iPhone keeps trying to iMessage someone who no longer has an iPhone My friend used to have an iPhone and we would talk via iMessage but when he switched to a droid it keeps trying to send him iMessages instead of SMS and the text messages take twice as long to send. How do I stop this from happening?

I deleted him from my contacts, restarted my phone, and even turned iMessaging off and on in my settings and nothing has worked.

Does your friend still have his iPhone? He needs to put his SIM card in an iPhone with iOS 5, go to Messages in Settings and turn off iMessage - this should fix the problem instantaneously and for everybody who is experiencing the same problem as you.

(I have a friend who frequently turns off iMessage because she's worried about the data charges - I've had her switch it back on a couple times and the change takes effect instantly).

Someone on the apple forums was experiencing a similar issue and posted the following:

"I fixed the issue by putting my sim card back into another iOS5 phone and switched iMessage to "off" which effectively proves that it is tied to your number and not your Apple ID (in my case anyway).  I put my sim back into mu phone and the change was instant."

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3539877?start=0&tstart=0


What does the lock icon on the 'Get Info' screen do? In OS X there is a lock icon in the lower right of the Get Info screen.  What is this icon called?  What does clicking this icon do?

I am running on an account with administrator access. I have the ability to change permissions of some folders (one on my desktop) but not others (one in the Applications folder).  The "lock" is locked in both cases.  When I tried to Terminal → su → chmod the folder in Applications I still had no luck, until I pressed the 'lock' button.

Clicking the lock icon will prompt you for an admin password.  After you provide it, the system will allow you to change the permissions for that file or folder in that "Sharing & Permissions" pane you see at the bottom of the Get Info window.  This is a feature of the underlying Unix operating system that allows different privileges for a user, group, and others.

Note that you are always allowed to change permissions (whether the icon is locked or unlocked) when you (your user) is the owner of the file -- e.g. most of the files in your own user folder such as your Desktop and Documents folders.  But when you are not the owner, you'll have to unlock this option to change the permissions.

There's a reason this feature is "locked" against casual access.  It's not really something you want to touch if you're not very sure what you're doing.  Messing with permissions can cause access problems, security problems, or both.

For more details, check out this Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filesystem_permissions#Traditional_Unix_permissions


Yahoo Mail on iPhone won't let me delete email Suddenly, my yahoo on iPhone won't let me respond to or delete any email?  What have I done?

Make sure that you are signed in. Sometimes you get disconnected and the auth mechanism doesn't re-authenticate you. (IMAP auth) *assuming you are using the Mail.app)

Worst case, you can delete your yahoo mail setup and re-configure it.


How can I automatically start the Safari Reader? Is there a way to tell Safari to automatically use Reader when it recognizes an article which it is able to display with Reader?

Right now I have to manually click the Reader button at the right side of the address bar.

I've tried to figure this out myself, and haven't yet come up with a way to load safari-resource:/Reader.html programmatically.

If necessary, I fall back to Readability, the 3rd-party Safari add-on Apple used as their basis for Reader. Combined with Safari Stand, I can modify the appearance of pages when they load.


How to move particular applications from one iPad to another? I would like to install some particular applications, which I have on one iPad, to another iPad (I don't want to copy all applications and copy settings, so iCloud backup will not work here). The same Apple ID is used on both iPads.
I thought that I can do it thru iTunes applications installed on my Macbook. But it doesn't display all applications installed on my first iPad, synchronization also doesn't help.

I understand that I can manually install needed applications on the second iPad, but there about 30 of them.

If you have both iPads registered with the same AppleID and syncing does not put all of them on both devices try this.

Open the App store and search for the apps that are on the other iPad that you want on this one. In place of a buy/get button should be a cloud with a downward pointing arrow on it. Tap that to install it on that iPad.

If the button says Buy or Get then the App store thinks this iPad is on a different account associated with a different AppleID.


Unknown tag in finder I have an external SSD which i used on my previous mac. The SSD had couple of files tagged in various colours (green, red etc)

When i moved to new MAC, the files still retain their colours and is not corresponding to new mac, though the colours are same.

Green was from my old MAC, and I have no option of removing it from my new one.

If the files you have issues with are self-created simple files like the text file you depicted, you can run a Terminal command on those files to clear out specific or all extended attributes.  This will effectively remove ANY tag you attached previously.  Once done, you can re-attach tags in the fashion you already know.

Keep in mind that some applications may use extended attributes to complement the data inside a file.  So, deleting all attributes is not always the best idea.  For simple (text/image) files, it should be ok however.

Here are the commands to clear the responsible extended attributes:

xattr -d com.apple.FinderInfo /drag/your/file/from/Finder/here
xattr -d com.apple.metadata:_kMDItemUserTags /drag/your/file/from/Finder/here

Here is the command for clearing ALL extended attributes on a given file:

xattr -c /drag/your/file/from/Finder/here

To know what extended attributes are attached to a file, you can run the following command in Terminal to list them:

ls -ld@ /drag/your/file/from/Finder/here

Output from that last command will look something like this:

drwxr-xr-x@ 2 youruser  staff  68 Apr 19 14:28 /your/file/from/Finder/here
    com.apple.FinderInfo    32
    com.apple.metadata:_kMDItemUserTags 52


Unexpected app "Admin Alert" running on my machine All of a sudden I noticed an application called "Admin Alert" in my dock.

This is a work computer, I'm wondering if this is some sort of "spyware" that our lovely IT department has installed on my machine.  I can't find any information about it online.

(OSX 10.8)

Admin Alert is related to Dell KACE, an "appliance-based approach to systems management", and the admin alert icon appearing in the dock is apparently a bug.


How can I force my phone to send iMessage instead of SMS? (I'm in a mobile promo) [Iphone 5 iOS 9.0.2] I am new to apple and I want to use iMessage. When I am connected to the internet, I thought SMS would automatically send as iMessage. The one I'm texting also uses iPhone 5 and we're both connected to internet.  I still have to know what their e-mail to text them in iMessage.

You can go to Settings > Messages and turn the Send as SMS option off. (The actual names of the options may be different as I am just translating from my local language settings.)


Growl Notifications for Stack Exchange websites? I'm looking for a way to get Growl notifications for new questions on the Stack Exchange websites, matching some pre-defined tags.

I've tried SENotify, but it didn't work for me. Any alternative?

I get Stack Exchange Growl notifications using Adium + Stackguru.


How can I remove the RAW image files from my iPhoto Library? I'm doing a bit of a disk cleanup, and was surprised to find that my iPhoto library was a whopping 83gig. From what I understand iPhoto keeps a jpeg copy of each RAW photo in your library (but I could be wrong).

A lot of this space is because the images are in RAW format.

Is there a way to either:

easily convert the raw photos to jpeg and remove the raw image file
remove the raw files and keep iPhoto's Jpeg version.

It would be awesome if this was a built in iPhoto feature, or a free app which does a little clean up for you. I have no need for the RAW files, but I don't want to lose the jpeg version.

No there isn't. Pretty much the point of iPhoto is that it treats the original file as a "digital negative" and the non-destructive editing feature is based on that. So, iPhoto (and Aperture) never perform any operations on the Original, only on a copy.

It doesn't make multiple versions, tho. There's only one edited version.

What you can do: Export the Edited Versions. Delete the photos from iPhoto. Re-import the edited versions. You'll lose a lot - not least the ability to edit non-destructively - but if that's what you want.

A better solution is to use an app that does what you want - that is, edit the pics directly.

You know that you can store an entire iPhoto Library on a disk formatted Mac OS Extended (Journaled)?


Issues with installing Social Engineering Toolkit (S.E.T) I'm trying to install Social Engineering Toolkit (S.E.T) on OS X Lion.

I found these commands in the internet:
git clone https://github.com/trustedsec/social-engineer-toolkit

cd social-engineer-toolkit

python setup.py install

setoolkit

But after I do python setup.py install it gives me this output:

Saffet-iMac:social-engineer-toolkit SaffetYurtoglu$ python3 setup.py install
Searching for pexpect
Best match: pexpect 4.2.0
Adding pexpect 4.2.0 to easy-install.pth file
Using /Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.5/lib/python3.5/site-packages
Processing dependencies for pexpect
Finished processing dependencies for pexpect
Searching for pycrypto
Best match: pycrypto 2.6.1
Adding pycrypto 2.6.1 to easy-install.pth file
Using /Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.5/lib/python3.5/site-packages
Processing dependencies for pycrypto
Finished processing dependencies for pycrypto
Searching for pyopenssl
Best match: pyOpenSSL 16.0.0
Adding pyOpenSSL 16.0.0 to easy-install.pth file
Using /Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.5/lib/python3.5/site-packages
Processing dependencies for pyopenssl
Finished processing dependencies for pyopenssl
Searching for pefile
Best match: pefile 2016.3.28
Adding pefile 2016.3.28 to easy-install.pth file
Using /Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.5/lib/python3.5/site-packages
Processing dependencies for pefile
Finished processing dependencies for pefile

It seems like everything is ok but nothing happens. What should i do?

In a vanilla Lion installing Social Engineering Toolkit works if you use

git clone https://github.com/trustedsec/social-engineer-toolkit
cd social-engineer-toolkit
sudo python setup.py install

(which will install some necessary tools/libraries to /Library/Python/2.7/site-packages).

After "installing" the toolkit use sudo ./setoolkit to start the SE Toolkit.

Here are some env variables:

$ python --version
Python 2.7.1
$ which python
/usr/bin/python
$ python -c "import sys;print(sys.path)"
['', '/System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/lib/python27.zip', '/System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/lib/python2.7', '/System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/lib/python2.7/plat-darwin', '/System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/lib/python2.7/plat-mac', '/System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/lib/python2.7/plat-mac/lib-scriptpackages', '/System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/Extras/lib/python', '/System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/lib/python2.7/lib-tk', '/System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/lib/python2.7/lib-old', '/System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/lib/python2.7/lib-dynload', '/System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/Extras/lib/python/PyObjC', '/Library/Python/2.7/site-packages']
$ echo $PATH
/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/X11/bin

You probably installed Python 3.5 – which is not included in OS X Lion – and modified some env variables. Without further informations your SE Toolkit install can't be salvaged.


Unknown partitions in diskutil When I run the command diskutil list, I get the following output:

I was shocked to see that there was a partition on my internal drive called Linux Filesystem. I would appreciate it if someone could inform me as to what both the Linux Filesystem volume is doing on disk0 and what the VM volume is on disk1.

For some clarification: I did used to have a VirtualBox machine on my Mac running Linux but I thought that everything was correctly uninstalled. Therefore, I would like to remove any possible remnants which have persisted.

Even if these are the result of the VirtualBox, I do not understand how the Linux Filesystem volume has been integrated into disk0; surely it should've been contained by VirtualBox?

While it is possible to create a virtual machine that uses a physical partition, this is only done by experienced VirtualBox users. In any case, since you have removed your Linux virtual machine, then you probably do no longer need this partition. If you open a Terminal application window and enter the following commands, this unneeded partition will be removed and the free space added back to macOS.

sudo diskutil erasevolume free none disk0s3
sudo diskutil apfs resizecontainer disk0s2 0

The VM volume on disk1 has nothing to do with VirtualBox. The letters VM stand for virtual memory. This is the swap space used by macOS. The macOS operating system, installed on your Mac, uses 4 different volumes to operate. These volumes are stored in the partition named disk0s2 on your physical drive disk0.  This partition was given the container name disk1. The name disk1 implies a drive, but this is just the naming convension chosen by Apple. So disk1 is not drive, it is a container for the 4 volumes used by macOS.

Advice if sudo diskutil apfs resizecontainer disk0s2 0 fails.

This would indicate your a problem with the software stored on your drive. You should verify the drive. The Disk Utility with High Sierra no longer allows you to verify your drive. This must be done by entering commands in a Terminal application window. Also, it would be preferable this be done from either macOS Recovery over the Internet or a bootable installer for macOS. The commands shown below can be used to verify the drive. You can determine, if a verify command was successful, by looking for either an OK message or an exit code of 0.

  Note: None of these commands will change your drive.

diskutil verifydisk disk0
diskutil verifyvolume disk0s2
diskutil unmountdisk disk1
diskutil verifyvolume disk1s1
diskutil verifyvolume disk1s2
diskutil verifyvolume disk1s3
diskutil verifyvolume disk1s4
diskutil mountdisk disk1

The purpose of the sudo diskutil apfs resizecontainer disk0s2 0 command is to add back most free space found immediately after the container disk0s2 partition back to the partition. The command given below can print out the space allocated to your drive.

  Note: This command will not change your drive.

gpt -r show /dev/disk0

  Note: This command needs to be entered while in one of the Recovery modes given above.

For example, the output shown below shows free space after the partition with index of 2.

      start       size  index  contents
          0          1         PMBR
          1          1         Pri GPT header
          2         32         Pri GPT table
         34          6
         40     409600      1  GPT part - C12A7328-F81F-11D2-BA4B-00A0C93EC93B
     409640  488281248      2  GPT part - 7C3457EF-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC
  488690888    1543494
  490234382         32         Sec GPT table
  490234414          1         Sec GPT header

After entering the sudo diskutil apfs resizecontainer disk0s2 0 command, the output would appear as shown below.

    start       size  index  contents
          0          1         PMBR
          1          1         Pri GPT header
          2         32         Pri GPT table
         34          6
         40     409600      1  GPT part - C12A7328-F81F-11D2-BA4B-00A0C93EC93B
     409640  489824736      2  GPT part - 7C3457EF-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC
  490234376          6
  490234382         32         Sec GPT table
  490234414          1         Sec GPT header


Fast, fault-tolerant program/utility for massive file transfer I'm copying 2 TB from one Thunderbolt external hard drive to a USB3 external hard drive. I started the process using command line program rsync with option -avz but this was very slow. I'm wary of the Finder's copy-paste functionality. What's a fast, fault-tolerant program for copying massive amounts of files from one hard drive to another?

If your answer is a command line program, please give an example analogous to this:

rsync -avz /Volumes/External_1/ /Volumes/External_2

You may start by trying the drop the z from the command. There is no need to compress the files when transferring locally.  Rsync will do a checksum after copying a file, which means it has to read the file back out from disk which will always be slower than a straight up copy.


Issues with AppleScript scripting Mail I'm having some problems.  Googling them I found this:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/8022877

I'm having almost identical problems.

tell application "Mail" to make new account ...

...appears to succeed from the perspective of the script or Script Editor - if I query Mail with:

get every imap account

the new account is returned there - however, it doesn't appear in Mail's Preferences under the Accounts tab, it doesn't appear in Internet Accounts, and if I restart my Mac and query Mail again for every imap account, it is no longer returned.

--

The other issue I'm having (closely related): I'm able to change some of the properties of an account, but having issues with two of them. (for these code snippets, theAccount has been set to a valid imap account in Mail):

1 enabled property

tell theAccount to set enabled to true

or

get enabled of theAccount

...gives me "Apple event failed" error.  If I substitute any other readable imap account property in place of "enabled" (eg. name, user name, port, uses ssl, etc.) it returns the appropriate value.  But anything I try to do with that property (get it or set it) gives me that error.  Huh...?? Why that one and only that one?

2 authentication property:

tell theAccount to set authenticaion to password

...gives "Can’t make password of account [...] into type constant".  That value (password) is one of a number of constants in the dictionary for the Authentication enumeration.  I'm confident I have the syntax correct (in principle) because if I substitute password in the above code with any of the other constants in that enumeration (kerberos 5, md5, none, etc.) it works fine.  Only password gives that error.

Script Editor/AppleScript seems to believe I'm referring to the password property of theAccount, and that makes sense, so the question is how do I use that password enumeration constant? How do I tell Mail that I want to set theAccount's authentication property to that password enumeration constant (and not the password property)?

Anyone have any idea what I am, (or Apple is -- bug?), doing wrong here?

Thanks in advance!

UPDATE the next day:

In hindsight, I should have posted this as two separate questions.

@CJK's answer solves the second one. His/her answer also suggests an answer to my first one as well (ie. it's just an Apple bug) though others may still have insight on that.

I'll mark @CJK's answer as correct on this post, but if anyone else has any answers to the first issue, please comment.  I'll post that issue as a separate post/question, you can then answer there and I'll mark that up and as correct on that post.

This is more of an extended comment rather than an answer, but comments can only contain inline code and not fenced code blocks.

I'm unable to offer insight regarding your first issue, as I am not using Apple Mail at present, but is probably a bug as I'm aware other users have reported that set the enabled of every account to false doesn't work, and that seems relevant to your situation.  The second issue is most likely a bug as well, but possibly one that can be worked around, given that the other enumeration constants you listed are still working.

To illustrate a test case, you can try and execute this line of code:

return "axmd" as constant

and you should get back the md5 constant used by Mail.  This doesn't need to be inside a tell app "Mail" block, but it can be and may make more sense to place it inside one in your final script when using the password enumeration code.  The enumeration code for password is "axct", and hopefully when you execute this line of (test) code:

return "axct" as constant

you'll get back the password constant.  Probably the best way to make use of this in your script is to do so something like this:

tell application id "com.apple.mail"
    set axct to "axct" as constant
                .
                .
    # Other bits of your code including where
    # you define "theAccount", which should be
    # variable containing a reference to an
    # object with class 'account'
                .
                .
    set the authentication of theAccount to axct
                .
                .
    # Rest of your Mail-specific code
end tell


Small business using iPads needs to allow access to documents stored on office computer I am currently running a small business with Sales people and installers. I have issued each one of them an iPad to take with them on consultations. I am currently looking around for a program that would allow all of the iPad users to access product info documents that are stored on our office computer. But here is the kicker… I want the files to automatically upload to the devices when they return to the office, but I don't want the installers to receive files related to sales, and I don't want the sales people to receive files related to the installers.

I was trying to do some research on how iCloud works, but everything I was able to find was quite vague. I've also thought about drop box, but again I'm not confident that it can do what I'm looking to do.

Is there anything out there that will function the way I need?

I would use Dropbox for this, creating separate repositories for Sales and Installers.

Any changes made on each device will sync back to DropBox, and any changes on DropBox will sync back to the individual devices.

My business does this very thing with Marketing, and Sales.

The one thing I see as an issue is that any changes will sync immediately, not based upon location (i.e., "when they return to the office.")


When will PHP 5.4 appear in default OS X installations? I am wondering when PHP 5.4 will appear in default OS X installations, or as part of official Software Update.

Does anyone have historical information on how late after release of PHP 5.2 that PHP 5.2 was included in OS X, as an indication of how quick/conservative they are?

To be honest, nobody here has a crystal ball connected to the open source adoption strategy team at Cupertino. If you want to do the historical research yourself, you can have a look at Apple Open Source which includes all the open source packages in OS X since 10.0.


Retrieve Passcode from iphone backup files This is the scenario in front of me.

An iPhone 4s is available with enter passcode. I have its backup taken from iTunes. I have extracted all the files (*.plist, *.db, *.sqlite, etc.) from those backup files.

Now my job is find the passcode from the backup. I no longer have access to the iPhone.

I have viewed almost all the files and still unknown with the file that contains the passcode.
It would be great help if anyone would point me into the right direction.

If any other security app such as Applock is present, where does its passcode resides.

Disclaimer: I'd make this a comment, but I only just joined the Apple branch of Stack Exchange and lack the 50+ rep to do so.

First and foremost, the keychain database that stores the device's secure information will only be present if a backup is encrypted with a password. If it's not, well, sorry, but you're out of luck.

If it is encrypted, then we need to clarify on what exactly you're asking for. I'm not entirely sure if the lock screen password is stored in the keychain file (lazy Google search results: unclear), but if it is, you do have a chance at recovering it, though most solutions cost money. Checkout this blog post as well as this software developer's website to get an idea of what your next step should be.


How often does Power Nap check for updates or back up? How often does Power Nap check for updates or back up?

Mail, Contacts, Calendar, Reminders, Notes, Photo Stream, Find My Mac, and iCloud Documents are checked every hour.
Time Machine backups are attempted hourly until a successful backup has been completed.
Software Updates are checked daily.
Mac App Store downloads are checked once a week.

Source: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5394


Removed Cloak leaves strange patterns on screen Hey there..i downloaded a software called "cloak" it lets you change the colors of your mac system .. when i changed the color it got wrong .. i tried to choose the original color but it didnt work, then i deleted the software and restart my mac but it still there.. i also tried to restore the system but i didnt set up the time machine is there any other way?

I went browsing in the installer package, and it looks like Cloak does some serious meddling in system frameworks.  For example, there's a lightpurple.scpt that does (among other things):

sudo mv /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/CoreUI.framework/Versions/A/Resources/SArtFile.bin /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/CoreUI.framework/Versions/A/Resources/SArtFileold.bin
sudo cp /Themes/LightPurple.cloak /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/CoreUI.framework/Versions/A/Resources/SArtFile.bin

These are not changes that will reliably work as the OS gets updated.

You could do a search across the OS to find *.old.* files, but I would recommend simply reinstalling OS X.  You can reinstall the OS on top of your current system, which will replace the system files but leave your user files alone.


Will bootable usb created by bootcamp on mac work with PC? I need to make a bootable usb with windows 8 files on it, I can't think of easier option than creating it via help of bootcamp, but Will it work for pc (I want to install files on my pc)?

After reading through several stackexchange answers, I found steps that worked on this site.

He walks you through how to format the USB stick so that Windows will recognize it, and how to use Unetbootin to copy the ISO image.

I'll reproduce the steps here for convenience:

Format the disk in Disk Utility, with the correct MBR

Open Disk Utilty
Select the USB device
Click Partition
Select 1 partition in the partition layout
Select “Master Boot Record” in the options
Select MS-DOS (FAT) in the format type.
Click Apply, then Partition
Close Disk Utility

This will wipe the USB disk and set it up with the correct boot record

Install the MBR binary from the SysLinux project

Use the command line diskutil to find the device name for your USB drive.

diskutil list

Unmount the USB drive with the command line. NB: Be sure to swap the device reference (in my case it is /dev/SOMEdisk2) with the correct one for your usb key that you identified in the previous step – this will change for each machine.

diskutil unmountDisk /dev/SOMEdisk2

Mark the partition active, then unmount it again

sudo fdisk -e /dev/SOMEdisk2
print
f 1
write
print
exit
diskutil unmountDisk /dev/SOMEdisk2

Download Syslinux and extract the mbr.bin file
Install the MBR

sudo dd conv=notrunc bs=440 count=1 if=mbr.bin of=/dev/SOMEdisk2

NB: see my full instructions if you need further help with steps 4 & 5.

Use UnetBootin to install your OS install files

Download and install UnetBootin if you haven’t already
Load the application, choose your preferred distribution, and then click OK
When it’s finished, eject the USB key and use it


iMac 27 (Late 2013) with two Thunderbolt displays The iMac 27" late 2013 (Haswell processor) has 2 IO Thunderbolt ports. Is it possible to run two 2560x1440 displays at full resolution (Thunderbolt or via Dual DVI adapter) on the side of it's main display?

As far as I know, the previous iMac could handle them with no problems and MacBook Pro Retina can handle them as well.

Yes its is possible. You can daisy chain (connect) two thunderbolt displays.
See http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5219#18


How to disable ALT key? I would like to know how to permanently disable the Alt key. I have a problem where by the computer is acting like the Alt is pressed down. Every time I type I get strange characters.

I have tried going into the keyboard preferences and disabling the Option key but that don't seem to be working. I disabled the Alt in the past this way and it worked. When I open the keyboard viewer it's showing the Alt as being pressed down.

This is a 2011 Macbook Air. I can't afford a repair at the moment.

It seems that because the ALT key was stuck when disabling it, it had no effect. So, I bashed the keys and ran my fingers over them frantically and it unstuck the ALT key. I then went in and disabled it, and all is working fine.

Sometimes we have to go back to caveman tactics to solve these technological problems. If it don't work, bash it with the club.


Compiling LaTeX in Apple products: is something like pdflatex around? My Apple friends says that they cannot compile LaTeX. I don't have a Mac at hand to test what the problem is.

How can I get something like pdflatex to get LaTeX compiled on a Mac such as a MacBook or iMac?
What about iPad? How can I compile LaTeX on an iPad?

I suggested my friends to compile things on their servers and use Sshfs, more here, but they have problems getting MacPorts. I am now trying to find some local way of doing things.

Have them download http://www.tug.org/mactex/. It contains all they need to edit (via TeXShop) and typeset (via a complete LaTeX distribution) LaTeX documents.

For the iPad, have a look at http://itunes.apple.com/de/app/tex-touch/id377627321?mt=8 and http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/tex-equation/id390366359?mt=8.


Mojave not recognizing my bootable USB stick, reverts back to Apple Partition after flashing So first of all I have little experience on this field, but I'm trying to install linux on my personal MacBook Pro from 2017.

I followed a lot of tutorials for this but none of them worked. So I figured I'd ask here.

I have a 64gb SanDisk Ultra Media USB stick lying around. I got it here: https://www.mediamarkt.nl/nl/product/_sandisk-ultra-usb-3-0-flashdrive-64-gb-1262970.html

I grabbed a ubuntu copy from the official Ubuntu website, used Etcher to flash to ISO on the stick. Everything seemed fine, so I eject the stick, restart my macbook into startup manager, but the USB isn't there. Only my internal hard drive shows up. After reading a lot of forums I read that the USB stick should be erased first with GUID partition.

So, I did that, but after flashing I checked Disk Utility and saw that the partition was reverted back to the standard Apple-partition scheme.

What am I doing wrong? All these miracle fixes I see on the internet never work for me, and people say it's so easy to install Linux on your Mac. Well, I also have a MacBook from work, with Catalina, and have the same problem with that one too!

Any help would be appreciated

In my case it seemed to be my USB-C to USB-A connector. I used a different one and it worked.


Does the MacBook Air have a Fast User Switching (Login Window) shortcut key? I have recently purchased a new MacBook Air, with my optical drive equipped MacBooks, there is a Shift+Control+Eject key combination that allows you to lock your system by showing the Login Window for Fast User Switching.

With the new MacBook Air, the Eject key has been replaced with a Power key, so the Shift+Control+Eject combination is no longer possible.

Is there a new key combination available?

There isn't one that I'm aware of, but one could use this workaround:

Open Automator, create a new Service.
Set the dropdowns at the top to "Service receives 'no input' in 'any application'"
Add the action "Run Shell Script"
Paste this command (all one line) into the action: /System/Library/CoreServices/Menu\ Extras/User.menu/Contents/Resources/CGSession -suspend
Save the service. You can call it whatever you like.
You can confirm that it's there by going to any application menu, going to services, and verifying that it shows up.
Head over to System Preferences, and into the Keyboard pane.
In the "Keyboard Shortcuts" tabs, select "Application Shortcuts" from the list on the left.
A list of shortcuts should load on the right, with "All Applications" at the top. Highlight this, and click the plus (+) under the list.
In the window that appears, make sure that "All Applications" is selected in the top dropdown.
For "Menu Title", enter the name of the service you created exactly as it appears - including any punctuation, capitalization, etc.
Assign any shortcut you like, then click "Add".

This will work even if the Fast User Switching menu extra isn't enabled.


Can an iPhone 5S play music that's stored on a USB drive? My wife's iPhone 5S doesn't have enough storage space for all of her music.  If we were to buy a USB drive that connects to her phone, could we put her music on that and then have the phone play it from there in a reasonably hassle-free way?  What would the process be?

You can read a flash from an iOS device, but this capability is limited to some very fancy lightning-port enabled USB flash drives.

For most use cases, I would recommend using a cloud service like Google Drive if you're looking to listen to purchased music on an iPhone without using up storage space. Essentially, you can just drag your music purchased from anywhere into Google Drive, download the app onto your iPhone, sign into your account, and listen to your music (though you of course need an internet connection unless you download them to your phone).

However, if you want to buy a special flash drive, you can purchase the Sandisk iXpand Flash Drive, which plugs directly into the lightning port and can play music while plugged into the iPhone, through the Sandisk iXpand app. Just connect it to a Mac/PC beforehand to load music onto it through the standard USB port.

tl;dr: Buy this flash drive or use Google Drive.

Edit: don't forget about streaming services like Spotify and Apple Music, which don't take up storage space either.


Can I remove a second install of Mac OS X? I had to get the logic board and HDD replaced on my Unibody MBP, before I sent it back to Apple, I took a DMG copy of my hard drive thinking I could just remount it once I got my MBP back.

When I got it back it had a blank Snow Leopard install, when I tried to restore the backup that I took, I had to create a new partition and mount the DMG to that. So now I've got 2 Mac OS X installs on the MBP.

I changed the default boot partition to my old install so I can use the MBP as it was but I want to put it back to its default behaviour.

Can I just use Time Machine to backup my old Mac OS X install and restore that on the blank Mac OS X install I got when Apple sent my MBP back?

What happens to the second partition I created? Can that be removed?

This can be easily done using Carbon Copy Cloner. You can try the following steps.

Format the MB HDD as a single partition. Make sure it is a bootable partition.
Install OS X using the OS X Installation DVD.
Download and install CCC.
Follow these instructions to restore the system partition using CCC.


Move focus between buttons in confirm dialogs OS X Yosemite 10.10.3 When I try to export a file with the same name (in InDesign CS6) I get a popup asking if I want to replace the file.

How can I move focus between the Cancel and Replace buttons using only the keyboard?

I have found that if I press this sequence Tab > Tab > Space the replace button is pressed instead of cancel, but I get no visual indication this will happen. Is this a bug?

There are two ways to allow the Mac to move focus between dialog boxes.

One is by going into System Preferences > Keyboard > Shortcuts and clicking the All Controls Radio button on the bottom.

Another way to do is is by hitting Fn+⌃+F7 to toggle between All Controls and Text boxes and lists only (^+F7 if you haven't switched the apple media keys to Fn keys).


Identifying what PowerMac I have I'm having issues identifying what type of PowerMac G4 Quicksilver I have.

Looking at the stickers on the machine, I initially come to the conclusion that the machine is a Power Macintosh G4 800 DP (Quicksilver)800 MHz PowerPC 7450 (G4) x2 (that's taken from everymac.com) however when going to About This Mac the machine shows it only has one processor, making me think its a Power Macintosh G4 800 (QS 2002)800 MHz PowerPC 7455* (G4). The case itself has these two notes:

In the first of the two it is clear that the case is copyrighted 2001, but in the second it only seems to specify one processor. Since I got this machine second hand and don't know its history, I have considered the fact the logic board or the CPU board may have been replaced. Still I am not sure exactly what machine I have.

Why does all of this even matter? I want to be able to start the machine up with a universal OS9 install, however the 2002 Quicksilver apparently doesn't allow this, and has to be installed from original install discs. I have wheat I believe are the correct discs coincidentally, and OS9 installed fine, however hangs upon a successful boot, unless extensions are disabled.

I really don't know what this machine is, and how I can find out. I have not started up the Apple Hardware Test CD I also have, so if you'd like me to do so and maybe get some info from its report please do ask. I don't even know if it will start up. I'll update this once I have tested it.

Thank you for any replies.

The Mac in question is a Power Macintosh G4 800 (QuickSilver 2002) model built in June 2002. In your case, it has the 800 MHz PowerPC 7455 G4 processor (as opposed to the PowerPC 7450 variant). This processor had a single core, but also had what Apple called an AltiVec Velocity Engine.

The specific model details are: M8493 (EMC 1896) with model identifier PowerMac3,5.

In your question you mentioned Mac OS 9. This model is only officially capable of booting into Mac OS 9.2.2 (not an earlier version).

You can check your serial number!

Since posting this answer I remembered that everymac.com has a lookup function on their site that allows users to enter a serial number to identify their hardware. You can access this at: http://www.everymac.com/ultimate-mac-lookup/


View iOS Health data externally Is there a way to view ios 8 health data externally?  For example, with iCloud sync it seems feasible to be able to access the data through a website (i've checked https://www.icloud.com/ but it's not visible).  I really like the Health app dashboard but I'd like it more if I could also see it from other devices :)

If there is no official way, does Apple allow accessing iCloud data through some web API?  I can build a proof-of-concept dashboard if they have some kind of web service.

Lastly, another method I've considered is building an app that (after requesting permissions) reads the data through HealthKit and then provides that to an external storage service.  I'd like to know if something like this exists (so I don't reinvent the wheel).

I found another thread from June 2014 that indicates it's not possible to directly inspect iCloud backups, though I'm pretty sure they're only referring to viewing through iTunes or iCloud.com.

Best way I found was to:
Open Health App and head to Health data < All and use the arrow on the upper right of the screen then choose Export.

It will take a while if you have a data. You'll be able to get a ZIP file that you can mail to yourself.

Just use XCode and you should (at least!) be able to read your data. You could then use dropbox to sync it with your other devices.


After you find a file using Finder, how do you get its file path? On macOS, after you find a file using Finder, how do you get the file path?
I tried right clicking on the file in Finder, but nothing happens. Usually in any other folder right clicking works, but not in Finder.

Control click on the file (or right click)
Hold down option (when the contextual menu is still visible)
Select copy "filename" as Pathname
Release option

The keyboard shortcut Option - Command - C does the same work as the above GUI steps.
The full path to the file is in the pasteboard - so you can paste it where you need it. Also, Option - Command - P toggles the path bar in Finder windows. You need to select the file to see the path whereas the first option works with any visible file.
Lastly, you can control click (right click) the folder at the top of the Finder window to reveal the path hierarchically / visually.


How can I send same email multiple times in iOS? I wanted to send a single email to different users. I save an email to drafts and send the email to a user and it goes to the sent box instead of staying in the drafts box. Is there a way I can send an email repeatedly from the drafts box?

A good way to achieve this using just the builtin apps on iOS is to save your email as a Note in the Notes app. You can then Share it by Mail, and it will be formatted for you automatically, with the first line becoming the subject of your email.

You could even setup a Notes folder with a whole set of email templates that way.

Your question pertains to iOS and iPad, but in macOS you may also select a previously sent email, then go into the menu bar and click Message → Send Again or Redirect. These commands are also available through right-click.

Of course the Notes solution still applies in macOS.


Bluetooth not available anymore I have a Macbook Pro (late 2011) with the latest OS X (10.9.4) and once in a while the Bluetooth subsystem disappears and the system hangs for a few seconds every ~10 minutes. The icon in the menu bar looks like this:

And there is no Bluetooth system preference anymore:

This happens once every 2-3 days and I have no idea what the cause could be.

Question: How can I restart the bluetooth subsystem from the command line to make it available again? Or (more interesting of course) what is the cause of this infrequent hang and how can I heal it completely?

I cannot remember which software I've installed at the time the error started to show, it might have been bootcamp to support a 32 bit windows in a virtual machine or some Citrix software (Citrix Access Gateway)

Here is the list of all Apple BT symbols and they meaning.

Additional steps:

Log in as different user to see if it is your profile related.

Start in safe mode to see if other applications are making problems

Since you have another major problem with missing BT in sys pref, resetting SMC and PRAM might help.

Use Manual method to ON/OFF the BT

Type Bluetooth in Spotlight

Select Application- Bluetooth Exchange

will bring up a switching window

Last not least, reinstall your OS.


Is it possible to somehow default the OSX preview window size on open for PDF files? I have had this bug-bare for a while where preview always opens documents too small, I'm visually impaired and want them to default to open with two options

Default width to nearly 100% of screen, last used would be perfect
Default PDF display to "Single Page Continuous"
Default the mouse tool to "Move"

No matter what I do it always opens in a window 1/3 of my screen size to what I assume is "100%".

Customize Preview (easy)

Have you looked under Preview preferences? You can set Initial Document Scale to 100% or larger if you want. You might need to adjust the option below that, defining size equal to screen or print sizes.

Use a better PDF viewer

If Preview.app can't do what you want, look into Skim.app

Skim has an option to open PDFs as Default, Maximized, or Fit. One of these ought to improve.

Customize Preview (complex)

If you want all three points requested above and want them in Preview.app, I would do the following:

Turn on Universal Access so you can script applications via the GUI
Make a new app in Automator that accepts PDFs. Replace Preview with this (open with this by default, put it in your dock so you can drag-and-drop onto it, etc.)
The new app should simply take the input PDF and pass it to Preview, so it displays there
The new app should then use Universal Access commands to

Maximize the window
Set to "Single Continuous Page"
Select the mouse tool you want.


Linux on Mac hardware: How to remove caps lock delay on Apple MacBook Pro aluminum keyboard when booted to Linux Apple's MacBook Pro has a slight delay on the caps lock key.
That is, the caps lock key has to be held down slightly longer
than normal to register the key press required to engage the caps lock.
This is super annoying. Does anyone know how to stop it from happening?

(Above copied over from stackoverflow as it was closed there as "off topic".)
To elaborate further:
Apple deems this a feature, and their knowledge base article does not disclose how to disable this delay.
However, I have reason to believe it is possible to do so.
Notably, I have found that, at least in my experience, if you remap the caps-lock key on Mac OS X (in System Preferences .. Keyboard .. Modifier Keys), and e.g. map it to Control, then the delay goes away while I am logged into Mac OS X.
My problem is that the delay remains when I boot into Ubuntu Linux, and in that context, even when I remap the Caps Lock key to Control, the delay is still present.
So, the question is: How is Apple disabling the delay, and more importantly, how can one replicate that act in the context of a Linux installation atop the laptop?
Update: There is a thread on superuser that may provide workarounds.  I have not yet tried the suggestions there (namely: (1) toggling CapsLock-NoAction off/on, and (2) a firmware upgrade).  I cannot tell from the context of that thread whether the workarounds have been tested on an Ubuntu installation.

I've figured out how to do this. In short, you must send a "Feature Report" consisting of the bytes 0x9, 0x0, 0x0, 0x0 to the appropriate hidraw device as root.

You can find the right hidraw device with this command:

dmesg | grep Apple | grep Keyboard | grep input0 | tail -1 | sed -e 's/.*hidraw\([[:digit:]]\+\).*/\/dev\/hidraw\1/'

The code to send the magic control packet is below. Compiles with gcc, takes the hidraw device as parameter. So the entire flow is:

save the code below as disable-capslock-delay.c
gcc -o disable-capslock-delay disable-capslock-delay.c
HIDDEVICE=$(dmesg | grep Apple | grep Keyboard | grep input0 | tail -1 | sed -e 's/.*hidraw\([[:digit:]]\+\).*/\/dev\/hidraw\1/')
sudo ./disable-capslock-delay $HIDDEVICE

Steps 3 and 4 have to be done every time you reboot (or unplug and re-plug the keyboard); you can put them into /etc/rc.local (or your distro's equivalent) to execute them at boot (you don't need sudo in that case; and you might want to move the compiled binary into /usr/local/sbin/ or something).

I've put in some safety checks for vendor ID, device ID, and report descriptor length. You may have to change the latter two if your model differs from mine.

#include <linux/hidraw.h>
#include <sys/ioctl.h>
#include <fcntl.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>

int main(int argc, char **argv) {
  if (argc != 2 || strcmp(argv[1], "-h") == 0) {
    printf("Pass a hidraw device as the first and only parameter!\n");
    printf("You may find the right device with:\n");
    printf("  dmesg | grep Apple | grep Keyboard | grep input0 | tail -1 | "
           "sed -e 's/.hidraw\([[:digit:]]\+\)./\/dev\/hidraw\1/'\n");
    return 1;
  }
  int fd, i, res, desc_size = 0;
  char buf[256];
  struct hidraw_devinfo info;
  char *device = argv[1];
  fd = open(device, O_RDWR | O_NONBLOCK);
  if (fd < 0) {
    perror("Unable to open device");
    return 1;
  }
  memset(&info, 0, sizeof(info));
  memset(buf, 0, sizeof(buf));
  // Get Report Descriptor Size
  res = ioctl(fd, HIDIOCGRDESCSIZE, &desc_size);
  if (res < 0) {
    perror("HIDIOCGRDESCSIZE");
  }
  if (desc_size != 75) {
    printf("Error: unexpected descriptor size %d; you've probably got "
           "the wrong hidraw device!\n", desc_size);
    return 1;
  }
  // Get Raw Info
  res = ioctl(fd, HIDIOCGRAWINFO, &info);
  if (res < 0) {
    perror("HIDIOCGRAWINFO");
  } else {
    if (info.vendor != 0x05ac) {
      printf("Error: Wrong vendor ID, make sure you got the right "
             "hidraw device!\n");
      return 1;
    }
    if (info.product != 0x0250) {
      printf("Warning: Unknown product ID 0x%x!\n", info.product);
    }
  }
  // Get Feature
  buf[0] = 0x09;  // Report Number
  res = ioctl(fd, HIDIOCGFEATURE(256), buf);
  if (res < 0) {
    perror("HIDIOCGFEATURE");
  } else {
    printf("HID Feature Report (before change):\n\t");
    for (i = 0; i < res; i++) printf("%hhx ", buf[i]);
    puts("\n");
  }
  // Set Feature
  buf[0] = 0x09;  // Report Number
  buf[1] = 0x00;  // Report data
  buf[2] = 0x00;  // padding
  buf[3] = 0x00;  // padding
  res = ioctl(fd, HIDIOCSFEATURE(4), buf);
  if (res < 0) {
    perror("HIDIOCSFEATURE");
  } else {
    printf("Caps lock delay disabled.\n");
  }
  // Get Feature
  buf[0] = 0x09;  // Report Number
  res = ioctl(fd, HIDIOCGFEATURE(256), buf);
  if (res < 0) {
    perror("HIDIOCGFEATURE");
  } else {
    printf("HID Feature Report (after change):\n\t");
    for (i = 0; i < res; i++) printf("%hhx ", buf[i]);
    puts("\n");
  }
  close(fd);
  return 0;
}


What size is this internal screw for the Macbook Air (A1466)? I just replaced the battery for my Macbook Air (A1466), but in the process I lost one of the screws (image attached). I initially ordered a standard replacement set from Amazon, but realized it may not contain the specific screw I need.

A lot of the replacement packages seem to be for the external screws. But the one I need is just this specific one. Without it my Macbook's trackpad does not register clicks (based on prior experience).

The website ifixit.com has repair guides for many Apple computers, including the from-mid-2012 A1266 MacBook Air.

One of the entries for this MacBook Air is Replace Trackpad. Step 10 contains this picture, showing the screw in question highlighted. Here's a screenshot:

The instruction text says it is a 1.4mm T5 Torx set screw.


Time Machine restore does not recognize sparsebundle password I am trying to do a time machine system restore from an encrypted sparse bundle. I have a mac with OS X 10.10.2 and the sparse bundle is on a time capsule. I rebooted with cmd+R and selected “Restore from a Time Machine Backup”. I was asked for the time machine password and then selected the sparse bundle I wanted to restore. At that point I was asked for the sparse bundle password, which however the system keeps rejecting.

I am 100% sure the password is instead correct. To double check I restarted the mac and checked in the keychain, and the password is in fact correct. Also I could restore specific files from time machine without any problem. But when I try the system restore the way I just described, the system does not recognise that password as the correct one.

Can anybody suggest a solution?

Check if your password is longer than 15 characters, if it is just type the first 15.


MacBook Pro won't boot anymore after a fall I have an old MacBook Pro (late 2006) and he won't boot anymore. He fell down the table and ever since, he's not working anymore. When I try to boot him, the hard drive and the fans starts spinning, but after a few seconds everything is shut down with a "loud" click.

Here is what I've tried:

Reinsert the Ram
Replacing the RAM with new ones
Used the RAM in another Mac, works just fine
Unchained the hard drive and used an other one
Used the hard drive in another Mac and PC, works just fine
Resetting everything you can (PRAM, SMC,...)

Calling Apple Support won't do much since the warranty has expired like 4 years ago.

What I'm afraid of, is a broken motherboard or graphic card (which I don't know how to test this). What are you thinking of when you read this story and what do you think I can do about it?

I think the best thing to do to rescue whatever you can (RAM, harddrive, Bluetooth chips, WiFi antenna,...) and sell them. By so, you have a little start up budget for your new Mac (which you gonna have to buy anyway!)

If you don't know how to get all those things out, you can try one of the tutorials at iFixit.


Using AppleScript to batch convert .pages to pdf I am needing to convert about 100 .pages documents to either pdf or docx.
With the AppleScript script below, I am able to open .pages documents from the folder that I select. However I receive the following error when trying to export.

Question: What is causing the error and how do I fix it?

Error Message with personal information replaced:

  error "Pages got an error: Can’t make alias \"Macintosh
  HD:Users:Path:To:File:foo.pages\" into
  type document." number -1700 from alias "Macintosh
  HD:Users:Path:To:File:foo.pages." to
  document

Line of code producing the error:

export this_file to exportFileName as PDF

Script:

set exportFileExtension to "pdf"
set this_folder to (choose folder with prompt "Pick the folder containing the files to process:") as string
tell application "System Events"
    set these_files to every file of folder this_folder
end tell
repeat with i from 1 to the count of these_files
    set this_file to (item i of these_files as alias)
    set this_info to info for this_file
    tell application "Finder"
        set {fType, nExt} to ({file type, name extension} of file this_file)
        set documentName to the name of this_file
        set exportFileName to documentName & "." & exportFileExtension
    end tell
    if nExt contains "pages" then
        tell application "Pages"
            open this_file
            export this_file to exportFileName as PDF
            close saving no
        end tell
    end if
end repeat

###Update###: I have added this script to github with the hopes of it benefiting others as it continues to be improved. Contributions appreciated.

Replace the line of code producing the error with the following:

export front document to file (this_folder & exportFileName) as PDF

There were two issues here:

export takes a document, so you need to pass it the document as opened by Pages.
You gave the file name, but not a containing folder to put the file with this name, so concatenate this with the containing folder path so Pages knows where to export to.


El Capitan, make check, DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH I develop applications using the usual Unix tool set: a compiler, make, and shared libraries.  The procedure is then traditionally something like

./configure, which tailors the sources for the features of the machine it is run on,
make, which actually compiles the shared libs, executables, etc.,
make check, which runs the tests before we install the package,
make install, if the package behaves properly, and finally, optionally,
make installcheck, to make sure the installation works.

During make, the shared libs and executables are compiled in their final form: the executables are compiled with a dependency to the shared libs in their final destination (i.e., they depend on libraries in /usr/local/lib although they are not there yet, they are still in the build tree).  Then make install is, roughly, just using cp to install libs and executables from the build tree to the final place.

During the make check phase, we are running the program uninstalled: the shared libs, executables and auxiliary files are still in the build tree.  To run the tests you have to set up a few custom environment variables (for instance to tell your program that your auxiliary data files are not in /usr/local/share but in the source tree), and some system environment variables, to tell your share lib loader to look for the shared libs.  The environment variables on traditional Unices is LD_LIBRARY_PATH, on OS X it is DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH.  This has worked for (dozens of) years.

But now, El Capitan broke this.

$ (export FOO=foo; env) | grep foo
FOO=foo
$ (export DYLDFOO=foo; env) | grep foo
DYLDFOO=foo
$ (export DYLD_FOO=foo; env) | grep foo
$

now, when SIP is enabled, no DYLD_* is exported from a process to its children.

So my question is: How can we run programs that are not installed?  What is the procedure to follow to be able to run the traditional Unix sequence ./configure && make && make check?

Please, no answer such as "run make install first".  That's not the point.  I am a developper, and running "make check" (and more generally running a non-installed version of a program) is something I do very frequently.  Even installing to a dummy place is time consuming.  I need something effective, and efficient.  And disabling SIP will not fix the issue for users of my packages that want to run make check.

It seems like DYLD_* only gets stripped out for “protected” binaries (I’m not sure exactly what that means, but apparently anything in /bin and /usr/bin for starters) However, if you copy /usr/bin/env to somewhere else, it gets to keep its DYLD_* stuff:

$ cp /usr/bin/env ~/Desktop; (DYLD_FOO=bar ~/Desktop/env)|grep DY
dyld: warning, unknown environment variable: DYLD_FOO
DYLD_FOO=bar

I think make always runs commands via /bin/sh, so you can’t set “dangerous” variables in the makefile and have them affect the commands, but maybe you could move the test into a shell script, set the environment variables inside the script, and then invoke the script from make. Though obviously, this won’t help you if the tests, in turn, rely on shell scripts (or if the things tested are shell scripts!) because then they’re going to invoke /bin/sh and lose the variables again...


iPhone turning off on 10 - 20% and battery percentage not showing right I have an iPhone 5s running iOS 11.0.3. When it's down to about 15%, it dies completely.Can I do something about that?

Also, when It's at around 15% and I plug the iPhone into the power supply, it often goes up to 25% instantly.Why is my iPhone doing that?

I agree with Tyson, these are classic "dead battery" symptoms. If you want to be certain before ordering a replacement battery or having it repaired, use a battery utility, such as coconutBattery (for Mac) or 3uTools (for Windows). It will tell you what the health of the battery is (Design Capacity). If your battery shows anything less than 70% of design capacity, it will require replacement.


MacBook Pro 16 2019 + External Monitor. Battery Life I've recently bought a MBP Pro 16' 2019. I'm using right now a Thunderbolt 2 adapter so I can connect it to an old iMac 21' and using as an external monitor.
My question is: It is safe for battery life keep it connected all the time?
Right now, I'm only working from Home (Pandemic) and I'm afraid of leaving it at power source all the time.
I don't mind when it hits 80% of battery charge, unplug and plug again when it's 30%. But just to clarify if it's correct.
Also, I'm planning on buying an LG Monitor with Thunderbolt 3, that has an 85W plug connector to provide energy to the MBP. Should I use it? The official charger is 96W.

Keeping it plugged in most of the time is fine, just make sure to unplug it about once every month. I'd recommend using the official charger, as Apple has reasons for making the charger 96W.


Evaluate a formula stored in a cell Is it possible to store an expression in a cell and then refer to it/evaluate it within other cells?

I've found myself repeatedly using complex expressions in cell formulas, e.g., the sub-expression OFFSET ( $A$2, 0, 0, ROW() -1,  1 ) to refer to a cell in a row and all rows above it is nested within many other expressions.  As the expressions in cells get lengthier and more complex, it becomes harder to correctly write and debug them.  I'd like to put subexpressions in their own cells and then evaluate them in the main cells, to make things easier to read (like macros in C).

Is this possible?

You can get a sort of macro facility working. Try this:

Insert a separate sheet, make the table name unique to the spreadsheet (I use "Macros"), and ensure the table has one header row and one header column. Then label the column A header "Name" and column B header "macro". This sets you up with a shorthand, self-documenting naming system. To add a macro, pick a name for it, put the name in column A and the code in column B and then call it. If your table, row, and column names are set up properly, then $macro $myMacroName will do it.

Example: you have three checkboxes in known locations (say $A$1, $A$2, and $A$3) and you need to repeatedly check to see if any one checkbox is checked and then perform specific code different for each checkbox. The following in columns A and B of any row in your Macros table will accomplish the goal.

    anyBoxChecked  =IFERROR(CHOOSE(MATCH(TRUE,$A$1:$A$3,0),1,2,3),0)
    runCheckbox    =INDIRECT("$macro $runCheckbox"&$macro $anyBoxChecked)
    runCheckbox0   ="ERROR"
    runCheckbox1   =specific code for checkbox $A$1
    runCheckbox2   =specific code for checkbox $A$2
    runCheckbox3   =specific code for checkbox $A$3

Note the macro statement must always be row and column preserved (i.e. with $s).

This is a complex example (I kind of went to town on it) with macros including macros and indirect macro calls.

But by using $macro $anyBoxChecked<>0 you have a boolean representing if any of the three boxes is checked and by using $macro $runCheckbox you can run checkbox specific code automatically and get an error message if none of the boxes is checked.

Now the bad news: these macros do not accept any parameters and you cannot use any function that is location dependent. So the example you asked for help on, OFFSET($A$2,0,0,ROW()-1,1), can't be one of these macros because ROW() will return the row number of the macro, not the row number of the cell where you called the macro from.

But take heart; I was in exactly the predicament that you were in and using this system in conjunction with some judicious code analysis allowed me to reduce my code footprint substantially and document the remaining code a lot better. It also seems to improve performance.

Another note: you can have the macro rows in any order and add, delete, or move them around as much as you like. Numbers automagically just takes care of the row changes so you don't have to change any macro calls.

Have fun!

(by the way, I am running Numbers 6.0 (6194) on Mojave 10.14.4.


Right-click causes application crash I have a serious problem with right clicking. When ever I try to open the contextual menu in certain applications like the iWork Suite, MS Office or Evernote, I get the beach ball.

I've completely formated my Mac and 3 days later I notice the problem is persisting. Has anyone ever experienced this issue ?

I am running 10.8.2.

After looking in /Library/Contextual Menu Items/ I noticed that even after uninstalling the app which I suspected was causing the problem, a plugin was still present. Deleting it has resolved the issue.

The app in question was Antidote by Druide Software.


How to Edit a website URL for existing App password on Safari Password manager? I have saved some items to my iPhone.

How can I edit and replace URL for existing Password on iOS password Manager?

Solved it.
I had the issue that a site uses a first page to get the user then uses a different url to take the pw. So the u & pw were called only by the second url.
I used ‘+’ to add the first page url, then same u & pw. When I saved it merged the two.


Why is "Verify Backups" in the Time Machine icon menu disabled? I learned in Upgraded to Lion: Time Machine spends a LOT of time indexing backup that if I hold down the option key and click the Time Machine icon in the menu bar, the "Back Up Now" menu item changes to "Verify Backups".  But for some reason, on my MacBook Air, "Verify Backups" is disabled (greyed-out).  How do I find out why?

I'm running OS X 10.7.1, and have FileVault turned on for "Macintosh HD" (my internal storage).  My Time Machine backup is to an external USB HD, which I've encrypted.

Could that be why?  Does Lion not support "Verify Backups" with an encrypted Time Machine HD?

"Verify Backups" is applicable only to backups on network drives.  It will be greyed out if you are backing up to a local drive.
Apple should have been clearer in indicating this.
From Finder > Help > Verify your backup disk

Verify your backup disk
If you back up to a network disk, Time Machine periodically verifies that your backups are in good condition. If you like, you can perform a verification at any time.

Open the Time Machine menu in the menu bar, press the Option key on your keyboard, and then choose Verify Backups.


Screen wake - go to home screen The apple watch has "On screen wake show last app" with a time limit that means if the watch is unused for a period of time, go back to watch mode.

I've found this so useful in avoiding distractions that I'd like to find out if iOS has something similar.

I want it to go to the first page of the home screen if it's been inactive (asleep) for more than a few minutes.

Is there a way to do that?

I recognize that a quick swipe from the bottom will do this, but my problem is getting distracted with what I was working on awhile ago when my desire is to check my calendar, email, or something else.  I'd prefer the phone to handle it for me.

Unfortunately, this is not currently possible as a setting on iPhone. You may want to consider sending feedback to Apple concerning this.


Wi-Fi disconnecting when "under load" At some point towards the end of last year (2019), Wi-Fi started frequently dropping off and then automatically reconnecting on my MacBook Air 2018.

At least two things happened around that time, that could have triggered the issue, but I do not remember when they happened and in which order, and whether it even was before or after the issue started occurring:

macOS update from Mojave to Catalina,
light drop of the laptop, which didn't seem to have affected anything else.

Things I gradually noticed during the investigation:

My connection is 50Mbs down / 4Mbs up, and it seems to be easier to reproduce when uploading data rather than downloading. Consistently able to reproduce when on a Skype call.
Eventually able to reproduce when downloading a file from test FTP server, even with very low speed limit set on client side.
Able to reproduce at home with 802.11n (2.4 GHz) network.
Unable to reproduce at home with wired connection.
Unable to reproduce at home with any other device using wireless connection, including another mac laptop (MacBook Pro 2018), Android phone (Motorola moto G6), and Windows laptop (Asus Y50-70).
Unable to reproduce in the office, where network is mixed 802.11ac (5 GHz) / 802.11n (2.4 GHz).
When watching /var/log/wifi.log around the disconnect events, the following line caught my attention for some reason:

<kernel> AppleBCMWLANCore::getSSIDData(): Get failure: APPLE80211_IOC_SSID: -528342013

Various tweaks I tried, none of which helped:

Changing home router settings (transmission mode between b, g, n and mixed b/g/n; transmission rate; channel; channel width between 20 and 20/40 MHz; multicast rate)
Disabling IPv6
Resetting NVRAM
Wipe all WiFi settings from MacBook
Lowering MTU

I was eventually able to resolve it by following the suggestions from Bluetooth headphones disconnect a few seconds after connecting on macOS, namely:

https://apple.stackexchange.com/a/344552 by Gummibando:

  Try resetting the Bluetooth module.
  Shift-Option click the BT menu bar item > Debug > Reset the Bluetooth
    module.

https://apple.stackexchange.com/a/380827 by Kundan Burnwal:

  Delete /Library/Preferences/com.apple.Bluetooth.plist
  Clear PRAM according to Apple's instructions by rebooting and holding down Command +Option+P+R for roughly 20 seconds until either the second startup sound plays or Apple logo appears and disappears for a second time.

P.S. I think it is worth noting that the steps for resetting NVRAM and PRAM are the same, and did already try "the former", but that time it coincided with a minor macOS version update, which could have affected the reset procedure in some way.

Upd: unfortunately, pairing back and connecting a Bluetooth device (e.g., headphones) brings the issue back, so this whole workaround is just that — a workaround.


Is it normal for a 15 inch rMBP to get extremely hot during use? Sometimes when editing images, creating websites, using Adobe software, my Retina  Macbook Pro, seems to get very, very hot. Not just on the bottom but on the top by the screen as well.

To be more specific, I own a 2013  15" Retina Macbook Pro with a 2.4 Ghz i7.

Is this normal? Could this damage my computer in any way? If so, should I do something to prevent it from happening?

Your computer is designed to run all 4 cores and generate heat like a 60 w lightbulb would. Internally, the CPU doesn't get as hot as a filament does - but it does approach the boiling point of water before it will slow itself down to avoid overheating.
This control is built into the chips themselves so even if your fans stop working, the machine should run as fast as it can given the amount of heat that escapes through the warm aluminum frame. The heat that you have noticed may simply be the system working as designed with passive cooling assisting the fans.
Here is an article explaining a bit on how you can measure the internal temperatures, how the loading of work on the CPU spins up (and even sound recordings of) the fans:

http://www.anandtech.com/show/6023/the-nextgen-macbook-pro-with-retina-display-review/12

My guess is your mac is running normal as it can be quite uncomfortably hot and still operating as designed. However, if you are worried, you should call AppleCare and ask them for assistance in determining if it's running safely.  Rather than trust that our understanding of how hot your Mac is since you could be someone who is underestimating danger, or another that over estimates it and I'd hate to not have you get a second opinion or know exactly how hot the internals and case are. Consulting the manufacturer would be a great next step for you.


How to use Shortcuts on my iPhone to call in to conferences? I have to attend a lot of conference meetings and each of these meetings uses their own conference id or conference number. Usually I call a number and wait for the automated voice to enter the conference number. And then I press a number of # to join the call.

Of course, I know, I can call the number including the conference id to join the meeting. Therefore I call 202-456-1111,,30030011### and I am logged in the conference service under 202-456-1111 with the conference id 30030011.

But I hate to type this in all the time and was looking for a shortcut. I go with this

Ask for Input (Input Type = Number)
Text: 202456111,,{Ask for Input}###
Call

But it only calls the number ignoring everything else including the colons. But in the end the output of the call operation is the expected full number including the colons and hashpounds.

How to change the script to successful be asked for the conference number and perform the call as expected?

I did something similar that works for me.  In my case, there's an optional attendee ID as well.  The conference number I'm showing here is 1-555-555-5555

Ask "Meeting access code" (Input type = Number)
Set variable {ConfNum} to {Provided Input}
Ask Attendee ID (Input type = Number, default = 0)
If Provided Input is 0
Text 1555-555-5555,,{ConfNum}#,#
Otherwise
Text 1555-555-5555,,{ConfNum}#,{Provided Input}#
End If
Call {If Result}

Also note that if you use a semicolon (;) instead of a comma (,) for the pause, it will wait until you press a button to dial the remaining string.


Can the Apple Watch app be side loaded and used on other iOS devices? I know the official requirement to use the Apple Watch is an iPhone 5 or newer running iOS 8.2+, but I'm interested to know if it is possible to sync it to an older iPhone, iPod, or an iPad by side loading the Apple Watch app or any hacks. According to Bluetooth SIG's site the iPhone 4s, iPad (Air, Mini, 3rd & 4th gen), and iPod touch (5th) are Bluetooth Smart Ready which means they are compatible with both standard and low energy Bluetooth protocols. Since the Apple Watch only works with Bluetooth LE and these devices also support LE it seems to be just a software limitation.

I would try side loading the 'Apple Watch' app myself to a jailbroken iOS device however I am not able to find a .app/.ipa for it.

I have already read the "Can you use the Apple Watch with an iPod touch?" post but I believe this question is different enough to justify a new thread.

Apple Watch uses Bluetooth to communicate with iPhone. iPhone 5 is the first device that had Bluetooth LE support, which is used in cases where you want a low-energy-usage always-on connection, so it would follow that is the earliest model that can actually communicate with Apple Watch.

While Apple Watch can, in some circumstances, use Wi-Fi to communicate with iPhone, it has to be a network that iPhone was connected to while previously paired with Apple Watch over Bluetooth. Since devices prior to iPhone 5 likely cannot establish a Bluetooth connection to Apple Watch, no Wi-Fi network would ever be trusted by Apple Watch to use for communication with iPhone.


How can I add a service to Finder to add a movie/track to a VLC playlist? I am using VLC for playing videos in MacOSX 10.8, the VLC version is 2.0.5, I want a context menu in Finder with option to add a video file to vlc now playing list.

Using the Open With to make sure you open the file with VLC will add it to the current playlist


Is it ever possible for a disk/volume to be mounted anywhere other than in /Volumes? It seems that under macOS that all disks of every type will always be mounted under /Volumes. (Except, of course, for the boot drive which will always be mounted at /.)
But is this just the case under "normal" circumstances for most people most of the time?
Is it ever possible that some kind of storage could be mounted elsewhere like on other *nix type OSes?

Sure - use the mount command by hand using a command line shell and terminal application.

Here’s how to mount a SMB share manually.
Here’s how to mount a AFP share manually.

Interrupting a direct attached disk mount is not as easy. (or documented here yet AFAIK)


How do I use AFP with Back To My Mac? When my Macbook and home Mac were running Mountain Lion, I used Back To My Mac to get to my home system and it showed me all of my drives if I logged in with my normal account credentials.  Since I've upgraded to Mavericks, it appears to be defaulting to Samba instead of AFP because I only see the single read-only SMB share I have set up, and I can't log in with my normal account user/pass.  When I'm at home, if I manually go to afp://ip.address/ it works fine.  Obviously that is not an option with Back To My Mac.  Does anybody know how I can get the afp-over-wan behavior back?  It was really handy!

You can find your Back To My Mac hostname by doing this:

% dns-sd -E
Looking for recommended registration domains:
DATE: ---Fri 15 Nov 2013---
12:00:39.211  ...STARTING...
Timestamp     Recommended Registration domain
12:00:39.212  Added     (More)               local
12:00:39.212  Added                          icloud.com
                                             - > btmm
                                             - - > members
                                             - - - > 1234567

Using that you can derive the hostname as computer_name.1234567.members.btmm.icloud.com. Now use Finder's "Connect To Server..." command and enter afp://computer_name.1234567..members.btmm.icloud.com in the dialog box. It works! If your computer name has a space in it, replace it with a hyphen. The hostname should be all lower-case, so if your computer name is "My Mac" use my-mac.1234567.members.btmm.icloud.com.

(If your mac is running ssh, you can ssh to it as well, which opens a whole world of secure-tunnelling possibility!)


Create a Terminal command to open file with Chrome I want to create command in terminal that would allow me to use

chrome index.html

and have the the given file open in Google Chrome.

How can I get this working?

You can use the open command with the -a flag to open a file or location in Chrome:

open -a "Google Chrome" index.html

This also works with URLs, i.e. open -a "Google Chrome" http://www.apple.com.


TexShop typing German umlauts with US keyboard I am using OS X Lion 10.7 with an American English keyboard. For typing German umlauts I normally just press and hold the appropriate key until the little OS X popup appears and then I can choose the umlaut.

In the TexShop editor I can do the exact same thing. I press and hold "u" for example and the little popup appears. Then I choose "2" for writing "ü" but what happens is that instead of "ü" an "u" is inserted. I also tried the Cmd+U shortcut but it shows the same weird behaviour. I don't think that it is an encoding problem because I can copy and paste umlauts in TexShop. They get displayed and I can also compile to a pdf document.

Any advice on what is wrong here?

I just found a workaround. If you press and hold the letter and then use the cursor keys to choose the umlaut it just works fine. It seems like the problem is the number keys to choose the right Umlaut from the popup.

Example for typing ü:

[Press and Hold u]-[2] => Doesn't work!

[Press and Hold u]-[->]-[->]-[Enter] => Does work!

Alt+u for umlaut, then needed letter for putting under. Also Alt+y for acute, Alt+` for grave. You can see all combos on onscreen keyboard ("Show Keyboard Viewer").


Limit Spotlight to mail The thing is I hate Spotlight like every software burning my cpu for no reason when I am working and I could put my cpu to better use BUT it is required to search in mail bodies with Mail so I still keep it...

What I really want to do is stop Spotlight to index anything but my emails, is there a way to do that ?

I already added the biggest folders to the ignore list but it does not seems to be enough since as I am writing this mds is happily using between 10% and 30% of my cpu :/

If mds is continually using that much CPU then something else is wrong, that's not usual behaviour. Once the index is created, it's incrementally updated and shouldn't be using that much CPU at all.

However, you could try telling Spotlight only to display Mail Messages in searches. You'll find that option in System Preferences in the Spotlight section. (edit) This doesn't actually stop Spotlight indexing those items, but it wont display them in results.

I think you have a more fundamental problem here with Spotlight that should be resolved. Try deleting and recreating the index with the following command:

sudo mdutil -i on -Evsa


Non-official usb-c dock station detects 2 external monitors are a single one I bought this dock station USB-C JF68  and everything works besides HDMI+Display port simultaneously.

The site claims this thing supports MacBook (I'm using 16" Pro). And it also claims that it supports 2 video outputs in extended mode simultaneously. Giving the fact that Macbook also claims that it supports 2 video outputs from a single thunderbolt (on each side of the laptop) I rely on that this station supports my Mac.

But when I attach both ports together I get mirrored output to both of my external displays (I mean both of them work, but the image is exactly the same). Nevertheless, they are still extended from Macbook's integrated one. If I get to Display arrangement settings in macOS I see that it only detects both displays as a single one. here's the image the display with white border is my integrated one, and the right one is actually both of my external displays.

I use HDMI->HDMI cable and FDP->FDP (Full-size display port). So there are no intermediate parts. The both external monitors run at 1920x1080@60Ghz (Acer v226hql (HDMI) + MSI optix g24c (Display port).

I'm running MacOS Catalina 10.15.2, which I updated yesterday, so all drivers are up to date. I'm not sure if they're some official Azdome driver because I haven't found any.

The interesting part that this exact adapter outputs both displays in extended mode ok for my MSI laptop which runs Archlinux. So the adapter is definitely working. The issue is probably with drivers. I also asked apple support they say that they guarantee that their software drivers only work on official adapters that I can only buy on apple.com.

All of the other things work ok (ethernet/USB/power delivery/ audio). I also tried to plug off every other thing from the adapter and tried to run only with HDMI+DP connected but it just doesn't matter.

I also have another cheap adapter usb-c->hdmi+usbc+usb which when I connect to the same side to the same external monitor works.

Well, that thing described above only works like that only ~50% of the time. Another 50% MacBook just doesn't detect both screens at all. (I mean display arrangement tab is missing from display settings, and they are both black). In all 100% cases all other interfaces from this dock station work.

The setup you with that hardware is not going to work - and cannot be made to work.

The USB-C dock station you've got works as a MST (Multi-Stream Transport) hub. MST is a part of the DisplayPort 1.2 standard, which makes it possible for monitors and computers to support "daisy-chaining".

Daisy-chaining is most often seen where the monitor has both an input and output DisplayPort adapter, allowing you to connect the first monitor to the computer, and the second monitor to the first monitor. If both monitor and computer support MST daisy-chaining the two displays will act as seperate displays, exactly like if they had been plugged in directly to the computer.

In this case MST daisy-chaining is used within the dock to allow dual monitor outputs. Note that because the monitors share bandwidth, it is not possible to connect them at the same resolutions and refresh rates as possible when using seperate cables connected to the computer. With your monitors it shouldn't be a problem though (they're relatively low res).

The problem for you is that macOS does not support MST daisy-chaining. This is a software limitation and not a hardware limitation. Instead macOS supports daisy-chaining Thunderbolt monitors (such as with the Apple Thunderbolt Monitor).

You've got it working on your ArchLinux laptop because Linux supports MST. In fact you should be able to run Linux on your MacBook Pro and drive both displays via MST that way.

To get a setup like this working with  macOS, you'll need a Thunderbolt 3 dock instead of a USB-C dock. Or you could individually connect the displays to the MacBook Pro. For example one display connected to the dock, and the other connected via a USB-C to DisplayPort cable.


"Create Diagnostics Report" not generating (or not generating in right location)? For some reason opt + right click on wifi (top right of screen), then selecting "Create Diagnostics Report" doesn't generate said report.
I see the following pop up (which I believe is normal):
But then after clicking "OK", I have seen nothing for 1h 15m. I have been waiting for a finder window to appear. I have also manually checked in /tmp, ~/Downloads, and ~/Documents, but cannot see the report.

I cannot work out why this would be. Perhaps I have changed to location the report would write to? Is it possible to run a diagnostics report via terminal (and perhaps specify where it should be written to?)

I just ran this on my older iMac running High Sierra. It ran to completion in about 10 minutes. It wrote the output to the tmp directory but probably not the tmp directory you checked. On my machine, it wrote the output to /private/var/tmp. The folder 'private' won't show up using Finder unless you 'show hidden items'. This requires hitting the command-shift-dot keys at the same time. Then the Finder will display the 'private' folder. So from / you can see the private folder. Other folders on that level are Applications, Library, and Users among others.


Adding a compiled application to $PATH. Understanding the problem I'm trying to understand the whole $PATH problem but I've got no luck so far.
Suppose that I've just compiled an executable with make and I need to launch it with the shell without using the full path.
Well the problem is that I don't fully understand all these "add to path" things.

My idea is that if the terminal reads on specific folders, why don't we just put all the application files to this folder?

Why don't we add the whole Applications folder to the list of folder that the terminal goes to open an application?

The PATH variable already containts a list of directories which the shell (which is what is running inside Terminal) is using to search for any executables. So if you compile something on your own and put it into one of the folders listed in PATH you can execute it from the shell prompt right away.

The current folder (.) usually is not part of PATH for security reasons. So for stuff you compile and want to run right away, you have to execute ./stuff for the shell to find it.


stop iTunes from auto-playing after import I drag a movie onto the iTunes icon. iTunes imports the movie, and then begins playing it for me automatically.

How do I stop it from playing the movie automatically?

according to this macworld article, do the following in Terminal, quit & relaunch iTunes

defaults write com.apple.iTunes play-songs-while-importing -bool FALSE


Why are photos and videos always cropped on phone orientation? Isn't the lens proportional in width and height? Is there a specific reason they are cropped to the orientation?

Does AVFoundation have API that would let me take full uncropped photos and videos? I’ve read through some of the documentation but nothing that would help me achieve this stands out.

The sensor in an iPhone camera is not square, it is rectangular physically.

Therefore, ‘uncropped’ is rectangular and square is a crop of this. If you would like a square photo, you can use the square function in the camera app, but this will be a lower resolution as it is just a crop of the original rectangular image.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image_sensor_format


Where does iTunes save iOS updates? When I choose to install a new version of iOS on my device via iTunes, the installation file is huge (e.g. 750 MB). Where does iTunes save this file, and does it get deleted after the installation is done?

On Windows XP
Documents and Settings\<User>\Application Data\Apple Computer\iTunes\iPhone Software Updates

On Windows Vista/Windows 7
Users\<User>\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\iTunes\iPhone Software Updates

On Mac
~/Library/iTunes/iPhone Software Updates

I believe that the updates do not delete after they are installed.

Via this iPhone FAQ article.


MacBook shut down at 20% battery with no warning? My 2013 13" MacBook Retina (OS X 10.10.3, Yosemite) shuts down when I have about 20 minutes of battery left. Not sleep, full shut down. It does this with no warning at all.

I seem to remember earlier Mac laptops giving me a low battery warning at around 20% and then putting the machine to sleep (hibernation?) when it gets real low... but never a full shut down.

Does my battery need to be recalibrated? Does the system inaccurately think it has some juice left? Worth mentioning, when I plug it back in and boot it back up, it claims to be at about 15%.

Update: I've done the recalibration thing a couple of times now, but still no difference in performance. What's frustrating is that I never get the low battery warning and the machine doesn't sleep; it shuts down. I've done tons of Googling around and everything I find says exactly what Buscar웃SD suggests below. The one weird thing that I found on Apple's site is this:

  "If your portable Mac has a built-in battery, you don’t need to
  calibrate the battery."

Can't say I've ever heard that before.

I had the same problem with a MacBook Pro mid-2009. Even changing the battery for a "non-official" battery did not solve the problem; I had to take it to an authorised Apple service centre; after that, no problems and still happy as the writing of this (about two years).

Any workaround that you might find online (resetting SMC and/or PRAM, recalibrating, etc) is just a temporary measure, they won't hurt at all and might give you some peace of mind.

Besides changing the battery for a new one, the Apple tech guys have special "secret" programs that can modify certain system flags and parameters.

About a year ago my MacBook Pro Retina mid-2012 (2.7 Quad i7) started with the same exact problem; the shocking news came with an estimate of $975.00 AUD to replace the battery (as it comes glued firmly to the housing you have to replace the unibody bottom including keyboard and trackpad). Still one year later the battery has not degraded at all and I still get 3-4 hours of battery life with full performance settings, but now the message has changed from "Service Battery" to "Replace soon", after this there is still a "Replace now" message.

In brief:

Service Battery means:
There might be something wrong with your battery, or it could be nothing, but keep an eye on it.

Replace soon means:
Your battery will last less than expected, but there should be no major issues, stay alert.

Replace now means:
If you hate carrying around your charger have your battery (or the entire laptop) replaced.

Hope this helps.


Macbook Pro not charging My 2009 Macbook pro is not charging.  I recently bought a new power adapter and when I plug it in the computer starts up fine although the date is set back to Jan 1 2001.  When I click on the battery icon I see a message saying that it is not charging even though the green light is on and the the icon shows the charging symbol. It also always says the battery is at 42%.  The battery has been replaced once about 2 years ago.  When I unplug the power adapter it immediately dies.  Any ideas?

Reset the SMC.

From https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201295:

  On Mac notebooks with non-removable battery Mac notebook computers
  that have a battery you should not remove include: MacBook Pro (Early
  2009) and later, all models of MacBook Air, MacBook (Late 2009), and
  MacBook (Retina, 12-inch, Early 2015). To reset the SMC: Shut down the
  computer. Plug in the MagSafe or USB-C power adapter to a power source
  and to your computer. On the built-in keyboard, press the (left side)
  Shift-Control-Option keys and the power button at the same time.
  Release all the keys and the power button at the same time. Press the
  power button to turn on the computer. On MagSafe power adapters, the
  LED might change states or temporarily turn off when you reset the
  SMC.


Are iMessage encryption keys sent to all listed devices even if they're broken? Are iMessage encyption keys sent to all authenticated devices listed under Apple ID, even if the device isn't powered on and is broken?

It is not possible to send a key to a device that isn’t powered on, and/or not online. The device must “sign-in” with Apples servers before any data, such as a key, is transferred.


How do I back system and application settings up on my Mac? I want to reinstall OS X completely on my machine.

I have backed up all of my documents and made a list of applications that I have, so that I can install them later.

However, one thing that I do not know how to do is how to back my settings up. On a previous occasion, I tried to back the ~/Library/Preferences folder up and restored it on the clean installation, but for the most part it didn't work.

Here are some examples of the scope of what I would like to back up:

System settings (e.g. trackpad options, sentence highlight color, dock options, three-finger drag option, Accessibility options, etc)
Keyboard shortcuts (also a part of system settings)
Printers that I have added (important for me)
System app preferences (Finder, Safari, Preview, etc.)
Third-party app preferences (Little Snitch preferences/rules, Bartender preferences, Amphetamine, etc.)

I don't need to back things like Safari bookmarks, emails or calendars up as I use iCloud for them.

Does anyone have any good suggestions on how to do this effectively?

Use Time Machine. I know it sounds a little snarky, but this is really exactly what it's for. With a current Time Machine Backup, you can install OS X and then restore from your backup... et voila!

Time Machine has crafted exclusions to not backup files that are either counterproductive or unnecessary when restoring a backup onto a clean installation.


Is there a limit on the number of Macs that can use a single 2TB Time Capsule? I am looking at buying a few of the 2TB Time Capsules for our office, where we have about 20 unibody MacBook Pros with 128GB SSDs.

Is there a limit on the number of Macs that a single 2TB Time Capsule can provide Time Machine backup targets to? Does anyone have advice or experience regarding using a Time Capsule as a target for multiple machines?

According to this post on Apple's product page for the Time Capsule, up to 100 machines can use a single Time Capsule. The source of the "100" is not accredited, so it may not be accurate.


How do I restore the icons of the Dock's Applications folder? For some reason, many of the applications' icons in the Dock's Applications folder were replaced by the default application icon. I've tried to clear the icon cache, but that didn't work. Below is a screenshot of the problem.

How do I restore those icons? And for that matter, why did this happen in the first place?

I'm running MacOS Sierra on a MacBook Pro Mid 2014.

Well, I restarted and did a first aid on the volume, and now it's working. I don't know what did it, the restart or the first aid, but it's working now.


Run html+css+js application as a Mac OS X app I'm completely new to development for Mac OS X but I want to have a Mac desktop app for my  own small project. What I have in my mind is to have web application (will use the same app running on the web) running in some kind of wrapper window and pack everything in .app file so it could be run just by clicking icon and will not run in a browser.

So in short - I have web application written in html+css+js and want to run in some kind of wrapper and make it look and act like desktop app. The best way to do that?

Do I need to write some kind of wrapper app in Objective-C which basically will have window and will use WebKit to load my files? Or maybe there is already a solution for it which could be used?

The best example I can find quickly of this is http://brackets.io/ where a web app is packaged to look like a compiled app and runs on my Mac.

You could also use Fluid to create a site-specific browser. SSBs often feel more like restricted versions of browsers than standalone applications though.

One example of a Fluid application is https://github.com/drdrang/drtwoot.


How can I maximise the life of my iPad battery? Possible Duplicate:
  What is the best way to recharge an iPod Touch battery?

Since the iPad battery cannot be replaced, how can I make sure that it lasts as long as possible, preferably years? E.g. should I always keep it charged, or always let the battery run to 0% before recharging?

Note: not the same as How can I make my iPad's battery last longer? which is about battery life during use.

Update: this question looks very much like: What is the best way to recharge an iPod Touch battery? (sorry, only found after posting this). This is slightly more general but perhaps is a duplicate?

According to Apple's website:

  Use Your iPad Regularly

  For proper reporting of the battery’s state of charge, be sure to go through at least one charge cycle per month (charging the battery to 100% and then completely running it down).


macOS High Sierra not reinstalling— locked OS x Base System I dont really know what happened to our mac but all I know is its not starting up so I shut it down. But when I tried opening it again, its not booting up. I followed instructions on youtube on how to fix it but its still not working so what I did was disconnect all the wires plugged in, including the wire for the power then let it rest. When my sister came home, she tried opening it again and she got to do troubleshoot it. Now, we it booted up, we can only see "macOS Utilities" (as seen on the photo). When tried to see what's wrong if the disk is broken or what but we can only see First Aid and Partition. Erase, Restore and Unmount are grayed out. When we click on the First Aid, what we only see is what showing on the photo. We tried reinstalling the macOS High Sierra but its telling us that the disk is locked. Now I dont know how to unlock it or how its gonna be fixed. Please, I really need your help.

You should see 2 separate entries in Disk Utility one for the internal drive and one for the Recovery Partition, so it looks like your Disk Utility is a little bit confused. In the Disk Utility window try clicking on View button and select the Show All Devices options, this should show you the actual disk and any volumes that are on it. Even though your screenshot from Disk Utility just shows OS X Base System, it does shows the drive as the internal one and the size as 500GB, as if it was the Recovery Partition it would only be about 2GB partition in size. What do you see when you show All Devices?


How can I tell when the iPhone is actively using GPS versus only using region monitoring? I run Google Latitude on an iPhone 4 with background updates turned on.  How can I distinguish between when it's actively grabbing the location vs when it's using region monitoring to wait for the phone to move?  As far as I can tell, both icons look the same in the status bar.

In Settings --> Location Services each application that uses location services is listed.  In that list any apps that are currently using locations services or have used location services in the last 24 hours includes a little arrow icon.

The icons differ based on whether they are currently or recently used location services, and if currently then whether it's a geofence or regular updates.

The icons and description for each icon are included in that settings panel.