Family sharing screen time bug: a fix for ghost apps

I'm happy to say I actually fixed a bug in the buggiest apple product ever - family sharing screen time.

The "always allowed" app list showed "ghost apps" -- left over apps from old versions of iOS like Find Friend. They appeared with a generic icon.

Removing my son from the family then adding him back in removed the ghost apps.

One bug down, dozens remain.

Update: Nope, the fix was transitory. Ghost apps back again. Screen Time is such a cluster.

Update: Ok, this might be the real fix. His Apple ID had 3 associated devices -- and iPad, and iPhone and a macOS user account on an old machine running maybe Sierra.  I removed the obsolete macOS relationship from his Apple ID on the web site, but it had to be remove again on his iPad.

Apple Mac App Store: "Unable to download item. Please try again later": The problem may be that you are not the purchaser.

I was logged into my admin account on my daughter's Big Sur Air and saw the usual nag to update Apps. When I tried though I got  "Unable to download item. Please try again later."

It never works to try again later. This is a typically useless Apple error message produced when something has gone wrong with their complex FairPlay DRM authentication. There are a range of fixes that Google shows but, even after I figured out the bug (a design fail of this sort is a bug) I couldn't find anything that explained the fix [1]. So here you go!

The problem happens on a multi-user Mac with multiple admins installing software using different Apple Store Apple IDs. It might also require that automatic updates are not enabled and it might require that Family Sharing is enabled.

Every admin gets notification of a pending update, but only the FairPlay determined DRM owner can actually successfully do the update. Other admins who try get the useless error message.

The fix on Big Sur's Mac App Store is to cast your gaze down to the bottom left corner of the App Store window. There you see a user name. Click on the user name and you'll see an "Account" screen. At the top of the "Account" screen is a "Purchased by" drop down with the user name of every family sharing member [1]. Switch between Accounts here to find who has the "update" for the problem app. Then update. Continue until all apps are updated.

It will be interesting to see if this is handled better in Monterey. I can imagine several potential fixes!

[1] As every Old will repeat ad nauseam, the Google web was much better 20 years ago.

How to mitigate SMS spam in iOS 15: filter unknown AND disable notifications for unknown senders

I do not understand why it took Apple so long to do basic management of text message (SMS) spam. I don't understand why the solution appeared over two releases. I don't get why the implementation is so obscure. And I don't get why I had to write this; even knowing the two necessary settings I can't find a good article on it. Apple's own documentation doesn't mention disabling notifications.

Anyway, as of iOS 15 you can finally turn off notifications for SMS sent from an unrecognized number. This is in addition to iOS 14 enabling sorting of unrecognized number SMS into a separate tab. (I think iOS 13 you could only filter iMessages, which is basically useless.)

First enable "Filter Unknown Senders". Unrecognized SMS messages go into a separate tab.

Second turn off notifications for unknown senders

You still get SMS spam but it doesn't interrupt you and it's hidden away.

Using Apple Locator devices (AirTags) with an older iPhone

AirTags will work with older iPhones but things are a little different. 

The trick is that they work by Bluetooth with a range of about 20 to 30 feet. The last known location showing in Find My tells you roughly where they are. The next step is to try activating the sound feature. If you see that it's working you know the lost AirTag is within about 20 to 30 feet. If it doesn't work keep moving until you start to see it working. Now you can try to listen for the sound. It can be faint. It's also short-lived. You may have to keep tapping the sound icon. Eventually you'll find the missing AirTag.

Safari on US Bank: "our system is not cooperating"

For the last few days when my wife entered https://onlinebanking.usbank.com into M1 Big Sur 10.4.2 and 10.5.1 Safari she immediately received the error message: 

Our system is not cooperating

Try connecting again 

She can access the US Bank site from a different user account using Safari on her machine. She can also get to it from from Chrome in her account. Edge didn't work at all -- it just hung.

I tried deleting Safari Cache and deleting all US Bank associated cookies/data. No change. I tried a Private window - no luck. I tried changing DNS provider - no help. I tried removing ALL Safari cache and cookie and other data - no change. I tried with our 1Password extension enabled and disabled.

So for now she's using Chrome. There's something wrong with either Safari or something deeper in her user profile but I don't know where to look next.

Unable to print from Chrome on macOS Mojave - use Cmd-Opt-P to print using system dialog

Over the the past year Google made several changes to macOS Chrome printing including hiding the "print using system dialog" option and removing their Cloud printing. I rarely use Chrome and almost never print from it so I ignored these changes. Sadly I recently discovered I was unable to print from Chrome on macOS Mojave. The error message is:

The selected printer is not available or not installed correctly. 

Check your printer or try selecting another printer.

A Google search found several reports but no good fix. Reinstalling Chrome didn't help.

There is a workaround. It turns out there's still a way to print using the system dialog. Cmd-Opt-P or holding option key and choosing Print from file menu brings up the system dialog. That works.

I don't know if this bug is Mojave specific. The workaround is good enough for me, I dislike Chrome in general. At some point I'll try Edge for macOS.

Calendars 5 for iOS: how to use Apple Contacts to complete attendee list

Calendars 5 for iOS makes Google Calendar useable -- at a fraction of the cost of Fantastical. It reminds me of PalmOS DateBk 5 and 6.

For me the main flaw is that it uses Google Contacts for the attendee names and emails. I keep my Contacts in Apple Contacts.

Turns out that if you include at least 1 local Calendar it will also use Apple Contacts. Birthdays works for this. So I included that.

This should be a setting, but I'm glad to to know of the workaround via Calendars tech support.