Bluetooth technology has been allowing our electronic devices to communicate with each other for 20 years now. Yet, Bluetooth connections between devices can still fail, or give you all kinds of issues when you’re trying to set them up. Here are some troubleshooting techniques to try when pairing Bluetooth-enabled devices gives you the blues.

Doing stuff with your mouse is cool. Doing stuff with your keyboard is cooler. These are the most important keyboard shortcuts, ranked from best to worst. (Unless noted, we've listed the Windows shortcuts; Mac users substitute Cmd for Ctrl.) With one exception, despite any flaws, all the shortcuts below are fundamentally good.

As you install more and more software on your Mac, your menu bar might start to get cluttered with extraneous icons. This not only looks messy, but it can make it a bit of a chore to access settings for your various apps.

macOS: A lot of people like Baby Yoda Disney Plus. So why should you have to go through the arduous task of loading your browser, pulling up the service, and clicking around to watch the latest episode of The Mandalorian? Thanks to a fun little hack from DBK Labs, we can shorten this by a few steps on macOS. And if you have to jet before you finish your show or film, this app is perfect for jumping right back to where you were—no extra clicks needed.

Apple posted its roundup of the best iOS and iPadOS apps and games for 2019, which gives us a look into the trends that drove the year’s best apps. It’s a good read if you have the time, as it reveals some surprising figures—Mario Kart Tour was the most-downloaded game on the App Store, for example, and users were drawn to multimedia creation and self-publishing apps more than any other categories in 2019.

Apple products have been seeing some excellent deals as we near the end of the year, including the 15- and 13-inch MacBook Pro, which is currently up to $US300 ($438) off for a limited time through both Amazon and B&H Photo.

IT guru Bob Gendler took to Medium last week to share a startling discovery about Apple Mail. If you have the application configured to send and receive encrypted email—messages that should be unreadable for anyone without the right decryption keys—Apple’s digital assistant goes ahead and stores your emails in plain text on your Mac’s drive.

Need to share a file or folder to another device connected to your network? Transferring files between machines requires just a few changes to your computer’s settings. In this beginner’s guide, we’ll show you how to share a folder over your network whether you use Windows or Mac OS.

When it’s time to install a new version of macOS or download a new update, nearly everyone turns to the Mac App Store to start the process. While the App Store makes OS installations easy and relatively painless, it doesn’t always work—and it might be time to turn to Terminal (and a little creativity) instead.

The Lifehacker staff sifts through a ton of apps on a regular basis, but a few have stuck with us over the years. Some apps are simply nice to have, while others have become essential in our daily lives. From dealing with irate dragons to counting our mindfulness minutes, each app on this list has a special place in our hearts (and our homescreens). Best of all, they're all free.

The application that revolutionised and upended the music industry lived long enough to see itself become the villain. Thanks to the new macOS Catalina update, iTunes has finally been laid to rest.

Have you had any issues installing macOS Catalina? Specifically, have you encountered any strange scenarios where the upgrade — which shouldn’t take that long to do — seems to hang for a lot longer than what feels reasonable?

Welcome back to our weekly technology-advice column. This week, we’re tackling a question from a reader who finds it annoying when his browser prompts him to save passwords on a service he’d rather not use. Does this sound like you? Read on.

Apple Reminders is in the process of getting a big overhaul this year. The new version is available now on iOS 13 and iPadOS 13, and will arrive on macOS when the Catalina update hits this month. It looks better and adds new features that add useful depth, like the ability to create lists related to action items.

As someone who uses Android as their primary mobile OS, I tend to focus on alternative apps/service to Google’s products, but that doesn’t mean I don’t also enjoy the third-party replacements for Apple’s apps on iOS and iPad. Unfortunately, Apple’s “walled garden” approach to its products means there are far fewer third-party and/or open-source app alternatives available on iOS than on Android — and most require you to jailbreak your iPhone, which is a tedious, warranty-busting project.

Dear Lifehacker. Many times, I copy something to my clipboard, and before pasting, I accidentally overwrite it by copying something else. How do I find the ‘history’ of what I’ve copied to my clipboard? Is there any app that can help?

When you’re troubleshooting your computer or installing a new operating system, you may need to “boot from a disc” or USB device (such as an external hard drive or flash drive). Here’s what that means — and how to do it.

Long before we were talking to AI assistants on smart devices, we had Clippy — the cheery, animated paperclip mascot of Microsoft Office, who’s definitely-not-at-all-annoying tips and contextual actions “helped” users navigate Word, Excel, and the rest of the Office suite.

We’re tackling a fun issue with geeky hand-me-downs in this week’s Tech 911. I wish I knew someone older than me — a parent, a brother, an awesome neighbour — who had laptops and smartphones and gadgets galore that they could pass my way when they were sick of using them.