I have troubles with my eMail on my iPhone, so I started to look for solutions in the iOS Settings.app ; I don’t know if this is relevant for the solution to my mail-problem, but I found that when I try to adjust the settings for Fetch New Data (in the Settings.app > Mail > Accounts > scroll down to bottom) is turned OFF, and when I click on it the entire Fetch New Data settings page is greyed out, so I can’t switch it back ON and have my mail checked automatically…
What is wrong ? How can I fix this ?
Answer :
Relax, there’s nothing wrong… it’s just strange that iOS isn’t telling you why the entire page is greyed out and how you can fix this… The thing is : your iPhone is in Low Power Mode (a.k.a. Battery Saving Mode)… (if you look closely, you will see that the battery indicator top right is yellow in stead of white or green) To fix this, do this :
swipe down from the battery indicator top right
in the window that opens, scroll down to the white tile with the battery (in yellow) and click on it
now the tile wil turn dark and the battery will turn white
if there is no battery-tile, then go to Settings.app > Battery and switch the slider at Low Power Mode to ON
to check, go to Settings.app > Mail > Accounts > Fetch New Data and you will see that you can now set everything as you like
I am working in Apple Maps.app on my Mac and now I have made a lot of Dropped Pins / Red Pins that I have gathered in a custom My Guides folder. I have just created another Red Pin that I also want to add to this custom My Guides folder, but when I do the exact same thing to add it as I did earlier, for some reason that is impossible for this Red Pin since the name of the custom My Guides folder is not appearing… the only option given is “New Guide” for some reason…
What is wrong ? How can I fix this ?
Answer :
This seems to be a bug in Apple Maps.app (especially Maps version 3.0) on macOS… To fix this, do this :
close Apple Maps.app on your Mac
then, open Maps.app on your iPhone
swipe un the pull-up window (with the Search field) so the More Info window fills the screen
scroll down to the Red Pin you want to add
if you don’t see it right away, you might need to dig a little futher by clicking on one of the “More” buttons (on the right, next to each chapter)
when found, click on the Red Pin and it’s info will open in a new window
then, click on the ‘three dots’/More-button and choose “Add to Guides” from the pop-up menu
now, the complete list of My Guides you have will be visible (even the ones you were not able to select on your Mac)
Click on the custom My Guides folder and you will be able to add the Red Pin to that custom My Guides folder
I have an old location that I had once looked up in Apple Maps which was marked with a Red Pin. Now I no longer need it, so I want to delete it. Normally I would do that by clicking on the Red Pin in Apple Maps.app on my Mac, so the More Info window would open with a Delete-button… but for this particular Red Pin there is no Delete button… (even though the Delete button appears if I do this same thing with any other Red Pin…)
It’s even worse… this Red Pin is in a My Places ‘folder’ also, and even though I get the option to delete it there, it will automatically reappear in the same My Places ‘folder’ instantly after being deleted…
I’ve searched the internet multiple times, but no-one seems to know how do fix this… a lot of people seem to have run into this or a similar problem, but the solutions given just don’t work for me…
Is there any fix for this ?
Answer :
There is a fix (but no guarantee it will work for all similar problems). Try this :
first, close Apple Maps.app on your Mac
then, open Apple Maps.app on your iPhone
swipe the Search field (or actually the pull-up screen) upward to fill the screen with the More Info window
now, find the Red Pin you want to delete : it may be in the Recents chapter, or in the Favourites chapter, or you may have to dig a little bit further to find older Red Pins
once found, slide the info line of the Red Pin from right to left ; now a red Delete button will appear from the right ; click it to delete the Red Pin
If you also want to delete the Red Pin from the My Places ‘folder’, try this :
in Apple Maps.app on your iPhone, swipe the search field upward to fill the screen with the More Info window
scroll down to the My Guides chapter and click on the My Places ‘folder’
you will now see the map, with the pull-up screen now named My Places (or any custom name you have once given to the ‘folder’)
if you don’t see the Red Pin you want to delete, swipe up the pull-up screen and scroll down until you see the Red Pin you’re looking for
then, slide the info line of the Red Pin from right to left ; now the red Delete button will appear from the right ; click it to delete the Red Pin
then, click the X-marked button top right to go back to the main view (back to the More Info window)
And if you want to delete the My Places ‘folder’ (or any of the My Guides ‘folders’) entirely, try this :
in Apple Maps.app on your iPhone, swipe the search field upward to fill the screen with the More Info window
scroll down to the My Guides chapter and find the ‘folder’ you want to delete (e.g. the My Places ‘folder’)
then, slide the info line of the folder you want to delete from right to left ; now the red Delete button will appear from the right ; click it to delete the ‘folder’
That’s it !
…to check if this has worked, open Apple Maps.app on your Mac and your ‘undeleteable’ Red Pin will now be gone… (if this solution works in your case too)
I had a Philips HUE lamp that went rogue after 4 years of working without any problems, so I had to replace it with a new one. Installation was easy (as always) : it was immediately recognised by my HUE Bridge and there is no problem when I use it with the HUE.app (I am not using the HUE(Bluetooth).app since I have an HUE Bridge). Even the HUE Remote that controls to the group of lights that the old HUE lamp is in, immediately integrated the replacement HUE lamp.
But when I want to control my HUE lights from my Google Home devices and apps, all lights are still controlled properly, but not the newly replaced HUE lamp… I can’t control it from Google Home… What is wrong ?
Answer :
After connecting the new Philips HUE lamp to the HUE Bridge and the HUE.app, you need to also reconnect it to Google Home manually… Philips HUE doesn’t automatically update in Google Home (or the other way around)… To get things working in Google Home, do this :
make sure that the new HUE lamp is working properly with the HUE.app and all HUE Remotes as intended
then, make sure the group of lights that the new/repaced HUE lamp is in is turned on (so all lights of the group should be burning)
now, open the GoogleHome.app on your iPhone (or iPad)
when the “Home” page opens, click on the “Settings” button (the one with the sprocket/gear-icon)
in the “Home settings” page that opens, scroll down to the bottom and click on “Works with Google”
in the “Add Devices” page that opens, you will see a “Linked” chapter and a “Add new” chapter below ; since you already have your HUE lights set up in Google Home previously, you can click on “Philips HUE” in the “Linked” chapter
in the small popup menu that opens, click on “Check for new devices”
when the auth.meethue.com online login page opens, login to your Philips HUE account using your eMail address and your password
in the “Grant permission” webpage that opens, scroll down to the bottom and click on the blue “Grant permission” button
now the “Add Devices” page in the Googlehome.app opens, and at the bottom a message saying “Philips HUE is linked” will show
then, the “Choose device” page will automatically open where you see all your HUE lights and devices that are currently not connected to Google Home, so select the HUE lamp’s icon tile that you have replaced and click “Next”
in the “Connect Home” page that opens, drag&drop the HUE lamp’s icon tile onto the correct HOME icon tile (usually the HOME location that you have setup in Google Home) [ note that you can only connect the lamp to one home ] then click “Next”
in the “Connect Groups” page that opens, drag&drop the HUE lamp’s icon tile onto each and every GROUP icon tile (of lights and devices) you want the HUE lamp to be in, one after the other
when done, click “Next” and the GoogleHome.app will update
when done, back in the “Home” page, scroll down to the proper group and test what happens when you turn the group of lights off and back on
if everything works properly, you’re done
if you run into a problem (now or maybe later on), try this :
turn on all HUE lights
turn off all running GoogleHome.apps on all devices you have and unplug all Google Home speakers, Google Home displays and Nest Hubs
after at least 30 seconds, plug all Google Home speakers/displays and Nest Hubs back in and wait for them to restart
now, test if the group of HUE lights that includes the replaced HUE lamp works as intended when using one of the restarted Google Home speakers/displays or Nest Hubs (if it works on one Google Home device, it will work on all the one that have been restarted)
also test if the group of HUE lights that includes the replaced HUE lamp works as intended when using the GoogleHome.app on your iPhone (or iPad)
now, everything should work as intended (in the very unlikely event that it does not, redo all of the above)
A friend told me I could speed up my interaction with my iPhone by doing things like swiping with multiple fingers at the same time…
How do I do that ?
Answer :
The 2-finger gestures that you can use on your iPhone :
the basics : put 2 fingers on the screen next to each other, then spread them (‘pinch’ gesture) to zoom in on a picture or map
the basics : put 2 fingers on the screen apart of each other, then bring them together (‘reverse pinch’ gesture) to zoom out on a picture or map
the extras : when the onscreen keyboard is shown, long-press the spacebar (with one finger) to get a cursor that you can move though the text (‘trackpad-mode’), then add a second finger and with 2 fingers you can now select parts of the text
the extras : when in a list (like in Mail.app or Notes.app) use 2 fingers to tap one item, then drag down (or up) to select multiple items together – if needed you can still deselect individual items using only one finger
The 3-finger gestures that you can use on your iPhone :
the basics : put 3 fingers on the screen and swipe to the left to undo any action you just did
the basics : put 3 fingers on the screen and swipe to the right to redo anything (especially if you just did an undo action)
the extras : after having selected a text, put 3 fingers on the screen and spread them (‘reverse pinch’ gesture) to copy the selected text
the extras : after having copied some text (when it’s in the invisible clipboard), put 3 spread-out fingers on the screen and move them together (‘pinch’ gesture) to paste the text into your document
the extras : when in any text app, tap 3 fingers on the screen to bring up a menu that enables you to copy & paste
that’s just a few of the very handy gestures that you can use… enjoy 😉
I have an AppleWatch 3 (or Series 3 as it is officially called) and a few days ago, an warning message popped up saying there its memory is full.
The warning reeds : Storage Full Try removing music or photos using the AppleWatch app on iPhone.
but… when I go to the Watch app on my iPhone, there are no photos or music that I can erase…
What can I do to solve this ?
Answer :
In case you get a ‘Storage Full’ warning and you have an AppleWatch Series 3, your only option is to Unpair & Update, as you cannot erase any content manually. If you have a newer AppleWatch (an SE-Series, Series 4 or up) you can erase some content manually, so you could restart you AppleWatch and see if that helps, or you could try freeing up space by deleting media or apps. Here’s how to Unpair & Update :
on your iPhone, open the Watch-app
now, make sure your AppleWatch and iPhone are close together during the entire process (so the connection between the two will not be broken)
in the Watch-app, click the My Watch icon (bottom left) first, then click “My Watches” (top left)
in the “All Watches” window that opens, make sure that the AppleWatch you want to unpair is selected ( not really relevant if you only have one AppleWatch )
then, click on the INFO-icon (the i-in-a-circle icon) next to the selected AppleWatch
in the “Apple Watch” window that opens, click on “Unpair Apple Watch” (bottom left)
then, type your AppleID password when asked
note : upon request, make sure to select to keep your cellular plan if you have a GPS+Cellular AppleWatch
now click to confirm the unpairing
note : if you get a message that the unpairing might have gone wrong, and the AppleWatch is no longer listed in the Watch-app on your iPhone, try resetting your AppleWatch by long-pressing the Side Button until the SOS-slider appears ; then click the power button that also appeared (top right) ; if that still doesn’t unpair the AppleWatch properly, select “Erase all content” from the Settings menu
note : upon request, disable Activation Lock by entering your AppleID password
your iPhone will now create a backup of your AppleWatch’s content & apps before erasing your AppleWatch (if needed, you can use that backup to restore to a ‘clean’ Apple Watch)
after the AppleWatch has been erased, start by setting it up as a new AppleWatch
to do so, make sure your AppleWatch and iPhone are close together and follow the onscreen instructions
when done, you have a ‘new’ (but ’empty’) AppleWatch, and the latest available version of WatchOS will be installed
now, you will probably want to reinstall your apps & content from your backup – to do so, do this :
unpair the AppleWatch again
then setup your AppleWatch once again from your iPhone, but this time, upon request, choose “restore from backup” (not “set up as new”)
Today, on my iPhone I got a message from FindMy.app in my closed screen Notifications, and it is rather cryptic : “Replace the battery on left soon” and soon after I read it, it seems to have changed to “Replace the battery on right soon”… I have no idea what this is about (maybe because the message is not in proper English and makes not sense in that respect either)…
When I clicked on this alert message, the FindMy.app opened showing one of my AIrTags. But since my AirTags are only a few months old, I can’t imagine their batteries are already running low…
What is going on ?
Answer :
What if I tell you that the new AirPods Pro 2 (so the 2022 version) have AirTag-technology and software to make them easier to find ?
Do you also have the new AirPods Pro 2 maybe ?
The current version of the AirPods Pro 2 software has a bug in it that causes erratic alert messages in FindMy.app. You might encounter any of these alerts :
Replace the battery on right soon.
Replace the battery on left soon.
Replace the battery on Case soon.
So, you can deny these alerts. All you can do is hope that Apple fixes this in a software update asap.
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