Tag: iPhone

How to backup your iOS devices via iTunes or iCloud
If you do not have a PC or a Mac, backing up on iCloud may be your best option.

These days 16GB iOS devices are slowly being phased out and that means most people will have a lot of data to be backed up on iCloud.

The free tier on iCloud offers just 5GB of storage space. If you require more space, that means you will need to shell out a small sum of $1 per month for 50GB of iCloud storage, and that should be sufficient for iCloud backups and other purposes like storing your photos using the iCloud Photo Library.

Backing up your iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch via iTunes is a better option in many ways. It is free, it lets you backup purchased apps as well (so you don’t have to reinstall apps if you switch to a new iOS device), and doesn’t require Internet.

However, it also means you will have to plug-in your iOS device to a PC or a Mac and install iTunes if it’s not there already.

You will also need to plug-in your phone to this computer every time you want to back up the device, unless you have a computer that is on all the time and connected to the same Wi-Fi as your phone.

How to backup iPhone via iCloud
- On your iOS 10 device, open Settings > tap your name right at the top > iCloud > iCloud Backup.
- Tap the button next to iCloud Backup to turn it on. If it’s green, backups are on.
- Tap Backup Now if you want to manually initiate a backup.
- This will backup important data such as accounts, documents, Health data, etc. Backups will happen automatically when your iOS device is locked, being charged, and connected to a Wi-Fi network.
iCloud backups are preferred because they happen automatically, without you needing to do anything, which ensures that your backups are up to date.

When you sign in to another iOS device with this iCloud account, you’ll be asked whether you want to restore from a backup.

How to backup iPhone via iTunes
- Connect your iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch to your PC or Mac.
- Open iTunes on the PC or Mac (it might launch automatically when the iPhone is connected).
- If you use a passcode on your iOS device, unlock it.
- You may see a prompt asking whether you want to trust this computer. Tap Trust.
- On iTunes, a tiny icon showing your iOS device will appear in the top bar. Click it.
- Under Backups, click This computer.
- Click Back Up Now. Now iTunes will begin backing up your iOS device.
- Once the process is finished, you can check for backups by going to iTunes > Preferences > Devices on your Mac. Preferences is under the Edit menu in iTunes for Windows.
- You can select the Automatically sync when the iPhone is connected option for iTunes to launch automatically and backup your iPhone when it is connected to this computer.
You can also use the Sync with this iPhone over Wi-Fi to have iTunes backup your phone wirelessly, but you will need to make sure that the computer and iTunes are running for this option to work. With this option on, your iPhone will try to backup to this computer using iTunes when it is charging and connected to the same Wi-Fi network as the computer. This is convenient if it’s not possible for you to always plug-in your iPhone to your computer.

To restore from an iTunes backup, you will need to connect the iPhone/ iPad/ iPod touch to the same computer.

That’s how you can backup your iOS devices.
June 30, 2017
How to stop WhatsApp from downloading, saving photos, videos automatically
WhatsApp is used by over a 1.2 billion people worldwide. It is probably one of the first apps anyone in Nigeria downloads when they get a new smartphone as it has become the default means of texting in the country.

However, it can become an annoyance too when it downloads all media files automatically sent to you, from pictures to videos to, more recently, GIFs, not to mention audio files and videos.

These not only clutter your phone’s gallery and music player, but also eat up a lot of storage and data.

Here’s how you can stop WhatsApp from automatically saving photos and audio on your phone.

How to Stop Auto Downloading and Saving of Pictures, Videos and Other Media on Whatsapp for Android

WhatsApp for Android has a switch that lets you stop images and videos from downloading. Here’s how you can do it:
1. Open WhatsApp, make sure you are seeing the main window – where all your chats are displayed. Tap the three vertical dots on the top right > Settings.
2. Now tap Chat settings > Media auto-download. You’ll see three options: When using cellular data, When connected on Wi-Fi and When roaming. Tap each one and disable auto-downloads by unchecking all three options – Images, Audio and Video.
To view photos, you will have to download them. When you do, WhatsApp saves them in a folder, and you can get inundated with stupid memes and other unwanted content, which is visible to anyone who open’s your phone’s Gallery App. However, it is possible to stop these photos from appearing in the Gallery app. Here’s how:
1. Download Quickpic and open the app.
2. Navigate to the WhatsApp media folders. The location of the WhatsApp folder varies across devices but it should typically be the following: Internal Storage (sometimes labelled sdcard0) > WhatsApp > Media > WhatsApp Images, > WhatsApp > Media > WhatsApp Audio, and WhatsApp > Media > WhatsApp Videos.
3. Long-press the WhatsApp Images folder and make sure that it is selected. Do the same with the WhatsApp Video and WhatsApp Audio folders.
4. After selecting the three folders, tap the three dots icon on the top-right > Hide. This will ensure that the Gallery app doesn’t show them. You can still view these images and videos within WhatsApp and through any apps that let you view hidden folders. But if you pass your phone to someone, you no longer need worry about them seeing the WhatsApp photos and videos through the Gallery app.
How to Stop Auto Downloading and Saving of Pictures, Videos and Other Media on WhatsApp for iPhone

You can turn off media auto-download on iPhone too via the Settings menu.
1. Open WhatsApp and tap the Settings button at the bottom-right, and tap on Data and Storage Usage
2. In this menu, you will see the Media Auto-Download option on top
3. For Photos, Audio, Videos, and Documents, select the Never option
Now only the files you choose to download manually will appear on your phone, and you can even choose to stop the photos and videos from appearing the phone’s Camera Roll. All you need to do is to go to Chats in the Settings menu, open the Save to Camera Roll menu, and turn it to off. This stops the pictures people are sending from showing up in the camera roll, and taking over your synced Photo Stream.

Bonus: How to Block a Contact on WhatsApp

Not saving images automatically has its advantages, but it also means that you will have to download each photo manually. If you end up downloading each and every image anyway, then it’s probably best to leave this feature active. Let us know if this tutorial helped you via the comments. For more such useful articles, visit our How to section.
June 18, 2017
Big changes coming to your Apple device

Apple recently announced some big changes to be rolled out to its devices later this year.

The consumer tech giant has released a new range of tablet devices, is set to unveil the iPhone 8 sometime around September and pretty soon will release a new operating system to accompany them.

The company is calling it the biggest software release ever for the iPad and it’s packed full of pretty cool upgrades.

Apple’s iOS 11 brings powerful multi-tasking features, new ways to manage files and deeper integration with Apple Pencil on its tablet device.

Here are just a handful of changes you will see on your iPad and iPhone when iOS 11 rolls out.

A NEW APP STORE

Apple has completely changed the look of the Apple store to reimagine it as a place where users can find stories and content about the latest apps and developer news.

The idea is to attract users on a more frequent basis and turn the app store into a more engaging and content friendly environment.

The new app store also allocates games such as Candy Crush their own category in the top ranked apps. As a majority of the most popular apps are games, the change will give more exposure to developers creating unique and different applications and should make stumbling across great new apps a little easier.

A new Today tab will appear to highlight special apps and new arrivals on offer.

DRAG AND DROP

Those using iOS 11 on their iPad are in for a real treat. With competition heating up in the tablet and two-in-one laptop market, Apple has boosted the power of its latest range of tablets and brought in some great new functions.

Apple has always excelled at providing an intuitive interface and that experience will be improved for iPad customers as iOS 11 brings support for multi-touch drag and drop between applications.

For instance, users can highlight a bunch of different photos, pull up the applications bar at the bottom of the screen, open up messenger or email and then drag and drop the photos into a message to send to a friend.

You will also be able to drag and drop files between apps that are running simultaneously in split screen mode.

This week, multiple reports pointed out that inter-app drag and drop actually exists in iOS 11 beta for iPhone but is disabled and hidden. The news has caused many in the industry to speculate that the improved drag and drop functionality could soon come to the iPhone as well.

SIRI GETS A NEW VOICE

Both male and female versions of Siri will be getting a new and reportedly more natural-sounding voice.

With tech companies wanting us to talk to our devices more than ever and Apple’s introduction into the smart home speaker market, giving a facelift to our favourite virtual assistant makes a lot of sense.

Another exciting Siri addition is a translation feature which will let you translate English into other languages. The update will let you ask Siri to speak translations, a feature that Google Assistant already offers on Android.

NEW CONTROL CENTRE

The quick access menu on your iPhone will also look rather different on iOS 11.

The handy shortcut menu can be pulled up by swiping up from the bottom of your device and features controls for things such as brightness and volume adjustment, as well as buttons for data links, flashlight and the calculator.

The new look menu can be seen below and now includes the option to turn on/off mobile data from the Control Centre.

In iOS 11, Apple gave the option to turn on/off mobile data from the Control Centre

The green button to the right of airplane mode pic.twitter.com/OcNmH0USCH

— GItacharYa (@LeNonymous) June 14, 2017

DO NOT DISTURB WHILE DRIVING

Apple wants you to be safe behind the wheel — so it’s helping you help yourself.

A new do not disturb while driving feature will automatically detect when someone is in a car and will block notifications and texts and stop drivers from opening apps on their phone.

The system can send an automatic text response saying the person is driving and it will still allow drivers to take hand-free calls.

The new iPhone software will prompt people to turn on the do not disturb mode but the driver can ignore the advice and risk the distraction of looking at a smartphone.

June 18, 2017
Fake social media ‘likes’: Police arrest operators of huge Click Farm

Three Chinese workers have been arrested at a rented Thailand house for operating a huge click farm and working without a permit.

Motherboard reports the gigantic click farm in Thailand is latest to be caught.

https://twitter.com/lmatsakis/status/874352947752189952

The click farm had over 500 cell phones and 350,000 SIM cards. The setup also included nine computers and 21 SIM card readers.

According to the Bangkok Post, a Chinese company gave the men 150,000 baht ($4,403) along with the phones to pull off the operation for a month.

The men told the police they were operating to boost engagement for Chinese products sold in Thailand because of the low mobile phone fees.

They were generating “fake” page views, likes, and shares through the social media app WeChat.

Click farms are very adaptable.

Companies can use them for everything — from acquiring LinkedIn connections to huge Facebook likes to massive Twitter followers, and to generate web traffic. And they make millions doing so.

According to Mashable, the men are probably going to be deported back to China, rather than facing any time behind bars.

This is not the first click farm to be busted. Just last month, a massive click farm with over 10,000 phones was discovered in China. And in today’s online-driven world, it almost certainly won’t be the last.

Just remember where the online popularity might be coming from next time you’re checking out companies and products online.

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June 14, 2017
Know everything about the newly launched Apple wireless Magic Keyboard

Soon after the WWDC 2017 keynote event, Apple refreshed its Apple Store website to reflect all the new offerings it announced at the San Jose McEnery Convention Centre.

While most of the products announced are now listed, one other accessory not mentioned at the WWDC event, was also spotted.

The new wireless Magic Keyboard with Numeric Keypad is listed on the Apple Store for a price of $130.

The company has also removed the standard wired Magic Keyboard (with or without Numeric Keypad), making the cheapest Mac keyboard you can buy from Apple the wireless Magic Keyboard at $99.

The new Magic Keyboard with Numeric comes with a Lightning charging cable, but Apple notes that the keyboard can live for a month before needing a charge.

The full-sized keyboard with 31 extra keys can be bought separately, but is available only in white. You can get a Space Grey option though, if you buy the iMac Pro alongside for $4,999.

9to5Mac reports that the new Space Grey accessories – the wireless Magic Mouse, Magic Trackpad, and Magic Keyboard – will only be sold with the iMac Pro, and not separately.

Other new accessories listed on the refreshed Apple Store in the US include the new cases and sleeves for the iPad lineup. This includes the new leather and silicone iPad cases, new leather iPad sleeves, an Apple Pencil case, and leather and silicone cases for iPhones as well.

June 6, 2017
Apple integrates peer-to-peer payments solution in Apple Pay

At its Worldwide Developer Conference in San Jose yesterday, Apple’s senior vice president of Software Engineering, Craig Federighi, announced a hot new feature in iOS 11 — peer-to-peer payments in Apple Pay.

That means that you can use the company’s contactless payment system to send and receive money from your contacts directly through the Messages app.

This feature is available as an iMessage app, and can be invoked from the new app drawer in Messages.

You’ll be able to choose from all the debit and credit cards in your Wallet, authenticate payments with TouchID, and your contact will receive the money in their Apple Pay Cash account.

They can then transfer the amount to their bank, make Apple Pay purchases, or send it to others.

Apple Pay’s new functionality will be available across iOS 11 devices, as well as Apple Watch.

June 6, 2017
How to Reset or Hard Reboot an iPhone or iPad

Despite all of Apple’s engineering efforts, there are some times when your iPhone or iPad stops responding to your touch and you need to reset iPhone. And no matter how long you hold down the power button, the option to power off your phone just doesn’t show up.

Essentially, the iPhone or iPad has hung due to a software bug, caused by either iOS itself, or a misbehaving app.

In such a case, there’s a straightforward way around the problem. That involves forcing your iPhone or iPad to restart – called a reset or hard restart, and erroneously, even hard reset iPhone by some – by holding down a combination of two buttons for 10 seconds or more, which will then clear all running processes and well, forcibly reboot the device.

It’s not recommended that you do this unless your device is frozen, but sometimes it can be an essential last resort.

Starting with the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus, the Home button isn’t a physical button anymore. That’s why the button combination is different on those devices, as opposed to the older models before that.

How to reset/ hard reboot on iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus

This method works on the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus. To force your iPhone 7 or iPhone 7 Plus to hard reset aka reboot iPhone, press and hold down the Sleep/Wake button on top of your device, and the volume down button on the side of the phone, until the screen goes black and Apple logo appears in the middle. This might take up to 20 seconds, so don’t let go until you see the Apple logo.

How to reset/ hard reboot on older iPhone 6s, iPhone 6s Plus, iPhone SE, and older iPhone models

This method works on all iPhone and iPad models, except the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus. To force your iPhone or iPad to hard reboot aka reset, press and hold down the Home button (under the display) and the power button (or the Sleep/Wake button, as Apple calls it) on top of the device, until the screen goes black and the Apple logo appears in the middle. This method works with the iPads as well.

Have you faced any problems resetting your iPhone or iPad? Tell us about your experience via the comments below.

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June 2, 2017
Developers earn over $70 billion in App Store – Apple

Apple on Thursday, few days ahead of its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) kickoff, announced that its global developer community has earned over $70 billion through the App Store since its launch in 2008.

The Cupertino-based giant further added that last 12 months have seen massive growth, and the App Store has seen over 70 percent growth in downloads.

Talking about its App Store, Apple said that iOS developers around the world have been catering to 155 countries, and few segments have lately seen massive growth.

Apple says that the Photo and Video category is among the “fastest-growing” as it registered nearly 90 percent growth. Other segments like Lifestyle apps, Health and Fitness have seen over 70 percent growth in the past year. Gaming and Entertainment are top-grossing categories, adds Apple in a statement.

Apple also adds that the subscription model introduction has bumped the paid subscriptions as it saw 58 percent more paid subscriptions compared to over a year ago. The company notes that subscription model has been doing well in a wide variety of services including Netflix and Hulu. While newcomers like Tastemade, the mobile-first cooking network, and photo editing apps like Over and Enlight, have also done well.

Announcing the news, Philip Schiller, Apple’s Senior Vice President of Worldwide Marketing said, “People everywhere love apps and our customers are downloading them in record numbers. Seventy billion dollars earned by developers is simply mind-blowing. We are amazed at all of the great new apps our developers create and can’t wait to see them again next week at our Worldwide Developers Conference.”

Apple’s annual developer conference WWDC is no doubt one of the biggest events for the technology lovers and it will take place from June 5 to June 9. The 28th annual Worldwide Developers Conference will be returning to McEnery Convention Center in San Jose, which will host the event after 15 years. For those unaware, San Jose was the original venue of WWDC, and it hosted Apple’s annual event from 1988 to 2002.

June 2, 2017
WhatsApp reports India Top Market for Video Calling Minutes; over 55 million Video Calls made per day globally

After intensive testing, WhatsApp started rolling out the video calling feature in November last year across all platforms globally. Now, after six months of the feature being live, WhatsApp confirms that India is the top country in the world to use the video calling feature.

In India, a total of over 50 million video calling minutes per day are recorded by WhatsApp, the highest among all the other countries where WhatsApp is used.

These statistics strengthen the notion as to why WhatsApp holds India as a priority country for its future business propositions.

Out of the 1.2 billion monthly active users globally; WhatsApp enjoys 200 million monthly active users from India alone.

Its video calling feature has been quite a success globally, attracting over 340 million video calling minutes per day.

WhatsApp also claims that users make over 55 million video calls per day through WhatsApp.

Out of the 340 million video calling minutes per day, 50 million video calling minutes are from India alone, signifying the amount of traction this country brings for WhatsApp.

While WhatsApp was really late in introducing its video calling feature compared to its competitors, its large subscriber base helped gaining huge traction in such a short time.

During the video calling feature launch, WhatsApp also said that the new video calling service was optimized to work in India, where users often struggle with poor Internet connectivity.

WhatsApp recently also introduced a separate video calling button for Android users, making it more accessible on the chat screen. iPhone users already had a separate button from the beginning.

Recently, WhatsApp also revamped its Status feature to bring a Snapchat-like disappearing video and photo format to the platform.

While the Status got a separate tab where users could share media content with their contacts for 24 hours, the original Status message that showed up with your profile info was also brought back after popular demand.

May 9, 2017
WhatsApp delivers record 14 billion messages for Indians New Year’s Eve

WhatsApp has announced 14 billion messages were exchanged on the messaging app in India on New Year’s Eve.

WhatsApp said 32 percent of the messages were in some form of media ranging from photos, GIF images, and videos to voice messages, the Facebook-owned instant messaging platform said on Friday.

The number of messages shared on the platform on New Year’s Eve is even higher than the last record set during Diwali when 8 billion messages were sent in one day, WhatsApp said.

A total of 3.1 billion images, 700 million GIF images, and 610 million videos were sent on WhatsApp on the occasion in the country alone. WhatsApp has more than 160 million monthly active users in India.

In Nigeria, millions of users took to the instant messaging app to send messages in the form of texts, photos, GIFs, voice notes and videos to friends and families over the yuletide.

Interestingly, WhatsApp only recently rolled out the ability to share animated GIF images on the platform. WhatsApp for iPhone got the feature back in November, while WhatsApp for Android got the feature in December. Android recently also got the ability to stream shared videos, letting users view videos before they were downloaded.

Last month, a major new feature was reportedly spotted in the WhatsApp for iPhone beta – the ability to revoke and edit sent messages. Several other messaging apps offer similar features, and their addition to WhatsApp will certainly be well-received. Also spotted was the ability to preview shared archive files.

Notably, WhatsApp stopped working on older versions of Android, iOS, and Windows Phone on December 31. Devices running on Android 2.2 or lower, iOS 6 or lower, and Windows Phone 7 are no longer supported by the app.

WhatsApp also announced it is dropping support for BlackBerry OS in December 2016 but extended the shutdown date for the BlackBerry OS devices till June this year.

January 6, 2017