30:00 -0800

I stumbled upon this while dictating a text message to my daughter. You can use Siri on iPhone 4s to dictate emoticons in your text! I even tested this in the Notes app, so very likely this will work anywhere text can be dictated. Here are the basic ones I was able to use.

:-) = 'Smiley face.'
;-) = 'Winky face.'
:-( = 'Sad Face.'

Can anyone determine any others? I wasn't able to get 'Tongue Face' to work.

[crarko adds: I haven't tested this one. Hopefully Siri will never learn LOL-speech.]

iOS 5.0.1 and iTunes Match kill Genius list button

Thu, 01 Dec 2011 07:30:00 -0800

Not sure if anyone else has seen this problem, but the atomic symbol for generating Genius lists disappeared from song titles on my iPhone 4 (in the Music app) after upgrading to iTunes Match.

Another weird behavior is that Genius lists I create on my MacBook Pro using iTunes do transfer to my iPhone via iTunes Match, but can't be refreshed on the iPhone.

[crarko adds: I don't use iTunes Match, so I can't test this. Please confirm (or deny) this odd behavior in the comments section. I haven't noticed a lot of other reports on this, so it's quite possible it's a unique situation with the hint's author. If so, anyone with an idea of what would cause this please chime in as well.]

iOS 5: Save some Home button clicks

Wed, 30 Nov 2011 07:30:00 -0800

We all know that the Home button is heavily used in iOS multi-tasking and app management. But at least some clicks can be saved under iOS 5.x.

With iOS 5 and its Notification Center, you'll be able to perform fewer Home button clicks.

Once you're satisfied with the multitask bar management or and icon moves or rearranging in the SpringBoard, there is no need to push the Home button as a last step. Just start to open (not completely) the Notification Drawer and let it go back to the top of the screen, and the edit mode will end.

Not a major hint, but maybe a longer lifespan for the Home button.

[crarko adds: I tested this, and it works as described. That button is one of the few moving parts of an iOS device, so it's subject to wearing out eventually. I haven't heard of one doing so, but I'm sure it must have happened to somebody.]

iOS 5: Weather forecast in the Notification Center

Tue, 29 Nov 2011 07:30:00 -0800

This hint shows how to switch between daily and weekly forecasts in the iOS 5 Weather app.

When in the Notification Center you can switch between the daily and the weekly forecast by simply swiping left or right.

You can even switch the city displayed in the Weather app: in daily forecast mode tap on the city name, and the Weather app will open. Swipe to the city you want to have shown in the Notification Center. That's it. This only works if you have set 'Local weather' to off and you have at least two cities set up in the Weather app.

[crarko adds: I tested this, and it works as described.]

iOS 5: Siri and iTunes Match

Tue, 29 Nov 2011 07:30:00 -0800

With the advent of iTunes Match and the iPhone's intelligent assistant, Siri, comes an interesting twist on the familiar.

Siri can play music for you from your Music app. That makes sense. What is more interesting, though, is that it can initiate a download for a song if it is only in the cloud, but not on your device.

I deleted my whole music library from my iPhone (having switched to Spotify) and wondered what Siri would do if I asked it to play me a song. I had iTunes Match turned on, and Siri started playing my iTunes Match library like it was on the iPhone. I tried throwing it off by asking it to play an artist that hadn't been downloaded, and it was able to pull down the track. How nifty!

[crarko adds: It does indeed sound quite nifty. Slightly, off-topic, when editing this hint I found the author continually using the pronoun 'she' when referring to Siri. Apple consistently uses 'it,' and I've edited this accordingly. My question to you all ...

iOS 5: Cable Releases for Photography

Wed, 23 Nov 2011 07:30:00 -0800

If you're a photographer, then you know that a cable release is a tool to take a picture without touching your camera. Now, the iPhone can do this, too.

iOS 5 introduced many new features for photographers. Among these is the ability to use the Volume up button to take photos. As a result, the Volume up button on your headphones also works to take photos! It seems perfectly obvious that it should after the fact, but it's not something most of us are likely to try.

This means, every iPhone includes a free cable realease. This is huge for an iPhone photographer because the current shutter buttons aren't very good for keeping your phone steady. Interestingly, I've found that it's often much easier to get burst shots when using my headphones compared to just the volume up key.

Perhaps the best part is that this can be paired with Bluetooth devices! I'm not sure if every headset with volume controls will work (as the buttons need to map correctly to t ...