iOS Battery Issues ? Try These Tips

If you find your iPad or other iOS device won’t charge or hold a charge, here are some tips from Apple.

Will Not Charge – Change Power Sources, Adapters or Cables

Plug into the USB power adapter that came with your device. A third party adapter may not work properly. If that still does not work, try plugging into a different source of power: wall power outlet, computer, etc. Also, consider trying another cable in case the one you are using is bad.

As your device charges, you should see a battery icon with a little lightning bolt next to it in the status bar or a large battery icon on the lock screen.

Will Not Fully Charge – Force Restart, Try Again

Try this: force restart your device by pressing and holding the Sleep/Wake and Home buttons at the same time for at least 10 seconds, until you see the Apple logo. Then, let your device charge for another half hour or longer and see if it will fully recharge.

Maximizing Battery Life and Lifespan

• Software Update

Always make sure you are using the latest version of iOS. Go to Settings > General > Software Update. If one is available, you can plug in your device to a power source and wirelessly download and install the latest version.

• Screen Brightness

Optimize your screen brightness settings to help preserve battery life. You can dim the screen or turn on Auto-Brightness. To adjust your brightness, while your device is on, swipe up from the bottom of any screen to open the Control Center and drag the Brightness slider to the left. You will see your screen get dimmer. You can drag the slider to the right to make the screen brighter.

To turn on Auto-Brightness which will adjust your screen to lighting conditions automatically, go to Settings > Display & Brightness and set Auto-Brightness to on.

• Use Wi-Fi

Using Wi-Fi to access data uses less power than a cellular network connection. So, turn on and use a Wi-Fi network. You can turn on your Wi-Fi by swiping up to open the Control Center and tap on the Wi-Fi icon and log into a Wi-Fi network.

Low Power Mode

When your battery power starts to get low, you can turn on Low Power Mode. You may receive an alert when your battery is low and turn it on then or in Settings > Battery. Apps may then begin to perform less background tasks to save power.

The chart below shows many of the battery functions discussed in this article.

What’s Using The Power?

If you phone is not charging, you can view which apps are using the most power. To view the power usage, go to Settings > Battery and then you can tap on Last 24 Hours or Last 7 Days to see a list of the guilty apps.

You can read more about maximizing battery performance on this Apple Support page.

How to Scan from Your iPad or iOS device – The Basics

   

There are times when you are out and want to capture images of documents to use later. These documents could be receipts, tests, business cards, brochures, handwritten notes, etc. This is not an app specific post. Instead, the basics of how to scan are discussed. Also, different options to consider when choosing a scanning app are briefly mention.

There are many apps that help you with the task of capturing images to use later. These apps include: Evernote, Adobe Acrobat, Scanner Pro (a personal favorite for capturing multipage documents), ScanSnap, and OneNote, which can also capture whiteboards you may have created or seen in class.

Here are the basic steps of capturing documents using apps on your iOS device:

1. Open app and give it access to your iOS camera
2. Take a picture of the document (take another if more than one page)
3. Edit it for clarity and perform optional steps like OCR, image correction, rotation, etc.
4. Name it
5. Store it on the device, in the cloud, or in another app or share it.

You need to select an app that will be capturing the document. As to which app to select, think to yourself, how do you want to access that document later on? Will you want to access if from the cloud, from your device, from a different app on a different device or computer, etc. There are many different apps and opinions on which apps do those tasks the best, you should find one that you feel works for your workflow.

Theoretically, you can just use your Camera app, take a picture and then share the image using various methods like email or send it to a cloud service or another app.

Below is an image of a receipt captured using just the Camera of my iPhone.

You will notice several things. First, it is always better to have the document you are attempting to capture against a contrasting background or surface. That makes it easier for apps like Scanner Pro, Evernote, etc. to attempt to automatically distinguish the document from the background and capture only document as is seen below. There are apps that actively try to distinguish and find the document or receipt and capture only the document instead of everything in the camera’s eye.  Basically, it attempts to find the borders by comparing the document to the background it is against.

Also, the app may use the flash from your iPhone or other methods to try to eliminate shadows or crumple marks from the document or receipt. To get the best results, it is always best to try to use wrinkle free documents and good lighting when capturing the document.

When that is not possible, different apps use various methods to try to boost the image quality and readibility. Be careful using the flash, because it cam throw too much light and cause the text of the document to become unreadable. Experiment and try to find the right combination of natural light and try to avoid creating shadows when you hold your camera over the document.

Below, Scanner Pro shows you the edge border it has detected and allows you to wait to take the picture or adjust the camera angle until the border is properly detected.

Once the app has captured the image, you may be presented with what the app believes is a good version of the capture. If you like it, you can keep it. If not, you can edit it by moving the little dots to a different place to have the app capture all of the document’s details and edges that you may want. This is shown below.

After you have adjusted the image or modified the color to make it look its sharpest and cleanest, the next step is to save the document. Once the document is saved, you can then store it in the cloud with services like Dropbox, iCloud, Box, etc.

Some apps have additional features that are very handy like OCR (optical character recognition). The app will perform OCR from the information in the document or receipt itself to make searching and retrieval easier later.

The purpose of this post was to walk you through the basics of capturing documents using your iOS device. Hopefully, this information can help you better understand the process so you can make a good decision as to which app works best for you.

 

OmniOutliner 2

OmniOutliner, a great app that helps you outline your ideas, projects and thoughts, has been updated. If you are looking for a way to create a variety of lists, including to-do items, OmniOutliner by the OmniGroup is worth checking out. It has recently been updated to provide some fixes and improvements.

One of the advantages of the iOS app is its ability to store documents in iCloud so you can access them from your Mac desktop version. Literally, you can start, continue or finish projects on the go or at your laptop.

A nice feature is the ability to drag and drop items in your list to help you modify your ideas on the fly without having to retype or copy and paste. There are built in templates to help you get going. The drop down triangle allows you to collapse lists to make them more manageable.

With multiple columns available you can check items off, keep up with assignments of the list items, add dates and more.

The OmniGroup has been making great Mac and iOS apps for years. If you are looking for a way to create simple or more complex lists or outlines, you should check out OmniOutliner.

 

Location Services Draining Battery?

Location services, the use of your location by apps can be a great tool. However, if apps are using your location services when you are not using the apps, your battery life can be lowered because the location of your device is being refreshed all the time.

To see if location services are being used, look at the top right of your home screen. If you see the little directional arrow, at least one app is using location services. To see which app it may be, tap Settings.

Then tap Privacy and then Location Services.

 

On the right column, in portrait view, you will see a list of apps. Tap on one that says always and see if you want to change the setting. For example, below, Replay is set to always use location services and the purple icon indicates that it is currently using the service.

To turn off or modify the service, tap on the app and modify the allow locations access to never or while using the app if you prefer.

Note also that as soon as Never is selected, the location services icon goes away.

Repeat this process for each app you do not want to access location services when not in use.

Separately, to see which apps may be using the most battery, tap Settings > General > Usage > Battery Usage. Then, you can review which apps are guilty of the most battery usage and adjust your usage accordingly.

from Apple Inc.

For other tips on maximizing the battery performance of your iOS device, go to Apple’s page on battery usage.

2Do: Tasks Done in Style Updated

2Do: Tasks Done in Style is a universal task manager app that can be used to keep up with projects, tasks, notes, reminders and more.

Whether you are on your iPad, iPhone or computer, this app has the ability to sync between all of your devices so you can check on your progress or create a task no matter where you are.

The app was recently updated to version 2.8.35 and promises to be better when the iOS 7 update arrives. You can learn more about this app from their web site.

 

Timeline 3D for iOS

If you have ever wanted to create a beautiful timeline that provides unique visual reference points, you need to check out this app – Timeline 3D. It is brand new to the iOS family and is a universal app. The price is $14.99.

Screencasts online did a screencast on this product recently as well and you can learn more about the app by watching.

A Mac version has been around for several years. If you have never tried this app and use timelines, you are missing out.

This app is highly recommended. Do not think that the lack of commentary here means this app is not worth every penny. Rather, you should watch the demo videos and begin thinking about new ways to convey timeline information using this app.

New York Times Digital Sale

The New York Times has joined in the cyber Monday fray. It is offering 50% off a 26 week digital subscription. You can read about the deal here. You can buy it for yourself or give it as a gift.

The fine print states:

Gift subscriptions can only be purchased for users who are not currently subscribed. Please allow 24 hours for gift subscription order processing.

Smartphone and tablet apps are not supported on all devices. Subscriptions do not include e-reader editions, Premium Crosswords or The New York Times Crosswords apps. Prices shown are in U.S. Dollars. Gift subscription period begins the day of redemption. Redemption codes expire five years after date of purchase. Other restrictions apply.

If you have been waiting to get your subscription, now may be the time.