Tutorial

Learn how to master your Apple devices with our comprehensive tutorials. From iPhone and iPad to Mac, Apple Watch, AirPods, and more, our expert guides will help you unlock the full potential of your Apple products. Discover new features, tips, and tricks each day to enhance your user experience.

Top 3D Touch shortcuts and gestures available for the App Store and iTunes Store apps

Christian Zibreg ∙ May 8, 2016

The App Store and iTunes Store storefronts are 3D Touch-enabled on the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus, with each supporting some pretty smartly chosen Home screen shortcuts that'll save you a few taps once you get the hang of them.

On the other hand, previewing your apps and media via force-pressing isn't as developed as in other stock apps, such as Messages and Maps. But don't you worry—iDownloadBlog comes to the rescue!

This quick tutorial clearly demonstrates where on the App Store and iTunes Store common 3D Touch shortcuts and Peek and Pop gestures do and don't work.

What to do if music, videos, and other content disappear after an iTunes update

Anthony Bouchard ∙ Updated October 25, 2022

It's not that uncommon for the music, videos, and other content in your iTunes folder to disappear after updating iTunes. It doesn't seem to happen to everyone, but as many internet stories will tell you, it does occur to a number of users on some occasions.

In this tutorial, we'll show you how to get your iTunes music, videos, and more back when you notice it has gone missing after installing an iTunes app update.

How to convert text into a spoken iTunes track on Mac

Anthony Bouchard ∙ Updated July 3, 2019

Whenever you want to save a block of important text to your Mac, you probably copy and paste it into the Notes app or into a text editor to save it as a text document. But, did you know you could save any body of text on your Mac as a spoken iTunes track instead?

In this tutorial, you will learn how to convert any highlighted body of text into a spoken iTunes audio track.

How to change your Apple ID

Anthony Bouchard ∙ Updated October 13, 2018

Many of us still have the same email address associated with our Apple ID that we made years and years ago when we got our first device. We use it to sign into each and every one of our devices when we buy one new from the store or restore an existing one to factory settings.

On the other hand, times change. Sometimes you may get new email addresses, and sometimes you want to use something new to log in with rather than your high school email address. Perhaps you've made one that is a little more professional looking and seek to use it instead.

Apple provides a way to change your Apple ID email address so you can use something different to sign into everything you use. In this tutorial, we'll show you how that's done.

Can’t activate your iPhone? Here’s why and how to fix it

Anthony Bouchard ∙ Updated January 20, 2023

If you're having issues activating your new or erased iPhone, the following troubleshooting tips should solve the problem. Once that's done, you'll have no activation problems and you will be able to set up the device.

What to do if iTunes doesn’t recognize your iPhone or iPad

Anthony Bouchard ∙ Updated January 20, 2023

If you ever sync your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad with iTunes, then more than likely you've experienced hiccups at some point in time where iTunes has been unable to find or recognize your device.

You have it plugged in, but for whatever reason, it just doesn't show up in iTunes. What gives?!

In this piece, we'll go over what to do if iTunes doesn't seem to recognize your iOS device when you plug it in to your computer so that if and when it happens to you, you'll be prepared to tackle the situation.

Common restore errors in iTunes and how to resolve them

Anthony Bouchard ∙ Updated January 20, 2023

Restoring your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad can resolve a variety of issues, but sometimes you'll experience issues even when you try to restore your device(s) with iTunes.

You may have received a "This device cannot be restored Error XXX" message from iTunes before, and unfortunately, you may have been forced to do some research to even begin to understand why you're getting the error, which can cause tons of frustration.

In this piece, we'll talk about some of the most common iTunes restore errors and how to fix them so you don't have to spend hours researching for solutions by yourself.

How to transfer purchased media from iPhone and iPad to a computer

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated December 11, 2023

In this tutorial, we'll guide you through the easy process of transferring your purchased music, movies, television shows, ringtones, podcasts, and books from an iPhone or iPad to a Mac or Windows PC.

How to move your iTunes library to an external drive

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated August 17, 2018

You'd be amazed how much of your Mac's storage is wasted on the iTunes library. All those apps and media you have purchased and downloaded over the years pile and clog up your Mac's precious storage.

But with one-terabyte external hard drives retailing for less than $60 on Amazon, there are no excuses not to spring for external storage to move that humongous iTunes library of yours on.

This post takes you step-by-step through the process of consolidating your iTunes library and moving it to an external drive in a way that will preserve your playlists, ratings and other interactions, so you won't miss a beat.

Tip: use half-star ratings in iTunes

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated May 12, 2017

If you like to rate songs on Apple Music, including those you have purchased on the iTunes Store, chances are you will at some point want to submit your star-based ratings. Now, iTunes for Mac and Windows PCs used to support half-star ratings out of the box, but recent updates have changed this behavior to using full stars only.

Fortunately, as noted by The Loop's Dave Mark, this can be quite easily reverted back to half-star ratings with a quick Terminal command.

In this post, you will learn how to enable half-star ratings in desktop iTunes and rate music more accurately than before.

How to set up carrier billing as payment method for App Store, iTunes Store and iBooks Store

Christian Zibreg ∙ November 2, 2015

In October 2015, Apple began rolling out support for carrier billing on iTunes in select markets, starting with Germany. This feature joins the existing payment methods accepted on the App Store, iTunes Store and iBooks Store and permits customers to have apps and media bought through these content stores charged to their monthly mobile phone bill or deducted from their prepaid amount.

If your carrier supports it, you too can opt-in to pay for your iTunes Store, App Store, and iBooks Store purchases—and your Apple Music membership—through mobile phone billing.

In this tutorial, we're going to cover setting up mobile phone billing as your payment method in the iTunes Store, App Store or iBooks Store.

How to only transfer Activity and Health app data to a new iPhone

Jim Gresham ∙ Updated April 30, 2018

Transitioning to a new iPhone is made simple by iCloud backups, iTunes, and a few clicks or taps. Apple ensures it is easy to move from a fully loaded and setup device to a completely fresh iPhone with the same information, using their backup options. Most laypeople, almost always choose to restore new iPhones from their backups; however, more technically inclined concerned people tend to start with a fresh iPhone and do not restore from backup to prevent carrying over any unwanted information.

Earlier this week Christian highlighted two methods for upgrading to a new device and retaining your Activity and Health data. Method #1: use a third-party app to import your Health data, but it lacks Activity logs. Method #2: backing up your old device to iCloud or iTunes and restoring from backup, as I've described above.

But, what if you want both your Activity and Health data, but a fresh setup too? Step inside to learn how to install both, yet only, your previous device's Activity and Health data on your new iPhone.