Moving a child’s Apple ID account when they’re 18; What cellular, Wi-fi, and satellite symbols Mean; Fix an App Store ‘Cannot Update App’ error; Check your Mac’s internal temperature
Solutions to your most vexing Mac problems.
HOW TO MOVE A CHILD’S APPLE ID ACCOUNT TO THEIR OWNERSHIP WHEN THEY BECOME ADULTS
As hard as it is for me to believe, my older child recently turned 18. The age of majority in the U.S. means that they are now able to take charge of—and are personally responsible for—a lot more of their life that my spouse and I managed for them. This includes online accounts that we set up for them at government agencies (for passports and ID), Amazon, and the like.
With two-factor authentication ( fave. co/3qruogi) (2FA) encouraged or required at many sites, what’s the easiest way to pass control from you to your child while keeping security intact? Here’s a general set of steps that relies on Apple operating systems and icloud Keychain.
First, log into the account.
Next, copy the account information to your child:
Stored Passwords: With passwords stored in your keychain on an iphone, ipad, or Mac (or synced via icloud Keychain), you can share the entry with your kid. This varies by operating system version and version. In IOS 15 and ipad 15, go to Settings → Passwords, find the entry, and tap the share button; in macos 12 Monterey, either go to System Preferences → Passwords or Safari → Preferences → Passwords, find the entry and click the share button. Use Airdrop or another method to send it to your child.
Third-party password managers: With 1Password or other password managers and with a shared vault enabled, you can copy or move the entry to that shared vault. You may also be able to share an entry from the app that can be opened with a free or paid version of the app your child has installed. (Warning! I highly recommend against using Google Chrome’s password manager, as it lacks device-locked end-to-end security provided by icloud Keychain and major third-party password managers.)
Read passwords aloud: You can also literally read the password aloud and have your descendant repeat it back to you for accuracy. (Just like the old days: You’re reading aloud to your child.)
Have your kid create an account in their password management app— including Passwords in IOS, ipados, or macos—before proceeding so they can add a verification code in an upcoming step. But don’t have them log in yet. Update associated data in the account:
Email: If you’ve been using an email address under your control to manage their account, it’s time to migrate that. Change the email address. You may need to change both an account login address and an email address used for sending messages (some sites manage those separately). Wait until you’ve handed over all account credentials before they click a link to confirm via email to avoid losing access while you’re still transitioning the account.
Phone number: Change the phone number to theirs. They may receive a confirmation call or text that they can read out to you or show you, and that you can confirm for them immediately.
Mailing address: Update the mailing address if they’ve moved or are just about to.
Finally, shift second-factor authentication over on accounts that require it. If you’re at a site that allows multiple 2FA authenticators that can produce a TOTP (time-based one-time password) used for verification, you can add their authenticator as the next step.
1. Choose to add an authenticator.
2. Name it descriptively if given an option (you usually are).
3. The site displays a QR code and usually the corresponding “seed” text (a shared secret) for the token. Your kid can use an authentication app (I recommend Authy), a third-party password manager with TOTP support like 1Password, or Apple’s built-in TOTP recognition system. If they have an iphone or ipad, an authentication or password app will bring up a camera view, or they can use the Camera app to add to an Apple-managed login. If they don’t, you can read aloud the seed code, and they can enter it in the appropriate place. (See below for more about Apple’s approach.)
4. The authentication app or component generates a code on your kid’s device that you then enter to confirm accurate enrollment.
5. Delete your authenticator and log out. That’s one small step to adulthood.
For sites that don’t allow more than one authenticator, disable 2FA, log out, and have your child log in with the account and password (first confirming a new email address if necessary via an email link), and then help them enroll in 2FA ( fave.co/3Qruogi) if they aren’t familiar with it.
Apple supports TOTPS—IT calls them verification codes—directly within IOS 15, ipados 15, and macos 12 Monterey and later. In IOS 15 and ipados 15, you can use the Camera app to point at a QR code, and then tap an onscreen link to add the verification code. You can also touch and hold a code on a webpage or in email and select Add Verification Code. In Monterey, you can Control-click or right-click a QR code on a webpage to add it. However, you can only add a verification code to an existing account, so make sure your kid created the account entry early in the process, as noted above. (You can read this column, fave.co/3k4cpvu, for a more detailed explanation of adding verification codes in IOS, ipados, and macos.)
Your kid can now delete all remaining traces of you from their account or
continue to have you in there as a rescue email or trusted phone number or the like if they want to have a backup for restoring account access in addition to options provided by the service.
WHAT THE CELLULAR,
WI‑FI, AND SATELLITE SYMBOLS ON YOUR IPHONE OR IPAD MEAN
The upper-left and sometimes upper-right corners of your iphone or ipad display do a lot of work packing in meanings using symbolic shorthand. Since the iphone’s introduction, Apple has used a few letters or a tiny graphic to let you know at a glance the performance, nature, and quality of your internet signal.
But with so many generations of cellular technology in use and so many symbols involved, can you decipher them all? Here’s your guide to understanding the oldest to newest U.S. symbols. (See figure.)
Cellular generations started with an analog service, now called 1G. The first digital service, 2G, is our starting point:
G, E, 3G: These symbols represent 2G, 2.5G (EDGE), and 3G. EDGE was a bridge technology that aggregated 2G cellular channels for greater throughput, used by Apple in iphones before the company felt 3G chipsets were low-energy enough to deploy without draining batteries quickly. But 2G, 2.5G, and 3G networks have either shut down or have deadlines to shut down in most countries that have deployed 4G and 5G networks. These early flavors used frequency ranges inefficiently, and carriers want to use them now to carry much more data.
4G: Really a faster version of 3G, it was more of a marketing label—about 6Mbps downstream and less than 2Mbps upstream. You may still see this on some networks and phone models. It’s more likely you’ll see the following, however.
LTE or 5GE: Both technologies use the 4G protocol—the 5G in 5GE is pure marketing—which offers up to tens of megabytes per second downstream and several Mbps upstream. They were evolutionary steps on the road to true 5G.
5G: The 5G icon appears when your device is connected to a 5G network that
roughly overlaps frequencies previously used for LTE. T-mobile uses it to indicate its extended range network, as its 5G upgrade allows a greater high-speed coverage area than LTE cellular transmitters in the same locations. Data rates are somewhat speedier than for LTE, but not lightning fast.
5G or 5GUC: Depending on your carrier and region, you might see either 5G or 5GUC for connections that can run from 100 to 300 Mbps downstream.
5GUW: In the U.S. only (for now), another version of 5G uses a highfrequency or millimeter wave band that can offer up to 1Gbps, and some carriers call this ultrawideband. For that flavor Apple confusingly shows 5G+; for others, it shows 5GUW.
Cell/satellite: The icon at far left is familiar from decades of its appearance. The number of bars indicates signal strength. If you have either a SIM and ESIM or two ESIMS active, the secondfrom-left icon shows signal strength for the primary network on top and secondary on the bottom. The dot below the bar indicates the secondary network’s signal strength. With IOS 16 and ipados 16, Apple enhanced a “No Service” label when there’s no signal to read “SOS” with dots beneath it when another cellular network may be available for emergency calls. If you have an iphone 14 in a country that supports it ( fave.co/3xnrga7), the icon at far right that shows a satellite appears when you engage Emergency SOS via satellite.
Wi-fi: The familiar Wi-fi waves show a weak, moderate, or strong connection (left). The center icon oddly has nothing to do with Wi-fi performance: It appears when you have Wi-fi Calling enabled and you’re connected to a Wi-fi network that allows it to work. The icon at right, two overlapping chains, indicates the iphone is connected to the internet via tethering. (This includes Wi-fi for a Personal Hotspot, Bluetooth, and USB.)
HOW TO FIX A MACOS APP STORE ‘CANNOT UPDATE APP’ ERROR
If you see an error like “Garageband cannot be updated because it was refunded or purchased with a different Apple ID,” it may surprise you. Isn’t Garageband free? Isn’t your Apple ID the one in use on your Mac?
Apple cryptographically encodes into every app downloaded the Apple ID of the purchaser. That’s true with “free” apps (truly free or free with in-app purchases) and paid ones alike, including Apple’s own software, such as Pages and Garageband.
You can wind up with the above error in a few cases: You purchased a Mac with software already installed and try to update it, or you changed the Apple ID used for purchases on your Mac. Other more obscure conditions may apply, but they’re not documented. (If you didn’t purchase an app that’s installed on a
Mac you bought or were given, there’s no way to receive updates without the original Apple ID login.) The solution is quite easy:
1. Find the application in your
Applications folder.
2. Drag it to the Trash, or select it and press Command-delete.
3. Enter an administrator password when prompted.
4. Empty the Trash.
5. Go to the App Store and attempt to download the app again. This time it should work.
In the event that you still have an error, you can also try the following approach:
In the App Store, choose Store > Sign Out and then Store → Sign In.
Restart your Mac via → Restart.
HOW TO CHECK YOUR MAC’S INTERNAL TEMPERATURE AND KEEP IT COOL
Waves of extreme heat passed across the U.S., Europe, and other parts of the world this summer. While people are at the greatest risk from high temperatures, your Mac may be even more fragile. (People can be water cooled and no current Mac offers that option—though some have tried; fave.co/3qsrgwc.) An iphone or ipad will warn you when it detects it’s too hot before shutting down, while a Mac may simply suddenly power off. If it doesn’t power down, you may be running it too close to its maximum capability and putting a lot of additional wear in the process on components that might fail later during other seasons.
Knowing the temperature is one thing. The other is, how hot should your internal components run? Apple says ( fave.co/3zqztyl) you should only use a Mac when the ambient temperature—that’s the temperature around you—is in the range of 50°F to 95°F (10° to 35°C) and 95 percent or lower humidity.
Internal components produce far more heat than the ambient temperature, with around 100°F or 40°C often the minimum at which they operate in normal indoor circumstances. CPUS, GPUS, ports, and other elements shouldn’t exceed about 192°F (89°C) for extended periods. At 212°F (100°C), the boiling temperature for water at sea level, you should either figure out what energy hogs are making your computer work that hard or shut the system down for a while. (Hint: It’s almost always a browser.) You can use the Activity Monitor app in Applications → Utilities to look at Energy Impact in the Energy column for more particulars.
Checking the Mac’s temperature
Moderns Macs have an inordinate number of power sensors to detect problems and manage fan speeds in models that contain them—i count 34 using one tool on an M1 Mac mini. These sensors can be monitored
with the right knowledge or software (why is my Mac fan so loud? fave.co/3h3ti37).
On some Intel Macs, you can use Terminal or a free utility for basic temperature monitoring. In Terminal, enter the following command and press return:
sudo powermetrics --samplers
smc |grep -i "CPU die temperature"
(Note that those quotation marks are straight double quotes.) Enter your administrative password when prompted. This will provide a continuous temperature reading of the CPU’S temperature. Press Control-c to stop the monitoring.
You can also install the free app Fanny, fave.co/3ztiu0c (although that’s not the most perfect name for U.K. and other Commonwealth Mac owners), which offers a simple drop-down set of information in the menu bar or as a notifications widget. Details include the average CPU and GPU temperature along with current fan speeds.
For any Intel Mac and M1-based Mac, the utility TG Pro ( fave.co/3prznaf, $20 but often on sale for $10) provides detailed monitoring and fan control. You can see the temperature recorded by every sensor in your Mac and for hard disks and SSDS that support the industrystandard SMART diagnostics. Information and controls are available both in a standard app window and a drop-down menu bar. That bar shows the highest port and CPU temperature and the current fan rotation.
You can also monitor the speed of internal fans and override Apple’s settings. This includes creating rules for when and how fast fans run. The app comes with a preset rule that turns the blades up to their maximum rotation if the highest temperature of any CPU parameter is at least 158°F (70°C). Just note that your Macbook Air doesn’t have a fan. ■