Have you thought about 2 Factor?

Over the last couple weeks we have helped quite a few customers recover accounts that have been compromised from malicious emails and text messages.  These messages and emails are very sophisticated and look and feel like they are genuine so it is easy to be fooled.  2 Factor authentication could help to prevent your account becoming compromised as it adds an additional layer of protection usually sending an SMS message to an authorised and trusted device.

I have this set up on all accounts that support it, iCloud, Facebook, Twitter and my gmail accounts.  Apart from the inconvenience of losing access to these accounts for even a short time, the information contained across these is very important to me, so this simple steps safeguards that and ensures that I am aware of every attempt to log in to my accounts.

If you would like to know about this then give us a shout.

Apple software improvments

Apple are holding their annual Develop conference this week in San Fransisco,  yesterdays Keynote highlighted a lot of improvements to pretty much all the software they produce and adds a lot of improvement in key areas.

watchOS3

Widely reported as the release that will finally make the Apple watch the product it should have been in the beginning, several system wide improvements were teased during the keynote,

Improved Performance

During the demo the opening of a watch app was shown on watchOS2, the usual spinning wheel on the screen waiting for the app to finally open, the same app was then demoed using watchOS3 and opened instantly, this is a massive improvement on the current situation and as an apple watch user myself I have to say it is the reason I don't use any apps on the watch itself.

The side button has also been re purposed to provide access to the more familiar dock with recent and favourite apps located here instead of the previous shortcut to contacts.

Fitness 

watchOS3 users can now share excercise  information and encourage friendly competition between friends and family, the activity rings that show your progress can also now be shown directly on the watch face,

Apple have optimised the activity tracking for wheelchair users, the time to stand reminders will show time to roll with dedicated wheel-chair specific workouts.

Breathe is a new addition to the heath suite encouraging users to take time out to breathe helping us to calm down and relax during our hectic days.

Messaging 

Several new additions to the way in which you can respond to messages directly on the watch, there are new stickers & handwriting.  Improvements to the smart replies and also the ability to scribble messages directly on the screen.

SOS 

Apple took time out to honour the victims of the recent attacks in Orlando at the beginning of the keynote, they announced a new SOS feature on the Apple Watch called SOS, if you need to contact the emergency services users can press and hold the side button and the watch will count down an alert from 3 to 1 and call the emergency services.  The watch will know which country it is in and change the required number accordingly.    It is worth noting here that you can use Siri to call emergency services if you phone is not at hand

Watch Faces

Watch faces are even easier to customise with quick swiping between faces,  minnie mouse has been added along with a selection of dresses for her to wear to complement your particulate choice of strap.

watchOS3 will be available n the autumn as free upgrade to watch owners.

iOS10 

Probably the biggest iOS release to date, iOS 10 offers lots of improvements across the board, lots of visual enhancements and some much needed modernisation.  At the keynote they highlighted 10 selected new areas to talk about, here are a few of them.

Messaging 

Message bubbles can now be changed to reflect the way you want your message to come across, either small growing slowly for the more subtle moments to slamming in and shacking the whole screen for when you want to get your point across.  It will be possible to send your own handwriting to your friends, and it will animate like ink on paper when received the other end.  The whole screen can be changed to animate specific things such as birthdays or congratulations.  

Invisible ink allows you to send a hidden message that only becomes visible when the recipient swipes across it to reveal that special message

Tap back, similar to quick replies in other apps or sending a quick like on Facebook will allow a quick style reply to messages, and it is also possible to add heartbeats and sketches similar to apple watch.   Stickers have also been added, again similar to whats available on Facebook messenger.  With the current trend on emoji and is ever-growing use in communications the new messaging app will be able to highlight all the words in your message that can be switched out for an emoji.

iMessage will also now be made available to developers so apps can integrate straight in to the app itself,  services that were shown off were booking a table for dinner, ordering food and sending money to people through the app.

Siri 

Also now open to developers so it can integrate into more services through the OS.  Siri can now send whatsapp messages and make Skype calls instead of being limited to the apple apps

Maps

Lots of improvements here as well although it could be argued this catches up some features to Google Maps.   Traffic is now shown on the route, the maps will zoom in when at a corner and zoom out again when on a straight, you can ask for pitstops on the way, and as maps is also being opened up to developers it is possible to book things like restaurants right in maps.

Notifications

Rich notification have been added and the use of 3D touch on the iPhone 6S and 6S plus enables much more use of these notification with the ability to open them up and respond or consume content right in the notification,  again a much needed catch up.

As well as these improvements further improvements were announced for Apple Music, photos, news, contextual predictions in the keyboard, and an new raise wake feature.

Overall a good set of improvements that will help to freshen up iOS and hopefully unlock the potential of the Apple watch, as apple starts its movement into a services company and some much needed openness to developers to get into some of the core apps on iOS.


A full list of what was announced as well as some videos showing them off cane be found on the Apple Website.

iOS 9.3.1 Available now, Fixes issues with links in Safari

For those of you that installed the 9.3 update that came out recently you may have noticed that Safari was having issues opening links, there were some apps causing the issues but it was almost impossible to tell which apps were causing the issues and which ones to remove.   This update has arrived to cure the bug, I have just installed it on my iPhone 6S Plus and Safari is back to working as it should.

Hopefully this cures the issues for those of you who contacted us this week reporting the problem.

Thanks

iMax

Error 53 (Update)

An update released for Error 53

As most of you have probably read Error 53 has been causing a stir in the media and locally, for those that haven't heard about it this error was caused when either the Touch ID sensor or the flex that controls it were changed or tampered with during a third party repair.  My repairs have never been effected by this as I always changed them unless they were damaged.  Well now Apple has released and update to deal with this error.

Apple have released a patched version of iOS 9.2.1 this update won't appear on your phone it is accessible using your PC or Mac.  If you have been effected by error 53 then you can connect the effected device to your laptop and restore using the patched software (the is automatically downloaded as the latest version available) using the standard restore procedure, apple have release instruction on their website detailing how this is done. (Follow the link below)

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT205628

Apple have also offered reimbursements for customer who have been effected by this error, they have said this this error was supposed be an internal error code and was not supposed to effect customers devices, hopefully this fix together with the Apple response can finally lay this issue to rest.

Error 53

http://www.theguardian.com/money/2016/feb/05/error-53-apple-iphone-software-update-handset-worthless-third-party-repair

Some of you may have seen this article already but if you haven't seen it yet chances are you will.  This article refers to a guardian reporter who broke his iPhone while reporting in the Balkans, he decided to get the phone repaired while he was there as he needed the phone for work.   When he returned to the UK his was notified on his phone that there was an iOS 9 update, he installed it as usual and that when he got the error 53.  There are a few key points to note before panic sets in.

1) This error occurs when the touch ID sensor isn't reinstalled into the device either properly, partially or not at all (Some repair agent save time by installing fully assembled screens, this is true of a high street shoe repairer over here, this type of repair fits a different home button, and/or flex cable, both of which not only disable Touch ID but can also lead to the error 53).

2) The repair was carried out in the Balkans, the article does not explain the type repair that is carried out or the quality,  he may have had the Touch ID sensor or the cable replaced entirely or most likely the flex changed as stated in point one, this is a "quick" repair if this is the case and not a thorough repair.

3) The Touch ID sensor in paired to each phone at the time of manufacture this has been the same since the fingerprint scanner was introduced in the 5S, damage the Scanner and replace it and the fingerprint scanner will no longer work. The difference in the iPhone 6 is Apple pay, the fingerprint scanner now allows for payments to be processed using your fingerprint as verification.  Apple verify this at the time of upgrade and if the components fail the verification process then the error comes back.  This is designed to protect your fingerprint and possible payment verification from being tampered with.

All the repairs that we carry out transfer as many original parts as we can reuse, so we buy new screens that are basically just the new screen and the touch digitiser like the image below (1):

1)

We then transfer the front camera/proximity sensor & microphone flex, the original speaker, the EMI Shield (Large metal plate that give rigidity to the screen and carries the Touch ID flex) The Touch ID sensor and all the screws that held the original screen together, We have repaired over 30 iPhone 6 models in January and have had no issues.

2)

This is the type of screen (2) that is fitted and that could lead to the error 53 issue.  Everything is preassembled so all the parts that I listed that we swap are already on this screen.  It is then just a simple can of swapping the entire screen assembly.  This is where the problems come from, the Touch ID sensor and its flex may not be  swapped, and even if it is swapped on the screen the chances are the flex for it isn't, either of these parts can the fail the verification process.

I hope this goes someway to explaining the issue, and also to calm some of the fears, we are a responsible repair agent and make our customers aware of the warranty implications, unfortunately stories relating to Apple always gain large attention but please don't panic.  It is thought to convey a full and thorough explanation here but if anyone has any questions or needs any advice then please don't hesitate to contact me through the usual channels.

Taking a little Break!

It's been a very busy few months and so next week I am taking a week off to recharge my batteries.  Thanks again for all the support from the local areas and thank you to all those people who take the time to tag me on Facebook when someone asks for my services.  

We I get back I am moving to a larger office in the same building as I have run out space where I am.  I have also just been approved an an iMend Technician and we will be expanding to cover their repairs in the local area as well.  

I leave Saturday and I am back in the office on Monday the 2nd November and I will pick up messages when I return.

For now, thank you 

Back with a bang!

So I am back from a great holiday in North Wales, we climbed Snowdon and enjoyed all of Wales spectacular scenery.   Just before we left I had a great birthday and my 16th Wedding Anniversary although we didn't get to eat our anniversary dinner until 9:30pm as we were still delivering phone back to customers!

Really cant thank the local communities through the Facebook groups enough for all the support and for spreading the word about me being away and for picking up the odd customer that missed the posts about going away.

Just a few things that i wanted to share on my return as we try to get thing back on track on pick up all the enquiries that came in while i was away, please be patient with us this week while we get everything organised.

Unfortunately due to supply shortages in China the price of screens has increased over recent weeks, on average most screens have gone up by approximately £10, and some white variants have gone up by slightly more.  We have had no choice but to increase our prices in line with these rises,  but rest assured we will monitor this situation closely and keep tour prices as low as we can.

We have also heard from some of our customers this week that one of our competitors who offer screen replacements along side another business doesnt offer a full service, they are advising customers that if they have there iphones with Touch ID repaired by them then Touch ID will no longer work.  I dont really understand why they do this, it probably means they are buying in complete screens home buttons already fitted, this is most likely because their "Technicians" can then just swap the screens out without having to get involved in the more difficult parts of the repair.  The Touch ID sensor is digitally signed to each phone meaning that it wont work with any other phone so whenever I repair a phone with Touch ID I swap it over onto the new screen, that way touch ID, a significant function of the phone continues to work, quite why they do this is beyond me, they seem to prefer convenience for their technicians over doing a complete job for their customers.  Be careful out there, there are plenty of people doing phone repairs now, but not everyone does it properly.

Once again thanks for all the support, glad to be back!