Kibbles & Bytes Blog

In this article I’m going to teach you three easy steps you can take if your iOS device is having trouble. Common issues can be anything from freezing or not powering on. It’s always a good idea to take these steps before having to spend time to have your device looked at by an Apple Specialist.

The first thing anyone can try is to close out completely of all running applications. The way this is done is at the home screen — first, double tap the home button. This will display your multitasking menu at the bottom of the screen. Within this menu are all applications that are running. They are going to be listed in a line that you can swipe through to see them all (just like swiping to get to a different home screen).

Now that the applications are displayed in order to close them out completely one must simply hold on any icon until they start to wiggle. This will look very similar to the process of moving applications around on the home screen. Now that your applications are wiggling, there will be a red button that has appeared at the top left hand side of each icon. Tap this button to close the application. There unfortunately isn’t an easy way to simply close them all with one tap, so you will have to go through and close all one by one. Once this is done your ready for the next step.

Next, do a full restart of your device. In order to do this, you need to hold down the home button and lock button at the same time. __(Ed. Note: iPhone 5s seem to restart using just the lock button.)__ Continue to hold these buttons past the “Slide to power off” screen and even after the screen goes blank. Release the buttons once the Apple appears on the start up screen. After your device starts back up, you hopefully should be all set. If not, continue on to the next step.

*CAUTION: Please double check that you are doing the following step-by-step as there is a chance of data loss if it’s not completed correctly.*

The third and final step is to do a full software restore on your iOS device. In order to do this you will need not only your device, but also a sync cable and the computer that you use to sync your device. Next, power everything up and launch iTunes on your computer. Once iTunes has successfully loaded, plug your device with the sync cable into any available USB port on the computer. After a minute or so, you should be presented with a screen of information about the device you just plugged in. It will display various bits of information such as the name of the device, current version of the OS, and space left to be used. About halfway down the screen you should see a button titled “Restore”; click it.

*Before completing the Restore process, make sure your device is completely backed up to prevent data loss!*

Once you have selected the Restore option, it will take you through a few prompts needed to restore the software on your device. Once the process is complete, the device will restart and then reappear in iTunes. Upon its reappearance you will be asked to either set up as a new device or restore from backup. You will want to select Restore from Backup and then your device will be restored to the way it was before you started — with a fresh new install of the latest operating system.

If after you have completed all of these steps and you are still experiencing trouble with your device, it’s time to bring it in. You can bring it to any Small Dog location and our knowledgable staff will be glad to help you get your device functioning again.

I’m not talking about the golfer this week…several times in the past couple of weeks I have been asked to extricate customers from a precarious position. After purchasing a new computer, they were unable to perform migration from their old computer, running Tiger (10.4.x) to their new machine running Mountain Lion (10.8.x). Previously, it was necessary for machines running Tiger to be fully updated, running 10.4.11, because it included a Migration Assistant update for use over a network.

A recent customer’s Tiger machine, fully updated and in target disk mode, did not appear as available sources in Migration Assistant, however. To resolve this, I thought I’d create a ‘test’ account on the new machine and attempt the migration again. After creating the test User account and logging in, the Tiger-based machine did show up as an external HD plugged into the new computer. When the Migration Assistant app was launched though, no previous volume is detected. While there is nothing in writing in Apple’s knowledge base, I’m guessing that perhaps Tiger is unsupported completely at this time for migration.

One thing you can do is to move a manual copy of the User folder(s) from the old computer to Users on the Mountain Lion unit. After copying the folder over, you need but to create a User account in System Preferences with the same short name as the folder. The machine will ask if you want to use that folder for the new account, to which you need to reply ‘Yes.’

In doing the transfer through this method though, I have come across a disturbing trend: Address Book and iCal lose their content. This conundrum still irks me and I have yet to find a solution, either in blogs or from Apple proper to resolve the issue. I assume that, in this case, upgrading the old machine to Leopard (10.5.x) or Snow Leopard (10.6.x) may produce a different outcome.

I have many friends and family members who have young children with either their own iPad or who use the families’ iPad on a regular basis. The most common frustration I hear is that the child inadvertently backs out of the approved app they are using and open another one.

There is now a way to prevent this from happening. In iOS 6, Apple has added a feature called Guided Access that will allow you to lock the device into an application with the hardware buttons disabled.

To enable Guided Access, open your *Settings* app and tap *General.* Now scroll down to nearly the bottom of the list and tap *Accessibility.* In this section, you’ll find all the options for assisted usage of your iDevice. Under *Learning,* tap on *Guided Access.* Slide the on/off slider to the right to turn the feature on. You should now have two new options to choose from: *Set Passcode* and *Enable Screen Sleep.* Tap *Set Passcode* and set the four-digit code that will be used to get out of Guided Access mode.

If you want your device to sleep while in Guided Access mode, slide the *Enable Screen Sleep* slider to *On.* Back up one on your menu and go back to the main Accessibility menu. If you look all the way at the bottom under *Triple-click* you’ll see what Accessibility feature is activated when you triple-click on the home button. Make sure it’s Guided Access.

Step number two: using Guided Access. Launch the app that you want to lock down and then triple click your home button. This will bring up the Guided Access menu. Here you will see the three options that you can enable or disable on the iPad. Once you have the settings set up the way you want, them tap *Save* in the upper right corner. If you didn’t set a passcode, you’ll be prompted to enter it.

Your iOS device will now be locked into that app. To get out, triple-click the home button and enter your passcode, then tap *End* in the upper left of your screen.

Hello all,

Fall is upon us for sure. When I leave the house — instead of wondering to myself if I will need outerwear or not — it is now simply a choice of which outerwear to bring and how much of it. It seems kind of crazy that Halloween will be here in a few weeks and then the year is pretty much over!

In another sign of fall, I have finally succumbed to whatever bug I have been fighting for a couple of weeks and will be spending the next day or so in bed. This has delayed my promised article on ssh, but I’m hoping you will understand.

Thanks for reading.

Liam
“*liam@smalldog.com*”:mailto:liam@smalldog.com