What every connected person needs to know about their Apple devices

Efficiency and productivity are key when it comes to being a successful businessman or woman, with the mobility of our iPad, iPhone, Apple Watch and the powerful capability of your Mac, you’re fully equipped with the necessary tools to tackle any business challenge - everything from creating professional presentations to useful ways of working together on projects. Most importantly, there are a host of features and apps that save you valuable time and effort to spend on the work that’s at the top of your list of priorities. 

Presenting like a pro

Delivering slick, professional presentations is a common requirement for the average businessman and woman, with your Apple device, and apps like Keynote, you have all the tools you need to create beautiful presentations. You can draw inspiration from the preset themes or build your own from scratch with impressive images and videos using incredible features like transitions and animations. Here are some of the other nifty tools that we think might be just the thing you need to create and deliver that polished presentation:

Are your slides getting rather complex and you find yourself losing track of what is on each slide? From your Mac, you can see exactly what objects are on each slide via the Object List. From here you can select, edit and organise the objects until they’re perfect. 

Do you have people from different cities that need to see the same presentation? No problem, with Keynote Live you can invite as many people as you want to watch your presentation in real time on their own Mac, iPad, iPhone or the web no matter where they are.

Is your presentation super secretive and you’d rather no one else laid eyes on it before the big day? You can keep it secure by opting to only unlock it using Touch ID on your iOS device or on your MacBook Pro if you have a model with a Touch Bar.

If you are sourcing information from another document that you created like a spreadsheet or perhaps from the web, why not work in Split View so that you can have another window open alongside the presentation that you are creating? It makes viewing and copying information a whole lot easier!

If you like to walk around during your presentation to really engage your audience then use the Keynote app on your iPhone or iPad as a remote control and clicker to give you the freedom to do so. You’ll be able to display your presenter notes and even a timer, so that you’ll be fully in control with everything you need in the palm of your hand.

If you have an Apple Watch you can also use the Keynote Remote app to control your presentation right from your wrist. Starting your presentation, pausing it and moving to the next slide can be done with ease! To do this, pair your Apple Watch with your Mac or iOS device and add your Apple Watch as a remote device and you’re all set to go.

Collaborating across the board 

Different team members are often required to give their input and feedback on certain documents as they are being created. All too often, these get sent to various individuals over email and it becomes a nightmare to attempt to collate the feedback and edit the document without making mistakes! Apple has designed a useful feature in the iWork apps - Pages, Keynote and Numbers - that allows you to invite other individuals to collaborate on a document you have created using one of the Apple productivity apps. To use this feature, iCloud Drive needs to be activated and the document needs to be saved on iCloud. In the iWork app that you are woking in, follow these steps to start sharing your document:

1. Select the menu item that has 3 dots in the top right of navigation bar.
2. Select Collaborate With Others.
3. Select how you'd like to add people whether by iMessage, Mail or sending a Direct Link.
4. Select any additional Share Options that you want to apply.

If you are sharing the document from your Mac:

1.  Select Collaborate on the top right hand corner of the navigation bar 
2.  Select Add people you will be presented with a similar set of options of how you would like to share the document.

Once your document is shared, each collaborator is able to make comments or changes to the document. As changes are made, an insertion point will be made visible in a different colour depending on who has made the changes. You’ll also be able to see who the list of collaborators is as well as who is editing the document at any specific time. 

Efficiency driving performance

When your diary is jam packed with important meetings and business trips, doing things in an efficient and productive manner is essential to staying on top of your to-do list. Your Apple devices are designed in such a way as to make all the things you do on a daily basis, that much easier. Not only are tasks made simpler, but you’ll save valuable time and enhance your productivity. 

Getting files from one Apple device to another is really quick and easy with Airdrop. Make sure that each device is on the same Wi-Fi Network and you can transfer files in an instant. To access Airdrop on your Mac, open Finder and select Airdrop in the menu bar. Activate your Bluetooth on your iOS device. All devices on the same network will appear in the Finder window.

On your iOS device, other devices will appear when you select to share the file using Airdrop. 
With iCloud Drive, all of your important documents are stored on iCloud so you can access them no matter where you are, whether you’ve just popped out for a meeting or you’re travelling for work. 

Notifications on your iPhone and iPad make it super quick to view a list of your latest notifications right from the app you’re busy with just by swiping down. Doing this allows you to save time and it also means that it won’t interrupt your normal workflow during the day. 

Continuity is a set of new features introduced by Apple that makes daily tasks a whole lot easier by connecting all of your Apple devices so that they’re constantly on the ‘same page’.

Handoff allows you to pick up a task on your one Apple device exactly where you left off on another. If you start writing an email on your Mac and have to get up to walk to the boardroom, you can continue writing the email on your iPhone as you walk. It works with Mail, Safari, Pages, Numbers, Keynote, Maps, Messages, Reminders, Calendar, Contacts, Notes, Podcasts, Clock, and News. The Universal Clipboard is another feature that allows you to easily copy text, images or video on one device and paste it on another.

There are also a host of useful apps for your Apple devices that make productivity your second name:

Just Press Record is a versatile app ideal for meetings where you would rather focus on what is being said rather than trying to keep up by taking notes. You can use it on your iPad, iPhone or Apple Watch and record right from your lock screen or by holding down on the app icon so you won’t miss a word that is said. It has a transcribe feature and you can search for recordings by time, date, or keyword. 

iPad, iPhone, Apple Watch

Slack is an app that conveniently collates all of your team communication and collaborations relating to a specific project all one place. It’s also available on any device so you can access it from anywhere. You can create to-do lists and share and edit documents in real time. You can also customise your notifications so that you only see the really important detail!

iPhone, iPad

Evernote is an app that has been around for a long time, but it’s such a widely used productivity app that you will see it mentioned over and over again. It is an advanced tool for organisation, full featured note-taking, scanning, creating to-do lists and much much more. It’s the kind of app that once you start using it, you’ll wonder what you ever did without it. 

iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, Mac at iStore: https://www.istore.co.za