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3 Ways: Reading Messages in iOS

June 6, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Shortcuts – we all love them. Particularly when it comes to dealing with personal technology.

Funny thing about iOS (the operating system for the iPhone and iPad) – it’s loaded with shortcuts, and they’re usually in the form of different gestures or “swipes” on the screen.

We all check messages, whether it’s email or text messages (they all blend together anymore). So here are 3 ways to get to a new message (with a bonus item – or two – thrown in for the holiday week):

Way #1: From the Inbox

Read Message From the InboxThis is the one most of us almost always use – it’s second nature to view mail from our inboxes.

New/unread messages are flagged with the blue ball indicator.  With a single tap, we’re reading the entire message.

(Extra bonus tip here – want to see more of the message in your inbox view? Go to Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars > and change the number of lines for Preview.)

Way #2: From the Notification Center Banner Banner

This is an iOS 5 feature – so if you haven’t upgraded yet, shame on you, go do it now.

Let’s say you’re using your phone – either already reading messages, or choosing a new playlist in iTunes. A new message arrives – if you’ve enabled Alerts for new messages in your Notifications settings (found under General), you’ll see the notification banner at the top of the screen – and if you tap it, you’ll go directly to the new message.

Way #3: From the Lock Screen

Read Messages from the Lock ScreenMost of us don’t just sit there waiting for messages (I said most – the rest of you know who you are). We may, however, like to be notified when messages arrive.

Conveniently, the same bunch of Alerts settings in Notifications can also be used to display new mail in the Lock Screen, as show here (because we’re all locking our screens, right? Of course we are. Silly me.).

There are two options at work here -  Notification Center is set to ON, and View in Lock Screen is also set to ON.

So when a new message arrives, my screen will light up and display the alert. Notice the slide bar at the bottom of the screen; normally it would read “slide to unlock”, but in this case it reads “slide to read”. Doing so will challenge you for your password/PIN, and will then take you directly to the message.

This is useful if you actually get to the alert when it arrives; most of us don’t because we actually put our phones down every now and then. If more than one message has arrived since the last time the device was unlocked, there will be multiple messages displayed.

So here’s Bonus #1 for message management – let’s say I want to view the first message in my list (shown at left):

Read from Lock ScreenRead from Lock Screen- Tap and hold the envelope icon on the left.

- Drag the icon from left to right (shown at right).

- Enter your password/PIN, and you’ll jump directly to it.

Nifty, huh?

So now that you’ve changed your settings to use the Notification Center (an iOS 5 feature – upgrade if you have not done so already), why not use it when the phone isn’t locked?

Read from Notification CenterWith that said, here’s extra Bonus #2 for this 3 Ways posting – reading mail from the Notification Center.

The Notification Center is much more than just messaging alerts – it’s a summary of all unread items, and can also be configured to display Calendar entries, Reminders and a slew of other things (and probably worthy of a post of its own). In short, a very handy tool.

It’s accessed at any time from any app, using a single finger swipe from the very top of the screen. At right is a sample – showing my current unread items and a few calendar entries. Choose any item from the screen with a single tap, and you’ll jump directly to the selected item.

To close it, swipe from the bottom up.

This is one of my favorite features of the iPhone and iPad; it’s not just “day at a glance”, it’s more like “NOW at a glance”.

I used email messages to demonstrate all of these features; the biggest bonus is that these tricks apply to messaging in general in iOS – so feel free to substitute the term Messages for Mail in any of the demos above. It all works the same.

Now go forth and shortcut.

 
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Change your iOS Defaults: Sounds

April 30, 2012 by Leave a Comment

I’ve been seeing a lot of new iPhones and iPads in the hands of people. How do I know they’re new? They’re still using the default settings: the background image, default sounds and things like that. If there’s anything we hope to do at Beyond The Defaults, it’s to show our readers how to move beyond what’s delivered out of the box.

So gather ’round everyone, and I’ll show you a few things that will make your device a lot more “personal”.

In this post, I’ll show you how to manage sounds on the device – because the sounds your phone or tablet makes are the first giveaway that you’ve got a new device;  it’s  the most noticeable thing – to both you and the people around you.

Open the settings and find Sounds – then tap on the item in the menu to display the entire array of Sounds options (a snapshot of my iPhone settings are shown on the left).

As you can see there are a number of settings, but here are the ones I think most people should change. Here’s why I encourage these in particular – if every iPhone in the room has the same settings, one phone call, e-mail message or text message will have every iPhone user in the room reaching for their hip or bag. That, and by default the device settings are “noisy”.

Ringtone

Choose something different if you can. I use the Old Phone option, but I also have a few custom tones for specific people. Can you create ringtones from files? Sure you can – and I’ll do a separate post on how you can do that without buying an app.

Text Tone

This is the one that usually gets everyone in the room all reaching for their phones when a new message arrives. The default is Tri-Tone, I use something a little more subtle (Ding), or I’ll just make it None.

New Mail & Sent Mail

I typically recommend setting both of these to None – because people that use smartphones are usually fairly heavy mail users (both incoming and outgoing). No need for the device to make that much noise.

Calendar and Reminder Alerts

Ever sit in a meeting and learn that three people in the room have a meeting right after the one you’re in? That’s because their Calendar Alerts all go off at the same time with the same tone. The default for both is Alert – a good suggestion would be to either use something different or just make it silent.

Lock Sounds & Keyboard Clicks

If you want to draw attention to yourself quickly, leave these two set to the default of On. By doing so, every interaction you have with your phone/tablet will make a clicking noise. I strongly recommend to most people to set both to Off as soon as possible.

One thing you’ve probably noticed in my suggestions – the “None” options is a frequently used and  perfectly good choice. As you’ll see from the snapshot of my Sounds preferences, I use None a lot. Primarily, it’s to be considerate of others (see my Lessons Learned post), but there are other reasons as well – such as not needing a tone when mail arrives during the night or the caller that I didn’t answer left me a voice mail message. My phone will still notify me – I’ve got the Vibrate option on, so in addition to (or in place of) sounds, the device will vibrate.

I’m making the device work the way I want to work, which is exactly what everyone should do.

Now, go forth and personalize.

 
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Why Won’t My New Password Work On My iPad?

March 19, 2012 by Leave a Comment

My sister called me on Friday afternoon because she needed some help with her iPad.  She had recently changed her Facebook and Pinterest passwords but wasn’t able to log into either account using the browser (Safari app).  (She knows she can use the Facebook app but chooses to use the browser.)  The fix is pretty simple.

Open your Settings and go to the Safari option.  From there click on “Clear History” and “Clear Cookies and Data”.  Press the Clear button when prompted.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Go back to Safari and try logging into your accounts again and it should work.

Did you notice the new Evernote clipper at the bottom of each post? Its new and we hope you will try it out. If you are reading this in your email, you will need to click through to the post to see the new button.

Did you know Beyond The Defaults is now on Facebook and Twitter? Follow us on Facebook and Twitter. You can also sign up to receive new posts delivered directly to your Inbox!

 
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Home Fruitification: AirPort and AirPlay

March 15, 2012 by 9 Comments

So when I say AirPort, you think AirPlane. Maybe with better spelling.

AirPort ExpressActually, when I say AirPort I’m referring to wireless networking from Apple. These devices make it very easy to add wireless connectivity (along with media sharing and network printing) to your existing home network. Having a home network today almost demands wireless access, because so many devices rely on wireless networking to function – laptop computers, tablets, smartphones and even iPods.

AirPort comes in two flavors:
  1. AirPort Extreme ($179) – This is the full-blown wireless base station, complete with all of the bells and whistles you’d see when buying a new Wireless Access Point+Router. If you don’t have a home network yet, this is a great choice because it will provide everything you’ll need to get going (firewall, guest networking, wireless printing and a few other things).
  2. AirPort Express ($99) – The AirPort Express is a much smaller device, and provides a number of the same features as the Extreme – with a few more interesting (and to me, more useful) tricks. It doesn’t provide firewall or other security services, so if you’ve already got a network in place, this is a great solution. But the real reason I like the AirPort Express is that it offers the ability to leverage your existing wireless network in a very “entertaining” way – as in being able to use your home entertainment system to play your music.

You configure them both from a computer on your network, using the AirPort utility software from a computer. There’s software for both Mac and Windows, so you don’t need a Mac to configure it (although the utility is built into the Mac OS). As is generally the case with Apple, the software is very intuitive and easy to follow – even for the novice. There are a multitude of resources available for setting up wireless networking (if you’ve not done it before), so I won’t go into great depth here. I’ll do a post soon on wireless network security tips and planning, because there are three or four things (all of them pretty simple) that you can and should do to keep your stuff safe.

Now – on to the ”entertainment” portion of the show, or the real reason I’m even writing about this: music.

I have a significant digital music collection – at current count, over 8,000 music entries in iTunes. One of the greatest things about digital music is that you can enjoy it anywhere (thank you, iPod). With an AirPort Express, that “anywhere” includes your home audio system. My AirPort Express is plugged into an outlet right next to a component amplifier/tuner; using an additional cable kit, I can plug the AirPort Express into one of the RCA-plug inputs on the amplifier and treat it as a connected component – in my case, it’s the “CD Player”.

The music is still on your iPod/iPad/iPhone or even on your computer (via iTunes), but through the wonders of something called AirPlay, that music can be output/directed to the AirPort Express device. Here’s the best part – if you’ve set up the AirPort Express correctly (and it’s not hard), all of the “i-things” will just find it as an available AirPlay device and make it available as an output either on the device or in the iTunes software.

Here’s where you find it:

On an iPhone/iPod:

AirPlay is is an option in the Music player app on the device.

Find the AirPlay icon (on the right side of the music player controls); tap on the icon, and the available AirPlay destinations on your network will be displayed. Select a destination, and the music being played on the device will be re-directed to the AirPlay destination.

 

On an iPad:

The AirPlay icon on the iPad music player is at the top of the screen, the rightmost control in the music controls.  Just like the iPhone/iPod, select a destination for the music, and off you go.

In iTunes (Windows and Mac):

If you’re rather just use the library on your computer (because it’s probably bigger and has more stuff), not a problem. The AirPlay option in iTunes is available in the right side of the status bar (the bottom bar of the iTunes software).

Click the AirPlay icon, select your destination of choice, and you’ll be enjoying the sound of music from something other than your computer.

Now, as you might have noticed in each of these screens, there’s an Apple TV in the mix as well. Just like the AirPort Express, Apple TV can be an AirPlay receiver.

Here’s the extra-special bonus: if you’ve got both (like I do), or maybe multiple AirPort Express devices installed, and you’re delivering your music from your computer via iTunes, you can simultaneously send the output to multiple locations by selecting “Multiple Speakers…” from the AirPlay icon and then choosing your endpoints.

Whole house music, all delivered wirelessly and controlled from one location. Ok, I’ll say it: that’s just cool.

In the next installment of “Fruitification”, I’ll talk a little more about Apple TV and AirPlay – because with the latest iPad, the latest Apple TV and the upcoming Mountain Lion updates for the Mac, Apple TV and AirPlay have some great things to offer.

Much more to come. Stay tuned.

 
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3 Ways: To Delete an Email from iOS

February 13, 2012 by Leave a Comment

One of the things I’ve learned about most technology is that there’s usually (at least) three ways to do most things – whether that’s getting a map to a location on my smartphone, updating somebody’s contact information or sending a message of some kind.

With that in mind, I’m starting a periodic series titled “Three Ways:” (stunningly original, I know). I’m certain I won’t be the only one contributing to this series; Abby is very good at finding alternative ways to do things, so expect her to be adding to the Three Ways library.

I’m starting this little journey with something that every iOS (meaning iPhone/iPod/iPad) user does – delete messages from their mail. And believe it or not, there are three ways to do it:

Way #1: From the message itself, using the Trash Can.

This is probably the most obvious method – open the mail message, read it and then throw it away. The Trash Can icon in the bottom menu bar is just that – the trash. Tap on that icon and the message is moved out of the Inbox/folder and marked as deleted.

 

Way #2: In bulk, using the Edit button at the top of the listing.

If you’re looking at the Inbox (or another folder) on your device, there’s an Edit button. Tap it, and it allows for selection of individual items in the listing.

 

Select the items you want to delete – the red check mark will appear as you select items.  When ready, tap the Delete button on the bottom menu bar. Once again, off to the trash they go.

 

Way #3: Individually from the Inbox, using a swipe gesture.

This is the one that most people don’t know about, and it’s the one I probably use the most.  iOS is loaded with swipe gestures, each of which does something different (depending on where you are in iOS).

While in your Inbox (or another folder listing), use one finger and swipe horizontally across the message you want to delete. When you do, a Delete button will appear on the right side of the message listing. Tap Delete, and away it goes.

There you have it – three ways delete mail.

This is the first of what I hope will be many Three Ways postings – so if there’s something you think is more difficult than it should be, let us know what that is and we’ll see if there’s a better way. Or two.

 

 
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