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 Automatically Delete Old Messages on Your iPhone
September 25, 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 your iPhone, making it difficult to find the text message threads you’re really interested in. Thankfully, your iPhone contains a feature that can automatically delete old text messages after a certain period of time.
How to Enable Private Relay on Your iPad
September 25, 2021
When you surf the internet with your iPad, your personal information is collected at several points along the way. For example, if you visit nytimes.com, the New York Times web server can log your iPad’s IP address and user agent (iPad), among other technical details that could be used to identify you. That data can be used to track you around the internet and deliver customized advertisements. Understanding How Private Relay Works Apple’s Private Relay feature — new in iPadOS 15 and available to iCloud+ subscribers — helps obscure those technical details when using the Safari web browser.
Move Safari's Address Bar to the Top on Your iPhone
September 23, 2021
One of the more dramatic changes in iOS 15 is in the Safari web browser: The address bar moved from the top to the bottom of the screen. But worry not! If you’d like to move Safari’s address bar back to the top of the screen, Apple has given you a setting to do just that. Here’s how to move Safari’s address bar to the top of the screen on your iPhone:
How to Enable Private Relay on Your iPhone
September 21, 2021
When you surf the internet with your iPhone, your personal information is collected at several points along the way. For example, if you visit nytimes.com, the New York Times web server can log your iPhone’s IP address and user agent (iPhone), among other technical details that could be used to identify you. That data can be used to track you around the internet and deliver customized advertisements. Understanding How Private Relay Works Apple’s Private Relay feature — new in iOS 15 and available to iCloud+ subscribers — helps obscure those technical details when using the Safari web browser.
How to Use Tor Browser on a Mac
September 18, 2021
Practically everything you do online with your Mac is logged and traceable back to your computer. Law enforcement officials, internet service providers, and even website administrators can find out what internet services and resources you accessed, when you accessed them, and what computer you used to access them with. If this lack of privacy sends shivers down your spine, you’ll be happy to hear that there is a way to preserve your anonymity on the internet while using your Mac.
How to Download an Image to an iPad
September 11, 2021
Downloading an image from a website to your iPad is an easy to way to save the pictures your friends post on Facebook or any other photo you discover on the internet. If you use iCloud to sync your photos, the saved images will instantly be available on all of your other Apple devices. The process is easy, and takes only a second. Here’s how to download images to your iPad:
How to Share an Apple Music Playlist on an iPad
September 11, 2021
If you use Apple Music on an iPad, you should know that there’s a quick and easy way to share your playlists with friends and family members. Sharing a playlist lets others see your music and play the songs that you’ve collected. Here’s how to share an Apple Music playlist on your iPad: From the home screen, tap the Music application. Select the playlist you want to share. Tap the … icon in the top right corner, as shown below.
How to Blur Private Information in Screenshots
September 10, 2021
If you take screenshots on your Mac, you may need to blur out or redact private information in the screenshot so that it’s not visible. Phone numbers, names, and email addresses are all examples of personal and private information that should be hidden in public screenshots. The Preview application on your Mac doesn’t provide an easy way of doing this. Your only options in the Preview application are cutting out the private information or pasting a white box over it.
How to Turn Off Read Receipts on your iPad
September 10, 2021
Your iPad has the ability to show others when you read their text messages. This feature, known as read receipts, provides visual confirmation in the Messages app that you’ve read someone’s text message. The image below gives you a sense of what read receipts look like from the other person’s perspective. If you don’t want people to know when you’ve read a message, you can turn off the read receipts feature on your iPad.
How to Turn Off Read Receipts on your Mac
September 10, 2021
Your Mac has the ability to show others when you read their text messages. This feature, known as read receipts, provides visual confirmation in the Messages app that you’ve read someone’s text message. The image below gives you a sense of what read receipts look like from the other person’s perspective. If you don’t want people to know when you’ve read a message, you can turn off the read receipts feature on your Mac.