iCloud basics

Those of us that have owned Apple devices for more than 3 years may or may not remember a service from Apple called MobileMe.  All you need to know about MobileMe is that it never really provided the functionality on the scale that Apple had hoped.  In 2011, Apple re-branded MobileMe to iCloud.  In the almost three years that it's been up and running, it's been a blessing to iOS users.  Offering a cloud service that syncs and backs up your content, and it works!

Why is having a cloud service important?  Simply put, every other major software/hardware vendor has one, and without it, you'd still be plugging your iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch into your Mac (or PC), and muddling through iTunes to sync and back up your content.  That is so early 2000's!  Today it's ease of use we all desire (or demand).  I can tell you, I applauded mightily in October 2011, when my iPhone 4S connected to iCloud and sent my content through iCloud to my Mac and iPad, it was an awesome moment!

So what is iCloud?  In short, it's a cloud based service that syncs your content and it is the best (and easiest)  option to back-up your iOS devices (iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch).  Let' start with syncing.  If you have multiple devices, and I'm not just talking about multiple Apple devices.  You can have an iPhone and a PC, or an iPad and a Mac, or an iPhone, iPad and Mac.  The combinations are endless (well not really but you get where I'm going).  If you have multiple devices iCloud will sync your content seamlessly as long as your iCloud settings are turned on, on the respective devices.

On the two screen captures above (from my iPhone), you'll notice most of the settings are green (or On), however I have a couple (Notes and Reminders) that are off.  The reason I have those two off is because I use other apps for my Notes (Evernote) and Reminders (Wunderlist).  By having Mail, Contacts and Calendar settings all set to on, it allows all content from those apps to be shared amongst any iCloud enabled device that I sign into with my Apple ID and Password.  So if I enter a new contact on my iPhone, iCloud takes that content to the ether, and passes it to my iMac and iPad (without me having to do anything except make sure the same iCloud settings are turned on, on those devices).  Below are the iCloud settings from my iMac.  There is a caveat for the Mail setting.  If your mail address is not an Apple email (@Mac, @Me, @iCloud), in most cases, not all, the mail setting will be grey (Off).  The reason being, if you use another mail host, like Gmail, Yahoo, Comcast or AOL, you don't need Apple to Sync or back up those systems.  Those other systems are supposed to handle that for you.  So if your iCloud account (Apple ID) is "xyz@gmail.com".  There is no need to have that setting on.  Make sense?  Good!

If you looked closely, you'd notice that on my iMac's settings, Notes is checked.  Why would I have it checked on my iMac, and not on my iPhone?  Because prior to using Evernote, I did use the Notes App on my devices, and if I turn the setting off on my iMac, it will erase the notes that are there, and I don't want to do that...:).  I also took screen captures of the Photos setting and the Documents and Data setting.

So as you can see, iCloud handles, or can potentially handle quite a bit of information.  If you chose not to use iCloud, as I mentioned earlier, you'd be stuck in iTunes hell!  

Now iCloud not only syncs your content, but, it also backs up your iOS devices.  Now, what does that mean, and how does that work you ask?  Great questions!  iCloud back ups work like this:  as long as the Backup setting is turned on (see below)

And your device is On, charging to an outlet, and you are in a wireless network, iCloud will ping your device, check when the last backup occurred (in my case 7:22 PM yesterday), and if you are beyond 24 hours since the last backup, iCloud will create a new backup for you.  Or, you can manually backup your iOS device by pressing the "Back Up Now" option if, and only if it is blue, as in the screen capture above (must be in wireless network for this to work).  Please keep this in mind.  iCloud only keeps 1 backup per device.  So you can manually backup as many times as you'd like during the day, but iCloud will only keep the latest.  Reason is because you only need 1 complete backup.  If you are charing your device, and in a wireless network, but your device is off, guess what will not happen, your device will NOT back up!  Any guesses as to why?  If you said "because when your device is off the GPS is disabled, and iCloud can't ping your device", you are 100% correct!  So, don't expect backups to occur when your device is off, because they will not!

Now I wrote about Photo Stream in an earlier blog, so I'm not going to go too much into it here, except to say that you should make sure your Photo Stream settings (below) for My Photo Stream and Photo Sharing are turned on.  The Burst Photos is specific to the iPhone 5S, no other devices currently have that capability.   If Photo Stream and Photo Sharing are off, your pictures will be stuck on your iOS device, until you will manually move them to your Mac (or PC).   

Now if you are a PC users with iOS devices, don't feel left out, you can download the iCloud Control Panel for your PC, and that will allow you to sync content between your iOS devices and your PC, nice move Apple!

Another key element of iCloud, is space.  How much do you get, how much does it cost, what if you run out!  When you create an iCloud account, you get 5GB of free storage.  If you have multiple devices attached to that iCloud account, you'll run out of 5GB quickly.  You can purchase an additional 10GB for $15/yr, 20GB for $40/yr, and 50GB for $100/yr.  Honestly, the additional storage is costly considering what other services offer.  I wonder if and when Apple will lower the prices here.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, if you have an Apple ID for iTunes, should you use that for iCloud?  My best answer here is, it depends.  If you have a family, sharing an Apple ID for iTunes, I recommend each of you having your own Apple ID for iCloud.  An example would be family of four, mom, dad and two kids.  The Apple ID for iTunes has been set up under dad's email.  Now everyone has multiple devices, and if everyone is sharing dad's Apple ID for iCloud, you'll find you have no space to back up.  Not to mention your contacts, calendar events etc, etc, etc are a combination from everyones devices!  Yuck!  So Mom, and kids should create their own iCloud account (Apple ID).  Don't fret, you can still share calendar events and other content, you'll just share what you want to.  

Well I hope this iCloud intro has been helpful.  Until next time, best to you and your devices!

Read more ►

Merging contacts on your iPhone and iPad.

Merging contacts on your iPhone and iPad.

Do you a contact problem on your iOS device?  Do your duplicates stress you out??   It’s practically inevitable that duplicate contacts appears on your iOS device either by accident, typos, through sharing vCard information with others, or from something as basic as a contact changing their name and addresses, for which an additional entry gets added. Prior to iOS 7, there was no simple way of handling multiple contact entries on your iOS device, but that has finally changed, and now there is an easy way to merge those contacts directly and easily!

Ok, this will be fantastic for those of you that experience DCS!  Because this is done on your iOS device, you do not need to to sync to iCloud, iTunes  or any other computer for the change to take effect, you simply make the change directly on your iOS device, and iCloud, takes care of pushing the changes automatically to any other iOS and OS X devices that use the same Apple ID.

I've got screen captures just below to assist.
This fantastic new feature is not actually called Merge, but rather Link Contacts, which is possibly why it’s  often missed, or overlooked, regardless, here is what you do!

From your iOS device, tap the Contacts app (or on your iPhone, tap the phone app) , open the contact you wish to merge another duplicate contacts with.
    Next, tap on the “Edit” button
    Scroll down toward the bottom to find Link Contacts, then tap on the green plus icon “(+) link contacts…” to link/merge the contact with another.
    Then, locate the contact to merge (either a duplicate or a changed addressee) and tap on the name, then tap on “Link” in the corner
    Repeat for more than one duplicate, otherwise tap on “Done” to finish the merging

Yeah!!  This instantly links/merges all contact details from the two (or more) contact cards into a single contact entry, it does not overwrite any information, it simply merges all details into a single contact.

In the screenshots below, the address information for multiple AT&T contacts has been merged into a single card. The first contact edited will be the one that accepts the merged details:




Once you click “Done”, there will only be a single contact for the details you merged (linked), in this example I've Merged/Linked two AT&T accounts.

One great thing about the “Link Contacts” method is that although it merges the contacts,  it can very easily be  undone if you decide to unmerge/unlink the contact details. To do that, just go back to the contact in question, tap on “Edit” and then tap on the red (-) icon along the linked contacts details.

There are other ways to Merge/Link contacts,  but I'm not going to address those here.  Today I simply wanted to point out a great feature that was added to iOS 7.

So now it's up to you!  If you are loaded with duplicate contacts, you've been given the green light to get rid of them!  It may take some time, but will definitely be worth it.  Free you device of DCS!

Until next time, best to you and your fewer contacts...:).

Merging contacts on your iPhone and iPad.

Smartphone (Handphone)

Read more ►

Great iOS Apps.

Well I sure am glad we are out of February, it was ridiculously cold!  Hopefully that didn't stop you from checking out the great apps I highlighted last month on The MacMentor's Weekly posting on Facebook for the App of the week.  My goal with the app of the week postings is to make you more aware of the great tools out there for your iOS devices.  Then at the start of each new month, give a more in-depth review of those apps with these blog posts.

Ok, so the 1st app highlighted this past February was a cool note taking App that is a nice companion to Evernote.  The app is SwiftKey.

SwiftKey uses what it calls predictive technology, to advance the keyboard by learning how you write to better provide autocorrect and smart next word predictors or predictions.

SwiftKey Note gives you a cool new way to capture your thoughts, in an easy to use, beautiful app.  

SwiftKey is like Artificial intelligence for your iOS device.  The more you use it, the smarter it gets.  Even better, it connects with your EverNote account to further personalize your experience by making predictions based on your EverNote archive of notes.  Below you see screen shots from the SwiftKey app.  Under the +, you see the Elephant Head icon, which is the EverNote icon.  So you can create a note using SwiftKey, and store it in Evernote.   

One of the best features of SwiftKey is that it gets smarter as you use it more, and learns to adapt with you over time.  You can track your typing stats in settings, and watch your typing and productivity get better and better!  

Ok, for the week of February 9th, I choose the new app from Facebook, Paper as that weeks App of the week.  Facebook has been one of the top 50 iOS apps since it came out some six years ago.  But honestly, the app is tired and has needed a facelift for quite some time.  Well Facebook finally gave itself that needed facelift, sort of.  The Facebook app hasn't changed, but they did create a new one, called Paper, that is fantastic, and provides a much better user experience.  

One of my favorite features in Paper is the ability to Edit Sections.  Sections provide you with the ability to view things that the original Facebook app did not offer, sort of like news sections from different Sections of life.  The different Sections offered range from Pop Life, to Flavor, to Planet, to Family Matters.  

To get to Edit Sections, from the your page, or section (which is your home page, screen capture 1 below) take your finger, and swipe down on the screen.   That takes you to the Facebook Section (2nd screen cap below).  On that page, take your finger and swipe down

 Now you are taken to a page that will look similar to the one below.  

Next, you'll click on the Edit Sections field which takes you to a screen similar to the one below.  The lower portion of that screen let's you pick what will be displayed on your "Paper".  It's a cool concept, and adds some much needed life to what was an incredibly dull, boring Facebook experience on your iOS device.  

Once you've added the sections you wish to view, you click done (upper right corner of your screen), and you are taken to what is your Paper home screen.  From there you swipe along the lower portion of your screen to view the posts of your Facebook friends.  If you wish to view a post, you tap on it.  Notice below, the post in the middle that reads "Happy Independence Day".  I tap on that, and it full screens (2nd screen cap below).

So, all in all, Paper is a very cool, much needed update to the Facebook App.  If you visit the Facebook App on a regular basis, I highly recommend downloading and using the new Paper app instead!

Next up, an App that I use regularly to keep track of my to-do's.  It's called, Wunderlist.  

Wunderlist is flat out awesome!  It not only tracks your to-do's, but lets you create numerous to-do lists.  It's super easy to use interface lets you get up and going very quickly, and it's companion apps for the Mac and PC make it that much more lovable (not to mention, Wunderlist can also be accessed via the web!).  

When you open Wunderlist on your iOS device it looks like the screen cap below.

If you want to add a list, notice in the screen cap above the "+Add a list...", simply tap that and you can create a new list.  To create a new to-do, simply tap anywhere on the right side of the screen, and it brings you to a screen that looks like the one below.

Next, type in the name of the new to-do (I've typed "Create new blog" in the field).  Next, click the Done button.  It brings you to an editable screen (like the one below).  

From there, you set your to-do's Due Date.  If you wish to be reminded by Wunderlist, you can have it Remind you.  You can add a subtask, and finally any notes you wish for the particular to-do.  I've added screen caps below to take you through the process.  

All in all, Wunderlist rocks.  Oh yeah did I mention its FREE!  That doesn't hurt either...So if you want an App that gives you a bit more than the Reminders app that comes with your iOS device, go and download Wunderlist.  It's ease of use, and cloud syncing make it an A-list App!

The last App that I highlighted in February is "Keeper Password and Data Vault".  I've had many many clients and friends say to me, "how do I keep track of my numerous passwords, it's getting overwhelming"!  I absolutely agree.  Most of you probably have anywhere from 5-20 different passwords (maybe even more) to access everything from your AppleID, to your email, to your bank account, to countless other sites you access on your iOS device as well as on your computer.  There are endless App options out there to store your passwords, I choose Keeper because it gets fantastic reviews, it's works across platforms, it's easy to use, and its free!  

For obvious reasons I'm not going to show screen caps of my Keeper.  Some important things to know are:

Keeper uses work-class encryption technology, including 256-bit AES data storage.  PBKDF2 encryption keys (what are those you ask?   It's really great encryption technology is what you need to know!).  They also use Double encrypted syncing, and what's called Two-factor authentication.  If you don't understand that, just know it's great technology to keep your passwords safe!  

So, I hope you enjoy checking out and using the Apps that I highlight each month.  If you have a suggestion for the App of the week posting, by all means, don't hesitate to share it with me.  I love finding new apps to share!  

Till next time, best to you and your devices!

Read more ►