How To: Safari's Private Browsing Mode Just Made Your Private Tabs Way More Private on iOS 17

Private Browsing mode finally lives up to its name in Apple's huge Safari 17 update for iPhone, iPad, and Mac. So whether you search for things you don't want anybody to know about or want to ensure websites and trackers aren't eavesdropping on your activity, you'll want to update your devices pronto.

How To: 71 More Special Characters Are Hiding Within Your Keyboard on iOS 17 and iPadOS 17 — Here's What's New

The keyboard on your iPhone or iPad has a few new tricks up its sleeve with Apple's latest software updates, such as improved autocorrect and emoji stickers. However, a particularly hidden feature that lets you change the sound values of letters in other languages has gone unnoticed — until now.

How To: Turn Your Own Live Photos into Custom Animated Stickers to Use in Messages, Notes, and Many Other Apps

Apple just upped its sticker game on iPhone and iPad. We've already had stickers available for Memoji, Fitness activities, and third-party iMessage apps, but only some could be used outside the Messages app. Now we can use stickers practically anywhere from the new stickers drawer, with fun emoji stickers to boot. Even better, we can stickerize the subjects of our own photos and videos, including animations.

How To: Silence Annoyingly Loud Emergency Alerts on iPhone Without Disabling Them Completely

Wireless emergency alerts help warn mobile phone users of imminent threats to life or property, such as extreme weather and natural disasters. These alerts target affected geographic areas and come with a loud sound scary enough to make you want to turn off emergency alerts altogether on your iPhone, but there's a way to keep emergency alerts without the ear-splitting, intrusive sound.

How To: Quickly Find the Conversations with the Most Photos and Videos in Your iPhone's Messages App

There's a quick way to see who you or somebody else has been chatting with the most in the Messages app for iOS and iPadOS. More specifically, it shows which conversations have the most attachments, such as photos and videos, giving you an idea of which chats are the most active visually.

How To: Use Your iPhone's New 'Check In' Feature to Let Contacts Know When You Arrive Safely at Your Destination

Check In is a new safety feature built into the Messages app that can automatically notify a family member, friend, another contact, or a group the moment you arrive safely at a destination, giving them peace of mind in knowing you're all right. If you never reach your stopping place, it will also send them clues to help them figure out what went wrong.

How To: Disable iOS 17's Live Voicemail on Your iPhone's Incoming Call Screen

Apple's Live Voicemail lets you preview what an incoming caller is speaking to your voicemail system in real time. It's a revolutionary feature like Visual Voicemail on the original iPhone, only better since it helps you screen calls to quickly decide whether to answer or ignore callers. It's similar to answering machines, whose popularity peaked in the mid-90s, but you quietly read transcribed messages instead.

How To: Use iOS 17's Live Voicemail Feature on Your iPhone — Everything You Need to Know

Visual Voicemail revolutionized phone calls and the voicemail system when Apple introduced it with the original iPhone. With iOS 17, Apple is revolutionizing voicemail again with Live Voicemail. This feature uses speech-to-text technology to show you voicemail transcriptions on the incoming call screen in real time, helping you decide if it's important enough to answer the call.

How To: Lock All Your Apps Behind Face ID or Touch ID to Keep Friends and Family from Snooping Around

There is no default option on iOS 16 or iOS 17 to lock your apps behind Face ID, Touch ID, or passcode authentication. However, a clever, easy-to-implement workaround will protect your sensitive apps from nosy friends and family temporarily using or looking at something on your iPhone.

How To: 23 Things Your iPhone's Volume Buttons Can Do Besides Volume Adjustments

The volume buttons on the side of your iPhone can do more than just adjust the volume levels for media, ringers, alerts, Siri, and other sounds and voices. You can use them to perform different actions in certain apps and even create custom actions using the Shortcuts app. It's not exactly button mapping, but it's as close as you'll get without jailbreaking iOS.

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