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.

Fix “Fetching” delay when selecting “Open With” on Mac

Sébastien Page ∙ Updated May 30, 2017

In my mind, computers are always supposed to work the way they should. And because they are computers, I shouldn't have to wait for them to process basic tasks. That's all in my mind of course, because in reality, things don't always go the way they should.

A perfect example of that is the Open With menu you get when right clicking on a file. Sometimes, for no apparent reason, my iMac will spend several seconds "fetching" the applications that can be used to open that specific file type.

Like with most things computer-related, the fix is pretty simple.

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How to check your Apple Pencil battery level

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated August 18, 2023
Apple Pencil 2 charging on iPad

How do you know when your Apple Pencil is charged? Or even yet, how do you know what the battery level of your Apple Pencil is?

Even though the Apple Pencil 1st generation and 2nd generation lack a battery status indicator to tell you how much charge you have left, there are ways to learn how much battery life is still there in the device.

This quick tutorial shows you how to check your Apple Pencil's battery status. We will detail methods for both Apple Pencil 1 and Apple Pencil 2.

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7 tips to get rid of junk files and recover storage space on iPhone

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated April 24, 2024

There's nothing worse than pulling an iPhone out of your pocket to capture that brief moment in life that will never repeat itself only to be met with a “storage almost full” message.

It's a sinking feeling so no wonder that most folks tend to immediately remove older photos.

But there are better ways to free up storage space on your device that don't necessarily involve deleting your precious memories. Faced with a low-storage prompt, your first order of business should be checking if apps you frequently use are gobbling up your storage by caching large amounts of data.

That's just the starters, as there're plenty of other space-saving techniques you should be employing on a regular basis. In this tutorial, you'll learn how to manually flush app caches, disable certain iOS features and flip the switches you never knew existed in order to remove as much of the cruft clogging up your iOS device as possible.

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Fix: stuck progress bar below LaunchPad icon

Sébastien Page ∙ Updated May 30, 2017

I had this issue for a while on my MacBook Air where there would constantly be a progress bar below the LaunchPad icon. Typically, this progress bar means something is downloading, but after checking, I couldn't find anything being installed on my Mac, so I figured the problem had to be deeper than that. In this post, I will share with you a few things you can try if you are facing the same issue.

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How to silence your Apple Watch with a simple gesture

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated December 23, 2022
Cover Apple Watch to mute alerts

When you're in a meeting or at the movies and a phone call comes in or a loud alert starts dinging, nothing compares to the social awkwardness after realizing you've forgotten to silence your watch. While you can mute the alerts on your Apple Watch with a couple of taps, by the time you fumble through the menus, you'll have already embarrassed yourself.

Thankfully, there's a better way: the Apple Watch includes a nifty little feature for silencing incoming phone calls and other audible alerts with a super quick gesture.

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How to preview flight information and track flights on iPhone, iPad and Mac

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated December 20, 2018

Owners of an iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, or Mac can quickly look up flight status information found in Notes, Messages, and Mail using a rich interface with flight trajectory, flight status, arrival times and other information.

In this tutorial, you'll learn how to quickly preview the current status and other information pertaining to an airline and flight number, with or without leaving the context of what you're currently doing.

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