If you have an old iPod and there are music files that haven't been transferred from computer to computer throughout the years, it is time to back up that library as soon as you can. If you use a Mac, there's an app called Senuti (iTunes backward!) that can help with the process. For Windows users, try YamiPod. At the very least, back up the iPod onto your computer with iTunes via the "Back Up Now" function. Don't lose those years of music tracks!
Maverick's mom wants a good camera that can take better pictures than the iPhone. She wants images that will blur into the background. Leo says that's called "bokeh" and she will need that look with a fast, wide lens. Those are more expensive. The iPhone does it, but it does it computationally. For a few hundred dollars, Leo recommends Canon's Powershot models. Get one that can shoot at F1.8. He recommends going to DPReview for a list of the best point and shoots. The chatroom recommends the Panasonic FZ80.
Jim's wife has a 32GB iPhone and she keeps running out of space because iCloud keeps downloading the pictures back to her phone. Leo says to look in the Photo settings. Make sure that the "optimize phone storage" feature is enabled. It will keep the full rez photos in the cloud, and a lower rez version on your phone. The other option is to turn off automatic sync to iCloud. That will prevent iCloud from putting them back on the phone and once the user deletes them, they will stay deleted. Then use Google Photos to save photos to the cloud and delete them off the phone.
Apple's Worldwide Development Conference is virtual this year, and Monday's keynote is expected to have new product announecments including a new updated iMac, perhaps an iPhone announcement, and iOS 14, which will have "Car Key," an app that will enable users to open up their car and start it. Leo says that this is officially a bad time to buy Apple Products until we know what's coming. So play wait and see until Monday.
Ed wants to know if he can connect his iPad or iPhone to a monitor, keyboard, and mouse. Leo says he can get a lightning to HDMI adapter, and a lightning to digital AV adapter. He can then connect them that way, but the screen aspect ratio won't really fit the screen. But its an interesting idea. Samsung actually played with the idea with their Samsung DEX.
John has been trying to record a ring tone for his phone. How can he do that? Leo says that there's an app called GarageBand for the iPhone. He can record directly to the iPhone and save it to a ringtone. He can also use the Music App in macOS Catalina to do it and then sync it to the phone. Here's how.
Chris recently updated his iPhone to 13.4.1, and it got stuck into restore me mode. He was able to mail his phone to Apple to clear it, but he was without his iPhone for a week, and as such, was stuck with not being able to use his Apple Watch as well. Will they be coming out with a stand-alone Apple Watch with its own connections? Leo says that seems to be the rumor, but you can't do anything on the Apple Watch, really, without the iPhone nearby. That's why Leo always has a backup phone that he can put the SIM into should he have to send the iPhone in for repair.
Make sure you have iTunes on your computer first, as well as an MP3 or WAV of the song you need to convert. Import the audio or music file into iTunes on your PC/Mac, and convert the file to AAC. Rename the file extension to .m4r, followed by syncing the file to your iPhone. If you have GarageBand, there's a feature to save audio as a ringtone.
Beverly says that after the last iOS 13.4.1 update on her iPhone, she has to reboot her phone to run any app. Leo suspects that the update was corrupted when downloaded. He recommends backing up your phone and then wipe it and reset your phone. Connect the phone to your PC via USB and then use iTunes to run the encrypted backup and wipe it. Erase all the content and everything. See if that solves the problem. If it does, then you can restore that backup.
If you want to back up your important and sentimental text messages on your iPhone, go to the Messages app, tap/hold the text you want, and paste it into the mail app. Email the content to yourself and print away! For voice messages, try eCamm Phone View for about $30.
