Things to Know about Apps & Apple Devices

I've put together a list of things to know about iOS, apps, iTunes, and the App Store:

• Some software programs for Apple handhelds (known as "apps") come preinstalled on every device, including Safari for web browsing, Mail for email, and Notes for text files.
• You can download and install many more apps from the App Store. The App Store can be found in two places: in iTunes on Mac and Windows computers or in its own app on iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch.
• The App Store is organized in categories, including Games, Education, Photography, and Productivity.
• In addition to browsing categories, you can search the App Store. In iTunes you can perform a Power Search to filter results to free apps or a specific device. Alternatively, you can browse and search app at AppShopper.com. AppShopper's search results are more detailed than iTunes'.
• Approximately 34% of all apps are free of charge and another 31% are 99¢. The average price for an app is $2.50.
• You must have an iTunes account to download apps. For school sets of handhelds, it is recommended you create an account specifically for school. Typically Apple demands a credit card number to create an account. Follow these directions before creating an account and you won't be required to supply a credit card number.
• Each app downloaded is associated with an iTunes account.
• You can authorize up to five computers to use an iTunes account. An unlimited number of Apple handhelds can sync to a single computer.
• A single computer can have more than one account authorized on it. This is different than being signed in. Authorizing multiple accounts allows for installation of apps that may have been downloaded while signed into different accounts. Authorize accounts from iTunes' Store menu.
• Accounts authorized in iTunes are also authorized on the devices synced to that iTunes app Library.
• Syncing an individual device to the same computer each time is ideal. Attempting to sync to a different computer than the original can result in data loss and extreme frustration.
• You can sync multiple devices to one Mac or Windows computer simultaneously. There are options for carts, cases, and hubs to allow for connecting large numbers of devices to one computer.
• iPad can run almost all iPhone/iPod touch apps. iPhone and iPod touch cannot run iPad-specific apps. Universal apps can run on all three kinds of devices and are denoted in the App Store with a + symbol.
• Apps are updated periodically. Updates are free and often offer extra features and bug fixes.
• Some apps require the latest version of the iOS. You can check to see if your device is running the latest release of iOS by connecting it to iTunes, clicking the device's Summary Tab, and click the Check for Update button.
• Unlike music and movies, you can always re-download both free and paid apps from the App Store free of charge. Be sure you are signed into the iTunes account in which you originally bought the app.
• Free and paid apps purchased in the App Store app on the Apple handheld are copied to the iTunes Library upon the next sync.
• Periodically paid apps go on sale for free. For school sets of devices, be sure to document when apps are downloaded for free in case of a software audit.
• I often share apps you may be interested in on Twitter. Oftentimes the apps I share are temporarily on sale, so download them while they are free or cheap. twitter.com/tonyvincent
• Twitter users who reference an educational app frequently tag their tweets with #edapp. Searching Twitter for #edapp shows you these tweets all in one spot. Read more about #edapp.
• Apple has different Terms & Conditions for educational institutions relating to paid apps. Apple expects U.S. education customers to purchase a license for each device a paid app will be installed on using the App Store Volume Purchase Program.
• Apps can be organized into folders by tapping and holding one app until it jiggles. Then drop apps into existing folders or drop an app onto another to create a folder. Press the Home button when done.
• Folders and icon positions are individual to each device. Unless you restore a device from the backup of another device, folder and icon positions have to be manually set on each handheld.
• Deleting an app from the iTunes Library will also remove the app from any device which synchronizes with that library.
• Delete apps on the device by tapping an holding one app's icon until all icons begin to jiggle. Tap the X next to an app's icon to delete the app. Press the Home button when done.
• To prevent students from deleting apps, enable Restrictions and turn off Deleting Apps in the General section of the Settings app on each device.
• To prevent students from logging into their own accounts and installing apps, enable Restrictions and turn off Installing Apps in the General section of the Settings app on each device. However, this will need to be turned off and back on each time you want to legitimately install apps, even through iTunes.
• Double-tap the Home button to access a list of recently used applications and toggle among them.
• Got a lot of apps? Tap the Home button while on your first screen of apps to access a search field where you can enter an app's name to launch it.

iTunes Account Without a Credit Card

An iTunes account is required to download iPhone/iPod touch applications from the App Store. When you create an account, iTunes asks you for a credit card number to keep on file for purchases. When using iPods in schools, teachers probably don't want to use their personal credit card and schools usually do not have a credit card that can be used for iTunes. Fortunately, there is a way to create a new iTunes account without giving financial information. Here's how:

1. Open iTunes and go to the iTunes Store. Then click to go to the App Store.
2. Sign out of any iTunes account you might already be signed in with. (Do this by clicking your email address in the top-right corner of the iTunes window. Click the Sign Out button in the dialog box that appears.)
3. Go to the details page of any free app. Click the Get App button.
4. Click the Create New Account button and complete the registration.
   
5. When asked to select a credit card, choose None.
   
   
6. iTunes tells you that you will be asked to provide a payment method when you make your first purchase.

I suggest adding money to the new iTunes account through gift cards. This way when you want to purchase a paid app, you still won't be required to give a credit card number.

It's important to note that iTunes will not provide None as a choice for Credit Card unless you create an account by first downloading a free app. The good news is that you only have to do this once, and you can sign into to this account on up to five computers.

iPods Episode #15: Linking to iTunes

Learning in Hand: iPods Episode #15: Linking to iTunes is the podcast's first video episode and it's is online now. In the video I show different ways to create hyperlinks to items within the iTunes Store, like podcasts and apps.

The episode is particularly relevant for iPod touch and iPhone users, as the same hyperlinks that work with a desktop browser and iTunes also work with mobile Safari, mobile iTunes, and the mobile App Store on the device itself.

I've previously written about linking to items in iTunes, but this video goes into more detail. Watch all 10 minutes of Episode #15 to learn how to link to media and apps in iTunes and see how those links work on an iPod touch.

Transcript

This is Learning in Hand: iPods. I'm Tony Vincent and this is the show where I share tips, how-tos, and ideas for iPods in teaching and learning. Episode 15, "Linking to iTunes" recorded December 2008, happens now!

This is the first of many episodes of Learning in Hand: iPods that is video. More and more of what I will share on this show is visual,especially as the focus changes from click-wheel iPods to iPod touch and iPhone. By the way, I'm wearing these earbuds because they are the kind with a microphone--I tested recording video using a desktop mic and it just didn't sound as good--so I'm using these.

Alright. So, you might have noticed an iTunes icon on webpages. When you click it, your browser redirects you to iTunes and opens on the details page for a podcast, musical album, movie, or software in the App Store. When I click the iTunes button on on the Our City Podcast webpage in my web browser, it opens iTunes right up to the podcast's details page in the iTunes Store.

Now, check this out. I have the Our City Podcast page opened in mobile Safari on my iPod touch. Tapping that same iTunes button on my website launches mobile iTunes on the iPod and opens to the Our City Podcast details page where I can download specific episodes right there on the device itself without the help of a desktop computer.

Let me show you the first of two ways to hyperlink to the iTunes Store. You'll need to go to the iTunes Link Maker atapple.com/itunes/linkmaker or just Google "iTunes" and "link maker" and it will be the first search result.

With iTunes Link Maker, you search for the item in the iTunes Store to which you want to link. I type in Our City and choose Podcast as the Media Type. But as you can see, you can also link to other media types, like Music, Movies, TV Shows, Audio Books, Applications, and iTunes U.

After clicking search, I can see a list of search results. I find the one I'm looking for and click the Arrow next to it. Then iTunes Linkmaker gives me give me HTML code to put into my website, wiki, or blog. Because it's HTML, you most likely can't just copy or paste it into a webpage. You'll need to toggle into HTML mode. I use Dreamweaver for my website, so I toggle to Code view and paste the copied HTML code there. Then I switch back to Design view to see what it looks like. Let's preview this in the browser. I click the button, and now iTunes opens to the details page for the Our City Podcast!

Ok, maybe you want to use just a text hyperlink or use your own image for linking. On that iTunes Link Maker page, you can right-click the image next to Link Test and copy the link. Now I can type text and select it to hyperlink with the copied link. I'm going to paste what I copied from the Link Maker just so you can see what the URL looks like. It's pretty long, but you can see that it links to the store and includes a unique Podcast ID so that iTunes can open to that podcast.

If you don't need that iTunes button or you want more control over what you're linking to, then you can use the second method of linking to items in the iTunes Store. Here's how it works.

Go to the details page for what you'd like to link to. Right-click the Artwork and then choose Copy iTunes Store URL. Then you have that same URL you could have gotten from iTunes Link Maker. But, you can also use it to link to specific episodes. I can right-click a specific episode and copy the iTunes Store URL. Now, let me paste that URL into a Google Doc document just for demonstration purposes. Now when I click that link, not only does it open to the podcast page, but the specific episode I link to is highlighted.

You can use this right-click and copy method in the App Store as well. I can right-click on the icon for Word Warp and Copy iTunes Store URL. Like I would with a podcast episode, I can paste that URL into a webpage or document.

If you read my blog at learninginhand.com, you have probably noticed that I use this method to link to iPod touch and iPhone apps I write about. Here's something cool. So I'm on mobile Safari on an iPod touch. I can tap the link for an app that's I've put on my blog. The mobile App Store on my iPod touch launches and takes me to the details page for that app where I can download it. This is super useful when teachers want students to download a specific app. Instead of the student taking the time to find the app, they can tap its link to have it instantly available to them!

Ok, a couple more tips on linking to the iTunes Store. You can actually copy the link to just about anything you can click on in the iTunes Store. I can go to the Podcasts section of iTunes, select Education, and then right-click K-12 to link to that specific category of the iTunes Store, Podcasts - Education - K-12 . When clicked in a desktop browser or on an iPod touch or iPhone, the user to taken to the K-12 Podcasts category.

You can also link to search results. Let me show you how to do this for "math". On the results page, right-click See All in the Applications results and Copy the iTunes URL. When someone follows that URL, they are instantly taken to the iTunes search results that include Math and are in the App Store. Unfortunately, links to search results only works on desktop browsers and won't work on an iPod touch or iPhone. Also, links to iTunes U won't work on an iPod touch or iPhone because iTunes U does not yet appear in the mobile iTunes Store.

On the desktop side, if someone clicks a link to something in the iTunes store, but they don't have iTunes installed, the link will take them to a page where they can download iTunes, which, as you know, is a free download for Windows and Macintosh.

If you're a teacher with a class website, linking to items within the iTunes Store can help your students and parents subscribe to podcasts and watch or listen to specific media in the iTunes Store. If you're a teacher with iPod touches, it's really convenient to use iTunes Store links to direct students to podcasts and apps to download.

That's a wrap for Episode 15. Thank so much for watching. For more about podcasting and iPods, head on over to learninginhand.com. Stay super everyone!

iPods Episode #11: Artwork & Lyrics

Learning in Hand: iPods Episode #11: Artwork & Lyrics is online and is all about giving audio files cover art and accompanying text.

Artwork and lyrics are two things you can easily add to an audio file to make it more useful on iPods. While most all references you'll find to artwork and lyrics on iPods deal with music, the audio files do not have to be songs. They can be recordings from a voice recorder, ripped from a CD, podcasts, files from Audacity or GarageBand, or downloaded from the Internet. Wherever you got the audio, we'll explore adding customized artwork and accompanying text to these files.

Listen to all 11 minutes of Episode #11 for tips, how-tos, and ideas for using artwork and lyrics on click wheel and touch iPods.

iTunes U Expanded

iTunes has expanded its iTunes U section with more free educational content. Previously iTunes U contained only lectures and videos from universities. Now Apple has included content from other sources and it's not just for university-types. They call the new offerings Beyond Campus. Now Macintosh and Windows iTunes users can download specially selected public radio broadcasts, Supreme Court discussions, science videos, and more from institutions like Smithsonian Global Sound, The Museum of Modern Art in New York, and KQED public television.

iTunes U's content looks very much like podcasts (and some iTunes U contributions are indeed podcasts) and are offered for free. Apple has hand-picked universities and organizations to participate. Most iTunes U content is very well produced. Unlike with podcasts, listeners and viewers can expect a high level of quality to iTunes U. Besides just audio or video, many iTunes U's productions are often accompanied by transcripts, educator guides, and discussion questions. When you get audio, video, or documents from iTunes U, iTunes might create a playlist in the Source panel where you can find what you downloaded. If the content is a podcast, it will show up in your Podcasts section of iTunes.

While all of this is available through iTunes, an iPod is not necessary to read, listen, or watch. You can do that on your computer. But don't forget you can drag and drop content from iTunes onto a memory card or player that is mounted as a flash drive or hard drive.As long as the player can deal with AAC audio and MPEG-4 video, it should play after copying the files to its memory.

To find iTunes U and the Beyond Campus offerings, launch the iTunes Store. Click iTunes U in the upper-left corner of the screen. The Beyond Campus offerings are limited, but more are on the way.