Tip, Tricks and Articles for iPad, iPhone, Mac
iCloud, Windows, Android, Office 365, Dropbox, Apps, and more

After upgrading to iOS 8.3, you may have found that you have lost the ability to import your iPad and iPhone photos to your computer using a USB cable.  

If this has occurred, you will also have lost the ability to delete photos from your i-Devices using your computer.

So, where are your photos and how do you now back them up to your computer using a USB cable?

The answer to this question is ...  It depends.  

It depends on whether you have a Mac or Windows computer, and what version of the OS X or Windows operating system you are using.  And it also depends on certain Settings on your iPhone or iPad.

This issue is related to the new cloud-based Photo management service from Apple, called iCloud Photo Library

Need to know more?

Free Information Sessions for iTandCoffee Club members

iTandCoffee will be hosting a couple of FREE members-only information sessions about iCloud Photo Library in August (dates at times yet to be decided).

If you are a member of the iTandCoffee Club and are interested in attending this free 1-hour session, register your interest below. Numbers will be strictly limited, so register early avoid disappointment.

If you are not yet an iTandCoffee Club member but would like to take advantage of great free sessions like this, why not join the club today. 

If you would like to attend but don't want to join our club, you can still come along - at a cost of $30, payable in advance.  Register below and we will be in touch with details of how to pay.
             

Related Handy Hints (available to iTandCoffee Club members)

If you did not already know about importing photos to Windows using a USB cable, here are the handy hints previously published on this topic - before the latest updates caused this to stop working for some people.

• mporting iPad and iPhone photos to a Windows computer                  
  
• Deleting photos from iPad & iPhone in bulk using a Windows computer
  
• How can I delete photos in bulk from my iPad or iPhone using my Mac? 

Yet another reason why I love Evernote (not that I needed any more!)

If you are an Evernote user, try this out next time you get a business card from someone - one that you want to save to your Contacts.

Clever Evernote can scan the business card, work out the details of the person from the business card, and then automatically create a Contact from the details it detects!

Find out more about this great feature of Evernote in this article on the Evernote website. 

Everyone needs Evernote in their life!!  Do you have it is yours?  If you want to learn about Evernote and how to use it, why not come along to our next 'Introduction to Evernote' class scheduled in July.

Further details of this class can be found here.  Why not join us to find out how organised you can become by using Evernote.

I have been to visit a few clients recently who have had not had their Firewall turned on on their Mac.

Your Mac's Firewall is a built in feature that allows you to limit what incoming and outgoing connections are allowed to your Mac.  This means you control what other computers are allowed to see and do, protecting you from malicious outsiders trying to steal your information.

So you don't need to pay for another product for 'Firewall' protection.

Find out more about the Mac's Firewall, and how to turn it on - or check what has access to your computer - in this recent article from MacWorld.

• Fire up your Mac's firewall
  

Have you seen then great little accessories, that you can attach to your keys or bag (or anything else), and then help you locate these items (using your iPad or iPhone) when you can't find them?  

It's called a Tile and you can purchase one or several to attach to all sorts of things - even the TV remote that you keep losing.  Or, in our house, the Apple TV remote which disappears on a regular basis.

I definitely need several!  

Click on the below link for further information about this great accessory and how it works.

• Keep losing it?  Stick a Tile on it.
  

There are some really good apps out there that can help you with budgeting.

Check out this article from AppAdvice on the best 9 budgeting apps for iPhone and iPad

If you own an Android mobile phone or tablet, you really need to read this article published this week in The Age.

If you value your privacy, you may want to check what apps you have installed on your device - Big Brother may be watching you!

Click/tap on the link below to read the article from The Age.

One in four apps on your Android mobile needlessly mining your personal data | theage.com.au

The iPhone and iPad have some incredibly easy to use photo editing features that can make a very ordinary photo into something quite extraordinary - cropping, brightening, sharpening, improving colour and so much more.  You can even use great photo editing apps like Camera+ from within the Photos app for even more advanced editing.

Something that I loved to do while travelling recently was to go through my day's photos and apply some edit to my favourite photos (where needed).  My iPhone 6 Plus took fantastic photos, but there were times when the lighting or my photo-taking skills were not quite up to scratch - so edits could make all the difference to some photos.

However, I found that, when I imported my holiday snaps from my iPhone to my Mac's iPhoto app using the USB cable, the imported photos did not include my edits!  

So, was all the effort applying these edits all for nothing?  Could I get around this limitation of the import process and ensure that I could see all my edited photos on my Mac, without having to re-apply all those edits all over again?

The answer is yes - but the solution you use depends on whether or not you have upgraded to the new iCloud Photo Library and the Photos app on Mac.

Find out the options your have for solving this problem here.  This handy hint is available now for viewing by members of The iTandCoffee Club. 

Non-members will have to wait to see if this hint appears as the free hint in a future iTandCoffee Handy Hint Newsletter.

Or, why not Join the Club today - find out more about The iTandCoffee Club, and how to join, here.

Related Tips for iTandCoffee Club members

iTandCoffee has lots of other handy hints and articles about photos.  Handy Hints are accessible only by iTandCoffee Club members.  Blog articles can be accessed by all readers.  Here are just some that have been published already.

• More advanced photo editing features
• Separately control focus and light in Camera App
• New Edit features available from the Camera app.

After upgrading to iOS 8.3, you may have noticed a new option in the iCloud settings for Photos (ie in Settings -> iCloud -> Photos), called iCloud Photo Library.

As an early adopter of all things Apple, I turned on this new service on my iPad and iPhone, and also upgraded my Mac to use the new photo management solution Photos (which replaces iPhoto under OS X 10.10.3.)

In theory, all photos from my devices would be uploaded to my iCloud and then shared with each device - so that I would see the same set of photos and albums on each device.  

This would mean that future Albums that I created on my iPhone would also appear on my iPad and Mac. 

Additionally, any photos that I edited on my iPhone or iPad would automatically appear on all devices - overcoming a current limitation with getting your edited photos from your i-Device to your computer.  


(See a separate iTandCoffee article on this topic: I edit images in Photos on my iPhone, but they don't import to my computer!.)

Multiple issues after switching on iCloud Photo Library

My iPhone finally (after 3 months of issues) shows my full photo library.  

This is only after multiple attempts at turning on the feature, which would 'stall' part way through the upload/download process - never to start again.  

I would then have to switch off iCloud Photo Library - which deleted from my phone all photos that had already been uploaded to iCloud - and try switching it on again.  

In the meantime, I lost access to the photos that had been already uploaded to iCloud, waiting for them to be re-downloaded (which kept failing to happen). 

I am yet to get my iPad to successfully perform the upload and download activities associated with switching on the iCloud Photo Library service.  I might try again this weekend, but not feeling hopeful. 

Internet access required to view your iCloud Photo Library photos

Another frustration is that I need internet access to view these photos properly, as my mobile device must download the full version each time I tap the photo.   I see a little progress 'clock' showing that my photo is downloading.

I could choose the option to Download and Keep Originals, but even my 'optimised photo library' takes up 13GB on my iPhone.  My full photo library is too big to fit on my iPhone, so it would still need to 'Optimise' my photos - meaning that I need internet access to view their full resolution version.  

This meant that yesterday, while in country Victoria with no internet access, I could only show blurry versions of my beautiful photos.  If there had been internet, I would have been using up my cellular data allowance each time I accessed a photo!

Even when I do have internet access, there is too often a delay in getting my photos to fully resolve - frustrating when you want to flick through your photos and see them 'in their full glory'.  

This delay occurs despite the fact that, at home, I have a very fast internet service.  For some photos, the progress clock just stalls, giving me only the blurred version of the photo.

Below is a very short video showing what happens these days when I view my photos library on my iPhone.  Watch for the little 'timer clock' at the bottom right of most photos.

Additional iCloud Storage may be required - at a higher cost

iCloud Photo Library requires that you have enough storage space in your iCloud to store all of your photos - which could add up to a very large number of gigabytes (and hence increased cost of iCloud storage).  

For me, this meant upgrading to the 200GB plan at a higher cost of $4.99 per month, since my 20GB plan was not going be any where enough.

Recommendation:  Steer clear for now

So, unless you are an 'early adopter' like me who is brave enough to try a new service when it is in its early days, I would steer clear of iCloud Photo Library for now.

Need help with any of this?

Contact iTandCoffee on 1300 885 420 or email enquiry@itandcoffee.com.au.

You may have been left wondering if I had lost my mind when you got last week's newsletter, as it started with the same article as the previous week's and had only one other article.

Well, I have a confession.  My technology was more efficient than I was!  While certain features of the tools that I use can make my job so much easier, some of them can also catch me out if I don't pay attention!  

The week had been frantic with getting back into classes and seeing clients for private appointments.  So I didn't get the chance to finish the articles that I had started writing and had decided to get the newsletter out over the weekend.

I was more than a little embarrassed to find a newsletter from iTandCoffee arrived in my Inbox while I was eating dinner on Friday night, and I realised that I had forgotten to turn of the 'auto-send' feature that was set for 7pm Fridays. 

Hopefully this week's newsletter will make up for last week's.  Enjoy!

If you are thinking of buying a Mac some time soon, there is a long list of models to choose from - but which on is right for you now and for your future needs.

Hopefully this article from Macworld will help you with this big decision.

• Complete UK guide to every Mac available now: which one will you buy?
  

If not, iTandCoffee can assist.  And we can help you get up and running on your new Mac when you are ready.

Call 1300 885 420, or email enquiry@itandcoffee.com.au.

Why not come along to an iTandCoffee Class to learn about your Mac

iTandCoffee regularly runs the Getting to Know your Mac series of classes - focused on those who are new to (or relatively new to) the Mac computer.  

The next series will start on July 16th 2015 - click here for more details or to book.  

For details of other great iTandCoffee classes, check out the class schedule here.