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

Client Gwen S visited iTandCoffee recently asking for assistance with this problem: she had received an unexpected charge of over $18 per month for a Dropbox subscription that she didn't know she had agreed to, and didn't want.
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She wanted to find out how this had happened, and how to stop any such charges in future.

This week, I got a very rude shock when I received a text message from Telstra saying that I had used up nearly all of my month's allowance of mobile data - with 9 days to go until the end of the billing cycle!

I was not conscious of having done anything that could have used up that much data, so did a bit of detective work on my iPhone 7 Plus to see what was eating my data.

In addition to this, I also had the Automatic Download option enabled in Settings -> Music.

This setting meant that any music that I added to my Library in Apple Music would be automatically downloaded to my iPhone (as long as there is space).

I had recently added a couple of '70's Music' playlists, not realising they automatically downloaded - AND that, due to my setting in the Mobile Data, this downloading could happen using my mobile data.

Needless to say, I have now turned off the Downloads option in the Mobile Data option of Settings -> Music.

I suggest you all do the same, to avoid getting caught out like I did!

Handy Hints (for iTandCoffee Club members only.  Find out more here »)

• ​Managing and monitoring your mobile data usage
• Sharing content from one device to another using Airdrop
• Stopping Facebook from autoplaying videos - and wasting your mobile data
• Temporarily allowing mobile data and allowing/blocking phone calls when travelling.

Blog Articles:

• I turned on my data roaming and used 11MB in a flash  
• A great data usage 'stopwatch' for my iPad and iPhone
• Have you turned off this data-gobbling feature ?
• My device shows the internet is working, but it is not!
• If you use public WiFi, you should read this

A client who visited iTandCoffee recently had a particular requirement.  She needed to extract a record of her iPhone's Messages, so that she had a separate, permanent record - just in case something happened to her iPhone.

The good news for this client is that such a requirement can be relatively easily met.

Not only is it possible to extract a record of the messages, but also the Contacts, Calendar entries, voice recordings, call history, photos, videos and more.

It is even possible to determine a forgotten 'Restrictions' password.

​The Mac app that iTandCoffee uses to extract the above information is called 'iPhone Backup Extractor', one that has served our purposes for the past few years.

How do you retrieve your music from an old iPod or iOS device?  Here is an article that covers this particular topic.

• Recover your iTunes library from your iPod or iOS Device                                                            

A client this week asked how he could stop a Netflix subscription that was not really being used and was no longer needed.

He had logged into his Netflix account, and tried to cancel it from there, but found that it gave him a message saying that the subscription was managed by iTunes, so it had to be cancelled there.

This has been covered previously in this blog.  Here is a link to the relevant iTandCoffee Handy Hint that shows how to turn off such iTunes subscriptions:  How to turn off subscriptions from your iPad and iPhone.

This is a members-only Handy Hint for iTandCoffee Club members.  Find out more about The iTandCoffee Club here.

Are you totally confused about what is happening these days with your music on your iPhone, iPad or Apple TV?

I too found myself in this state during my summer break, when I went to play the Adele '25' album that I had purchased. At the time I was looking to play it, I had no internet service so needed to rely on my downloaded music.  

I knew I had downloaded Adele's album, but could not find the Album on my iPhone - despite it showing in my iTunes Store app that it had been downloaded.

It was then that I discovered that all the music that I had previously sync'd to my iPhone from my computer had also disappeared, leaving me with nothing to listen to while 'offline'.

Then, in setting up my new Apple TV, I couldn't get any music to show up in Apple Music - other than Apple Radio.

I found that there are a couple of things to consider when sorting out issues with your Music under iOS 9, depending on whether you have turned on iCloud Music Library and whether you have an Apple Music subscription.

Well, it's iOS upgrade time again.  The latest version of iOS - iOS 9 - is now available for download and installation.  

If you missed last week's article that outlined the content of iOS 9, here is the link.

• iOS 9 is coming on Sept 17th
  

I wouldn't suggest everyone rush in and download immediately - perhaps let iOS 9 settle in for a week or so, to see if any major issues are reported.  I will include an update on how it has been received in next week's newsletter.

Before you even think about upgrading - or migrating to a brand new device - you need to be sure that you have a backup of your iPad and/or iPhone.  

While problems don't happen often, upgrades (and updates) can occasionally fail.  If this occurs, you will want to be sure to have a backup from which you can restore your device. before re-attempting the upgrade/update.

You have two options - 

• backup to iCloud, 
• or backup to iTunes 

Backing up to iTunes

Of course, to back up to iTunes, you need a computer running iTunes, a version that is compatible with your i-Device's iOS version.

An iTunes backup is a much more comprehensive backup than an iCloud backup.  It includes the full contents of your device, including the apps.  Additionally, it does not require use of the internet - no upload/download data is used by this form of backup.  If you have a computer, it is well worth doing an iTunes backup every now and then, even if you already backup to iCloud.

Another important different with an iTunes backup is that, when you specify that you want to encrypt your iTunes backup, that backup will include any passwords used by your device, and will ensure these are restored to your device when you restore from the backup.  

An un-encrypted iTunes backup will not store passwords, so you will need to re-do these when your device is re-instated.  Sometimes, this can cause quite a bit of grief - trying to remember all those key passwords.

Backing up to iCloud

An iCloud backup only backs up those things that are not already available for re-downloading from iCloud/iTunes and requires (of course) use of the internet to re-instate your device.  And an iCloud backup will not back up passwords.  Restoring from an iCloud backup requires an internet connection and, depending on how much data is stored on your device, may use up a significant amount of your monthly data allowance.

Need help with backups or upgrades?

The whole area of backups and upgrades can get quite overwhelming for many.  If you need help with either of these, please don't hesitate to contact iTandCoffee on 1300 885 420 or email enquiry@itandcoffee.com.au

Below are some past articles and handy hints on the topic or backups and iCloud, for those who feel like doing some further reading.

Here also is a good article from MacWorld on this topic.

Some of the below articles/hints require membership of the iTandCoffee Club.  Not yet a member of the iTandCoffee Club?  

Why not join today to view a vast number of handy hints like this, and to have access to other great 'members only' offers and products - including free sessions at iTandCoffee in Glen Iris.

• Do I have to back up both my iPad and iPhone?  Can I do this by just plugging into my computer?
  
• How do I completely wipe my old iPhone or iPad before giving it to one of my kids?
  
• What to do when your iCloud is full
  
• When your photos are clogging up your iPhone or iPad
  
• How can I reset or change my Apple ID's password?
  
• How do I stop the kids games from appearing on my iPad and iPhone?
  
• Is iCloud Safe?
  
• iCloud now allows you to recover lost data and documents
  
• When your iCloud gets crowded! The problem with sharing your iCloud ...Are your old iTunes backups taking up precious space on your Mac?
  
• A handy website for questions about Mac's Time Machine
  

Just this week, I found my little 11-inch Macbook Air was bulging at the seams and needed a bit of a clean out!

So, I spent quite a bit of time getting rid of all sorts of files that didn't need to be kept.  But, after all that work, my Mac showed that there was still a lot of 'Other' space filled up with who knows what.

It was then that I realised that, in assisting clients with various problems, I had a few times done iTunes Backups of their devices.  Some of these devices had quite large storage capacity and usage, meaning that I probably had a large amount of space being taken up with iTunes backup I no longer needed.

Find out in this week's handy hint just what I was able to do the 'clear out' these un-needed backups, and free up about 40GB of space on my little Mac!!

Not yet a member of the iTandCoffee Club?  

Why not join today to view a vast number of handy hints like this, and to have access to other great 'members only' offers and products - including free sessions at iTandCoffee in Glen Iris.

I normally create my music playlists in iTunes on my computer, and then sync them to my iPhone and iPad.

However, the other day I decided I wanted to create a playlist on my iPhone.  When I went to do this, I realised that it is not very obvious where to find the 'Create New Playlist' option!

When you tap on the Playlists option at the bottom of the screen, you only see the list of existing playlists.  

So where do you go to create the new playlist?

Find out in this iTandCoffee Handy Hint.  This hint is now only accessible to those who are iTandCoffee Club members.

For this and a huge number of other tips and tricks for iPad, iPhone and Mac, Join the Club today!

This week I had a visit from a client, who was desperate to recover some very important Notes that were inadvertently deleted from her iPhone.

She had visited the Genius Bar at the Apple Store, but was told that there was not really any way of recovering the information that she had lost.

So she came to see me to find out if there was any possibility of retrieving these lost Notes, especially given that she had regularly backed up her iPhone to iTunes on her Macbook as well as backing up to iCloud.

The answer is ... maybe!

While the iCloud backup is unlikely to be of any help in retrieving the lost Notes, it is possible that the lost data is still available in the iTunes backups that are saved to her Macbook.  So what's the difference between these two types of backup.

The below is taken from a article that talks about i-Device backups.  (Read more here if you are interested.)

What this highlights is just how important it is to, if possible, regularly back up your iPhone and iPad to iTunes on a computer - so that you have a complete backup of your device should you ever need it - rather than just a partial iCloud backup.

Where are iTunes Backups stored on your computer

iTunes backups are saved away to an hidden area on your Mac or Windows computer.  In the case of this client's Mac, we could see all her iTunes backups in the folder

          ~/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup

You can get to this hidden folder by opening Finder, then choosing Go from the menu bar and clicking on Go to Folder, and typing in the above path.  (Refer later for where to find the backup folders on Windows.)

In that Backup folder, you will see a list of backup folders, which contains a heap of strangely named files that are actually the contents of the backup.  The Date Created for each of the folders in Backup provides you with the backup's date.  

(If you don't see Date Created in the columns provided, right-click on the column heading area and 'tick' the Date Created option from the list that drops down.  This will add the column to your Finder view.)

Below is a sample of my own iTunes backup folders.  I have clicked on the Date Created heading to sort the list of folders in descending Date Created order, so that the newest is at the top.

When we looked at my client's backup folders on her Macbook in the same way, we were able to see that she had a backup from just before and after the date that she thinks she deleted the Notes.  So hope was restored.

But how can you then find what you need in the iTunes Backup

The question is then, how can she view the contents of her backup in a way that allows her to locate her missing Notes - given that there is nothing that would indicate which of the files in the relevant backup folder contains her deleted Notes. 

Double-clicking on a few files at random shows that these backup files are sometimes photos, sometimes text with gobbledy-gook - but finding a couple of Notes amongst thousands of files would be like finding a needle in a haystack.  (If you don't have much in your backup, this solution might be workable for finding a particular file.)

The easiest way to extract the information contained in this set of folders is to download a product  that allows you to view the contents of the backup.  

The particular product that I use for cases like this is Aiseesoft Mac Fonelab.  This app is not available from the Mac App Store, so must be downloaded from the Aiseesoft website.

Below is an image of the Fonelab screen.  In this image, the app is in the process of scanning my nominated iTunes backup to identify all the Photos, Contacts, Messages, Notes, etc.  Once it has finished this scanning, I will be able to look through what it found.

The below images shows the list of the Notes that Fonelab found in my backup - I can view the content of each note and, if I choose, can 'recover' these notes to a specified Output folder.

While this product is not cheap (right now, it is US$48.96), it can be a real lifesaver for those times that you lose something really important.

Some other options (which I have not tried myself, so cannot provide any recommendation) are:

• iPhone Backup Extractor
  
• iTunes Backup Viewer
• iBackup Viewer 

• Phone Rescue

So there is hope for my clients lost Notes, if she wants to invest in a product such as those described above.

Location of iTunes Backups on a Windows Computer (Windows Vista, 7 and 8)

         \Users\(username)\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup\

The below elated hints and articles have been published previously on the iTandCoffee website.  Blog Articles can be viewed by anyone, but Handy Hints can only be viewed by members of The iTandCoffee Club - why not join today to be able to view these great tips and hints any time.