Hot iOS & iPhone How-Tos
How To: 8 Tips for Securing a Red iPhone 7 Before They Sell Out
Apple just unveiled a red iPhone and iPhone 7 Plus, dubbed the iPhone 7 (PRODUCT)RED Special Edition, to commemorate the ongoing global fight against AIDS. Apple fans the world over are sure to swarm in and gobble up the initial stock shortly after the new color is released at 8:01 a.m. (PDT) on March 24, 2017, so we'll go over some tips to help you secure a red iPhone before it's sold out.
How To: This Boomerang Hack Lets You Post Apple's Live Photos on Instagram
Instagram enthusiasts will be pleased to know that there is finally a way to post your Live Photos on the service.
How To: Install Mini DayZ on Your iPhone & Play It Now Before Its US Release
DayZ is a first-person shooter game for Windows that places you in a vast post-apocalyptic world filled with zombies and other players that are all out to get you. Famous for its realism, DayZ has garnered a cult following and influenced many subsequent games in the genre. But now, Bohemia Interactive, the brains behind DayZ, has developed a mobile-friendly version of the game for iPhone and iPad, aptly named Mini DayZ. Mini DayZ comes with a ton features that will definitely keep you busy. W...
How To: Use the 'Print' Option to Create PDFs of Notes, Webpages & More on Your iPhone
Apple lets you save webpages as PDF files in iOS 10, but the only obvious way to do this is by using iBooks. The thing is, most people would probably rather save their PDFs to a service like Google Drive or Dropbox to make sharing a bit easier. Plus, iBooks isn't officially available for Windows or Android, so there are some cross-platform problems there, too.
How To: Turn Off Your iPhone's Flashlight Faster (Without Using the Control Center)
If you're tired of fumbling with the Control Center every time you need to turn off your iPhone's LED flashlight, you'll be happy to know there's a faster way. Using a simple trick that was discovered by Redditor 49599066, you can actually toggle your flashlight off in less than a second in iOS 10 and higher.
How To: This Widget Lets You Open Wi-Fi Settings Faster, Share Passwords & More on Your iPhone
The widget system on iOS leaves a lot to be desired when compared to Android's offering, but that's not really Apple's fault. The system is there, we just need some good widgets to really get the most out of it, so it's up to developers to create some awesome apps that work with the home screen and lock screen widget panels on iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.
How To: Easily Transfer Contacts, Photos & Calendars from iOS to Android with Google Drive
Google Drive has a very simple way to switch from iOS to Android. iPhone users who want to take the plunge into the wonderful world of Android, but were hesitant to do so in the past because of the laborious process of backing up their data, can back up their contacts, photos, videos, and calendars with the tap of a button.
How To: Stop Sites from Tracking You on Your iPhone with Firefox Focus
When you do an internet search, you'll see ads that are relevant to your query mixed in with the rest of your results. Nothing surprising there—it's how the internet is funded. But then, when you click one of the search results, you'll also see ads that are related to your initial search. Now that's a bit creepy, because it demonstrates that one webpage knows what you typed into a different webpage.
How To: New iPhone Exploit Lets You Bypass Someone's Lock Screen Using Siri & FaceTime
With the recent news that New York County's District Attorney's office is trying to get into over 400 locked iPhones for use in criminal investigations, you can see why it's important to keep other people away from your personal data. The fact that it can and will be used against you in a court of law is just one reason to protect your phone, because even if you make sure to stay above the fray, identity theft and bank fraud are still very real threats.
How To: A Security Bug Just Made It Risky to Open Links on Your iPhone—Here's How to Protect Yourself
A new hack has reopened an 8-year-old iPhone security loophole that Apple thought it had fixed back with iPhone OS 2.2. This is not one of those times when a theoretical attack gets identified and blocked quickly by Apple. On the contrary, it's a hack that actually exists right now, and it can have some serious real-world repercussions, so this is something all iPhone users need to be aware of.
How To: Rate Songs with Stars in iOS 10's Music App
Can't figure out how to give songs star ratings anymore in your iPhone's Music app? That's because Apple removed the ability to do so from the new iOS 10 update, just as I expected they would. It's still possible to rate songs, it's just very irritating.
How To: Keep Others from Replying to Messages on Your iPhone's Lock Screen
If you have an iPhone with 3D Touch or Haptic Touch, some lock screen notifications will let you respond to a message without even unlocking the screen. This is definitely a handy feature, and it should save a lot of time in some cases, but there are some obvious security concerns.
How To: Disable Your Spotlight Search History in iOS 10
If you've just finally updated to iOS 10, you'll notice that lots of things have changed, and while the vast majority of new features are useful and fun, some can be a bit annoying. One bothersome bit of functionality is how Spotlight Search keeps a running history of everything you've searched for recently, which can lead to some embarrassing situations, depending on what you've been searching for.
How To: Stop Your iPhone's Screen from Randomly Turning On in iOS 10
After updating your iPhone to iOS 10, you may have noticed that your screen will wake up whenever you pick up the device to look at it, or even when it's just in your pocket or dangling in your hand.
How To: Delete Handwritten Messages from the 'Recents' List on iOS 10 to Clear Your Handwriting History
There are lots of cool new additions to Messages in iOS 10, including the ability to send GIFs, as well as custom stickers, weather info, and lots more with the new App Store for Messages.
How To: Message Effects Not Working in iOS 10? Here's How to Enable Them
As iOS 10 makes its worldwide debut, many users are noticing that the promised iMessage effects feature in Messages is not working properly. Instead of seeing the actual effects, messages will come through like normal, but with text describing the effect they were sent with. On top of that, you can't send your own message effects if you're one of the affected users.
How To: Use the New iMessage App Store in iOS 10 to Send Custom Stickers, Weather Info & More
Out of all the new changes in iOS 10, the most noticeable difference is a handful of fun new features that were added to iMessage. Not only can you now send GIFs directly from the Apple-exclusive messaging platform, but there's now an entire App Store dedicated to bringing fun new stickers and other cool add-ons to iMessage.
How To: Charge Your iPhone 7 While Listening to Music
The fact that this guide even exists is a downright shame, but that's neither here nor there. The truth of the matter is the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus don't have 3.5 mm headphone jacks, and since they use the Lightning connector to output audio, it's hard to charge your phone while your headphones are plugged in.
How To: Download the iOS 10 GM on Your iPad, iPhone, or iPod Touch Right Now
The new iOS 10 won't be released to the public until September 13 via an OTA update, but the Gold Master edition is available right now. Essentially, it's the same version that Apple will release on the 13th, but only for developers so they can get their apps up to snuff before everyone updates. Users on the iOS 10 public beta will not be getting this GM update.
How To: Transfer Your Android Contacts to iPhone
When you change smartphone ecosystems, there are a lot of minor hurdles to clear along the way. It's definitely not hard to switch from Android to iOS, but little things like making sure your contacts get transferred over can take a bit of work.
How To: Find Nearby Beer by Emoji on Your iPhone
Emojis, for better or for worse, have essentially taken over online forms of communication. And now, thanks to a recently discovered feature in iOS, they are going to change the way you search for nearby places.
How To: Jailbreak iOS 9.2-9.3.3 on Your iPad, iPhone, or iPod Touch
We haven't had a working jailbreak method since October of last year, and that only worked for about a month until iOS 9.2 came out and shut down the loophole it was using. So all of those cool Cydia tweaks have been out of the question for quite a while now, unless you downgraded your firmware to keep jailbreak compatibility.
How To: iOS 10 Lets You Edit, Crop & Add Filters to Live Photos on Your iPhone
The iPhone 6s models introduced Live Photos in iOS 9, a cool new camera feature that takes a GIF-esque moving image every time you snap a pic, but the cool factor pretty much stopped right there. You couldn't take them on older iOS devices, share them with non-iOS users, or even edit them.
How To: Adjust WiFi Video Quality on Your iPhone in iOS 10
If you're watching videos over Wi-Fi on your iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch, iOS 10 lets you adjust the quality for when you want to save data or need help watching a movie or TV show on a poor connection.
How To: Your iPhone Will Automatically Add Events to Your Calendar in iOS 10
iOS 10's Calendar app comes with a new Found Events feature, which scans Mail and Messages on your iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch for events and lets you add them to your calendar. This one is easy to set up, because it's automatically enabled and on all the time, so you don't have to do anything.
How To: Change Flashlight Brightness on Your iPhone in iOS 10
There has been a built-in flashlight on iPhones and iPod touches ever since the release of the Control Center in iOS 7, but it has stayed exactly the same since then. In iOS 10 and higher, you can actually adjust the brightness from the toggle if you have 3D Touch.
How To: Watch Viral Videos on Your iPhone Without an Internet Connection
The internet, as I understand it, is a wonderful, magical place where people congregate to share memes and viral videos. Well, okay... there's a lot more to it than that, but let's just focus in on the good stuff.
How To: Get iOS 10 on Your iPad or iPhone Right Now with Apple's Public Beta
The official release of Apple's iOS 10 mobile operating system is still a few months away, but starting today, June 7, the public beta version is available to download if you'd like to get a head start on checking out all the cool new features included in Apple's latest mobile OS.
How To: Get the Best One-Handed Swiping Keyboard for iPhone
Swipe keyboards such as GBoard, SwiftKey, TouchPal, and Swype are handy for quick one-thumbed typing on an iPhone, but Microsoft upped the game with its experimental Word Flow Keyboard. In short, the keyboard fans out to occupy the natural range of your thumb, where you can type or rely on predictive swiping.
How To: The Best Way to Make GIFs Out of Anything on Your iPhone
The internet has officially been taken over by GIFs—they're everybody's favorite method of communication these days, and nary a meme would exist without them. But even with the abundance of GIF-sharing websites, and even GIF keyboards, we're still a bit lacking in regard to creating GIFs on a mobile device.
How To: Browse Your Mac's Hard Drive Using Your iPhone
When it comes to sharing files between a smartphone and a computer, there are several solutions available for a Windows and Android pairing. But for those of us with Apple devices, the selection of apps in this category isn't quite as great. You can use AirDrop to quickly share files, but searching for files is not so easy.
How To: Send GIFs with the Messages App on iOS 10
In the revamped Messages app in iOS 10, you can now send animated GIFs from your iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch without a third-party keyboard like Giphy or GIF Keyboard.
How To: Remove the Lock Screen Camera Shortcut on Your iPhone in iOS 10
The new lock screen in iOS 10 is a lot different than previous versions, but one thing that stuck around is the quick access camera shortcut. The only real difference aside from aesthetics is that now you don't have to swipe up from the camera icon. Instead, you can simply swipe to the left from right side to quickly snap a picture.
How To: Remove Stock Apple Apps on Your iPhone
Before iOS 10 existed, you were stuck with every single app Apple shoved down your digital throat. While you could hide a few of them with some trickery, you couldn't remove any of them. Now, you can remove almost any Apple app you want from your home screen — for good — just like any third-party app.
How To: Give Songs Star Ratings on Your iPhone
Back in iOS 8.4, Apple introduce a new "heart" icon in their Music app, which works in direct correlation with their Apple Music service that was released at the same time. By hearting a song, you're telling Apple that you love that song, and they can make better suggestions for you (in the "For You'" tab) based on it.
How To: Get 'Hey Siri' Working Again on Your iPhone
When Hey Siri was first introduced in iOS 8, it was a pretty lackluster feature since you had to be plugged into a power source in order to even use it. Since then, newer devices (iPhone 6s, 6s Plus, SE, 9.7-inch iPad Pro) don't need to plug in to have always-on Siri, which makes the feature actually worthwhile—when it works.
How To: iOS App Store Not Loading or Working on Your iPhone? Here's the Quick Fix
You find and update all of your apps using the iOS App Store, and if you have updates scheduled automatically, it could be working hard on a daily basis. With all of that work, it can lose its footing from time to time and cause things not to work as they should.
How To: Google Just Introduced a Killer New Keyboard for iPhones
Google just made searching the web on your iPhone a whole lot easier with its new GBoard keyboard for iOS. It has a built-in Google icon so that you can search directly from whatever app you're in, making it a cinch to add images, GIFs, directions, videos, and more.
How To: This Is by Far the Easiest Way to Set Up a Free VPN on Your iPhone
A VPN service is almost an essential these days. Good ones can block ads, prevent tracking cookies, encrypt your internet traffic for better security, and even spoof your device's location to bypass geo-restrictions — all things you should be concerned about in the age of NSA snooping and Facebook data mining.
How To: Message GIFs from Your iPhone's Keyboard Before iOS 10 Is Released
GIFs are awesome, but GIFing from your keyboard is some next-level stuff, and Apple knows this. That's why they've included a way to find and send GIFs in Messages from the stock iOS 10 keyboard. However, iOS 10 is not out for the public just yet, so if you want to easily send GIFs in your messages, you'll have to settle for a third-party keyboard.