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How to create nested folders and completely hide apps in iOS 8
It's that time of the year again: Apple's latest mobile operating system is now available and there are already a couple of great ways to break it in the name of customization and productivity! Nested folders and hidden apps -- two of the most useful glitch-tweaks from iOS 7 -- are present and accounted for in iOS 8, and here's how to make them happen. Nested Folders Somehow, in patching up the bug that allowed nested folders in the earliest versions of iOS 7, Apple has allowed the trick to be pulled off with remarkable ease in iOS 8. Start with a folder you'd like to nest (or, place within another folder, if you're not a fan of brevity) and two additional apps. Highlight one of the loose apps so that you can create a folder by merging it with the other unfoldered app. This next part needs to be done quickly, so make sure you've had your morning coffee before attempting it: place the app you're already holding over the top of the other to prompt the creation of a new folder. As soon as the folder icon begins to form, drop the app you're holding and grab the folder you wish to nest. If you do this correctly, you'll be pushed into the new folder while still holding the folder you wish to nest. Simply drop the folder you're holding to place it within the newly-created folder. That's it! The icon badge will even carry through to the higher-level folder so you don't have to worry about missed notifications. Hiding Apps This trick had been around on iOS 7 in a variety of forms and it returns in iOS 8. It's useful for hiding apps you don't want someone to find on your phone, or simply to get rid of annoying and un-deletable system apps like Stocks and iBooks. Our friend, YouTuber Videosdebarraquito, demonstrates this trick in a handy video tutorial, and while it's fairly self-explanatory, I'll lay down the steps for you below. To start, you'll need a home screen full of apps, with least one folder on the home screen, and the app you wish to hide on a separate page. Highlight the app you want to hide and move it to a folder on the home screen, but don't let it go. Instead, move it back out of the folder and down near the dock. Once the folder screen disappears, the home screen will once again be full and if you drop the icon in the dock it will disappear entirely. Apps that you've hidden in this way are still on your phone and can be found by using the Spotlight search, but other than that, there's no way to stumble across them. Apps return to their former location after you've performed a restart, so keep that in mind.
Wii U gets organized with folders in latest update
Much like a prospective office assistant, Nintendo's Wii U can now put "good organization skills" on its resume. Thanks to a new system update this week, the console will now allow players to sort their home screen icons into folders. The Wii U menu also added a download management icon in the latest update and updated the home menu's layout. The system's quick start menu, which was added this summer to cut down on the Wii U's boot times, also received two small changes in the firmware update. The menu will now display when the Wii U is powered on from the GamePad's TV remote menu. Additionally, players can choose software to hide from the quick start menu in the system's power settings. The console manufacturer was a little slower to learn icon management this time around; Nintendo added folder sorting to the 3DS just over a year after the system's launch compared to nearly two years after the Wii U arrived. [Thanks, Deric!] [Image: Nintendo]
Microsoft's latest Windows Phone update expands Cortana to more countries
More than three months after the first builds of Windows Phone 8.1 hit the scene, Microsoft is ready to tick more features off the to-do list with the OS's first refresh. Known aptly as Update 1, the download will be available as a developer preview starting next week. Understandably, Cortana is on the top of the release notes, because the beta program will officially expand to the UK and China as promised in April. This means users in both countries can enjoy different voices and more localized options, such as air quality info (in China specifically), local celebrities, specialized suggestions and commute times. Additionally, the Chinese version supports Mandarin and comes with unique animations, sounds and other visual features.
Microsoft hints that Windows Phone will soon let you put apps in folders
Windows Phone already lets you store apps in Start screen folders, but it's a bit of a hack -- you have to use Nokia App Folder to get the feature in the first place, and you're really just opening one app to launch another. Microsoft might be near fixing that discrepancy, though. The company has posted instructions (since pulled) hinting that a future revision of Windows Phone 8.1 will include native folder support. Much like iOS and some flavors of Android, you'll only have to drag tiles on top of each other to make folders and tidy up your home page.
It's the little things: The tiny changes that may make you fall in love with iOS 7
When Apple launches iOS 7 later this year it will be the biggest overhaul the mobile operating system has ever received. But with change comes fear, and there's already a divide forming between those who can't let go of the iOS they know and love and those who welcome the revamp with open arms. There are a number of relatively small tweaks and additions that have really sold me on iOS 7, and they may do the same for you. These aren't big things that you're likely to see on an iPhone commercial -- like automatic app updating or a smarter Siri, for example -- but they may indeed be just as important. Massive folders I can't tell you how excited I was when folders were first introduced to iOS, and though the feature did take care of the issue of having pages and pages of apps, I was soon left with several pages full of folders instead. Instead of allowing folders to just hold however many apps could fit on the drop-down screen like they do now, folders have pages that can be swiped through, allowing you to put all of your games in a single folder, all of your business apps in another, and so on. Smart contrast features Without the shaded black bars of iOS 6 and earlier to host the clock on the lock screen and the info section on the top of the home screen, picking a single color for these rather important bits of text would have made them hard to read against certain wallpapers. iOS 7 gets around this by monitoring the brightness of your background and adjusting the color of the font accordingly. Depending on your wallpaper the font will switch between black and white, and there's also a slight shading that will be applied to the areas around the text depending on what the system determines will be the easiest to read. It's a remarkably intelligent feature that could have very easily been completely overlooked. Safari's slick tabs To be fair, there isn't necessarily anything wrong with the way Safari handles tabs in iOS 6. It's functional, if a bit ugly, but it gets the job done. But when I first saw iOS 7's tab browsing feature I may have audibly uttered "oooh." Not only is it now possible to see many more tabs on a single screen, flipping through them is buttery smooth in a very CoverFlow-esque way. You can snap to the window you want and kill unneeded tabs much faster, all with the added bonus of it being just plain pretty to look at. Multitasking previews Yet another new feature that ups both form and function, the multitasking feature has been overhauled to offer a preview of the current state of the app, rather than just a list of icons that leave you to guess what exactly you might have been in the middle of. The preview windows look great and are large enough that you'll instantly know exactly where you were in just about any app, be it a game, messaging client, etc. I have a feeling this is going to be one of the features that we'll look back on next year and wonder how we got by without it. Newsstand finally falls in line Newsstand has been a problem for a long time. No, I'm not talking about the app itself -- from all accounts it's matured since its introduction and it's a reliable way to catch up on magazines and other editorials -- I'm referring to its ability to ruin an otherwise well-organized app collection. Ever since it was introduced, Newsstand has refused to be placed in folders or deleted, regardless of whether or not you have ever used it. Because of this, it's often one of the first things people remove when jailbreaking their devices, and if someone told me they voided the warranty on their device for the sole purpose of removing the offending app, I would have a hard time holding it against them. But now, along with the death of the app's skeumorphic design, comes the ability to grab Newsstand by the scruff of the neck and shove it into whatever folder you see fit. I hope you'll join me in saying: Finally.
Box acquires Folders technology with its next-gen iOS app in mind
Box just recently snapped up Crocodoc to improve the web component of its cloud storage, but what about tuning the native apps? It's addressing that side of the equation by acquiring the technology behind Folders, a third-party cloud storage app for iOS. Box loves Folders' code and design enough to want both of them inside the next generation of its iOS client. Folders creator Martin Destagnol (pictured here at center) has already been working on this for weeks, Box says. While there's no word on a similar treatment for Android, we should see the iOS partnership bear fruit in updates spread throughout the year.
Box acquires Folders, in what sounds like the least exciting acquisition deal ever
File-sharing service Box has acquired the technology behind a French app called Folders, which was never released, but is also centered on browsing and sharing files on the iPhone. Terms of the acquisition weren't revealed, but Box said that Folders would be a big influence on the next few iterations of the file-sharing software. The company also noted that its iPhone and iPad apps will be "cleaner, faster and more beautiful throughout 2013." Folders was originally designed as a viewer for Box with an impressive user interface and file-viewing features, but now will be "folded" into future versions of the app itself. Box boasts more than 15 million users at 150,000 businesses, and those numbers are growing all the time. If the folks at Box can find a way to team up with Staples and the Paper app, they could have a whole office!
Daily Update for May 23, 2013
It's the TUAW Daily Update, your source for Apple news in a convenient audio format. You'll get all the top Apple stories of the day in three to five minutes for a quick review of what's happening in the Apple world. You can listen to today's Apple stories by clicking the inline player (requires Flash) or the non-Flash link below. To subscribe to the podcast for daily listening through iTunes, click here. No Flash? Click here to listen. Subscribe via RSS
PlayStation Vita's firmware update 2.10 adding folders, enhanced video playback
Tired of all those messy icons cluttering up your PlayStation Vita's home screen? Sony's providing a solution in its next update, firmware version 2.10, which enables folders of up to 10 items to be organized on the screen. That means you could potentially take those 100 max applications allowed and stuff them all into folders on the home screen, effectively condensing your various home screens from 10 to one. The rest of the update isn't so thrilling -- namely, being able to identify which memory card you've got in the device, some email app enhancements, and video support which "allows you to play video within the browser." There're a few more minor tweaks, which we've included in the list past the jump -- a complete list of updates in gritty detail will show up here when the update goes live at some point "later this evening."
PSA: Nintendo 3DS firmware update now live in North America
If your 3DS' home screen is looking a little too cluttered, then today's your lucky day. Nintendo is rolling out the firmware update that adds folders to your folder. (You've gotta fold the console closed, geddit?) The only other change evident so far is a redesigned eShop interface that makes better use of the screen's real estate, but pssh, who cares? It's all about the folders for us.
3DS system update live in North America, adds folder organization
If you're eager to start arranging all your 3DS content into folders – and we're not mocking you, we were thrilled to start consolidating – you can start tonight. The system update enabling custom folders on the 3DS home screen is available now in North America, slightly ahead of its April 25 release date.The update also brings a redesigned eShop interface, which divides shop segments into two rows on the screen. That's all we've noticed in the few minutes we were looking around (at our beautiful, compact home screen, mostly).
Google adds spam explanation to Gmail, steers clear of enlightenment
Why is this message in spam? It's a question we find ourselves asking our Gmail boxes almost daily, when messages that really should have made it through to the inbox end up in electronic purgatory instead. So why does Google's algorithm choose to filter certain legitimate messages, while letting the vast majority arrive unscathed? The answer can now be found atop each message filed as spam, presented with the simplest of explanations, that generally fails to provide any actual insight as to the email's assigned delivery. Such worthless gems as "It's similar to messages that were detected by our spam filters," "It contains content that's typically used in spam messages" or "Many people marked similar messages as spam" now await you above each note -- seemingly assigned just as casually as the emails themselves.
Want folders on your Windows Phone? There may soon be a way (video)
Take that, live tiles. The idea of having folders on a Windows Phone Start menu has long been a dream that may soon come true. Successfully demonstrated in the above video by WindowsPhoneHacker, these folders look just like live tiles, but pressing them will instead take you into a customized menu full of whatever apps you want. Of course, the project's still in early stages and has a ways to go before it's ready for primetime, but it's supposed to be released sometime soon. Go ahead, click those heels together three times and make a wish -- just make sure your device runs Mango and is developer-unlocked first.
New 'iPad Is Amazing' ad touts iOS 4.2 features
Apple's latest iPad commercial, "iPad Is Amazing", is touting iOS 4.2's new features including AirPrint, AirPlay, multitasking, and folders. Aimed at corralling holiday technology shoppers, this new ad definitely offers up something for everyone in the family. Just for the record, I will admit that bought an iPad when they were first announced. I will also admit that I returned it one week later, as I didn't feel that it did anything that my MacBook and iPhone couldn't already do at the time. Thinking back to that week I understand why I felt that way then, but with the new OS and all the apps available now I think I could find a use for an iPad in my house today. Click Read More to check out the new ad.
What's new (and gorgeous) in iOS 4.2 beta
If you're as excited as I am about the iOS 4.2 beta being released, you probably spent the majority of Wednesday paging through all of the tech blogs and/or neglecting your responsibilities as an adult. For those of you who aren't able to experience Apple's latest firmware until November, I've rounded up all the tastiest morsels and topped them with a delicious set of screenshots. iOS 4.2 beta has some great new features for all three of the main touch devices, meaning that you can expect the following on your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad come November: AirPlay: Demoed by Steve Jobs at the keynote on September 1st, AirPlay gives the iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch the ability to stream music to the Airport Express and movies, photos, and music to the new Apple TV with the touch of a button. AirPrint: As wireless printing has been one of the most commonly requested features of the iPad since its launch, it's no surprise that Apple has once again put pressure on the netbook market by granting consumers' wishes for full over-the-air printing from Safari, Photos, Mail, and more (provided you have a printer that is part of the admittedly limited compatibility list). Your print queue can be managed from a new "Print Center" icon that appears in the multitasking bar. The biggest surprise? You'll be able to print from your iPhone and iPod touch, too. Changing fonts in the Notes app: In what designers and artists may hail as the greatest single advancement ever made on the platform, Apple has given users the option to change the font that the included Notes app displays. Your choices now include Apple's original "Marker Felt," the equally ugly "Chalkboard," and the wonderful, majestic king of typefaces known as "Helvetica." 'Find In Page' Search in Safari: A small but incredibly useful feature makes its debut on all devices in iOS 4.2 beta. 'Find In Page' appears below the Google Suggest search results when the user activates the search box, and it works quite similarly to Safari for Mac. Follow the gallery link below to get a closeup look at iOS 4.2, or click "Read More" to see the rest of iOS 4.2's new features that are specific to the iPad. %Gallery-102504%
TUAW iPhone Tips: Typing the Apple symbol, iOS 4 folders in the dock
As you go into this weekend looking for things to do, you might be thinking about how to organize your iOS 4.x iPhone and use the Apple symbol in the process. The first tip, courtesy of Macenstein, deals with labeling of apps and folders. Back in the iPhone OS 2.x days, you could use the Japanese keyboard to type the Apple symbol. That feature disappeared, but now there's a way to bring back that Apple symbol. The solution is to create a folder in iOS 4, which is done by dragging one app onto another. Give the folder a name, like "Rename me," then sync with your computer. With your iPhone selected in iTunes 10, click on the Apps tab. There you'll see all of your apps and folders, and you can double-click on the folder you just created to rename it. Use the Mac keyboard shortcut Option-Shift-K to type in the Apple symbol () and whatever else you want in the folder title, press Return to enter the change, and then click the Apply button to rename the folder on your iPhone. If you ever need to type an Apple symbol into another app, you can simply copy and paste it from the folder name. Our second tip, from TUAW reader Adam, uses the obvious (but little-used) fact that you can put folders into the "dock" row of icons on your iPhone home screen. Why is that important? With one touch, you can have access to up to 12 of your favorite apps in the always-available dock row. Join the two tips together, and you can have an Apps folder in your iPhone dock containing all of those Apple apps that you can't get rid of.
iPhone OS 4.0: No multitasking for iPhone 3G and second gen iPod touch
While Apple will be serving up a hearty meal with iPhone OS 4.0, not all iPhones and iPod touches will be able to offer up the full experience. Only the iPhone 3GS and third generation iPod touch will be capable of handling all seven features highlighted at the event today (multitasking, folders, mail enhancements, iBooks, better enterprise features, Game Center, and iAd). While the iPhone 3G and second generation iPod touch "will run many [of these] things...there are some things they won't run," according to Steve Jobs at the event. The most notable of these things is multitasking, which Apple said the iPhone 3G and second generation iPod touch just can't handle (of course, we know they can on jailbroken units, but Apple didn't acknowledge that possibility). There was no mention of the first generation iPhone and iPod touch, with the implication being that if you want multitasking on the iPhone, it's 3GS only... or perhaps some new hardware that might be announced later this year. As one who balked at the iPhone 3GS -- both because I didn't qualify for AT&T's upgrade price and because I don't find its features compelling enough to justify a purchase -- this certainly shortens my purchase cycle. There are probably many in the same boat. While I was going to purchase the next generation iPhone anyway, I'm now contemplating upgrading to an iPhone 3GS or better.
iPhone OS 4.0: Folders help organize your apps
It's been one of the aggravation points since the App Store first launched and we began accumulating all these magnificent toys: how the heck do you manage 11 screens full of icons scattered all hither and yon? iTunes 9 gave us some control, but lacking an organizing principle things continued to be challenging. No more, at least not once 4.0 ships. The new Folders feature will let you throw apps of a feather into a folder grouping just by dragging and dropping, and you can then treat the entire collection as a unit, moving it from screen to screen or tossing it into the app dock as you like. This may not be a killer feature for those who only keep one or two app screens active, but for heavy App Store customers (you know, the people who send Apple that reliable 30%) it's a godsend. At the event today, Steve told us that it would take the iPhone's homescreen capability from 180 apps to a whopping 2,160, so, um, we've got some app downloading to do before the new OS releases this summer.
Club Nintendo offers new, organizational rewards
Nintendo has announced some new Club Nintendo rewards for patrons to spend their hard-earned points on. Don't get too excited! The rewards are folders and greeting cards. For 300 points each, you can get a set of either Nintendogs or Mario greeting cards; and for 250 points each, there are folder sets of "Mario & Friends," "Toad & Friends," and "Bowser" (each containing three folders and some bookmarks). These office items might be extra useful for those of you still in school -- or those of you whose jobs don't already tell everyone you know what a huge Nintendo nerd you are. We like them because all the Mario items use hand-drawn Mario art instead of the 3D models Nintendo typically uses.
Batch move your playlists to an iTunes folder
Folders, which have been a feature of iTunes since iTunes 5.0, serve as a means to better organize your music. For example, you could create genre- or artist-based folders with corresponding playlists nested within them. But moving playlists into folders isn't the most fun thing, and can be especially time consuming if you're going to be moving a bunch. Fortunately, the "Move Playlists to Folder" script provides a means for you to easily move multiple playlists over to a specified folder in iTunes. First, download and install the script: the file should reside in your [username]/Library/iTunes/Scripts/ folder. After successful installation, the script will now appear as an item in the scripts menu. If you didn't already have any scripts installed, the script menu allows you to access and run scripts for a specific app. This AppleScript, along with a host of many other iTunes script goodies, is available as a free download at Doug's Scripts. However, Doug would also be more than happy if you were generous enough to donate a buck or two to help buy him a latte.
