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The native dictionaries in iOS, which have been around since 2011, let you define words on your iPhone on the fly in Safari, News, Notes, and other apps. But if you read or write in more than just English, you won't be able to see accurate definitions unless you add those other languages to your list of dictionaries manually.

Voice Control has long been a cornerstone of hands-free convenience on iPhones, but for users with unique speech patterns or atypical speech, standard recognition systems often fall short. Apple's solution? Vocal Shortcuts. While this innovation is a game-changer for those with speech differences, it's also a versatile tool for anyone looking to streamline tasks.

Apple introduced layered recordings in Voice Memos back in September, and the feature finally arrived with the latest update for the iPhone 16 Pro and 16 Pro Max. This exciting addition transforms the app into a versatile tool for musicians and storytellers, making it easier than ever to craft songs, narrations, or other creative projects.

Apple's Messages app has long had visual effects you could apply manually after long-pressing the send button, and there are even hidden keywords you could use to trigger full-screen effects automatically. FaceTime can also give you some full-screen effects to play around with during video calls, but the triggers are an entirely different concept — hand gestures.

Growing up, I was told that hard work could get me anything I wanted. But with Apple's Image Playground, I can create almost any illustration or drawing imaginable just by typing or selecting a suggestion. This groundbreaking feature in Apple Intelligence lets you generate images from simple prompts, opening up exciting possibilities for creativity.

Siri has long relied on basic sources like Google and Wikipedia for answers, but with iOS 18.2 and iPadOS 18.2, Apple is taking its virtual assistant to a new level by integrating ChatGPT. Now, you can use Siri to generate text and images with ChatGPT — and that's not all. ChatGPT is deeply integrated into Apple Intelligence and goes beyond just Siri.

Drawing in Apple Notes can be fun, but our sketches may not always turn out as polished as we'd like (cue the "my 5-year-old can draw better than that" jokes). Thankfully, Apple's new Image Wand feature in iOS 18.2 and iPadOS 18.2 aims to make creating professional-quality visuals a breeze, even if you lack artistic skills.

In a new update, the iPhone 16 lineup is finally getting Visual Intelligence, a feature that lets you instantly gather information about anything around you just by snapping a picture.

Previously, losing an AirTag or Find My network accessory meant relying on tech-savvy strangers to contact you via phone or email if they found it. With a new Find My update, you can ditch the passive approach and be more proactive about recovering your tracker by sharing its information with trusted contacts and even airlines, allowing them to track your tracker for you.

A new iPhone and iPad setting gives you control over how loud your device's built-in speakers get, which can help you avoid being startled by loud auto-playing videos, waking up someone sleeping nearby, hurting your ears, or degrading your speakers' quality and performance.

Apple's iOS 18 update brings powerful new features to your iPhone's Camera app, but some tools are easy to overlook yet incredibly useful once you find them. From new shooting modes to expanded preserve settings, iOS 18 adds more ways to capture and manage your shots exactly how you want.

The devices in the new iPhone 16 series lineup have one feature no other iPhone models have: a physical Camera Control button. If you use your iPhone to take photos or record videos, the Camera Control speeds up the process and gives you immediate control over adjusting settings and values using intuitive gestures. But what exactly can you do with it?

Your iPhone only has a few physical buttons, buttons with a set number of default actions assigned to them, like sleeping your display, controlling volume levels, and even taking pictures. But as much as these buttons can do for you, they can do more. You're not stuck with the out-of-the-box defaults. Every push button on your iPhone can be customized in one way or another.

If you can't always see what you're typing very well on your iPhone, iPad, or Mac, you no longer have to adjust the font size for the app or entire system just to read your writing more easily. One of Apple's newer Accessibility features gives you a customizable, magnified view in a floating window so you can see every character with crystal-clear clarity in real time.

Election Day is today, and Apple News is making it easy for you to stay informed with real-time results for the 2024 presidential election through a new Live Activity feature on your iPhone, iPad, or Apple Watch.

Apple has finally given Control Center the love that it needs with an updated interface design and more customizations than ever before. Taking the more customizable overhaul one step further, iOS 18 and iPadOS 18 have elevated controls beyond Control Center, so you can use controls from other places on your iPhone or iPad for even faster access to your most-used shortcuts.

It's no secret that you can quickly toggle the flashlight and open Camera from your iPhone's Lock Screen using the bottom left and right buttons. But what you may not know is that you can customize those buttons to perform different actions on your iPhone.

There are more actions available for the Action button, but only a handful of iPhone models have that button. However, there is another button with new features you can use, and you can access all the fresh features on any iPhone model that can run iOS 18.

Apple has revolutionized how we write with the introduction of its new Writing Tools, powered by Apple Intelligence. In beta on iPhone, iPad, and Mac, these tools allow you to select text and use intelligent features to summarize, proofread, or rewrite it until the tone and wording are just right. In a future beta, Writing Tools can even write original content for you.

The physical Camera Control button on the side of the iPhone 16, 16 Plus, 16 Pro, or 16 Pro Max is great for launching Apple's Camera app and adjusting settings like exposure, depth, and zoom with press and swipe gestures. But it's not just for the Camera app. Camera Control also works with supported third-party camera apps, allowing you to quickly snap photos, record videos, modify settings, and more.

Apple's Messages app already has a ton of great features, from audio message transcriptions to message editing and screen effect triggers. But some important new features and changes are included in the latest software updates for iPhone, iPad, and Mac that make Messages even better.

Recording phone calls has always been tricky due to legal, ethical, and technical considerations. With iOS 18.1, Apple brings your iPhone a native call recording feature that simplifies this process while addressing privacy concerns.

With iOS 18, you get better note-taking capabilities in the revamped Notes app, advanced features like conversions and results history in the more powerful Calculator, and interactive Math Notes, a feature in both apps that's a game changer for students and professionals dealing with complex equations. But Apple didn't forget about Reminders, which has become more than a simple to-do-list app.

Multitasking often seems like a good idea until you find yourself exhausted from all the back and forth between apps. In the latest software updates for iPhone, iPad, and Mac, Apple has streamlined the process for its Calendar and Reminders apps — making it easy to create and manage both calendar events and tasks from a single location.

In the ever-evolving world of podcasting, Apple has once again turned up the volume with new upgrades to its beloved Podcasts app. As the go-to platform for millions of listeners worldwide — thanks to its seamless integration with iOS, iPadOS, and macOS — Apple Podcasts continues to refine how we discover, enjoy, and manage our favorite shows.

There are new features for the Apple TV app on the latest software updates for Apple devices. While some are pretty noticeable and have been promoted by Apple, others are more hidden or coming soon.

At first glance, Apple's Messages app has always seemed pretty basic when it comes to text formatting options. However, there were and still are hidden ways to format text in your messages. But Apple's latest software updates give us even more ways to dress up text in messages, including more text effects.

You could already schedule an email to send on a specific day and time in Apple's Mail app, but that functionality is now also available in the Messages app. What's even better is that scheduled messages sync across your iPhone, iPad, and Mac, something you don't get in the Mail app.

The updated Messages app for iOS, iPadOS, and macOS has creative new ways for you to format and send messages, from standard text formatting to fun text effects. But Apple also includes another way to make your messages appear precisely as you want: more control over how links appear for you and your recipients.

Tech tends to move forward without looking back, but that doesn't mean new is always better. One feature that dominated mobile phones in the late '90s had made a comeback thanks to Apple, and you can take advantage of it on your iPhone when making calls.

Apple's Calculator app received a massive redesign, making it so much more than a simple calculator with built-in scientific functions. There's a new Math Notes feature that ties in with the Notes app, it can keep a history of your calculations, and you can even convert over 200 currency and measurement units.

Still on the fence about Apple's native Notes app? The latest Notes update for iPhone, iPad, and Mac is about to change your mind. With some fantastic new features and plenty of valuable tools from previous software versions, Notes is becoming a clear winner when it comes to saving important information from your personal and professional life.

Apple has a new flashlight feature for iPhone models with Dynamic Island on iOS 18. This feature lets you adjust not only the brightness level but also the beam pattern, giving you control over how wide or narrow the light shines.

Visit a webpage on your iPhone, iPad, or Mac, and there's a good chance you'll be bombarded with distractions such as ads, fullscreen pop-ups, cookie consents, log-in requests, notifications, email signups, sticky videos, and calls to action. If you're using Safari and content blockers, "Block Pop-ups," and Reader mode can't hide the elements you need, Apple's got a new tool you should be excited about.

Apple's Weather app keeps getting better and more refined with each new software update. For example, 2023's big update gave us yesterday's weather, averages, and wind maps, while 2022's unleashes Lock Screen widgets, severe weather alerts, and an iPad version. Now, we have significant changes to feels-like details, an update to measurement units, more pollutant statistics, and more.

The new iPhone 16, 16 Plus, 16 Pro, and 16 Pro Max are worth upgrading to, but if you want more advanced features, especially for the camera, you may want to take a closer look at the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max.

While Apple keeps the Pro and Pro Max iPhone models nearly the same this year, there are still a few differences between the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max. Knowing them may help you decide which Pro model to get.

While many of the features in the iPhone 16 and 16 Pro series build on what we've seen in previous iPhone models, Apple has packed the 2024 lineup with iOS 18 and plenty of fresh upgrades worth considering.

If you have an iPhone 15 Pro or 15 Pro Max, your Action button has even more actions it can perform thanks to the iOS 18 software update. These actions are also available on the iPhone 16 series lineup — the iPhone 16, 16 Plus, 16 Pro, and 16 Pro Max — all of which have the Action button.

Safari has a new feature that helps you discover the most beneficial aspects of a webpage without having to dig through the page or read the entire thing — and it works on iPhone, iPad, and Mac. It can make web browsing more efficient and websites easier to navigate while ensuring the visibility of important details.