I love my iPad, but a lot has changed since I worked in an Apple store,
especially in the Settings app, so I challenged David to come up with a list of settings
that would help me get even more out of my favorite Apple product.
Let's see what he came up with.
Let's start by opening the Settings app and tapping on David's Apple ID at the top of the screen,
then I'll tap on Subscriptions.
Oh boy.
Let's say, for example, you wanted to cancel your ESPN Plus subscription.
I do, actually.
You do, actually.
For real.
Great.
Let's tap on that.
$9.99 a month.
Yeah, I wanted to watch some of the PGA Championship after I was there.
Well, it's over now.
Let's tap on Cancel Subscription and then tap Confirm.
When you do this, you can keep using it until the end of the subscription period.
It's not like they're going to give you a refund.
Let's be honest here.
And speaking of purchases, let's cut down the amount of information Apple collects about you
to sell you stuff.
I'll tap back to Subscriptions, back to Apple ID, and then tap Media & Purchases.
Then tap View Account.
Oh boy.
Basically, I need to get in.
Uh oh.
Who hacked your iPad earlier?
And turn off the switch next to Personalized Recommendations.
When I go to the App Store, I usually have a specific app in mind that I'm looking for.
I don't need Apple saving my data on their servers to give me more personalized recommendations.
And unfortunately, this isn't the only way Apple is using your data to send you ads.
Let's tap Done.
Get out of that window.
On the left-hand side, we'll scroll down to Privacy & Security.
Tap on that.
And then scroll down to Apple Advertising and turn off the switch next to Personalized Ads.
Boy, it's funny, David.
Now that we're doing this video, I thought I already had a lot of these settings turned off.
It's almost like you went back and turned them on.
I did.
To make the video easier for people to follow along.
It's clever.
Pretty good.
Sneaky.
You can see the ad targeting information that has been collected about me
by tapping View ad targeting information.
People get concerned that they'll see low-quality spam ads.
Is that really true?
I don't think so because Apple isn't going to let those advertisers into their ad networks
because Coca-Cola doesn't want to be featured next to Bob's hygienic products for mice.
We've talked about before how ad networks are smart enough to deliver you contextual
ads based on the web page and thing you're looking at.
And here you can even see contextual information as part of that ad targeting information.
So don't worry, you won't see low-quality ads.
Are there any more privacy settings we need to change?
Oh, you betcha.
Let's tap Done.
Get rid of that window.
Tap back to Privacy and Security.
Next, let's tap on Analytics and Improvements.
And we recommend turning off all of these switches.
When this setting is on, your iPad collects a lot of information about how you use your iPad
and sends it to Apple, which uses data and battery life.
Let's turn off the switch next to Share iPad Analytics,
and then turn off iCloud and Fitness Plus and Improve Safety and Siri and Dictation Siri.
Lost cause.
Next, we're going to stop your apps from tracking you across other apps and websites on your iPad.
Tap back to Privacy and Security.
Scroll up and tap Tracking.
Allow apps to request to track.
You could go one by one turning these switches off, but what we recommend doing is turning
off the switch at the top of the screen and then tap Ask apps to stop tracking.
It turns off tracking for those apps.
And in the future, new apps won't be able to ask to track you.
I think this language is pretty interesting because it's the only place I see in the iPad
Settings app where we're asking apps to do something.
We're not just turning off a setting.
The implication being they might not stop tracking.
I don't know how much control Apple really has over that.
My battery life hasn't been that great lately, David.
Can you help me out with a tip?
I sure can.
Let's tap back to Privacy and Security at the top of the screen, then tap into Location Services.
Look through your list of apps.
Look for an app that can use your location all the time.
For example, Paramount Plus can always use your location even when you're not watching
videos in Paramount Plus.
That's crazy.
That is crazy.
Let's tap on Paramount Plus maybe while using the app is better and then Precise Location.
The more precise location is going to be, the more battery that app is going to drain.
We recommend turning off Precise Location for every app on your iPad unless it's a Maps app.
And then we're going to tap back to Location Services at the top of the screen and tap
on System Services.
If you've never been to this section of settings before, all of these switches are turned on
by default.
Which ones should I turn off?
We're going to turn off Apple Pay Merchant Identification.
Turn off Compass Calibration.
That's more useful when you have an iPhone and you're walking around a city and it kind
of points you in the right direction.
I don't know how many people are walking around with their iPads out like that.
Device Management, turn that off.
Emergency Calls and SOS, we're going to leave that on.
We're also going to leave on Find My iPad.
But HomeKit, Location Based Alerts and Suggestions, turn those off.
Networking and Wireless, turn that off.
You might see a scary pop-up.
Ignore it.
Tap Turn Off.
Setting Time Zone, we'll turn that off.
Share My Location, is that a feature you use?
Yeah, but not from my iPad.
Okay, well then we'll turn it off.
And System Customization, we can turn that off as well.
Surely there can't be anything more to turn off in this section of settings.
Well, surely you're wrong.
Significant Locations, tap on that.
If this setting has been on for a long time on your iPad, you'll see a whole bunch of
places you've been recently in a nice long list.
Really weird.
And if somebody were to get their hands on your iPad and set up a face ID for themselves
and then potentially delete your face ID, they didn't have access to all the places
you've been.
We just recommend turning off Significant Locations.
And then tap Turn Off.
I feel a whole lot safer now.
Thanks, David.
And then real quick, let's tap back to System Services.
We thought we already turned off iPad Analytics.
We were wrong.
We'll turn off that switch as well as Routing and Traffic and Improve Maps.
I can feel my battery getting less stressed already.
And it's going to keep getting better with this next tip, Background App Refresh.
Let's tap General and then tap Background App Refresh.
Do you want your apps to be able to download new content in the background of your iPad?
Well, if the app isn't open and I'm not using it, then I probably don't need it to be downloading
content because I can't even see it, right?
Pretty much.
I think the exception really is messages apps.
We want those messages to load as soon as you get them.
But, you know, your Adobe suite.
Let's get rid of those.
Airbnb.
Come on.
Account access at home.
If you're watching this video, go through your list of apps.
I mean, you've got way too many apps on this iPad.
This is nuts.
I'm not going through all that for you.
Well, it's because whenever I download an app on my iPhone, it shows up on all my other Apple devices, too.
Well, fortunately, there is something you can do about that to stop it from happening.
On the left hand side of the screen, tap App Store and turn off the switch next to App Downloads.
When that's on, it automatically installs free and paid apps purchased on other devices onto your iPad.
Super annoying.
So I just downloaded this game.
Took forever.
It's finally ready to go.
And I open it up and I have to wait while it downloads even more content.
Surely there isn't something I could do about that.
There sure is.
Turn on the switch next to in-app content, which automatically runs apps in the background to download new content before you launch them for the first time.
I love it.
Super useful for those heavy iPad games.
It's probably one of the main reasons why people wouldn't give some of these awesome games five stars, which they ask me for every time I open them, which is super annoying.
Surely I can't turn those pop-ups off.
Well, you should look into your Settings app more often because two down from in-app content is in-app ratings and reviews.
Turn that switch off and you'll see those pop-ups less frequently.
Unfortunately, I feel like app developers are starting to get more clever and they're catching on.
So they're putting in these other sorts of pop-ups that aren't explicitly App Store ratings, but they're still asking for the five stars.
Yeah, they put in their own pop-up because once you press no one time, they can never ask you again.
I also really hate annoying plugs like that.
Anyway, have you heard about Pay It Forward channel memberships?
If you join this channel, you get PDFs for some of our videos and a whole lot more.
Wow!
All you need to do is click that Join button below this video.
You know what I like to do on my iPad?
I like to browse the web.
Are there any settings I should change, though?
Yes, there are.
Let's scroll down on the left-hand side to Safari.
Tap on that.
The first thing we're going to turn off is Preload Top Hit.
So you're saying that whenever I do a Google search, my iPad is automatically loading the first result from that search in the background, assuming that I'm going to click on it, which I don't always do.
That's correct.
And when it does that, it's draining some battery life and using some data.
Next, scroll down to the tab section.
Close tabs.
I recommend setting this to after one month.
This helps avoid you accumulating hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of tabs in the background on your iPad.
Which would slow it down and drain your battery life, I assume.
Correct.
Then we're going to tap back to Safari.
Scroll down and turn off the switch next to Privacy Preserving Ad Measurement.
That sounds a little counterintuitive, but hear us out.
What is it?
Privacy Neglecting Ad Measurement?
Are they just going to put the ads I click on on the newspaper?
This should really just be called ad measurement because when you turn off this switch, there is no ad measurement at all, even the privacy preserving kind.
I also love to send emails from my iPad, but I feel like some of those accounts might also be draining battery in the background.
You're sure right about that.
Let's scroll up to Mail on the left hand side of the screen and tap on that, then tap Accounts, and then tap Fetch New Data.
The first thing to do is turn off this switch next to Push at the top of the screen and then select your fetch interval I like every 30 minutes.
Push mail sounds good.
I mean, when I get a letter, I like to push it.
But what the heck does that actually mean?
When push mail is on, your iPad maintains a constant connection to your email server.
It's constantly paying in, is there mail, is there mail, is there mail, draining battery life.
Just set it to fetch every 30 minutes and anytime you open the mail app, you'll fetch new emails.
You're not going to miss anything by switching from push to fetch.
Sometimes, David, when I get angry, I start writing emails and then I fire them off.
Fortunately, there's this new feature called Undo Send, but usually it takes me a little while to cool down.
I wish I had more time.
Well, you can get a little bit more time by tapping back in the upper left hand corner of the screen and back to the main mail settings page.
Scroll down to Undo Send Delay.
By default, it is set to 10 seconds.
Set that to 30 seconds.
Give yourself as much time as possible to take things back.
They really should give me like five minutes.
I need five minutes, Apple, please.
And there's another mail setting I recommend changing, especially for you with your angry emails.
I'm sure you've blocked some people in your day.
Let's tap back to mail and then tap on Blocked Sender Options.
By default, this is set to leave an inbox.
I'm not sure why.
I'd rather have those blocked senders immediately move to trash so I don't see them at all.
What does blocking even do?
Well, it just marks the email.
So I feel like in a way it sort of makes it easier to see the people that you've blocked.
Select, move to trash, get those people out of your inbox.
And out of your life.
Seeing emails from people you've blocked is annoying, as are constant notifications.
Let's optimize those on your iPad.
On the left hand side, I will scroll up to notifications.
And here's where you can go app by app and select which apps you want to send you notifications.
Recently, I've been getting a lot of annoying Facebook notifications,
and I just want to shut them off.
On the iPad, I will scroll down to Facebook and you can turn off the allowed notifications,
which at the top of the screen to shut them down entirely.
Or maybe if you're somebody who still likes your Facebook notifications because you like
staying in touch with friends or family, maybe you want to turn off the banners
or the notification center, but keep the lock screen, but you want to turn it off entirely.
I want it gone.
Let's just turn off that switch next to allow notifications.
And if an app is constantly notifying you, you know, like those freemium gaming apps
trying to get you back in so you buy the fake currency and it's lighting up your display
all the time, that can drain some battery life.
It's all coming together here.
And there is another notification setting you probably should change.
Let's tap back notifications, upper left-hand corner of the screen.
Scroll up to screen sharing.
By default, notifications during screen sharing are on.
What could possibly go wrong?
A lot could go wrong if you're screen sharing and there's a sensitive notification
you didn't want everyone to see.
Just turn that switch off.
Play it safe, folks.
Congratulations.
Your iPad is now optimized.
But have you done the same on your iPhone?
Check out that video next.
We'll see you there.
David will optimize your iPhone.
Here you go.
It's optimized.
Want to do it again?
No, it's great.
It's funny.
That's you.
It's perfect.
All right.
Good.
Thanks, David.
All right.