Category: IPhone Functionality

Build Your Photo/Media Library Seamlessly with Shared iCloud Drives

9/21/2018

If you work with people, you should have a photo/media library. Period.

Taking pictures of your customers/fans/community will help you tell your story in real time. It will also help ensure you have great content to use for years to come.

There’s no shortage of stock photography on the internet, but none of it has your team members in it, or your customers wearing/using/engaging with your products, or events taking place in neighborhoods where you live.

You don’t need to be an amazing photographer to build a photo library, you just need to pull out your smartphone and start taking pictures. If you have multiple team members, you should all take photos regularly to ensure as many different shots as possible of any given event, sale, party, etc.

But that’s where things gets complicated. If several members of your team are taking photos, then those photos are spread out across several different phones and devices.

There are many services out there that aim to solve this problem. Dropbox, Google Drive, Amazon Photos… all of them can do it. But they are all clunky and slow, and therefore unlikely to be used regularly and reliably. And if you aren’t sharing all your photos, the system isn’t working.

Here’s the good news: If every member of your team uses at least one Apple product, Shared iCloud Drives are the simplest solution you can imagine to solve this annoying problem.

Adding photos to a Shared Drive takes three clicks of the screen. Literally. And then everyone with access will have all shared photos and videos right on their phones and other Apple devices.

To add a photo(s)/video(s) to a Shared Drive, simply open up the media on your phone you want to share.

Then click in the share box in the bottom left of the screen.

At this point you can email or text the photo, or you can share it to Twitter, Instagram or Facebook. But don’t do any of that. Select the rainbow icon labeled iCloud Photo Sharing.

The name of my Shared Album is Reverbal Communications. Click next to Shared Album and you can add your media to any existing Shared Drive you're a part of, or you can create a new one.

Optionally: you can add text or message to accompany your photo. I highly recommend you do this, both for your own sake, and for the sake of your team members. Say where you were, what you were doing, who is in the photo(s)/video(s) and any other information your team should know.

You can add a message or a note for an individual piece of media, or a group of pictures/videos. Whatever you choose to share will be commented on individually or as a unit.

Then just hit post and everyone in the Shared Drive will get a notification that there is new media in the Shared Drive.

When you open up the Shared Drive, you can toggle between Photos and People.

To invite new people to the Drive, go to People and then click “Invite People.”

Adding people to your iCloud Shared Drive

They can only accept your invitation if they have an iCloud enabled device (a Mac computer, phone or tablet). You can invite them through their email or phone number, so long as that contact info is associated with an iCloud account.

Shared Drives are a great tool for placing all media at the fingertips of everyone on your team. You can have as many as you want too, so maybe have one accessible to interns or revolving staffers, and another for senior staffers/stakeholders. Or you have different Shared Drives for different parts of your team. Whatever works for you and your organization.

Have questions? Hit me up. I’m here to help you and you team get started building your Digital Media Library.

Check out some other iPhone tips and tricks.

Have any favorite secret iOS tips, tricks, tools or hacks that you love? Share them in the comments!

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How to Hit 'Return' On Twitter or Instagram

4/25/2018

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I use Twitter and Instagram a lot. Like a lot!

Both of these platforms require precision with limited text. Sometimes it's easier for people to follow what you are trying to say by turning your short text into more than one paragraph.

For a long time, I didn't know how to do that natively (in the app). So when needed, I'd draft my tweet or Instagram post in notepad and then copy and paste it into the platform.

And that worked just fine.

But it's annoying.

Then one day, I noticed something that had been right there at my fingertips all this time. It's so obvious, I felt silly for not noticing it. I didn't want to tell people about it, because I assumed everyone else already knew. But I recently shared it on social and so many people let me know how excited they were. This little trick (if you can even call it that) solved a problem they had struggled with for years. Clearly it wasn't just me missing this little Twitter and Instagram hack.

So many people told me they found it helpful, I just had to throw it up on the blog.

So without any further ado, if you want to hit "Return" (or "Enter") when composing a tweet or an Instagram post, just hit the "123" button. (The same one you hit to get to your number keypad or your punctuation.) And the "Return" key will be right there waiting for you. That's it.

Pretty simple, right! 👍😀🎉

If you haven't already, connect with me on Twitter and Instagram.

And if you have any hacks you think everyone would like to know, send them my way. I'd love to give you a h/t.

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Moving emails within your iPhone

1/26/2018

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I have numerous email addresses containing dozens of folders I use to keep track of my emails. I have subfolders within folders to keep everything clean and easy to find. I really like to know where my emails are, should I ever need to find them in the future.

I've used many emails over the years. As a result, I regularly have emails from clients, colleagues or friends wind up in the “wrong” account. When that happens, I have a few options.

I can reply, asking them to update their records. This one is kind of annoying, right?

I can forward the email from the wrong account to the right. This one is super annoying!

Or I can take advantage of a helpful iPhone trick and simply move the email from one account to another with just a few clicks on the screen. Obviously this one is my favorite.

And it’s the subject of today’s post. Moving an email from one account to another within an iPhone or iPad is very simple.

Open the email you want to move.
Select the icon at the bottom you would use to move the email into the appropriate folder.

When you click “Other Mailbox,” you will see all of the folders within that account. Pick one and it will be moved there.

OR, at the top left of the screen, click “< Accounts.”

When you click that, you will see a list of your email addresses. Choose the one you want and voila, you’re email will be moved from the original account into the correct account.

If you hit reply all on the email after moving it, you'll notice that the original email (your "wrong" email) will be on the recipient list. The iPhone essentially treated this action as an email forward. But it vastly simplifies an otherwise cumbersome process.

That's it. You're done.

Check out some other iPhone tips and tricks.

Have any favorite secret iOS tips, tricks, tools or hacks that you love? Share them in the comments!

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How to Undo on Your iPhone

10/3/2017

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I use my iPhone for so many things. It's my calendar, address book, camera, alarm clock, GPS, calculator, radio... The list goes on and on.

It's just so convenient. It's always with me, so why not take advantage of all of its massive capabilities.

One way that I use my iPhone is as a notepad. I used to be a paper guy (and in some ways, I still am). But I don't always have a notebook around. And I ALWAYS have my phone handy.

Needless to say, I use iPhone Notes for all kinds of things: shopping lists, to-do lists, idea trackers, movie/book/music suggestions... If I need to remember something, that's most likely where's its going.

One day, I was trying to copy and paste something from my notepad. I accidentally selected and deleted the entire note. Month's worths of reminders, ideas and lists were suddenly gone. It wasn't until that panic-stricken moment that I suddenly realized -- iPhones don't have undo buttons. 😱

But fret not -- while there is no undo button on an iPhone, there IS a way to access this important feature.

The simple (hilarious?) solution: shake your phone.

That's right, make Taylor Swift (or is it André 3000) proud and give your phone a little shake.

When you do, a box will pop-up asking if you'd like to "Undo Typing."

Click "undo," and just like CTRL+Z on your computer, your most recent activity will be undone.

Undo something prematurely or by accident? Fret not, just shake your phone again and it will give you the option to "Redo Typing."

It works with text in every application (that I've tested to date). It also will recover pictures/files/emails in some applications. Though not all. So delete and edit carefully.

Let me know if you find any other great uses for your iPhone's hidden undo feature.

Have any fun iPhone tips to share? I'm always on the lookout for additional functionality for the powerful little computer that's always in my pocket (if it's not in my hand!).

Share your tips in the comments or tag me on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn or Instagram.

You can see other such iPhone tips via my blog category "iPhone functionality."

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Your iPhone's DOES have a CTRL+F option

9/29/2017

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Sometimes you want to read every word on a webpage. But sometimes you're just looking for something in particular. But finding it isn't always so straight-forward.

On your computer, the solution is easy: type in "Control+F" on a PC or "Command+F" on a Mac and search the page for what you need.

For the longest time, I couldn't find a similar functionality on my iPhone. I Googled around. I searched the app store. I even asked a genius at the Mac Store. They sheepishly told me it wasn't possible.

Then one day, I noticed something interesting. I had accidentally discovered the iPhone's elusive Control+F! So of course I want to share it with you.

Open up your iPhone's web browser and head to a relevant webpage.

Then go up to the search/url bar at the top. Type in whatever you want to search for, just like you would following CTRL+F. But here's the important part -- DO NOT CLICK ENTER!

Rather, scroll to the bottom of the default search options. The very last thing you will see is a heading titled "On This Page," followed in parenthesis by how many matches you received.

Click on that and you can jump through every mention of your keyword or phrase listen on the page.

That's it! Pretty simple, right?

Enjoy.

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Build Your Photo/Media Library Seamlessly with Shared iCloud Drives

How to Hit 'Return' On Twitter or Instagram

Moving emails within your iPhone

How to Undo on Your iPhone

Your iPhone's DOES have a CTRL+F option

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