fixed : Synology NAS no longer accessible because Secure SignIn app was offloaded from iPhone

Posted on 12-12-2024 by MacManus.nl

Question :
I want to access my Synology DS218 NAS because I got an eMail from Synology that there is a new system update available, but when trying to login I need the Synology Secure SignIn app on my iPhone. But I haven’t used the app for a while, and now it turns out it has been offloaded by iOS. I’ve re-installed the app, but now my entire account has been erased and syncronisation with my NAS is no longer possible.
I tried to setup my account in the Secure SignIn again, but when trying to do so, I get caught in a loop… I need an access to the app to login to the NAS’ virtual desktop interface… and I need access to my NAS’ virtual desktop interface to setup an account in the Secure SignIn app…

What can I do ?

Answer :
Even though you are caught in a loop, there is a way to get out of this… but it involves a rather rigorous reset… to do so, do this :

make sure you have the Synology Secure SignIn app on your iPhone (you can download it from the AppleStore – there are versions for iOS/iPhone and iPadOS/iPad)
make sure you have SynologyAssistiant.app on your Mac (you can download it from the Synology Download Center – search based on the model of your NAS)
find the tiny button marked RESET (on the back of your NAS)
use a paperclip, ballpoint-tip or something alike to press & hold the RESET button for 4 seconds, until you hear a beep
immediately release the button when you hear the beep
you have now reset the network settings of your NAS, removed the 2-factor authentication and reset the password to blank (but all data on your NAS will remain intact)
now plug the UTP/Ethernet-cable from your NAS straight into your Mac
temporarily switch off WiFi on your Mac (and disconnect all other network & internet connections)
then, open the SynologyAssistant.app on your Mac
when the screen opens, click on “Search”
when your NAS appears in the list of found devices, click on “Connect”
now your webbrowser (Safari) opens
on the first screen, when your account name is asked, type : admin
then click the blue NEXT button
on the second screen, leave the password field blank and click the blue NEXT button
when prompted to enable 2-factor authentication, click “No, thanks”
when prompted to set up adaptive MFA, click “I don’t want to secure my account”
when the recommendation and question if you are sure to proceed appear, klick the blue OK button
now the Reset Password page opens, set the account name you want to use (if you want, you can use your previous account name)
now, if you click at the upper new password field, you will probably be recommended to use a Safari Strong Password, if so, click OK (if no password is suggested, set a long password manually)
make sure you write down this password offline (or somewhere very secure)
then, make sure the chosen password is the same in both fields and clcik OK
when you get the “Success! Your password has been changed.” message, click the “Sign In Now” button
then, you will need to log-in again on your NAS, this time with your new password
if you get a message saying “password invalid” you can ignore it and try again (usually the second time it will just work anyway)
when the webinterface opens, click on your account info (blue person icon) top right
from the pulldown menu, choose “Personal”
when the “Personal” settings window opens, click on the “Security” tab
in the “Security” tab window that opens, select “2-Factor Authentication” and click the blue Apply button
in the pop-up window that opens, choose “Verification code (OTP)”
then put your Synology NAS (a.k.a. “DSM”) account password in the next pop-up window and click the blue OK-button
the next pop-up window advises to download the Secure SignIn app, but since you’ve already done so, just click the blue Next-button
in the next pop-up window you will see a QR-code
now, open the Secure SignIn app on your iPhone and click the OTP-button (bottom-right)
when the OTP-window opens on your iPhone, click the + button top right
then your camera will open within the Secure SignIn app
now, using your iPhone, scan the QR-code that is displayed on your Mac
then, a 6-digit code will be generated on your iPhone
key in that 6-digit code into the “Verification Code (OTP)” field on your Mac and click the blue Next-button
in the “Backup email settings” window that opens (on your Mac) check that your account eMail address is also listed as your Backup eMail address, and verify your eMail address if you haven’t done that already
if “Send verification email” is greyed out and “Verified” is indicated next to it in green, you can click the blue Next-button
in the next window, click the blue Next-button
now, your NAS has been successfully re-linked with the app, so you can close the “Personal” window by clicking the X button (top right inside the window)
when done, in the online virtual desktop (which is still open on your Mac), click the Control Panel icon
in the “Control Panel” window that opens, click “Regional Options” (in the “System” chapter)
in the next window, make sure the “Time” tab is selected (usually the “Time” tab will be already displayed automatically)
then make sure that “Synchronize with NTP Server” is selected in the “Time Setting” chapter
at “Server address:” select “time.google.com” and click the ‘Update Now’-button
even if it says “Status: Checking…” or “cannot connect” you can now click the blue ‘Apply’-button
Note : keep in mind that the codes generated by the Secure SignIn app are time-sensitive, so it is essential that the time set in your NAS is correct and keeps getting updated
you can now close the NAS’ vritual desktop in your browser
now, reconnect the UTP/Ethernet cables from your NAS and your Mac in the way they used to be before your problems occurred (so both your Mac and your NAS will have internet connection)
then, on your Mac, reopen the SynologyAssistant.app
maybe you need to click the ‘Search’-button, but ususally your NAS will already be listed
select your NAS from the list and click the ‘Connect’-button
now, your NAS’ login page will open in your browser
on the first page key in your Synology NAS account name
on the second page, key in your password and put a checkmark at “do not ask again on this device”
on the thrird page, key in the 6-digit OTP code that is shown in the Secure SignIn app on your iPhone
now your NAS’ virtual desktop will open in your browser
there, click on the Control Panel icon
open “Regional Options” again
in the “Time” tab, check that the current time is displayed, that the ’Time Setting’ is on ’Syncronize with NTP Server’ and that ‘Status:’ is at “Normal” (in green)
if not, adjust these settings and click ‘Update Now’
else, close the NAS’ virtual desktop
That’s it !

enjoy 😉

fixed : Nokia glass fiber modem all lights flashing but no internet

Posted on 11-12-2024 by MacManus.nl

Question :
I have no internet signal on my Nokia XS-2426G-B glass fiber modem. Only the power light was flashing when I first discovered the problem. So I restarted the modem by taking out the power cable for at least 30 seconds and plugged it back in, but that did not resolve the problem. Now, all lights are flashing, and they keep flashing, there’s no progression in any way… Trying yet another restart by temprotarily disconnecting the power doesn’t change anything… All light keep flashing and noting happens, the internet doesn’t come back on…

What can I do ?

Answer :

The flashing of all lights indicates that the power adapter is broken. The obvious way to fis this is by contacting your glass fiber internet provider and asking for a power adapter replacement. But that will resolve your problem very quickly, as it will take a few days for you to receive the part, and that isn’t going to get you back online as soon as possible…

The quickest way to fix this is to find another power adapter with similar specs and get your modem the power it needs to reconnect to the internet.

The specs for the power adapter are :
output : 12V DC 3A
connector : 5.5 * 2.5mm tip (tube shaped)
polarity : inner centre positive (+) and negative (-) on the outside

So to resolve your problem, do this :
-1- contact your glass fiber internet provider and order a new (original) power adapter ; ask how long it will take for you to receive it and choose one of the following to save you in the mean time :
-2A- see if you have a 12V DC adapter with a 5.5 * 2.5mm inner centre posisitve tip and at least 3.0A lying around that you can temporarily use
-2B- if you don’t have one lying around and you need to get back online a.s.a.p., go to your local electronics shop or DIY shop or hardware store and get yourself a universal 12V DC power adapter that can be adjusted to 3.0A and can be fitted with a 5.5 * 2.5mm inner centre positive tip
-2C- if you can do without cabled internet (e.g. because you can do with 5G mobile telephone internet) for about 24 hours and you want a cheaper 12V DC power adapter, buy one online with overnight delivery and make sure it meets the above mentioned specs.

On Amazon you can get several power adapters that will do the job :
[ we get a fee if you buy on amazon using these links ]
on amazon.com : multi-purpose 12V DC Power Adapter max 3A
on amazon.co.uk : multi-purpose 12V DC Power Adapter max 3A
on amazon.de : multi-purpose 12V DC Power Adapter max 3A

So, once you receive the official/original power adapter from your glass fiber internet provider you can use that one, and you can keep the other adapter as a spare in case of emergency.

That’s it !

enjoy 😉

fixed : transcribe WhatsApp voice messages

Posted on 10-12-2024 by MacManus.nl

Question :
I have some friends and acquaintances that prefer to not send me text messages in WhatsApp, but they nearly always send me voice messages… I get frustrated by them, because I can’t speed-read-scan those for the clue, I can’t easily find the info back later on and I can’t listen to them if I don’t have my headphones nearby…

Is there an easy way to have them transcribed ?

Answer:
Yes there is, and it is built-in into WhatsApp since november 2024… however, WhatsApp is not releasing it worldwide everywhere all at once… so, it may be available for you already, but you might also need to wait for it a little longer…

To switch on the Transcribe-function in WhatsApp do this :

make sure your iPhone is running iOS 16 or newer ( since the fall of 2024 we’re on iOS18 )
Note : in iOS 16 only English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, Turkish, Chinese, and Arabic are supported ; in iOS 17 Danish, Finish, Hebrew, Malay, Norwegian, Dutch, Swedish and Thai were added.
make sure that Siri is turned on
to turn on Siri, do these :
– goto Settings.app > Siri > Talk to Siri > make sure that “Press Side Button for Siri” is turned ON
– goto Settings.app > Siri > Messaging with Siri > READ MESSAGES > Add Language… > make sure that the languages that you frequently use to communicate are activated
– goto Seetings.app > Siri > [scroll down] > Apps > WhatsApp > make sure that all options are switched ON
then, open WhatsApp.app on your iPhone
open the main ‘Chats’ screen ( that’s were your most recent chat conversations are listed )
- click on Settings ( bottom-right ; with the sprocket/gear-icon )
- in the ‘Settings’ screen that opens, scroll slightly down and click on ‘Chats’
- in the ‘Chats’ page that opens, you’ll see an option named ‘Voice Message Transcripts’
  Note : this option will only be visible if WhatsApp has released it for your you, so if you don’t see it (yet), comback to this page later to chack wether it’s available for you…
- switch ON ‘Voice Message Transcripts’ to activate it, and choose your Transcript Language
  
  Then, to create transcripts of voice messages, do this :
- open WhatsApp.app on your iPhone
- open the ‘Chats’ screen ( that’s were your most recent chat conversations are listed )
- click on the chat that you’ve received the voice message in ( so, locate the voice message )
- click & hold on the voice message
- click ‘Transcribe’ when it appears
- click the smal triangular arrow (the downward pointing angle) to expand the transcription
- now, the transcription will be shown…
  Note : it might take some time before the transcription will appear
- That’s it !
  enjoy 😉
  
  Note : if you get an error saying ‘Transcript unavailable’, this may be because of one of the following :
  – you have set te wrong transcript language
- the voice message language isn’t supported (yet)
- you have set the wrong transcript language
- the audio quality it too poor to be transcribed ( e.g. due to background noise )

fixed : TikTok ‘Couldn’t create account. Try again’ error

Posted on 12-11-2024 by MacManus.nl

Question :
Someone send me a link to a TikTok-post that apparently is a must-see for me… but when I click the link on my iPhone, the TikTok.app opens and telles me I need to login…
I do have the Tiktok.app installed on my iPhone, but I can’t remember if I even have a TikTok-account… I checked in my iCloud-saved password-keychain, but there is no TikTok-apssword there… maybe I had an account, but I can’t find the password, so I chose ‘sign up’ to create a new account using my eMail-address… now everything seemd to go okay, I actually get a verification code send to my eMail-address, but when I use the 6-digit code, I get an error message saying “Couldn’t create account. Try again.”
So, I tried again… same problem, same outcome…
And this problem seems to persist after multiple tries…

What can I do ?

Answer :
This error message problably comes up because the TikTok verification system is seeing ‘something out of the ordinary’ in your attempt to create a new account… (which could just be that you didn’t input your date of birth because it wasn’t asked… you started creating an account when you installed the TikTok.app long ago, and then you quit during the account creation process, and never got to creating the account then…)
Anyway, the solution is this :
– on your iPhone, long-press on the TikTok.app icon
– when the popup window appears, choose “Delete” (not “Delete from Home Screen”)
– then check if the Tiktok.app has been deleted from your iPhone
– now, open the AppStore.app and lookup the TikTok.app there
– then, reinstall the Tiktok.app
– when done, open the TikTok.app and create a new account (using your tel.nr. of eMail-address)
– now you will be asked to give your date of birth before you get the verification code, so fill out you date of birth
– then, on the next page, typ or paste the verification code that was send to you via eMail (or SMS)
– now, the verification code will be accepted, so proceed completing the account creation process and you’re good to go

That’s it !

enjoy 😉

fixed : free currency converter (or unit converter) for iOS

Posted on 30-09-2024 by MacManus.nl

Question :
I used to have a currency converter app on my iPhone which was very handy when travelling the globe. But the free currency converter app that I used to use, doesn’t work with my current iOS version and is no longer available form the AppStore…

Do you have any recommendation ?

Answer :
With the introduction of iOS 18, Apple has. integrated all kinds of conversion options (including currency conversion) into the Calculator app. To use it, do this :
– open the Calculator.app on your iPhone (or iPad or Mac)
– when in the regular calculator mode, click on the Calculator-button (bottom left)
– from the popup list that appears, set the slider to the right (so ‘Convert’ will be chosen and turn orange)
– now the input field will be devided in two : an upper part with white digits and a lower part with grey digits ; the upper part is the input field, the lower part is the result field
– tip 1 : using the orange up/down-sign on the left, you can swap the currency
– tip 2 : using the grey up&down-icon next to the currencies, you can choose any currency you like
– tip 3 : after pressing the grey up&down-icon (next to the currency), you will get the option to convert not only currencies, but also all other sorts of values by choosing another orange chapter : Angle, Area, Data, Energy, Force, Fuel, Length, Power, Pressure, Speed, Temperature, Time, Volume or Weight ; you can scroll though the list or use the search field to find the currency (or other type of unit) you need
– so, after having chosen the sort of conversion you need, just key in the value and the converted value will be shown

That’s it !

enjoy 😉

fixed : add total number of pages to page numbers in Word for Mac

Posted on 27-09-2024 by MacManus.nl

Question :
I am working in Word (from Microsoft Office for Mac) on a multi-page document and I want to include the page numbers including the total number of pages.

How do I do that ?

Answer :
In Word 16 (the current version of the texteditor from Microsoft Office for Mac) it is straight forward to include page numbers. To include page numbers in your Word document, do this :
– have your document open in the Word.app
– click on ‘Insert’, either in the top menu bar or in het document’s menu bar
– then click on ‘Page Numbers’
-and in the small ‘Page Numbers’ popup screen that now opens, set the desired position (Top/Header or Bottom/Footer), the desired alignment (Left, Center, Right, Insides or Outsides) and put a checkmark if you wish to have the ‘Page number shown on first page’ also
– then click ‘OK’ and page numbers will automatically appear on all pages

However… if you also want to include the total number of pages next to the page numbers, you cannot do that this way or any similar way… you will need a completely different method :
– have your document open in Word.app
– first make sure you are on the first page of your document
– now, click on ‘View’ in the top menu bar
– then, in the pulldown menu, click on ‘Header and Footer’
– then, click with your cursor in either the Header or the Footer, depending on where you want the page numbers
– click on ‘Insert’ in the top menu bar
– in the pulldown menu, click on ‘AutoText’
– and in the next pulldown menu, click on ‘Auto-text’
– in the ‘AutoCorrect’ popup window that now appears, click on the ‘AutoText’ tab/button
– then scroll though the alphabetical list and choose “Page X of Y” andd click the blue ‘Insert’ button
– now, eacht page will have both page number and total number of pages in the Footer (or Header) of each page
– so, basically you’re done now
– but… if you want do do some customization, you can…
– to change the font of the page numbering, just select the text “Page 1 of 22” (if your document has 22 pages) and choose the desired font and font size
– to change the “Page 1 of 22” into something like “1 of 22” or “1 ( 22 )”, just select the part of the “Page 1 of 22” text that you want to change and adjust it to your liking [ and if you accidentally delete either the page number or the total number of pages, just redo from start ]

That’s it !

enjoy 😉

fixed : blurred translations in Apple Translate.app after upgrade to iOS 18

Posted on 18-09-2024 by MacManus.nl

Question :
Yesterday I installed iOS 18. so far so good. At least, that is what I thought… but now, when I try to use Apple’s own iOS Translate.app on my iPhone all translations are blurred out when I typ texts that I want translated (curiously, when I speak the same texts in the microphone, they are displayed properly and translations are not blurred out) All translated texts are blurred out, even if I switch languages or restart the app.

What can I do ?

Answer :
Easiest solution to this is reinstalling the app. To do that, do these steps :
– on your iPhone, find the icon of the translate.app
– press & hold the app’s icon until a popup menu appears
– in the popup menu, click on ‘Remove App’
– in the next ‘Remove “Translate”?’ popup that appears, click on ‘Remove App’
– now the app will be gone from your iPhone
– then, open the AppStore.app on your iPhone
– when the AppStore opens, typ “Apple Translate” in the search field
– in the list of found apps, scroll down to the app called ‘Translate’ (currently a black icon with a globe grid and a white text balloon with the letter A in it on the left side and a blue text balloon with a foreign character on the right side)
– make sure that the developer listed for this app is ‘Apple’ and the type of app is ‘Utilities’ (if you long-press on the app icon, you will see some in-depth info on the app where you can double-check this)
– then click the ‘download from cloud’ icon at the right
– the download clock icon will now show it is being downloaded and turn into an ‘Open’ button when done
– the Translate.app will now be available on your iPhone once again, and it will now work properly
– if you want the Translate.app on another page of your iPhone’s icon screens, long-press the app’s icon and choose ‘Edit Home Screen’ from the popup menu

That’s it !

enjoy 😉

MacManus.nl

helping hundreds of happy Applers each day

Category Archives: tips & tricks

fixed : Nokia glass fiber modem all lights flashing but no internet

fixed : free currency converter (or unit converter) for iOS

fixed : add total number of pages to page numbers in Word for Mac

fixed : blurred translations in Apple Translate.app after upgrade to iOS 18

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