10 Common Apple Problems to Fix Yourself

10 Most Common Apple Tech Problems to Fix Yourself

Apple is well known for the reliability of their devices, and rightly so. If you are a Mac owner you know how good the performance is compared to many Windows devices. This applies across the full range of Apple devices.

However, even Macs have issues from time to time; after all, nothing is perfect. Many people make the assumption that Apple products are difficult to fix, this definitely is not the case though, and many common problems can be fixed by everyday users.

Below we’ve picked out some of the problems that you’re more likely to encounter, and identified the simple steps you can take to solving the problems yourself. If you do have insurmountable problems you can always rely on Cloudscape.it  to help you out.

1.       Persistent Beachball – True, the beachball is more appealing than the hourglass you get from Windows. But, it is still annoying if the beachball keeps spinning and spinning and won’t stop. This could be because your Mac is task saturated. Check the Activity Monitor (Applications -> Utilities) to see if any programs are hogging all your CPU or memory. If memory is the issue, you could probably use some more RAM. Take a look at your hard drive too and make sure it isn’t full or close to full. If it is, empty the trash, get rid of unneeded files from downloads, and delete (or backup to another drive) anything else you don’t need.

2.       Where’d That File Go? – If you can’t find a file you saved or downloaded, don’t panic. There’s a quick and easy way to look for it. Press “Cmd+Space” to open Spotlight and type in as much of the filename as you remember. Don’t type too quickly. Each time you enter a letter you’ll get possible files. Go slow and look for the right one.

3.       Freezes – Yes, even a Mac will freeze from time to time. Most of the time, you just need to close and restart the app or program to fix it. Keep in mind, if you have to use “Force Quit” from the Options menu you’ll lose anything you didn’t save. If that doesn’t fix the problem, you might have to perform a manual restart. Manual restarts are pretty straight forward.  Press Command, Control and Eject at the same time and your Mac will reboot.

4.       Grey Startup Screen – Though not as common as the dreaded Blue Screen of Death, you may come across a grey screen when you start up your Mac.  If this happens to you, there are a few steps to follow to get back up and running. First, disconnect any devices connected to your Mac. If you don’t get the grey screen when you reboot, one of the peripherals is the problem. Connect them back, one at a time, to see which one is the cause. If it isn’t a peripheral, the problem is with the Mac itself. You can do a Safe Boot and run the Disk Utility app to look for problems with your hard drive. If none of these work, it might be time to call in the cavalry in the form of Mac Support.

5.       Switching between Apps is Slow – One of the many great things about Macs is they let you open as many apps as you want. Remember though, even a Mac has a set amount of memory. The more apps you have open and running in the background, the greater the demand on the memory. The easiest way to fix this? Close down some of your apps. Need, or want, to keep all those apps running at the same time? Add some RAM and switching between apps should go back to normal.

6.       iPad Won’t Charge – This problem happens quite often, especially if you have an older computer. This is because older USB ports don’t put out enough power to charge an iPad. Try plugging into a newer computer or directly into an electrical outlet. If that doesn’t fix it, you may need to replace the charging cable and/or power adapter.

7.       iPad Won’t Turn On –This is another common problem and it has a very simple solution. First, perform a reset by holding down the home and sleep/wake buttons at the same time for about 10 seconds. This should force the iPad to restart. If it doesn’t, your battery might be drained. Plug in the iPad and let it charge for at least 30 minutes and try turning it on or doing a reset like described above.

8.       iPad Won’t Connect to Wi-Fi – If you don’t have a network connection on your iPad just follow a few steps and you should be able to fix it. First, make sure you Wi-Fi router is turned on and broadcasting. Next, make sure Wi-Fi is enabled from your iPad’s settings. Try to reconnect to the network, making sure you use the right password if there is one. If none of those work, make your iPad “forget” the network by choosing the network and touching “forget” when the next screen comes up. Try to connect again. If none of those work, try resetting the iPad using the steps we described in #7.

9.       iPhone Battery – One of the few complaints about the iPhone is that the battery can drain too quickly. If this is happening to your iPhone, make sure you don’t have any unwanted apps running in the background. Another fix is to see which apps can access your location and disabling all of them that don’t need to know where you are at. You can also look in Settings to see which apps are using the most battery and look for a replacement app or an update that fixes the problem. If you’re running low on battery and need to stretch it out a bit longer, go into “Settings”, “General”, “Accessibility” and switch on “Greyscale”. This will put your phone into a black and white mode and should help your batter to last a bit longer.

10.   Running Out of Space – If you can’t download an app or save a photo or song, you might be running out of storage space. Check your iCloud storage and see if you can delete any files you no longer need. Make sure any file you delete is really deleted and not just archived. If you need all those files though, you can upgrade your iCloud storage capacity. It will incur a charge to go past the initial free 5GB, but if you need all that data at your fingertips, the cost is probably worth it.

Hopefully the tips and tricks we outlined above will help you resolve some of the common problems you could see with your Mac and other Apple devices.

Take advantage of our tips to help get your MacBook, iPad or iPhone running as good as new. You should be able to perform all the fixes and tips yourself. For more information or for details of our Apple support service just give us  call or visit Cloudscape.it.

For more information or for help with your IT Support please contact Cloudscape IT Support London