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Category: Problem Solving

Adam Engst 4 comments

Follow These Steps to Clear Space on Your Mac

Apple no longer makes it easy to tell precisely how much free space is available on your Mac, but you know when you don’t have enough. Adam Engst offers (and explains) 21 simple steps to clear space quickly.

Glenn Fleishman 37 comments

Reconnect a HomeKit Accessory over a 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi Network

After a network hiccup caused his HomeKit-enabled smart thermostat to lose its network connection, Glenn Fleishman had to do tweaky network reconfiguration to get it to rejoin his Home setup.

Adam Engst 22 comments

macOS 14.3.1, iOS 17.3.1, iPadOS 17.3.1, and Safari 17.3.1 Fix WebKit Text Bug

Apple has released a set of updates that address the maddening WebKit text bug that caused lines of text to duplicate or overlap while typing. 

Adam Engst 9 comments

macOS 14.3 Sonoma Text Display Bug to Be Fixed Soon

If you’ve noticed weird text display problems in macOS 14.3 Sonoma, you’re not alone. The bug has been fixed in WebKit and should appear in a new version of macOS soon.

Adam Engst 28 comments

Ventura and Monterey Users: Beware Unwanted Sonoma Upgrades

Some macOS 13 Ventura and macOS 12 Monterey users are being upgraded to macOS 14 Sonoma after dismissing notifications that encourage an upgrade. It’s a nasty bug, but the TidBITS Talk community has some advice on how to avoid the forced upgrade.

Adam Engst 8 comments

Solving Time Machine’s iCloud Drive Blockage

After upgrading one of his Macs to macOS 14 Sonoma, Adam Engst ran into problems with Time Machine, which refused to back up until iCloud Drive had finished syncing and continued to balk even after the sync had seemingly finished. The problem? A seldom-used troubleshooting account that also had to finish syncing.

Adam Engst 4 comments

Apple Self Service Repair Adds Remote Diagnostics and Supports New Devices

Although the addition of the iPhone 15 lineup and Macs using the M2 family of chips to Self Service Repair is welcome, the release of the remote Apple Diagnostics for Self Service Repair troubleshooting tool is more interesting.

Adam Engst 7 comments

How to Recover from Contacts Freezing when Printing Lists in Sonoma

If you try to print using the Lists style in Contacts in macOS 14 Sonoma, Contacts will freeze and require force-quitting. Worse, if Contacts gets stuck on Lists style, you won’t be able to print at all. Here’s how to recover.

Adam Engst 5 comments

Issues with Legacy 1Password 6 and 7 from Mac App Store

If you're using 1Password 6 or 1Password 7 from the Mac App Store and receive an error message about the 1Password app being damaged, 1Password has some possible solutions.

Adam Engst 28 comments

The Hidden Secrets of the Fn Key

The Fn key has been a fixture on Apple keyboards for decades, but many Mac users lack a sense of its purpose. Adam Engst thought he was going to write a quick article listing hidden keyboard shortcuts that tap the Fn key but got dragged into documenting the history and capabilities of this unsung key.

Adam Engst 16 comments

Nighttime Power Cycling Bug Afflicts iPhones and iPads

Some users have awoken to their iPhones and iPads asking for a passcode due to an unprompted restart the night before. Many people may not care what their device does at night, but beware that it could prevent alarms from triggering and block emergency calls.

Adam Engst 20 comments

iPhone Recommendations for Senior Citizens

Many people find themselves helping older friends or family members with reduced physical or cognitive capabilities. Adam Engst distills advice from a pair of TidBITS Talk discussions that asked about the best iPhone and simplifying the iPhone experience for older people.

Glenn Fleishman 43 comments

Cloudy with a Chance of Insanity: Unsticking iCloud Drive

As with all its services, Apple offers no real troubleshooting when iCloud Drive synchronization stalls in macOS. Glenn Fleishman encountered a problem that took months to diagnose and fix. In the process, he went through the wringer of trying nearly everything suggested online, via Apple support, and from colleagues. In the end, the magic that fixed it was undisclosed engineers.

Adam Engst 29 comments

Carbon Copy Cloner Backs Up Cloud-Only Content

Worried about backing up your cloud-only files? The latest version of Carbon Copy Cloner can temporarily download, back up, and evict these files, ensuring your data’s safety. Learn about this ingenious feature that bridges the gap between local and cloud storage in your backup strategy.

Adam Engst 19 comments

Update a New iPhone 15 to iOS 17.0.2 Before Transferring from Your Old iPhone

A bug in iOS 17 can cause a hang while transferring data from an old iPhone to a new iPhone 15. Update to iOS 17.0.2 first!