Offsite: The Ultimate Guide to Notification Center →

May 8, 2014

Notification Center certainly has room for improvement and its myriad of vague settings can often lead to confusion.

To help you understand this feature of iOS a little more and get the most out of it, Rene Ritchie over at iMore has compiled an extensive collection of previously published tips and tricks into a single place, ranging from controlling app badges and sounds to customising the Today view.

There's plenty to read through and each guide includes screenshots to show you exactly what to do. If you're left frustrated with Notification Center, or notifications in general, this is a great reference to come back to.

Offsite: A Comprehensive Guide to Launch Center Pro →

May 1, 2014

Alex Guyot at MacStories has written the definitive guide to Launch Center Pro for iOS that covers everything you'd ever need to know, from the different input options to integrating with other automation apps, such as Drafts and Pythonista.

Clocking in at over 17,000 words, this is an absolute must-read for anyone wanting to get the most out of this exceptional app.

Using Earphones With Remote and Mic with a Mac, iPad and iPod

April 21, 2014

The EarPods with Remote and Mic (or any 3rd-party iPhone-compatible earphones) can be used with more than just the iPhone. These, and many of the thousands available from 3rd-parties, such as Sennheiser and Bose, can be purchased separately and used with any iPad and most iPods from 2008 onwards.

But it isn't just mobile devices that they can be used with, as the Mac has also been supporting iPhone-compatible earphones for several years.

Setting Up iTunes Wi-Fi Syncing

April 7, 2014

Love it or hate it, iTunes still has its uses. While Apple has been able to reduce the dependency iOS devices have on needing to be tethered to a Mac or PC, there are some circumstances where it's unavoidable.

To ease this burden, iOS include a feature called Wi-Fi Sync that allows it to connect and sync with iTunes without the need for taking up a USB port.

Offsite: Keyboard Shortcuts For iOS 7 Apps →

March 19, 2014

A little known fact about using a Bluetooth keyboard with an iPad (or iPhone) is that keyboard shortcuts within iOS and apps are available. For example, you can open a new tab in Safari on iOS 7 by using ⌘T, the same shortcut used on the Mac.

Federico Viticci at MacStories has created a dedicated section of the site to documenting this increasing number of shortcuts within 3rd-party apps.

System apps like Safari and Mail aren't included on the list though he does link to previous posts covering them in great detail.

If you're an iPad user and regularly make use of a Bluetooth keyboard, keep this page within easy reach.

Remote System Monitoring With iStat for iOS

March 6, 2014

iStat 2 for iOS ($4.99) provides a great way to view your Mac's system resource information, from CPU and memory usage to temperature sensor information and network bandwidth, remotely on your iOS device.

A great benefit, especially to system administrators, is that it can be used to monitor your Mac's resources as well, with all of the information can be fed to your iOS device - letting you instantly access system information whenever needed.

Using iTunes Encrypted Backups

March 4, 2014

With the introduction of iCloud, backing up an iOS device to iTunes doesn't seem all that worthwhile. After all, iCloud backups are wireless, don't require your Mac to be running and will be performed both regularly and automatically. Especially as iOS and iTunes are becoming more separate, the frequency many users are syncing their iOS devices has reduced quite substantially.

iTunes backups still serve an important purpose, not only when dealing with iCloud space constraints, but the ability to encrypt them via iTunes allows for more sensitive information, such as email and login credentials, to be included, something that iCloud backups cannot do.

iCloud Photo Sharing With Shared Photo Streams

February 24, 2014

For many users, iCloud's Photo Stream is only ever used for its automatic upload and delivery of new photos across all of their iCloud-enabled devices. But Photo Stream offers far more, providing some excellent features that makes sharing photos with friends and family an enjoyable and more personal experience, especially when considered as an alternative to sharing via social networks.

_"Student iPad" header image credit: [Brad Flickinger][20]. Licensed under [Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic][21]._

Parental Controls With iOS Restrictions

February 18, 2014

The iPad has found immense popularity amongst young children, so it's no surprise that it features some of the best parental controls of any computing platform. Unfortunately, these controls can be often overlooked, so it's all to common to hear about instances where children have inadvertently generated huge charges within apps and games due to In-App Purchases for additional content or unlocking features.

Restrictions within iOS is a comprehensive feature designed to provide you with granular control about what can and cannot be viewed or accessed on an iPad, iPhone or iPod touch. For parents especially, this is the one feature you need to know about.

Information at a Glance with Status Board

February 7, 2014

Panic's Status Board turns an iPad into a fully functioning panel of real-time information. It's purpose is to provide you or your office with at-a-glance updates using not only its range of built-in panels, but providing you with the ability to create your own custom ones to interpret almost any type of data you might want to keep track of, from web stats to call volume.