Tagged: iOS 6

Fandango iPhone App Gets Passbook Support, But Few Theaters Currently Support it

Fandango iPhone app screenshots

The Fandango iPhone app (free) has been updated for iOS 6 and the iPhone 5 to support the new Passbook feature. Passbook will allow movie theaters to scan a barcode displayed on your iPhone’s screen to confirm your ticket purchase.

It sounds useful in theory, but unfortunately, the Passbook implementation in the Fandango app is currently hard to find and without much instruction.

Few theaters support Passbook, and it’s a lot of work to find the theaters in the Fandango app that do. In the app’s description, Fandango says to “look for the ‘Mobile Ticket’ icon on the theater page.” Well, I had to tap through 20 theaters in Chicago one by one until I found the mobile ticket icon (which really means Passbook support. Why don’t they just say “Passbook tickets”? Presumably because they want these mobile tickets to be used on other phones as well). The “mobile ticket icon” looks like this:

Fandango Passbook mobile ticketing example on iPhone

There is no way to list just the theaters that support Passbook. You have to tap in and out of each theater to find one that does. Most users will likely think, as I did, that Passbook “just works,” meaning if you buy a movie ticket via Fandango, you can use it in Passbook. Not so.

I hope Passbook support will grow quickly, but at least for Fandango, it’s not very widespread so far, and it’s not very intuitive to use.

Official iPhone 5 iOS 6 User Guide Manual Now Available for Download

iPhone User Guide for iOS 6 screenshot

If you bought an iPhone 5 and wondered where the heck the instruction manual was, well, here it is. Apple’s iPhone User Guide for iOS 6 is a free download in both PDF and iBook (ePub) formats:

You’d think the size of the manual would keep growing with all the added features, but this version has actually shrunk to 156 pages from the previous 179.

If you’re considering buying one of those third-party help books like iPhone 5 for Dummies, you might start here first. Even a grizzled iPhone veteran like myself always finds something new in these manuals.

iOS 6 Troubleshooting: iPhone/iPad Wi-Fi Not Connecting After Update? Turn Off Location Services

*Update* The problem involved an Apple server being down. When your iPhone connects to a Wi-Fi network, Apple checks a special site to confirm the Wi-Fi network is not behind a paywall. Despite there being numerous “solutions” like the one below, it appears that the problem simply resolves itself after a period of time. All I can say is the solution below worked instantly and permanently for me (and others), but it simply could have been a coincidence of timing.

iOS 6 Wi-fi not connecting on iPhone and iPad

After upgrading my iPad 3 to iOS 6, my iPad’s Wi-Fi connection stopped working. And a quick glance at Apple’s discussion boards reveals hundreds (maybe thousands) are having this problem as well. Here’s a closer look at the issue: my iPad would temporarily connect to my home Wi-Fi router for a few seconds, then a browser window would pop up and try to connect to Apple.com, and then the connection would end. It appears there is some conflict with Location Services on the iPhone and iPad. I asked Siri how to fix it, but she was no help. But I eventually found the solution.

The Solution:

1. Go into Settings > Privacy (which is new in iOS 6) and slide Location Services to Off.

2. Connect your iPhone/iPad to the Wi-Fi network again (Settings > Wi-Fi)

3. Go back to Settings > Privacy and slide Location Services back to On

That solved the problem for me. Good luck!

iOS 6 Available for Download Today

iOS6 logo

iOS 6 is arriving today, so rev up your Internet connections. The update is compatible with iPhone 3GS and newer, iPad 2 and newer, and 4th-gen iPods and newer. The release is expected around (*update* it’s available now, although it may not show up as available for everyone right away) 1:00PM Eastern time today (according to rumors). The file size should be around 900MB (this won’t be a quickie update).

The easiest way to update is right on the iPhone/iPad itself. You’ll need to be on a WiFi network, then simply go into Settings > General > Software Update and tap Download and Install. You can also update through iTunes as well. Connect to iTunes, click on your iPhone in the left sidebar, click Summary, then click Check for Update.

iPhone:

iOS 6 Software Update on iPhone

iTunes:

Check for iOS Software Update in iTunes Check for iOS Software Update in iTunes

Not all of iOS 6’s features will be available on older devices. Engadget created this handy chart (see below) showing which features work on older devices:

Engadget List of Supported iOS 6 features

But just what are all the features of iOS 6? iPhoneHacks has a good quick-but-extensive rundown, and then the forums at MacRumors has a sweet list of “all the little things” that are new, if you like minutiae (personal dictionary in iCloud!).