19/1/2022 2 Comments How your kids can by-pass the 'Ask to Buy' requirement of iCloud Family SharingIt's that time of year again when many parents are getting devices ready for their children for the new school year.
While assisting a client to set up Parental Controls on her 11yo child's new iPhone this week, discussion turned to the topic of the 'Ask to Buy' setting in the Family Sharing setup of iCloud. This setting allows a parent to remotely authorise (or not) a request from a child who is a member of their iCloud Family, to purchase/download content (even free apps). In this particular client's case, her child was very keen to get onto the social media platforms that her friends were already on. This mum was considering allowing her child on Instagram (as a Private account of course), so we installed it and set up the app so that it is a Private account. She was happy that she had control over what other social media Apps her child could download, through the Ask to Buy setting. But there is a catch to this setting that meant her child could have downloaded Apps or other content without having to ask for permission. All parents need to be aware of this 'back door'.
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If you find your Mac filling up - or perhaps have just done an upgrade and have found some Apps no longer work under the new operating system - it is worth doing of cleanup of apps that are no longer needed.
But how do you 'uninstall' apps on a Mac? If you are familiar with Windows, you may have previously used the Add or Remove Programs option of Windows Settings. But what is the equivalent on the Mac? If you ever need to set up a time to talk to someone in a different country, looking at your own availability and then working out the equivalent time in that other location can be a challenge.
The World Clock in the standard Clock app on the iPad and iPhone is great for working out the current time at other locations around the world. But it doesn't give the option of putting in a future time and seeing the equivalent time at other locations. The good news is that, as is usually the case, there is an app for that. In fact, there are a couple that I use. (Republished 16th Jan 2021)
Just recently, I had a temporary issue with my left ear and wondered if my hearing might be down in that ear. I wasn't overly concerned, but it got me wondering if I could use my iPhone for doing a quick test. As with most things, of course there was an app for that! nIf you have a web page that you access on a regular basis, a great feature on your iPad and iPhone is that you can make that web page appear as a App on your Home Screen.
Then, whenever you want to access that web page, all you need to do is to tap on that App - and you will be taken straight to that web page in the Safari App.
Update 14/10/20:
iOS 14.0.1 seems to quite stable and should be relatively safe for those of you waiting to upgrade. Apple is shipping iOS 14.0.1 with its new iPhone 12s that can be pre-ordered on Friday this week, so that's a good sign for the stability of the release. Here's a video from Apple on how to upgrade. Of course, always make sure you have a backup before you upgrade. Here is Apple's video that takes you through how to back up your mobile device to iCloud. Previously published 27/9/20: You probably already know that the latest upgrade to the iPhone and iPad (and Apple Watch) operating systems is now available - iOS 14 for iPhone and iPadOS for 14 iPad. I always recommend that, given that new upgrades often contain 'glitches', it is worth waiting for at least a little while before you install the new operating system. For this year's upgrade, there was also the issue that Apple released it very quickly after it was announced, meaning that many developers of Apps were not quite ready to release their App update to support this new operating system. There was an increased risk that some apps might not initially work. Fixes have been released already by Apple Only 8 days after the Sept 17th release of iOS 14/iPadOS 14, Apple then released (on 25/9) to fix some early issues. iOS / iPadOS 14.0.1 is now available for download and installation. On the iTandCoffee Facebook page just a few days ago I posted an article that is so topical in this time of lockdown and social isolation: The best video conference and chat apps for self-isolation, compared.
Hot on the heals of all the news about these video conference and chat apps has been news of online meetings and gatherings being invaded by uninvited people - who cause a nuisance and, in some cases, take over the screens of others with pornographic content. After posting the article yesterday about 'How to prevent your Zoom meeting from being Zoombomed', I was asked today about the House Party app and how you can prevent similar 'invader' incidents in that app. Below is the answer I gave to the person who asked this question, for anyone else who is wondering the same. 22/2/2020 4 Comments How can I stop my child re-downloading TikTok after I remove it from his device (since he doesn't have to 'Ask to Buy') ?
Many of you will have read about the concerns around the Chinese social media app, TikTok - an app that is very popular teens and younger children.
TikTok was previously the Music.ly app that so many kids used to record and share short videos of themselves lip-sync'ing to songs. Here is an article that we wrote several years ago about the dangers of Music.ly. Even though the age rating is 12+, children using this app are often much younger. Here is the ABC News report that all parents should read, describing concerns around data being collected by China and the threat to user privacy.
Image by Michal Jarmoluk from Pixabay
Client Meg B has been trying to fill out a PDF form on her iPad, and has been finding the Markup tool provided by Apple to be quite difficult to use when trying to add typed text.
(Here are a couple of our past articles about Markup:
I agree with her that, while the Markup tool makes it really easy to add a signature and annotate a PDF, the way in which you have to add any typed words is pretty 'clunky'. A better alternative is offered by a free app that can be downloaded to ANY mobile device - Apple or Android. 16/10/2019 0 Comments Apps for budgeting and invoicingClient Julie M has asked the following question:
"I am wanting to download two financial apps, a simple one to keep track of the household budget and another that provides more options such as recording income and expenditure along with invoices and payments. Do you have any recommendations for either or both?" Here are some suggestions ... |
What's on at iTandCoffee ?Join us for a short, fun 'topic of the day' classes known as PTT sessions (Personal Training for your Technology fitness!) - these are run on a regular basis. Or join any of our other classes shown below to learn so much about your technology.
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