Month 3: Who are you, really?

What a Safari profile is

A Safari profile keeps a separate set of browsing data in one Safari: its own history, cookies and website data, extensions, Tab Groups and favorites. A Work profile can stay signed in to the Kibble portal while a Personal profile stays signed in to the user's own accounts on the same sites. Profiles sync with iCloud to the user's other Apple devices.

Exam tip Profiles separate everyday browsing. Private Browsing is different: it keeps no history and forgets the session when the window closes.

Create, use and remove profiles

Manage them in Safari > Settings > Profiles.

• New Profile: name, symbol, color and a favorites folder
• Open one: File > New Window > New [Profile] Window, or the profile button in the toolbar
• Per-profile settings: extensions, new-window page, and which profile opens links
• Remove a profile with the minus button: its history, cookies and website data are deleted

Rosa: So Work-me and Home-me can both be signed in? That's the dream.

Exam tip Removing a profile deletes its history, cookies and website data, but its favorites and other bookmarks are kept. The default Personal profile can't be removed.

Why passkeys beat passwords

A passkey replaces a password with a pair of cryptographic keys. The website keeps only the public key; the private key stays on the user's devices. Signing in uses Face ID, Touch ID or the device passcode. There's nothing to guess, reuse or type into a fake site: a passkey works only on the website or app it was made for, which makes it phishing-resistant.

Exam tip A data breach at the website leaks only public keys, which are useless to an attacker.

Creating and syncing passkeys

On a site or app that supports passkeys, choose the passkey option when signing up or in account settings, then confirm with Face ID or Touch ID. Passkeys are saved in the Passwords app (iOS 18 / macOS Sequoia and later; earlier versions keep them in Passwords settings) and sync through iCloud Keychain, which is end-to-end encrypted and requires two-factor authentication for the Apple Account.

• No passkey option on the site = the site doesn't support passkeys yet
• One account can have both a password and a passkey
• Some sites let you save the passkey to a hardware security key instead

Signing in on someone else's device

On a computer that doesn't have the passkey, such as a shared Windows PC, choose to sign in with a passkey from another device. The site shows a QR code: scan it with the iPhone, confirm with Face ID, and the phone checks it's nearby over Bluetooth before approving. The passkey never leaves the iPhone. Passkeys can also be shared with trusted people through shared groups in the Passwords app.

Ranger: sniffs the QR code suspiciously

Exam tip Exam pattern: "sign in on a non-Apple device" = scan the QR code with the iPhone; Bluetooth must be on for the proximity check.

The steps

Log in as an administrator. Open System Settings > Users & Groups, click the Info button next to the locked-out user, click Reset Password, and enter and verify a new password (plus a hint if you like). Authenticate as the admin when asked. The user logs in with the new password and keeps all their files.

Exam tip Only an administrator can reset another user's password this way. A standard user can change only their own.

The keychain catch

The user's login keychain is still locked with the old password. At next login, macOS may ask to update the keychain password (needs the old one) or offer to create a new keychain. A new keychain means saved passwords from the old one aren't available, though passwords in iCloud Keychain sync back down.

• Remembers the old password: update the keychain
• Doesn't: create a new keychain; the old one is kept but stays locked
• No admin account? Use the Apple Account option, the FileVault recovery key, or the Reset Password assistant in macOS Recovery

Built in, not bolted on

Every iPhone, iPad and Mac includes accessibility features in Settings > Accessibility (Mac: System Settings > Accessibility). Apple groups them by need: vision, hearing, physical and motor, speech, and cognitive. No extra apps or licenses are needed.

• Vision: VoiceOver, Zoom, Magnifier, Display & Text Size, Spoken Content
• Hearing: Live Captions, Sound Recognition, hearing devices, Mono Audio, RTT
• Physical and motor: AssistiveTouch, Voice Control, Switch Control, Eye Tracking, Back Tap
• Speech: Live Speech, Personal Voice, Vocal Shortcuts
• Cognitive: Guided Access, Assistive Access, Background Sounds

Exam tip Version caution: Apple adds features most years (Eye Tracking, Vocal Shortcuts arrived with iOS 18). Know the classics by need.

Vision and hearing

VoiceOver is a gesture-based screen reader: it speaks what's on screen. Zoom magnifies the whole screen or a window; Magnifier uses the camera as a magnifying glass. Display & Text Size offers bold or larger text, higher contrast and color filters. For hearing: Live Captions show real-time captions of audio, Sound Recognition alerts on sounds like a doorbell or alarm, and LED flash for alerts turns notifications into light.

Exam tip Blind user needs to hear the screen = VoiceOver. Low-vision user needs things bigger = Zoom or Larger Text.

Mobility, speech and cognition

AssistiveTouch gives an onscreen menu for gestures and buttons that are hard to press. Voice Control operates the whole device by voice. Switch Control works with adaptive switches. Live Speech speaks typed words aloud in calls and in person; Personal Voice creates a voice that sounds like the user. Guided Access locks the device to one app, and Assistive Access offers a simplified interface with large buttons.

Rosa: Guided Access on the shop iPad. Ooh. No more customers playing games on it.

Exam tip Guided Access is also handy for a shop kiosk iPad: it keeps customers inside the one app.

Shortcuts on iPhone and iPad

Choose features in Settings > Accessibility > Accessibility Shortcut. Then triple-click the side button (Face ID models) or Home button to turn them on or off; with several chosen, a menu appears. Other quick ways: the Accessibility Shortcuts control in Control Center, asking Siri ("Turn on VoiceOver"), and Back Tap (double or triple tap on the back of iPhone).

Exam tip Guided Access also uses the triple-click: triple-click inside the app to start or end a session.

Shortcuts on Mac

Press Option-Command-F5 (or quickly press Touch ID three times) to open the Accessibility Shortcuts panel and toggle features. Command-F5 turns VoiceOver on or off directly. You can also add Accessibility Shortcuts to Control Center or the menu bar, or ask Siri.

• Option-Command-F5 or triple-press Touch ID: Accessibility Shortcuts panel
• Command-F5: VoiceOver on/off
• Zoom keyboard shortcuts work once turned on in Accessibility > Zoom

Maya: If VoiceOver turns on by accident, the same shortcut turns it off. Most "my Mac is talking" tickets end there.