Creating Playlists Directly on your iPod or iPhone

Tip: If you don’t like the playlists you have, go and make some of your own! You can make a temporary playlist right on your iPod or iPhone by selecting specific songs, or even entire albums, as you wish.

iPod touch or iPhone: To create a playlist on an iPod touch or iPhone, follow these steps:

1. Choose Music from the Home screen, and touch the Playlists icon. The Playlists menu appears.
2. Tap Add Playlist near the top of the list of playlists. The New Playlist dialog appears and the onscreen keyboard pops up.
3. Type a name for the playlist and tap Save. The Songs list appears with a plus (+) sign next to each song and next to an Add All Songs option at the top. If you have only several dozen albums, this list isn’t too long, and you can skip to Step 5. If you have a lot more music, narrow your search with Step 4.
4. (Optional) Narrow your search for songs to add to the playlist. Tap the browsing buttons along the bottom row to narrow your search as you select music for your new playlist.
5. Tap the plus (+) sign next to a song you want to add to the playlist. As you tap the plus sign for a song, the song is included in the new playlist, and it turns gray in the list so that you know it has already been selected.
6. Repeat Steps 4 and 5, adding songs in the order you want them to be played.
7. Tap the Done button when you’re finished adding songs. The Done button appears at the top while you select songs, just waiting for you to finish. After touching Done to finish selecting songs, your iPhone saves the playlist and displays it with Edit, Clear, and Delete buttons.
8. (Optional) Add to or change the playlist order. You can change the song order by tapping the Edit button, which displays the playlist with a plus (+) sign and Done button at the top, and the rearrange icon (three horizontal bars, like half of an I-Ching symbol) on the far right side of each song. Drag the rearrange icon for a song to move it up or down the list. Tap the plus (+) sign if you want to continue adding songs, or tap Done to finish. Your iPhone saves the edited playlist and presents it again with Edit, Clear, and Delete buttons.

To start playing the playlist, tap any song. Scroll up or down the list to choose a song, and tap the song title to play the playlist starting from that song. You can tap Shuffle to shuffle the songs in the playlist.

To delete an item from the playlist on an iPod touch or iPhone, follow these steps:

1. Choose Music from the Home screen if it is not already open, and tap the Playlists button at the bottom left corner. The Playlists menu appears.
2. Tap the name of the playlist. The list of songs appears.
3. Tap Edit near the top of the playlist. The list of songs appears with a plus (+) sign and Done button at the top, and a circled minus sign (-) on the far-left side of each song.
4. Scroll the list to find the item you want to delete.
5. Tap the minus (-) sign next to the song to delete, and then tap the Delete button. The red Delete button appears after you tap the circled minus sign.
6. Repeat Steps 4 and 5 to find and delete each item from the playlist. When you delete items, they disappear from the playlist one by one. The items are still in your iPhone; only the playlist is cleared.
7. Tap the Done button at the top to finish deleting from the playlist.

To clear the entire list of queued items in a playlist, follow these steps:

1. Choose Music from the Home screen if it is not already open, and tap the Playlists button at the bottom left corner. The Playlists menu appears.
2. Tap the name of the playlist. The list of songs appears.
3. Tap the Clear button at the top of the display, and the Clear menu pops up from the bottom. You can tap Clear Playlist or Cancel in the menu.
4. Tap the Clear Playlist option in the menu. All the items disappear from the playlist. The items are still in your iPhone; only the playlist is cleared. If you don’t want to clear the playlist, tap Cancel.

iPod nano: Follow these steps with an iPod nano to add a playlist and select songs for it:

1. Tap Playlists on the Home screen. A list of playlists appears.
2. Flick down and tap the Add button. The name New Playlist 1 appears at the top (each new playlist is numbered; New Playlist 2 would be next), and the categories appear in a list for selecting songs: Artists, Albums, Genres, Songs, Composers, Audiobooks, and Podcasts.
3. Tap a category (such as Artists or Albums) and an item (such as an artist or album), and then tap individual songs or Add All Songs. Each list of songs appears with an Add All Songs option at the top.
4. (Optional) Swipe right to continue adding songs or other items. Swipe right from a song list to tap another artist or album, and swipe right again to tap another category.
5. Repeat Steps 3 and 4, adding songs in the order you want them to be played. You can continue to add songs to the list.
6. Tap the Done button when you’re finished adding songs. The Done button appears at the top while you select songs, just waiting for you to finish. After touching Done to finish selecting songs, your iPod nano saves the playlist at the end of the list of playlists.

To select the playlist, swipe right to go back to the list of playlists, or to the Home screen and tap Playlists, flick to the end, and tap the playlist.

You can add more songs to the playlist you just created, or to any playlist in your iPod nano; you can even delete items from playlists or delete playlists entirely.

To add more songs to a playlist, flick down to show the Edit and Clear buttons. Tap Edit, and then tap the Add button.

To delete items from the playlist, tap Edit, and then tap the circled minus sign (-) next to the item to show the Delete button; tap Delete to delete the item. Tap Done to finish.

To clear the playlist, select the playlist, flick down to show the Edit and Clear buttons, and tap Clear.

To delete a playlist (any playlist, even ones you synchronized to the iPod nano), tap Playlists from the Home screen, flick down, and tap the Edit button. You can then tap the circled minus sign (-) next to the playlist to show the Delete button; tap Delete to delete the playlist.

When you delete listed items, they disappear from the playlist, but they are still in your iPod nano; only the playlist is changed.

iPod classic: You can also create a single temporary, “On-The-Go” playlist on your iPod classic. The selections appear automatically in a playlist appropriately called On-The-Go, on the Playlists menu. This temporary playlist remains defined in your iPod classic until you delete it or save it as a new playlist. If you synchronize your iPod classic with new music and playlists, the On-The-Go playlist is copied to your iTunes library and cleared automatically. Once it is in your iTunes library, you can rename it from “On-The-Go” to something else.

To create and play an On-The-Go playlist for an iPod classic or older iPod, follow these steps:

1. Locate and highlight a song, album title, or audio book.
2. Press and hold the select button until the menu appears, and then choose Add to On-The-Go.
3. Repeat Steps 1 and 2, adding items in the order you want them played. You can continue to add items to the list of queued items in the On-The-Go playlist at any time. Your iPod keeps track of the On-The-Go playlist until you clear it, save it, or synchronize your iPod.
4. To play the On-The-Go playlist, scroll the Music menu until Playlists is highlighted and then press the select button.
5. On the Playlists menu that appears, scroll to highlight On-The-Go at the bottom of the menu, and press the select button. A list of songs in the On-The-Go playlist appears.
6. Select a song from the list and press the select button. The songs in the playlist are in ”playlist order” (the order you added them). Scroll up or down the list to highlight the song you want, and press the Select button to play the playlist starting from that song.

To delete an item from an On-The-Go playlist in your iPod classic, follow these steps:

1. Select the On-The-Go playlist. If you don’t see the iPod main menu, repeatedly press the Menu button to return to the main menu. Choose Music from the main menu, scroll the Music menu until Playlists is highlighted, and then press the select button. The Playlists menu appears. Scroll to On-The-Go and press the select button, and the list of items in the playlist appears.
2. Locate and highlight the item you want to delete.
3. Press and hold the select button until the menu appears, and choose Remove from On-The-Go.
4. Repeat Steps 2 and 3 for each item you want to delete from the playlist. When you delete items, they disappear from the On-The-Go playlist one by one. The items are still in your iPod; only the playlist is cleared.

It turns out that when you synchronize your iPod classic with your iTunes library, the On-The-Go playlist is automatically copied to your iTunes library and then cleared from the iPod classic.

To clear the On-The-Go playlist on the iPod classic without syncing, follow these steps:

1. Select the On-The-Go playlist.
2. Select Clear Playlist in the list of items in the playlist. The Clear menu appears, showing the Clear Playlist and Cancel options.
3. Select the Clear Playlist option. All the items disappear from the On-The-Go playlist. The items are still in your iPod; only the playlist is cleared. If you don’t want to clear the playlist, select the Cancel option.

You might want to create more than one On-The-Go playlist in your iPod classic and temporarily save them for transferring to your iTunes library. To temporarily save your On-The-Go playlist, follow these steps:

1. Select the On-The-Go playlist. Choose Music from the main menu, scroll the Music menu until Playlists is highlighted, and then press the select button. The Playlists menu appears. Scroll to the On-The-Go item. Press the select button, and the list of items in the playlist appears.
2. Select the Save Playlist item. The Save menu appears, showing the Cancel and Save Playlist items.
3. Choose Save Playlist. The On-The-Go playlist is saved with the name New Playlist 1. (Any subsequent playlists you save are named New Playlist 2, and so on.) These appear at the very end of the Playlist menu, not in alphabetical order — just above the On-The-Go Playlist item. If you don’t want to save the playlist, select Cancel.

On-The-Go playlists saved as New Playlist 1, New Playlist 2, and so on, are stored temporarily in your iPod until you synchronize the iPod with your iTunes library. The On-The-Go playlist is cleared each time you save it as a new playlist, so you can start creating another On-The-Go playlist.

The synchronization also places the newly created playlists on your iPod classic. Hint: They’ll be in alphabetical order on the Playlist menu, named On-The-Go 1, On-The-Go 2, and so on. You can then rename them as you wish.

Using VoiceOver and Accessibility Features

The accessibility features of the iPod touch and iPhone help people with visual, auditory, or other physical disabilities. You can find them by choosing Settings>General>Accessibility from the Home screen.

• VoiceOver describes aloud what appears on the screen so that you can use iPhone without seeing it. (If you’re looking for voice control and voice-dialing, try Siri.)
  
• Zoom lets you magnify the entire screen of any app to help you see the display. (You can’t use Zoom and VoiceOver at the same time.)
• Large Text lets you increase the size of the text in alerts, Contacts, Mail, Messages, and Notes. You can choose 20-point, 24-point, 32-point, 40-point, 48-point, or 56-point text.
• Invert Colors inverts the colors on the iPhone display so that the screen looks like a photographic negative, which may make it easier to read.
• Speak Selection speaks text. A Speak button appears when you select text.
• Speak Auto-text speaks the text corrections and suggestions your iPhone makes as you’re typing.
• Hearing Aid Mode improves the sound with hearing aids but also may reduce cellular reception; you can turn it on or off.
• Mono Audio combines the stereo audio channels into a single mono channel.
• The L-R slider underneath Mono Audio lets you adjust the volume balance between left and right stereo channels.
• AssistiveTouch helps those with disabilities handle touching the screen.
• Incoming Calls” lets you route incoming calls to Headset, Speaker (speaker phone), or Default (the iPhone normal speaker).

These features, except VoiceOver, work with all iPhone and iPod touch apps. VoiceOver works only with Apple apps supplied with the iPhone and iPod touch and with new apps that just started using the feature.

Tip: You can enable VoiceOver and other accessibility options in iTunes when syncing your iPhone. Click the iPhone or iPod button that appears in iTunes after connecting your iPhone or iPod touch to your computer running iTunes, and click the Configure Universal Access button at the bottom of the Summary page of the sync options. Select each option in the Universal Access dialog that appears, and click OK.

VoiceOver: VoiceOver tells you about each element on the screen as you select it. A black rectangle encloses the element (for the benefit of those who can see the screen) and VoiceOver speaks the name or describes the element. If you select a button or switch (and you’ve haven’t turned off spoken hints), VoiceOver tells you a hint of what to do next — such as “double-tap to open”.

If you are already using VoiceOver on a Mac or GW-Micro Window-Eyes on a PC (popular solutions for the sight-impaired), iTunes detects it and automatically enables VoiceOver on your iPhone when you first set it up.

Tip: You can also enable VoiceOver after connecting your iPhone to your computer by clicking the iPhone or iPod button that appears in the upper-right corner of the iTunes window, and clicking the Configure Universal Access button at the bottom of the Summary page of the sync options. Select the VoiceOver option in the Universal Access dialog that appears, and click OK.

On your iPhone or iPod touch, you can turn VoiceOver on by choosing Settings>General> Accessibility>VoiceOver, and then tap Off to turn it On.

Warning: VoiceOver changes the gestures you use to control your iPhone or iPod touch. Once VoiceOver is turned on, you have to use VoiceOver gestures to operate iPhone — even to turn it off. To turn VoiceOver off, use the VoiceOver double-tap gesture for each single tap while choosing Settings>General>Accessibility>VoiceOver, and double-tap On to turn it Off. (You can also double-tap and hold, and then, without lifting your finger, drag your finger to slide the On/Off switch.) When double-tapping, you can touch the item with one finger and tap it with another finger (using two fingers from one hand) or with a finger from your other hand.

Tip: You can set the Triple-click Home option so that you can turn off VoiceOver by pressing the Home button three times quickly — see “Triple-click the Home button” at the end of this topic.

Spoken hints are on by default. To turn them off, choose Settings>General>Accessibility>VoiceOver, and tap the Speak Hints On switch to turn it Off. Tap Off to turn it back On.

Tip: VoiceOver speaks in the language specified in your International settings — choose Settings>General>International>Language from the Home screen, and then choose the language you want to use and tap Done. You can also set the region format for dates, times, and phone numbers by choosing Settings>General>International> and tapping Region Format.

As you drag your finger over the screen, VoiceOver identifies each element as you touch it. You can also move from one element to the next by flicking left or right with a single finger. Elements are selected from left- to-right and then top-to-bottom.

The following summarizes VoiceOver gestures:

• Tap and touch-hold for 1 second, then use a standard iPhone/iPod touch gesture.
• Tap once: Speak the item.
• Tap once with two fingers (two-finger single tap): Stop speaking the current item. Speaking automatically resumes when you select another item.
• Double-tap: Activate the selected item. You can also touch an item with one finger, tap the screen with another finger (“split tapping”) to activate an item.
• Two-finger double-tap: Answer or end a call, play or pause (in Music, Voice Memos, Photo slideshows, video clips), take a picture (in Camera), or start or pause recording (in Camera for video clips, or in Voice Memos).
• Flick right or left: Select the next or previous item.
• Two-finger flick up: Read all from the top of the screen.
• Two-finger flick down: Read all from the current position.
• Three-finger flick up or down: Scroll one page at a time.
• Three-finger flick right or left: Go to the next or previous page (such as Home screens or Web pages in Safari).
• Three-finger single-tap: Speak the scroll status (telling you which page or rows are visible).
• Three-finger double-tap: Mute or unmute VoiceOver.
• Three-finger triple-tap: Turn off the display while you use VoiceOver (for privacy).
• Flick up or down: Depends on rotor control setting, which changes for each app.

Tip: Rotor control is an invisible dial that you can use to change the results of up and down flick gestures when VoiceOver is turned on. Rotate two fingers on the screen to “turn” the dial to choose between options. After choosing an option, the flick up or down gesture performs that function. For example, if you’re reading text in an email, you can use the rotor to switch between hearing text spoken word-by-word or character-by-character when you flick up or down. If browsing a Web page, you can use the rotor to choose whether you hear text word-by-word or character-by-character, hear just the headers, hear just the links (all of them, visited links, or links not yet visited), hear form elements, or hear descriptions of images.

Tip: You can set the VoiceOver speaking rate to be slower or faster: choose Settings>General>Accessibility>VoiceOver, and drag the Speaking Rate slider left (slower) or right (faster).

Tip: When typing, VoiceOver can speak characters, words, both, or nothing. By default, VoiceOver is set to speak both characters and words: VoiceOver speaks each character as you type it, then speaks the whole word when you finish it by entering a space or punctuation. To change this setting, choose Settings>General>Accessibility>VoiceOver, tap Typing Feedback, and then choose Characters, Words, Characters and Words, or Nothing.

Invert Colors and Zoom: Some people like to zoom their displays bigger, and some like to read with white text on a black background. You can do both with your iPod touch or iPhone. (You can’t use Zoom and VoiceOver at the same time.)

To invert the colors on the display so that it looks like a photographic negative, choose Settings>General>Accessibility from the Home screen, and tap Off for the Invert Colors option to turn it On. (Tap On to turn it back Off.)

While you can zoom into and out of a Web page, photo, or other element in an app by double-tapping or unpinching, Zoom is a special feature that magnifies the entire screen of any app.

To turn on Zoom, choose Settings>General>Accessibility, and tap Off for the Zoom option to turn it On. (Tap On to turn it back Off.)

After turning Zoom on, you can double-tap the screen with three fingers to magnify the screen by 200 percent. You can also change the magnification as you wish: with three fingers, tap and touch-hold-drag toward the top of the screen to increase magnification, or toward the bottom of the screen (to decrease magnification).

To move around the screen, drag or flick with three fingers. Once you start dragging, you can drag with a single finger so that you can see more of the screen. Hold a single finger near the edge of the display to pan to that side of the screen image. Move your finger closer to the edge to pan more quickly. When you open a new screen, Zoom always goes to the top-middle of the screen.

Tip: Turn Invert Colors or Zoom off with the Home button: You can set the Triple-click Home option so that you can turn either option off by pressing the Home button three times quickly — see “Triple-click the Home button” at the end of this topic.

Mono Audio and Speak Auto-text: The Mono Audio option is useful for combining the sound of the left and right stereo channels into a mono signal played on both sides. Choose Settings>General>Accessibility, and tap Off for the Mono Audio option to turn it On. (Tap On to turn it back Off.)

The Speak Auto-text option speaks the text corrections and suggestions your iPhone makes when you’re typing. This is a separate option from VoiceOver and doesn’t require VoiceOver, but it does works with either VoiceOver or Zoom. To turn it on, choose Settings>General>Accessibility, and tap Off for the Speak Auto-text option to turn it On. (Tap On to turn it back Off.)

Triple-click the Home button: Triple-click Home is particularly useful for turning VoiceOver on or off, so that you don’t have to use VoiceOver gestures to reach the Off button on the Accessibility screen. It lets you turn some of the Accessibility features on or off when you press the Home button quickly three times. It is normally off. To use it, choose Settings>General>Accessibility, and then tap Triple-click Home at the bottom of the Accessibility screen.

You then see a screen of options for Triple-Click Home. You can set Triple-click Home to do one of the following:

• Turn VoiceOver on or off
• Turn Insert Colors on or off
• Turn Zoom on or off
• Turn AssistiveTouch on or off

 

Enabling an iPod as a Hard Drive

You can use an iPod classic, nano, shuffle, or older iPod model as an external hard drive (or in the case of an iPod shuffle or iPod nano, as a flash memory drive). And like any hard drive, you can transfer files and applications from your computer to your iPod and take them with you. An iPod is smart enough to keep your files separate from your content libraries so that you don’t accidentally erase them when you update your iTunes library and photo library. And because your iPod is with you, it’s as safe as you are.

As shipped, an iPod is formatted as a Macintosh hard drive and can be connected to any Mac. When you first connect it to Windows, an iPod is reformatted as a Windows hard drive. You can then connect it to any Windows PC or any Mac.

You can’t enable an iPad, iPod touch, or iPhone as a hard drive.

Tip: If you format an iPod for Windows first, you can transfer files between Mac and Windows computers. A Mac can use Windows-formatted hard drives, but Windows can’t use Mac-formatted hard drives. To reformat an iPod, restore it to its original factory conditions.

I don’t recommend using an iPod classic or older iPod model regularly as a hard drive to launch computer applications because these iPods are designed for sustained playback of music and video using a cache, drawing chunks of data from a hard drive as needed. (The iPod nano and iPod shuffle use flash memory, so this is not an issue.) You can eventually burn out the iPod’s hard drive by using it to launch computer applications that continually draw data from the hard drive. Instead, use the iPod’s external hard drive capabilities for backing up and copying files. You should copy computer applications to a computer hard drive before launching them.

To use your iPod classic, iPod nano, iPod shuffle, or older iPod model as an external hard drive, follow these steps:

1. Connect the iPod to your computer.
2. Click the iPod button that appears in the upper-right corner of the iTunes window. The Summary sync options page appears. If another sync options page appears, click the Summary tab.
3. Select the Enable Disk Use check box. The Enable Disk Use option is available if your iPod is set to automatically synchronize music or videos with your iTunes library. If you already set your iPod to manually manage music and videos, this option is grayed out because it isn’t needed. Setting the iPod to manually manage content already enables you to use it as a hard drive.

Warning: After enabling your iPod for disk use, you must always remember to properly eject your iPod before disconnecting it from your computer. Click Done to finish with the sync options, and then click the Eject icon next to the iPod name in the iPod button. Wait until the iPod’s display shows either the OK to disconnect message on older models or the main menu on newer models. You can then disconnect the iPod from the computer. Don’t ever disconnect an iPod before ejecting it. You might have to reset your iPod.

On a Mac, you can use the Finder to open folders, view folder contents, and transfer data to and from iPod classic, nano, shuffle, and older iPod models after the device is enabled as a hard drive. On a Windows PC, you can use My Computer or Windows Explorer to do these things. If you open My Computer, the iPod appears as an external hard drive. Windows automatically assigns the iPod hard drive to a Windows drive letter, such as E:. The iPod hard drive opens to show several folders, including Calendars, Contacts, Photos, and Notes. You can add new folders, rename your new folders, and generally use the iPod as a hard drive.

Warning: Don’t rename the folders already provided on your iPod because they link directly to functions on the iPod. For example, the Calendars folder links to the Calendar menu on the iPod.

You can drag files or folders to the iPod window. To keep data organized, you may want to create new folders on your iPod using the Finder on a Mac or Windows Explorer on a PC, and then copy files and folders to the newly created folders. To copy files and folders in Windows, use the drag-and-drop method in My Computer or Windows Explorer, or copy and paste the files or folders. On a Mac, use the Finder to drag files and folders to the newly created folders on your iPod.

To delete files and folders from an iPod connected to a Windows PC, select the filenames or folders and then press Backspace or choose File>Delete from the Windows Explorer menu, just like you do with your internal hard drive. On a Mac, select the filenames or folders and choose File>Move to Trash, or drag them to the trash icon.

Setting Up and Deleting Email Accounts Manually

You can enter an email account’s settings directly into your iPod touch or iPhone using the onscreen keyboard, without affecting any settings you may already have on your computer for that account.

Tip: You may want to set up an email account manually if the account is temporary and you don’t want to set it up on your computer.

Follow these steps to set up an email account (including a Microsoft Exchange or iCloud account):

1. Choose Settings>Mail, Contacts, Calendars from the Home screen. The Mail, Contacts, Calendars settings screen appears with the Accounts section at the top and the Add Account button at the end.

2. Tap Add Account, and the list of account types appears.

3. Tap your email account type. Your choices are iCloud, Microsoft Exchange, Gmail, Yahoo! Mail, AOL, Microsoft Hotmail, or Other. After choosing one, the new account screen appears.

4. Enter your account information. Enter information by tapping next to a field’s name (such as Name or Address) to display the onscreen keyboard. Use the keyboard to enter the information, and tap Return on the keyboard to finish entering. As you tap Return, the next field appears ready to enter information, until you reach the last field. Tap Return to finish entering information.

• iCloud, Gmail, Yahoo! Mail, or AOL: Enter your name, username, password, and optional description in the New Account screen, and then tap Save in the upper-right corner. If the account is verified, you’re done for a Gmail, Yahoo! Mail, or AOL account and you can skip the rest of these steps — the Mail, Contacts, Calendars settings screen appears with the new account listed in the Accounts section. For iCloud, your iPhone displays account’s settings screen. (If your account doesn’t verify, try Steps 2 and 3 again.)

• Microsoft Exchange: Enter your name, username, domain (optional), password, and optional description in the New Account screen, and then tap Next in the upper-right corner to move on to the Exchange account’s settings screen. Microsoft’s Autodiscovery service kicks in to check your user name and password to determine the address of the Exchange server. If it can’t find the server’s address, a dialog appears for you to enter it — enter the complete address in the Server field and tap Save.

• Other: Tap Add Mail Account on the Other screen for an IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol) or POP (Post Office Protocol) account — ask your email service provider if you don’t know which type you use. The New Account screen appears; enter your name, username, password, and an optional description, and then tap Save in the upper-right corner to save account information. The iPhone searches for the account on the Internet and displays the New Account settings screen.

5. Set your mail account settings in the New Account settings screen as follows:

• iCloud or Exchange: Turn on any or all of the items you want to sync: Mail, Contacts, Calendars, and Safari for bookmarks (iCloud only). If you sync contacts, calendars, or bookmarks using your iCloud or Exchange account, syncing them in iTunes is turned off. Any contacts, calendars, and bookmarks on your iPhone are replaced by the iCloud or Exchange account versions. For Exchange, you can set how many days of email you want to sync. Tap Save in the upper-right corner to finish and save your settings.

• Other: Tap IMAP or POP on the New Account settings screen, depending on the type of email account you have. Then enter or edit the existing account information (get this information from your service provider if you don’t know):
  • Your email address
  • The host name for your incoming mail server (for example, mail.example.com) along with your username and password for incoming mail
  • The host name for your outgoing mail server (for example, smtp.example.com) along with your username and password for outgoing mail

6. When the Sync or Cancel warning appears for iCloud or Exchange accounts, tap Sync (or Cancel). After tapping the Sync button, iCloud or Exchange overwrites any existing contacts, calendars, and bookmarks on your iPhone (or the subset of these that you chose in Step 5). After syncing, the Mail, Contacts, Calendars settings screen appears with the new account listed in the Accounts section.

7. Tap Fetch New Data on the Mail, Contacts, Calendars settings screen, and set your Push and Fetch settings.

That’s it, your iPod touch or iPhone syncs automatically from this point on.

To delete an email account from your iPod touch or iPhone, choose Settings>Mail, Contacts, Calendars from the Home screen, and then tap the account in the Accounts section. Scroll down and tap Delete Account. Deleting an email account from the iPod touch or iPhone doesn’t delete it from your computer.

Changing Email Account Settings Manually

You may want to change your email account settings on your iPod touch or iPhone manually, just to turn off the account temporarily, or to change what happens when you delete messages and save drafts of new messages.

To turn off email accounts or change account settings, choose Settings>Mail, Contacts, Calendars from from the Home screen. The Mail, Contacts, Calendars settings screen appears with the Accounts section at the top. Touch an email account to see that account’s settings screen.

Tip: Changes you make to accounts are not transferred back to your computer when you synchronize, so it’s safe to make changes without affecting email account settings on your computer.

The settings are different depending on the type of email account you’re using. To adjust email server settings, touch Host Name, User Name, or Password under Incoming Mail Server or Outgoing Mail Server. Ask your network administrator or Internet service provider for the correct settings.

You can turn off the account (without deleting it) by choosing an account and tapping the On button next to Account at the top of the screen to turn it Off. (Tap Off to turn the account back On). After you turn off an account, the Mail app stops checking or sending email with that account and doesn’t display it in its list of accounts — until you turn the account back on in the Mail, Contacts, Calendars setting screen.

Mail offers advanced settings for POP and IMAP accounts as well as for iCloud, AOL, and other popular accounts.

For POP accounts: Touch the account in the Accounts section of the Mail, Contacts, Calendars settings screen, and then touch Advanced at the bottom of the account’s settings screen to change the following advanced settings:

• Use security (SSL) and password settings: Ask your network administrator or Internet service provider about whether your email account uses SSL; if it does, turn on SSL by touching the Off button so that it changes to On.

• Authentication: Ask your network administrator or Internet service provider about whether your email account requires authentication and which type of authentication; if it does, touch Authentication and choose the method required — MD5 Challenge-Response, NTLM, HTTP MD5 Digest, or Password.

• Delete from server: Decide when deleted messages should be removed permanently from your iPhone. Your options are Never, Seven Days, or When Removed from Inbox.

• Server Port: Set your server port, which must be provided by your network administrator or Internet service provider.

For IMAP, iCloud, AOL, and other popular accounts: Touch the account in the Accounts section of the Mail, Contacts, Calendars settings, and then touch Account Info to change the email account’s Name, Address, Password, Description, and Outgoing Mail Server.

Touch Advanced in the Account Info screen to change the following advanced settings:

• Mailbox Behaviors: In the Mailbox Behaviors section of the Advanced settings screen, choose
  • Drafts Mailbox to set whether drafts are stored on your iPhone, or remotely on your email server. If you store drafts on your iPhone, you can view and edit them even without connecting to the Internet.
  • Sent Mailbox to set whether sent messages are stored on your iPhone, or remotely on your email server.
  • Deleted Mailbox to set whether deleted messages are immediately trashed or saved remotely on your email server.

• Deleted Messages: Decide when deleted messages should be removed permanently from your iPhone. Touch Remove and then choose a time. Your options are Never, After One Day, After One Week, or After One Month.

• Incoming Settings: You can turn SSL on or off and set the Authentication method. You can also set an IMAP Path Prefix and change your server port.

Tip: To delete an email account from your iPod touch or iPhone, choose Settings>Mail, Contacts, Calendars from the Home screen, and then tap the account in the Accounts section. Scroll down and tap Delete Account. Deleting an email account from the iPhone doesn’t delete it from your computer.

Using Bluetooth

Bluetooth headsets are useful for talking on the iPhone hands-free, especially while driving.

You must pair a Bluetooth headset with an iPhone (or iPod touch) before you can use it. See the section below on pairing a headset with your iPhone.

To turn on Bluetooth support in your iPhone or iPod touch, choose Settings>Bluetooth, and then touch the Off button to turn Bluetooth On. (Touch On to turn it back Off when not using a Bluetooth device, to conserve battery power.)

After turning Bluetooth on, the iPhone or iPod touch searches for Bluetooth devices paired with it. Your iPhone or iPod touch must be within about 30 feet of the Bluetooth device for it to be connected wirelessly. If your Bluetooth device is properly paired, your iPhone should find it and display its name, such as “iPhone Bluetooth Headset”. To learn how to pair your device to the iPhone or iPod touch, see the next section.

After establishing connection, outgoing calls are routed through the Bluetooth device. Incoming calls are routed through the device if you answer using the device, and through the iPhone if you answer using the iPhone’s Answer button.

During a call, you can switch to the Bluetooth device by touching the Audio button.

The Apple iPhone Bluetooth Headset is a popular model, emulated by other Bluetooth devices. It automatically pairs with an iPhone when you connect the iPhone and the headset to the iPhone Bluetooth Travel Cable, and then connect the cable to your computer to sync your iPhone with iTunes.

Pairing a headset with your iPhone or iPod touch: The Apple iPhone Bluetooth Headset automatically pairs with an iPhone or iPod touch when you connect the iPhone or iPod touch and the headset to the iPhone Bluetooth Travel Cable. Many other Bluetooth devices also work the same way. The Travel Cable offers a dock connector at one end with a special headset connector, and a USB 2 connector on the other end to go into your computer.

The headset itself is a black and silver device that connects to the Travel Cable’s special headset connector near the dock connector (along with your iPhone).

The first time you connect it, you should leave it connected to the Travel Cable and to your computer (along with your iPhone or iPod touch) to charge it with power for about an hour — until the status light on the headset turns green.

After pairing to your iPhone or iPod touch, finish your iPhone sync operation (or wait until it’s finished), then eject your iPhone or iPod touch from iTunes.

Tip: You can also pair your Apple iPhone Bluetooth Headset or other Bluetooth device manually if you don’t have the Travel Cable. Press and hold the headset button for about eight seconds — keep pressing during the startup tones — until you hear five quick high beeps. The headset is now “discoverable” for about five minutes — the status light blinks green to indicate this.

For other Bluetooth devices such as headsets and car kits, follow the instructions that came with the device to make it discoverable or to set it to search for other Bluetooth devices. You may have to choose the device on the iPhone or iPod touch and enter its passkey or PIN number — see the instructions about the passkey or PIN that came with the device (use the PIN number 0000 for the Apple iPhone Bluetooth Headset).

To use a different Bluetooth device from the current one you are using, you must first unpair the current one. Choose Settings>Bluetooth and turn Bluetooth On. Then choose the device and touch Unpair.

Establishing connection: The Bluetooth device then needs to establish a connection wirelessly to the iPhone or iPod touch after pairing, in order to make or answer calls. Follow the instructions that came with it to turn on the device and establish a connection. Make sure the device is less than 30 feet away from the iPhone or iPod touch. Also make sure that Bluetooth support is turned on: Choose Settings>Bluetooth, and then touch the Off button to turn Bluetooth On.

Next, turn on the Bluetooth device to establish wireless connection with the iPhone or iPod touch. To turn on the iPhone Bluetooth Headset, hold its button down for three seconds, or until you hear four rising tones or see the status light blink green. After the iPhone discovers the paired Bluetooth device, it shows the device in the Bluetooth screen.

Making and answering calls: Put the headset in your ear with the microphone end closer to your mouth:

Use the volume buttons on the side of the iPhone to adjust the volume of the Bluetooth headset.

Tip: You can check to see if the headset is on by pressing its button — the status light should blink green and you should hear a beep. If for some reason the headset loses its connection, you hear two low beeps.

To turn off the iPhone Bluetooth Headset, press and hold the button for four seconds, or until you hear the descending tones or see the status light blink amber.

You can start a phone call on your iPhone in the usual manner.

To receive a call, press the button on top of the headset. To finish the call, press the button again.

If you answer a call by touching the iPhone, the call is routed to the iPhone instead of the Bluetooth headset. You can switch to the Bluetooth headset by touching the Audio button.

To decline an incoming call (and route it directly to voicemail), press the headset button for one second, or until you hear a beep.

To put the current call on hold and accept an incoming call, press the headset button quickly. To switch to the incoming call and end the current call, press and hold the headset button for one second, or until you hear a beep.

To switch to hearing calls through the iPhone, turn the headset off. If you are in the middle of a call, touch the Audio button.

Charging the Bluetooth device battery: If you hear a long beep every ten seconds, it means your iPhone Bluetooth Headset is running out of juice (other Bluetooth models may also behave similarly).

To charge the iPhone Bluetooth Headset, connect it to the iPhone Bluetooth Travel Cable, and then connect the cable to your computer or to a USB power adapter. The headset status light turns amber when charging, and light green when completely charged.

Tip: If you connect your iPhone to the Travel Cable while the Bluetooth Headset is also connected, the iPhone screen shows the headset’s battery level.

It takes about an hour and a half to fully recharge a completely empty battery. Other Bluetooth devices vary in battery recharging time.

Using Utilities to Copy Files and Music

The iPad, iPod, and iPhone have spawned a thriving industry of third-party accessories and products. Some of the most useful products are utility programs that expand the capabilities of an iPad, iPod, or iPhone or your ability to synchronize or otherwise copy information to (and from) an iPad, iPod, or iPhone. Full-featured programs have even been designed as replacements for iTunes. With so many programs to check out, you might be overwhelmed. I selected some of the best programs for Mac and Windows (as of this writing).

Mac utilities

Third-party offerings for Mac have focused on extending the capabilities of an iPod, such as copying music from an iPod to a computer and updating an iPod with contacts and calendar information. Some have extended those capabilities to work with an iPhone or iPad. Check out the following:

• iPod Access: This comprehensive utility lets you transfer songs from an iPod or iPhone to a Mac (Windows version also available) with song information and iTunes ratings. Loaded with features, iPod Access supports On-The-Go playlists and playing music and video directly from an iPod or iPhone.
• Senuti: This program lets you copy songs to your computer from your iPod or iPhone. You can search for songs and even play songs directly from your iPod or iPhone with the program. Senuti reads the playlists on your iPod or iPhone and lets you to transfer them to your computer. You can also automatically add songs to your iTunes library.
• iPodRip: This third-party utility, available from The Little App Factory, lets you transfer music from your iPod or iPhone to your iTunes library and listen to music on your iPod or iPhone through your computer (saving hard drive space). It supports all iPod song formats, including MP3, AAC, Protected AAC, and Audible.com books.
• YamiPod: Yet Another Manager for iPod (YAMiPod, get it?) is a freeware application that lets you copy music files from your iPod to your computer and vice versa. It can copy playlists, really simple syndication (RSS) news feeds, and podcasts; and synchronize your iPod with computers running Mac OS X, Windows, or Linux. You can run it directly from your iPod.
• Xilisoft iPad to Mac Transfer: Xilisoft iPad to Mac Transfer can back up iPad videos and music to your Mac, as well as copy files from your iPad to your iTunes library. Photos and videos recorded on your iPad can be exported.
• DiskAid: DiskAid transfers music and video from any iPhone, iPod, or iPad back to your iTunes library or any location on your computer (Windows version also available). DiskAid also transfers text messages (SMS), contacts, notes, voicemail, call history, and voice memos to your computer. It enables to use your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch as an external mass storage device — and with an iPhone file browser like FileApp installed, files and documents can easily being accessed.

Windows utilities

Many third-party programs exist for Windows, and they do everything from extending the capabilities of an iPod, iPhone, or iPad and updating contacts and calendar information to replacing the need for iTunes itself.

• iPod Access: This comprehensive utility lets you transfer songs from an iPod or iPhone to a Mac (Mac version also available) with song information and iTunes ratings. Loaded with features, iPod Access supports On-The-Go playlists and playing music and video directly from an iPod or iPhone.
• DiskAid: DiskAid transfers music and video from any iPhone, iPod, or iPad back to your iTunes library or any location on your computer (Mac version also available). DiskAid also transfers text messages (SMS), contacts, notes, voicemail, call history, and voice memos to your computer. It enables to use your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch as an external mass storage device — and with an iPhone file browser like FileApp installed, files and documents can easily being accessed.
• CopyTrans: CopyTrans is the ultimate iPod, iPad, and iPhone to PC transfer tool for Windows. It transfers music, videos, podcasts, TV shows, movies, ringtones from your iPod/iPad/iPhone to your PC and also directly in iTunes. Playlists, artworks, ratings and more are also transferred.
• YamiPod: Yet Another Manager for iPod (YAMiPod, get it?) is a freeware application that lets you copy music files from your iPod to your computer and vice versa. It can copy playlists, really simple syndication (RSS) news feeds, and podcasts; and synchronize your iPod with computers running Mac OS X, Windows, or Linux. You can run it directly from your iPod.
• Media SOS: Media SOS makes it easy to copy photos, music and videos from an iPod, iPhone, or iPad to your Windows computer. You can copy your content to your iTunes library or to any location on your computer.