Settings Articles on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog

iOS Task Switcher concept explores feature's potential

by Mike Schramm (Oct 9th, 2012)

The Verge forums user Sentry posted the concept art you see above for the (underutilized) iOS task switcher, and I think it's awesome. Sentry's vision adds a lot of worthwhile information to the multitask bar without sacrificing the clear layout. The app thumbnails are great, but I really ...

Dev Juice: When should you use out-of-app Settings?

by Erica Sadun (Nov 7th, 2011)

Dear Dev Juice, I've heard all the lectures and I understand that the discoverability of third party prefs in the Settings app is near zero. I also get that it's now best practice that developers should put preferences inside applications with custom screens. I'm writing to ask this: what use ...

Dear Aunt TUAW: My iPhone won't stop talking to me

by Erica Sadun (Oct 23rd, 2011)

Dear Aunt TUAW, While playing around with his new iPhone 4S Monday evening, Tim's phone started responding to every touch to the screen -- identifying vocally everything he touched and giving instructions about what to do there. He can't figure out how he turned the function on -- and he ...

Automatic Downloads now live for iOS devices

by Samuel Gibbs (Jun 6th, 2011)

WWDC has just kicked off for 2011, but you can get a little bit of the Apple iCloud newness right now in the form of automatic Application, Music and Book downloads. Launch Settings on your iPhone, iPod touch or iPad, scroll down to Store and wait for the new options to load (you'll need to ...

Flash Player for Mac updated to 10.3, adds preference pane and auto-updates

by Michael Rose (May 14th, 2011)

The beta version of Flash Player 10.3 gave way Thursday to the release version, downloadable freely from Adobe for installation on your Mac. The new build finally restores auto-update capability, which was unstable or unsupported on Mac OS X for quite a while. Now you'll be prompted to patch ...

iPad 101: Restriction settings

by Dave Caolo (Jul 2nd, 2010)

Those with kids and iPads will notice that the latter find the former irresistible. When connected to the Internet, they provide access to all that the Web and App Store have to offer, some of which is decidedly not for kids. Here's how you can use the iPad's built-in Restrictions settings to limit ...

Dear Aunt TUAW: Why won't my apps stay deleted?

by Erica Sadun (May 3rd, 2010)

Dear Aunt TUAW, Darn it, my iPhone keeps re-installing my deleted apps every time I sync. Do you know how to make this stop happening? Is my iPhone possessed? I know I'm not alone. This is happening to other people too. Help! Love and kissies, Dave Read on for Auntie's response... ...

iPad 101: Customize your wallpaper

by Dave Caolo (Apr 9th, 2010)

Unlike the iPhone,* the iPad lets you customize wallpapers for, both, the lock screen and the home screen. While the default image is beautiful (unless you think the stars resemble scratches), many users will want to replace it with something personal. Here's how. Tap the Settings app and then ...

What I'd like to see in iPhone 3.0 (but probably won't)

by Mel Martin (Jun 4th, 2009)

Yeah, I know we haven't seen it yet, but based on what we do know, here's some things I'll bet Apple missed that I'd like to see ASAP. Unified mailbox as an option: This works great in OS X. I sure am getting tired of checking 3 email accounts with hundreds of extra finger swipes every day. Even ...

TUAW Hack: Mess with your iPhone Settings screens

by Erica Sadun (Dec 18th, 2007)

A little while back, I posted about some undocumented SpringBoard settings on the iPhone. Many readers seemed to enjoy learning about these settings, but they wanted to avoid performing the esoteric property list edits needed to adjust them. In response, I give you the following: controls that ...

WiLMa - location-based settings

by David Chartier (Aug 3rd, 2006)

WiLMa is a utility for adjusting various settings like Mail servers, default printers and even desktop wallpaper based on which Location you're using (check your Apple menu if you're unfamiliar with the Location menu). WiLMa can even open and close applications and set a default network to join. If ...

Location Switch Automator action

by David Chartier (Jul 17th, 2006)

Location Switch is an Automator action that adds some painfully missing features to Mac OS X's built-in Locations option (y'know, that feature you never touch in the Apple menu?). Location Switch can a whole host of application preferences and settings based on which location you chose, such as ...

Screenshot Settings 1.1 applescript

by David Chartier (Mar 27th, 2006)

Just like its title implies, Screenshot Settings 1.1 is a simple little GUI applescript that allows you to change both the image format Mac OS X uses to capture screenshots, as well as the default location where these images are stored. While altering Mac OS X's screenshot format is pretty simple ...

Location X - automatically adjust settings on the go

by David Chartier (Jan 30th, 2006)

If you're an iBook/PowerBook user who is constantly fiddling with various settings depending on where you are, point your mouse towards Location X for the solution to all your preference-changing woes. I only played with this for about 5 minutes before plunking down my $20 for it, as I am already ...

Good compression settings for iPod videos

by C.K. Sample, III (Dec 21st, 2005)

I've been tinkering with compression settings on videos, trying to find the best balance of size, quality, compression settings and compatibility for my video-capable iPod ever since the beginning of November. H.264 is very nice and cool, but it takes forever and a day to compress using QuickTime ...