Introduction

Most printers come with the ability to communicate with an iPhone via Wi-Fi. It’s built in, and printer manufacturers have been including the ability for several years.

First check your printer can use AirPrint using my list below. Optional really, because you can just try it to see if it works because it is pretty quick!

If it can’t then you can still print directly from your iPhone to a Printer if you connect them via a lightning-USB cable.

Can you print to your printer?

Probably. The table below shows a simple list of 50 makers of printers that can use AirPrint. Most of these printers seem to have very many different models that can use air print.

For example:

• Canon have more than 1800 printer models that can use AirPrint. In fact 1865 Canon printer models at the time of writing can print using AirPrint, so it’s likely you do not even need an app!
• HP have around 1500 printer models that can use AirPrint.
• Seven hundred to nearly 1000 models each for Pantum, Epson and Brother printers can print using AirPrint.
  
• Over 300 models for Ricoh, Lexmark and Sharp can use AirPrint.

Jump directly to the method rather than scroll down the list if you want, as it is quite long.

As you can see, there are quite a lot and looks like all the popular printers on this list. It certainly contains all the big brand names.

So, next time you receive something in a message that you want to print, you should try to print it directly from your phone. You will quickly find whether it works or not for you.

Note: You can find a full list of all the printers and the specific models that can work with AirPrint at Apple. But be warned, it is a very very long list in which to search and find your printer!

It’s much easier just to try it, and see if your printer appears. So read on!

How to print a PDF from your iPhone directly to your printer

As I wrote above, first thing is to Check if your Printer can use AirPrint. Or just do the following!

Make sure your Wi-Fi is on, on your iPhone.

Make sure your printer is on.

1. Tap the message (in WhatsApp in my case) on the PDF to open it.
2. Tap Send (the box with the arrow).
   Yes, it’s a little strange but you will see there are many things you can do from this menu!
3. Down the screen after people or groups, AirDrop Mail etc., and Copy is Print.
4. Tap Print.
5. I found my Printer on the very first line under Options.
6. Select number of Copies you want, using the plus or minus signs (of leave as the default 1)
7. I chose to turn off double-sided as I needed them that way. I like that double sided was the default to minimize paper usage by default.
8. Check other options if you want.
9. Tap Print at the top right.

Printing from my iPhone 14 directly to my Epson WF-2750 printer, using iOS 17.

There! Your printer should start.

Also Useful, Read these:

• Since you might be working with PDFs, you might like to know how to copy a list of PDFs to Excel and just get only the file names.
• As you have an iPhone, you will love to know how to find your most recently added contacts (as you can’t find them via the contacts menu).

Background

Do you have to send a pdf to your desktop computer to print from your iPhone? No!

I learned today that I could print directly to my printer at home from my iPhone! How cool!

In the past, I will do something as silly as the following:

1. Open the PDF someone had sent me by text message.
2. Copy the PDF.
3. Open my email app.
4. Paste the PDF into the email.
5. Send the email to myself. 
6. Go to my computer at my desk.
7. Open the email in my email app.
8. Download or open the PDF in the browser.
9. Select to print the PDF from the menu.
10. Modify any options.
11. Click print!

This is a bit of a hassle and when I had the need today I found that you can print directly from your iPhone.

It seems there is this thing called air print, which allows your iPhone to print directly to the printer that has Air print capability.

When I first read that such a thing exists, I thought “Oh, great, this would be good if I had a modern printer”!

This is probably some new thing that only works with modern printers. My printer is quite old, so I thought it probably wouldn’t have this capability. But I was wrong!

I found I can print directly from my iPhone to my Epson WP-2750 printer!

I found that there are many printers, even some quite old that can use this a printer system

So, I think that you can probably print to your printer, from your iPhone even if it’s quite old. It seems that this is not new.  

Some frequently asked questions follow.

The post I found how to print a PDF from my iPhone directly to my printer appeared first on TheTechMentor.com.

What is a Siri Shortcut?

A Siri shortcut is an iPhone action or shortcut you trigger with a Siri voice command.

A Shortcut contains a few steps to be performed within or between your iPhone’s other apps. Siri acts as an assistant, or like a mini program to “do stuff for you”!

The built-in Shortcuts app is where you manage iOS Shortcuts you or other people write. More on that further below.

1 A Silent Siri Shortcut

You might not want other office workers to know you are commanding Siri. Open office space being so common these days.

You can call Siri into action silently.

Hold down the single button on the side of your iPhone while you ask a question or command an action. If your phone is in your hand, it will be discrete and quicker than calling out “Hey Siri” before you start.

NOTE: If you have an older iPhone with the Home button, touch and hold that instead of the side button. Be Careful: you might turn your phone off if you slide to do so without reading and think you are just sliding to unlock!

Therefore, the first time you try this, pay attention to your iPhone type and read the screen.

Occasionally I get teased for setting a timer or asking something starting with “Hey Siri”, so I use this one every so often to be discrete.

I know what you are thinking. “This is not really a shortcut.”

Yes, that is true, yet it is a quick way to use Siri, and the bonus is that it is discrete. You might use it to kick off your other shortcuts.

I’ll include an extra bonus shortcut further below to make up for this one not strictly being a shortcut.

Perhaps it is more of a useful tip for Siri than actually being a shortcut, but I wanted to include this one first because it is handy for all Siri shortcuts and it leads into the next shortcut.

2 Be Silent Quickly

Many people like to play music while they work. However, there are times when this might be inappropriate or inconvenient. For example, if a client calls your office landline you might not want music playing in the background when you answer.

If you are just playing music on your iPhone, but then need to turn it off quickly, you might stumble to find your iPhone and select the correct options or menu selections to turn it off or pause the song.

Instead, command “hey Siri, stop music“.

The song will be paused at that moment.

After your call or whenever you are ready, you can find your iPhone and tap the Paused Button to restart where you left off.

If you are playing music to office speakers while you work, but then need to turn it off quickly, you might stumble to find your iPhone and select the correct options or menu selections to turn off AirPlay quickly.

A quick and easy shortcut is to command Siri to “Turn off AirPlay”. This will work for those with AirPlay 2-enabled speakers. Probably the best shortcut for iOS16! Those with a new iPhone 14 will love it.

Having mentioned that, it is important to explain that all iPhones with iOS 16 can run shortcuts.

Wow! Did you know Siri could do that?

3 Be Alarmed! – Set Alarms Quickly

I usually have my standard weekday morning alarm, with the days selected for which I need it.

Occasionally I set a one-off alarm I use for earlier for things like early morning flights, or special one-off occasions.

These one-off alarms are neat because they do not repeat like an everyday alarm.

So it’s very much set and forget. You won’t have to stop it repeating or change it later.

“Hey Siri, open alarm clock” will have your iPhone open the Alarm in the Clock app.

Nice, but you may already know Siri can open apps. You can ask Siri to do more than that.

Rather than just use Siri to open the clock app, a Siri shortcut would be to command to set a one-off alarm. Hold the side button and say, “Set a one-off alarm”.

If you do not specify more with your first statement (although you can), Siri will ask for when and you can reply with what you need.

So you could say, “hey Siri, set an alarm for tomorrow morning at 6 30.” All in one go.

Siri creates a new one-off alarm set for when you need and clarifies the time at which Siri set it.

4 Scan and Quickly Find Documents

Don’t want to walk to your office scanner?

Is your office scanner a pain and slow (or painfully slow)?

Scan with Siri’s help direct into your iPhone.

Step 1: Call out “Hey Siri” (or press the side button) “open a new note” ready for scanning.

Step 2: Tap the icon of a camera bottom of the Notes app, and then choose Scan Documents in the popup menu.

You might know this one already, so let’s take this further.

I have many different notes and several notes with scanned documents. Sometimes it seems too many when I am trying to find a specific thing.

Do you know you can ask Siri to help you further with notes?

Siri can help you quickly find one of your last scanned documents.

Say “Hey Siri, find notes with scanned documents”. A list of your last notes that contain a scanned document will appear. The most recent is at the top.

NOTE: sometimes the structure of your wording is important. Siri needs to recognise a specific command, or it will just do an online search. For example, if you just ask Siri to “find scanned documents”, the result will be a list of online search results related to scans and how to find them on various devices.

Siri can follow on and start reading the selected notes. This can help you if you are not looking at your phone.

Speaking is faster than typing. Especially on an iPhone keyboard. Even more so if you need to work through a complicated menu system (even if you remember where that particular setting is!). Siri reading items back to you also helps these shortcuts be more practical.

If you work with your hands or can’t look at your phone, such as driving for a living, then they make even more sense to include some in your workday!

The above examples are just scratching the surface. They should all function without any setup.

5 Book meetings or appointments without typing

Hold the side button (or say “hey Siri”) and say “book a meeting Wednesday at 8 pm, take the bin out” (insert your classic business needs-based meeting description here!).

If you have your iPhone on silent, a popup will display the meeting with time and the description you said.

NOTE: You might want to set the alert either before or at the time of the event within the meeting settings. This way it can give you an audible alert.

Here is a screen copy of the meeting I made just for fun to show the popup that will appear after you ask Siri to make a meeting or calendar entry.

This is a work calendar meeting I asked Siri to create to show the popup of a result after asking for a meeting to be created. Siri reads the event back to you when made. No typing and potentially no reading required!

Ask Siri what meetings you have

This is another useful tip rather than really being a shortcut, so I have not counted it as a separate item.

Want to know whats on today, or tomorrow, or on a particular day? Just ask Siri.

Say something like “hey Siri, what meetings do I have Wednesday?”

If your sound is on, then Siri will read out your meeting (or tell you how many events) and show you a popup view of your calendar for that period (note you can deine part of a day instead, like “Friday Afternoon”).

If you still need to be hands-free and eyes on the road, then you can ask Siri to read these events.

So you rushed to get in your car/bus/train to work and now have a moment to think ahead and prepare? Ask Siri to help you visualize your day!

Introduction to Siri Shortcuts that require Set up.

These allow you to make some logic-based, programmed shortcuts.

TIP: You can edit or create your own more complicated Siri Shortcuts using the in-built Shortcuts app.

Each shortcut is built up of steps that Apple calls “Actions”.

The first action might be in one app, the next in another different app.

For an example of when you might want this, you can only find your last added entries into your contacts using either a shortcut or an app. If you don’t want to add a third-party app to your phone, you can do it all within your own phone with a shortcut. To use a shortcut within your own iPhone, see this article: How to Find Recently Added Contacts on iPhone.

For another example, a more sophisticated shortcut than to open a new note, could be to interact with two existing apps, like Photos and Messages. Like the next Siri shortcut!

6 Take a photo and send it with Siri

You can ask Siri to “text last image”. This command to Siri will trigger a true shortcut easily visible in the Shortcuts app.

You will possibly need to change the shortcut’s privacy settings, so additional setup could be required for shortcuts like these. Otherwise it might not work or some options will appear due to the automatic Privacy settings. Here’s how:

Step 1: Go to the Shortcuts App.

Find and tap your iPhone Shortcuts icon. It’s typically on the second screen of shortcuts (but that depends on a lot of things).

Find Apple’s Shortcuts app icon on your iPhone. (Hint: it wont be this big!)

Step 2: Find the example shortcut to text last image.

If this is your first shortcut, you will see a folder called Starter Shortcuts.

Look for a green block with the writing “Text Last Image 2 Actions”.

Tap it and it will already try to send the last image.

TIP: Probably best not to test it until you are sure what that last image was!

Try it and your iPhone will bring up a Privacy menu. It will actually show you the last image (so you don’t really have to remember!) and offer you three options:

• Allow Once.
• Always Allow (recommended if you don’t want to set this Siri Shortcut up separately under Privacy Settings).
• Don’t Allow. This is like ‘Cancel’ and you can simply tap that for now if you are just trying it out for the first time.

Step 3: Tap one of the above to make your selection.

That will become the default selection from now on.

NOTE: It also shows how you command Siri to perform this shortcut.

Under the title ‘Text Last Image’, you can see “Hey Siri, Text Last Image”.

How to set privacy options for a shortcut.

When viewing the starter shortcut in the Shortcuts app, tap you the circle with the three dots to view the details.

Tap the icon with dots in lines (see image below).

Tap to select the Privacy tab near the top.

How to set the privacy setting for a shortcut.

Look in the Shortcuts app for the Gallery icon (bottom right of the main Shortcuts screen) for many more examples of shortcuts you can command with Siri.

7 Send Last Scanned Document

This is an extra added bonus. Because it could be a useful Siri shortcut for work.

You would think you might need to program it with a detailed iOS Shortcut, but I found Siri is at least partially capable of it without actually creating a specific shortcut.

I am very often scanning documents for others with my iPhone; I am not the only one who finds it faster than mucking about with the office scanner!

Therefore, very often the next step is to send it to the person who asked for it.

Step 1 Say “Hey Siri open notes with scanned documents”.

Siri will yell you how many notes with scanned documents were found.

The most recent scanned document will be at the top. Tap it to open it. (Feel free to play around with Siri to see if you can find a command to open the note for you.)

Now if you ask, Siri can send a screen-copy, via text.

Here’s the rub. While testing this one again recently I found you do have to tap to send rather than ask Siri if you want to email the scan rather than send a text with a screen copy of the note showing the scan.

Summary

We’ve shown 6 iOS 16 shortcuts examples to use one way or another with Siri. Play around with these Siri shortcuts, and try your own variations which suit you at work. One idea is see how far asking Siri to set a timer or a new meeting can go. You might adopt them into the useful shortcuts you often use in your daily routine.

A few FAQs we have covered:

The post 6 Useful Siri Shortcuts for Work (and life) appeared first on TheTechMentor.com.

Here’s the Fast Fix:

On both iPhones:

1. Swipe down from top right (for iPhones with FaceID).
2. Find the control that includes Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.
3. Press and hold in the middle of the 4 icons (not on any of the the icons).
4. Select ‘Everyone for 10 minutes’ and it should work both ways.

If this is too brief, or you have an iPhone (or iPhone SE) without FaceID, or you want to see it step by step in more detail, read on or click a heading from the Contents below.

Contents

Introduction

Some Problems

AirDrop Only Working One Way

Contacts

“Everyone’ Versus Contacts

Version of iOS

Introduction

AirDrop is a handy way to transfer quite large files like photos or notes locally or person-to-person.

It uses both W-Fi and Bluetooth.

For most people it either works or it doesn’t. But sometimes you can get the curious problem of only working in one direction!

Some Problems

As indicated above, you both must have Bluetooth and Wi-Fi on so you can AriDrop.

Firstly, the person sending must have them both on.

The other person must have them both on to receive.

So how can it be that in some situations AirDrop only works one way?!

I mean, by definition it must all be set up right to transfer data one way, so how come AirDrop doesn’t work in the other direction?!

Well, the answer is that the two iPhones in question are not entirely set up the same. Read on to see why, and then fix it.

NOTE: If airdrop is not finding anyone at all, make sure you read the related article: AirDrop not finding anyone.

Airdrop Only Working One Way

Curious problems may occur with AirDrop, like AirDrop only working one way.

The ‘Contacts’ selection can cause this.

But first, lets show how to find the settings where you need to select your options.

As indicated above in the fast fix, you can use a shortcut method to get to AirDrop settings via the Control Center.

In addition you can find what you need to adjust in Settings.

Go to your iPhone’s Settings.

Then tap General.

Finally select to go into AirDrop.

This is where you can see and select you AirDrop options.

Contacts

The three AirDrop options you can select in iOS 16.4 and later are:

• Receiving Off
• Contacts Only
• Everyone for 10 Minutes.

As shown below.

You must have something other than Receiving Off (the first Setting option for AirDrop) for a transfer to work one way, but why wouldn’t it work both ways in some cases?!

Let’s say you both have selected ‘Contacts Only’.

A potential cause is only one of you is in the contacts of the other.

If you both have ‘Contacts Only’ selected, AirDrop will work only from the iPhone with the contact details of the other person.

TIP: You are sure you have the other person in your Contacts, right? Well are you sure they are using their phone?! Maybe they have their partner’s phone (do you have their partner in your contacts?). Or maybe they changed their phone or Apple ID!

There are a few other permutations with your settings and contacts that can cause Airdrop to only work one way.

‘Everyone’ versus Contacts

Another combination is that only one of you have ‘Everyone for 10 Minutes’ and the other has Contacts Only set.

So both of you are set to receive an AirDrop.

But, if for example, neither of you are in the contacts of the other, then AirDrop will only work for the one with ‘Everyone for 10 Minutes’ selected.

Version of iOS

Another reason why you may find AirDrop only working one way, is that one of you has an older version of iOS. This way it is possible one of you has selected ‘Everyone’ (which does not time out). The other may have had ‘Everyone for 10 Minutes’ selected.

Suppose one of you waited a moment before you started to make one of the transfers, or it took a long time. Or you want to make another transfer much later in time.

Then AirDrop to Everyone (for 10 Minutes) will time out for only one of you. Then AirDrop will only work one way.

I suppose it is also possible that it times out for one person but not the other. I guess you will try it again and find that it would cease to work both ways eventually.

The fix that should work for all these scenarios is to select AirDrop to ‘Everyone’ or ‘Everyone for 10 Minutes’ and make the transfers within the next 10 minutes!

The post Fix Airdrop Only Working One Way appeared first on TheTechMentor.com.

Contents

In Brief Fix

Background

Fix Airdrop Not Finding Anyone – Method 1 From Wherever

Fix Airdrop not finding iPhone – Method 2 From Within Settings

In Brief Fix

This fix uses a kind of shortcut to access the AirDrop settings.

• Show the Control Center (swipe down top right on an iPhone with Face ID).
• Hold in center of the control that includes Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.
• Tap AirDrop and select Everyone for 10 Minutes.

If this was too brief to understand, it didn’t work for you, or you have an iPhone model without FaceID, please read on to find more details about the steps and some extra checks to do.

Background

AirDrop uses both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. You need to have them both on for it to work.

Let’s say you have already turned these on, or made sure they are on.

NOTE: Another thing to be aware of is that using your iPhone as a local hotspot prevents AirDrop from working. If you are using it, you will have to turn it off to use AirDrop.

AirDrop Problem

Having checked or fixed these settings, you go back to photos and tap a photo to send. Select AirDrop and … nothing.

If you are like me, you ask, “Why can’t AirDrop find anyone?”

There could be reasons other than explained above. The one we focus on in this article is: AirDrop not finding anyone due to the wrong AirDrop settings.

So as written above, you tapped AirDrop to send a photo and now it says you cannot find anyone when you go to AirDrop. You will see something like in the screen copies below.

From photos you tap share, then tap the AirDrop icon, and then you would normally select the person identified under ‘AirDrop a Copy’. In the above image you can see AirDrop not showing anyone. So even when there is someone right there near you, you see that AirDrop can’t find anyone.

If you have used it before and it ‘just worked‘, then perhaps you’ve updated your iOS to a more recent version since then.

Even if AirDrop worked for you in the past, there has been a change in recent versions of iOS. This means you may need to do something you didn’t need to do in the past.  

That’s okay. When AirDrop won’t find anyone even if they are nearby it means that there are some setup changes you need to make. Let’s get on with it.

Fix AirDrop not Finding Anyone – Method 1: From Wherever

How to fix it when AirDrop can’t find anyone on your iPhone using the Control Center.

I prefer this method because you do not have to leave what you are doing and go to Settings, then find the right place, and make changes in there.

It seems quicker and easier to use Control Center.

Step 1 – From wherever you are, show the Control Center.

I love this method because you can start it from (almost) anywhere. Even if you are looking at the screen showing AirDrtop shows no-one, or if looking at this article in Safari.

It uses a neat trick to get quickly to AirDrop settings.

Swipe down from the top right corner on your iPhone (for iPhones that have FaceID).

NOTE 1: Phones that have FaceID include newer iPhones from iPhone X. That is, like iPhone 12, iPhone 13 and iPhone 14 (including the pro/Max versions).

NOTE 2: If you have an iPhone with a Home Button then swipe up from the bottom of the screen. These phones include the older models like iPhone 6, iPhone 7 and iPhone 8. It also includes the newer iPhone SE.

This action will show the common Airplane Mode, Mobile Data, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth buttons (or controls) and other icons in what’s known as the Control Center.

Don’t tap on the Bluetooth icon to go into Bluetooth.

Well, I mean that is if Bluetooth is already on. So do check that it’s turned on (blue icon). If it’s not turned on, do turn it on now. See the image below for clarity.

Same for Wi-Fi icon, you can make sure it is blue to indicate it is on.

NOTE: If you have changed from the default Control Center Setting for ‘Access Within Apps’, you can only access it from the Home Screen, rather than in the Photos app.

Swipe down to show the Control Center. Note the communications control with Wi-Fi etc.

Step 2 – Bring up a new Control menu of options for AirDrop.

Tap and hold in the middle of the four buttons for Aeroplane Mode, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and mobile data. The location to hold is shown in the above image.

A new larger menu of buttons (called a control) will display.

This control has 6 buttons instead of 4.

TIP: press and hold and try not to swipe or the control with 6 buttons might not show.

This control is relatively new and is visible in iOS 16.4.

You can now see the expanded communications control within Control Center. 6 icons are better than 4, right?! It’s a fast way to access your AirDrop settings from wherever you are on your iPhone.

Can you see six buttons now?

Notice that we didn’t need to go into AirDrop from your photos then search for options. In fact you can’t change AirDrop settings at that location.

Neither did we go to your iPhone’s Settings to do this. You could do that. We show you using this in Method 2.

Now you should see those two additional buttons.

The first extra icon on the left is a control for AirDrop.

The other icon is Personal Hotspot.

NOTE: As stated above, make sure Personal Hotspot is off.

This AirDrop control location is where we are going to fix the problem of AirDrop not finding anyone.

Step 3 – Change the AirDrop Settings From the Default Value.

Tap on the AirDrop icon.

Now you will see three options for AirDrop as text. You can only select one of them at a time.

• Receiving off.
• Contacts only.
• Everyone for 10 minutes.

This view shows the AirDrop settings accessible from Control Center. Shown set to AirDrop not receiving anything.

NOTE: one of these rows of text will have a tick or check-mark to the right to indicate it is selected.

How to set AirDrop to Everyone

Tap the third row at the above screen to select that option for AirDrop. This is the option for AirDrop that helps you find anyone.

Now, as you might expect the option to select ‘Contacts Only’ allows you to only find anyone nearby who is also in your contacts.

If your iPhone won’t find anyone, and someone you know who in your contacts is standing right there, this is a second option you can select to fix it.

It also will make your iPhone discoverable by others.

Here is the Change:

The third option has changed from in the past.

In the past, the third option was ‘Everyone’.

AirDrop for Everyone is now slightly but significantly changed.

It appears this change is either an additional security measure, so that you can’t send sensitive information or photos without choosing to do so for only a short time, or to reduce your iPhone searching for other phones around you all the time.

Whatever the reason, it means your iPhone’s AirDrop can’t find anyone anymore, even if it could in the past.

At the time I saw this, I thought, “now I see why I can’t AirDrop!”

For now, let’s say the person you want to send photos to is not in your contacts.

Tap ‘Everyone for 10 Minutes’ to select it.

Here you see Everyone for 10 Minutes is now selected, so you should expect AirDrop to find everyone. But wait, there’s more… AirDrop might still not find anyone!

NOTE: When you tap your selection, the screen will jump back to the previous one you saw.

I’m not sure why it doesn’t remain to allow you to change your selection again. I suppose if it did, then you’d have to have an extra button to go back or say you’ve finished your selection. It takes out one step, so I suppose it is a good thing.

Then again, tapping outside the working area of a control is a common way to do it without a button in iOS.

If you want to read a brief explanation about these options, you would need to view them in the iPhone Settings, which we show in Method 2.

Now you will notice that under the AirDrop heading will be a description of your selection. For example, if you tapped on ‘Everyone for 10 Minutes’, there will be the word ‘Everyone’ written under AirDrop.

Here the AirDrop control shows Everyone selected. This six-icon view is found from the Control Center.

Step 4 – Go back and Use AirDrop

Tap your screen outside the boundary of the control with the 6 icons and you return to the normal view of the Control Center.

Tap outside any icons on the Control Center (or swipe up) to return to where you were. As stated near the start of this method this could be the photos app (or even at a blank AirDrop selection screen).

Let’s say you are back in the photos app.

So now when you tap AirDrop, you will see it can find anyone near you with the ability to receive AirDrop communications.

If it seems that AirDrop won’t find anyone still, the problem is with the other user! They will need to check they have switched on both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth for example.

In addition, they may need to change the ‘Receiving off’ default selection in the same way you changed it above.

These last lines give a clue to what might go wrong if AirDrop only works one way (click the link to see an article that shows how to fix that).

Fix AirDrop Not Finding iPhone – Method 2: From Within Settings

To use this method, you must leave whatever app you had been using when you found that Airdrop doesn’t find anyone. To me, that is a disadvantage.

This method is fine and quite quick to use when you are not in the middle of trying to send photos, notes, or documents.

There is also one small advantage I’ll highlight below.

Step 1 – Go to Settings

Go to the home screen if not already there.

Tap the Settings icon (looks like a gear).

Step 2 – Go to General

Slide down the screen if necessary and tap General.

Step 3 – Go into AirDrop settings

Tap AirDrop, which is quite close to the top of the General Settings options.

Now you see three options

• Receiving Off
• Contacts Only
• Everyone for 10 Minutes.

Compare what you see versus the screenshot below.

If your AirDrop is not finding anyone with an iPhone nearby, It probably is set to ‘Receiving Off’. You can select Contacts Only or Everyone for 10 Minutes.

In addition, you can also see a description of settings below the third option.

This description explains a little more about your choices.

The explanation shown in this view is one (small) advantage of Method 2 over Method 1.

(Yes, for some reason, the almost equivalent view accessed from the Control Center has no explanation.)

Step 4 – Select Option Other than Receiving Off

If your iPhone won’t find anyone, and someone who is in your contacts is standing right there, you could choose the second option you can tap to select it.

It also will make your iPhone discoverable by others.

If you are not sure the person nearby is in your contacts, or you know they are not; you will need to select the third option.

NOTE: The third option has changed from in the past. In older versions of iOS, the third option was ‘Everyone’.

Thus AirDrop for Everyone is now slightly but significantly changed.

It seems this change is could be an additional security measure, so that you can’t send sensitive information or photos without choosing to do so for only a short time. Alternatively it could help to stop your iPhone searching for other phones around you continually.

For now, let’s say the person you want to send photos to is not in your contacts.

Tap ‘Everyone for 10 Minutes’ to select it.

You then go back by tapping at the top left of screen <General and <Settings.

The next time you go to share a photo or Note via AirDrop, your iPhone will find anyoneone who’s iPhone is not set to ‘Receiving Off’.

If you do try at some time in the future, and find that AirDrop can’t find anyone, you know it will be the other person’s iPhone that needs the Settings changed. Even better, you now know two ways to show them how to do it! If this article helped you it could help your friends. Share it with them – as they say, sharing is caring!

The post Fix AirDrop Not Finding Anyone appeared first on TheTechMentor.com.

The shortcut finds the 10 most recently added contacts in your iPhone. It might be handy in future if you find you want to see when the most recent contact was added, for example. In case you want more, I’ll also show you the details so you can edit it. If you like a challenge, I’ll show how to write your own shortcut to do this, if you prefer not to download one. Read on!

Introduction

Recently I wanted to find my most recently added contacts, in the Contacts app on my iPhone because I met someone a while back who’s name I didn’t remember. What I did recall is they had entered their details into my phone. I wanted to know is there a way to see recently added contacts in my iPhone.

But it seems there is no menu or button in the Contacts app to search by the most recently added ones.

However, the data is there in your phone, so you can use an iOS shortcut to go through the Contacts app and find the most recently added contacts.

As a bonus, you can select to find out when you added a contact to your iPhone.

This method uses a shortcut on your iPhone. Apple included by default the Shortcuts app in iOS 13 back in 2019.

You could alternatively download a third-party App from the app store, but that should not be necessary.

The great thing about using a ‘Shortcut’ in your own phone, is there is no risk of others tampering with your data.

You can even write it yourself with my guidance further below towards the end (after all that is more technical. but you probably can do it with my help).

Perhaps you could then change my shortcut to find your oldest contacts or filter contacts in a way you choose! Maybe you want to find contacts with an attachment (you can even filter by File Extension)!

When it does work for you, please remember to share this method with friends and family as it could help them also.

It means this will work for you if you have the new iPhone 16 or iPhone 15 along with their Pro Max or 16e versions. It will also work for these older models:

• iPhone 11
• iPhone 12
• (Oh, and any of the Pro or Max versions of all of these)
• iPhone 13
• iPhone 14
• And any older phone from iPhone 7 and up installed with iOS 13, iOS 14, iOS 15, iOS 16, iOS 17 and iOS 18 (the current one at time of this update edit).

On older version of iOS, you may have downloaded the shortcuts app so it might work for you.

How To Find Recently Added Contacts On iPhone

As written above, you can’t get find recently added contacts directly from within the app.

You need the shortcut that will interrogate the Contacts app data with your iPhone’s built-in Shortcuts app.

Are you familiar with the Shortcuts app? It is provided on every iPhone. Not everyone uses it though.

It was created by Apple to shortcut one or more tasks you do often.

For example you could get it to automate tasks, like open the weather and news every morning.

If you haven’t used the shortcuts app before, don’t worry it is pretty easy.

The nice thing about it is that it will only perform tasks Apple considers safe for your phone. I wrote the Shortcut, but it only uses functions your phone already has. The is no software by me and no risk to you, unlike with third-party apps (which should also have some level of safety by Apple, but may also have access to your data or other things you might not like).

Apple Shortcuts Notes:

NOTE 1: Apple shares Shortcuts like this via their own purpose-built sharing site to ensure that shortcuts have gone through a verification process, and prevent others tampering with them, to make sure there is no risk to anyone’s phone.

NOTE 2: If you still don’t trust downloading a shortcut that has been verified by Apple, I’ll show you the code further below so you can create your own shortcut in your own phone. It is a little more technical, but not too difficult. Don’t worry, we at TheTechMentor.com are here to mentor you on all things tech!

Here is how to find recently added contacts on your iPhone:

Click or tap the button image further below.

It will take you to Apple’s iCloud Shortcuts website where you can download it to your iPhone.

Click the image to download the shortcut from Apple’s verified iPhone shortcuts site. The title in English reads Find 10 Recent Contacts, 6 actions. (I’ll count the taps needed, so this is Tap 1)

When you see the page open in Safari (or your browser), tap or click ‘Get Shortcut’. (Tap number 2, & 3 to okay it.)

Go to the Shortcuts App. (It will likely open automatically.)

Find Apple’s Shortcuts app icon on your iPhone, which looks like this.

If you don’t see the app there already, then tap All, then search for “Find 10 Recent Contacts”.

It might find it if you just type ‘recent’ in the search (drag down to show the search entry).

If you don’t see the shortcut, you can drag down on the screen and tap to type into the search bar. In this image I type in English ‘Recent’. I’m not sure if you’ll need to type as shown or the translated equivalent in your language (yes, I get readers from all over the world to this helpful article, so I try to tailor for everyone).

The download link is repeated here for the shortcut in case you missed it.

Remember this is safe, as it is vetted and controlled by Apple.

Plus it relies only on your own iPhone to work, no third-party App required!

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How to run it

Tap the Shortcut to run it. (Tap count up to 4. That is all you need to get results!)

Your Contacts app will open or appear front of screen (if already open).

• Wait… a little.
• I found it took around 5 seconds to go through all my contacts and filter out the 10 most recent.

Hey, I have a lot of contacts!

No doubt your iPhone model and number of contacts in your app will affect how long it takes for you.

A list will appear to show your 10 most recently added contacts. See below.

Here you see the 10 most recently added contacts on my iPhone (blurred for privacy) in a ‘popup’ which overlays your Contacts app.

But Jeff, you say, I went to my local Meetup or BNI (Business Network International) meeting, and I met three people the same day! Which one was which?!

Bonus: See when you created a contact

There is a bonus in this shortcut so you can see when you created each contact in this list.

Here is how you do it:

Tap the row of any of the names in the list.

A new banner will pop up showing the date and time of the added contact you selected. See below.

Here you see exactly when the selected contact was created.

This can be very helpful if you are not sure which of your recent contacts is the one you are looking for.

By seeing the date and time of when you added it, and cross-checking against where you were or what function you were at at that date and time, you can be sure which contact it was you made.

If you use your iPhone calendar, that is the easiest way to see where you were or what function you had at that same date and time.

If you have another new contact and you’re not sure between the two (or three!) just repeat the process to see exactly when you added the other contact(s). Even if you met two or more people at the same event, you can likely match the time added to your phone with when you met each person.

This is so helpful – I have used it myself several times!

To finish up:

Tap ‘Done‘ to end the shortcut.

Most Recent Contact Added-iPhone

If you want to find most recent contact added to your iPhone, simply run the above shortcut and the most recently added contact will be the at the top of the list.

That is, the shortcut puts the last contact added to your iPhone, first.

Tap the top of the list to continue, and it will show exactly when that most recent contact was created.

Find Out When You Added A Contact-iPhone

To find out when you added a contact to your iPhone, you can use the shortcut above if that contact was within the last 10 you created.

If it was created longer ago, you can quite easily edit the code in the same Shortcut to search and filter many more that the most recent 10.

Let’s say you want the most recent 20, because (let’s assume) you are pretty sure the one you are looking for would be in that range.

Here is how you do it:

Tap the three dots top right of the Shortcut, and it will open it for editing.

See and tap the edit button top right.

The result you see might look unusual the first time you see it. Don’t worry, you can cancel an edit or delete it and download it again if you have to.

Scroll down until you see ‘Find’ ‘All Contacts’.

Change the ‘Get 10 contacts’ to a larger number, by tapping the plus sign. See below.

How to find someone you met recently but more than the last 10 that the shortcut normally shows.

Now tap the play button (right arrow at the bottom right of screen) to run it.

Done!

Sort Contacts by Date Added

The above method to change the number of contacts, and the code to sort them, effectively gives you what you need to sort your contacts by date added.

If you need only the more recent contacts, then that is already done for you, even if you need to increase the number as shown above. Admittedly, that could be a hassle if you want to see all your contacts sorted by date created. Especially if you have many. It can be done though, so don’t worry.

It might be more practical to re-enter that part of the shortcut.

Just leave ‘All Contacts’, i.e. don’t select a limit (leave the button off – see image further below to see what I mean).

Or you could write your own shortcut as shown below. Again, don’t select to put a limit. This way you can sort all contacts.

You can choose if you want oldest first or newest first at ‘Order’ (again, see image above or further below).

I’ve shown you how to see recently added contacts on your iPhone.

I’ve also shown how to find most recent contact on your iPhone.

Then I showed how to find out when you added a contact.

Did you like the above tool? It’s helped many people, and I’m proud of it. Please share with your friends.

There is more on this topic further below.

Another popular article I wrote with a tool to do a lot for you, is this article on how to copy file names and file paths to Excel. It’s helpful because normally when you want to copy a group of files in Windows, you copy the files not their name. Then, if you want the filenames only, what can you do? How do your trim the file path to leave only the filename? This tool I made does it for you!

Write your own shortcut to find most recently added contacts in your iPhone

Now, for those who like a little more of a challenge!

I’ll show you how to create your own shortcut rather than download the one above.

This is just in case there is a further change you want to make, or if you don’t want to download one even from Apple’s verified Shortcuts site.

Open the Shortcuts app.

Tap the plus sign top right to add a new one.

If you want you can add a comment to explain what the shortcut is, and who it is by so when you share with friends they know you wrote it (I’d still prefer your note it was really by Jeff at TheTechMentor.com first!).

In the search bar at the bottom of screen, type “comment” (or the equivalent in your language).

Tap the Comment box or button, so you can type in some text that will not do anything other than explain whatever you would like to write. This is good practice for larger shortcuts, so you know what parts of a shortcut do.

Here it is helpful to explain that this shortcut finds recently added contacts in your iPhone.

Tap Open App (further down the screen, not the first option). Then tap the ‘App’ button that appears for selection options.

Move down the list and tap on ‘Contacts’.

Type “Find” into the search bar at the bottom.

Now, look through the action options to see ‘Find Contacts’, under ‘Contacts’. Tap it.

Change the ‘Sort by’ option to ‘Creation Date’ further down the page (tap on None to change it). You will see here there are very many options!

How to find Newly Added Contacts iPhone (rather than default ‘Oldest’)

You wont get the newly added contacts by default.

For the Order, select ‘Latest First’ for the filter to find only the most recent contacts first (tap ‘Oldest First’ to change this).

Finally tap the slider button to turn on ‘Limit’. The default will be 5.

Use the plus or minus sign buttons to adjust the number of contacts you want to see.

More contacts will take slightly longer when it runs.

Your shortcut should start to look like the one below (if in English).

Here you see a Comment and more actions we built up so far.

The next step is optional. That is, if you want when they were added (not only to find newly added contacts to your iPhone).

Add step to see when newly added contact was created

In the search bar, type “Show” as the next action. Tap ‘Show Result’.

NOTE: when looking at a potential next action, you can tap the ‘i’ for information about the action at the right of the row.

Select ‘Creation Date’ from the many options.

You see here you can get all sorts of contact information you might be interested to find. But that is for you to make another shortcut if you want!

Now to run your own shortcut, press the play button (right arrow) bottom right.

For the remaining part of the original shortcut, see the image below.

Part two of the shortcut that also shows when the contact was created.

Some FAQs follow further below.

The key items I have shown above are:

1. How to find recently added contacts on an iPhone (the last 10 or so).
2. Find the most recent contact in an iPhone.
3. Find out when you added a contact to your iPhone.
4. How to sort contacts by date added.

The post How to Find Recently Added Contacts on iPhone appeared first on TheTechMentor.com.