iOS 16
How To: Safari Now Lets You Sync and Manage All Your Web Extensions Across Your iPhone, iPad, and Mac
We've had access to real Safari extensions on iPhone and iPad for a year, and they've been available on Mac for a lot longer than that. To install the same one on all your devices, you always had to find the app in the App Store, install it, and enable the extension on each device. Now, Apple is streamlining the process, making it easier to install and manage extensions across devices.
How To: Your iPhone's Mail App Finally Has the Feature Outlook and Other Email Clients Had for Years
One of Apple's most prominent iOS 16 features lets you unsend iMessages, but those aren't the only things you can take back. Your iPhone's Mail app also has the Undo Send feature, and unlike the Messages app, you can even customize the amount of time you have to stop an email before it's too late.
How To: Switch Between Miles and Kilometers in Apple Maps on iOS 16
Apple removed the option to quickly change between miles and kilometers when using Apple Maps on iOS 16, but it's not entirely gone — it's just not as easy to find.
How To: Protect Your Private Tabs with Face ID or Touch ID So Others Can't Snoop Through Your Browsing Secrets
Safari's private browsing mode on your iPhone won't sync to other Apple devices or remember your search history, AutoFill data, or visited webpages. Still, it doesn't stop anyone who accesses your iPhone from opening your private tabs. If you don't want anyone snooping through your private tabs, use Chrome instead so you can lock the tabs behind biometric authentication.
How To: There's an Easy Way to Type Fractions as Single Characters on Your iPhone's Keyboard
Whenever you need to type out a fraction on your iPhone, whether in a message, word document, presentation, math problem, recipe, or wherever else you need it, it's easy to use numbers and slashes. But there's a way to make fractions look more professional and easier to read straight from your keyboard.
How To: Turn Your iPhone into a Personal Sound Machine to Help You Focus, Rest, and Stay Calm
If you get distracted or stressed out easily, your iPhone might be able to help you focus or calm you down. It can even help you fall asleep with white noise, and you don't have to install a third-party app or buy an audio track to turn your iPhone into a personal sound machine.
How To: Take Back iMessages You Already Sent So Your Recipients Never See Them
You can quickly correct a mistake in an iMessage you send, but the recipient will still see whatever you originally wrote since there's a history of edits. When you don't want the other person in the conversation to know what you originally sent, there's a better thing you can do.
How To: This Little-Known Gesture Will Change How You Use Maps on Your iPhone
You can double-tap most maps on your iPhone to zoom in, and tap once with two fingers to zoom out. And I'm sure you're more than familiar with the pinch gesture for zooming. But there's an even better way to zoom in and out on maps, and you can do it with one hand tied behind your back.
How To: 12 Things the iPhone 14 and 14 Pro Models Have That Other iPhones Don't
The new iPhone 14, 14 Plus, 14 Pro, and 14 Pro Max all come with great, never-before-seen-on-iPhone features, including the A16 Bionic chip, Bluetooth 5.3, precision dual-frequency GPS, and dual ambient light sensors. But that's only a few new features exclusive to the 2022 lineup.
How To: Your iPhone's Reminders App Just Got a Whole Lot More Useful
Apple just upgraded its Reminders app for iPhone, and there are some powerful new tools and improvements for task management that'll make you wonder how you ever lived without them.
How To: Batch Editing Photos and Videos on Your iPhone Just Got Way Easier
Your iPhone's Photos app just got a major new feature that lets you edit multiple photos and videos simultaneously. That means you no longer have to try and remember all the adjustments made in one image or video to try and get the same look in another photo or video.
How To: Make Your iPhone Automatically Close Old Tabs So Safari Doesn't Become a Hot Mess
It's easy to accumulate hundreds of Safari tabs on your iPhone, which makes hunting for specific tabs more difficult, especially when they're spread across different groups. Having too many tabs can even slow down Safari itself. You can close all tabs in a group quickly, but not if you want to save some. To prevent this mess, Safari can automatically weed out the tabs it thinks you don't need.
How To: Assign Each App on Your iPhone a Background Sound to Set the Mood
You can play background sounds on your iPhone to help you focus, stay calm, or fall asleep, giving you a personal sound machine wherever you go. Even better, there's a way to set each of your apps to play one of Apple's six ambient soundscapes automatically. When you open the app, its assigned sound plays, then it stops when you exit or switch to another app.
How To: This Is What Happens to Your iPhone Every Time You Turn On Low Power Mode
When you enable Low Power Mode on your iPhone, it's not always clear what measures it's taking to reduce battery drain and conserve power. Changes to energy-hungry features you use daily may be immediately noticeable, but some things you frequently use may be disabled or reduced without any apparent indicators.
How To: Upgrade Safari on Your iPhone with These Powerful Add-Ons
You may use Safari on your iPhone or iPad to open links and browse the web, but there's so much more it can do for you. On updated software, you can implement third-party Safari extensions in your browser that go above and beyond content blocking, sharing, and performing basic actions.
How To: This Color Hack Makes Certain Contacts Stand Out in Your iPhone's Mail App
A little-known setting on your iPhone gives you the power to change the color of certain contact names and email addresses when drafting an email. Customizing the color works well for visually separating contacts at a glance, and it can even help you from sending an email to the wrong person.
How To: Your iPhone's Weather App Has a Crazy Number of Customization Options You Probably Didn't Know About
Apple's Weather app has been around forever, at least for iPhone, and it's gone through many design changes over the years. But we're at a point now where we can actually customize how the Weather app looks and feels in many different ways, some of which you probably haven't even considered.
How To: Use Your iPhone's Mail App to Send and Receive End-to-End Encrypted Emails in Gmail
Gmail uses TLS, or Transport Layer Security, by default for all email communications, so all of your emails will use the standard encryption as long as the recipients also support TLS. But there's a way to add even more security to your Gmail emails, and you can use your iPhone's Mail app to do it.
How To: Make Your iPhone Auto-Delete Old Screenshots So Your Photos App Doesn't Become a Hot Mess
If you're like me, you take more than just a few screenshots throughout the day, and they add up fast on your iPhone. When you snap that many images of the screen, your Photos app's "Screenshots" folder can swell beyond triple digits if you don't manage it, and your "Recents" folder will become a cluttered mess. But there is a trick to keeping screenshots in check, and you can have total control over it.
How To: Always Use Dark Mode or Light Mode for Any App on Your iPhone
Some apps look great with Dark Mode, and some do not. So when you have system-wide Dark Mode enabled on your iPhone and are using an app that only looks good in Light Mode, you'd normally have to turn the dark appearance off manually, then switch it back on when you leave. But there's a workaround that can automate the process for you.