Things You Need to Know Before Moving to a New iPhone

Things You Need to Know Before Moving to a New iPhone

Are you among the millions of people planning to get a new iPhone 15? It’s exciting, we know, but don’t move too fast when getting started with your new iPhone, or you might cause yourself headaches. Instead, follow these instructions when you’re ready to transfer your data—and, for many people, much of your digital life—to the new iPhone. Apple also has a series of videos you can watch.

1.    Update your old iPhone to the latest version of iOS. If you have an Apple Watch, update it to the latest version of watchOS. This process can take some time, so it may be best done overnight before you move data to your new iPhone.

2.    Make sure you know your Apple ID and password, and if you have an Apple Watch, its passcode. You will likely have to enter them at least once during this process.

3. Make a backup of your old iPhone toiCloudor yourMac. (If you back up to a Mac, be sure toencrypt the backup, or else it won’t include saved passwords, Wi-Fi settings, browsing history, Health data, and call history.) Or back up to both, for safety’s sake. We prefer iCloud backups because they’re easier and don’t introduce additional variables, like flaky USB cables. Apple will even give youtemporary iCloud storageto make a backup when moving to a new iPhone. To initiate an iCloud backup, go to Settings >Your Name> iCloud > iCloud Backup and tap Back Up Now.

4.    If you have an Apple Watch, you shouldn’t have to unpair it from your old iPhone to transfer it to the new one, but if the automatic transfer doesn’t work, you can unpair it manually and pair it again later. (If you take the manual route and have a cellular Apple Watch, you’ll be asked if you want to keep or remove your plan. Assuming that you’re keeping your Apple Watch to re-pair with your new iPhone, keep the plan.)

5.    You shouldn’t need to worry about transferring a SIM card. If you order through Apple and connect to your cellular carrier account during purchase, activating the new iPhone should cause it to take over your phone number. The same should be true if you purchase directly through your carrier. Besides, it’s likely that iPhone 15 models sold in the US will rely on eSIM and lack SIM trays like the iPhone 14, so only non-US users might need to transfer the SIM card from the old iPhone to the new one. Even then, it’s better to contact your carrier and get them to activate the new SIM in the new iPhone because old SIMs don’t always support all current cellular features, such as full 5G support.

6.    Transfer your data, settings, apps, and purchased content in one of these three ways. None of them will be quick, despite the first one’s name, so do the transfer when you have time:

• Quick Start: With the Quick Start feature, content from your old iPhone copies directly from your old iPhone to your new one. We recommend this technique because it’s more likely to preserve app logins, something that’s less true when restoring from an iCloud backup. Put your iPhones next to each other (plugged into power), use the old iPhone to scan the animation on the new one, and then follow the rest of the steps.
  
  

○     iCloud: With this technique, the new iPhone will download your content from your old iPhone’s iCloud backup. Once you’ve joined a Wi-Fi network on the new iPhone and tapped the Restore from iCloud Backup button, you’ll have to select the correct backup—likely the most recent one you just made. Keep your new iPhone plugged into power the entire time to ensure that all your content syncs during this step.

○     Finder or iTunes: With this approach, you’ll restore your old iPhone’s content from a backup made to your Mac. Connect your new iPhone to your Mac using an appropriate cable, open a Finder window (or iTunes on an old Mac), select your device, click Restore Backup, and choose the appropriate backup—likely the most recent one.

7.    Perform post-transfer tasks. Ensure that you can make and receive a phone call. If necessary, pair your Apple Watch with the new iPhone. You’ll also need to pair your Bluetooth accessories—including AirPods—with your new iPhone. Plus, some app data needs to sync to your new iPhone, so open the Mail, Contacts, and Calendar apps and check if they have your data. It could take a few minutes for them to fill up. Apps may request notification permissions again, and you may need to download content and in-app purchases.

8.    Finally, and this post-transfer task is becoming increasingly important, if you use two-factor authentication with an app like 1Password, Authy, or Google Authenticator, ensure you can get your 2FA codes using your new iPhone. 1Password and Authy are good about providing access to your 2FA codes from multiple devices—just log in to your account from each device—but Google Authenticator may require some additional setup since it didn’t originally offer any way to transfer codes to a new phone.

Although Apple works hard to make the process of transferring from an old iPhone to a new one as painless as possible, some things may fail to transfer seamlessly. For that reason, we strongly recommend holding onto your old iPhone for a week or so to ensure the new one can do everything the old one could. During that time, put the new iPhone through its paces with an eye toward checking every app you need.

(Featured image by iStock.com/Jozsef Zoltan Varga)

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Social Media: It’s exciting to get a new iPhone, but take a few minutes to read our advice on what you need to do before—and after—transferring your data from your old iPhone.

Web Workers of the World, Give Arc a Try

Web Workers of the World, Give Arc a Try

Although Web browsers have added productivity features over the years, most have not been overhauled to support modern usage patterns. We have bulging bookmarks bars, tabs by the trillions, and inefficient habits like using searches to load even regularly used websites. Arc, an innovative new Web browser for the Mac from The Browser Company, addresses these issues and could radically improve your productivity. It is a free download.

Based on Chromium, the open-source foundation under Google Chrome, Arc is in some ways a more capable, more attractive version of Chrome. It supports Chrome extensions, and Web apps designed to perform best in Chrome run equally well in Arc.​

Spaces Give You Room to Work

What sets Arc apart from Chrome—and all other browsers—is how it enables users to organize their work into Spaces. Spaces are color-coded sidebars for different types of activities, so you can set them up based on what distinctions make sense to you. You might have Spaces for home and work, and perhaps another for a club or hobby. You could put all your news reading and social media into a Space or make a Space for financial or healthcare websites. If you’re a freelancer or consultant, you could create a Space for each client, and each Space can have its own Profile that maintains separate logins, history, saved passwords, extensions, and more.

Space Sidebars Hold Pinned Tabs and Regular Tabs

Spaces are only the start of the clever ways Arc helps you focus on your work and load Web pages more efficiently. Each Space sidebar hosts its own persistent pinned tabs for Web apps, sites, and pages. Once you are logged in to a website and have a page open that you return to often, you can make that into a pinned tab—after which you can return to it with one click. Optional folders can hold related pinned tabs for additional organization.

You can change the name and icon of pinned tabs so they’re easier to differentiate. A click on a pinned tab’s icon takes you back to the original pinned URL if necessary, and Control-clicking a pinned tab lets you update a pinned tab’s incorrect URL rather than recreating it. For example, if a pinned tab takes you to a website’s public home page, you should update it with the personalized dashboard page you see after logging in.

Think of pinned tabs as better bookmarks—they’re always visible in the sidebar rather than hidden in a menu, and you can switch among pinned tabs fluidly without losing your place, whereas using bookmarks constantly creates new tabs interspersed with all the old ones. If switching back and forth between two tabs is clumsy, for example, while you’re writing in one tab and researching in another, you can open them in Arc’s Split View. Option-click any tab to add it to a Split View; press Command-W to close the active tab.

Of course, many tabs don’t need to be persistent, and below your pinned tabs, you’ll see standard tabs that work like regular tabs in other browsers. Arc’s innovation here is that it automatically archives these tabs after a user-specified time to prevent tab overload.

For those who work on multiple Macs, Arc syncs your setup instantly between devices, ensuring that you can stop working on your iMac and pick up later on your MacBook Air without reloading tabs and finding sites. You need to set up an account for syncing and reporting bugs, but Arc has a solid privacy policy.

When a Tab Is Too Much: Peeks and Little Arc

Arc understands that you often need to read a Web page only briefly. By default, when you are working in a pinned tab, if you click a link to another site, Arc opens it in a Peek—a sort of overlaid window (below left)—that you can close after reading or retain as a standard tab.

Another default setting opens links clicked in other Mac apps in Little Arc, a sidebar-free browser window that provides a focused look at a page without distracting you with everything else that’s open in Arc (below right). Again, when you’re done, you close the Little Arc window or open it in a Space.

Arc Allows Many Usage Styles

Like any good Mac app, it’s easy to use the mouse to get around, but Arc is wired with many easily discovered keyboard shortcuts that help increase productivity—it’s one of those apps that offers a lot to users who take the time to master a few nuances.

For example, to open a new tab in Arc, you can just click the New Tab item in the current Space’s sidebar to open the Command Bar and then type your URL or web search. Press Command-T also opens the Command Bar. Once you get used to using the Command Bar to search the Web, note that you can also type words in the name of an Arc command (try “downloads” to access the View Downloads command) to issue it quickly—this is often faster than looking for the command in Arc’s menus.

Another particularly useful keyboard shortcut is Control-Tab. Press it to switch back and forth between your two most recent tabs, or pause briefly to display a graphical switcher with the five most recent tabs—it works just like the Mac’s Command-Tab app switcher.

Arc offers many other clever shortcuts: One of our favorites is pressing Command-Option-N to open the Command Bar from within any app, generating a Little Arc window with the results. You can also press Command-Shift-C to copy the current page’s URL. This is great when your boss asks you to “toss me that URL in the chat” while in a video call. Bloggers will love pressing Command-Shift-Option-C to copy the current URL in Markdown format. And then there’s Command-Option-V, which creates a new tab from the contents of the clipboard, either by loading a URL or performing a search.

If Arc’s default keystrokes don’t work for you, you can customize them to be more memorable, with settings that control whether Arc or a website gets preference for conflicting shortcuts.

Arc Goes Beyond Basic Web Browsing

Arc has a few genuinely unusual features that we are enjoying experimenting with.

Boosts:A graphical editor lets you change how any website looks whenever you load it, enabling you to tweak website colors, fonts, font sizes, and more. You can even delete particular interface elements. Along with fun uses and fixing sites with significant design lapses,Boostsare an accessibility win, letting users with vision issues adjust websites for easier reading. A Boost Gallery lets you see what others have done.

Easels: A Capture command lets you take a snapshot of a portion of a Web page and add it to an Easel, a collaborative digital whiteboard you can share with other users. Captures can be static images that link back to their original pages—helpful for creating a mood board or for comparisons in online shopping—or HTML snippets that act like live windows into their original sites.

Getting Started with Arc

The main hurdle in adopting Arc is figuring out how best to use it. Be sure to import from your current browser when you first launch it, and then set up a few Spaces and organize your old bookmarks into pinned tabs. (Just drag a tab above the divider in the sidebar to pin it.) In a day or two, you should see how having your regularly used sites lined up in the sidebar for quick access saves time and makes you more productive.

Currently, Arc runs only on the Mac (macOS 12 Monterey and later), although The Browser Company makes an Arc Mobile Companion app for the iPhone and iPad. It’s not yet a full-fledged browser, but it syncs your Spaces and pinned tabs, making it easy to access your most-used sites on the go. A Windows version of Arc is in beta.

(Featured image based on an original by iStock.com/Bussarin Rinchumrus)

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Social Media: An elegant new browser called Arc makes using the Web more fun, especially for people who use a lot of websites and Web apps. Arc offers many productivity features and a rethink of how users can best organize their many bookmarks and tabs.

Legitimately Worried That You’re Being Targeted Online? Try Lockdown Mode

Legitimately Worried That You’re Being Targeted Online? Try Lockdown Mode

Most people fall into one of two extremes when it comes to device security. Many believe they’re not interesting enough to be targeted by online attackers and thus don’t take sensible precautions, like making sure every website account is protected with a strong, unique password. (Most attacks these days are bots, so whether you’re interesting is irrelevant.) Then there are those who see a bogeyman around every corner and refuse to use a password manager or biometric authentication because of misplaced concerns about the security of the stored data. (Really, it’s OK.)

Today we want to focus instead on a very small third group: those who, because of who they are or what they do, have a legitimate reason to fear being targeted by sophisticated digital attacks. Such people might include activists trying to raise awareness about human rights abuses in oppressive regimes, political dissidents, muckraking journalists covering organized crime or government corruption, senior executives in controversial business fields, high-profile government officials, and government employees with access to sensitive information.

For such people, using a password manager and relying on biometric authentication is table stakes. Government intelligence and law enforcement agencies often employ hacking software like Pegasus, which can be installed on target iPhones through zero-click exploits such as simply receiving a malicious text message. Pegasus can read text messages, snoop on calls, collect passwords, track location, access the iPhone’s camera and microphone, and harvest information from apps. Plus, both government agencies and organized crime rings employ hackers to target high-profile targets directly, often through social engineering (pretending to be someone they’re not to gain access to an account or device).

Apple is well aware of the risk to high-value individuals. In November 2021, the company filed a lawsuit against Pegasus maker NSO Group. More practically, Apple introduced Lockdown Mode in iOS 16, iPadOS 16, and macOS 13 Ventura, significantly reducing the attack surface that spyware or hackers could exploit by limiting or blocking specific apps, websites, and features.

Lockdown Mode Limitations

Before we explain how to turn on Lockdown Mode, it’s vital that you understand how it limits your Apple devices:

●     Messages: Most message attachment types are blocked other than certain images, video, and audio. Lockdown Mode also blocks links and link previews.

●     Web browsing: Safari blocks complex Web technologies, potentially causing some websites to load slowly or not operate correctly. It may also block Web fonts and images, so sites may not display as designed.

●     FaceTime: Incoming FaceTime calls are blocked unless you have previously called that person.

●     Apple services: Invitations to Apple services, such as invitations to join the Home app, are blocked unless you have previously invited that person.

●     Shared albums: Shared albums disappear entirely from the Photos app, and shared album invitations are blocked.

●     Device connections: If you want to connect an iPhone or iPad to a computer or accessory, the device must first be unlocked. Similarly, connecting an M-series Mac laptop to an accessory requires explicit approval.

●     Configuration profiles: Lockdown Mode prevents you from installing configuration profiles, and the device can’t be enrolled in Mobile Device Management.

The inconvenience these restrictions create is well worth the protection Lockdown Mode provides if you’re a sufficiently high-value target. But for the vast majority of Apple users, Lockdown Mode’s limitations would just cause confusion and annoyance.

Turning on Lockdown Mode

First, note that you must enable Lockdown Mode on each of your devices separately.

To enable Lockdown Mode on an iPhone or iPad, go to Settings > Privacy & Security > Lockdown Mode (at the bottom) and tap Turn On Lockdown Mode on two separate screens. For the last step, tap Turn On & Restart, and enter your passcode.

Once your iPhone restarts, it will work mostly the way you expect, apart from the above limitations. You may see notifications when an app has been limited in some way, and a banner appears in Safari to let you know you’re in Lockdown Mode.

On a Mac, turn on Lockdown Mode by going to System Settings > Privacy & Security. Scroll down to Lockdown Mode and click Turn On. Authenticate, then click Turn On & Restart.

As with the iPhone and iPad, Lockdown Mode mainly makes its presence known by displaying a banner in Safari; you may also receive notifications when an app or feature is limited.

Allow Certain Apps or Websites in Lockdown Mode

If you discover that a particular app or website isn’t operating correctly in Lockdown Mode, you can exclude it from Lockdown Mode’s protections. You’ll have to decide if it’s worth the added risk. To manage exceptions on the iPhone or iPad, go to Settings > Privacy & Security > Lockdown Mode. Then scroll to the bottom, tap Configure Web Browsing, and on the next screen, turn off the switch for the desired app.

To exclude websites from Lockdown Mode, use Safari. Tap the AA button in the address bar, disable the Lockdown Mode switch, and tap Turn Off. The Lockdown banner changes to Lockdown Off to make sure you know that website is no longer being limited for your protection.

On the Mac, you can exclude websites in Safari, but not apps. While on the site you want to exclude, choose Safari > Settings for website.name. In the popover that appears, deselect Enable Lockdown Mode and then click Turn Off when prompted.

To reiterate, almost no one needs to enable Lockdown Mode. But if you qualify as a high-value target, it’s well worth using Lockdown Mode to reduce the chances that powerful forces will be able to compromise your iPhone, iPad, or Mac.

(Featured image based on originals by iStock.com/Tero Vesalainen and matias giamportone)

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Social Media: High-value targets like activists, journalists, and government employees with access to sensitive information should consider enabling Lockdown Mode on their Apple devices to protect against hacking or spying by sophisticated digital attackers.