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Nov
01

View and Copy Saved Wi-Fi Passwords in iOS 16

View and Copy Saved Wi-Fi Passwords in iOS 16

The iPhone and iPad have long allowed you to share Wi-Fi passwords with other nearby devices and people as long as they were in your Contacts list. But you couldn’t see those passwords, which is handy for sharing with non-Apple users and devices. In iOS 16 and iPadOS 16, you can now view and copy the stored Wi-Fi password for either the current network or any remembered network. In Settings > Wi-Fi, next to a network’s name (tap Edit at the top right to view stored networks), tap the blue information icon, tap Password, and authenticate to reveal the password. If desired, tap Copy to copy to the clipboard for pasting in another app, such as Mail or Messages.

(Featured image by iStock.com/denizbayram)

Nov
01

Check the Weather on Your Mac and iPad, Finally!

Check the Weather on Your Mac and iPad, Finally!

At long last, Apple has plugged one of the most inexplicable holes in its app library—the lack of a Weather app for the iPad and Mac. In iPadOS 16 and macOS 13 Ventura, you’ll now find a large-screen version of the iPhone’s iOS 16 Weather app. Locations you enter on one device automatically sync to your other devices, and the feature set is identical across the different platforms. That’s especially welcome now that Apple has integrated all the features of the acquired Dark Sky service, including hyperlocal notifications of incoming weather, next-hour and 12-hour animated forecast maps (tap the map), and time-based graphs of temperature, UV index, wind, precipitation, “feels like” temperature, humidity, visibility, and pressure. Plus, you’ll find cards for air quality and sunrise/sunset times. You no longer need to look elsewhere on the iPad and Mac for a basic weather app!

(Featured image by iStock.com/DNHanlon)

Oct
03

New Messages Features in iOS 16: Mark as Unread, Edit Messages, Undo Send, Report Junk, and More

New Messages Features in iOS 16: Mark as Unread, Edit Messages, Undo Send, Report Junk, and More

After years of user requests, Apple has finally beefed up Messages with a few welcome features—options to mark conversations as unread for later reference, edit messages after they’ve been sent, and undo sending entirely. Plus, when you delete junk texts in Messages, you can now report them to Apple and your carrier, and you can find inadvertently deleted conversations in Recently Deleted. Finally, there’s a Tapback improvement for SMS messages to Android users.

Before we begin, beware that editing messages and Undo Send work the way you expect only if your recipient is also using iMessage (blue bubble friends) with iOS 16 (or iPadOS 16 or macOS 13 Ventura, once those come out later in 2022). Instead of an edited message, a device running any other operating system will display a second message with the edited text. An unsent message can’t be called back from a recipient not running iOS 16—it will remain in the conversation with no indication that you tried to unsend it.

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Oct
03

watchOS 9’s New Low Power Mode Could Help Older Apple Watches

watchOS 9’s New Low Power Mode Could Help Older Apple Watches

Until watchOS 9, Low Power Mode on the Apple Watch turned the smartwatch into a dumb watch that only told the time. With watchOS 9 on an Apple Watch Series 4 or later, however, a new Low Power Mode reduces the watch’s capabilities while keeping it largely functional. It turns off the Always-On display, heart rate notifications, background heart rate and blood oxygen measurements, and the automatic start workout reminder. When your iPhone isn’t nearby, it disables Wi-Fi and cellular connections and incoming phone calls and notifications. Other features will be slower: making a phone call, refreshing background apps and complications, Siri requests, and some interface interactions. (You can still use the Workout app in Low Power Mode and record metrics like heart rate and pace. Go to Settings > Workout on the Apple Watch to turn Low Power Mode on automatically whenever you start a workout.) watchOS 9 prompts you to turn on Low Power Mode when your battery drops to 10%, or you can enable it manually by swiping up from the bottom of the screen to open Control Center, tapping the battery percentage button, and enabling the option.

(Featured image by Adam Engst)

Oct
03

Bring Back the Battery Percentage Indicator in iOS 16

Bring Back the Battery Percentage Indicator in iOS 16

Back in 2017, when Apple added the notch to the iPhone X for Face ID, the resulting loss of usable screen real estate caused the company to remove the battery percentage indicator from the status area. Since then, you’ve only been able to estimate how much battery life you had left from the icon; you had to open Control Center to see the numeric percentage. In iOS 16, however, Apple has revived the battery percentage indicator for Face ID iPhones, building it into the battery icon itself so it doesn’t occupy more of the status bar. Unfortunately, it’s not available on the iPhone XR, iPhone 11, iPhone 12 mini, or iPhone 13 mini, perhaps due to a lack of sufficient screen resolution. Everyone else can enable it in Settings > Battery.

(Featured image by Adam Engst)

Oct
03

Security Questions Your Organization Should Be Asking Itself

Security Questions Your Organization Should Be Asking Itself

We’re increasingly hearing from organizations that need to establish that they have sufficient security policies in place, either to meet the requirements of a larger client or to qualify for cyber insurance that insures against breaches and similar losses. Details vary, and we’re happy to work with you on the specifics, but here are some of the kinds of questions you may be asked. Of course, if you don’t have to prove that you’re doing the right thing to some other company, answering these questions for yourself can only improve your security readiness.

Do you enroll all organizational devices in a device management solution?

With device management, an IT department or managed services provider (MSP) maintains oversight and control over all organizational devices. That’s helpful for automating configuration and deployment, providing secure access to organizational resources, ensuring consistent security policies, managing app and operating system updates, tracking device inventory and status, and much more.

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