On Hands-On Mac, Mikah answers a listener's follow-up question about being unable to remotely access their friends' Mac after a recent update, why an external drive is taking a while to be detected by a newer Mac, and a previous listener's follow-up question about a connection error they were having with their Apple TV and an interesting fix that was discovered.

• Judy writes back in, providing additional details to their question about how, after a recent OS update, they cannot remotely access their friend's Mac via the Messages app.
• MacFixerDK got a new M3 MacBook Pro but is having issues with the different external drives attached to it. They are looking for any help or resources to further troubleshoot the problem.
• Nancy is having trouble playing back videos from YouTube or accessing websites through her web browser through Apple AirPlay.
• Dan is looking to strengthen his email security after being prompted by Google to add a recovery email for their account. However, he doesn't have another email account! He wonders if he should create another email account just to be able to access his primary account if needed.
• Ross follows up on his question a while back with a humourous fix for a connection error he was facing with his Apple TV.

Send in your questions for Mikah to answer during the show! hot@twit.tv

Host: Mikah Sargent

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Mikah tackles your questions about iPhone shortcuts, tracking network data usage across devices, and more. He also shares his thoughts on whether it's worth upgrading to the latest iPhone 16 or going with a discounted iPhone 15.

Topics covered:
- Creating an iPhone shortcut to toggle call audio routing between speaker and automatic, possibly based on location. Mikah explains how to access the call audio routing setting and suggests using the Shortcuts app with a special URL to create a one-tap shortcut.

- Deciding between upgrading to an iPhone 16 Pro Max vs getting a discounted iPhone 15 Pro Max. Mikah recommends going with the latest iPhone 16 for the longer-term battery life, latest features, and to avoid potential battery health issues seen in some iPhone 15 Pro models.

- Options for monitoring data usage by device on a Linksys Velop mesh network. Mikah is surprised this router lacks data monitoring and suggests contacting Linksys to request it. Alternatives like using NextDNS for network-wide tracking or a Firewalla device are discussed.

- Deleting old iMessage data stored in iCloud. Mikah clarifies you need to adjust the message history setting in both the Messages settings and iCloud Messages settings to fully delete old messages.

- Follow-up on using an old Drobo device for storage. A listener shares how Drobo hardware failures combined with the company going out of business and firmware no longer being available makes continuing to use one very risky.

Don't forget to send in your questions for Mikah to answer during the show! hot@twit.tv

Host: Mikah Sargent

Get episodes ad-free with Club TWiT at https://twit.tv/clubtwit

Sponsor:

• cachefly.com/twit

On Hands-On Tech, Mikah is back to answering more of your questions! How can I easily organize my apps on my iPhone? What's the easiest way to broadcast my wedding to family members unable to attend it? And when will Apple Intelligence be available on macOS Sequoia?

Don't forget to send in your questions for Mikah to answer during the show! hot@twit.tv

Host: Mikah Sargent

Get episodes ad-free with Club TWiT at https://twit.tv/clubtwit