So as the title says, I run a homelab with various technologies — Proxmox, Home Assistant, a reverse proxy, lots of Ubiquiti equipment, and so on. Over the years I’ve consumed countless hours of articles, stack overflow posts, youtube channels, and knowledge bases to keep myself up to speed on how to use this equipment and what new outcomes I should aim for.
I’m also deeply invested in the Apple ecosystem, with Apple TVs, iPads, Phones, Macbook Pros, and even a homepod. I’ve noticed that the Apple equipment has far less documentation on the whole. I watch Apple events to learn what new features a device will have, but I don’t really see a lot of tutorials or even instruction on how to use it.
Where do you go to get the kind of in-depth learning for your Apple devices that is needed to make expert use of them? Do you have favorite youtube channels that I haven’t discovered yet? Please post below and let me know!
You can check the homebridge communities for a lot for Apple nerding. Hackingtosh also comes to mind.
Realistically you cannot expect to level Apple’s target audience with Proxmox’s or even HA’s.
The most advanced feature that Apple has IMO is Shortcuts, so maybe try to master that?
The real question is, do you know what your goal is or you just want to aimlessly learn stuff?
I second this I learned the most of Apple hardware and software by doing hakintosh in the mid 2000s as a high schooler. Nothing like having to fix kext issues on the only computer you have. This got me started in Linux and home server/lab setup. I helped run an e-commerce website deployed on a VPS from the experience.
When Nokia and their Linux OS died around the time I graduated college I went iPhone and android to see which is most like Linux. I then started my career so I wanted something more turn key I’m now in full Apple ecosystem. I still have a home lab. I don’t expect a lot of people to be technical with Apple but they are out there.
The best way to learn how something works is to make it do something it wasn’t designed to do.
I take on a homelab or Apple ecosystem project every weekend to keep my skills sharp. What I’ve noticed after several years of doing this is that I know a whole lot more about what the homelab services can do than I do about the iPhone in my pocket. Today, for example, I forced myself to go through the Health app and enter things like medications. Pretty soon my devices were reminding me to take my medication and asking me to log what I took. Despite all the reading I do about Apple products, I didn’t realize that the app would remind me to take the medication. That’s really useful!
Another example is when I learned how to make the iPhone make white noise. Who knew that the accessibility features included that? Or that you can choose ocean waves or rain instead of the white noise? And here’s something I learned entirely by accident when trying to pay for something at the store — pressing the sleep button three times toggles the white noise feature. I don’t think that’s written down anywhere.
This is why I need some of those in-depth tutorials. They always expose you to a dozen tangentially related capabilities while you’re learning about the subject of the moment.
I have learnt a lot of tricks just through comments here and on Reddit. You can change what the ‘Triple Click The Side Button’ does in a setting under Accessibility. I use it to toggle VoiceControl to control my phone while driving. There is a manual for every iOS version. Maybe all the tips and tricks are covered there.