Customize “Today View” in Notification Center for iPhone

Swiping down from the very top of your iPhone screen (or iPad), you’ll find Notification Center swoops on down, where alerts, notifications, iMessages, and missed calls appear. There’s also the “Today” tab, which aggregates information from your Calendars, Reminders, Stocks, and destinations, and puts them into an active days summary of what’s on tap for today.









If you want to customize the appearance of Today view, either where things appear in the list as you scroll, or to hide specific items, you can do that directly through iOS settings.



Customize What Shows in “Today View” of Notification Center




Open “Settings” and go to “Notification Center”

Scroll down to “Today View” and toggle the ON/OFF switches according to what you want to see in Today view, as summarized here:




Today Summary: Provides you with weather conditions and a brief summary of the day based upon your Calendar

Next Destination: An optional setting that uses location services to see provide an estimation on how long it will take to travel to your next destination, which can be work or home (based upon Apple learning these locations)

Calendar Day View: Retrieves information from your Calendar to summarize what you have queued up for the day, very useful if you rely on Apple’s Calendar apps

Reminders: Any reminder created from the Reminders app or Siri will appear here, the Reminder list is interactive and you can check things off directly from Today View

Stocks: Current prices of watched market indices and stocks, letting you be either irrationally exuberant or in a complete panic depending on how the market wind blows on a given day

Tomorrow Summary: Takes information about tomorrow, from your Calendar and Reminders, to summarize what’s on tap the next day












Now that you’ve decided what you want showing up in the Today View of Notification Center, you can change the order of how that information appears, as seen scrolling from the top down.




On a related note, if you find the text challenging to see in the “Today View” you can toggle a setting to make the fonts bolder and much easier to read system-wide, which has a huge impact on readability throughout iOS. This is one of several highly recommended usability tips for almost everyone, and seems to be universally appreciated whether ones eyesight is perfect or not.



Change the Order of “Today View” Items in iOS




Still in Settings > Notification Center, tap the “Edit” button

Tap and hold on the sideways lines that look like = then move the item up or down to change it’s location in Today View

Tap “Done” when finished”










If you find you’re not getting much use out of Today View, try customizing it a bit to better suit your needs, and to emphasize what you actually care about. For example, if you don’t own any stock or just could care less about what wild direction the market is heading in on any given day, you can hide the Stocks view. Or perhaps you don’t use Apple’s Reminders app, and would rather that not be visible. Maybe you don’t want anything in there except for the date, so just toggle everything to OFF and that’s the end of it.









Whatever your preferences, you can toggle the settings to fit your needs, so rather than cursing the default settings just go ahead and make a couple changes to better suit your needs.













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Use Network Utility in OS X Mavericks

Network Utility is a great tool that has been around on the Mac since the very first version of OS X. It provides a variety of helpful networking tools and details, the “Info” tab includes general network info on a per interface level showingIP address, MAC address, link speeds, and sent/received data transfer statistics, and you’ll also have easy GUI access to what are otherwise command line tools, like netstat, ping, nslookup, trace route, whois, finger, and a port scanner.




Having long resided in /Applications/Utilities/, Apple saw it fit to relocate the Network Utility app from its longstanding home to a new location within a system folder, making it a bit harder to access if you’re looking through the file system. Don’t worry, there are still super-simple ways to access Network Utility onward from Mavericks though, and that’s what we’ll cover.



Put Network Utility in LaunchPad or the Dock




The Network Utility app is now located at the following path, buried in OS X system folders:




/System/Library/CoreServices/Applications/




You can jump directly to that folder by hitting Command+Shift+G to summon “Go To” and then entering the path.









Now hold down Command+Option and drag the “Network Utility” app into the Applications folder, LaunchPad, or the Dock to create an alias for quick access (while you’re in there, you may want to send “Wireless Diagnostics” to LaunchPad or the Dock too, it got a facelift and remains an excellent wi-fi utility, scanner, stumbler, and signal optimizer app).



Launch Network Utility with Spotlight




If you don’t want aliases sitting around in the Applications folder, and don’t want the app to sit in your Dock all the time, then the easiest way to launch Network Utility directly is through Spotlight. Hit Command+Spacebar, then start typing “Network Utility” and hit return when the application is returned in the search results.









This is my preferred method but I’m a huge fan of using Spotlight as an application launcher in general.



Open Network Utility from System Information




The System Information app, found most commonly through the  Apple menu > “About This Mac” > More Info, can also serve to launch Network Utility:




Launch System Information and pull down the “Window” menu to find “Network Utility”










This launches directly into Network Utility, but because you have to open another app to get there, it’s probably not the quickest method compared to Spotlight, placing it in the Dock, or using an alias.




Thanks to @thegraphicmac for the tip inspiration. Have any tip ideas or something you’d like us to look into? Let us know on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, or email!













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Disable App Nap on a Per Application Basis in OS X Mavericks

App Nap is a great feature that arrived with OS X Mavericks which automatically pauses applications once they have gone unused for a period of time, helping to reduce energy consumption and saving battery life for portable Macs. Though App Nap can make a big difference in extending the battery life of MacBooks, there are some unique situations where users may not want an application to pause itself when unused, inactive, or otherwise in the background. For these situations, you can selectively prevent App Nap by disabling it on a per-application basis. Most users should not disable App Nap without a compelling reason to do so.

Selectively Disable App Nap for Mac Applications

• Quit the application you wish to disable App Nap for


• From the OS X Finder, navigate to the /Applications/ directory, or whatever the parent directory is of the app you wish to disable App Nap for


• Locate the application to disable App Nap for, select it, then go to the “File” menu and select “Get Info” (or select the app and hit Command+i)


• Check the box for “Prevent App Nap”, found under the General section of Get Info


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• Close out of Get Info and relaunch the app in question

You must relaunch active applications for the toggled App Nap setting to take effect, whether you are disabling it or re-enabling it. This process must be repeated for each application that you wish to prevent App Nap for.

It’s safe to assume that all apps will use App Nap unless specifically directed not to using this trick.

Checking Which Apps Are Currently Using App Nap

If you aren’t sure what is currently utilizing the App Nap feature and what isn’t, you can see exactly which apps are suspended by turning to Activity Monitor, and going to the Energy tab:

For portable Mac users in particular, relying on App Nap really is one of the better yet simpler tips for OS X Mavericks, and should be left enabled for all applications unless there is a profound reason to turn it off. Disabling App Nap is obviously very easy should the need arrive, as the video below demonstrates the entire process in a few quick seconds:

Those interested in automation, or who are running prior versions of Mac OS X, can use an advanced terminal trick with the kill command to force similar behavior on applications and processes. That trick continues to work in OS X Mavericks, but is obviously less necessary with the advent of the entirely automated App Nap feature.

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How to Show the User Library Folder in OS X Mavericks

All of the latest versions of OS X have opted for a conservative approach to showing the users ~/Library/ directory, a folder which contains a variety of important files, settings, preferences, caches, and many specific files that are required for apps to run as intended. Because of the possibility of unintentional harm to a users Mac, OS X defaults to hiding that folder, with the intention on preventing novice users from making changes to it. OS X Mavericks is no different, but with the release of 10.9, all Mac users have an easy option to permanently show the User Library directory without having to result to the command line or other tricks that were previously required for access to the ~/Library folder.

Show the Users Library Folder Permanently in OS X Mavericks

• From the OS X Finder, open a new window and go to the users Home folder (hit Command+Shift+H to jump to Home instantly)


• Pull down the “View” menu and select “Show View Options” (or hit Command+J if you like keyboard shortcuts)


• Check the box for “Show Library Folder” then close the View Options panel


• Navigate in the users home folder to see the newly visible “Library” directory

You may need to scroll down in the users directory to see the newly visible Library folder. The video below demonstrates how easy and fast this is, you’ll see the users ~/Library folder in under 10 seconds:

This setting is permanent as long as the checkbox is active, it does not need to be toggled again repeatedly throughout OS X updates. If you decide you no longer want the ~/Library/ folder visible, simply uncheck the box in the Home directories ‘View Options’ panel to make it invisible again.

Note that for multi-user Macs, this setting must be toggled separately on each user account. This is a greatly helpful trick, though it’s usage is slightly more advanced than some of the more simple Mavericks tips we have covered.

Why don’t I see “Show Library Folder” in View Options?”

You must be at the users home folder to see the “Show Library Folder” selection in View Options. If you do not the setting option, you are probably not in the home directory, so hit Command+Shift+H to instantly jump to the user home folder and make the option appear. The “View Options” panel automatically adjusts depending on what folder you are active in, meaning you can leave it open

Quick Access the User ~/Library Folder from the Go Menu

This trick first surfaced in prior versions of OS X that hid the library folder by default, and if you don’t want to have the ~/Library directory always visible it continues to be a reasonable option for occasional access to the folder:

• Hold down the OPTION key and access the “Go” menu


• Select “Library” to instantly jump to the Users ~/Library directory

There are still a variety of other ways to jump to the ~/Library folder for quick access, all of which continue to work in OS X Mavericks.

Making the ~/Library/ Folder Visible from the Command Line

For what it’s worth, users can continue to use the command line chflags approach to show the ~/Library/ directory just like what was possible (and required) in OS X Lion and OS X Mountain Lion, but with OS X Mavericks there is little reason to do so outside of scripting or automating the process for custom installations. The necessary chflag command is as follows, and does not require killing the Finder to take effect:

chflags nohidden ~/Library/

Within the users home directory the ~/Library/ folder will appear:

Again, the chflags approach is no longer necessary for Mavericks, though it still does work. For the vast majority of Mac users, simply toggle the setting to your liking in View Options, or use one of the temporary access approaches.

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Change the Alarm Sound on iPhone

Many of us rely on the iPhone as an alarm clock these days, but unless it has been changed, the default alarm clock sound effect is usually the same as the default iPhone ringtone. That can cause some frustration and confusion as you’re half asleep and the alarm goes off, sounding like you’re getting a phone call, but fortunately if you would rather hear something else play it’s really easy to change the alarm tone.

You can either change an existing alarm sound, or set it when you create a new alarm. Here is how to edit an existing alarm sound, but the process is practically identical for setting a new alarm as you can select a sound option during that configuration as well.

• Open the “Clock” app and choose the Alarm tab


• Tap the “Edit” button in the corner, then tap on the alarm you wish to change the sound effect for

• Tap on the “Sound” option and choose the new tone to set as the alarm, all ringtones and text tones are possible to select


• Tap on “Back” then choose “Save” to set the new alarm sound effect

There are plenty of good choices for the alarm sound, from fairly mellow to incredibly annoying, so you can choose however you want to be woken up. Because the alarm clock provides access to all the ringtones and text tones on the iPhone (or iPad and iPod touch), you can also easily create your own ringtones or text tones using iTunes or QuickTime, and add them to the sound choices by syncing them to the iOS device. That option allows you to wake up to your favorite song if you’re into that sort of thing.

It’s a good idea to have the alarm clock sound be completely different from the general incoming phone call and text message tones, both to help prevent confusion and also so you know what’s going on in your half-asleep state of mind. Similarly, it can be helpful to have unique text tones and ringtones assigned to specific contacts and callers.

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How to Turn Off Automatic App Updates in iOS 7

Automatic Updates is a feature that came along with iOS 7 which allows updates to installed apps to download and install themselves, allowing for a very hands-off approach to the app updating process. For many users this is a good thing to leave on, since it takes the hassle out of updating and managing your apps, and you’ll only have to use the App Store to download new apps instead. But automatic updates are not always a desirable feature for all users for a variety of reasons, whether you’re trying to squeezes maximum performance out of a device, reduce overall network bandwidth used by an iPhone or iPad, or perhaps you’d just prefer to control the app updating process yourself. If you’d rather have apps not update themselves in the background, you can take a moment to turn the feature off.

Stop Apps Updating Themselves Automatically

• Open Settings and go to “iTunes & App Store”


• Scroll down to the “Automatic Downloads” section


• Toggle “Updates” to OFF to stop apps automatically updating

That’s it, no more automatic app updates, no more surprises when opening apps to find things have changed. Remember, with this feature turned OFF you will need to use the App Store to handle updates yourself, similar to how it was done in the past with all iOS releases pre-7.0.

Turning off Automatic Updates has a few additional side benefits too; it can help increase battery life, and it can also help to speed up iOS 7 equipped devices a bit, particularly older models. Both benefits are a result of reducing background activity and resource usage, and though the newest model iPhone and iPad devices may not notice them quite so much, they can still offer a nice increase to performance all around.

Use Automatic Updates from Wi-Fi Only

If you’d prefer to leave automatic updating on for wi-fi only while preventing it from happening over a cellular data connection, you can do that too with a simple adjustment within the “iTunes & App Store” settings: simply keep Automatic Downloads “Updates” toggled to ON, but toggle “Use Cellular Data” to OFF. Unless you have an unlimited cellular data plan with your iPhone or iPad, it’s probably a good idea to keep cellular data updating completely off.

Will this Stop the Random Blue Dots Next to App Names?

Yes, this will stop the blue dot from randomly appearing next to app names on your iOS home screen. For those who weren’t aware, the blue dot is an indicator that an app has been updated, or that an app is new to the device, but it has also caused a ton of confusion for many users who wonder why on earth a mysterious blue dot seems to show up alongside app names for seemingly no apparent reason.

Turning off automatic updates will prevent it from showing up at random, and instead the blue dot will only appear when you have updated an app yourself, or downloaded something new from the App Store. You can not disable the blue dot completely.

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