Picture Your Contacts
When someone calls, your iOS mobile device displays their number and name on the screen. The iOS operating system is smart enough to guess who might be calling by taking a look at your email messages if a phone number is not in your contacts. However, one way to make it easy to tell who is calling you is to add an image of your contact. That way, you know who is calling with only a glance. In the future, a picture of the contact appears on your iPhone display when they call you.
Never Miss Email From Anyone Who Matters
The Mail VIP feature provides an excellent way to monitor incoming mail from important contacts. It combines all the messages from key contacts inside one easy-to-watch folder. You can also set your iOS device to alert you when you receive messages from key people. Here’s how to set up VIP mail.
Reschedule Events in Calendar
When you need to change the time of a scheduled event, you can:
On iPhone and Mac, tap the event to open it, tap Edit, then change the time, day, or location. On iPhone and Mac, use Siri to reschedule an event. For example, say something like “reschedule my 2 p.m. meeting on April 24 to [new time].”
Add Calendar Events From Mail
Apple created a series of data detectors that make it easy to add events from Mail. Here’s how it works: When you receive an email containing an event, you’ll see a small item appear at the top of your mobile device screen. It features a Calendar icon and a phrase: Siri found an event in this email. If you want to add the event to your Calendar, tap Add to Calendar. A new calendar event is created for you.
Change Calendar Default Alerts Times
You may find that you need to change the time of the alert when creating new Calendar alert items. Why not change the default time to one that suits you better? To achieve this, open Settings > Calendar > Default Alert Times. This is where you choose the most appropriate time for alerts to remind you about Birthdays, Events, and All-Day Events. In the future, when creating an Event alert, the default time is your usual preference, saving you a few seconds when setting up new events.
Set Travel Time Alerts in Calendar
One of the most useful Calendar features is its ability to figure out how long it will take you to travel to scheduled events. To use this, follow these steps:
Share Calendars With Others
The ability to share Calendars with others is a little-used gem. This can be useful when you want to share family or work-related calendars. When you share a calendar, anyone you choose to share it with can read or edit the calendar and add entries, which is why you should create a specific calendar to share, rather than sharing your private schedule data. To create and share a new calendar, follow these steps: After the people you emailed accept your invitation, you and your family or colleagues can keep track of one another’s schedules to ensure you don’t clash.
Use Nicknames With Contacts
If you use nicknames, you can ask Siri to “call my mom” or “call the doctor” or “send a message to the boss.” Siri is smart enough to look for people’s nicknames when performing a command for you, although you need to assign these names first. There are two ways to do this:
Method One: Use the Contacts Screen
The nickname appears immediately beneath the Contact’s name near the top of the screen.
Method Two: Use Siri
Launch Siri and ask it to call a nickname (Dad, for example). If you haven’t assigned the nickname to a contact, Siri asks who the correct person is. After you name the correct person, Siri asks if you want it to remember that the nickname relates to that contact. Say “yes,” and you can use that nickname to refer to the contact in the future.
Work With Other Services
Your Calendar and Contacts apps can sync with third-party services, including Yahoo!, Google, and Microsoft Exchange compatible solutions. That’s useful for casual Gmail users but essential for people who need to access corporate systems from an iPhone. To sync to a third-party service: After you set up these accounts on your iPhone, your iPad and Mac automatically sync with the services, which means you can access work calendars and schedule appointments using your Apple product.
Bonus for Mac Users: A Scheduling Tip
The ability to open almost any kind of file to schedule is a little-known task. You can use it to, for example, maintain timesheets or ensure presentation materials are at hand when you are on your way to a meeting. The feature is a little hidden, but here’s how it works: When that event is scheduled to take place, your document opens so you can go straight to your meeting. To add additional alarms, tap the + button beside the alert.
