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Ask Different (Apple)

Q&A for power users of Apple hardware and software

Latest Questions

2 votes
1 answers
12954 views
Access app data of a 3rd party iOS app
I want to access data stored in a 3rd party iOS app called FriendLoan. This app crashes every time I try to open it. Also, it's not available on the App Store. I just need to recover the data somehow. I know that the data is stored in the app.
I want to access data stored in a 3rd party iOS app called FriendLoan. This app crashes every time I try to open it. Also, it's not available on the App Store. I just need to recover the data somehow. I know that the data is stored in the app.
Viraj (163 rep)
Apr 17, 2019, 12:36 PM • Last activity: Jun 11, 2025, 12:07 AM
2 votes
2 answers
1597 views
How do I migrate my Transmission torrents & settings from an old Macbook to a new one?
How do I transfer my **Transmission 3.0 torrents, torrent data files, and colour tags/labels** from 1 Macbook Pro to another. - My old Transmission app is in the old Macbook Pro MacOS boot ssd on a 2.5" OCZ vertex 4 ssd ~128GB. The actual torrent data files, 960 GB of anime, is on 2.5" HGST HDD 1000...
How do I transfer my **Transmission 3.0 torrents, torrent data files, and colour tags/labels** from 1 Macbook Pro to another. - My old Transmission app is in the old Macbook Pro MacOS boot ssd on a 2.5" OCZ vertex 4 ssd ~128GB. The actual torrent data files, 960 GB of anime, is on 2.5" HGST HDD 1000GB inside a macCaddy in the Superdrive slot. MacOS El Capitaine. - I plan to remove the MacCaddy and HGST drive from the old MAcbook and place it into the new Macbook's Superdrive bay. - The new Macbook Pro MacOS Catalina boots off a 2.5" OCZ 460 Vertex ssd ~256GB. How do I put transmission app settings into that drive and have it recognize the location of the torrents in the new HGST Hdd 1000GB drive? Note: 1. On my old Mac I customized it so that my **Home Folder** (Documents, Downloads, Music, Photos, etc) was stored on my huge 1000GB HGST Hdd, it is **not on the MacOS boot drive**. 2. Transmission automatically puts my anime torrents in my Downloads folder so my data is targeted to go on my HGST drive automatically. 3. This setting will be important to transfer from my old Mac to my new Mac.
zwei7 (131 rep)
Feb 6, 2021, 04:15 AM • Last activity: May 13, 2025, 01:02 AM
0 votes
1 answers
112 views
How to rsync the data volume
I want to make a full backup of my Macintosh HD - Data volume which is running MacOS 12. The backup needs to be an exact as is replica so needs all existing attributes, permissions, ACLs etc. What is the best Rsync command to use? Simply running the command below doesn’t give me an exact replica: rs...
I want to make a full backup of my Macintosh HD - Data volume which is running MacOS 12. The backup needs to be an exact as is replica so needs all existing attributes, permissions, ACLs etc. What is the best Rsync command to use? Simply running the command below doesn’t give me an exact replica: rsync -av / /Volumes/externalhdd
M9A (141 rep)
Mar 12, 2025, 04:26 AM • Last activity: Mar 14, 2025, 02:20 AM
1 votes
1 answers
63 views
Will encrypted Time Machines that encounter single bit errors be entirely unreadable?
When deciding on whether to store my backups encrypted or not I have to weigh the risk of potential damage of my backup drives being **stolen and readable**, and the potential damage of my backup becoming unreadable through various forms of "natural" **degradation** of the hardware and data. I want...
When deciding on whether to store my backups encrypted or not I have to weigh the risk of potential damage of my backup drives being **stolen and readable**, and the potential damage of my backup becoming unreadable through various forms of "natural" **degradation** of the hardware and data. I want to make an informed decision but I don't even know how vulnerable the encrypted backups are to e.g. single-bit corruption compared to unencrypted ones. If I let Time Machine encrypt a backup (onto an unencrypted target APFS volume -- if these two encryption schemes happen to be distinct) **will all of the backup be inaccessible in the case of a single bit flip of the encrypted data?** I'm guessing it could be if the corruption occurs in the wrong part of the data structure, but in general, will most of its content still be readable? In other words, will it simply leave a few damaged files out of a future restore operation? Let's assume I'm using a modern Time Machine implementation of Sequoia 15.3 and the target volume is APFS. I'll add that I currently don't know if Time Machine simply uses APFS' encryption capabilities or whether it does its own thing.
Andreas (2269 rep)
Feb 10, 2025, 03:44 PM • Last activity: Mar 5, 2025, 07:56 PM
22 votes
4 answers
16676 views
Is there a way to download Screen Time data from iPhone or other Apple devices?
I am a data analyst and would like to look at the underlying data that is the basis for the relatively simple screen time reports. I want to be able to look at my phone usage data in more detail and beyond the 7 day report period that is usually reported. Has anyone figured out how to access the dat...
I am a data analyst and would like to look at the underlying data that is the basis for the relatively simple screen time reports. I want to be able to look at my phone usage data in more detail and beyond the 7 day report period that is usually reported. Has anyone figured out how to access the data or create more in depth analyses?
Lucas Fortini (329 rep)
Dec 18, 2018, 10:40 PM • Last activity: Dec 31, 2024, 02:44 AM
17 votes
3 answers
45195 views
Trying to securely erase hard drive, but Security Options not available (Mavericks)
Recently got a new Macbook Pro 13″ and I'm preparing my old Macbook Air for sale. I'm following steps in the [Apple Support article](http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5189) on this topic (as well as other similar articles I've found). I'm currently at the stage of Erasing the startup disk. I've booted m...
Recently got a new Macbook Pro 13″ and I'm preparing my old Macbook Air for sale. I'm following steps in the [Apple Support article](http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5189) on this topic (as well as other similar articles I've found). I'm currently at the stage of Erasing the startup disk. I've booted my machine with ⌘R and am running Disk Utility. Initially I was able to set Security Options to Most Secure (7 pass zeros), but after I clicked Erase there was some error and it said it could not be completed. Now Security Options is grayed out (unavailable), however Erase is still available. The error occurred after only seconds, so I'm assuming it did not actually complete a 7 pass erase and rewrite before stopping. Guessing that means my data is still there and relatively accessible. Is there anyway to re-access the Security Options and get this thing to securely wipe from this point?
Joel Glovier (531 rep)
Nov 15, 2013, 06:13 PM • Last activity: Oct 31, 2024, 04:51 PM
2 votes
1 answers
103 views
change mutiple xml fields data and the data have differnt name #have try apple script #on mac
### Scenario description This side needs to go to a ftp regularly to download the data down and change their fields. The process is: 1. Download from a place to get a file name called "202301081014XXXX.REQ" data format xml 2. change the data of one of the fields of S001 which content is "1234" Chang...
### Scenario description This side needs to go to a ftp regularly to download the data down and change their fields. The process is: 1. Download from a place to get a file name called "202301081014XXXX.REQ" data format xml 2. change the data of one of the fields of S001 which content is "1234" Change it to "abcd" 3. If the change is completed, create a file with the same name and name it as "202301081014XXXX.REQ.OK" 4.Upload the two created data to another ftp path Currently I have tried the action 1. via Mac app script tools 2. The operation of recording the screen is as follows
tell application "Finder"
    activate
    open document file "202301081014N1234.REQ" of folder "Downloads" of folder "blue2" of folder "Users" of startup disk using application file "BBEdit.app" of folder "Applications" of startup disk
end tell
tell application "BBEdit"
    activate
    open find window
    find "1234" searching in text 1 of text document id 829 with selecting match
    set characters 406 thru 428 of text document id 829 to "abcd"
    select insertion point after characters 406 thru 428 of text document id 829
    save text document id 829
end tell
### Problems encountered Because the names of the data are different, I have read the [official documents](https://developer.apple.com/library/archive/documentation/AppleScript/Conceptual/AppleScriptLangGuide/reference/ASLR_folder_actions.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/TP40000983-CH219-SW2) but I don't know how to define the scope. And the \ field is in a different position, so I can't execute the recorded AppleScript.
blue2lynn (21 rep)
Jan 8, 2023, 02:27 PM • Last activity: Sep 30, 2024, 11:04 PM
0 votes
0 answers
36 views
Is there a plugin to plot txt files for Quick Look?
I have a bunch of data files that are .txt files that I would like to be able to view as plots via Quick Look. Is there a plugin (or other easy way, e.g., a setting, .etc) to do this? The values are all tab-delimited and one-dimensional, so it might not be too hard to code something that can do this...
I have a bunch of data files that are .txt files that I would like to be able to view as plots via Quick Look. Is there a plugin (or other easy way, e.g., a setting, .etc) to do this? The values are all tab-delimited and one-dimensional, so it might not be too hard to code something that can do this, but I am probably overlooking something trivial.
Kevmeister (1 rep)
Jul 15, 2024, 11:21 PM
1 votes
2 answers
1140 views
Does WhatsApp use data from an inactive SIM card?
I associated my [WhatsApp][1] account with a Canadian mobile/cell number. I am now in UK without any local SIM card installed. If I use WhatsApp outside of Wi-Fi, will it try to use/charge the Canadian cell number (i.e., high roaming charges)? [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WhatsApp
I associated my WhatsApp account with a Canadian mobile/cell number. I am now in UK without any local SIM card installed. If I use WhatsApp outside of Wi-Fi, will it try to use/charge the Canadian cell number (i.e., high roaming charges)?
Graeme Jones (11 rep)
Apr 7, 2024, 10:28 PM • Last activity: Apr 9, 2024, 02:02 AM
1 votes
1 answers
306 views
bulk search and copy files on a mac
So i had previously used a software where i could paste a list of file names and automate it to copy all those files and paste into destination folder. Unfortunately i am unable to find it. So the problem i have now is "how can i bulk search and copy files from a folder to destination folder" So, I...
So i had previously used a software where i could paste a list of file names and automate it to copy all those files and paste into destination folder. Unfortunately i am unable to find it. So the problem i have now is "how can i bulk search and copy files from a folder to destination folder" So, I have a folder with around 2000 images. and i have all these images names in an excel. So i have already selected few image names on that excel which i can curate in a plaintext too. But i am unable to find a way search these names and copy those files into another folder. I really hope there is someone here who can help me find a solution. Looking forward to all the help and suggestions
Harrison Monteiro (11 rep)
Jan 23, 2021, 08:42 PM • Last activity: Jan 19, 2024, 08:13 AM
0 votes
0 answers
323 views
Generic method to export app data?
Is there currently a simple way to just access/export all data from an iPhone app to a MacBook computer? I have been using a third part app for 5+ years in which I created a lot of data, mostly audio and video files. Unfortunately, it turns out the app doesn't have any sort of 'export' function and...
Is there currently a simple way to just access/export all data from an iPhone app to a MacBook computer? I have been using a third part app for 5+ years in which I created a lot of data, mostly audio and video files. Unfortunately, it turns out the app doesn't have any sort of 'export' function and I can't access the data in the iOs Files app or in a simple way via my MacBook. I have not found any way to access the data from this third party app. I've tried iMazing, but it seems that the functionality of iMazing seems to have gotten very limited, correct? It seems to only allow me interact a few dedicated apps. I've gotten to a point where I don't even care right now whether I can actually extract the data in a usable format. I would be glad if I can just back up the app in some way or another, to re-install at some later point (including the data) and deal with it later. Is there any way to do any of this? It baffles me that I have so little control over the apps, or even just the data I've created on my iPhone.
TLeksl (1 rep)
Nov 21, 2023, 06:56 PM
8 votes
0 answers
886 views
Is there a way to save or export Screentime data?
Screentime on Mac and iOS records data every day but it only keeps the data for a few weeks. Obviously the data must be stored somewhere, is there a way to access it?
Screentime on Mac and iOS records data every day but it only keeps the data for a few weeks. Obviously the data must be stored somewhere, is there a way to access it?
M. Y. Zuo (574 rep)
Aug 1, 2021, 02:34 AM • Last activity: Apr 27, 2023, 12:51 AM
0 votes
0 answers
159 views
Timestamps in Numbers are only partially recognized as time?
I have a column with timestamps minutes, seconds and milliseconds. Originally they looked like this 6:24,120 (it is output from the `time` command) Pasting it into Numbers causes weird results. I can add them using `=A1+A2` but using `=sum(A1:A2)` returns 0 and if I use `average` I get an error mess...
I have a column with timestamps minutes, seconds and milliseconds. Originally they looked like this 6:24,120 (it is output from the time command) Pasting it into Numbers causes weird results. I can add them using =A1+A2 but using =sum(A1:A2) returns 0 and if I use average I get an error message "Numbers can’t be divided by zero." (which is odd, because even if the sum doesn't work and returns 0, you can still perform 0/2 - it is not an invalid operation). I have tried changing the format to 6m24s120ms, which Numbers reformats to 6m 24s 120ms but the result is the same as when using colons and commas as separators. How do I make average and sum work in these data?
d-b (3494 rep)
Feb 24, 2023, 05:44 PM
1 votes
1 answers
198 views
Macbook Air (2020) sudden increase in storage
Today I closed my Macbook then opened it again 4 hours later and the available storage went from 15.1 gb to 21.6gb. (I know that's very low for MacOS). I checked with Disk Inventory X and Grand Perspective and it got the same result. Is this some sort of glitch or malware? Is this because my Mac cle...
Today I closed my Macbook then opened it again 4 hours later and the available storage went from 15.1 gb to 21.6gb. (I know that's very low for MacOS). I checked with Disk Inventory X and Grand Perspective and it got the same result. Is this some sort of glitch or malware? Is this because my Mac cleared up some old cache or time machine backup? Or is it some sort of corrupted data or data loss? Does anyone have any idea why?
Dr Fumiya (11 rep)
Jan 11, 2023, 06:00 AM • Last activity: Jan 11, 2023, 07:46 AM
1 votes
1 answers
135 views
Backup iPhone with dead screen on unknown Mac
My grandma´s iPhone 6 dropped from about 6 foot height, and the screen is absolutely dead. The iPhone itself seems to not be dead, but it´s locked and shows no visual indication whatsoever. When pressing power button + volume down, I can force power it off. And using the power button, I ca...
My grandma´s iPhone 6 dropped from about 6 foot height, and the screen is absolutely dead. The iPhone itself seems to not be dead, but it´s locked and shows no visual indication whatsoever. When pressing power button + volume down, I can force power it off. And using the power button, I can put it on again. I know that it´s on because the button vibrates upon "pressing" it (it´s vibration simulated). Some of the data on it is not backed up in iCloud, and we need it. Connecting it via Lightning to USB of a PC doesn´t do anything, nothing shows up in iTunes. I had the intuition that it might work better on a Mac. So how can I pair / connect it to a previously unknown MacOS system via cable without unlocking it? What can we do to save data that would be lost on the phone otherwise?
Marie M. (11 rep)
Mar 14, 2022, 06:49 PM • Last activity: Dec 15, 2022, 12:02 PM
-2 votes
2 answers
48 views
not using free data allowance
I have a 5Gig data allowance on my phone and I hardly ever use more than a fraction of it. But I seem to be paying a lot through my broadband provider. How can I persuade my phone to use my free data allowance?! It's an iphone and I have a vodafone plan.
I have a 5Gig data allowance on my phone and I hardly ever use more than a fraction of it. But I seem to be paying a lot through my broadband provider. How can I persuade my phone to use my free data allowance?! It's an iphone and I have a vodafone plan.
MNBards (9 rep)
Jan 7, 2015, 06:13 PM • Last activity: Dec 9, 2022, 06:42 PM
1 votes
2 answers
2156 views
How often should a RAID consistency check be done?
I have a LaCie 60TB RAID array. I've had it for a couple of years, but I am wondering how often I should do a "Consistency Check" on it. I don't know a whole lot about RAIDs. It's formatted HFS+, so I think this is a different than defragmenting. LaCie don't mention doing this as a routine in the se...
I have a LaCie 60TB RAID array. I've had it for a couple of years, but I am wondering how often I should do a "Consistency Check" on it. I don't know a whole lot about RAIDs. It's formatted HFS+, so I think this is a different than defragmenting. LaCie don't mention doing this as a routine in the section of the manual regarding the subject.
CJT3 (419 rep)
Dec 1, 2020, 02:08 AM • Last activity: Nov 18, 2022, 02:36 PM
0 votes
0 answers
43 views
Phone damaged in water 10 days ago but last back-up was made on computer 1 month ago. What shall I do to keep all the data when I get a new phone now?
I dropped my iphone x in the sea 10 days ago and since then been using an Android phone my friend loaned me. My last backup on that iphone was made a month ago on my Macbook. I have been using Whatsapp, Wechat, emails and other Apps on that loaned Android phone. When I get a new iphone, what should...
I dropped my iphone x in the sea 10 days ago and since then been using an Android phone my friend loaned me. My last backup on that iphone was made a month ago on my Macbook. I have been using Whatsapp, Wechat, emails and other Apps on that loaned Android phone. When I get a new iphone, what should I do so that I could also transfer all the data generated during this time on that Android phone onto the new iphone? Thanks!!
Gary Wong (1 rep)
Jul 10, 2022, 01:15 PM
0 votes
1 answers
119 views
How to access older iPhone auto-backups / restore lost Safari cards?
Recently I've lost all my open Safari cards on my iPhone. Since i want to move my data to a new model anyway, I was just disabling wifi every time I plugged it to the charger in order to not let it auto-backup. I did not turn off the backup function, because I was too scared of the iThreat, threaten...
Recently I've lost all my open Safari cards on my iPhone. Since i want to move my data to a new model anyway, I was just disabling wifi every time I plugged it to the charger in order to not let it auto-backup. I did not turn off the backup function, because I was too scared of the iThreat, threatening they'll delete all my iCloud files, backups, photos, etc. if i cancel anything iCloud-related. So sadly, that one time I forgot to turn off the wifi, and it did back up automatically. Since I've tried doing a computer backup many times before on many different PC's and cables, changing settings, including replacing the whole charging port, I couldn't do it, so iCloud backups are the only ones I could make. Now, as you might have guessed, the latest backup doesn't contain any of those lost 48 open cards, and the latest backup i did manually is almost half-year old. Is there any way I can get access to the older AUTOMATIC iCloud backup? If not, how do I get my cards back? They couldn't just disappear without the trace of I didn't physically press 'delete' button right?? 😰
WhyMe (1 rep)
Jan 19, 2021, 11:42 PM • Last activity: Jun 14, 2022, 05:03 AM
3 votes
1 answers
2749 views
Why "Settings" needs Cellular in iOS?
I'm getting a similar warning as this one: ![Settings needs Cellular][1] Whenever I get to Settings in iOS. I have deactivated Cellular connections for *everything* (including Settings) but Chrome Browser. I'm wondering if anyone know why Settings needs a Cellular connection? As seen on this thread:...
I'm getting a similar warning as this one: Settings needs Cellular Whenever I get to Settings in iOS. I have deactivated Cellular connections for *everything* (including Settings) but Chrome Browser. I'm wondering if anyone know why Settings needs a Cellular connection? As seen on this thread: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/6567893
Meetai.com (141 rep)
Dec 4, 2014, 04:29 PM • Last activity: May 29, 2022, 05:05 PM
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