Richard's Tech Reviews

Using an iPod Touch as a Continuity phone with an iPhone

Apple provides the ability to connect iOS devices (and Macs) over Wi-Fi to an iPhone to make regular audio phone calls using FaceTime.

Apple Support - Make and receive calls on your Mac, iPad, or iPod touch

Mostly the scenario for this is if you want all of your devices to "ring" with a call when you're at home.

I had a different scenario, of trying to have a smaller screen phone:

The last iPhone with a 4" screen was the iPhone SE (1st generation), released in 2016 and discontinued in 2018.  The newer iPhone SE (2nd generation) has a larger 4.7" screen (the SE 2nd gen case and screen is basically identical to an iPhone 8).  It seems unlikely, for the moment at least, that Apple will release another 4" screen iPhone.

This means the only iOS device you can still buy with a 4" screen is the iPod Touch (7th generation), released in 2019 and still available at the time of this writing.

So I wondered, given that you can connect an iOS device to an iPhone over Wi-Fi to make phone calls, and given that an iPhone can make a Wi-Fi personal hotspot, could you in theory carry your iPhone in your pocket or your bag, and use the iPod Touch as your main phone and mobile Internet device?  Thereby, for those of us who prefer smaller phones, giving an option that is still available and supported, while Apple continues to make larger iPhones.

The answer in short is yes.  This is probably not great for your battery life, and it means depending on the scenario that you choose that you're either going around with a phone advertising itself as a Hotspot, or with devices with Bluetooth on.

You would probably need to carry around a separate battery pack to power this kind of constant Wi-Fi on your iPhone and iPod Touch for any length of time.

Here are the steps from Apple (taken from the support document), and the options at each step:

Set up iPhone Cellular Calls

You can use iPhone Cellular Calls with any Mac, iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch that meets the Continuity system requirements. It works when your devices are near each other and set up as follows:

1. Each device is signed in to iCloud with the same Apple ID.
2. Each device is signed in to FaceTime with the same Apple ID.

There are some complexities with FaceTime if you use Screen Time restrictions.

First, you must enable FaceTime (obviously).
But second, and perhaps less obviously, you must also enable Camera.  FaceTime will not run with Camera disabled (e.g. disabled in Settings -> Screen Time -> Content & Privacy Restrictions -> Allowed Apps -> Camera).  And not run as in, FaceTime won't even appear as an app on the Home Screen if Camera is disabled; there is no audio-only FaceTime possibility.

3. Each device has Wi-Fi turned on.

This starts to get complicated because Apple really assumes you're using this on your home Wi-Fi network.

Hotspot

If you want to be able to use your iPhone as a Continuity phone bridge to your iPod while you're travelling around, you're going to want to use Hotspot (unless you're planning on also travelling around with an additional separate Wi-Fi network creation device).

Hotspot exists in two not-particularly-well-described versions:

Instant Hotspot

The idea with Instant Hotspot is network access without a password, for devices that have the same iCloud account.  Instant Hotspot is always on; there's no way to disable it.  In order for it to work, you must have both Bluetooth and Wi-Fi enabled on both devices.  If you're planning on wandering around with your iPhone and you're security conscious, you may prefer not to have Bluetooth enabled.  However, a possible advantage of Instant Hotspot may be that the iPhone is less visible on Wi-Fi, as presumably it isn't advertising its network except to nearby Bluetooth devices?

Personal Hotspot

Personal Hotspot has to be specifically enabled in Settings -> Personal Hotspot -> Allow Others to Join (switch the slider to on).  This means that your phone is now advertising its Wi-Fi network so that anyone can connect with the password.

Instant vs. Personal

I think it's a bit of a toss-up which option you might choose.  Instant means you have to have Bluetooth on.  That means more power use on both devices and any possible Bluetooth vulnerabilities.  Personal means you are walking around advertising your phone's Wi-Fi network and anyone can try to connect. 

Connecting my iPod Touch to the iPhone Personal Hotspot does work.  The iPod Touch automatically connects in "Low Data Mode" which is designed to reduce network data use.  You can disable this (if you wish, depending on your iPhone's data plan and what uses you plan) by going into the settings for that specific Personal Hotspot Wi-Fi network on the iPod Touch and disabling Low Data Mode.  Phone calls work fine in Low Data Mode.

4. On your iPhone, go to Settings > Phone > Calls on Other Devices, then turn on Allow Calls on Other Devices.

It says "when [the devices] are nearby", although I don't know what this means.  When they are within Wi-Fi range, presumably?  Or nearby may be to distinguish it from Wi-Fi Calling, about which see more below.

You also have the option on this screen under Allow Calls On to select what other iOS devices and Macs can make and receive calls.

5. On your iPad or iPod touch, go to Settings > FaceTime, then turn on Calls from iPhone.

And that's basically it in terms of the connection.  You can now make calls from the iPod Touch by going to FaceTime and entering a phone number, or by selecting a phone number in Contacts.

When a call comes in, it will ring on both your iPhone and your iPod Touch, and you can answer it on the iPod Touch.

Audio - Mic and Speaker

There is an issue with the iPod Touch in that it is not designed to be a handheld phone.  While there is a microphone, it is on the top at the back (the bigger camera side), next to the camera lens, as it is intended to let you record audio along with the back camera's video.  The speaker on the other hand is at the bottom.

So if you wanted to use it as a handheld phone, I guess you would have to hold it upside down and backwards, which seems rather awkward.

You're much better off using wired or Bluetooth headphones.

Note that the Apple EarPod headphones that came with the iPod Touch do not have a microphone, so you'll need a different set of headphones (e.g. from an iPhone) that do have a microphone. 

Wired headphones with a mic work fine on an iPod Touch, you just plug them into the jack on the bottom.

Your other alternative is to use Bluetooth headphones although this means you lose whatever advantage (including power use) of having Bluetooth disabled on the iPod Touch.

Disconnection Issue

I did find a potentially fatal flaw in this approach, it appears that the iPod Touch disconnects from Personal Hotspot Wi-Fi when idle.  I had to go back to the Wi-Fi settings screen, whereupon it automatically reconnected.  Presumably this is to reduce power use on both devices.

This means you wouldn't be able to receive a call on the iPod Touch unless you were actively using it, as otherwise it would be temporarily disconnected almost all the time. 

Internet

Although this post is mostly about the complexities of making the iPod Touch work as a phone when connected to your iPhone while out and about, the main reason for doing the whole thing is the 4" iPod Touch screen.  Otherwise you can just use headphones and never interact with your giant iPhone anyway.

So on that point, just to be clear, with the iPod Touch connected via the iPhone over Hotspot Wi-Fi you are also on the Internet and you can do whatever you want on the screen, although you are using your iPhone's e.g. LTE data, so you need to take whatever limitations of data use (if any) you would keep in mind when using your iPhone on the cellular network.  For example if you wouldn't watch Netflix on your iPhone on cellular network due to your data plan, you still can't watch Netflix on your iPod Touch when Hotspot Wi-Fi connected to your iPhone; it's all the same data plan.

Wi-Fi Calling

Note that the above use of an iPod Touch is not the same as Wi-Fi calling.

Wi-Fi calling is a separate feature, and to be more confusing, it's also two things mixed together.

Wi-Fi Calling from your iPhone

First, Wi-Fi calling enables your phone to make regular phone calls over any Wi-Fi network, if the cellular network isn't available and your carrier supports it (in Canada both Bell and Rogers support Wi-Fi calling).  To enable this, go to Settings > Phone > Wi-Fi Calling and enable Wi-Fi Calling on This iPhone.

Wi-Fi Calling from other devices

Based on the documentation, it sounds like with Wi-Fi calling, you can make and receive Wi-Fi calls on your device on any Wi-Fi network; you don't have to be on the same network as your iPhone.  This would be the difference between "nearby" calling in Allow Calls on Other Devices (other devices must use same Wi-Fi network) and Wi-Fi Calling (other devices can use any Wi-Fi network)?

Apple doesn't make it clear whether receiving and making calls are different.

I assume in order to receive a call, the iPhone must be turned on, and connected to a Wi-Fi network, somewhere.

So I'm guessing for incoming call it goes something like

incoming call -> carrier routes over Wi-Fi network A to iPhone -> iPhone receives call -> iPhone broadcasts the incoming call to other devices on other Wi-Fi networks B, C, D which could be anywhere

It's either that, or the carrier somehow can route directly to the other devices itself, in which case the iPhone could be turned off in a drawer and you could still receive calls.  I'm skeptical that this would be the case.

Similarly for outgoing call, does the device make the call directly, or does it have to have an iPhone available somewhere?

e.g. You're at your friend's house on Wi-Fi network B, and your iPhone is at home on Wi-Fi network A.

You make a call on your device using FaceTime and then it routes it.

device on Wi-Fi network B -> iPhone on Wi-Fi network A -> outgoing Wi-Fi call

Again, it's either that or enabling Wi-Fi calling on your devices means you can make Wi-Fi calls from any Wi-Fi network anywhere, with your iPhone turned off in a drawer somewhere.

A scenario where you for some reason want to move around from one stationary Wi-Fi bubble to another without your iPhone might have seemed improbable, but in the era of COVID-19 and isolation and friend and family bubbles, it could actually be possible.

Continuity

For more about other features of connecting Apple devices together, see Apple Support - Use Continuity to connect your Mac, iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, and Apple Watch.

dimming your iPhone or iPad screen

One influence on sleep is light.  Basically dim reddish light signals to your brain that it is night, and very bright blue light signals to your brain that it is day.  One way to interfere with your sleep is therefore to have bright light, particularly bright blue light, shining directly into your eyes late at night.

Which is exactly what using a laptop, or watching TV, or using an iPhone or iPad does.

This is why Apple has introduced Night Shift, which makes your screen redder as the evening progresses.  Unfortunately, it doesn't do anything about screen brightness.  And even set to minimum, the built-in brightness setting is still very bright in the night.

There is however a solution that involves combining the built-in brightness with a display accommodation setting.

Ideally you might not have your device in the bedroom at all, but there are lots of scenarios (e.g. listening to audio) where you might want it nearby.

To dim your iPad or iPhone before bed, start with the pull-up brightness control, or with Settings -> Display and Brightness, and set the brightness to the minimum and Auto-Brightness to off.

Next, you need to add a display accommodation to make the screen even dimmer.

Go to Settings -> General -> Accessibility -> Display Accommodations and set Reduce White Point to on, with the reduction set to 100%

You might also want to experiment with changing the colour of the screen, in Settings -> General -> Accessibility -> Display Accommodations -> Color Filters

To dramatically reduce the amount of blue, choose Greyscale.

You can also experiment with other colour change options.  (I actually leave my phone in partially-reduced white point and greyscale mode almost all the time, I find it much less distracting than the usual bright candy colours of all the icons.)

Depending on your eyes, you may have to play around a bit with the exact settings.  At 0% Brightness and 100% Reduce White Point the screen is only barely visible in a totally dark room, once your eyes are totally night adjusted.

It's unfortunate this all has to be manually done (and undone) each day.  It would be nice if Apple added an option to set extra levels of screen dimming in Night Shift.

SIDEBAR: If you take a screenshot in Color Filter mode, it will take an image of the original screen, e.g. even if you are in Greyscale filter mode, the screenshot will still be in full color.  I had to use a post-processing image filter to change the screenshot to actual greyscale.  END SIDEBAR

SMS message you cannot block - Rogers iPhone

There is a type of SMS message that you cannot block.  It pops up immediately.  It automatically sends a read receipt.  It can't be saved (so you can't see who sent it).  It bypasses Do Not Disturb.  This is basically the worst possible kind of message that should only be available for emergencies if at all.

But as with any feature that is provided but not properly managed, it has been adopted by spammers.  I discovered this at 1:38 in the morning, when my phone, which is on Do Not Disturb (silent) at night, chimed with an incoming text.

I asked Rogers how to block this on an iPhone 6S with iOS 9.2.1
Their answer is that they can't. So a spammer (or a harasser) can pop up one of these messages on your phone in Canada, any time of the day or night, without any recourse.

I will be contacting Rogers more formally, posting to the Rogers Community Forum, and contacting the CRTC.

Here's the text of the response from @RogersHelps on Twitter, followed by the tweets themselves:

• I tried taking a look for but there is no way to at the moment. We know how annoying these messages and calls can be,
• and we’re very sorry for the inconvenience. You can rest assured that we have nothing to do with these kinds of
• messages/calls, and don’t support them in anyway. Unfortunately, there isn’t anything we can do to stop
• these companies from contacting you because there are no laws stopping them from doing so. ^ne

@rakerman I tried taking a look for but there is no way to at the moment. We know how annoying these messages and calls can be,

— RogersHelps (@RogersHelps) February 20, 2016

@rakerman and we’re very sorry for the inconvenience. You can rest assured that we have nothing to do with these kinds of

— RogersHelps (@RogersHelps) February 20, 2016

@rakerman messages/calls, and don’t support them in anyway. Unfortunately, there isn’t anything we can do to stop

— RogersHelps (@RogersHelps) February 20, 2016

@rakerman these companies from contacting you because there are no laws stopping them from doing so. ^ne

— RogersHelps (@RogersHelps) February 20, 2016

Rogers Rocket stick data plans

In a sane world, there would be a range of mobile data plans, and a range of mobile data devices.  You would choose a plan, and then a device.  And then get it.

But the world of Canadian mobile devices is not a sane one.

I will now decode the Rogers plans for you.  It doesn't help that they provide a lot of their information as popover layers that I can't link to directly.

Rogers basically offers four data plan payment contract types: prepaid, monthly, 1 year, 2 year and 3 year.

They also offer two USB sticks, which they brand "Rocket" sticks: a 3G stick and an LTE stick.

So far so good.  Except they attach plans to devices.

So if you go to Rocket Stick

https://www.orderrogers.ca/rocket/stick#/overview

and click on the Prepaid Rocket Stick

https://www.orderrogers.ca/rocket/stick#/data-plan/prepaid

You might think you are on a data plan.  But you are not.  You are on a plan, attached to a specific device, named the "Prepaid Rocket™ mobile Internet stick".  You might think that's a way of paying for the stick, but no, to be clear, the Prepaid stick is only the 3G Nokia CS-18 stick.  No other stick can be prepaid.  (There is no technical reason for this, it's an arbitrary business decision.)

This would be fine if, say, the Rogers store had not specifically told me they didn't carry any Prepaid Rocket™ mobile Internet sticks and that in any case the Prepaid Rocket™ mobile Internet stick had been problematic to set up.  Instead they pointed me to the LTE Rocket™ Stick - Sierra Wireless AirCard® 330U. 

http://www.rogers.com/web/link/wirelessBuyFlow?forwardTo=PhoneThenPlan&productType=normal&productId_Detailed=AC330REDR&N=52+11+4294925041

Which would all be wonderfully clear if the Rogers website was very careful to always specify whether it was referring to the Nokia 3G stick or the Sierra Wireless LTE stick.  But which is not at all clear because the website instead uses "Rocket Internet Stick" to mean sometimes one device, sometimes the other, and sometimes both. 

For example, start at LTE Devices

http://www.rogers.com/web/link/wirelessBuyFlow?forwardTo=PhoneThenPlan&productType=normal&N=52+11+4294925041

Then click "Learn more" on the LTE Rocket Stick

http://www.rogers.com/web/link/wirelessBuyFlow?forwardTo=PhoneThenPlan&productType=normal&productId_Detailed=AC330REDR&N=52+11+4294925041

then click Device & Plan - Monthly

http://www.rogers.com/web/Rogers.portal?_nfpb=true&_windowLabel=Wireless_BuyFlow_Portlet_Definition&Wireless_BuyFlow_Portlet_Definition_actionOverride=%2Fportlets%2Fconsumer%2Fwireless%2FphoneBuyflow%2FsimplifiedWirelessBuyFlow.selectProduct&Wireless_BuyFlow_Portlet_DefinitionprodId=AC330REDR&_pageLabel=WRLS_BuyFlow&CellPhoneFinalNetPrice=169.99&ChangeProvinceEmpty=&RemoveEssential=&selectedPackageType=PHONE_THEN_PLAN&WirelessBuyFlow_Selected=PHONE_THEN_PLAN&phoneConfig_TermSelect=MONTHLY

And you get this apparently very clear screen:

$21.81/month for the LTE 100MB-9GB plan

$46.81/month for the LTE 2GB-9GB plan

and a handy link

Prepaid plans available for Rocket mobile internet stick. Learn more.

Now you might think that SINCE YOU ALREADY SELECTED LTE Rocket Stick and SINCE IT SAYS PREPAID PLANS AVAILABLE FOR ROCKET MOBILE INTERNET STICK that means that there are... prepaid plans available.

But no.  You are wrong.  When it says "Prepaid plans available for Rocket mobile internet stick" it actually means "Prepaid plans available for the Prepaid Rocket stick which is definitely not the LTE Rocket stick, isn't that obvious?"

In any case.  You might think that you could at least select the $20 monthly plan and combine it with the LTE Rocket stick, and then buy the LTE Rocket stick.

But no.  Even if you already have a Rogers account, Rogers wants to do a credit check.  A credit check to make it clear that you must be granted permission by Rogers to bless them with your money.

May I suggest that a business model designed to reduce risk from university and high school students getting their first phone is not ideally suited to middle-aged people buying their dozenth device.

As a bonus, if you manage to land on the right web page which will show you clear-ish-ly that the prepaid has one plan option

and that the LTE had 4 plan options

(Rather than say, standing in the store next to a computer while the salesperson attempts to decode an out-of-date paper rate flyer and buries you in confusion about what plans actually exist.)

You still can't actually buy it.  You may request, like a medieval supplicant kneeling before a king, the permission to give Rogers your money.  You will then wait for Rogers to call you back, to discuss whether or not this boon will be granted.

Needless to say, I am not currently in possession of an LTE stick, there being rather too many hoops to jump through, particularly considering that I already get 6GB of tetherable data for $30 on my Rogers iPhone.  I guess wanting to give Rogers extra money for much less data on a second device was too much to hope for.

speedtest of Internet Tethering with Eee 1005HA-P

1.63 Mbps down / 0.27 up

Asus Eee PC 1005HA-PU1X netbook, Internet Tethering to iPhone 3GS over Bluetooth, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada