What was Published, and Links of Note

Here is a list of articles we published this week. You can keep up to date with Apple Resource by following us on Twitter or Signing Up to our weekly update e-mail.

How to Clear All Apple Watch Notifications in a Swipe and Two Taps

Ever noticed the red dot at the top of your Apple Watch screen and wondered what it means? Or even swiped down to see a load of notifications and you wonder how to clear them all? This article will show you something very few people know!

How to Preserve iOS9 Battery Life: Part One Background App Refresh

If you wish your iOS device battery life was better then this series of posts is for you. It will show you a range of practical tips to help maximise your battery life without making your phone a dumb phone again.

Links of Note

Jawbone Ceases Production of Their Fitness Trackers

If you have a Jawbone fitness tracker then this article might interest you. Hardly surprising but somewhat annoying for owners.

Apple Employees Face Death Threats

An interesting anonymous report by a UK Apple employee showing that its not all rainbows and glitter working for Apple.

The Best TV Tracking App

A good app review and comparison for TV tracker apps. Spoiler alert the best one was Television Time which you can see HERE.

How to Preserve iOS 9 Battery Life: Part 1 Background App Refresh

I’ve had my iPhone 6 Plus for about 1.5 years now, initially the battery life was amazing. More recently I’ve noticed that it rapidly drops off, this is in part due to the age of the device but it’s also in part due to several factors that I will cover in a series of posts about preserving iOS 9 battery life. I expect these tips will remain valid even with subsequent iOS versions.

Background App Refresh was a feature introduced in iOS 7 and for the best summary of what it does I refer to an Apple support article:

…Apps can continue to run for a short period of time and are then set to a suspended state so they are not actively in use, open, or taking up system resources. They will instantly launch when you return to them. Certain tasks or services can continue to run in the background. To lessen the effect on battery life, normal app background refreshing is scheduled for efficient times, such as when your device is connected to Wi-Fi, plugged into a power source, or being actively used. When Background App Refresh is on, apps that take advantage of this feature can refresh themselves in the background. For example, an app can check if new content is available and download the updates, or retrieve the updated content in the background when it receives a push notification, so the new content is ready for viewing when you launch the app. Apps can also schedule background refreshing based on your location. If you force an app to quit by dragging it up from the multitasking display, it won’t be able to do its background activities, such as tracking location or responding to VoIP calls, until you relaunch the app. iOS learns patterns based on your use of the device and tries to predict when an app should be updated in the background. It also learns when the device is typically inactive, such as during the night, to reduce update frequency when the device is not in use.

You will read many articles on the internet that tell you disable all Background App Refreshing to save battery life and others that will tell you not to bother at all as it makes no difference.

Apple Resource’s advice is to go through the list and make a conscious decision as to how much you use each application and how much you’d value it updating whilst in the background. It’s perfectly OK to leave apps that you value and use all the time as active due to the intelligent way Background App Refresh works. What you don’t want is every single app using it if you rarely use them. Although it was first introduced in iOS 7, apps taking advantage of Background App Refresh will have percolated through over time, which is why you may have a shock when you open up the Background App Refresh found at:

Settings -> General -> Background App Refresh

Leave a comment about how many apps you ended up disabling. As always, follow Apple Resource in Twitter, Facebook or sign up to our monthly newsletter.

How to Clear All Apple Watch Notifications in a Swipe and Two Taps

I consider myself an advanced user of Apple products, but just yesterday I learnt a trick about clearing notifications on my Apple Watch that I never knew. When you see a red dot on the top of your watch face this indicates that you have waiting notifications. Swiping down with your finger you are presented with a list of all your notifications.

What if you don’t want to read them all but want to clear them ready for new notifications, how do you do that? Here’s how:

1. From the watch face swipe down from the top of the watch face showing all of your notifications.
2. Press on the watch screen and an icon will appear on your screen saying ‘Clear All’.
3. Tap ‘Clear All’ and you are all clear of notifications.

Below are photos in the correct order showing you what you will see stepping through the process.

Liked this article? Why not read about why I wouldn’t give up my Apple Watch.

What was Published, and Links of Note

Here is a list of articles we published this week. You can keep up to date with Apple Resource by following us on Twitter or Signing Up to our weekly update e-mail.

Note: Apple Resource will move from three weekly posts to two. I hope the two we provide will be more unique and in depth than any other Apple related sites providing you with more unique content going forward. As always, I want to know what you as a reader is looking for. Please drop me a line on Twitter with anything you’d like to see published.

How to Enable iOS Night Shift Mode and Why You Should

iOS now comes with a blue light reduction feature. This not only aids your ability to sleep when using your devices close to bed time but it has medically proven health benefits as a result. This article shows you how to enable and use the feature.

How to Make an Online Backup with iCloud

Backup is one of the most critical things you can do with your technology today. Don’t be one of the people that turns up at the Apple Genius Bar in tears! As well as local backups you should be enabling cloud backups. Apple’s iCloud is a great offering, but don’t get caught short with its initial 5GB limit!

Links of Note

How to Backup iOS Devices Before Upgrading

To compliment Apple Resources backup article I’ve linked to The Sweet Setups post on backing up. It doesn’t added to much beyond the Apple support articles linked to here but its a nice article none the less.

Uber Enters Race to Perfect Driverless Vehicle Technology

MacRumors has posted an article on Uber entering the driverless car space. I think this is probably one of the most exciting tech areas going forward. From an Apple perspective they could do really well here, from my productivity side (DavidJMoore.com) a driverless car could really increase your productivity if you could work or rest whilst the car does the driving!

Apple Working on OS X 10.12 Feature Allowing Macs to Be Unlocked via iPhones Touch ID

It’s been two years since I provided feedback to Apple to make touch ID available on the Mac range. This will be somewhere in between, maybe somewhat gimmicky depending on how you use your desk space or mobile devices.

How to Make an Online Backup with iCloud

In the wake of multiple updates from Apple this week, including iOS updates it is a pertinent time to remind everyone the importance of backing up. You should be backing up your iOS device both locally and online.

Apple has an excellent online guide that shows you how to backup both locally with iTunes and online via iCloud.

But here is a really important message I want to impart on you. iCloud online comes with 5GB of online storage, you need to be aware of this. For your average iPhone user snapping pics and videos this will be used up rapidly.

Apple has a range of very affordable monthly tariffs for iCloud storage, make sure you invest and upgrade. It will cover all of your iOS devices and ensure that your devices are backed up every night as they are plugged in to charge.

Did you find this information useful? Follow Apple Resource on Twitter, Facebook or sign up for a free monthly Newsletter which will contain some unique content that won’t be found on the site.

Related and Similar Posts of Interest:

How to Enable iOS Night Shift Mode and Why you Should

Review: Verbatim MediaShare Wireless – Stream Files, Movies and other Data Wirelessly to Your Tablet and Smart Phone

How to Enable iOS Night Shift Mode and Why You Should

EDIT: Apple has just released iOS 9.3.2 which now allows night shift mode to operate in low power mode.

Night Shift mode in iOS is a system setting that allows you as a user to vary how your iOS device handles the blue light that its screen emits and varying times of the day.

Why Would I Want to Reduce Blue Light?

In short, blue light is the same light that reaches your eyes when you step outside. Biologically speaking it signals to your brain that it’s day time and hence your body reduces the production of melatonin, the hormone that makes you fall to sleep and that is critical for the synchronisation of your circadian rhythms. When using your iOS device during the day, this isn’t an issue but if you are using it at night time the blue light interferes with your circadian rhythm and hence your ability to sleep as well as your ultimate sleep quality.

There are some added benefits besides the blue light reduction, such as the reduction in being blinded when you wake in the middle of the night and look at your screen! The warmer temperature on the screen will be much easier on your eyes.

How Do I Use It?

Here is how you enable Night Shift mode:

Settings -> Display & Brightness -> Night Shift -> Scheduled (Toggle On/Off)

From this menu you have several options, I recommend you toggle ‘Scheduled’ on which will present you with new menu options. Again, I’d personally recommend that you set it to ’Sunset to Sunrise’ but if you want to, you can choose a ‘Custom Schedule’. ’Sunset to Sunrise’ will use your location and enable the ‘Night Shift’ to occur at exactly the right times for maximum benefit.

If you find yourself wanting to disable it, say because you are watching a movie, then from the iOS home screen you can swipe up from the bottom. This will bring up a menu where there is a new icon which looks like a sun icon thats half black and half white. Tapping this during the day will enable and disable the Night Shift. Toggling this when your phone is in scheduled night shift will present you some menu options for temporary disablement.

The final settings are for colour temperature, personally I set it to the most warm to remove as much blue light as possible but you should set it to whatever you feel comfortable with.

Conclusions

Applications to reduce blue light on electronic devices have been used for years on many other devices via apps like F.lux, however, this is the first time this has been possible on iOS (after F.lux was removed from the app store). Whilst it may take a little bit of getting used to you will soon notice the health/sleep benefits of minimising blue light around bed time. Indeed, this looks to be the way Apple is going as a default after the release of the new iPad Pro (9.7”) with True Tone display which adjusts the amount of white light dependant on the ambient light to make the display appear more natural.

What are your thoughts on ‘Night Shift’ mode? Leave a comment below.

Want to keep up to speed with whats going on at Apple Resource? Add Apple Resource on Twitter, Facebook or sign up for my free monthly news letter which will contain unique new content.

What was Published, and Links of Note

Here is a list of articles we published this week. You can keep up to date with Apple Resource by following us on Twitter, Facebook or signing up to our weekly update e-mail.

Review: Verbatim MediaShare Wireless – Turn a Hard Drive into a Wireless Hard Drive and Stream Files, Movies and other Data Wirelessly to Your Tablet and Smart Phone

The Verbatim MediaShare Wireless is a wireless hub that allows you to access USB hard drives and SD cards on up to 5 devices on its local wi-fi connection.

How to Name Locations in Apple’s Find My Friends App

Ever wished that your contacts locations in Find My Friends app and system wide where in friendly names that you easily recognise? This ‘How To’ will show you how to give your contacts locations friendly names.

How to Remove Connect from Apple Music

Here is a simple guide to remove the Apple Music Connect button from your Apple Music app.

Links of Note

Automating OmniFocus on iOS

Omni Group has released a new version of OmniFocus that can now interface with template files to create project templates on iOS. Thanks to David Sparks for highlighting this use case.

Mac Power Users Podcast Episode 320: Always Good Advice

My favourite podcast, this episode is listener feedback, well worth a listen if you are a Mac/iOS user with an interest in using your devices better.

How to Remove Connect from Apple Music

When Apple Music launched back on June 30th 2015, Apple also announced Connect, their social media style interaction with music artists located in the Apple Music app. Connect was a second attempt at the artist social networking after the failed Ping, which was launched September 1st 2010.

However, it doesn’t appear that Connect is a success for Apple Music with widespread consent online and many many people looking for a way to remove the Connect button from their Apple Music app. It’s rumoured that Apple will allow its users to remove the button in iOS 10 but in the meantime there is a way to remove it and replace it with ‘Playlists’.

To remove the Connect button from Apple Music you need to go through the following menu’s:

Settings -> General -> Restrictions -> Apple Music Connect

For the majority you will need to enable the ‘Restrictions’ section then toggle the Apple Music Connect button. When you switch back to Apple Music you will now see your Playlists button where Connect used to be. Enjoy!

How to Name Locations in Apple’s Find My Friends App

Do you share your location with your friends, family or spouse? Well here is a little trick that you can use to name frequent locations such as ‘Home’ or ‘Work’ so that you can quickly see from notification centre where your contacts are with friendly names.

Here are the simple steps to follow:

If you haven’t already, install Find My Friends app from the App Store it’s a free app. Many people don’t know this exists as it’s possible to share your location without it.
Open the Find My Friends app and tap on the contact who’s locations you want to name. Note: They need to be in one of these locations to change its name.
You should be looking at a map screen showing your contacts location. Along the top bar, blow their name, should be three menu options. Tap ‘More’.
It should show an address just below the map with a little piece of orange text just above, tap that and a menu will appear with a list of location names such as ‘Home’, ‘Work’ or ‘Custom’. Make your choice based on the label you want to add.
Go back to your phone home screen and swipe down from the top of the screen to bring up the ‘Today’ and ‘Notifications’ tabs. Scroll to the bottom and hit edit and add ‘Find My Friends’ if it isn’t already. Now when you view the today tab it will use your friendly names for your contact.

Did you find this tip useful? Let us know and follow us on Twitter, Facebook or sign up for our free newsletter that will deliver our best content straight to your inbox.

Review: Verbatim MediaShare Wireless – Turn a Hard Drive into a Wireless Hard Drive and Stream Files, Movies and Data Wirelessly to Your Mobile Device

Disclaimer: This was a personnel purchase, as such it is being reviewed completely independently.

&lt;br /&gt;<br /><br />

Buy now in the United Kingdom or in the United States

What is it?

The Verbatim MediaShare Wireless is a wireless hub turning a ‘wired’ hard drive into wireless hard drive that provides a way to share files and media between up to 5 connected devices on its private wi-if network via its file manager app. With 9 hrs of continuous battery life there is plenty of juice on the device to keep you going for a long plane flight or work day, it can even help charge your mobile device if needed.

Unlike wireless hard drive units this device acts more like a hub allowing you to connect a USB hard disk or thumb drive as well as an SD card. This has pros and also some cons. The pros are you can connect any USB hard drive to the unit and are not limited to a single drive, another advantage of which is the ability to then connect those drives to a Mac and back them up with Backblaze. It also provides you the ability to insert a camera SD card and transfer them wirelessly to a hard drive whilst on the road, also allowing you to view them on any mobile device. The obvious cons are that you need to carry both this unit and a storage unit, and you will need to connect the two together which might be a hindrance whilst travelling unlike a traditional wireless hard drive.

Who is this for?

This device appeals if you are looking to do the following:

Carry a lot of media (movies etc) on the road with you when you are travelling without a laptop.
You want to transfer photos from your camera SD card to a large hard drive when you are out and about, allowing you to take more pictures.
You want to go iOS only.
You travel with kids. This is great to keep them (and you) occupied on a long flight. You could also wire this into your car 12v supply and tuck it neatly away in your boot (trunk) with a hard drive attached. This would create an in car media hub.
You need to share large files or media with a project team quickly and securely.
You want more flexibility than a wireless hard drive unit.

How Well Does it Work?

The hardware itself works really well. It is well designed, feels solid and is easy to access.

However, where the whole package falls down is the app software, at least on iOS. It works well, but hasn’t been updated and looks just plain weird on iOS. Verbatim need to update it ASAP from a visual perspective. I’ve been able to stream movies, open PDFs, pictures all with great speed and ease. When opening a movie file, there was no buffering or lag at all. There isn’t a desktop app, so you are limited to mobile devices. Obviously with removable media this isn’t an issue. I’m not sure if the dedicated wireless hard drives come with desktop software, but if not, this could be a distinct benefit of going with this unit.

Conclusion

The main point of a product review description is should you by it or not? Well if you need to share a large storage device with one or several mobile devices or you travel with kids then the answer is simply yes. If you want more flexibility that a wireless hard drive whilst effectively converting multiple wire hard drives into wireless hard drives then this product is for you. The software needs to be updated urgently, but still functions fine. The hardware is solid and fast as well as nice and compact. You can buy the device from the links below, and if you do please leave a comment on your thoughts of the device.

Buy now in the United Kingdom or in the United States