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FOUR SEASONS BREEZE | OCTOBER 2023 19 By Steve Benoff DUH! For years I've been reminding myself to do things by sending an email to myself. What!? You didn't know you can do that? Well, you can. Open your email program, enter your own email address in the "To" space, and write your email. Soon after, it will appear in your email inbox. I used to do that when I engaged Do Not Disturb (DND). I'd send myself an email with the subject of DND. That's all — just DND to remind myself why my phone wasn't ringing and buzzing and clicking and popping. By the way, another DUH goes to how I'd been engaging Do Not Disturb. If you swipe down from the upper right of your iPhone screen, you'll see a bunch of boxes filled with all sort of info including a flashlight icon to turn the light on your phone on. You'll also see a box labeled Focus. Press it and you next see at least four choices – Do Not Disturb, Personal, Work, and Sleep. I don't have any use for the last three, but Apple insists I must have because it won't let me delete them from Focus. I can add to the list by pressing the plus sign at the bottom of the screen. When you do, you're given six more things to focus on – custom, driving, fitness, gaming, mindfulness, and reading. But whatever you try, you can't delete any of the four standard focus items. So, in the past, to engage Do Not Disturb, I've selected focus and pressed the top button. Now Do Not Disturb has silenced my phone so I won't disturb others in a quiet setting. That is the way I've turned DND on and off. The DUH part came into play when I found out all I have to do to turn DND on and off is to press the moon icon in the Focus box — that bypasses the Focus dropdown menu completely. By the way, Apple has some DND choices you can make from the Focus menu if you'd like to turn DND off in one hour, until the evening, or until you leave your current location. But let's get back to my original DUH - reminding myself to do things. What I liked about the email method was that the email appeared on my phone and on my desktop computer. I have an Apple Mac desktop, but that doesn't matter since my email reminder appears in my email program irrespective of the type of computer. So, here's the DUH part. My iPhone comes with a Notes app. I can write myself a note, and it stays in the app until I delete it. With email, my reminder stays on top only until I get more emails. Pretty soon it's so far down the list I don't see it anymore. With Notes, I see only those I originate. Best of all, there's a Notes app on my desktop computer, and any note I originate in one place appears in the other. I keep my Notes app open in a corner of my desktop screen so it's always there to remind me. Now, Notes works great when both my phone and my desktop are Apple products. But there are plenty of notes apps in the App Store, and I'm sure some of them can sync between Apple and non-Apple devices. There's room for one more DUH, and that's a general one. Take the time to explore the apps you use. I think you'll be amazed, as I was, at what we've been missing. We take many apps at face value. I've mentioned Apple's weather app and the power revealed just by scrolling down below 10-day weather predictions. I'm sure my favored podcast app, Overcast, is not unique in offering a detailed description of every podcast episode just by swiping or pressing what's on the screen. Pressing on a security listed in the Stocks app gives you a price graph ranging from one month to five years. And just to return to the Notes app, there's amazing power within the app for those who care to explore its many functions. So, the lesson is – don't be afraid to explore the apps you use. Maybe you'll discover the power of DUH! If you use an app you'd like to share with others, let me know at steve.benoff@verizon.net. THERE'S AN APP FOR THAT! Exploring Everyday Apps

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