Articles by Matt Cone
Matt Cone is a technical writer at Fastly. He has experience creating documentation for organizations like Linode and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Matt’s first book, Master Your Mac, was published by No Starch Press. To get in touch with Matt, visit https://www.mattcone.com.
How to Disable iMessage for Your Phone Number
December 11, 2021
iMessage is Apple’s end-to-end encrypted instant messaging service that you can use to send text messages, photos, and more to other people who own Apple devices. If you’re switching from an iPhone to an Android phone, you’ll need to disable and deactivate iMessage permanently so it doesn’t interfere with your new phone. You can disable iMessage on your iPhone, but if you’ve already gotten rid of your iPhone, you’ll need to use Apple’s website to disable and deactivate iMessage for your phone number.
How to Use Your Phone Number for iMessage on Your Mac
December 10, 2021
iMessage is Apple’s end-to-end encrypted instant messaging service that you can use to send text messages, photos, and more to other people who own Apple devices. You can add your phone number to the Messages application on your Mac to send and receive iMessages using your phone number. After you add your phone number, you’ll receive all iMessages sent to your phone number on your Mac. First, check that your phone number is enabled for iMessage on your iPhone:
How to Disable iMessage on Your Mac
December 9, 2021
iMessage is Apple’s end-to-end encrypted instant messaging service that you can use to send text messages, photos, and more to other people who own Apple devices. If you don’t want to use iMessage on your Mac, you can disable it. Disabling iMessage will prevent you from sending and receiving iMessages on your Mac. Here’s how to disable iMessage on your Mac: Open the Messages application on your Mac. From the Messages menu, select Preferences.
How to Disable iMessage on Your iPad
December 8, 2021
iMessage is Apple’s end-to-end encrypted instant messaging service that you can use to send text messages, photos, and more to other people who own Apple devices. If you don’t want to use iMessage on your iPad, you can disable it. Disabling iMessage will prevent you from sending and receiving iMessages on your iPad. But if your iPad has an active cellular service plan, you’ll still be able to send and receive SMS text messages if your plan supports it.
How to Disable iMessage on Your iPhone
December 7, 2021
iMessage is Apple’s end-to-end encrypted instant messaging service that you can use to send text messages, photos, and more to other people who own Apple devices. If you don’t want to use iMessage on your iPhone, you can disable it. Disabling iMessage will prevent you from sending and receiving iMessages on your iPhone. But if your iPhone has an active cellular service plan, you’ll still be able to send and receive SMS text messages if your plan supports it.
How to Access Hidden Mac Networking Tools
November 28, 2021
Your Mac contains some of the best networking hardware in the industry, but things can still go wrong. If you find that your wireless network connection is on the fritz, you may need to perform some troubleshooting. We talked previously about the networkquality command line tool, and that’s great for what it does, but you may need something else if you need to investigate problems with your wireless network. That’s where your Mac’s hidden network tools come in!
How to Check Your Mac's Network Quality
November 24, 2021
You’ve probably heard of Speedtest and Fast.com, two free tools you can use to check your network connection. But did you know that your Mac comes with a command line utility that allows you to check your Mac’s network quality, right from the Terminal application? The networkquality tool is included with every Mac running macOS 12 and later. This tool provides a variety of stats about your network connection and can help you benchmark your network throughout the day.
How to Page Up and Page Down on Your Mac
November 15, 2021
One of the staples of PC keyboards is the Page Up and Page Down keys. Pressing these keys will make the focus of the screen quickly jump a full page up or down — it’s a quick way to scroll through a document or a website. Your Mac doesn’t have a dedicated keys for page up or page down, but there is a keyboard shortcut equivalent you can use. To page up on your Mac, press the fn and up arrow keys, as shown below.
How to Show Hidden Files on Your Mac
November 11, 2021
You wouldn’t know it by using the Finder, but your Mac has thousands of hidden files that can’t be found or accessed using conventional methods, like opening a folder or searching with Spotlight. Most of these secret files are hidden from view to protect you. Apple doesn’t want new users poking around in, say, the /sbin directory, because there’s no real reason why they would need to access it. But power users may want to see all of the files on their Mac, for whatever reason.
How to Automatically Delete Old Messages on Your Mac
November 10, 2021
iMessage allows you to send and receive free SMS and text messages to your friends and family. But those old text messages can start piling up! After a while, all of the old text messages can start cluttering the Messages application on your Mac, making it difficult to find the text message threads you’re really interested in. Thankfully, your Mac contains a feature that can automatically delete old text messages after a certain period of time.