#how to fix iphone issue

[gazetcare]

Camera Auto Focus Issue.... #CameraAutoFocus #PhoneCameraIssues #TechTroubleshooting #MobileCameraFix #FocusProblems #CameraHelp #PhoneTechSupport #GadgetRepair #gazetcare

[the-sleepy-archivist]

Blocking Ads on Mobile Devices

Blocking ads on our phones is way harder than it should be so I figured I'd make some recommendations. These are not the only options out there, just the ones that I know and use.

Please note that browser-level and system-level adblocking are complementary; you'll have the best experience if you use both of them together as they each block different things in different places. If you want a basic idea of how effective your combined adblocking setup is, you can visit this website in your mobile browser.

Lastly, there is some additional advice/info under the readmore if you're curious (EDIT: updated June 2024 to add info about sideloading altered versions of social media apps that don't contain ads on Android and iOS).

Android

Browser-Level

uBlock Origin (for Firefox)

System-Level (works in all apps, not just browsers)

AdGuard

Blokada 5 (completely free version) OR Blokada 6 (has some newer features but they require a subscription)

iPhone/iPad

Browser-Level

AdGuard (Safari extension; free for basic browser-level blocking, requires a subscription for custom filters)

System-Level (works in all apps, not just browsers)

AdGuard (requires subscription for system-level blocking)

AdGuard DNS only (this is free and does not require the AdGuard app, BUT I would only recommend it for advanced users, as you can't easily turn it off like you can with the app. Credit to this Reddit thread for the DNS profile)

Some additional info: browser-level blocking is a browser addon or extension, like you might be used to from a desktop computer. This inspects the HTML code returned by websites and searches for patterns that identify the presence of an ad or other annoyance (popup videos, cookie agreements, etc.). System-level blocking is almost always DNS-based. Basically whenever an app asks your phone's OS to make a connection to a website that is known for serving ads, the system-level blocker replies "sorry, I don't know her 🤷‍♂️💅" and the ad doesn't get downloaded. This works in most places, not just a browser, but be warned that it might make your battery drain a little faster depending on the app/setup.

Each of those types of blocking has strengths and weaknesses. System-level DNS blocking blocks ads in all apps, but companies that own advertising networks AND the websites those ads are served on can combine their services into the same domain to render DNS blocking useless; you can’t block ads served by Facebook/Meta domains without also blocking all of Facebook and Instagram as well because they made sure their ads are served from the same domain as all the user posts you actually want to see. Similarly, browser-level blocking can recognize ads by appearance and content, regardless of what domain they’re served from, so it can block them on Instagram and Facebook. However, it needs to be able to inspect the content being loaded in order to look for ads, and there’s no way to do that in non-browser apps. That’s why using both together will get you the best results.

These limitations do mean that you can’t block ads in the Facebook or Instagram apps, unfortunately, only in the website versions of them visited in your browser. It also means ads served by meta’s/facebook’s ad network in other apps can’t be blocked either (unless you're one of the rare beasts who doesn't use facebook or instagram or threads, in which case feel free to blacklist all Meta/FB domains and watch your ads disappear 😍; I'm jealous and in awe of you lol).

One note: some apps may behave unpredictably when they can't download ads. For example, the Tumblr app has big black spaces where the ads are, and sometimes those spaces collapse as you scroll past them and it messes up scrolling for a few seconds (UPDATE: looks like the scrolling issue may have actually been a Tumblr bug that they have now fixed, at least on iOS). Still way less annoying than getting ads for Draco Malfoy seduction roleplay AI chatbots imo though. And honestly *most* apps handle this fairly gracefully, like a mobile game I play just throws error messages like "ad is not ready" and then continues like normal.

One final note: on Android, you may actually be able to find hacked versions of Meta’s apps that have the ad frameworks removed. In some cases they are a little janky (unsurprisingly, apps don’t always take kindly to having some of their innards ripped out by a third-party), and they are often out of date. BUT in return you get an Instagram app with no ads whatsoever, and some of them even add additional features like buttons for saving IG videos and photos to your phone. However, use these apps at your own risk, as there is functionally no way to validate the code that the third-parties have added or removed from the app. Example altered IG app (I have not vetted this altered app, it's just a popular option): link.

It is technically possible to install altered apps on iOS as well, but Apple makes it much, much harder to do (unless you are jailbroken, which is a whole different ballgame). I'm not going to cover sideloading or jailbreaking here because even I as a very techy person eventually grew tired of messing with it or having to pay for it. If you're interested you can read more about the different ways to do sideloading on iOS here.

[levil0vesyou]

GOOD NEWS GUYS, IT'S A BUG AND I'LL TELL Y'ALL HOW TO FIX IT!

[Plain text: "Good news guys, it's a bug and I'll tell y'all how to fix it!" in green caps. End pt.]

So what was going on here?

Apparently, they changed something an update or more ago, so if you're using an outdated version of the app or have been working with one tumblr tab for a while without restarting your browser, there can be some issues. Don't ask me how or why, this site is held together by duct tape.

I'm experiencing this bug. What do I do?

If you're using the app (note that I can only speak for the android version but I'm guessing it'll work the same on iPhone) you should update it. If you don't have the space (I know it's why I always have auto updates disabled) you should be able to make a new sideblog in your browser, then customise it even on the app and use it normally. If you're using a browser, close all tumblr tabs and open a new one and it should be fixed. If you're still having issues after that, hit me up, we'll try fixing it and I'll add it to the post.

Is tumblr phasing out page view and archives at a later time?

Honestly, who knows. But knowing them it's also possible they messed something up that makes sideblog creation no longer backwards compatible, god knows when or with what. I am hoping this was a genuine bug and nothing else. Losing the archive would be one of the worst changes this website could make. And the page view? Man. But here's hoping the site stays somewhat habitable.

So what happens now?

Nothing. I inform people where I can that it's a bug, not an intentional change, I apologise to them, and we all stay here forever as always. If you did reblog a previous version, consider reblogging this here instead (I am not making the post rebloggable again to avoid the old version being spread further)

Thank you to everyone who has provided their assistance in testing and otherwise helping! I appreciate you <3

Changing the image so the info will hopefully spread further:

[superchat]

HOW TO ROLLBACK THE DISCORD APP TO A PREVIOUS VERSION

*this is all from my experience with android so iphone or other phone users may have a different experience*

Go to your app store and turn off auto-updates for discord

Delete discord from your phone

Go to apkmirror and search for discord and what version you want. download it to your phone. i currently have 126.20

Download an APKmirror installer from the app store (look for lots of downloads with good ratings/reviews)

Use the apk mirror installer to download discord, youll have to log in again and everything but that should fix the new update issue

[hihigherdi]

The second you hear the pilot say “I’m sorry folks, we’re going to have to deplane” when you’ve been waiting on a mechanical issue for an hour, you start looking and booking other flights. I opened up my phone and started checking every other airline and grabbed the last spot on the 6:30pm United flight, just in case the 1:42pm flight was cancelled. If you have to get home, for say a chemo infusion the next day, take control immediately. Never listen to their “we are going to get this fixed in a few hours” or “we are flying another plane in” - the crew times out, they can’t get the part, etc especially in smaller airports. Book a brand new ticket if the delay is longer than three hours - they have to refund your original ticket, it’s the law. Cash, not credits.

This might sound kind of dumb but I’d love to do a basis flight prep class for when things go wrong. So many older people on this flight who were just waiting in these lines that take hours for customer service help (who are overwhelmed) when they often only search flights with their partner airlines. I want to teach them how to use their phone to help themselves quickly, even the importance of carrying external portable chargers. I ended up saying to a group of people “raise your hand if you have an iPhone that’s dying” and got everybody charged up. An 80 year old had to take a van shuttle to LAX - two hours away! So I gave her my portable charger because I had six more in my bag (I prepare for the apocalypse).

Anyway. I’m so thankful I got on this flight and that it (looks to be) taking off. Travel is so stressful and there’s a lot you can do to prepare for the worst case scenario.

This trip was a bust. lol. But I’m still so glad I went, felt the warmth on my face and sat in a hot tub for awhile. I’m alive. This is almost over. I’m so close.

[hotvampireadjacent]

My dad, as always, every time I come home has a new tech issue more baffling the last. It’s always some iPhone feature I didn’t even know existed and somehow he managed to fat finger so bad it becomes a problem.

This time he was telling me “I’m not getting your texts” so I’m thinking. He hit the block button on accident.

I test it and I hear his text tone go off. And I tell him “dad it’s working.” And he says “no you don’t understand the problem. I can’t see your texts unless I go to the screen and click your name.”

🤨

So I’m looking again. The problem is he has “pinned” so many contacts to the top of his messaging app they hide the last person to message you.

So I unpin them all and show him. “Ok it’s fixed now ”

He takes a look “oh good you did fix it.”

Adventures in boomer tech issues lmfao. I didn’t even know you could pin contacts to the messaging screen. As always I ask him “dad how did you do that? I didn’t know that was even a feature.” And like always he says “I don’t know .”

[ii-meeple-confessions]

I love the idea of basing the events of the Mephones' early lives off of irl Iphone scandals and facts and fun stuffs. I think I've talked about this idea before in one of my earliest confessions, but I really love, for example, the idea of Mephone having trouble making phone calls using himself during Season 1 due to the irl Iphone4 having issues with its antennae being hidden in the bezel (around the phone) which meant when you held it, it sometimes had connective issues. Which forced them to put out a free case that was made to solve the issue!!! The 4S solved this issue, so it'd probably not bother him anymore, but nonetheless I like to think about it!

On another note, there were actually complaints about the iPhone3GS looking too similar to the iPhone3G and 2G when it first came out, and I really like the idea of Cobs making 3G and 2G and then realizing "Hey these two look really similar, how do I tell them apart?" so he made 3GS with a specifically light grey interface to ensure he could tell his newest creation from his older ones from far away. He probably didn't bother giving 2G or 3G any individuality because they were already older models anyways, and why focus on the old when you can dote on the new?

Speaking of 3GS, some of the problems that riddled the 3GS' release were overheating, problems with sound files and the phone emitting high frequency noises when certain audio notifs were triggered (maybe that's why his voice is so scratchy!), and apparently a rattling noise coming from a loose component.

For some other fun iPhone problems: The iPhone4S sometimes had problems with sounds not playing when they should and also screen contrast problems!!! Also, the iPhone4S and iPhone4's LCD and Front Glass piece (The entire front of the phone) are fused together and must be replaced as one piece. So now you know that if Mephone wants to get his screen fixed up, he's gotta replace the entire front of his body!!!!!!!!!!!! Yeowch!

All of this is to say: I find iPhones and technology really cool and I loveeee incorporating it into my Meepling headcanons!!!! For example, I like making my Mephone hoh (hard of hearing) as a nod to the original antennae issues the iPhone4 had <:} And my 4S is colour blind!!! Idk fun and whimsy in my meepling brain!!! I love phones -2G Anon

.

[verdantglow]

Apple Staff Alignments & Other Notes from Retail Purgatory AU

Etho

Role: Genius

Alignment: True Neutral

Has been at this Genius Bar the longest (apart from Doc)

He's mostly here because he's good at it, they pay him well, & it's generally pretty tolerable. Plus it'd be like, a whole thing to find another job, & he's got other things he'd rather spend his time on.

At this point, he's gotten pretty good at slipping into work mode, so he's generally pleasant, if kinda unremarkable (in demeanor), if you get him for your appointment.

That said, he's very much doing just enough to stay in the managers' good graces & gets maybe a bit too much enjoyment out of seeing just how close he can get to that line.

Like he knows exactly how late he can be on how many days each quarter without getting official feedback & he will be late all of those days.

"Sorry I'm late for the team meeting, traffic was crazy out there!" [is obviously holding a full cup of steaming hot coffee from Starbucks]

So yeah, he's not the one starting shit, but he's definitely just gonna watch in amusement & not help if Doc's pissing off another customer.

Refuses to work any morning shifts ever. Schedule him every weekend day if you want, but if you tell him to show up for a shift before 1pm, you're going to be sorely disappointed.

Tango

Role: Genius

Alignment: Chaotic Good

Tango is an absolute fucking delight to have as your Genius. He's got this infectiously good energy & is just soooo hype to help you figure out whatever's wrong & show you like ten completely unrelated but very cool things in the process.

He is constantly going out of scope, doing software fixes & in appointment hardware repairs that he's very much not supposed to do. Not to mention showing off the most awesome accessories the store currently carries.

So his productivity numbers are abysmal & he's got the longest average appointment duration in the store (well. probably the local market, actually).

But he's also got hands down the best customer reviews. Plus all those $1.5k drones he keeps selling by flying them around the back of the store while in appointments.

Management has tried asking him to hand those customers off to a sales person so he can do tech stuff, but he always just says he couldn't do that because he was still in an appointment with them & he can't send people off without fixing their problems, can he?

& honestly, they really need his review scores to balance out Doc's.

Doc

Role: Genius

Alignment: Lawful Evil

He's been a Genius at the store since it opened & he transferred from being a Genius at a different location.

He has worked on pretty much every Apple product in the last couple of decades & remembers how to fix all of them.

Not that he's happy about it. He will bitch incessantly while doing repairs on newer iPhones & iMacs, spending the whole time complaining about the degradation of product design at this company. He'll do these more challenging repairs flawlessly, but he will not be happy (or quiet) about it.

He has the shortest appointment times in the store. It's part him being wickedly competent at identifying & fixing issues, part he just doesn't want to waste time in appointments with people with boring problems.

Not that his customers complain about the quick appointments. In fact, that's the only good thing they have to say in his reviews. Most of them are more about how he barely talked to them & when he did, it was to insult them, their problems, &/or their devices.

Doc'll routinely cherry pick customers out of the appointment list even though he's super not supposed to. Because if there's a problem weird enough to interest him, he will be taking that appointment.

He really doesn't actually need this job. He's been really into the stock purchase plan Apple offers for the whole time he's been there. He's got such an absolutely wild number of Apple shares at this point; he could sell some & retire & have plenty left over.

And yet. He's still there.

Impulse

Role: Genius Admin (Genius Bar/Repair Room operations plus miscellaneous other responsibilities)

Alignment: Lawful Good

When Impulse became Admin, management told him how the Repair Room & everything in it was his responsibility. What they meant was, "keep everything on track & the Geniuses in line." What he heard was, "okay you're basically Repair Room Mom, so take care of these idiots."

& he really took that to heart.

Like. Impulse can imagine every way that things can go off the rails & has plans for all of them.

He always keeps back stock of all the tools & consumable goods hidden somewhere in the store. Anything from sim ejector tools that everyone's constantly losing to those weird obscure tools used to fix the nearly unserviceble Mac Pros twice a year, you need it, he's got it somewhere.

While management expects him to enforce all the rules & tell them when they are broken, he is way more concerned with just holding the whole repair operation together. He's got so many irons in the fire as admin, he's not that bothered with rules that don't have an actual impact on getting things done.

However, he does remind them all about safety rules very often. You even try to touch the repair bench without being grounded, he will appear from nowhere to say that he knows you weren't about to do something that could brick a customer's device or start a thermal event. Because both of those involve a lot of paperwork that he's responsible for.

Tbh, he's actually pretty worried about their safety since things can go sideways fast with some repairs & either of those things would involve having to tell management. Okay, and he doesn't want do paperwork, but that's just because he's so busy keeping things going, he doesn't have time to get distracted by extra paperwork!

He works a lot of early morning shifts to do various inventory things & get things organized before the store opens. He's gonna be up anyway, might as well take the shifts no one else really wants.

Mumbo

Role: Genius

Alignment: Chaotic Anxious

Oh Mumbo. My sweet, sweet Mumbo. My anxiety baby. (I say as an anxiety baby.)

He's great with customers & at explaining things in ways that make people feel reassured, even if they have no clue how things work as soon as they leave the store.

However, he does get anxious easily when things are busy & the team is behind on appointments. So he gets sent back to do repairs when that happens before he flips out.

To be fair, he also gets flustered back there, which tends to lead to him trying to go faster & making mistakes that wind up making the repairs take longer.

But Impulse has a strategy worked out with Mumbo for when he's on repairs.

Because when Mumbo isn't flustered? He's the fastest repair person by a long shot, especially on iPhones. No one can perfectly replace as many phone batteries per hour as calm Mumbo can.

So when it's busy & there's a lot of phones to be done, the overhead lights go out with only the bench lighting on, classical music and ambient rain noises go on the speaker, & Mumbo works from a repair to do list that Impulse made just for him.

Seeing everything waiting to be repaired will just make Mumbo nervous & slower, so they decided that he only needed to see the next few at any given time. Impulse takes care of any priority rearranging that's needed on the full list & Mumbo puts on the blinders & only looks at the next three repairs & busts through a super human number of repairs.

(Even Doc is impressed. He just won't actually directly say so.)

[da-rulah]

I saw an aesthetic picture about spreading Satan through the Internet recently and it got me thinking about being the IT support at the ministry, and which papas and ghouls would be best and worst at technology. So now I obviously want to hear your thoughts.

(I think Primo would surprise us by being surprisingly proficient, sort of like how my grandma mastered email and Facebook in her 80s.)

I have discussed this at great lengths with my best friend, @her-satanic-wiles, and these are the conclusions we have come to. These include all technology and use of the internet and social media habits.

Please enjoy as much as we did - it was too much fun. This is long, so i've put a page break in.

Some 18+ content here, MDNI!

Primo

As you said, surprisingly proficient.

He learns very fast, intently listening to you when you explain email, Microsoft Word & Excel, and Facebook.

He doesn't get Instagram but that's okay, that's not his target audience.

Doesn't understand how the internet works... "So, is it floating around in the air, or...?"

But he does know how to work it, and how to use it.

Secondo

No patience for technology at all.

If it doesn't work how it should, it is immediately referred to as broken.

"Mostrami solo le mie email, pezzo di merda!" you'll hear him scream from his office.

If it is not broken, it soon will be. His frustration makes him violent.

Got the iPhone 4 when it first came out but it perished in a mysterious fire. He doesn't know how it happened. Stop asking him.

Has been through four Ministry issued keyboards and one monitor that saw violent ends.

Terzo

Not bad at technology at all, in fact learns very quickly.

However, the discovery of Internet Pornography set him back in his paperwork by about a week.

He takes casual nudes and sends them to everyone, like him sat on the toilet or just having got out of the shower. Just because he can.

Your phone keeps saving them automatically and you have to do a mass exodus of Terzo nudes at least once a week to save your phone memory.

When you delete them he sends you more out of spite.

Ends up with Malware on his computer all the time from scam emails that promise him 'hot single babes in his area'.

The kind of guy to go on Omegle to flirt with random people, maybe find someone to jerk off with.

Copia

Boomer.

He's bloody useless, it always makes him feel like a silly old fool.

The only thing he can do by himself is search YouTube for rat videos, because you've shown him a million times.

Types with the screen close to his face and with one finger.

FaceTime angle of a typical dad.

"Look at this!" and proceeds to not flip the camera because he doesn't know how so you just end up staring at his face anyway.

SHOUTS when he's on the phone, no concept of noise at all.

Always forgetting his passwords - you get phone calls asking what his password for this and that is every. damn. day.

How many times do you have to remind him his phone unlocks with FaceID?!

Got scammed by a Facebook ad and had to change all his credit cards.

And now for the Ghouls...

Rain

He's VERY good with tech.

Quiet little genius, knows all the keyboard shortcuts and phone tips and tricks going.

Others ask him for help a lot, and he gets such a sense of pride when he can help them, swishing his tails and smiling to himself as he's helping.

Rain is also in charge of Copia's computer. He built it, fixed it, and cries every time Papa does something he shouldn’t to it.

Swiss

Technology conspiracy theorist.

He is terrified of tech, thinks it's listening to him all the time. Alexa is a demon he doesn't trust and his phone is an old Nokia he uses for emergencies ONLY.

That Nokia is also his weapon that he throws at people's heads when they piss him off. Which happens entirely too often and has caused some damage...

Mountain

Always up to date with the latest tech, never misses a launch.

He keeps leaving his second-hand phones in places Swiss will find them to trigger his technophobia and paranoia.

"DO THEY BREED, OR SOMETHING?!" Mountain is snickering outside his dorm listening to the chaos he's created.

Phantom

TROLL.

Chaos maker, through and through.

He is a serial redditer. The havoc he creates on there is diabolical, honestly.

Goes on Omegle to troll people.

He came across Papa Terzo one evening. They both agreed to never speak of what he saw ever again.

Plays on Swiss' technophobia along with Mountain.

He even created a cruel "conspiracy mode" on the Alexa that plays dramatic music, changes the lighting and shuts the window blinds in Swiss' room whilst Alexa tells him "I'm here, Swiss. I see everything."

Sodo

Has absolutely no interest in the internet or technology whatsoever.

Serial text forgetter. Sees you've text him, ignores it. Promises to get back to it. Never does.

When it comes to guitar tech though, he'll chew your ear off for hours. He knows EVERYTHING.

Ask him a question, but be prepared to be stuck there for approx. 45 minutes while he explains it in great detail with tangents you didn't ask for.

Aurora

Very good with tech, specifically social media.

Basically the social media manager of The Ghost Project.

She loves tiktok, makes them regularly. but it gives off 'Illegal Disney' vibes... Total crack.

Papa had to stop her making them and tell her to take them down.

Ask her about dance challenges - she knows them all.

Cumulus

CANNOT BE BOTHERED.

Why does everything take so long? Typing and everything... so much effort.

So she's a voice note kinda girl.

And they can be full blown podcasts, she talks and talks and talks....

Always takes Mountain's old phones after Swiss has been spooked by them. She hasn't bought a new phone in 6 years. Mountain is none the wiser.

Cirrus

Has a basic understanding, but feels guilty asking for help from IT support.

If an error message pops up, she'll panic and call Aurora.

"No but it says Error 404... WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?!"

Queen of cat videos. Falls asleep to 10 hour loops of rain storms on YouTube.

[viridian-rat]

((OOC: Is that art of the Pikachu traditional, or is it digital but meant to look like it’s traditional? If it’s the latter then, from one traditional artist to another, please tell me how you got the picture quality to be so good.))

// Hihi! Always willing to help a fellow artist out!

For the first question, it’s a traditional watercolor piece! With this blog I’m always trying to emulate Sugimori’s gen 1 art style, so I try to use watercolors for the blog whenever I can! I’ve tried doing the digital watercolor made to look traditional before but it just. never really comes out the way I want it? Genuinely its just easier for me to bust out the ol’ watercolors n do that shit irl. I’ll get to those materials in a sec, actually!

For the second question, tbh all I did for the picture quality was take a top-down with my phone and crop it? I CAN tell you that it’s better to take a picture at x1 rather than try to zoom in, as the camera quality dips significantly if you try to zoom in or out.

Here’s the full picture I took. I just cropped it afterwards.

Other tips I can give for picture quality is uhhh

Make sure your area is well-lit! Phone cameras will automatically try to compensate for dimly lit areas by increasing the ISO, which adds visual noise and dips the quality.

Hold the camera still. A moving camera creates blur. Cool for abstract photography, not so much for capturing traditional art lmao

Clean the lens. If you notice that your photos seem a bit fuzzy and… heaven-like? Might be a sign your lens is hella smudged. Run a cloth over that thang.

Try to take the photo from a top-down view! Taking the photo from an angle distorts the art. I know iPhone has a fuckinnnnn feature to fix angle distortions but I’m gonna be so fr w/ you I wouldn’t rely on it to solve this issue.

Be careful not to cast a shadow with you or your phone. If you are, don’t be afraid to take a step back! Remember that you can always crop it later! Crop, not zoom!

And as for the materials! uhhh hold on lemme grab the fucjin.

The watercolors are this Artistro watercolor paint set I got on Amazon. A fellow art student recommended these to me and tbh I love using them when I can. It comes with a watercolor brush that has a water compartment in the brush itself, which is really fuckin neat tbh.

The pens are your standard Micron pens that most traditional artists like to use. The ones I used in the art itself are raised slightly. Don’t mind the dirt or whatever on them, the heat melted the rubber band I used to bind them together and got stuck on ‘em :/

Something to take note of with watercolors is the kind of paper you’re using for it! Different papers will grab onto watercolors differently— you’ll want more thicker, more porous/rougher paper for watercolors. Smoother and thinner paper is harder for the paint to soak into— you risk the paint running or taking longer to dry, or oversoaking and tearing the paper.

If you don’t feel like going hunting for dedicated watercolor paper (aka me), then a safe bet is to use mixed media paper! There’s tons of sketchbooks in fuckin uhhh Walmart or whatever that will say “Mixed Media” on them. Those are always a safe shot since they’re fairly porous and thick.

I’m down to answer any more questions you may have on @turtblurts-pkmnirl-hub!

[idrellegames]

Hello! Whenever I save the game close browser/ the tab with the game, when I open the game again my saves are gone. Would you happen to know what the issue is and how to fix this? Had no issues with my android but with an iPhone the saves just disappear

That is an Apple thing, unfortunately. iPhone browsers automatically clear the cache, which is where your browser saves are stored. You can't completely stop your iPhone from clearing its cache, but you may be able to adjust the parameters slightly in your phone settings to make your browser saves stay around for longer.

If you're playing on an iPhone, I highly recommend using Save to Disk to make your saves instead of relying on browser saves. Any save made with Save to Disk will be downloaded to your device. It's extra hassle, but it means your saves are safe.

This goes for every device - regardless of whether you're iPhone, Android, or desktop, if you clear your cache, your browser saves will be lost.

Save to Disk is not a backup of all of your browser saves in one go - it only makes one save at a time. It functions exactly like the browser save button, it's just changing where the save is being downloaded to. You can rename the save file after its downloaded.

If you want to backup your browser saves, you will have to load each save individually and make a new manual save for each one.

[sonicenvy]

An AO3 app? -- The next installment in my AO3 posting.

I'm going to preface this by telling you that I don't entirely understand the urge or need to have an app for everything, but then again, I am closer to 30 than 20, so maybe that's the difference. Moving on.

So I've seen a lot of people saying that they wish there was an AO3 app. Presumably these people read AO3 on their phones or tablets. The thing is, there is NO AO3 app. If you see an app in the App Store or the Play Store claiming to be an AO3 app, it is fake, and you should not download it.

Say it with me kids:

"ao3 does not have an app and will not have an app."

The thing is, there's a really good reason why it will never happen. If you've been on this site (tumblr) long enough you'll either remember or have heard about the great tumblr porn ban (aka the ban on "female presenting nipples"). Believe it or not there was time where the tumblr (official) policy on adult content was "go nuts, show nuts. whatever." <-- actual quote btw.

A big reason why the tumblr porn ban ever happened was because of the tumblr app, specifically, the tumblr app for iOS. Apple decided one day that they thought that the tumblr app contained too much "sensitive content" and they banned tumblr's app from the Apple App Store, until such time as tumblr took what they believed sufficient corrective action for this "issue." Apple also believed that tumblr's app was hosting CP, which they considered a violation of their TOS.

So, in response to Apple banning them from the app store (which did not effect current users of the tumblr app, only potential new tumblr users), tumblr rolled out the adult content ban, so that they could get re-instated on the App Store. Like many other new "features" and "updates" to this site, the roll out was clunky, badly done and deeply unpopular. It was easily one of the worst changes for this site, in no small part because of how clunky it was; lots of innocuous posts were incorrectly flagged, and many bloggers found their entire blogs flagged, with little recourse in the initial wake of the ban. Critically, this event saw a great many users on tumblr leave this platform for twitter. How this affected site culture is up to debate.

Why am I telling you this? Well, as I am sure you, as an AO3 user are well aware, AO3 hosts a great deal of "adult content," of many persuasions and forms. They are explicitly against censorship of any kind. The app store is NOT against all censorship. These are two conflicting values. Since AO3 (and by extension OTW) has no interest in purging content from their site on behest of a megacorp (which btw is also why they rely on donations only and don't serve advertisements), they have no interest in developing an app, given the potential for restrictions.

Besides, AO3's website is simple, clean, and mobile responsive. Why fix something that ain't broke??

But, wait, if you're the target audience I'm hoping to reach with this post, you still want an app for AO3 on your home screen!

Never fear, my app loving youngsters! There is a way for you to create an "app" icon on your iPad or iPhone's home screen for AO3 (or any other site you like really) Apologies Android users; I don't have an Android, so I can't show you something analogous to this on Android, and don't know if they have it. Ditto on Kindle Fire.

This tutorial will use both safari and Firefox*. I won't show you Chrome (derogatory) because I don't have it and don't use it.

*Side note, switching to Firefox today is a great thing that you can do for yourself. You can easily import all of your Chrome bookmarks if that's what worries you.

In Firefox:

Step 1. Visit AO3 in the Firefox browser.

Step 2. Tap the hamburger menu in the right hand side of the top ribbon to reveal the browser and page settings and options menu, and locate the "Share" option (highlighted in blue below):

Step 3. In the "share" menu popup, locate and tap the "Add to Home Screen" option (highlighted in blue below):

Step 4. Give your new "app" (secretly just a bookmark) a title. You can leave it as the default, but I suggest shortening it so that the entirety of it shows on your home screen. You can name it whatever you want.

In Safari:

Step 1. Visit AO3 in the Safari browser.

Step 2. Tap the share icon in the right hand side of the top ribbon and scroll down until you find the "Add to Home Screen" option (highlighted in green below). Tap this option.

Step 3. In the "add to home screen" pop up, type whatever name you want in the name field (highlighted in green below). You can leave it as the default, but I suggest that you change it to something shorter so it displays in full with the icon on the home screen.

Either way, you should end up with an icon on your home screen that looks like this:

This is not an "app" BUT it is an icon on your home screen. When you tap the icon, it takes you to the home page of AO3, in whatever browser you created the bookmark in. You can move it around however you'd like, just like a real app, and put it any folder you'd like.

So that's all I have for this chat.

See you again next time I get inspired to write an ao3 chat/tutorial post for newbies!

Final note, If any of my followers have Android devices or Kindle Fire devices and want to add a photo tutorial for this on those platforms to this post, please feel free to, since I don't have any devices with either of those OSes, and thus could not do that myself.

[vivaciouscynner]

Idk whether you’re an iPhone user or not but what are your thoughts on iOS 18.3 and whether or not it’s a good idea to go ahead and update to it? I’ve seen sound arguments both ways and was curious if you had any thoughts about it

Good question tbh. Unfortunately, for this question, I am an android user.

I DID do a quick little search on it, though:

Just from a glance, OOF, what a bunch of bugs. Sounds like they've got a handful of things to fix in this release. I do believe there are also a handful of workarounds, too.

HOWEVER - with that said, the update does fix some 20+ vulnerabilities. Here's the list:

but they may NOT apply to you and you can just continue with what you have until they do a hot fix for all the things they broke. You can also weigh how LIKELY you'd be a target for any of the vulnerabilities that DO apply. Most people really AREN'T - just depends on everyone's unique scenario. If you spend a lot of time on public wifi, download a lot of apps, visit not-so-secure sites a lot, maybe consider an upgrade. Otherwise, if you're the careful-with-your-data type, you could probably wait.

But if you want to know more about the vulnerabilities, you can search any of those CVEs here:

Search any of the CVE codes and it'll basically tell you how an attacker exploits the vulnerability. You can just read the simple description otherwise, if you're like me, you'll go down a rabbit hole learning how to reproduce.

Hope this helps!

[tf2heritageposts]

im here from your post looking at the code of the comic website. have you ever thought of like website development/coding/something related as a job in the future? i don’t really know anything on that topic but you seem to know quite a bit!

welllllllllllllllllll

the main reason we know our way around website code/the inspect tool/websites so well is back in middle school well uh

we used to use amino a lot, specifically kirby amino. it was our first social media and we were somehow popular on there for some ungodly reason, and we were constantly talking with our friends on there instead of doing anything productive. we used to use the computer lab a lot during lunch/computer time to just post/talk on amino, which the school quickly blocked. we quickly recovered by downloading a free shitty vpn, which the school later blocked. we then just used a different free vpn, which continued for a while until our school blocked any and all vpns including chrome extensions. we then figured out the school's blocking feature only applied to google chrome, so we downloaded opera instead since it didn't require admin priveleges to download. the school then later blocked opera, so we started using a fun little now defunct feature in google translate where if you inputted a website link, it would proxy the website as a cached version you could look at. it was heavily broken because of that, and it kept popping up with the "hey log into amino to continue!" so we couldnt continue scrolling, so we used the inspect tool to completely remove it manually as well as kind of fix some of the formatting issues with it being cached. school couldn't figure a way around that without banning google translate which they obviously couldn't do. we then figured out that we just needed to carry opera on a flashdrive with us and we could just continue what we did previously

the school got so fucking fed up with our shit that they brought in the best IT person a school salary could buy to stop our little 12 year old ass. we then figured a way around all of their blocks and firewalls within about the duration of a computer class. our teachers then heavily started trying to push us towards an IT career

we'd continue with our bullshit during the period we lived with our dad in high school in texas, where he put major lock downs on all of our electronics. we got given an andorid phone instead of our old iphone, which we used against him by downloading the tor browser and talking with our discord friends, which meant we got our shit taken away until we moved back to our grandmas. we got sent back our old laptop, but it still had all of the network nanny shit on it that would let him control the entire laptop remotely and stop us from getting on discord.

we then realized we could go into the net nanny files, open them in notepad, and then ctrl+a then ctrl+d to remove all of the code, and despite our dad still trying to stop it, we ended up doing this until all of the functionalities of the program were dead and we could just uninstall it

so like, a lot of our computer expertise is BREAKING code. however we've made about 7-8 websites by ourselves with html/css on neocities however i cant show any of them because we have a tendency to gut the code each time :^{

i have thought about doing freelance website work/code editing before but i'd have no idea how to start considering we don't really know "professional" code building aka the shit companies want