How to wipe an iPhone and transfer your content to a new iPhone
So you’ve bought a new iPhone and you need to move everything from your old iPhone to your new one? No problem.
Luckily moving from iPhone to iPhone is a piece of cake but we have detailed a step-by-step guide to help you make the process as smooth as possible.
Here is how to make sure everything that was on your old iPhone is wiped and transferred to your new iPhone without any glitches.
How to backup your iPhone
First things first, you need to backup your current iPhone to the newest possible version. Even if you have automatic backup setup, which you should as a rule, it’s worth doing a manual backup before switching over to your new iPhone.
Automatic backup happens when your iPhone is plugged in and connected to Wi-Fi, which for most people will probably be during the night. Therefore, doing a manual backup will ensure any photos or messages you sent during the day after you unplugged your iPhone will make their way onto your new device.
To do this, head into Settings > iCloud or simply plug your iPhone in and make sure you’re connected to Wi-Fi if you have automatic backup setup. Within the iCloud menu, you can toggle various things on and off, such as Photos, Contacts, Calendars and Wallet if there are certain elements you don’t want to carry across.
Make sure everything you want transferred over is toggled on. Within the iCloud Drive tab, you can also opt to turn various apps on or off, including the likes of WhatsApp, Uber and Slack.
It’s worth noting that for WhatsApp, you’ll need to backup your chats in the WhatsApp app itself if you want all your chats to transfer across. WhatsApp also offers automatic backup but for those that don’t have it turned on open WhatsApp, go to Account > Chats > Chat Backup > Backup Now. It will take a while if you’ve never done it before and you’re a WhatsApp advocate so it’s worth switching on Auto Backup while you’re in this section to make it easier next time and ensure you don’t lose your chats if you lose your phone.
How to move your SIM across
Next step once everything is backed up is to move your SIM from your old iPhone to your new one. You’ll only get as far as setting the language and your Wi-Fi network before you’ll need a SIM in your new iPhone to do anything else.
Get the pin, stick it in the side of your iPhone and switch the SIM from your old iPhone to your new one. If it doesn’t register straight away, don’t panic, just push the pin in and reinsert the slot and it should pick it up.
Once in, you’ll have the option to enable location services and setup Touch ID.
How to restore your new iPhone from iCloud backup
Following this, you have several options. You can setup your new iPhone as a new iPhone if you want to start from scratch, or you can restore it from an iCloud or iTunes backup if you want your new iPhone to have all the information your old iPhone did.
Selecting to restore your new iPhone from an iCloud backup will first ask you for your Apple ID and then you’ll be offered a couple of backup options. These will consist of the latest backup and the backup previous to that when you unplugged your device if you had automatic backup setup.
Select the most recent backup and download the latest software. You’ll then be required to re-enter your Apple ID password, accept some more terms and conditions and your new iPhone will then start restoring from iCloud.
Go grab a cuppa here because while it’s simple to get to the point of restoring your new iPhone from your old one, it will take a while for it to complete the process. Don’t lose patience, it will do it even if you don’t think anything is happening.
Finish setup on your new iPhone
Once your new iPhone has finished restoring, you’ll need to re-enter your Apple ID again. Yep again. This will setup iCloud on your new device.
You’ll then get the option to set up Apple Pay, as well as Keychain and Siri. Setup as much as you want to or as much as you have time for. If you’re short on time, everything is easy to setup afterwards so don’t worry.
Your new iPhone will then need some time to download everything, especially if you’re an app hoarder. Plug it in so it has some power and grab yourself another cuppa while all your apps and media download. It’s again not a quick process but don’t be too hard on it, it’s doing its best. While you’re waiting, flick through your old iPhone and check everything has transferred across.
How to fix greyed out apps on your iPhone
You might find that some of the apps are greyed out on your new iPhone and nothing happens when you tap them, while others say waiting below them. The ones that say waiting are downloading but the greyed out ones with nothing underneath may have got stuck.
To unstick them, the easiest way is to force download from the App Store. If they don’t appear in the list on the App Store, search for them and press the little cloud with the arrow pointing downwards on the right. They should then start downloading and eventually appear on your homescreen, not greyed out.
You’ll need to re-enter passwords but after you’ve done all that, your new iPhone should have everything your old iPhone did. It’s worth taking the opportunity to delete apps you don’t use if you want to make the process a little quicker.
How to wipe your old iPhone
The last step once everything has downloaded on your new iPhone is to wipe your old iPhone and restore it to factory settings. Be sure to check you are happy everything is on your new iPhone before you do this though because once it is wiped, it isn’t coming back.
First things first, you’ll need to unpair your Apple Watch if you have one paired with your old iPhone. To do this, go into the Apple Watch app on your old iPhone then into the My Watch tab.
From here, click on the name of your Watch at the top of the display, followed by the orange information symbol on the next screen. This will then give you the option to Unpair Apple Watch. You’ll need to put in your Apple ID to complete the unpairing and it will take a couple of minutes.
Following this, you’ll need to delete your iCloud account from your old iPhone. Head to Settings > iCloud > Scroll down to Sign Out. Follow the instructions on the iPhone until you have deleted your account. Again, you’ll need your Apple ID.
Next step is to erase the device. To do this, head back to Settings > General > Reset > Erase All Content and Settings. You’ll be asked for your passcode, enter it and tap Erase iPhone.
The Apple logo will then appear and eventually your device will return to the startup display you saw on your new iPhone. This again can take a couple of minutes so be patient but once you see it, you’re all done.
Google takes a stand against predatory lending ads
From July 13th, Google will ban adverts that promote predatory lending and other dubious financial products. In a blog post written by David Graff, the firm’s director of policy, it’s said that adverts for loans with repayment terms of less than 60 days will automatically be excluded. In addition, if a product in the US has an annual percentage rate of 36 percent or higher, it’ll be blacklisted. Graff says that these loans can result in “result in unaffordable payment and high default rates,” and that Google wants to protect its users from “deceptive or harmful financial products.”
As income inequality worsens, the issue of financial companies taking advantage of people with very little money is being discussed more widely. Google quotes civil rights leader Wade Henderson as saying that predatory lending traps “customers into outrageously high interest loans.” He added that these loans frequently target “those least able to afford it.” It’s not the first thing that Google has refused to advertise: it also won’t promote topics relating to weapon sales, tobacco products and recreational drugs.
Google’s willingness to wade into a policy issue raises something of a thorny issue with people on both sides of the aisle. On one hand, it’s pushing a positive and responsible attitude towards not exposing its customers to what it perceives as harm. On the other, it’s using its enormous power to dictate what is and is not appropriate behavior on behalf of both users and other companies.
It’s a tricky time within the tech industry as politics becomes more of a prominent issue for many of Silicon Valley’s biggest companies. Facebook — which also banned gun sales — has recently been sent a letter of concern by the senate after the social network was accused of censoring conservative news sources. In addition, Mark Zuckerberg has come under fire for using his lobby campaign to protest the presumptive Republican presidential nominee. However, at the same time, Zuckerberg has also pledged to sponsor the party’s convention in July.
Via: Washington Post
Source: Google
Instagram gets a new monochrome look to focus on your media
After testing a black and white design with a few users, Instagram officially rolled out the look as part of its major redesign today. The idea is that the monochrome interface will put a greater emphasis on your photos and videos. Judging from the screenshots and videos, media does tend to stand out more now on its iOS and Android apps. Additionally, the company has redesigned its app logo with a simple, multi-colored icon that drops the original’s skeumorphic design — it only vaguely looks like a camera. Instagram also updated logos for its other apps, Hyperlapse, Layout and Boomerang, with a similar look.
“While the icon is a colorful doorway into the Instagram app, once inside the app, we believe the color should come directly from the community’s photos and videos,” wrote Instagram’s head of design, Ian Spalter. “We stripped the color and noise from surfaces where people’s content should take center stage, and boosted color on other surfaces like sign up flows and home screens.”
I don’t have access to the newer app yet, but the redesign looks like an intriguing one for Instagram. It hasn’t done much to tweak the look of its apps for the past five years, so it makes sense for it to take some big leaps now. The black and white design feels much more mature, instead of something from a small startup that inexplicably became a giant social network.
Source: Instagram
Google wants emoji that give working women their due
Take a look at your phone’s emoji list. Notice how the only people representing jobs (such as police officers and construction workers) are men, while women are limited to brides and princesses? Some Google developers aren’t happy with that one-sided state of affairs. They’ve proposed a new set of Unicode emoji that better represent women in professional roles. Their 13 new emoji would show both men and women in very well-known industries, ranging from tech (our favorite) to farming to rock stars. They hope that this gives young women a subtle confidence boost — if it’s no big deal to use the emoji for a female software engineer, there won’t be as much of a stigma around becoming a software engineer.
The proposal is still very young, and there are chances that it’ll either go through significant changes or even get the axe. With that said, we wouldn’t be surprised if the Unicode Consortium gives this emoji expansion the green light. As proposed, the new icons would both tackle gender imbalance and expand the range of work-related emoji in one fell swoop.
Via: BuzzFeed, The Verge
Source: Unicode.org (PDF)
Apple’s Notebook Sales Drop to Estimated 2.5M as Buyers Await New MacBook Pro
Apple reported its first negative-growth quarter since 2003 last month as iPhone, iPad, and Mac sales all declined compared to the year-ago period, and new data shows that notebook sales unsurprisingly fared no better when broken out.
MacBook, MacBook Air, and MacBook Pro sales totaled an estimated 2.53 million in the first quarter of the 2016 calendar year, down from an estimated 3.4 million in the year-ago quarter, according to market research firm TrendForce.
Apple’s notebook market share dropped to an estimated 7.1-percent in the first quarter, down from 8.8-percent in the previous March quarter, as Windows-based PC vendors and the overall notebook industry continue to suffer from slowing sales.
Apple remained the sixth largest notebook vendor in the first quarter, trailing behind PC makers Lenovo, HP, Dell, ASUS, and Acer but ahead of Samsung and Toshiba. Mac notebook sales dropped 40-percent quarter-over-quarter, but largely due to expected seasonality following the holiday shopping season.
In the first quarter, Apple did not have any new MacBook products ready for the market, nor did it lower MacBook prices to generate sales. Apple’s Wintel-based competitors, on the other hand, benefitted from Windows 10 and the steady supply of Intel’s Skylake CPUs. They were able to have numerous new products ready to promote and ship. As a result, MacBook shipments suffered a massive quarterly decline of 40.4% in the first quarter and Apple retreated to the sixth place in the ranking.
Many prospective buyers are also hoping for a redesigned MacBook Pro featuring faster Skylake processors and Thunderbolt 3 with USB-C, which could be announced at WWDC next month. Apple released a Skylake-based 12-inch MacBook in April and started shipping the 13-inch MacBook Air with 8GB of RAM as standard.
Apple officially reported Mac sales of 4.03 million during the past quarter, including the iMac, Mac mini, and Mac Pro alongside notebooks.
TrendForce estimates worldwide notebook shipments totaled 35.62 million units during the quarter, marking a year-over-year decline of 7.3-percent.
Tag: TrendForce
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Instagram Updated With Brand New Icon and Flat Design
Instagram has been updated today with an all-new colorful icon, moving away from its iconic brown and beige logo that still had an iOS 6-style skeuomorphic design long after many popular developers have since adopted flatter aesthetics.
“Today we’re introducing a new look,” the company wrote in a blog post. “You’ll see an updated icon and app design for Instagram. Inspired by the previous app icon, the new one represents a simpler camera and the rainbow lives on in gradient form.”
The app itself has also received a major redesign with a flatter black and white appearance in line with the overall look of iOS 9. Instagram says “the simpler app design puts the focus on your posts and keeps your features in the same place.”
Instagram is free on the App Store for iPhone. The version 8.0 update should be rolling out worldwide for all users today. Instagram’s other apps Layout, Boomerang, and Hyperlapse have also received new icons.
Tag: Instagram
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Which Sonos speaker is best for you? Play:1, Play:3, new Play:5 or Playbar
The multi-room speaker market has really picked up over the last couple of years. The options are plentiful to say the least with Denon, Samsung, LG and Bluesound all offering their own solutions.
If you are reading this feature however, chances are you have opted for Sonos. Unlike some of the newer additions to the multi-room speaker sector, Sonos has been kicking around for a good decade and it offers one of the best app platforms out there, with support for many of the big streaming services including Spotify, Apple Music and Amazon Prime Music.
There are three speakers within the Sonos multi-room line up, but there is also a soundbar and a wireless subwoofer available for the party too. This feature is all about working out which Sonos devices are best for you and your setup, and highlighting the differences between them all. Whether you are planning to put Sonos on your wish list or you are looking to set your home up, let us help you work out which Sonos speaker, or speakers, are right for you.
Sonos
Sonos PLAY:1
The Sonos Play:1 is the smallest of the Sonos multi-room offering measuring 161.45 x 119.7 x 119.7mm and weighing 1.85kg. It features two Class-D digital amplifiers, one tweeter for the high-frequency notes and one mid-woofer for mid-range frequencies and bass.
Black and white are the colour options available and it offers a clean and simple design, much like the rest of the Sonos speaker line-up. You’ll find physical buttons on the top of the Play:1 for controlling the volume, along with playing and pausing a track, while the rear of the speaker houses Aux-In and Ethernet ports.
As you would expect from a multi-room system, the Play:1 allows you to stream your entire music library, popular music services like Spotify and internet radio through the Sonos app on your smartphone or tablet and there is also control via PC and Mac. You can connect the Play:1 to your router using the Ethernet port, but Sonos has a brilliant Wi-Fi mesh network that allows you to place it anywhere.
The Play:1 delivers good sound, it’s easy to set up with step-by-step instructions through the app and you can pair two Play:1’s together to create a stereo pair, as well as with the Playbar and Sub for a 5.1 surround sound experience.
Of course you can also pair the Play:1 up with another one of the Sonos speakers to achieve a multi-room experience. Room-specific bass, treble, balance and loudness controls are available using the Sonos app and volume can be adjusted by individual rooms or by groups, depending on your setup.
WHY BUY?
The Play:1 is a great little speaker with so much potential beyond the speaker itself that we can’t recommend it enough as a starting place to embrace the Sonos system. It doesn’t sound as good as the Play:3, but this speaker is about getting the most out of your digital streaming music service without spending a fortune in doing so.
PRICE: £169
READ MORE Sonos Play:1 review
Sonos
Sonos PLAY:3
The Sonos Play:3 is the middle of the ranger, measuring 132 x 268 x 160mm and hitting the scales at 2.6kg. It features three Class-D amplifiers, along with a tweeter, two mid-range drivers and a bass radiator.
Like the Play:1, you can pair two Play:3 speakers in the same room in order to create a stereo pair, with one speaker serving as the left channel and the other as the right, or you can pair it up to the Sonos Playbar and Sub for surround sound.
The Play:3 comes in black and white and like the Play:1 it has the physical control buttons on the top with the ports on the rear. All the same features apply in that you can connect the Play:3 to other Sonos speakers in order to achieve a multi-room set up and you’ll be able to stream from various services, internet radio, or your own tracks.
At the moment, Sonos works with Spotify, Pandora, Deezer, TuneIn, SiriusXM, Google Play Music, SoundCloud, Amazon Music, iHeartRadio, Rhapsody, Rdio, Qobuz, Tidal and downloads from any service offering DRM-free tracks. Apple Music is due to be supported before the end of the year.
Aside from being slightly bigger and offering deeper bass and more power than the Play:1, the Play:3 can also be positioned horizontally or vertically and the EQ will automatically adjust accordingly. There are rubber feet on the sides to protect your speaker and whatever you choose to put it on from scratches and scrapes.
WHY BUY?
The Sonos Play:3 delivers a better sound than the Play:1, while offering the same advantages and a couple more, such as orientation choice. It is a £90 more expensive but the price jump is probably worth it for those that want the extra oomph or for those with a bigger room.
PRICE: £259
READ MORE Sonos Play:3 review
Sonos
Sonos Play:5
The Sonos Play:5 replaces the old Play:5 and it is the biggest and most expensive speaker within the Sonos line-up. It is currently available for pre-order and will be shipped on 25 November and it features six Class-D amplifiers, three tweeters and three dedicated mid-woofers.
The new Play:5 measures 203 x 364 x 154mm and weighs 6.36kg so it is quite a bit bigger than the Play:3. It also features capacitive touch controls rather than physical buttons for the volume control, previous and next track, and play or pause.
Like the Play:3 and Play:1, the colour options consist of white or black but unlike the other two speakers, the new Play:5 has a plastic front grille rather than metal and both colour options have a black grille.
The new Play:5 can be positioned vertically or horizontally and of course you get the same option to pair two Play:5’s together for a stereo pair setting, or to the Sonos Playbar and Sub for a surround sound experience, or add it to other Sonos speakers for multi-room.
All the same features apply as the Play:1 and Play:3 that we have mentioned, including the ability to place the speaker where you choose when connected to the Wi-Fi mesh network, as well as the streaming options and app features. The Play:5 adds a line-in option to the mix too though.
WHY BUY?
The Play:5 is for those that want the best sound offered from Sonos. If you have the cash to spend, the Play:5 is a fantastic option and a brilliant way to start a Sonos multi-room system with a big bang, or add to an existing one.
PRICE: £429
READ MORE Sonos Play:5 review
Sonos
Sonos Playbar
The Sonos Playbar is another one of the more expensive options when it comes to building your Sonos system. It is a soundbar its purpose is to complement your TV, but it will also work as a standalone speaker.
It measures 85 x 900 x 140mm and weighs 5.4kg, offering physical control buttons on the side for volume up, volume down and mute. With nine Class-D digital amplified speakers, six mid-range and three tweeters, the Playbar’s aim is to deliver clearer sound.
You can connect the Playbar to your TV with a single cable for 3.0 Home Cinema sound, or pair it up to the Sonos Sub for 3.1 Home Cinema. Take this one step further and add a couple of Play:1 or Play:3 speakers to your Playbar and Sub and you’ll find yourself with 5.1 Home Cinema surround sound, as we mentioned previously.
The Sonos Playbar understands most IR remote’s language so you’ll be able to control it using various apps on your Android, iPhone or iPad, and like the rest of the Sonos system, it uses your Wi-Fi network and is easily setup using the Sonos app.
As we said, the Playbar is also a standalone speaker so you’ll be able to wirelessly stream all the same music as the other Sonos speakers, from playlists on Spotify to your iTunes library and internet radio stations or podcasts.
WHY BUY?
The Sonos PlayBar is a fantastic piece of kit that really delivers. While the price might seem high on the surface you are getting a speaker that replaces your AV receiver, a stack of speakers, and the ability to make it part of a bigger streaming system as well. It doesn’t support HDMI or 7.1 however, so keep that in mind.
PRICE: £599
READ MORE Sonos Playbar review
Sonos
Sonos Sub
The Sonos Sub is an extension of the Sonos Playbar, and its intention is to add more depth to everything you see and hear by introducing more bass, offering a frequency response down to 25Hz.
It measures 389 x 402 x 158mm, weighs 16kgs and is finished in black gloss. You will be able to stand the Sonos Sub upright or lay it flat and it features built-in rubber feet, as well as optional feet.
The Sonos Sub has two Class-D amplifiers along with two force-cancelling speakers that are positioned face-to-face for a deeper and richer sound. Audio settings will be automatically adjusted to balance the Sub and the paired Sonos component.
Like the rest of the Sonos system, the Sub can be controlled using the Sonos Controller App and it will connect wirelessly to your home network so you can place it wherever you choose.
WHY BUY?
The main reason you would invest in the Sonos Sub with the Playbar is to bring a more powerful sound to your TV, movies and music. They are an expensive pair though so make sure you really want that extra bass and perhaps check with your neighbours before you spend the extra £599.
PRICE: £1198 with Playbar
READ MORE Sonos Sub review
TalkTalk TV to offer BT Sport channels
TalkTalk, like Virgin Media, doesn’t hold the rights to any live sport in the UK. Instead, the company has to hash out deals with other broadcasters, such as Sky and BT, to offer its subscribers new channels and coverage. TalkTalk TV customers can already pay extra for Sky Sports, but today the company announced that a BT Sport package is also being added to the mix. The price of the bolt-on subscription is yet to be determined, but TalkTalk has confirmed that it will include BT Sport 1, BT Sport 2, BT Sport Europe and BT Sport ESPN. Notably, there’s no BT Sport Ultra HD.
With Sky Sports and BT Sport combined, it’ll be possible for TalkTalk customers to watch every televised Premier League and Champions League match on their TV. Of course, BT offers more than that though — subscribers will also gain access to plenty of rugby, MotoGP and UFC martial arts with their subscription. Sky and BT would, of course, prefer that viewers use their own TV platform, rather than the one provided by TalkTalk, but this is a way to boost their subscriber numbers and recoup the astronomical amounts spent on live Premier League TV rights.
Google’s own Cardboard viewer arrives in four more countries
Google’s most accessible VR headset is now available in France, the UK, Canada and Germany, via the official store. For something that was meant to bring VR to the masses, Google had been unusually coy about actually putting it out there. The search giant only started selling its own version of the headset in the US in February. Before then, you had to source from third parties (fortunately there are many), or change your cereal or newspaper of choice. Even then, headsets varied in quality for something made of cardboard, and not all the manufacturers offered the newer version, so buying was a bit of an (affordable) minefield.
Either way, if you’re sold on the Google-branded headset, expect to pay 20€/$20(CAD) or £15 depending where you are, with savings to be made if you’re willing to buy in pairs (30€/$25/£25 respectively). Shipping is free. Right now, it doesn’t look like the two other VR viewers Google sells in the US (Mattel’s View Master, and the Goggle Tech C1) are available in the new locations. It’s good to see more options reaching more places, but we all know there’s only one proper way to roll with Cardboard.
Source: Google Plus, Google Store
ICYMI: Self-building bot, fresh tortillas from pods and more
Today on In Case You Missed It: MIT’s Tangible Media Lab built a shifting interface that can be used to test basic physics and even help seismologists understand the ripple fallout from an earthquake. A Kickstarter device for a tortilla-maker costing $240 irritated us enough to call on the latest environment chart made by a climate scientist. And German researchers built a robot that can build itself and our robot eek factor continues to grow.
A drone performed a neat liquid trick over on YouTube and has us excited for the delivery UAVs to come! As always, please share any great tech or science videos you find by using the #ICYMI hashtag on Twitter for @mskerryd.
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