What Those Orange And Green Dots Mean On Your iPhone

Apple Bytes: 

Every now and again, you'll see a tiny dot-shaped light appear at the top of your iPhone screen (iOS 14). Sometimes it's orange. Sometimes it's green. Ever wonder about it?

A quick search of the Apple Support page will provide the answer.

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Orange dot

The orange dot is telling you that your iPhone's microphone is being used by an app. It'll appear when you use voice memos, maybe briefly after you close out your camera, or if you're using any app that exclusively records your voice.

Green dot

The green dot is telling you that your iPhone's camera is being used by an app. You'll see it when opening your camera, or taking pictures on Instagram, Snapchat, or any social media app that allows you to take pictures and post them. 

That's pretty much it. Neither the orange or the green indicate anything particularly concerning.

Credit: mashable.com

Apple Announces Self Service Repair

Apple Bytes: 

Apple yesterday (11-17-21) announced Self Service Repair, which will allow customers who are comfortable with completing their own repairs access to Apple genuine parts and tools. Available first for the iPhone 12 and iPhone 13 lineups, and soon to be followed by Mac computers featuring M1 chips, Self Service Repair will be available early next year in the US and expand to additional countries throughout 2022. Customers join more than 5,000 Apple Authorized Service Providers (AASPs) and 2,800 Independent Repair Providers who have access to these parts, tools, and manuals.

The initial phase of the program will focus on the most commonly serviced modules, such as the iPhone display, battery, and camera. The ability for additional repairs will be available later next year.

“Creating greater access to Apple genuine parts gives our customers even more choice if a repair is needed,” said Jeff Williams, Apple’s chief operating officer. “In the past three years, Apple has nearly doubled the number of service locations with access to Apple genuine parts, tools, and training, and now we’re providing an option for those who wish to complete their own repairs.”

Apple builds durable products designed to endure the rigors of everyday use. When an Apple product requires repair, it can be serviced by trained technicians using Apple genuine parts at thousands of locations, including Apple (in-store or by mail), AASPs, Independent Repair Providers, and now product owners who are capable of performing repairs themselves.

Self Service Repair

To ensure a customer can safely perform a repair, it’s important they first review the Repair Manual. Then a customer will place an order for the Apple genuine parts and tools using the Apple Self Service Repair Online Store. Following the repair, customers who return their used part for recycling will receive credit toward their purchase.

The new store will offer more than 200 individual parts and tools, enabling customers to complete the most common repairs on iPhone 12 and iPhone 13.

Self Service Repair is intended for individual technicians with the knowledge and experience to repair electronic devices. For the vast majority of customers, visiting a professional repair provider with certified technicians who use genuine Apple parts is the safest and most reliable way to get a repair.

Expanded Access to Apple Repairs

In the past three years, Apple has nearly doubled the number of service locations with access to Apple genuine parts, tools, and training, including more than 2,800 Independent Repair Providers. The rapidly expanding Independent Repair Provider program originally launched in the US in 2019 and has since grown to more than 200 countries, enabling independent repair shops to access the same training, parts, and tools as other Apple Authorized Service Providers.

In addition, Apple continues to offer convenient repair options for customers through its global network of over 5,000 AASPs that help millions of people with both in- and out-of-warranty service for all Apple products.

By designing products for durability, longevity, and increased repairability, customers enjoy a long-lasting product that holds its value for years. Apple also offers years of software updates to introduce new features and functionality.

Credit: apple.com

Part 2 of 2: Fixing The 10 Biggest Annoyances in iOS 15 & iPadOS 15

Apple Bytes: 

See part 1 of 2 > > HERE

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6. Disable Quick Note gesture for Apple Pencil on your iPad

Quick Note is probably one of the best new features in iPadOS 15, as it lets you create a floating note on top of whatever you’re doing. It’s context-aware, and it lets you link to what you’re viewing on the screen.

But it’s also really easy to invoke the Quick Note by swiping in from the bottom-right corner of the screen. There’s no way to disable the finger gesture, but you can disable it for the Apple Pencil. That way, you won’t accidentally trigger Quick Note when you’re trying to draw something on the screen. Open the “Settings” app, go to the “Apple Pencil” section, and from the “Right Corner Swipe” option, tap the “Off” button.

7. Disable the little window previews when launching apps on your iPad

The new multitasking menu in iPadOS 15 finally makes Split View easier to use. But there’s a new feature called Shelf that you might find annoying. The shelf is a feature that shows up for a couple of seconds at the bottom of the screen after you open an app, if that app has multiple windows open. For new users, this is more annoying than helpful.

Sadly, there’s no way to disable the Shelf feature, but you can make it disappear. For that, you’ll have to quit the other open windows. To do that from the Shelf itself, just flick the little window previews.

8. Disable the search gesture on the lock screen

Spotlight Search is really useful: Just swipe down and the search is ready to go. It’s not so useful though when you keep accidentally triggering it from the Lock Screen. If you’re finding it annoying, you can disable this feature from the “Settings” app. Here, go to “Face ID & Passcode,” and disable the “Today View and Search” toggle. Now your iPhone won’t open search when you accidentally swipe down when your phone is locked.

9. Stop the separation alerts from bothering you

Separation alerts is a new feature in iOS 15 and iPadOS 15. If you leave your iPad or AirPods behind, your iPhone will gently let you know using a notification. The problem is that this feature isn’t always reliable or smart, like when you intentionally leave your iPad at home or work.

If the separation alerts are bothering you, you can do two things.

You can disable them by opening the “Find My” app, and choosing a device. Then, tap the “Notify When Left Behind” option. Here, tap the “New Location” button to add a new area. You can add this area for all devices if you choose to. Alternatively, you can disable the “Notify When Left Behind” feature from the top.

10. Enable the new features that Apple didn’t

Yes, a couple of features like SharePlay are missing from the iOS 15 and iPadOS 15 releases. But what’s even more confusing is the fact that Apple chose not to enable some features that were supposed to be enabled by default. Two features stick out here.

Mail Privacy Protection: This feature prevents pixel tracking in emails. Once enabled, it will stop email trackers from knowing if you opened the email and where you opened it from. It’s a great feature, but you’ll need to enable it manually from Settings> Mail> Privacy Protection> Protect Mail Activity.

iCloud Private Relay (iCloud+): Apple decided to make this a Beta feature that isn’t enabled by default. iCloud Private Relay acts as a proxy connection for all the traffic that goes through Safari. It’s routed through two sets of servers that anonymize the traffic in such a way that even Apple can’t track it. You can enable it from Settings> Profile> iCloud> Private Relay.

Credit: lifehacker.com

Part 1 of 2: Fixing The 10 Biggest Annoyances in iOS 15 & iPadOS 15

Apple Bytes: 

iOS 15 and iPadOS 15 are solid updates to the iPhone and iPad. Yes, there’s not a whole lot going on this year, and we’re still waiting on features like SharePlay and Universal Control, but this is the year of small, stable updates. That said, every year Apple tends to add some features that are less than ideal, and this one’s no different. Thankfully, you have the option to disable the most annoying features, if you truly hate them.

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1. Put the Safari address bar back on top

On the iPhone, there’s a new, gesture-based tab bar at the bottom of the screen. It’s quite intuitive, and easy to reach on the bigger iPhones, so as we’ve said before, you should try and embrace the new Safari tab bar. But if you’re used to the Safari address bar being at the top, there’s some good news for you. Just open the Safari app on your iPhone and tap the “Aa” button. Here, choose the “Show Top Address Bar” option. The address bar has now moved to the top.

2. Disable window tinting in Safari

This one’s another side-effect of the Safari redesign. Safari’s tab bar now takes the prominent color of the website (if the website chooses to provide it), and while this might look great in product shots, the tab bar color changing every time you switch to a different website is certainly jarring. If you want, you can disable this feature from the “Settings” app. Here, go to the “Safari” section and disable the “Allow Website Tinting” feature.

3. Disable the annoying Shared For You sections

In iOS 15 and iPadOS 15, the Share For You section is everywhere. It’s on the Safari start page, the For You section in Photos, the Podcasts app, and the Music app. It shows the relevant shared links from iMessage conversations, which might be useful once or twice, but probably not when those links just stay there all the time.

Thankfully, you can disable the Shared for You section in particular apps, or for the entire OS. Open the “Settings” app and go to Messages> Shared with You. Here, disable the “Automatic Sharing” feature to stop this for all apps. Or you can individually disable the feature for Music, TV, Safari, Photos, Podcasts, and News.

4. Stop random widgets from appearing on your home screen

When you buy a new iPhone with iOS 15 installed, you’ll see two new widgets at the top. In fact, if you’re using a Smart Stack widget with the Smart Rotate feature enabled, Apple will just start showing random widgets to you out of nowhere.

This is thanks to the new Widget Suggestions feature that you can turn off. To do this, tap and hold a widget, and tap “Edit Stack.” Here, disable the “Widget Suggestions” feature.

5. Disable App Library on your iPad

With iPadOS 15, the App Library comes to the iPad. It’s a single screen that shows all installed apps in intelligent folders. On the iPad, you access it using its own icon at the far end of the Dock.

If you don’t like this Dock icon, or if you don’t plan on using App Library, you can disable it. Open the “Settings” app and go to the “Home Screen & Dock” section. Here, disable the “Show App Library in Dock” option.

See part 2 of 2 > > HERE.

Credit: lifehacker.com

How To Force Quit Your iPhone

Apple Bytes: 

Some days our iPhones, like us, just can't seem to get it together. Your phone is stuck, frozen, or just not operating the way it should. The old IT adage of "turn it off and turn it back on" doesn't even work. In those cases, you need to force quit your iPhone.

Instructions are similar for each model, but differ slightly:

• iPhone X, Xs, Xr, 11, or 12: Press and quickly release the volume up button, then do the same with the volume down button. Hold the side button until the Apple logo appears, then release it.


• iPhone 8 or SE (second generation): Same as later models. Press and quickly release the volume up button, then press and release volume down. Hold the side button and release when the Apple logo appears.


• iPhone 7: Press and hold both the volume down and Sleep/Wake (side) button at the same time. Release both when the Apple logo appears.


• iPhone 6 or SE (first generation): Press and hold the Sleep/Wake (side) button and the home button at the same time. When the Apple logo appears, release both buttons.

Force quitting your iPhone is a simple way to reboot it and, hopefully, fix whatever sluggishness compelled you to do so in the first place. If your phone is still acting up, you may need to look into different fixes.

Credit: mashable.com

The 7 Best Ways To Extend Your iPhone’s Battery Life

Apple Bytes: 

One basic fact of life with an iPhone hasn’t changed in the phone’s 14-year history: If you’re on your phone all day, every day, you run the risk of seeing its power gauge run all the way down to zero.

Luckily, there are plenty of things you can do to extend the battery life of your iPhone. Here’s a look at a handful of the most helpful for phones running iOS 14 and above.

Tweak the Background App Refresh setting

Most of the apps on your phone connect to some sort of server somewhere to send and receive data.

But do you really need that crossword app to check for new puzzles every hour? Each of those little pings from each of your apps can affect battery life. The Background App Refresh setting lets you choose which apps can connect when you’re not actively using them and which can’t.

To access it, head into the Settings menu, then General, then Background App Refresh.

Now, from here, you can just go nuclear and turn refreshing off across the board or pick and choose which apps you’d like to allow to refresh in the background. You’ll probably want to let certain apps keep doing their thing (email, for example) but the less refreshing that’s being done, the better your battery life will be.

Disable some push notifications

Another way to save battery life is to turn off push notifications for certain apps. To do that, head into Settings and then choose Notifications.

From here, behold all the apps that want to send you "helpful" messages. Aside from actual messages from the likes of your email, video-chat, and texting apps, you can safely turn a lot of these off. And again, the more you disable, the more your battery life could improve.

Get used to Dark Mode

Dark Mode may be one of the biggest battery savers on this list because every time your phone has to display something white or otherwise light in color, it uses energy to brighten the screen.

With Dark Mode, much of the user interface for iOS itself and compatible apps will leverage power-sipping dark tones that don’t require as much energy from the screen. It can take a bit of getting used to at first, then again, plenty of folks prefer it on purely aesthetic grounds.

You can enable Dark Mode under Settings, then Display & Brightness. Simply choose it to use it all the time, or you can toggle the “automatic” setting to have Dark Mode come on at a certain time each day.

Location, location, location

Another big battery buster: location services. To see which apps know where you are, go to Settings, then Privacy, and tap Location Services.

From here, apps that want to use your location will have three settings: Never, While Using, and Always. Grant “Always” permission sparingly. It’s a battery hog, and few apps need to know where you are at all times.

For apps that would benefit from your location, say a shopping app that wants to show you where the nearest brick-and-mortar store is located, consider the “While Using” setting. That way, the app will only check your location while you’re actively using it.

Minimize the Auto-Lock time

The longer your screen is turned off, the less battery it’s using, so consider forcing your screen to turn off as quickly as possible.

To do that, tweak the Auto-Lock setting by heading into Settings, then Display & Brightness, then Auto-Lock, and setting it to 30 seconds if it’s not already there.

It’s also helpful to get into the habit of pressing the big button on the right side of your phone as soon as you’re done using it. That’ll put your phone to sleep right away instead of waiting for the Auto-Lock feature to kick in.

Enable Low Power Mode

If you’re really in a pickle, head into Settings, then Battery, and turn on Low Power Mode.

This is no way to live on a day-to-day basis, as it saves juice by cutting back on data connections and interface niceties. But it works well in a pinch if your battery’s on its last legs and you’re waiting on an important call or text message.

Review your Battery life suggestions

Once you’ve got all your battery-saving improvements set up, make sure to check for suggestions in the Settings > Battery menu.

If there’s a suggestion for you, it’ll show up underneath the Low Power Mode toggle. If there’s nothing there, then you have no suggestions. Good for you! You can, however, scroll down a bit to see how your battery is being affected on an app-by-app basis. If you notice any apps eating up an inordinate amount of power, take a closer look to see if they’re requesting your location too often or sending out too many notifications. If you’re not using any of them, you might go ahead and uninstall them.

You can also tap into the Battery Health menu here, which will show you the state of your battery’s maximum capacity relative to when you first got your phone. If you’ve had your phone a while, it’s possible that—despite some or all of these battery-saving techniques, your battery is just wearing out. In that case, it might be time for a battery replacement from Apple or a third-party repair shop.

Credit: fastcompany.com

How To Mirror Your iPhone Screen On A Computer

Apple Bytes: 

Want to view your iPhone screen on a laptop or desktop, but you don't have an Apple TV? You can with a 3rd-party app or through a built-in secret feature on the Mac.

You can record your iPhone screen with the built-in Screen Recording tool, but what if you want to view the device’s screen on your computer? The iPhone’s screen-mirroring ability allows you to cast your phone's screen to your laptop or desktop PC over Wi-Fi. It’s an easy process, as long as you know where to look.

How to Mirror Your iPhone Screen to a Windows PC

While Windows users can mirror an Android phone with the Your Phone app, iPhone users need to download a third-party tool to cast their phone. There are plenty of tools that offer this functionality, but for simple free casting, try LonelyScreen. It's a barebones app that does one thing: tricks your iPhone into thinking your PC is an Apple TV.

Install and launch LonelyScreen, then click the "LonelyScreen" title along the bottom to change the name of your AirPlay server. From your iPhone, open the Control Center and tap the Screen Mirroring button. If you don’t see such a button, you may need to add it from the iPhone's Settings.

Once you tap the Screen Mirroring button, select your LonelyScreen laptop from the list, and your iPhone screen will appear on your PC right away. If you don't see it, check out LonelyScreen's troubleshooting page, it can occasionally be a bit finicky. From there, you can maximize the window for a closer look, and click the arrow in the bottom-right to bring up a Record button that lets you capture video clips.

Note that LonelyScreen says it's a free trial, but you can click the nag screen away at any time—it doesn't seem to be a limited trial in our testing (though the nag screen may re-appear occasionally as you use it). If you need more features, a paid app like Reflector ($17.99) or AirServer ($19.99) may offer more configuration options for your video recording and screen mirroring. But for quick and dirty mirroring, LonelyScreen should work well for most people.

How to Mirror Your iPhone Screen to a MacBook

Mac users have it easy because this functionality is built right into your MacBook in the form of the QuickTime video player. There's only one catch: you have to plug your iPhone in over USB.

Grab your Lightning cable and plug your iPhone into your Mac. If you haven't done this in a while, you may need to tap the "Trust" prompt on your iPhone before continuing. Once connected, open Launchpad and select QuickTime Player. Once the app is launched, head to File > New Movie Recording. You should see a new window appear.

Click the down arrow next to the Record button in the movie window, and your iPhone should appear in the drop-down under Camera. If it doesn't appear, try disconnecting your iPhone and reconnecting, it should show up afterward. Select your phone from the list, and its screen will appear on your Mac. You can use this for demonstration purposes, or click the Record button to capture a video of your iPhone screen.

If you want to mirror your iPhone wirelessly, you can use the instructions above for Windows PCs. LonelyScreen, Reflector, and AirServer are available for macOS too.

Credit: pcmag.com

Apple Introduces AirTag

Apple Bytes: 

Apple expands the Find My ecosystem with AirTag, an iPhone accessory that provides a private and secure way to easily locate the items that matter most.

Apple on Tuesday, 4-20-21, introduced AirTag, a small and elegantly designed accessory that helps keep track of and find the items that matter most with Apple’s Find My app. Whether attached to a handbag, keys, backpack, or other items, AirTag taps into the vast, global Find My network and can help locate a lost item, all while keeping location data private and anonymous with end-to-end encryption. AirTag can be purchased in one and four packs for just $29 and $99, respectively, and will be available beginning Friday, April 30.

Each round AirTag is small and lightweight, features precision-etched polished stainless steel, and is IP67 water- and dust-resistant. A built-in speaker plays sounds to help locate AirTag, while a removable cover makes it easy for users to replace the battery. AirTag features the same magical setup experience as AirPods - just bring AirTag close to iPhone and it will connect. Users can assign AirTag to an item and name it with a default like “Keys” or “Jacket,” or provide a custom name of their choosing.

Read the entire news release with photos: apple.com/airtag

iPhone Storage Full? Here Are 3 Ways To Save Your Photos & Videos

Apple Bytes: 

Despite the iPhone's immense popularity – with a market share in the U.S. as high as 65%, according to Counterpoint Research – many still struggle with running out of storage on the device.

After all, unlike Android smartphones, you can't add more capacity with microSD cards. You're stuck with what you purchased – for an iPhone 12 (from $829 for 64GB).

It could be tough to get photos and videos off an iPhone, so you can delete the media to free up some room. It can be done, however, with a "good," "better," and "best" approach.

The following are three ways to back-up your precious memories from your iPhone or iPad – and freeing up some valuable space in the process.

Good

A free way to remove photos and videos from an iPhone or iPad is to connect your device to a PC or Mac, and manually drag and drop all the media over to the computer.

You can do this with the phone or tablet's charging cable.

Simply plug the cable into a computer's USB port, and in Windows Explorer (Windows) or Finder (Mac), click the drive letter of your phone or tablet (such as D: or E:), and enter the folder called DCIM, which holds all your captured photos and videos.

They may be in subfolders, too, but they'll all be here. Now drag and drop (or cut and paste) them onto your computer or an external drive. It could take a while for longer videos, and you might find some stubborn files that don't easy copy over, so double-check that it all worked.

This solution works, and it's free, but it does require some tech savviness.

If you're on a Mac, you can also Airdrop the images over. On an iPhone, find the photos or videos you'd like to send. Locate and tap the share button (square with up arrow) and tap the Mac you'd like to send the files to. Look in your Downloads folder on your Mac to find the images.

Better

Another way to back-up photos and videos – and then delete the local files to free up space – is to consider a cloud service.

Magically, over Wi-Fi or a cellular connection (if you have a healthy data plan), your photos and videos can be uploaded to a password-protected server in cyberspace, just in case you iPhone or iPad is lost, stolen, or damaged. You can also set up your device to automatically upload a copy of a photo or video whenever you shoot them. Convenient, but free options have storage limitations.

That is, there are several services – such as Apple's own iCloud, Google Photos, Amazon Photos and Dropbox – but be aware you only get 5 GB of remote storage for free with iCloud, and many others. Five gigabytes is likely fine for documents, but probably not enough for photos and videos, and so you'll have to pay for more storage. And remember, you need an internet connection to upload and access cloud-stored content.

And once you buy into a monthly plan, you need to keep paying or else you're without your files (like any subscription service).

As an example, OneDrive offers 1 TB of storage (more than 1,000 GB) as part of the annual Microsoft 365 Personal subscription ($69/year), which includes Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint and so on.

Best

The quickest, easiest and most affordable solution is to consider one of the specialty thumbdrives available. If you haven't seen these, they're flash drives that snap into an iPhone or iPad's proprietary Lightning connector at the base of the device.

No internet connection or subscription is required.

In fact, the new SanDisk iXpand Flash Drive Luxe (from $45 for 64GB) has a Lighting connector on one end and a USB-C on the other, making it easy to move files between your iPhone and iPad to a Mac, PC, and other USB Type-C devices, including Android phones and tablets (a well as iPad Pro and iPad Air).

You're prompted to download the SanDisk companion app once you plug in the drive (for the first time), which lets you then select what files to back-up onto the drive (or restore to a new iPhone or iPad).

You can also view files from within the app. In fact, you can load up the drive with photos, videos and music – say, from your computer – and then access this content on your iPhone or iPad right from the USB drive itself. That way, you don't have to use up any internal storage.

Again, this drive works for Android phones, too.

You can password-protect files on the SanDisk iXpand Flash Drive Luxe, in case you lose it, plus there's a key loop in case you want to clip it to a set of car keys, a purse, or backpack.

There is also a 128 GB storage option for $59 and 256 GB version for $89.

Credit: Marc Saltzman via usatoday.com

Hackers Are Starting to Code Malware for Apple’s M1 Computers

Apple Bytes: 

A security researcher found one of the first examples of malware written to run natively on Apple's new M1 processors.

Last year, Apple launched its first computers powered by the company's own hardware, prompting many developers to code apps specifically for the new M1 processors. Now hackers are following suit.

Patrick Wardle, an independent security researcher who develops free security tools for Macs, said he has found what may very well be the first example of a malicious application developed natively for the new ARM M1 processors. In a blog post, Wardle analyzed an application that appears to be a new version of an infamous adware for MacOS.

The adware installs itself as a malicious Safari extension and is an updated version of an app that calls itself GoSearch22, according to Wardle. The adware collects data from the browser and displays pop-ups, coupons, and banners for ads, according to security website PC Risk.

"It seems like fairly vanilla adware," Wardle told Motherboard in an online chat. "Its main goal, objective, seems to be related to financial gain via ads, search results, etc."

Wardle, however, warned that it's possible that the developers of GoSearch22 could update in the future to include even more invasive and malicious functions.

According to VirusTotal, an online malware repository that shows whether antivirus software detects certain files as malicious, GoSearch22 is a new updated version of an infamous adware known as Pirrit. In 2016 and 2017, cybersecurity researcher Amit Serper published several reports on Pirrit noting that while it was not a "groundbreaking threat, it gives attackers persistence over your machine and is extremely hard for the average user to remove."

Serper said in an online chat that this new adware found by Wardle looks "very familiar" to the Pirrit adware he analyzed years ago.

In 2017, Serper revealed that Pirrit was developed by an ad tech company called TargetingEdge. At the time, the company sent Serper cease and desist letters in an attempt to stop him from publishing his research, claiming they had nothing to do with Pirrit and that their software is not malware.

Wardle said he did not find a link between this new Pirrit version and TargetingEdge, but that may be because he only looked at the adware "from a technical point of view." TargetingEdge did not respond to a request for comment.

Wardle said that this adware was uploaded to VirusTotal by a user who found it in the wild, likely thanks to KnockKnock, a tool developed by Wardle to detect malware on MacOS.

Interestingly, Wardle noticed that not all antivirus engines seem to be ready to detect malware made for the M1 processors. In a simple experiment, Wardle separated the old version of Pirrit from the new one, uploaded them to VirusTotal and saw that around 15 percent of antivirus engines did not detect the new version as malware.

"This should be seen as somewhat of a wakeup call to security tools / [antivirus] engines to make sure they are tested against arm64," Wardle said.

The good news is that Apple has revoked the developer certificate used by Pirrit's makers, which should prevent users from installing it. Apple did not respond to a request for comment.

In a way, this discovery shows that malware makers are just like any other developers, they have to keep up with newer technologies.

"The adware folks have demonstrated the most adaptability on macOS. If anyone were going to be first, I would have expected it to be the folks behind Pirrit, Genieo, or Bundlore," said Thomas Reed, a cybersecurity researcher who works for Malwarebytes, referring to other types of adware. "They’re the most active, and most apt to use new techniques."

Credit: vice.com

How Many Times Has Your iPhone Battery Been Recharged?

Apple Bytes: 

Apple gives you a lot of information about your battery, but not this snippet of information. Here's how you can find out your iPhone's battery recharge cycles without any third-party apps or software.

Go to Settings > Battery, then into Battery Health and Apple gives you a lot of information about your iPhone's battery.

But there's one number that Apple doesn't give you - how many times your iPhone has been recharged.

Now, this is quite a critical number, since rechargeable batteries have a number of recharge cycles in them before they are considered worn. This is true of all rechargeable batteries, not just the one in your iPhone.

Apple has published information about recharge cycles and how they affect batteries. Here's what they say about the iPhone:

"Your battery is designed to retain up to 80% of its original capacity at 500 complete charge cycles."

Also, there's information HERE, which goes into more detail.

But the bottom line is that you can expect to get 500 recharge cycles out of your battery before it's below 80 percent and considered worn.

Note: A "recharge cycle" is how many times a battery has been discharged, and not how many times it has gone from 100 percent to zero. So, if you start the day with a full battery, and you take it down to 50 percent, recharge it, and then take it to 50 percent before charging it again, that's one cycle. You can go through multiple recharge cycles in a single day, or over many days.

But how do you know how many recharge cycles your battery has had?

Apple doesn't tell you.

In the past many have used a Mac app called coconutBattery to pull this information from an iPhone. However, a recent method (seen via Reddit) allows for a way to get at this information without needing an app. But it's a bit fiddly at one point.

• Go to Settings > Privacy > Analytics & Improvements
• Make sure Share iPhone & Watch Analytics is enabled (see note 1)
• Tap on Analytics Data

• Scroll down to log-aggregated-2021-01-16-xxxxxx.ips (notice the date in the file name along with the numbers, and pick the latest file from the list)
• Now comes the tedious part, you can either copy and paste this into the Notes app (scrolling to do the copy is a pain), or, you can email it to yourself and look at it on a laptop or desktop

In whatever app you've opened the file, search for BatteryCycleCount, and that will give you your recharge cycles.

(Note 1: If Share iPhone & Watch Analytics was not enabled, then you must wait 24 hours after enabling in order to generate the report.)

Credit: ZDNet.com

Apple Is Ready For AirTags

Apple Bytes: 

There’s no reason to be skeptical about Apple’s plans for AirTags. Any iPhone, iPad or Mac user can see evidence that Apple is about to add support for item trackers to the Find Me application.

All that’s necessary is to go to findmy://items in Safari on an Apple device running the latest operating system. Doing so will open a hidden screen on the Find Me app, and begin a search for items.

The screen says, “Keep Track of Everyday Items.” And, “Add accessories or other items that are compatible with Find My and they will appear here." There’s also a link to an Apple support page that isn’t available yet.

The trick reportedly works with iOS 14.3, iPadOS 14.3 and macOS 11.1.

The hidden Find My page shows the app is looking for keys, backpacks, bikes, suitcases and headphones.

The app doesn’t say so, but numerous rumors indicate the most prominent “item” it’s searching for is AirTags. These have been the subject of leaks going back to 2019, and will apparently be Apple’s rival for Tile item-tracking tags. Attach an AirTag to a keychain or a purse and an iPhone can easily track down the device if it gets misplaced.

They supposedly will use ultra-wideband tech, in which radio signals are broadcast across a broad swath of the frequency spectrum. UWB travels well through walls, and allows distances to be determined with great accuracy. That makes it a better alternative to Bluetooth, which is what item trackers use now.

The new Find My functionality also should work with certain third-party devices. Belkin unveiled its SoundForm Freedom wireless earbuds Monday, 1-11, the first non-Apple product that will work with the Find My Network.

Credit: MacRumors

How To Delete Apps On Your iPhone

Apple Bytes: 

It's all well and good getting excited about the latest iPhone app and downloading it to your device, but when the novelty has worn off, it's not obvious to know how to get rid of it.

Whether you're trying to make space on your iPhone, tidy up your home screen, spend less time on Instagram, or have security concerns, this guide will show you how to delete unwanted iPhone apps, whatever version of the iPhone iOS you are currently on.

How to delete iPhone apps on devices running iOS 13 and older

Deleting iPhone apps on older devices is very straightforward. While on the home screen which contains the app you want to be deleted, press and hold ("long press") on any app until they begin to jiggle. Once they start to move in what Apple calls "jiggle mode," any third-party apps you have downloaded will then have an "X" appear at the top left of the app icon.

Tap the "X" on the app you want gone to start the deletion process, then tap on "Delete" in the pop-up confirmation window that appears.

How to delete an iPhone app on iOS 14 devices

The deletion process changes for anyone with a more up-to-date device running iOS 14. This is because this version of the iPhone operating system introduced the new App Library. This is like a folder that all your apps are stored in.

Within the App Library your apps are sorted into categories automatically. So, your social media apps will all be put into a "Social" subcategory. With iOS 14, when you install new apps, they'll be added to your App Library. You can access your App Library by swiping left from your home screen.

How to delete an iPhone app from your iPhone's home screen

With an iOS 14 device, you can delete apps from your home screen by tapping and holding, or doing a "long press" on the app you would like to delete. This will bring up further options. These options differ for different apps. For example, if you press and hold an email app, you'll see a shortcut to create a new email.

For basic apps, you'll see just two main choices — the option to share the app, and the option to "Remove app." Tap this to remove it from your home screen.

All this process has done however, is to stop the app icon from appearing in your live apps on your iPhone's homescreen. If you want to delete the app entirely from your iPhone, you need to head to your App Library.

How to delete an iPhone app from your App Library

From your home screen, swipe left until you see the App Library.

Tap the search field that appears at the top of your screen and start typing the name of the app you'd like to delete. When the app appears in your search results do a long press on the app's icon. This will generate a pop-up window giving you the option to delete the app. Tap to delete.

You then have one final pop-up window to confirm that you would like to delete the app. Tap one last time to confirm your decision and you're done!

Credit: mashable.com