OneDrive and Twitter on iPad problem

Another OneDrive bug, but it may not be Microsoft's bug this time. To reproduce with the currently latest versions of iPad OS and Twitter App:

1. Open Twitter on your iPad.
2. Find a nice picture in a post. Click on it.
3. Click on the three dots in the upper right corner to get a context menu.
4. Click on "Save to Files".
5. Select OneDrive and some folder of your choice.
6. Repeat the steps above with another image. In both cases, the system (iPad? Twitter? OneDrive?) will save with the file name "PNG image.png".
7. Wait for the second file to be synchronised with OneDrive.

This doesn't happen - at least for me. The synchronisation is somehow blocked. The following workarounds do not work:

• Delete the file from the OneDrive app. There is no option to do it.
• Delete the file from iPad's Files app. The option to do it is greyed out.
• Rename the file from any app. There is no option to do it.
• Kill the OneDrive app. This doesn't change anything.
• Restart the iPad. This doesn't change anything.

What does work is to remove the OneDrive app from the iPad and reinstall it. You lose the second file, but you probably find some other acceptable way of saving it, like from your Mac or PC or to your photo library or some other cloud service where you then copy it to OneDrive.

Apple's Music and Split Albums

For a long time Apple's Music app (and before that iTunes) has introduced crazy splits of Albums. One thinks one has one album, like Mozart's String Quintets with Cecil Aronowitz and the Amadeus Quartet. However, the Music app splits the album into two, with the tracks spread seemingly randomly between them.

The same album split into two by Apple's engineers.

For an almost equally long time, my solution has not included any trust in Apple, who has not shown any interest in fixing the problem. Instead, I have added all the songs of the "two" albums into one "Playlist," which I have played like an album.

However, when there are too many song tracks scattered too randomly between the two ghost albums, it is very difficult to make sure that everything gets to the right place in the right order. I recently found a somewhat reliable way of doing it semi-automatically.

1. Click on one of the two icons for the album. 
2. Scroll to the bottom of the list and check if there is a link called Show Complete Album. (See illustration below.) If there is such a link skip the steps 3-5 and go to direct to 6. 
3. Check different views (albums, downloaded...) to see if the link is there.
4. Click on one or several items and remove them from the downloaded songs.
5. Repeat until you see the link, or until you decide that life is too short for this kind of exercises. But be patient and take your time and wait. Something is probably updating in the background.
6. Click on the link Show Complete Album. Surprisingly, this view contains all the tracks from both ghost albums.
7. Click on the red circle with three white dots to get a context menu for the album. 
8. Click on "Add to a Playlist". Give the playlist a good name, and from now on use the Playlist instead of the broken Album icons. 

Click on the red link!

Enjoy your music!

Airpod Pro - My User Errors

Do you remember when a pair of headphones was something with a cable, which you plugged into your cassette recorder, and with the two cushions on your ears you were ready to go? That was a long time ago.

Apple’s new Airpod Pro headphones are so much better than the old cable version, but they invite to errors and problem solving. These are some of the mistakes I have made.

1. I tried to hold the box upside down, to make the headphones would fall into my hand. However, the box is magnetic, so that was to no avail.
2. I tried to grab the headphones with two fingers to get them out. However, they are so deep in the box, that one doesn’t get a grip. One has to gently push them out from the back with just one finger.
3. I did not find the “button” on the headphones. It is the short stick that works like a button, if one presses it.
4. I did not know that the "button" is called a "force sensor."
5. I by mistake held the button so long that noise cancellation was switched off, and I walked around for one hour thinking Apple's noise cancellation sucked, before I figured it out.
6. I spent time looking for the volume control on the headphones, before I realised that I needed to use my Apple Watch or iPhone to change the volume.
7. I could not figured out how to take a call. Where is the microphone? If one only dares to try, it works reasonably well just having an airpod in the ear.
8. I could not figure out how to check if the box (or "case") was fully charged. At first, I did not even realise that it could be charged. The trick is actually to open it with at least one airpod close to a switched on phone or iPad. Then a little window pops up on the device which tells me how much it is charged.
9. I did not know that one could switch on noise cancellation for just one Airpod on the iPhone: Settings > Accessibility > Airpods > Noise cancellation with one Airpod. I still do not know when one would not have that switched on.
10. I did not figure out that one could access noise control settings for the Airpods from an Apple Watch, when the airpods are in use, using the remote sound symbol.
11. I still have not fully figured out how Siri works with the Airpods.
12. I did not realise one could use the Airpods as a spy tool, by forwarding the sound from the iPhone microphone to the Airpods in Settings > Control Centre > Customise controls > Hearing, and then Live Listen, from the Control Centre.
13. I did not know that one could share the sound to a second pair of Airpods, so one can listen to the same sound with a buddy, from the share audio icon in the control centre > Share Audio… 
14. I did not know that one could use only one Airpod at the time, and charging the other in the box.
15. I did not know that one could make the Airpods make a sound using the app Find My. And I did not know that it only worked if the Airpods were outside the box.
16. I did not know that the Airpods could announce the caller, if I activated that function in Settings > Phone > Announce calls > Headphones.
17. I did not know one could reset the Airpods with the following steps: Put them in the box and close the lid. > Wait 30 seconds. > On the iPhone, go to Settings > Bluetooth > (i) > Forget this device. > With the lid on the box open press and hold the button on the back for 15 seconds until the status light starts blinking.
18. I did not know that the Airpods automatically would take over from the iPhone, if one takes them out of the box and sets them in one’s ear during a call.
19. I did not know that one could take a call by pressing the button, if the Airpods are in my ear, when the call comes.
20. I did not know that there was a load of settings for the Airpods on the iPhone in Settings > Bluetooth > (i).
21. I did not know that “Transparency” was the kind of noise control one should use when taking a call in a quiet room to avoid reverb of one’s own voice.
22. I did not know that "Noise cancellation" was the kind of noise control one should use when taking a call in a noisy environment. There is annoying reverb from my own voice, but I lock out noise from the surroundings, which makes it much easier to hear the other person. There is no perceptible difference for the other person.
23. I did not know that one could have Siri read out text messages, if one goes to Settings > Notifications > Announce Messages with Siri.
24. I did not know that Siri announcing text messages does not work, if one is using the phone.
25. I did not know that one could use Siri to reply to text messages.
26. I did not know that one got an option to confirm before Siri replies to text messages.
27. I did not dare trying to use it when there was a lot of noise around, as I assumed that the microphones wouldn't work properly. After some tests, other people say they hear me very clearly.

Apart from that, the Airpod Pro headphones have a few great advantages I have not seen in any other devices:

1. When one works among other people, who are noisy, the noise cancellation is very efficient at blocking out their voices, and even some some music.
2. When one is in a noisy environment, one can take and place phone calls and still both hear what the other person says and say things that they will hear.

An earlier version. Better usability. Worse specs.