We’re big fans of the Mac’s window proxy icons, those little icons that appear in window title bars next to the filename. They’re not just cosmetic—you can use them just like the Finder icon for the open document. You can drag one to Mail to attach the document to a message, to a Web browser to upload it, or to any other location you can drag a document’s icon in the Finder. You can also drag a proxy icon for a folder from the title bar of its Finder window to Open and Save dialogs to navigate to the folder. In macOS 11 Big Sur, Apple hid the proxy icon until you moused over the filename, but starting in macOS 12 Monterey, the company provided an option to show them all the time. To enable it, select System Settings > Accessibility > Display > Show window title icons.

(Featured image by Adam Engst)

Control Center has been a part of our iPhone and iPad experience for over a decade, first appearing in iOS 7 in 2013. It provides direct access to important controls so we don’t have to hunt through Settings or apps. On the whole, it has been a welcome addition.

Although Control Center has changed a bit over the years, it provided relatively minimal customization options until iOS 18 and iPadOS 18. Previously, in Settings > Control Center, you could choose which controls appeared and in what order, though a few essential controls always appeared at the top.

With this year’s operating system updates for the iPhone and iPad, Apple decided to give us nearly free rein to personalize Control Center, even allowing us to add multiple pages of controls. While some people will go wild and utterly reimagine what Control Center can do for them, we expect most to employ more modest tweaks that make it slightly easier to use.

Here’s what you can do in iOS 18 and iPadOS 18:

Learn the basics of getting around in Control Center: 

• Open Control Center: Swipe down from the upper-right corner of the screen.
• Move between Control Center pages: During the initial swipe to open Control Center, keep swiping down to navigate to later Control Center pages, represented by tiny icons on the right side of the screen. Once Control Center is open, swipe up or down anywhere on the screen to move between pages or tap the icons.
• Use controls: Tapping an icon in Control Center usually either toggles a setting (like Orientation Lock and Silent Mode) or opens an app (like Magnifier or Wallet). Many display additional options when you touch and hold them (tap the Focus icon to toggle Do Not Disturb; touch and hold it to access more options, each of which offers even more settings). A few controls allow direct manipulation (like Now Playing, Volume, and Brightness).
  

Add, organize, and remove items from Control Center:

• Enter and leave editing mode: Tap the + icon in the upper-left corner, or touch and hold on any empty part of the Control Center screen, much like you enter wiggle mode on the Home Screen. You can swipe between screens in editing mode as well. When you’re done, tap any empty area to leave editing mode.
• Add a control: In editing mode, tap Add a Control at the bottom of the screen, search or browse for available controls, and tap the one you want to add to the current screen. Note that many apps now provide controls, vastly increasing the actions available from Control Center.
  
• Move a control: Touch and hold a control and drag it to the desired location. While holding the control, drag it to the bottom or top of the screen to move it to a different page.
• Add a new page: When you’re in editing mode, a new empty page always appears at the bottom. To make it stick around after you exit editing mode, add or move a control to it.
• Resize a control: If a control has a curved resize handle on the lower-right corner of its icon, drag that handle to make the control larger or smaller. Most offer only 1-slot, 2-slot, and 4-slot sizes, with the latter two adding the name—we’re partial to the 2-slot size because we have trouble recognizing little icons. (Control Center would benefit from an option to display names under 1-slot icons as it does on the Add a Control screen.) A few controls, notably Now Playing, are more malleable—it offers two 4-slot sizes, an 8-slot size, a 16-slot size, and a full-page 32-slot size.
  
• Delete a control: To remove a control, tap the – button in the upper-left corner of the icon.
• Reset the layout to the default: It’s easy to go overboard and end up with a mad scientist layout. To return to the default set of controls, go to Settings > Control Center > Reset Control Center.

Take advantage of extra Control Center tips and settings:

• Check privacy status alerts: In the middle of the screen, you may see one or more small icons and an app name ➊. That indicates the app has permission to do things like track your location, use the camera, or record with the mic. Tap that area to see more details.
• Power down the device: Touch and hold the power button at the upper-right corner of the screen ➋. It’s similar to holding the physical side button and one of the volume buttons for a few seconds, except the physical buttons also provide sliders for viewing your Medical ID and making an Emergency SOS call. Even if you cancel the power-off action, you must enter your passcode to re-enable FaceID.
  
• Turn off Control Center access in apps: If you accidentally invoke Control Center in apps because you want to swipe near the top right of the screen, go to Settings > Control Center and turn off Access Within Apps.

It’s easy to become overwhelmed with Control Center’s customization possibilities. There’s no harm in sticking with the default layout, but our initial advice is to think about what you use Control Center for now and make sure those actions are well-represented by icons on the first page. Also, if you have trouble remembering what particular icons do, resize them to the 2-slot size so you can see their names. Later on, you can look through the full list of available controls and add those that seem appealing.

(Featured image by iStock.com/yacobchuk)

Apple’s online iCloud storage underpins many of the company’s services, including iCloud Photos, iCloud Drive, iCloud Backup (for iPhones and iPads), iCloud Mail, and Messages in iCloud. Numerous independent apps also rely on iCloud storage to sync data between devices.

Apple gives everyone 5 GB of storage for free, which is enough for core services, like iCloud Keychain, and to try the other services. However, those who wish to take full advantage of iCloud Photos and iCloud Drive, in particular, must subscribe to iCloud+. Along with extra storage, iCloud+ subscribers can use:

• iCloud Private Relay, which blocks tracking of Safari traffic, DNS queries, and most non-HTTP Web traffic
• Hide My Email, which creates random, unique email addresses that automatically forward to your inbox
• Custom Email Domains, which lets you register your own custom email domain and use it in a personalized email address

For now, though, we’ll focus on storage. Apple’s iCloud+ rates are similar to those for storage at Google Drive and Microsoft OneDrive, though the specifics vary slightly by service. Apple charges:

• 50 GB: $0.99 per month
• 200 GB: $2.99 per month
• 2 TB: $9.99 per month
• 6 TB: $29.99 per month
• 12 TB: $59.99 per month

Audit Your Storage Needs

How much you should get depends on how much data you wish to upload to start and how quickly you expect that amount to grow. For most people, iCloud Photos consumes more storage space than anything else, although syncing your Desktop and Documents folders between Macs using iCloud can also chew up space.

If you’re not currently using iCloud, use File > Get Info to determine the size of your Photos Library (located in your Pictures folder), and do the same for your Desktop and Documents folders if you want to sync them. You can also anticipate iPhone and iPad backups consuming up to 20 gigabytes or more.

Remember that you can share iCloud+ storage space with people in your Family Sharing group. Checking how much space others in your family would also like to use is worthwhile.

Get Started with iCloud+

Subscribe to iCloud+ in Settings/System Settings > Your Name > iCloud > Upgrade to iCloud+. (In pre-2024 versions of Apple’s operating system, tap Manage Account Storage and Change Storage Plan.)

Then, you can turn on iCloud Photos in Photos > Settings > iCloud on the Mac or Settings > Apps > Photos on the iPhone and iPad. (We recommend having one Mac use “Download Originals to this Mac” so you have a local copy of everything.) If it’s compelling for you, turn on Desktop and Documents folder syncing in System Settings > Your Name > iCloud > iCloud Drive on each of the Macs you want to participate—you don’t need to do anything on iPhones or iPads because everything from your Macs automatically appears in the iOS Files app. The initial sync, which uploads and deduplicates everything, can take days, depending on the upstream bandwidth of your Internet connection.

Once you’re set up, you can see and manage all the apps and services using iCloud. Go to Settings/System Settings > Your Name > iCloud, and next to Saved to iCloud, tap See All. Tap any app to see more information and change its settings.

Running Low on Storage Space

Like a physical drive, your iCloud account can run out of space. When that happens, you can delete data or pay for more space. To see how much you’re using and how that breaks down across different apps, open Settings/System Settings > Your Name > iCloud and, at the top, tap Storage or click Manage. You can then drill down to see more details about each app. For Photos, iCloud Drive, Backups, and Messages, Apple provides suggestions for removing large files to save significant amounts of space quickly. Most other apps offer only an option to delete all your data. Generally speaking, you should delete an app’s data only if you don’t anticipate ever using the app again.

As you get close to your space limit, your devices will prompt you to upgrade so you don’t encounter failures caused by a lack of space. Unsurprisingly, Apple makes it easy to upgrade to a larger tier.

Although there’s nothing exciting about online cloud storage, having more iCloud+ storage significantly improves the experience for those with multiple Apple devices who would appreciate a seamless photo experience with iCloud Photos, accessing their files anywhere, and backing up their iPhones and iPads without needing to connect to a Mac. iCloud storage works well and is reasonably economical for what you get.

(Featured image with background by iStock.com/wing-wing)

Do you worry about family members with whom you’re otherwise happy to share your iPhone passcode reading your private diary in a journaling app? Or perhaps you want to keep your child out of apps where they could cause mischief. A new feature in iOS 18 and iPadOS 18 lets you use Face ID or Touch ID to restrict access to specific apps, optionally hiding them in the process. Touch and hold the app’s icon on the Home Screen, and tap Require Face/Touch ID. When prompted, either tap Require Face/Touch ID to leave the app’s icon visible on the Home Screen but restrict access or tap Hide and Require Face/Touch ID to restrict access and hide the icon. Protected apps only open after you authenticate with Face ID or Touch ID; hidden apps can be accessed only from the Hidden folder in the App Library after authenticating. (To reach the App Library, swipe left repeatedly on your Home Screen, then scroll to the bottom to find the Hidden folder.)

(Featured image by iStock.com/SasinParaksa)

Macs are much more reliable than in the past, but it remains the case that computers and apps can fail in a wide variety of ways. And they’ve become so integral to daily life that an occasional failure is almost inevitable. Unfortunately, if you aren’t prepared for that eventuality, you may lose work and suffer from unnecessary downtime. A little forethought can significantly minimize the impact of app crashes, lost connectivity, storage failures, and overall hardware hiccups.

App Failures

The most common problems occur in apps, where you have to worry about crashes and file corruption. (Cosmetic bugs and broken features are annoying, but apart from reporting them, there’s nothing you can do about them and they shouldn’t cause you to lose work.) To protect yourself from crashes and corruption, we recommend the following:

• Save new files immediately: Although many apps auto-save, not all do. Whenever you start a new file, save it immediately and frequently as you work. That way, a crash can’t cause you to lose everything you’ve done.
  
• Use always-on backup software: Backup software like Time Machine and Backblaze run throughout the day, making versioned backups that let you restore earlier versions of a file. Those backups can be a lifesaver if your document becomes corrupted.
• Make manual versions of critical files: For documents where losing work would threaten your continued employment, we recommend making manual versions at least daily, preferably on a cloud storage service. Append a version number to each file, and keep all the versions until you complete the project.

Connectivity Failures

As more of our work has moved online or requires access to online resources, always-available connectivity has become necessary. Many people feel incapable of getting things done without Internet access. Here are some workarounds:

• Be able to switch between Wi-Fi and Ethernet: If one method of connecting to your local network fails, switching to the other can let you get on with your work with minimal interruption. A wireless access point failure could send you to wired Ethernet, or Ethernet cable damage could make Wi-Fi the only option. One shortcut for this is to keep both network adapters active in System Settings > Network, so the Mac can use either.
  
• Turn on a personal hotspot: If your Internet connection goes down, the fastest way to get your Mac back online may be to connect to your iPhone’s personal hotspot. Set it up in Settings > Cellular > Personal Hotspot and choose it from your Mac’s Wi-Fi menu.
  
• Identify a public hotspot: Assuming you have a Mac laptop, the better part of valor may be to go somewhere with Internet access, whether a coffee shop, the public library, or the house of a friend or family member. If your problem falls outside business hours, you might even be able to access a public network from a nearby parked car.
• Purchase backup networking hardware: Organizations should maintain backups of their networking gear. In the event of hardware failure, being able to swap a backup router, access point, switch, or cable into place will minimize downtime. Make sure to record your networking configurations so you can configure the new devices quickly.

Storage Failures

Historically, the most failure-prone aspect of a Mac was its hard drive because of its moving parts and insanely tight tolerances. Flash storage used by solid-state drives is far more reliable and resilient to physical bumps and drops. However, it’s still in constant flux as macOS and apps constantly read and write data, so software bugs can result in directory errors and other forms of corruption. We recommend a three-part backup strategy to protect against storage failures—make sure to dedicate drives for backups rather than using them for general storage.

• Back up with Time Machine: Time Machine works well and is tightly integrated into macOS. Use it to create versioned backups of your data so you can restore either individual files or your entire drive.
  
• Make nightly duplicates: Bootable duplicates that could take over for a dysfunctional boot drive used to be an essential part of a Mac backup strategy, but the difficulty of making them and booting a Mac from an external drive has reduced their utility. Nevertheless, the fastest and easiest way to restore data is often by copying it from a duplicate. Duplicates also provide secondary backups if something were to go wrong with your Time Machine drive. Carbon Copy Cloner and SuperDuper are the most popular backup apps for duplicates.
  
• Maintain Internet or offsite backups: In the event of fire, flood, or theft causing the loss of both your Mac and your backup, an offsite backup is a must. The easiest and most reliable method of making a backup somewhere else is an online backup service like Backblaze or Crashplan.
  

Overall Mac Failures

Macs may be reliable, but they’re still vulnerable to physical damage, particularly laptops you carry with you all the time. Bumps and drops can damage a screen or internal connectors that connect the keyboard and trackpad. You can do a few things to minimize the impact of a broken Mac.

• Use the desktop/laptop approach: Although Mac laptops are powerful and expandable enough for all but the most intensive tasks, supplementing a powerful desktop Mac with a less expensive laptop gives you more flexibility and provides a backup if your primary Mac fails.
• Maintain an extra keyboard, trackpad, and display: Getting your work done requires a functional keyboard, trackpad or mouse, and monitor. If any of those accessories were to fail, having an extra one around would let you get back to work with minimal fuss.
• Keep an old or extra Mac as a backup: Those relying on a single Mac should consider keeping an older Mac around as a backup if you have to send your current Mac to Apple for repair. This approach works only if your old Mac can run your current apps. An organization might maintain a backup Mac that could be temporarily swapped in for any employee’s broken Mac.
• Borrow a Mac from a colleague, friend, or family member: If you don’t have an extra Mac that’s sufficiently capable for your work needs, perhaps someone you know does. It’s easy to create a new user account that will keep your data and theirs separate and private. Start in System Settings > Users & Groups.
• Remember Apple’s 14-day return policy: If all else fails, remember that you can buy a Mac from Apple (in person or online) and return it with its included accessories and packaging within 14 days for a full refund. It’s a generous policy that shouldn’t be abused, but it could be a lifesaver if you’re under deadline when your Mac dies.

Of course, you’re welcome to call us for advice about working around any of these tech failures, but these suggestions should get you back in the saddle quickly and with minimal loss of work.

(Featured image by iStock.com/fizkes)

We’ve written in the past about how Apple-only companies can protect themselves from ransomware (strong security, isolated backups, monitoring software), but realistically, it’s primarily a threat to computers running Windows and Linux. If you, or anyone you know, is targeted by ransomware, look to the No More Ransom website, developed by Europol’s European Cybercrime Centre and the Dutch police, for advice and tools. The advice boils down to: “Don’t pay the ransom because it proves to the criminals that ransomware works, and there’s no guarantee it will solve your problem.” On the tools side, the Crypto Sheriff helps identify the type of ransomware in play, and No More Ransom provides decryption tools for 180 different forms and variants of ransomware. There are no guarantees, but anyone who has fallen prey to ransomware should start with No More Ransom.

(Featured image based on original by iStock.com/Suebsiri)

iOS, iPadOS, and macOS all let you specify whether any given app should show no notifications, temporary banners, or persistent alerts: look in Settings > Notifications and System Settings > Notifications. Temporary banners appear briefly and then automatically disappear, which is appropriate for notifications requiring no acknowledgment. But what if you see a temporary banner only as it’s disappearing and can’t read it in time? You can find a historical list of notifications in Notification Center. To open it from the Lock Screen on an iPhone or iPad, swipe up from the middle of the screen. From any other screen, swipe down from the center of the top of the screen. On the Mac, click the date and time in the upper right corner. If your Mac has a trackpad, you can also swipe with two fingers from the right edge.

(Featured image based on an original by iStock.com/Shutthiphong Chandaeng)

An uninterruptible power supply, or UPS, provides essential protection from power surges, spikes, brownouts, and outages. But if you’re not at your Mac when the power goes out, the UPS may run out of battery before you (or the power) return. Happily, if you connect your Mac to your UPS with a USB cable, macOS can detect the outage and shut your Mac down safely, regardless of what else is happening. Make sure open documents are saved whenever you step away from your Mac, or you could lose changes. In System Settings > Energy Saver > UPS Options, you can trigger the shutdown in three ways: after using the UPS battery for a specified amount of time, when the time remaining on the UPS battery hits a specific number, or when the UPS battery level drops below a particular percentage. There’s no harm in setting all three. Remember that it can take a minute or two for your Mac to shut down, so err on the short side for safety’s sake. Apple supports most UPS models from major manufacturers such as APC, CyberPower, and Tripp Lite.

(Featured image by Adam Engst)

Are you planning to upgrade to a new iPhone 16? It’s exciting, we know, but it’s best to proceed deliberately when setting up your new iPhone to avoid causing yourself headaches. Follow these instructions when you’re ready to transfer your data—and, for many people, much of your digital life—to the new iPhone. Apple also has a series of videos you can watch.

1. Update your old iPhone to the latest version of iOS. If you have an Apple Watch, update it to the latest version of watchOS. This process can take some time, so it may be best done overnight before you move data to your new iPhone.
2. Make sure you know your Apple ID and password, and if you have an Apple Watch, its passcode. You will likely have to enter them at least once during this process.
3. Back up your old iPhone to iCloud or your Mac. (If you back up to a Mac, be sure to encrypt the backup, or else it won’t include saved passwords, Wi-Fi settings, browsing history, Health data, and call history.) Or back up to both, for safety’s sake. We prefer iCloud backups because they’re easier and don’t introduce additional variables, like flaky USB cables. If you don’t usually back up to iCloud, Apple will give you temporary iCloud storage to make a backup when moving to a new iPhone. To initiate an iCloud backup, go to Settings > Your Name > iCloud > iCloud Backup and tap Back Up Now.
   
4. If you have an Apple Watch, you don’t need to unpair it from your old iPhone at this point in the process. (Later, if the automatic transfer has not worked, you can unpair it manually and pair it again later. If you end up taking the manual route and have a cellular Apple Watch, you’ll be asked if you want to keep or remove your plan. If you’re keeping your Apple Watch to re-pair with your new iPhone, keep the plan.)
5. You shouldn’t need to worry about transferring a SIM card. If you ordered your new iPhone through Apple and connected to your cellular carrier account during purchase, activating the new iPhone should cause it to take over your phone number. The same should be true if you’ve purchased directly through your carrier. Besides, it’s likely that iPhone 16 models sold in the US will rely on eSIM and lack SIM trays like the iPhone 15, so only non-US users might need to transfer the SIM card from the old iPhone to the new one. Even then, it’s better to contact your carrier and get them to activate the new SIM in the new iPhone because old SIMs don’t always support all current cellular features, such as full 5G support.
6. Transfer your data, settings, apps, and purchased content in one of these three ways. None of them will be quick, despite the first one’s name, so initiate the transfer only when you have plenty of time:
   • Quick Start: With the Quick Start feature, content from your old iPhone copies directly from your old iPhone to your new one. We recommend this technique because it’s more likely to preserve app logins, something that’s less true when restoring from an iCloud backup. Put your iPhones next to each other (plugged into power), use the old iPhone to scan the animation on the new one, and then follow the rest of the steps.
     
   • iCloud: With this technique, the new iPhone will download your content from your old iPhone’s iCloud backup. Once you’ve joined a Wi-Fi network on the new iPhone and tapped the Restore from iCloud Backup button, you’ll have to select the correct backup—likely the most recent one you just made. Keep your new iPhone plugged into power the entire time to ensure that all your content syncs during this step.
   • Finder or iTunes: With this approach, you’ll restore your old iPhone’s content from a backup made to your Mac. Connect your new iPhone to your Mac using an appropriate cable, open a Finder window (or iTunes on an old Mac), select your device in the left-hand sidebar, click Restore Backup, and choose the appropriate backup—likely the most recent one.
7. Perform post-transfer tasks. Ensure that you can make and receive a phone call. If necessary, pair your Apple Watch with the new iPhone. You’ll also need to pair your Bluetooth accessories—including AirPods—with your new iPhone. Plus, some app data needs to sync to your new iPhone, so open the Mail, Contacts, and Calendar apps and check if they have your data. It could take a few minutes for them to fill up. Apps may request notification permissions again, and you may need to download content and in-app purchases.
8. If you use two-factor authentication with an app like 1Password, Authy, or Google Authenticator, ensure you can get your 2FA codes using your new iPhone. 1Password and Authy are good about providing access to 2FA codes from multiple devices—just log in to your account from each device—but Google Authenticator may require some additional setup since it didn’t initially offer any way to transfer codes to a new phone.
9. Finally, if necessary, set up single sign-on for work or school. If your workplace or school uses a security system like Duo, you’ll likely want to activate your new iPhone and deactivate the old one. Using any device, navigate to a standard single sign-in login screen from your organization, look for a link for managing your logins, click that link, and follow the prompts.

Although Apple works hard to make the process of transferring from an old iPhone to a new one as painless as possible, some things may fail to transfer seamlessly. For that reason, we strongly recommend holding onto your old iPhone for a week or so to ensure the new one can do everything the old one could. During that time, put the new iPhone through its paces with an eye toward checking every app you need.

(Featured image by iStock.com/valiantsin suprunovich)

Although paying attention to online security is of primary importance, don’t forget local security. You don’t want to go out for lunch and let someone wandering by your office poke through your email, messages, photos, and private files. To ensure this doesn’t happen, set your Mac to start the screen saver or sleep the display after a few minutes (on a laptop, just close the lid), and then set “Require password after screen saver begins or display is turned off” to a short duration. We recommend 1 or 5 minutes, though you can adjust to balance inconvenience against security. To eliminate the fuss almost entirely, use Touch ID or an Apple Watch to unlock your Mac without having to type your password.

(Featured image based on an original by iStock.com/Armastas)