OS X

Disable Mac App Store password prompts for 15 minutes after a purchase

Anthony Bouchard ∙ Updated April 15, 2021

Have you ever went on an app downloading spree in the Mac App Store only to find that it was going to ask for your password every time you wanted to download a paid app on your Mac?

If you're the only user on your Mac, then you probably don't want to or need to be bothered with having to enter your password each and every time.

Instead, macOS includes a feature that lets you disable password prompts for additional purchases for up to 15 minutes following your first Mac App Store purchase in a succession. We'll show you how to configure this feature in this tutorial.

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Importing data to Safari from another web browser

Anthony Bouchard ∙ Updated July 24, 2019

Love it or hate it, Apple's Safari is a zippy web browser that performs well on the Mac, and it continues to get more and more competitive with other web browser platforms.

Since Apple wants you to use Safari on your Mac, it's a no-brainer they're going to make it easier to migrate your web data from one web browser to another.

In this tutorial, we're going to show you how to import bookmarks to Safari, along with your other web data, from a different web browser.

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macOS Sierra preview: Auto Unlock your Mac with your Apple Watch

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated April 25, 2023

Auto Unlock, a new feature in macOS Sierra, gives you instant access to your Mac when you’re wearing an Apple Watch. As its marketing name suggest, Auto Unlock is seamless. You simply wake your Mac from sleep while wearing your watch, and boom—just like that, you’re logged in and ready to go, no password typing required. Here's our entertaining video walkthrough of Auto Unlock and a detailed overview of the feature for those interested in its inner workings and intricacies.

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Customizing the toolbar in your Mac’s Preview app

Anthony Bouchard ∙ July 4, 2016

Every Mac has the Preview app installed on it from the factory, and it's the default app for opening many kinds of image file types, including PDF files.

Of course, the app has much more to offer than meets the eyes, and today we'll talk about how you can customize the app's toolbar to give yourself a little more functionality at a glance.

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Pro tip: make an applet that quits all opened Mac apps instantly

Anthony Bouchard ∙ Updated January 19, 2023

Those of you with Macs know that you can't just click on the Close button to exit out of most apps. Instead, you have to physically quit those apps after you're done using them.

On the other hand, if you just can't be asked to take the time to do that, we're going to show you a really easy way to make an applet that can be used to quit all of your Mac's running apps at once.

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A closer look at Differential Privacy in iOS 10 and macOS Sierra

Christian Zibreg ∙ June 25, 2016

Making Apple services even smarter and more personalized entails processing troves of information because intelligence is driven by big data. The fact that iOS 9's proactive features don't tap into the cloud has served Apple well thus far. But since Google Assistant came to light, people have been wondering if Apple can compete without resorting to raw data collection Google is infamous for.

iOS 10 and macOS Sierra represent Apple's refined approach to privacy, which revolves around new techniques collectively known as Differential Privacy. An en vogue statistical method, Differential Privacy helps Apple deliver smarter services without compromising privacy of their users.

It's a relatively unproven technique with lots of potential which hasn’t been used to boost Apple's services before iOS 10 and macOS Sierra. Here's a closer look at Differential Privacy, how it powers intelligence and proactiveness and why it should serve Apple better than Google's bulk data collection and analysis.

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Apple confirms its new Differential Privacy feature will be opt-in only

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated June 28, 2017

iOS 10 and macOS Sierra tap into an interesting technology, called Differential Privacy, which makes possible data collection from a large number of users without compromising individual user's security and privacy. Re/code has now learned from Apple that Differential Privacy will be opt-in only, meaning privacy-minded folks won't be required to use the feature unless they specifically want to.

Bottom line: Apple won’t collect your data to make its services a lot smarter unless you specifically let it.

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