fixed : VanMoof.app on AppleWatch keeps giving No Data error

Question :
I have an electrical S1 VanMoof bicycle and can only unlock the lock that’s build into the fram with the app on my iPhone or AppleWatch. This used to work great for years, but now, every time I try to use the VanMoof.app on my AppleWatch, I immediately get a warning screen saying “No Data – First, open the VanMoof app on your phone.”, but when I open the VanMoof.app on my iPhone nothing changes on my AppeWatch, not even after restarting the app or restarting the AppleWatch… and I can’t find any option in the VanMoof.app on my iPhone to reconnect with the AppleWatch or give access to data…

What can I do ?

Answer :
If you encounter these problems, the solutions outlined in this post will probably not fix your problem., so you are best off doing a complete reinstall of your AppleWatch.
Since your AppleWatch is automatically being backed-up to your (synced) iPhone, there’s no need too worry about data-loss …according to Apple – especially if your iPhone itself is continuously being backed-up to iCloud or to your Mac/PC.

To do a complete reinstall of your AppleWatch, do this :
– on AppleWatch, press te crown once
– in your collection of apps, find the Settings.app (grey circle icon with a white sprocket/gear in it)
– click on the Settings.app
– in the Settings screen that opens, scroll slightly down to ‘General’ and click on it
– in the General screen that opens, scroll down to ‘Reset’ and click on it
– in the Reset screen that opens, click on ‘Erase All Content and Settings’
– in the next screen, typ your AppleWatch unlock code
– in the next screen, scroll down and click on the red ‘Erase All’ button
– then the AppleWatch restarts and the  white Apple logo will appear
– eventually there will also appear a timer circle around the Apple logo
– wait until the entire circle has turned from grey to white
– now, on your iPhone a pop-up screen will appear, saying “Apple Watch – Use your iPhone to set up this Apple Watch.”
– then, click on the “Continue’-button
– now the “Set Up Apple Watch” screen will appear on your iPhone
– click the ‘Set Up For Myself’-button (assuming your AppleWatch was originally set up for your own personal use)
– the screen of the AppleWatch will now have turned into the blue pulsating pixel blob used for pairing
– when the “Hold Apple Watch up to the Camera” screen appears on your iPhone, point the iPhone’s camera at your AppleWatch to start the pairing
– if the pairing goes wrong, use the “Pair Apple Watch Manually” option and you will need to input the number code that appears on your AppleWatch (after swiping the blob away) into the field on your iPhone
– when the pairing is done, you will get the “Make This Your New Apple Watch” screen on your iPhone
– click the Continue-button and follow the on-screen instructions that will guide you through the rest of the reinstalling process (which is fairly straight-on from there)
– when done, you will have your AppleWatch setup exactly as it used to be
…with one big difference : the ‘No Data’ warning in the VanMoof.app will be gone and you can now use it as it was intended

That’s it !

enjoy 😉

fixed : MS Auto Updater warning saying I need to upgrade eventhough I am already on the latest version

Question :
every time I restart my Mac, I get an error message from Microsoft saying that I can’t update, but I can’t find what’s wrong. When I click the link provided for more information, I get a page on the Microsoft website telling that support for MS Office 2019 for macOS has ended and that I should either updagrade to MS Office 365 or MS office 2021 for macOS… but as far as I know I am already running MS Office 2021 for macOS…

What is wrong ?

Answer :
Eventhough there is a very small chance that something completely different is going on, in the majority of cases, your problem will be that you are running the MS Office apps that you primarily use (e.g. Word, PowerPoint and Excel) in the 2021 version and some of the MS Office apps that you never use (e.g. Outlook, OneNote or OneDrive) are still on the 2019 version.

To solve this problem, do this :
– open the Finder
– go to [your Mac] > Library > Application Support > MAU2.0 > Microsoft Autoupdate
– doubleclick on Microsoft Autoupdate to run the MS Autoupdate.app
– click on the pulldown-button (top-right ; the downward-pointing triangular arrowhead)
– now the pulldown list of recent updates will fold out
– in the list, spot the apps that aregiving an error
– then click on the ‘Check for Updates’-button and wait for other updating errors to appear
– if the MS Office apps that you regularly use (e.g. Word, PowerPoint and/or Excel) are giving an update error saying you need to upgrade, your version of MS Office for macOS is outdated and you should buy the newest version or switch to an Office 365 (now called Microsoft 365) subscription
– if you only get updating errors for apps that you never use (e.g. Outlook), open a new Finder window
– then, goto [your Mac] > Applications
– then, type the name of the app you are looking for (e.g. Outlook) in the search field top right
– in the list of applications that appears, select the app you are looking for
– right-click on it’s name and choose Delete from the pulldown menu
– in the warning window that appears, typ your computer password (the password you use to startup & unlock your Mac) and click OK to allow the app to be deleted from you Mac

That’s it !

Enjoy 😉

fixed : iCloud syc error – Desktop files on Mac have ‘cloud exclamation mark’-icon

Question :
I was trying to access some files I have created on my Mac from my iPad, but the files that are in folder XYZ on my Mac’s Desktop are different from the ones that I can see in that same Folder XYZ when I access it from the Files.app on my iPad. Some files in Folder XYZ are the same and some are not… closing/quitting the Files.app on my iPad and reopening it doesn’t help… And when I look on my Mac, the files that are invisible on my iPad turn out to have a ‘cloud with an exclamationmark’-icon next to them on my Mac… I’ve also checked on my iPhone, and there I get to see the exact same content of Folder XYZ as on my iPad, but not the ones that are on my Mac…

This appears to be an ICloud syncing problem, but how do I fix it ?

Answer :
Yes, this is a syncing problem that iCloud sometimes runs into…
since there is no forced sync or manual sync option, this is how to fix it :
1- make sure that your Mac, your iPad and your iPhone all run the newest version of their OS (macOS, iPadOS, iOS)
2- make sure that your Mac, your iPad and your iPhone are all connected to a stable internet connection (either over Wifi or Ethernet)
3- make sure that you are logged in on iCloud with exactly the same account on all devices (Mac, iPad, iPhone)
4- if all the above is in place, restart your Mac without remembering open windows (to increase you chances on fixing this iCloud syncing problem, restart your iPad and iPhone as well)
5- wait for your Mac to restart/reboot entirely before doing anything else on it
6- wait for iCloud to sync back and forth amoung your Mac, iPad and iPhone (depending on the amount of files you have in your iCloud folders and your internet speed this may take up to 10 minutes or even longer)

That’s it !
…in 99% of the cases, this simple solution will fix your iCloud syncing problem
enjoy 😉

fixed : no internet connection while WiFi and LAN are okay (after running Jaksta)

Question :
I was running an app (Jaksta Media Recorder) that crashed. Now I am no longer able to make any connection to the internet from macOS using my regular settings. Safari, Apple Mail.app and Whatsapp for macOS can no longer get propper connection to the internet.
I have tried resetting my internet modem, and my VPN now works, but the apps still cannot get a propper internet connection… so it appears to be a DNS problem, but changing DNS servers didn’t help…

What can I do to solve this ?


Answer :
As you might have expected, Jaksta Media Recorder has caused this problem when it crashed… to fix it, do this :
– restart your Mac
– do not startup any apps, startup the Jaksta Media Recorder app first
– when the Jaksta Media Recorder window opens (where you can see your previous downloads a.k.a. recordings) go to the bottom left corner and put the slider (that is turned ON automatically) in the OFF position
– then quit the Jaksta Media Recorder app

That’s it !

enjoy 😉

Note : Jaksta Media Recorder for Mac is no longer being supported, as of 2023 Jaksta is a Windows-only app, so if you run into any problems with Jaksta for Mac you are pretty much left hanging… so, if you’re looking fro an alternative for Jaksta, see this post :
fixed : current version (or replacement) for Jaksta downloader app on macOS

fixed : CanoScan 5600F driver for macOS Sonoma

Question :

I have a Canon CanoScan 5600F scanner that worked great with my previous Mac, but now I have upgraded to a new M1 Mac running macOS 14 Sonoma.

I’ve looked on the Canon website and searched the internet, but there is no macOS 14 Sonoma compatible driver available for this scanner.

Is there any way to use this CanoScan 5600F scanner in macOS 14 Sonoma ?

Answer :

Yes, there is …and it still works this way on Intel i5/i7-Mas running macOS 14 Sonoma, and almost certainly on M1 (and M2) Macs also (since it worked on M1/M2-Macs in macOS 13 Ventura) :

  • goto Canon’s US website : https://www.usa.canon.com
  • choose Support > Scanners > Film & Negative Scanner > CanoScan 5600F
  • or use this link : https://www.usa.canon.com/internet/portal/us/home/support/details/scanners/film-negative-scanner/canoscan-5600f/canoscan-5600f?subtab=downloads-drivers
  • there, click on the “Drivers & Downloads” tile (huge button)
  • then, choose “macOS Mojave v10.14” (even though your on macOS Sonoma v14 – don’t worry) as your operating system and “English” as your language
  • now, you will see 2 drivers listed :
    • > 5600F Scanner Driver Ver.14.11.5h (Mac) : msd_-mac_cs5600f-14_11_5h-ea8_2.dmg
      • > ICA Driver Ver.4.1.4a (Mac) : misd-mac-ijscanner2-4_1_4-ea21_3.dmg
  • download both of them
    • note that despite the fact that both are versions from 2018, these will still work with macOS 14 Sonoma
  • goto your downloads folder
  • first, double-click on the file named msd_-mac_cs5600f-14_11_5h-ea8_2.dmg
  • this will mount the ScanGear_CanoScan 5600F_141105.pkg
  • again, click on that and version 14.11 of the ScanGear driver installer will open
  • now, follow the on-screen directions and the latest ScanGear driver will be installed
  • then, double-click on the file named misd-mac-ijscanner2-4_1_4-ea21_3.dmg
  • this will mount the Canon IJScanner2_040104.pkg
  • again, click on that and version 4.1.4 the IJScanner2 driver installer will open
  • now, follow the on-screen directions and the latest IJScanner2 driver will be installed
  • when done, click on the Apple-logo top-left in the top menu bar
  • in the pulldown menu that appears, click on “System Settings”
  • in the window that opens, scroll down in the menu list on the left and click on “Printers & Scanners”
  • if the CanoScan 5600F is already listed in the Scanners chapter, click it
  • if not, click the “Add Printer, Scanner or Fax” button first to add the scanner
  • when done, click the CanoScan 5600F in the Scanners chapter
  • when the scanner details open on the right, click on the “Open Scanner”-button
  • now, the built-in macOS ImageCapture.app will open and it will immediately do a preview scan of whatever is in the scanner

NOTE : you might run into a small problem every once in a while ; when the automatic scanning preview starts, you might get an error saying “Scanner reported an error – Cannot communicate with scanner for these reasons: – Scanner is turned off. – USB cable is disconnected. Please check and try again.” If so, just flip the scanner’s ON/OFF-switch in OFF-position manually and then back into ON-position. Then click “OK” in the error message window, then click the “Overview” button in the ImageCapture window. That should help in making the scanner preview work again.

enjoy 😉

fixed : CanoScan 5600F driver for macOS Ventura

Question :

I have a Canon CanoScan 5600F scanner that worked great with my previous Mac, but now I have upgraded to a new M1 Mac running macOS 13 Ventura.

I’ve looked on the Canon website and searched the internet, but there is no macOS 13 Ventura compatible driver available for this scanner.

Is there any way to use this CanoScan 5600F scanner in macOS 13 Ventura ?

Answer :

Yes, there is …and it is reported to work on M1 (and M2) Macs also [ thanks ! @Stefan ] :

  • goto Canon’s US website : https://www.usa.canon.com
  • choose Support > Scanners > Film & Negative Scanner > CanoScan 5600F
  • or use this link : https://www.usa.canon.com/internet/portal/us/home/support/details/scanners/film-negative-scanner/canoscan-5600f/canoscan-5600f?subtab=downloads-drivers
  • there, choose the “Drivers & Downloads” tab
  • then, choose “macOS Mojave v10.14” (even though your on macOS Ventura v13 – don’t worry) as your operating system and “English” as your language
  • then, choose the “Drivers” tab
  • now, you will see 2 drivers listed :
    • > 5600F Scanner Driver Ver.14.11.5h (Mac) : msd_-mac_cs5600f-14_11_5h-ea8_2.dmg
      • > ICA Driver Ver.4.1.4a (Mac) : misd-mac-ijscanner2-4_1_4-ea21_3.dmg
  • download both of them
    • note that despite the fact that both are versions from 2018, these will still work with macOS 11.0 Big_Sur
  • goto your downloads folder
  • first, double-click on the file named msd_-mac_cs5600f-14_11_5h-ea8_2.dmg
  • this will mount the ScanGear_CanoScan 5600F_141105.pkg
  • again, click on that and version 14.11 of the ScanGear driver installer will open
  • now, follow the on-screen directions and the latest ScanGear driver will be installed
  • then, double-click on the file named misd-mac-ijscanner2-4_1_4-ea21_3.dmg
  • this will mount the Canon IJScanner2_040104.pkg
  • again, click on that and version 4.1.4 the IJScanner2 driver installer will open
  • now, follow the on-screen directions and the latest IJScanner2 driver will be installed
  • when done, goto System Preferences > Printers & Scanners
  • if the CanoScan 5600F is already listed on the left, click it
  • if not, click the +sign (plus-sign) to add the scanner first
  • when done, click the CanoScan 5600F in the list on the left
  • when the scanner details open on the right, click on the “Open Scanner”-button
  • now, the built-in macOS scanner-app will open and it will immediately do a preview scan of whatever is in the scanner

NOTE : you might run into a small problem every once in a while ; when the automatic scanning preview starts, you might get an error saying “Scanner reported an error – Cannot communicate with scanner for these reasons: – Scanner is turned off. – USB cable is disconnected. Please check and try again.” If so, just flip the scanner’s ON/OFF-switch in OFF-position manually and then back into ON-posistie. That should help in making the scanner preview work again.

enjoy 😉

solved : where does FindMy.app alert “Replace the battery on left soon” come from ?

Question :

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.

enjoy !