Year: 2023

How to set up Visual Voicemail on an iPhone

Dan Uff June 13, 2023 0

Visual Voicemail is a feature on the iPhone that allows a person to read what's in a voicemail message. This is done by iOS listening to a message, then visually converting it to text so the end user can read what's in the message.

In the Phone app , Visual Voicemail (available from select carriers) shows a list of your messages. You can choose which ones to play and delete without listening to all of them. A badge on the Voicemail icon indicates the number of unheard messages.

Voicemail transcription (beta; available only in certain countries or regions) shows your messages transcribed into text. Transcription is limited to voicemails in English received on your iPhone with iOS 10 or later. Transcription depends on the quality of the recording.

Note: Voicemail, Visual Voicemail, and Voicemail transcription are available from select carriers in select countries or regions.

How to set up visual voicemail on iPhone:

The first time you tap Voicemail, you’re asked to create a voicemail password and record your voicemail greeting.

Tap Voicemail, then tap Set Up Now.
Create a voicemail password.
Choose a greeting—Default or Custom; if you choose Custom, you can record a new greeting.
That's it.

This tip comes from Apple's Support website at: https://support.apple.com/guide/iphone/set-up-voicemail-iph3c99490e/ios

How to use Airdrop on iOS

Dan Uff June 11, 2023 0

Airdrop on iOS lets you quickly share files with a nearby iOS or Mac user without using Cellular Data. Both users have to have Airdrop enabled on the device before this feature can work.

We'll look at how to set-up Airdrop and how to share / receive content.

Before you start, make sure you're near the other person either on the same WiFi Network, or within Bluetooth range.

In this example, we'll share a Photo from the Photos app. but you can usually share files in almost any iOS app.

How to set-up:

Swipe down from the top of the device to enable Control Center.
If not on a WiFi network, make sure Bluetooth is turned ON on each device.
Touch and hold the network settings card.
Tap the Airdrop icon to turn the feature ON.
To select who you can send and receive files from, tap and hold the Airdrop icon.
Note: If you select everyone, then you may receive files from someone you don't know.
That's it.

How to share content:

Open the photos app.
Select the photo you wish to share.
In the lower-left corner of the screen, tap the share icon.
Tap the Airdrop icon.
Tap the contact or person you wish to share with.
On the receiving device, tap Accept.
The file should open in the app it was sent from.
If the file contains a PDF, it'll ask you which app you wish tom open the file.
That's it.

 Apple previews new features coming to Apple services this fall

Dan Uff June 10, 2023 0

June 7, 2023

UPDATE

Apple previews new features coming to Apple services this fall

Users will be able to create Collaborative Playlists in Apple Music, browse offline maps and trails with Apple Maps, enjoy new experiences in Apple Podcasts, and much more

Apple’s world-class services are an integral part of many millions of users’ everyday lives, from helping them discover new artists on Apple Music, to catching up on current events with Apple News and Apple Podcasts, and navigating and exploring the world with Apple Maps. Later this year, users worldwide will be able to discover, enjoy, and accomplish even more on their favorite Apple devices with new features and enhancements arriving with iOS 17, iPadOS 17, macOS Sonoma, watchOS 10, and tvOS 17.

“Apple’s services enrich millions of users’ lives every day, so we constantly strive to deliver the best experience possible,” said Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of Services. “Not only do we want to make services more powerful for users, we also want to make them more fun. And I think the teams have done an incredible job with the lineup of new features we’re delivering this fall, from Collaborative Playlists in Apple Music, to offline maps in Apple Maps, to new experiences in Apple Podcasts.”

Here are some of the most exciting new tools and experiences users can look forward to:

Listen with family and friends using Collaborative Playlists. Apple Music subscribers can collaborate on playlists with family and friends. Users can invite each other to select and edit tracks, and even add emoji reactions to specific songs.

Enjoy an even more immersive Apple Music Sing experience with Continuity Camera. With Apple Music Sing and Continuity Camera, users will be able to see themselves onscreen and apply all-new camera filters as they sing along to the lyrics of their favorite songs.

Discover the artists behind favorite songs with Song Credits in Apple Music. Fans can view comprehensive data about the artists who contributed to their favorite tracks, including their roles and the instruments they played.

Contribute to what’s playing in the car with SharePlay. Apple Music is bringing SharePlay to the car so that everyone can easily choose what’s playing. When users are in a car and listening with Apple Music, other trusted iPhone devices will automatically suggest joining the session. Listeners can control the music from their own devices, even if they don’t have an Apple Music subscription.

Stream the entire catalog of Apple Music radio shows on Apple Podcasts. Subscribers will be able to listen to the entire catalog of award-winning, commercial-free Apple Music radio shows in Apple Podcasts, where they can follow individual shows to automatically download and be notified of new episodes as soon as they’re released.

Browse offline maps with just a tap using Apple Maps. Users can easily select an area on their device and download it with just a tap. While offline, users will be able to access turn-by-turn navigation for driving, walking, transit, and cycling; see their estimated time of arrival; find places in Maps; and more.

See real-time electric vehicle charging availability. Maps users with electric vehicles will be able to see real-time charging station availability filtered by charging network, plug type, and more, and users with compatible vehicles will be able to designate a preferred charging network.

Explore the great outdoors with thousands of park trails. Maps is making it easier than ever to discover thousands of trails in parks across the U.S. with place cards that include detailed information like trail length and type, difficulty, and elevation gain.

Build a workout or meditation routine with Custom Plans in Apple Fitness+. Custom Plans are a new way to receive a custom workout or meditation schedule based on day, duration, workout type, and more.

Queue Fitness+ workouts and meditations with Stacks. Fitness+ is also introducing Stacks, allowing users to select multiple workouts and meditations to do back to back, so they can seamlessly move to their next activity without interruptions. Stacks can be saved to a user’s library to use again in the future.

Dial in a workout or meditation with Audio Focus on Fitness+. With Audio Focus, Fitness+ subscribers can prioritize the volume of the music to stay energized or the trainers’ voices so they can concentrate on their coaching.

Enjoy daily crosswords with Puzzles on Apple News. Apple News+ subscribers will be able to enjoy even more benefits, including Puzzles, which will include a daily crossword and mini-crossword in partnership with The Puzzle Society.

Listen to audio stories from Apple News+ on Apple Podcasts. Apple News+ subscribers will have the ability to listen to professionally narrated audio stories from the world’s leading magazines and newspapers in Apple Podcasts.

An all-new Now Playing experience comes to Apple Podcasts. Listeners will enjoy a refreshed Now Playing design, featuring a sleek, dynamic background that showcases a podcast’s art and provides enhanced controls for managing the queue.

Learn more about the topic of a podcast with episode art. With support for episode art throughout Apple Podcasts, listeners will be able to explore more about an episode. It’s also easier to preview, play, or follow podcasts with a new design for episodes, shows, and channels in Up Next.

Connect subscriptions to top apps on the App Store with Apple Podcasts. Listeners will be able to access new shows and other benefits by connecting eligible subscriptions to top apps on the App Store, including Bloomberg, Calm, The Economist, L’Équipe, Lingokids, The Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and WELT.

Dive deeper into a favorite series on Apple Books. With Apple Books’ new series pages, users can easily see all of the books available in a series, toggle between ebook and audiobook versions, purchase and read the next title in the series based on their reading, discover recommendations for related series, and more.

Set up recurring payments with Apple Cash. Apple Cash users will be able to set up weekly, biweekly, or monthly Apple Cash payments, making it even easier for parents to pay allowances or for users to pay back friends and family for regularly shared expenses, such as rent payments. Users can also choose to automatically top up their Apple Cash balance when it runs low.

Present an ID to businesses using iPhone and Apple Wallet. Starting this fall, businesses will be able to accept IDs in Apple Wallet — no additional hardware needed. This will streamline their ability to securely check a customer’s age in person for things like alcohol purchases, or to verify a customer’s identity at checkout for car rentals, and more. To seamlessly and securely present their ID in Wallet to an enabled business, users simply hold their iPhone or Apple Watch near the business’s iPhone. Users will be shown what information is being requested and whether the receiving party will be storing the information. Users will then be asked to authenticate and consent by using Face ID or Touch ID.

Share and request locations using Find My with Messages and Maps. Users will be able to share their location — and request someone else’s location — through Find My directly in Messages with the new “Location” option in the Send Menu. From here, users can also easily create a route to someone’s location in Maps.

Share items using AirTag and Find My. Item sharing for AirTag and Find My network accessories will allow device owners to invite up to five other people to a sharing group. Everyone in the group will be able to see the item’s location and will not receive unwanted tracking notifications. Members of the sharing group can also use Find My to get directions to the item and use Precision Finding to help pinpoint a shared AirTag’s location.

Availability

A developer beta of iOS 17, iPadOS 17, macOS Sonoma, watchOS 10, and tvOS 17 is available to Apple Developer Program members at developer.apple.com. A public beta will be available to users next month at beta.apple.com. New software features will be available this fall as a free software update. Some features, applications, and services may not be available in all regions or all languages.

Press Contacts

Apple Media Helpline

media.help@apple.com

MIT computer scientist: Apple Vision Pro could change the world

Dan Uff June 9, 2023 0

(CNN): Apple’s new device could… become a new type of computing platform, one as revolutionary as the Macintosh was in 1984 or the iPhone in 2007.

Apple’s headset (which it calls a spatial computer) has the potential to herald a new era of wearable “ubiquitous computing,” a somewhat fuzzy term conveying that computers will become small and be everywhere, ridding us of the need for dedicated computing devices and accessories like keyboards and monitors.

In fact, a wearable computing platform that is always with you and can create displays of any size in real time could eventually replace desktops, laptops, tablets and mobile phones; those are all unnecessary if you can have any number of high-resolution screens floating in the air around you and a virtual keyboard that responds to your hand and eye movements, the main control mechanism of Apple’s Vision Pro.

I see many reasons why Apple may succeed in reaching mass adoption where others have spectacularly failed to do so.

I’m not alone. Cathy Hackl, former enterprise strategist at Magic Leap, told me on Monday, “What you saw unveiled today is the most advanced tech product ever created, it’s a super computer on your face.”

While the first version of Vision Pro will undoubtedly have kinks that need to be worked out, like a short-lived battery with an unwieldy wire, we should remember that the first Mac was also very limited and wasn’t initially a financial success. Yet its user-friendly interface laid the foundation for a new way of computing, just as the iPhone did a generation later.

While the first version won’t be as compact as the glasses in “Westworld” or “Ready Player One,” it won’t be long before you’ll be able to place large screens all around you and manipulate what’s in them, a la “Minority Report.” Unlike Tom Cruise, you won’t even need gloves.