Difference between revisions of "IPhone"

Revision as of 21:58, 8 December 2024

iPhone

The iPhone is a smartphone designed by Apple Computer Company. The iPhone line runs Apple's iOS mobile operating system. The first generation iPhone was released on June 29, 2007. The user interface is built around the device's multi-touch screen, including a virtual keyboard. The iPhone has Wi-Fi and can connect to cellular networks.

The iPhone Upgrade Program is a 24-month program designed for consumers to be able to get the latest iPhone every year, without paying the whole price up-front. The program consists of "low monthly payments", where consumers will gradually pay for the iPhone they have over a 24-month period, with an opportunity to switch (upgrade) to the new iPhone after 12 months of payment have passed. Once 12 months have passed, consumers can trade their current iPhone with a new one, and the payments are transferred from the old device to the new device, and the program "restarts" with a new 24-month period.

With each release of iOS there are changes in how many things function and behave on the Apple iPhone. Some of the issues listed here may apply to older releases of iOS and not necessarily relate to newer releases. Consult related version information as a reference.

Reviews and Complaints

The Apple Ecosystem

The iPhone excels in its ability to integrate with other Apple products and services. Whether it's syncing with a MacBook, accessing files on iCloud, or using AirDrop for quick file transfers, the Apple ecosystem offers unmatched convenience. Features like Handoff allow users to continue tasks across devices, such as replying to an email started on an iPhone from a Mac. Accessories like the Apple Watch also work seamlessly with the iPhone, providing a most enjoyable unified experience.

iPhone iOS Updates

Apple provides regular software updates for iPhones, even for models several years old. For example, an iPhone from five years ago may still receive the latest iOS updates, ensuring continued access to new features, security patches, and app compatibility.

no physical audio jack

With its two latest iPhones, the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus, Apple has removed the 3.5mm audio jack that lets you connect a pair of standard headphones.

camera app picture orientation

Since iOS 5 the iPhone sometimes takes pictures upside down, see below in the support area on this page.

small low res screen

Apple is behind in screen resolution by about two years. Apple didn't release a HD screen until 2014 which is two years after Android already had 1080p resolution.

battery replacement

The iPhone battery is sealed inside the phone and not consumer replaceable. It is a major technical process to make a battery change if the battery goes bad, and they do go bad. Battery life is not very good on the iPhone as another minus. The battery is not even 2000 mAh. Also, you need a special Apple charger to recharge the phone.

silent mode

The silent mode is a poorly designed physical toggle switch located on the side of the phone. It is easily toggled so that the phone is unintentionally in silent mode. A healthcare worker posted on the Apple community, "As a healthcare professional I rely on my iphone 12 pro for emergency calls. At least once a week the phone silent mode switch is knocked into silent mode - even with a good quality phone case."

Some users have resorted to applying a very small drop of glue to the switch so that it can not be set to silent mode. The silent mode result can be achieved if necessary though volume control.

Support

Photos Are Upside Down

Since iOS5 you notice that iPhone photos and videos are upside down when you save them to your computer. They are upside down when you email them to other people.

To reproduce: when you hold your camera with the volume buttons pointing up, your photos will be upside down when viewed with a Microsoft Windows computer.

Culprit: Apple's improper use of EXIF tags. Apple used a shortcut and skipped writing the correct orientation to EXIF so that their camera app would be quicker.

Resolution: Take your iPhone photos and videos with the volume buttons pointing down. You can also use a smarter app that is made to write the correct orientation to EXIF within the image file. It is reported that an app called Camera+ for the iPhone will take care of this for you.

Other info: It is said that Windows image views often don't recognize the image metadata. What Apple calls Metadata is the EXIF info within the image. The image can be upside down and have EXIF data that says "this image is upside down so flip it to view it" and then modern image viewing software is supposed to read this EXIF metadata and know to flip the image when displaying it. Well, that is kind of like putting all the photographs upside down in the family photo album, then on the cover post a note to hold the album upside down when viewing the photographs! How dumb is that? Why not just save the damn image in the correct orientation and skip the meta data bs? Well newer Windows image views including those bundled with Windows 8 and above will read the EXIF meta data and flip images that are upside down. Still, what a bunch of extra nonsense for a problem that could be solved by Apple just saving the image correctly.

Locating LAN IP and MAC Address

Your iPhone has a real MAC address for the WiFi interface, and a number of possible virtual, or fake MAC addresses for the same interface that can appear differently on your own LAN depending on if you connect 2.4 or 5G, and entirely different for other wireless networks at large. This is an Apple security feature that has potential privacy benefits for the owner of the iPhone, however, can be a nightmare for a network administrator trying to set up static dhcp mapping or traffic control. Apple makes networking a bigger PITA!

To find the WiFi LAN address that you will see on your network when your iPhone is connected look under:

• Settings -> WiFi -> the SSID of the AP : it will appear under Wi-Fi Address

scroll down further to find the LAN IP address under the heading of IPv4 ADDRESSES. This MAC address might not match the MAC address seen on your local network when connected to Wi-Fi because it is the "Private Wi-Fi Addresses" (also known as randomized or "Locally Administered" MAC addresses) introduced in iOS 14 and later. For privacy, iOS generates a unique MAC address for each Wi-Fi network you connect to. This feature prevents tracking of your device across networks by masking the hardware MAC address. You can disable this behavior and have your phone send the real hardware MAC address by disabling "Private WiFi Address" in the WiFi settings (see below for steps).

Your true hardware MAC address, also referred to as the "Static Hardware MAC Address" can be found at

• Settings -> General -> About , and scroll down

This is the real MAC assigned to your device by the manufacturer. It doesn’t change and serves as the device’s unique identifier at the hardware level. This address might be used in situations where private MAC addresses are disabled (e.g., enterprise networks or networks requiring device-specific authentication).

The private MAC address changes based on the network, enhancing privacy, while the static hardware MAC remains constant and is rarely used in most modern Wi-Fi setups unless explicitly required.

The network host name / hostname that appears in your router or WiFi AP is a NETBIOS name that comes from the individual iPhone Device Name

• Settings -> General -> About -> Name

It is the name of your phone at identifies it on your Apple ID page of all your Apple devices. If the device name contains characters that are invalid to NETBIOS then it will break the display of your name on the router or AP. If the host name is still not showing up on the LAN device, you need to disable "Private WiFi Address" which will allow the phone name to be visible on WiFi networks along with the hardware MAC address.

An interesting side note on Apple's fake MAC address security feature is that it will generate a different fake MAC address for the 2.4 wifi versus the 5G wifi from the same phone to the AP, however, if using the actual hardware MAC address that will be the same for both types of WiFi.

• Settings -> WiFi -> (click AP SSID) -> Private WiFi Address

Depending on your iOS version, you will either have a toggle or you will have 3 options, 1) Off, 2) Fixed, 3) Rotating

This all changes to some degree after an ios update. The above applies to iOS 17.6.1 however after the update to iOS 18.1.1 there are some subtle differences in how the "Private WiFi Address" option works. Rather than toggling ON and OFF, it now offers three choices for privacy level. The selection of ON should be equivalent to selecting Rotating after the iOS update.

Privacy Risk

Camera Pictures Automatically Upload to iCloud

If you've just discovered all your pictures and videos are being uploaded to iCloud, you need to delete them from the cloud BEFORE you disable iCloud Photos.

• reference: I can't delete photos in iCloud.com > Photos after I disabled iCloud Photo Library

If you discover you have 1000s (or a lot) of photos and/or videos and you try to delete them all at once on iCloud.com, you will find there is a limit on the number that can be selected and deleted at one time.

• reference: How to select all photos in iCloud and the error: icloud.com: delete too many items selected
• deleting files from iCloud.com also removes them from your device.
• Apple gives iCloud storage PRIORITY over your device storage

It is confirmed that at least 500 photos can be selected and deleted at once using iCloud.com web interface. This is not a hard limit as more may be possible, however 1000+ is not possible.

Once you've reclaimed your privacy by removing everything you wish to have deleted from iCloud.com storage, you can disable iCloud Storage for photos on your iPhone device.

• How to turn off iCloud Photos

This was tested on the iPhone 6 OS version 12

1. Go to Settings, scroll to the top and tap where you see your name with the description: "Name, Apple ID, iCloud, iTunes & App Store" and tap in this location.
2. Tap in the second area of boxes on "iCloud" which should be just above "iTunes & App Store"
3. Near the top tap on the toggle to toggle off "iCloud Photos"
4. You will be promoted to "Remove from iPhone" which is asanine, however, Apple gives the cloud priority, therefore you will have to tap "Remove from iPhone" or the storage will remain active.

After doing this you will probably find that your photos from the past remain on the phone storage even though the verbiage of the disable process makes it sound as though they will be removed.