Tag Archives: iOS 18

fixed : which Macs, iPads and iPhones can Apple Intelligence run on ?

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Question :
As Apple is starting to roll out it’s own version of AI, entitled Apple Intelligence, the most important question seems to be :

Is my current Mac, iPad or iPhone able to run Apple Intelligence ?


Answer :
Apple has published the specs needed for Apple Intelligence :
– OS specs : iOS 18.4, iPadOS 18.4 or macOS 15.3 Sequoia or newer
– software specs : Siri needs to be turned ON
– CPU specs : A17 Pro, A18 or M1 or newer

translating the CPU specs into device specs :

iPhone : iPhone 16 / 16 Plus (2024) and newer
iPhone Pro : iPhone 15 Pro / 15 Pro Max (2023) and newer
iPhone SE : iPhone 16e (2025) and newer
iPad : -none- !! not even the iPad 11 (2025) !!
iPad mini : iPad mini 7th gen. (2024) and newer
iPad Air : iPad Air 5th gen. (2022) and newer
iPad Pro : iPad Pro 3rd gen. [11″] & 5th gen. [12.9″] (2021) and newer
MacBook : -none- !! the latest MacBooks from 2017 were Intel-based !!
MacBook Air : MacBook Air M1 (2020) and newer
MacBook Pro : MacBook Pro M1 (Late 2020) and newer
iMac : iMac M1 (2021) and newer
Mac mini : Mac mini M1 (2020) and newer
Mac Studio : Mac Studio M1 (2022) and newer
Mac Pro : Mac Pro M2 (2023) and newer

At the time of writing (March 2025) Apple Intelligence does come with the current OS versions in beta only… the general release date planned for April 2025 seems to be postponed.
If the official general release has only been postponed for certain regions (e.g. the EU) is not clear. According to Apple, the initial release will only include English, Chinese, Spanish, German, French, Portuguese, Italian, Japanese and Korean. Other languages will follow later on, but Dutch will probably not be one of the first to join.



tip : view today and tomorrow (2 days) at the same time in your iPhone calendar

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Since the introduction of iOS 18, there is a new button in your iPhone calendar :
you can now get a better overview of your week while in your day-view !

To get 2 days (e.g. today and tomorrow) on your screen side-by-side, do this :

  • open your Calendar on your iPhone
  • when the YEAR calendar view, click on the ‘Today’ button (bottom left)
  • when the MONTH calendar view opens, click on the ‘Today’ button (bottom left) – again
  • when in the DAY calendar view, click on the odd-shaped button in the top-bar (on the left of the Search / Looking Glass button)
  • in the pull-down list that appears, select “Multi Day”
  • click outside the pull-down list to close it
  • now, you can see 2 days (e.g. today and tomorrow) next to each other and you can scroll through your week using the weekday bar at the top

That’s it !

enjoy πŸ˜‰

fixed : transcribe WhatsApp voice messages

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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 πŸ˜‰

      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 : free currency converter (or unit converter) for iOS

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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 πŸ˜‰

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

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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 πŸ˜‰