Category Archives: apple

Common iOS Error Messages and Fixes

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Here are some common iOS error messages and fixes to those issues:

It should be noted, restarting your iOS device is always a good first step.  It sounds cliche, but it wouldn’t be cliche if not for a reason.

  1. “Unable to Verify Update” error message: This error message usually occurs when you try to update your iOS device over the air. To fix this error, try connecting your device to a computer and updating it through iTunes. If that doesn’t work, make sure that your device has enough storage space and a stable internet connection.

  2. “iPhone is Disabled” error message: This error message appears when you enter the wrong passcode too many times. To fix this error, you need to connect your device to a computer with iTunes and restore it. If you have previously synced your device with iTunes, you can restore your device using a backup.

  3. “iTunes Error 4013” error message: This error message usually appears when you try to update or restore your device using iTunes. To fix this error, try the following steps:

  • Check your computer’s USB port and cable for damage or looseness.
  • Try updating or restoring your device using a different computer.
  • Try putting your device into DFU mode and then restoring it.
  1. “No Service” error message: This error message appears when your device is not able to connect to your cellular network. To fix this error, try the following steps:
  • Make sure that your device has a cellular plan and that you’re in an area with cellular coverage.
  • Restart your device and try again.
  • If none of the above steps work, contact your carrier for further assistance.
  1. “App Store is not available” error message: This error message appears when the App Store is experiencing downtime or maintenance. To fix this error, try the following steps:
  • Check the App Store status page to see if there are any known issues.
  • Restart your device and try again.
  • If none of the above steps work, wait for the App Store to come back online or contact Apple support for further assistance.

Cannot copy photos from my iPhone to Windows 11

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This error, the scourge of iOS: “Device is unreachable”.

Maybe help articles that you’ll find  tell you to do all of the standard stuff like install a new version of iTunes, update Windows, reboot Windows, Change settings so that  photos are converted on copy.

However, many times none of those are the cause.  iOS can get into a corrupt state in regards to being able to copy files to Windows via Windows Explorer.  The fix to this is to reboot your iPhone (and not Windows).  This very often fixes the issue and allows you to then copy files.

Once files are copying again you might break those file copies into smaller sections such as by folder.  Sometimes copying too much data causes the connection with the iPhone to faulter.

I can barely hear the call on my iPhone, is my speaker broken?

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Symptom: You can barely hear the audio when making a phone call but the quality is fine when using the speaker phone.  Turning the volume all the way up has no effect.

Fix: iOS during an update likely enabled the noise cancellation setting.  Although this can be useful, it has a habit of making phone calls very difficult to hear when you use the phone with it up to your ear.  Disabling this setting immediately returns phone call volume back to normal.  This setting is located at:

Settings –> Accessibility Phone > Noise Cancellation

iPhone stops showing contact names and won’t dial contacts

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There is an issue that happens with iOS from time to time and has for many versions where contact names disappear from the Phone app and you only see the phone numbers. Further, when clicking on a contact a call fails to be placed generally with an error message from the Carrier. You may also notice that your data continues to work and that if you manually type a phone number you can call it. You may also notice that whenever you call from clicking on a contact that you see something about “Dial Assist” on the main screen.

There are two fixes you can try in order to alleviate this, neither of which require a reset. They should be tried in this order.

Fix 1

  1. Start the Contacts app
  2. Click on the “Groups” link which is likely in the top left corner
  3. Ungroup or remove the check marks from all of the selected entries then click “Done”
  4. Click “Groups” again and reselect the previous entries then click “Done”
  5. Restart your phone

This approach worked for me to restore all functionality.

Fix 2

This won’t fix the core issue but will allow you to click on a contact and call that number. You can disable dial assist and it will then correct call the contact number if it is properly formatted.

  1. Click Settings
  2. Click Phone
  3. Turn off Dial Assist

Although Fix 2 will restore some functionality, Fix 1 is what we’re really hoping works because it will fix the problem AND dial assist will continue working. This was verfied on iOS 12.1.4 where these instructions were created from however the issue has existed for some time over a wide span of iOS versions.

How do I customize my control center in iOS 12.1

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iOS 12.1 offers many features that can be added to your control center (the control center is the menu that swipes up from the bottom of the phone with shortcuts to all kinds of useful features).

To access the control feaure settings go to “Settings -> Control Center -> Customize Controls”. From this menu you will be able to add or remove features from the control center menu. These features include:

  • Accessibility Shortcuts
  • Alarm
  • Apple TV Remote
  • Calculator
  • Camera
  • Do Not Disturb While Driving
  • Flashlight
  • Guided Access
  • Hearing
  • Home
  • Low Power Mode
  • Magnifier
  • Notes
  • Scan QR Code
  • Screen Recording
  • Stopwatch
  • Text Size
  • Timer
  • Voice Memos
  • Wallet

How to see what is taking up the space on your iPhone or iPod touch

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Scenario:

You want to identify where all of your storage space has gone on your iPhone or iPod touch in iOS7 or iOS8.

Solution:

Open the Settings, then go to General, then go to Usage, then go to Manage Storage in the middle “Manage Storage” section.  There is also a “Manage Storage” for the  iCloud section, you don’t want this one for your local device.

How do I invert my colors on iOS

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Scenario:

You want to invert or uinvert the colors on your iOS device, what are the steps to do it?>

Solution:

  1. Select “Settings” from the home screen
  2. Select “General”
  3. Select “Accessibility” from the General settings menu
  4. Slide off or on the radio button for “Invert Colors”

Notes:

On older devices colors may become inverted because iOS thinks the home button has been tripple clicked, perhaps the button is wearing out or you clicked it with single clicks and the OS was lagging and registered 3 single clicks as a triple click. You can also disable that functionality through the same “Accessibility” menu above instead choosing the action for “TRIPLE-CLICK THE HOME BUTTON FOR:”.

How to I turn off invert colors on my iOS device?

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Scenario:

I accidently inverted my colors on my iOS device, how do I reset them to normal?

Solution:

This can sometimes happen, especially on slow devices when you triple click the home button (on a device that’s running slow or is unresponsive iOS may see multiple presses of the home button as a triple click). By default, the triple click is setup to toggle the inverting of colors (You can change this behavior also and disable that default). To quickly un-invert the colors you can use one of these two methods:

  1. Triple click the home button again. Sometimes on devices that are running slow this option is inconsistent.
  2. Go into Settings->Accessibility and toggle the “Invert Colors” slider to off.