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Continuity for iPhone, iPad, and Mac: Explained

Sunday September 13, 2020 11:39 am EAT by GeeksModo Staff

One of the things I have always admired about Apple products because of the Continuity and Syncing features, they become usable in combinations when you have more then one device. Having an iPhone, an iPad and an Mac all logged into the same Apple ID account creates a collaboration of sorts, with many features able to work together in ways that provide more functionality. Features like making or answering phone calls from any device. Using AirDrop for moving files or folders to other Apple devices. Sending a text message or placing a phone call right from my Mac. Even syncing Contacts and Reminders, in addition to using iCloud Drive to collaborate across devices, there are many ways to make use of the environment that is created when you have more than one Apple device.

How does Apple continuity work

Apples continuity feature allows users to Sync Contacts, Messages, Calendar, Reminders and more, throughiCloud. While you’re working on your iPhone or Mac, your data remains in real time sync across your Apple devices through iCloud. This can help you to stay on the same page with all your Apple devices. It is very cool being able to add or change a Contact, then have it automatically updated to your other devices through iCloud. Using SIRI to send messages or place phone calls works consistently from any device, because all of Contacts are auto-synced. Syncing Reminders is also very handy, because it will alert you from any nearby device.
Another great thing with Apple Continuity feature is that you can leave one document available for editing on the fly, no matter where you are, as long as it is being synced. When you open it on your Mac, all the typed text will be there.

Apple Continuity requirements

For Apple Continuity features to work, you need two things:

Make sure that Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and Handoff are all turned on your device’s settings.
Make sure that all of your devices are signed in with the same Apple ID.

Handoff

Apple Handoffis a feature that mainly works between iPhone/iPad and a Mac, but there is a use case with the HomePod smart speaker. If you are using a Handoff compatible app such as Safari, Messages and many of the other Apple native apps, then an app icon will show up to the left of the app ‘Dock’ on the Mac. Alternatively, if you’re using an app on Mac and you want to launch it on iPhone, a shortcut to switch into the iPhone version of the app will be available at the bottom of the screen in the multitasking menu. To launch the app on iPad you’ll see it appear on the right side of the iPad’s app Dock.
You can also handoff audio from Apple Music and Podcasts to the HomePod by tapping it to the top of the device. You can tap it again and get the sound to begin playing back on your phone.

How to enable HandOff on your iPhone and Mac:

On your Mac: Head over to System Preferences>General, check the item, “Allow Handoff between this Mac and your iCloud devices.”

On your iPhone or iPad, head over to Settings>General>HandOff, to enable this feature.

Universal Clipboard

Universal Clipboard is by far the most useful Apple Continuity feature, and the vast majority of people don’t know how to use it. Universal Clipboard let’s you copy and paste text from one device to another. For this to work, the two devices must be close to each other. It’s as easy as that. You simply turn on the Settings and you can copy text, images and other content and paste it on your other device.

iPhone Cellular Calls

iPhone Cellular Calls allows users to answer or make phone calls on your Mac or iPad. For this feature to work, the two devices must be connected to the same Wi-Fi network and have all of the Handoff settings turned on. Then when you get a call, it will appear as a notification on your Mac or iPad so you can answer it without reaching for your iPhone. If you want to make a call from a Mac or iPad, you need to make sure your iPhone is near. Then you can simply click on a phone number on the web or in the Contacts app to place a call.

Text Message Forwarding

Text message forwarding let’s users view their text messages on messages app on Mac or iPad provided that your iPhone is nearby. This is one Handoff feature that I’ve had problems with, thankfully, i was able to fix this issue by signing out of my Apple ID, restarting my devices, and re-signing in. This feature has to be enabled from the Messages section in your iPhone’s Settings app too.

Auto Unlock

If you have anApple Watch, you can use it to keep you Mac unlocked when you’re close to it. To turn on this setting, simply go to the ‘Security & Privacy’ section of your Mac’s Settings. Then head over to the General section and if you own an Apple Watch, an option to enable using your Apple Watch as the key to unlock your Mac will be available.

AirDrop

Another popular continuity feature isAirDrop. This let’s users quickly send photos, videos and other files to the nearby apple devices. One great thing about Apple AirDrop is the ability to send files to other peoples Apple device as well as your own.

What else

Other Continuity features are:

Continuity Camera,
Continuity Markup

and

Continuity Sketch.

These features let’s you use your iPhones to add items to documents. The camera allows users to trigger your iPhone camera to capture a photo to insert in your note or Pages document. Markup allows users to draw in the document and Sketch allows users to insert a drawing from an iPhone into a document or note.
There’s also SideCar, which is a new feature that was introduced with the launch of MacOS Catalina and iPadOS. It allows users to have their iPad act as a secondary display.
The last selection is an extension of Apple Pay. This feature let’s users shop online on their Mac and then use Apple Pay to check out. For added security, users can make their computer trigger their iPhone to require FaceID or TouchID to complete their purchase.

Troubleshooting for the Continuity features

Apple continuity not working? no problem. You can fix this problem in a few simple steps. First of all, ensure that all of your devices are on the same wifi network, have BlueTooth turned on, have HandOff enabled and are signed into the same iCloud account.

The following are some of the troubleshooting steps:

Log out of iCloud on all devices, then back in again with the same Apple ID and password
Disable Bluetooth, Wifi, and HandOff on all devices, then reenable them back again.
Lastly, after everything else, power off your devices completely, not just putting them to sleep. Then power them back on again.

Getting the Final Word

Well, there are definitely multiple ways you can use apple Continuity features through various devices. You can make and answer phone calls from any Apple device. You can text or call phone numbers on your screen by right-clicking on them. You can even work on the same document from two different Apple devices at the same time.
We hope you’ve enjoyed reading this Apple Continuity guide. Let us know if you have any problems with setting up Continuity features by leaving a comment below and we’ll be happy to help you out! We also have plenty of other articles that I suggest you check right now.

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How to Enable Low Data Mode for Wi-Fi Networks on iPhone or iPad

Sunday February 16, 2020 5:40 pm EAT by GeeksModo Staff

Wondering how you can reduce data usage on a wi-fi network while using your iPhone or iPad? You have come to the right place.

Depending on where you live, Internet may or may not be costly. If you live in US, there’s a possibility you’re paying a higher bill for your broadband connection and cellular data compared to one of your friends living in Europe or Asia. If internet bills are hurting your pocket, you might want to reduce your data usage. With the launch of iOS 13, Apple included a nifty feature called “Low Data Mode” that claims to reduce Wi-Fi data use when enabled, and a similar feature exist for cellular data users. Most people have limited data when they’re using their home internet use (or a cellular network) to browse the internet, so this feature is very useful when you’re about to hit your data limit, or you just want to reduce the bandwidth used by iPhone or iPad on a wi-fi network.

If you want to enable low data mode for Wi-Fi networks on iPhone or iPad to conserve your monthly data usage while on a wireless network, there are a few simple steps which you need to follow.
Here is the step-by-step guide which will show you how you can turn the low data mode feature on for Wi-Fi networks.

Part of how this feature works is that it aims to limit your data use by preventing automatic updates as well as other background tasks, hence reducing the amount of data used on the iPhone or iPad. Simply follow these steps.

How to Enable Low Data Mode for Wi-Fi Networks on iPhone & iPad

If your problem isn’t cellular data usage but rather skyrocketing broadband bills, you may need to use as less data as possible over Wi-Fi. Don’t worry, simply follow these simple steps to turn on low-data mode for a wireless network:

Start the “Settings” app on your iPhone or iPad and tap on “Wi-Fi”.
Next, tap on the “i” icon next to the Wi-Fi network name that you’re incurring high charges on, as you can see in the screenshot below.
you’ll see the option to enable Low Data Mode. Just tap once on the switch to turn it on.

There you have it. You have configured your iPhone or iPad to use less data.

As you can see, it takes just a few taps to enable or disable the feature.

This mode is very useful if you have a low data cap on your broadband connection, in addition to lowering your bills. By restricting background activities on your iPhone or iPad from consuming your internet data while you’re not using your device, you could use the spare data to do more important stuff at the full bandwidth.

Keep in mind, this method applies to using Low Data Mode on wi-fi, whereas you have a separate setting for using low data mode on iPhone with cellular data, which is what you’d want to use when you’re out roaming around.

While the benefits are numerous, Low Data mode has a couple of drawbacks. Since it prevents automatic updates and background activities as mentioned earlier, your iPhone and iPad data wouldn’t be automatically backed up to the cloud. If you aren’t aware, when your iPhone or iPad is powered on and plugged to a power source, iOS automatically backs up documents, photos, contacts and other files to iCloud. So, you may need to perform a manual backup to iCloud or you may risk losing data permanently.

Well, what’s your take on the new Low Data Mode features on iOS 13? Did it help you save a lot of valuable data and consequently save some cash? We’d love to know your thoughts and experiences in The comment section below.