One of the genuine pleasures of using Apple devices together is the way they share things effortlessly once set up correctly. A surprising number of people who have owned Apple devices for years are not using any of these features.
AirDrop — Send Anything to Any Nearby Device
Share files, photos, links wirelessly between nearby Apple devices — no email, no cable, no cloud service. Select a file on your Mac, click Share, choose AirDrop, select the target device. It arrives in seconds. Both devices need WiFi and Bluetooth on. They do not need to be on the same WiFi network. Set AirDrop to Contacts Only: Finder → AirDrop → Allow me to be discovered by: Contacts Only.
Handoff — Continue What You Were Doing
Start an email on iPhone — your Mac shows an icon in the Dock to continue it there. Start a Safari page on Mac — your iPhone can open the same page. Enable: System Settings → General → AirPlay & Handoff → Handoff: On. Same on iPhone: Settings → General → AirPlay & Handoff. Both devices need the same Apple ID.
Universal Clipboard — Copy on One Device, Paste on Another
Copy something on your iPhone. Paste it on your Mac. Immediately. No deliberate action beyond the copy and paste you would have used anyway. Enabled by the same Handoff setting. Both devices need to be on the same WiFi.
iCloud Photos — All Your Photos, On All Your Devices
Take a photo in Lagos old town on iPhone. Open Photos on Mac. It is there within a minute. Edit on Mac — the edit appears on iPhone. Enable on all devices: Settings → [Your Name] → iCloud → Photos.
Sidecar — iPad as a Second Screen
Use your iPad as a second screen wirelessly. Control Centre → Screen Mirroring → select your iPad. Useful in Lagos where a permanent second monitor may not be practical.
Apple devices not talking to each other as they should?
Setting up the Apple ecosystem correctly takes about thirty minutes and makes every device significantly more useful. I do this for clients in Lagos regularly. Same day, in your language.
Get it set up →