Category: Apple
AirPlay no longer working on Apple TV 2nd generation
I recently had reset an older Apple TV (2nd generation) to the factory settings. After that, AirPlay did not work anymore. The Apple TV could not be found on the network (or example when trying to screen mirror from an iPhone), and when I navigated to Settings > General > About on the device, it showed Activation: failed
These are the steps I took to resolve the issue::
- Make sure that you are signed in to iCloud on the Apple TV
- Install Apple Configurator 2 on your Mac
- Connect your Apple TV to your Mac with a micro-USB cable
- Select your Apple TV when it appears
- In the menu on the left, select Profile
- Click the Activate button
After that, Airplay started working again, and the Activation: failed message disappeared.
Add a folder to the dock in macOS
For some reason, I had lost the “Downloads” icon in the Dock on my Mac. It took me a while to figure out how to add it again, a simple “drag and drop” did not seem to work.
This is how:
- right-click (or CTRL + Click) the Downloads shortcut in a finder window
- select Add to dock
Password autofill on iOS with external keyboard
I recently got a Logitech keyboard case for my iPad. The thing works fine, but what was very annoying is that the iOS password autofill is not working when the external keyboard case is connected. It simply does not suggest usernames and passwords for sites where you have saved them in your keychain.
This is probably a security feature, but you can use the following workaround to access your saved usernames and passwords: go to Settings, General, Keyboards and activate the option Shortcuts.
Whenever you visit a logon page now for which you have saved your password, a small bar will appear at the bottom of your screen, with a Passwords button. Tap the button to access your saved passwords.
Turn your old iPad into a digital photo frame
So you have an old iPad (like an iPad 2), and you think it would be a shame to just recycle it?
Why not turn it into a fancy wifi-enabled digital photo frame? This is what you could do:
- Create a dedicated Apple ID for your frame, and configure your iPad to use that specific ID.
- On the computer where you store your pictures, create a new Shared Album, and share it with the Apple ID of your iPad. If you want other family members to be able to add pictures to the iPad, share the album with them too.
- On the iPad, install the LiveFrame app. It is free for testing (you can view the picture slideshow for 5 minutes, then you get adds), 2,29EUR to remove that limitation.