iPhone X Series Tips « iOS & iPhone

How To: Turn Your iPhone's Auto-Brightness Off in iOS 12

If you're not a fan of your iPhone's ability to adjust screen brightness by itself, you've probably turned off auto-brightness on multiple occasions in the past. All you would do is go to your "Display & Brightness" settings and toggle it off, but that's no longer the case in iOS 11 and iOS 12 — whether you have an iPhone X, XS, XS Max, XR or any older supported iPhone.

How To: 9 Ways to Improve Battery Life on Your iPhone X, XS, XS Max & XR

While the iPhone XS actually comes with a smaller battery than the iPhone X, Apple claims it, along with the XS Max and XR, offer users longer battery life than last year's first Face ID model. While that may be true, your new iPhone still ships without meeting its full battery-saving potential. There are, however, steps you can take to make sure your X, XS, XS Max, or XR makes it from morning until night.

How To: Clear the RAM on Your iPhone X to Fix Problem Apps & Boost Performance

When your iPhone is being sluggish, one thing you can do to get performance back up to snuff is clear the device's random access memory. It's not a publicized feature from Apple, but it's there nonetheless. And while it's easy enough to utilize on iPhones with Home buttons, the iPhone X is a little trickier.

How To: Put the iPhone X, iPhone 8 & iPhone 8 Plus into DFU Mode in iTunes

With the iPhone 8, 8 Plus, and the exclusive iPhone X, Apple has come full circle in transitioning its users away from the home button present since the first iPhone a decade ago. This gives us a window into Apple's design philosophy moving forward, but it also presents some new problems, especially when it comes to entering and exiting DFU mode in iTunes.

How To: Turn On & Trigger Reachability on Your iPhone X, XS, XS Max, or XR

Reachability made its debut with the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, to compensate for the larger screen sizes. It has since become a staple feature of all iPhones (except the iPhone SE), including the iPhone X, XS, XS Max, and XR models. However, it's a little bit trickier to use since there's no Home button on these newer flagships.

How To: Shut Down & Restart the iPhone X

One click on the iPhone X's Side button locks or wakes the device. Two clicks opens Apple Pay. Holding down activates Siri. So how do you shut down the iPhone X then? On every other iPhone, you hold the Side button down until the "slide to power off" option appears, but that doesn't exist on the iPhone X.

How To: Use the App Switcher on the iPhone X, XS, XS Max & XR

So you saw the new iPhones with their bezel-less designs and fell in love. You imagined watching videos and enjoying HD content on its gorgeous OLED or Liquid Retina screen. At first, you worried about the lack of Touch ID, but Apple assured you that Face ID is an adequate alternative. But wait, what about the other features of the Home button? How will you even access the app switcher?

How To: Activate Siri on the iPhone X Without a Home Button

In its never-ending quest to innovate its flagships, Apple has finally decided to do away with the iconic Home button present since the first iPhone back in 2007. That means screenshots, force-restarting, switching apps, Apple Pay, and the home screen all work differently on the new iPhone X. One of the more important aspects, Siri, is also slightly different.

How To: View the Battery Percentage Indicator on Your iPhone X, XS, XS Max, or XR

On all other iPhone models, you go to "Battery" in the Settings app and toggle on "Battery Percentage" in order to see the exact amount of power left in the status bar. On the iPhone X, XS, XS Max, and XR, however, that option no longer exists since there's not enough room up there to show the percentage indicator because of the notch for the TrueDepth camera system. But that doesn't mean it's gone entirely.

How To: Force Restart the iPhone X When It's Acting Up

Every now and then, an iPhone will freeze up and become unresponsive due to a software glitch. It can be a buggy app that somehow interferes with iOS or a software update that somehow didn't install properly. Whatever the cause, it's safe to say that no iPhone is immune to this problem, not even the new iPhone X.

How To: Open the Control Center on the iPhone X, XS, XS Max & XR

Gestures are a big deal on an iPhone X, XS, XS Max, and XR. Without a Home button on Apple's super-premium smartphones, several actions had to be mapped to gestures instead, which impacts other areas of the system such as the Control Center.

How To: Force-Close Running Apps on the iPhone X, XS, XS Max & XR

While fully closing apps on your iPhone can keep it running at peak efficiency since it frees up memory and stops background refreshing, it's most critical when dealing with unresponsive apps. If you have an issue with a certain app, you can just force-close it instead of rebooting.

How To: These iPhone X Wallpapers Can Completely Hide the Notch

The iPhone X is one of the most beautiful phones ever made, but the aesthetics stop just short of perfect due to one thing: That notch. It was a necessary evil since Apple had to incorporate a front-facing camera somewhere, plus it houses all the sensors for Face ID, but that doesn't change the fact that it looks a bit goofy.

How To: Tips to Make Face ID Work Every Time on the iPhone X, XS, XS Max & XR

We've had a while to play around with Face ID on the iPhone X, and during this time we found out that it doesn't always work as it's supposed to. However, Face ID will scan your face on the first try almost always once you utilize some or all of these tips, which also apply to the iPhone XS, XS Max, and XR.

How To: Use Apple Pay with Face ID on Your iPhone X, XS, XS Max, or XR

For Apple Pay users, the iPhone X, XS, XS Max, or XR will be an adjustment. Gone are the days where you could rest your finger on the Home button and hold your device within range of a contactless reader. Without Touch ID on the iPhone X, this isn't possible. But have no fear, Face ID is here.

How To: Open the Accessibility Shortcuts on Your iPhone X, XS, XS Max, or XR

If you've never used the Home button shortcuts on your iPhone before, you've been missing out. And no, I'm not talking about opening up Siri. By clicking the Home button three times, you could quickly pull up tools such as Magnifier, VoiceOver, Zoom, and Assistive Touch, but that's all changed on the iPhone X, XS, XS Max, and XR, which don't have Home buttons to click.

How To: Side Button Cheat Sheet for the iPhone X (It's Not Just Power Anymore)

Since the iPhone X has no Home button, the Side button has some heavy lifting to do. So not only is the Side button responsible for all of its usual duties, like sleeping and waking the device, it has to do everything the Home button did too. That's a lot of work for one button, but we've got everything figured out for you.

News: What Are Those Animated Switches in the Top Right When You Wake the iPhone X, XS & XS Max?

When you wake your iPhone X, XS, or XS Max for the first time, you'll probably notice a subtle animation in the top right of the screen that slides down to reveals a couple switches, one toggled on and one toggled off. At first, the meaning of this could be confusing, but it's just Apple's way of helping you learn your new device better.

How To: Take Screenshots on the iPhone X, XS, XS Max & XR

The fact that the iPhone X, XS, XS Max, and XR don't have Home buttons means that you'll need to learn a few new gestures. There's the home gesture, the multitasking gesture, and even a new way to access Apple Pay, among others. But one less-common action that has issues due to the lack of a Home button is taking a screenshot.

How To: Use Animoji & Memoji in FaceTime Video Calls on Your iPhone X

Apple's doubling down on AR features in iOS 12. The iPhone's augmented reality framework got a major overhaul with ARKit 2.0, and that's just the tip of the iceberg. While the updated API tools will help developers make better interactive apps, there's another new AR feature that regular users will enjoy: Animoji in FaceTime.