We’ve all had embarrassing pictures of us posted on Facebook, and sometimes we need to clean up our borderline-mortifying past! There is an easy way to do that, especially if one friend is guiltier than others of posting pictures of you.
01744 - Video Tip
How to Set Up Apple Family Sharing
Want to know how to set Family Sharing? Apple Family Sharing is a great way to share apps, media such as music, books, and movies, and even iCloud storage plans with your family. You can also use it to manage your kids' screen time and purchases. Though I love the idea of sharing Apple Music, Books, and App Store purchases with my family (who really wants to have to purchase the same song three times so everyone in the house can have it?), the job of setting up your Family Sharing account can be daunting. Here's a quick tutorial about how to set up your Family Sharing account.
Related: How to Access Shared Purchases in Family Sharing
We've already covered how to send and accept Apple Family sharing invitations, how to use Apple Family Sharing to share apps and music, and how to set up Apple Cash Family. For more great iPhone tutorials, check out our free Tip of the Day.
5 Things to Know Before Setting Up Family Sharing:
- The adult who sets up Family Sharing is known as the Family Organizer. When purchase sharing is enabled, all purchases made by other family members will be paid for using the payment method the Family Organizer has on file with Apple. (Otherwise you have to use a workaround to allow each family member to use their own funds)
- Each family member, including children, must have a separate Apple ID. Set up an Apple ID for your child now if they don't already have one.
- Both you and your family members must be using iOS 8 or later.
- Each person can only be part of one family at a time.
- Family Sharing groups are limited to six members.
How to Set Up Family Sharing:
- Open Settings.
- Tap your name at the top of the menu.
- Select Set Up Family Sharing.
- Tap Get Started.
- The next screen tells you about the features you can share with your family group.
- Choose the first sharing feature you want to set up. You can adjust the sharing settings for the other features later. In this case, I'm starting with iTunes & App Store Purchases.
- This screen will show your current payment method on file with Apple; make sure the information is up to date and tap Continue.
- Now, you can begin adding family members to your Family Sharing group.
- At any time, you can adjust how information is shared with the family and what features you're sharing. Just go to Settings, tap your name, and select Family Sharing.
For more great Family Sharing tips, like how to hide some of your purchases from other family members, sign up for our free Tip of the Day newsletter.
Pro Tip: The newest feature of Family Sharing is the possibility to share a credit card with up to six family members. These people can grow their credit together as long as they are over 18. This is an excellent way for young people to start building credit and spouses to share a credit card fairly with Apple Card Family.
DNA pro: A Powerful Pair of Headphones from Monster
By Todd Bernhard
I had the opportunity to try the DNA Pro 2.0 Over-Ear Headphones ($299.95) courtesy of Monster. I liked the use of high-end materials like carbon fiber and, most importantly, it does the job that headphones should do: produce great sound. I also liked that they are easily collapsible for travel, as I'm on the road a lot. The DNA Pro headphones offer Noise Isolation, which is like noise cancellation but no batteries are required. Again, as a frequent traveler, noise cancellation is great and no battery worries is terrific. I tried these on a six-hour train ride to New York City (and back) and they really helped cut out the background noise.
Top April Fools' Day Jokes
By Sarah Kingsbury
Ah, April 1st, the day when companies do their best to give us all a laugh by promoting fake and funny products and services. Here's a roundup of some of our favorites.
They say you can never have too much money. I don't know if that's true. Shakespeare had King Richard shouting "A horse, a horse! My kingdom for a horse!" I don't ride a horse, but I do have a couple of old convertibles that have had the battery die on occassion, so I can relate. All the money in the world won't help you if your car and phone batteries are dead and nobody is around to help. That's why I was very excited to see the JumperPack mini from Cyntur.
Tip of the Day: April Fools!
By Abbey Dufoe
Have you ever wanted to mess with someone’s phone on April Fool’s day? Apart from locking their phone by mistyping their password over and over again (don’t do that!) or changing their password, here are couple of ways to mess with your friends on April 1st.
02734 - Video Tip
Keep Your Home Screen Organized by Resetting the Layout
Sometimes you need to do some app housecleaning. Maybe your kid moved your apps around, or maybe you just want to see what apps you currently have installed. If you have a lot of apps, it can be easy to lose track of them, even if they're organized into folders. If you’re looking for a fresh start, take a few quick steps in your settings to reset your Home Screen layout on iPhone or iPad.
Why You'll Love This Tip:
- If your Home Screen is too cluttered, you can reset the layout to its default setting.
- Arrange your Home Screen the way you want after resetting.
How to Reset Home Screen on iPhone & iPad
This tip works on iPhones running iOS 16 or newer, and iPads running iPadOS 16 or newer.
Whether your Home Screen becomes too cluttered or if you're just looking to completely re-organize the apps on your device, Apple has made it easy to reset your Home Screen layout. For more iPhone and iPad organizational advice, be sure to sign up for our free Tip of the Day newsletter. Now, here's how to reset your Home Screen on iPhone and iPad:
Warning: Restoring your apps to the default Apple layout will cause all your apps to be removed from their folders.
- Open the Settings app, and tap General.
- Scroll down and tap Transfer or Reset iPhone.
- Select Reset. Be careful in this menu—you can do some serious damage to your settings and device in here!
- Tap Reset Home Screen Layout.
- Confirm Reset Home Screen.
After confirming, all folders will be deleted and all widgets removed from your Home Screen. The iPhone's default Home Screen layout will be restored. This layout starts with the Weather and Calendar widgets, followed by all the Apple apps. After that, you will see all of your third-party apps in alphabetical order across several Home Screen pages. Now that you've got your Home Screen restored, check out these tips for iPhone Home Screen organization.
Unleash Your Inner App Developer Part 12: Hardening Your Code
By Kevin McNeish
Do you have an idea for an app but lack the programming knowledge to begin building it? In this weekly blog series, How to Unleash Your Inner App Developer, I will take you, the non-programmer, step by step through the process of creating apps for the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Join me each week on this adventure, and you will experience how much fun turning your ideas into reality can be! This is Part 12 of the series. If you're just getting started now, check out the beginning of the series here (this post has been updated to Swift 1.2, iOS 8, and Xcode 6.3.)
One of the best software development books of all time is Steve McConnell's Code Complete. Whether you are a seasoned software developer or a brand new programmer, regardless of the platform or language in which you write code, I highly recommend checking out this book. It will change your way of thinking and vastly improve the quality of the code you write.
If you have any website favorites saved on your Mac, there’s an easy way to view them in the Safari app on your iPhone as well.
IK Multimedia made the iRig 2 ($39.99) product available last week and sent us a review unit to test out. The iRig is a guitar interface that allows you to process signals from any electric guitar and listen to the output on your headphones. It now can send signal out to an amp or PA. I tested the iRig with several of my guitars running into a Line 6 Flextone and a Roland guitar amp, as well as with headphones. I also tested it up against the iRig Pro HD model, and have to say it performed nearly on a par with the fancier iRig model!
