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Archive for the ‘iPhone Tips’ Category

Since iTunes does not give you a lot of information via print or export of your apps, I wrote a little shell script to retrieve information from the app files themselves.

The script creates and opens a .csv file. To correctly display the columns, choose 'semicolons' as the column delimiter in your csv viewer (e.g. OpenOffice Calc). You can choose what information to retrieve by commenting/uncommenting them in the Attributes definition at the beginning of the script.

To run the script do the following: [crarko adds: Note that the path to the Mobile Applications folder may be different depending on your previous upgrade path(s), for example mine was located at ~/Music/iTunes/iTunes Music/Mobile Applications. Just be sure to put the script in the same folder as the app (.ipa) files.]

• Save it as getproperties.sh in your Mobile Applications Folder at ~/Music/iTunes/Mobile Applications.
• Open that folder in Terminal and run ...

Apple made it quite easy and intuitive to quit out of apps in iOS 4; however I have not seen this method mentioned anywhere.

Double tap the Home button to bring up the multitasking applications view, then tap and hold on an app (as if you were arranging your home screen). A small red circle will appear on each app; tap one to close that app. And, of course, you can still swipe through the list to see more.

[crarko adds: I can't test this one on my iPhone 3G. Please confirm that this works.]

These are not my creation, but I've found the tips in this webpage very useful for mastering iPad (and iPhone) typing. Full credit goes to that site.

There is a list of ten useful tips for making efficient use of the onscreen keyboard(s) in iOS based devices. Some of them are generally known, such as the URL autocomplete and spellchecking completion, but others are less widely publicized, such as the final tip about toggling the alpha and numeric keyboards.

[crarko adds: I tested some of these on my iPhone, and they worked as described. There are some screen captures and a video on the referenced web site which shows how these tips appear. I'm putting this up because keyboard shortcut hints are generally useful things, but I refer you directly to the original site to preserve their copyright.]

I've been noticing for weeks now that several of my repeating appointments are showing up at the wrong time on my iPhone's Calendar application, even though the right time shows up in iCal on my desktop. The appointments are showing up on the right day, but many hours earlier, e.g. 4:00 AM.

In iCal on my Mac, I opened one of the events that was showing up incorrectly on my phone. Lo and behold, the 'Time Zone' setting was set to floating, rather than to my local zone (North America Central Time). Apparently this was true of all my repeating events that had been around for a long time, presumably before I upgraded to Leopard or Snow Leopard and iCal included time zone support. Just set the time zone to the appropriate region, make sure to change this for all future events, and all should be well.

[crarko adds: I looked in iCal on my machine and all the time zone information appeared to be correct, so this may, as implied, be the residual result of m ...

I text quite a bit and I tend to have a lot of different groups that I message often (groups of specific coworkers, parents, friends) but not often enough that they stay on top of my 'recent recipients' list. I usually end up adding all the recipients to a brand new group chat and sometimes I forget to add someone.

I've started messaging a unique phrase in each group I have. So for my friends Kyle, Matt, and Johnson I type 'kmj.' Now that you can search message history in iOS 4, I just search for 'kmj' to bring up the previous group SMS.

If you don't want your friends to receive this message, send it in Airplane Mode. The message send will fail, just never bother resending it. It will still be searchable.

[crarko adds: I haven't tested this one. Seems simple, but practical, like Twitter tagging.]

I text quite a bit and I tend to have a lot of different groups that I message often (groups of specific coworkers, parents, friends) but not often enough that they stay on top of my 'recent recipients' list. I usually end up adding all the recipients to a brand new group chat and sometimes I forget to add someone.

I've started messaging a unique phrase in each group I have. So for my friends Kyle, Matt, and Johnson I type 'kmj.' Now that you can search message history in iOS 4, I just search for 'kmj' to bring up the previous group SMS.

If you don't want your friends to receive this message, send it in Airplane Mode. The message send will fail, just never bother resending it. It will still be searchable.

[crarko adds: I haven't tested this one. Seems simple, but practical, like Twitter tagging.]

I searched everywhere for a method to get HD video onto my iPhone 4 for use in building videos using iMovie on the phone. I like to have a library of trailers and intros I use in my presentations available on the iPhone if I am building a video while away from my computer. I couldn't find a method anywhere for doing this task -- importing movies via iTunes won't let you import HD video and the content you import is not available in your global iPhone Photo/Video library. Requirements:

• iPhone (jailbroken)
• iFiles (software for acessing files on your iPhone)
• Suitable HD video for importing

First of all you will need to have your iPhone jailbroken -- I won't go into details here but that info is readily available on the net. Once you have your phone jailbroken you will need some software to access the files on your iPhone in order to transfer the video into your iPhone. There are several option for moving the files to your phone -- ...

I searched everywhere for a method to get HD video onto my iPhone 4 for use in building videos using iMovie on the phone. I like to have a library of trailers and intros I use in my presentations available on the iPhone if I am building a video while away from my computer. I couldn't find a method anywhere for doing this task -- importing movies via iTunes won't let you import HD video and the content you import is not available in your global iPhone Photo/Video library. Requirements:

• iPhone (jailbroken)
• iFiles (software for acessing files on your iPhone)
• Suitable HD video for importing

First of all you will need to have your iPhone jailbroken -- I won't go into details here but that info is readily available on the net. Once you have your phone jailbroken you will need some software to access the files on your iPhone in order to transfer the video into your iPhone. There are several option for moving the files to your phone -- ...

Many websites use special 'Apple touch icon' image files that allow home screen bookmarks to look good alongside app icons. However, Apple’s original specification of a 59 x 59 pixel icon now looks rather low-resolution on an iPad screen or an iPhone 4 Retina Display.

Perhaps Apple themselves were aware of the need to future-proof icon sizes, or perhaps they updated their files while developing higher-resolution iOS device screens, but the Apple site has a larger, 129 x 129 pixel home screen icon that looks much better than the smaller versions. With the help of an old hint from the time of the first iPhone, you can create your own high-res home screen icons too. There are a few steps to carry out before you can set the icon. First, you need to bookmark the Set Touch Icon bookmarklet found on this page in Safari on your iPad or iPhone 4.

Next, create a 129 x 129 pixel PNG ...

Many websites use special 'Apple touch icon' image files that allow home screen bookmarks to look good alongside app icons. However, Apple’s original specification of a 59 x 59 pixel icon now looks rather low-resolution on an iPad screen or an iPhone 4 Retina Display.

Perhaps Apple themselves were aware of the need to future-proof icon sizes, or perhaps they updated their files while developing higher-resolution iOS device screens, but the Apple site has a larger, 129 x 129 pixel home screen icon that looks much better than the smaller versions. With the help of an old hint from the time of the first iPhone, you can create your own high-res home screen icons too. There are a few steps to carry out before you can set the icon. First, you need to bookmark the Set Touch Icon bookmarklet found on this page in Safari on your iPad or iPhone 4.

Next, create a 129 x 129 pixel PNG ...