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 Close All Windows in a Mac Application
September 9, 2021
When you’re working in the Finder or a Mac application, the open windows can start to pile up. The Preview application is my personal favorite. When working on Macinstruct or taking screenshots for documentation, I can easily end the day with hundreds of windows open in the Preview application. Fortunately, there’s a quick and easy way to close all of the windows in Mac application at once, without having to close each window one by one.
How to Turn Off Read Receipts on your iPhone
September 9, 2021
Your iPhone 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 iPhone.
How to Sync iMessages Across Your Apple Devices
September 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. You can turn on an iCloud feature to synchronize your iMessages across all of your devices. That way, when you send or receive an iMessage, that message will be viewable on all of your Apple devices. Here’s how to set up your iPhone or iPad to sync iMessages across your other Apple devices:
Protecting Your Privacy While Using Apple Devices
September 5, 2021
Macinstruct has been a strong advocate of Apple and its products for over twenty years. Unfortunately, some of Apple’s recent design decisions have undermined our faith in Apple’s commitment to privacy. We’re now encouraging readers to protect their privacy by disabling certain Apple features. In situations where privacy is a hard requirement, it may be necessary to consider using non-Apple hardware and software. This article provides an overview of our recommendations and your options.
How to Read Kindle Books on a Mac
September 4, 2021
Amazon’s Kindle devices have become synonymous with ebooks. But did you know that there’s also a way to read Kindle books on a Mac? With the free Kindle application for Mac, you can read all of your Kindle books on your Mac — for free. Here’s how to read Kindle books on a Mac: Download and install the free Kindle app for Mac. It’s available from Apple’s App Store. Open the Kindle app on your Mac.
See How Much RAM is Installed in Your Mac
September 4, 2021
Do you know how much RAM is installed in your Mac? You should. RAM, or random access memory, stores the code and instructions for macOS and any applications open on your Mac. The more RAM you have, the more applications you can have open at once. Knowing how much RAM you have installed in your Mac is an important piece of information that could change how you use your computer.
How to Check Which Version of iPadOS Your iPad is Using
September 3, 2021
All iPads come with the iPadOS operating system preinstalled, but depending on how you have your settings configured, your iPad may have an older version of iPadOS installed. Fortunately, it’s quick and easy to check which version of iPadOS is installed on your iPad. Here’s how to check which version of iPadOS your iPad is using: From the home screen, tap Settings. Tap General. Tap About, as shown below. The version of iPadOS installed on your iPad is shown on the Software Version line, as shown below.
How to Save PDF Files on an iPad
September 2, 2021
You probably know that you can read PDF documents on your iPad, but did you know that you can also save PDF files to the Books app on your iPad? This is useful for saving free ebooks in PDF file format from websites like Open Library. You also can save anything from bank statements and college course syllabi to scanned documents and tenant agreements. It’s not a stretch to say that your iPad could become a portable document management system!
How to Read Kindle Books on an iPhone
September 1, 2021
Amazon’s Kindle devices have become synonymous with ebooks. But did you know that there’s also a way to read Kindle books on an iPhone? With the free Kindle application for iPhone, you can read all of your Kindle books on your iPhone — for free. Here’s how to read Kindle books on an iPhone: Download and install the free Kindle app for iPhone. It’s available from Apple’s App Store. Open the Kindle app on your iPhone.
How to Check Which Version of iOS Your iPhone is Using
August 31, 2021
All iPhones come with the iOS operating system preinstalled, but depending on how you have your settings configured, your iPhone may have an older version of iOS installed. Fortunately, it’s quick and easy to check which version of iOS is installed on your iPhone. Here’s how to check which version of iOS your iPhone is using: From the home screen, tap Settings. Tap General, as shown below. Tap About, as shown below.