One of the tidbits about HomePod that can be gleaned easily from Apple's refreshed website and today's press release announcing the device's February 9 availability is the fact that the Siri-driven smart speaker won't take phone calls at launch.
Handoff
WWDC app gains Handoff support, better Apple TV navigation & more
Apple's official WWDC app for iPhone, iPad and Apple TV was updated Friday with several new features, including support for the company's Handoff technology allowing you to easily move between iOS devices and Safari on macOS.
How to add Continuity features to older Macs
Most of our readers will be familiar by now with Apple's Continuity suite, a slew of features which were introduced with iOS 8 and OS X Yosemite. These features include Instant Hotspot, a new AirDrop, SMS/Phone calls from Mac, and Handoff. With macOS Sierra and iOS 10, they added Auto Unlock and Universal Clipboard to the group.
The catch is of course that making use of these features requires certain hardware. Therefore, Macs from before about 2010/11 appear not to support some or all of the new functionality. However, it turns out there is a way to enable Continuity on your older hardware. In this guide we'll go through how to do it.
Chrome Handoff: a new tweak that enables Handoff for Chrome
Google Chrome fans that enjoy using Handoff to create a seamless experience between their iOS device and their Mac have been long disappointed in the third-party web browser's inability to support such a feature.
Fortunately, those sporting a device with a jailbreak can now take advantage of a new free jailbreak tweak called Chrome Handoff, which will enable Handoff for Chrome between your iOS device(s) and Mac. In this piece, we'll show you how it works!
Troubleshooting Continuity issues on iOS and Mac
Continuity and Handoff are features built into your iOS devices and Macs that allow the devices to work more seamlessly together. With Continuity, you have instant access to a personal hotspot on demand, the ability to send and receive SMS messages and to make and take phone calls from your Mac, and the ability to pick up where you left off on one device from another.
Although they can work well at times, there is always the lingering chance that the functionality may not work right for you or connectivity may be flaky. In this piece, we'll go over several troubleshooting steps you can take if your Continuity and Handoff experience isn't going as expected.
Readdle updates PDF Expert with Handoff support and other enhancements
Readdle, the Ukrainian developer of fine productivity software, has refreshed its PDF management and annotation app, PDF Expert for OS X and PDF Expert for iOS, with support for Apple's Handoff technology.
With Handoff, PDF Expert users can start editing a PDF document on their iPhone or iPad and then continue right where they left off on their Mac, and vice versa.
In addition, today's update includes half a dozen enhancements like the ability to select part of a document and crop or copy it.
Apple releases OS X 10.11.2 El Capitan update
Following an extensive testing, Apple on Tuesday released OS X 10.11.2 (build number 15C50), the second major update to El Capitan, for public consumption. In addition to improving the stability, compatibility and security of your Mac, OS X 10.11.2 improves iCloud Photo Sharing for Live Photos, as well as the reliability of Wi-Fi networking, Handoff and AirDrop.
Moreover, the software update includes fixes for Bluetooth devices disconnecting on a whim, the Mail app deleting messages in an offline Exchange account and problems with importing photos from an iPhone to a Mac using a USB cable.
How to enable or disable Handoff on Apple Watch
Learn how to use Handoff on your Apple Watch to move what you're doing on your wrist to the bigger screen of your iPhone, iPad, or Mac.
How to use Handoff to move between Apple Watch and iPhone
Handoff—a feature that allows you to quickly move between devices and pickup right where you left off—first appeared with iOS 8 and OS X Yosemite. It allowed you to seamlessly move between an iPhone and an iPad, and iPhone and a Mac, Mac and an iPad, etc.
Unsurprisingly, Handoff is now available on the small screen with Apple Watch. It will allow you to do things like check email on Apple Watch, and seamlessly switch to your iPhone to has out a reply. Have a look at our tutorial inside for a walkthrough on how it works.
Meet Flow, Samsung’s cool take on Apple’s Continuity and Handoff features
OS X Yosemite and iOS 8 have brought out a set of features dubbed Continuity which allow users to easily transition between their Macs and iOS devices without skipping a beat. Now Samsung has responded with a feature of its own.
They're calling it Flow and it's pretty cool. With Flow, you can change devices in the midst of an activity or pause an activity until you're ready.
Now available in beta as a free download from the Google Play Store, Flow currently supports select Samsung tablets and smartphones: the Galaxy S5, Galaxy S6, Galaxy S6 Edge, Galaxy Alpha, Note 4, Note Edge and the Galaxy Tab S.
Foursquare for iOS enables Handoff with Mac, brings Citymapper directions
Foursquare, the world's top crowd-sourced local search and discovery service and mobile app, has pushed a refresh to its iPhone and iPad places-discovery application available at no cost in the App Store.
Among other new features, Foursquar 8.1 enables Handoff support between iOS and the Mac and lets you easily access Citymapper from the app. For those wondering, Citymapper is a fast-growing, real-time transit service available on the iPhone and coming to the Apple Watch next month.
Continuity Keypad adds a beautiful phone dialer to OS X Yosemite
Out of all the features that Apple introduced with OS X Yosemite, Continuity is one of the most convenient and useful. With its ability to handoff apps between devices, make and receive phone calls, and send SMS messages from the desktop, Continuity has become one of the most-used features of OS X Yosemite. But despite its newfound call-handling features, Yosemite lacks a dialer for quickly making phone calls to numbers not in your address book, and that's where Continuity Keypad comes into play.