iOS & iPhone Features
How To: This Tweak Gives You iPhone X Gestures on Any iPhone Running iOS 11
The on-screen gestures on the iPhone X have taken touchscreen interaction to a whole new level. While they're needed due to a nearly bezel-less display and lack of a Home button, you can actually get these iPhone X-exclusive swipe gestures on any other model iPhone. The only catch is that you need to be jailbroken.
How To: Hide Status Bar Icons on Your iPhone for a Cleaner Look in Apps & Wallpapers
You can view battery information in the Today View, you already know what carrier services you, and you can quickly figure out with normal use whether your display orientation is locked, so what do you need the status bar at the top of your iPhone? If you don't find much use for it and would like to see more of your wallpaper, there's a way you can get rid of it for good.
How To: Jump to the Bottom or Middle of a Page on Your iPhone, Not Just the Top
When surfing the web in Safari, you can double-tap the status bar to quickly scroll back up to the top any webpage. In other iOS apps that have the shortcut enabled, you can get the job done even faster by tapping the status bar only once. The only bad thing about this feature is that there's no shortcut for scrolling all of the way back down or to the middle.
How To: Recover Photos & Videos from a Lost or Damaged iPhone
If you have a ton of photos and videos on your iPhone, backing up to iCloud is probably a no-go since it only provides 5 GB of free storage. Yes, you can buy more storage, but who wants to do that? And what happens if you run out of storage, stop backing up, and your phone gets lost, stolen, or damaged.
How To: Prevent & Stop Apps from Using Your iPhone's Microphone & Enhance Your Privacy
Any app on your iPhone could potentially listen in on your conversations and use that information to target you with tailored ads. Although most companies, including Facebook and Apple, have come out and vehemently denied these claims of spying on consumers, who's to say they're telling the truth? The only way to be sure you're safe is to take matters into your own hands.
How To: Quickly Check if Your iPhone Is Still Covered by Apple's Warranty or AppleCare
Let's say that the screen on your iPhone is showing signs of discoloration, which makes the display annoying to use. You'll need a replacement display or a new iPhone as soon as possible. If you have one of the newer iPhone models, the cost to fix it might be more than your wallet can handle, but a warranty may still cover it, and there are ways to check quickly.
iPhone Quick Tip: Jump to the Bottom of Photo Albums in One Tap
With the sheer number of pictures stored on my iPhone, using the tap gesture on the status bar is extremely convenient and time-saving when I want to reach the beginning of my Camera Roll album in the Photos app.
How To: HD & 4K iPhone Videos Play Back in Low Res? Do This to Watch Them in Their Full Original Quality
One of iCloud Photo's biggest perks is its ability to store large video files taken with your iPhone, so you can fill up your iPhone's storage with other items. That said, when you play back those videos, you may not be watching the footage in its original quality. Instead, they may be low-res versions. To view the high-quality originals — or to make sure that's what you see — just follow this trick.
Apple Maps 101: How to Avoid Highways During Driving Directions
Highways are among the most efficient routes of driving from one place to another. Unfortunately, however, they're also the most used route taken by everyone else resulting in migraine-inducing congestion, especially during rush hour. Thankfully, Apple Maps has a feature that will direct you along lesser known routes that could be faster and/or safer.
How To: Change the AirDrop Alert Sound on Your iPhone to Anything You Want
These days, AirDrop's distinct "doo-doo-doo-doo" sound is almost as iconic as Apple's classic Marimba ringtone. And just like with ringtones, that AirDrop alert on your iPhone doesn't need to sound like everyone else's. In just a few taps, you can make it sound like anything you want.
How To: Update Your iPhone's Lock Screen with an Attention-Grabbing Note, Reminder, Warning, or Other Custom Message
There's a lot you can customize on your iPhone's Lock Screen — wallpapers and photos, widgets, the display mode, notifications, and even the time's font and color. But there's another feature that lets you add custom text for whatever you want, whether it's an inspiring quote, a reminder, a warning to anyone who dares touch your iPhone, or even just your name.
How To: Apple Integrates Game Center Leaderboards into News+ Puzzles with iOS 17.5
There are a few significant improvements for your iPhone with the iOS 17.5 software update, released May 13, but my favorite is Apple's enhancements to the Apple News app, which is making its Puzzles section even more fun with Game Center integration and even a new type of word puzzle.
How To: Re-Enable Zoom for Websites That Block It in Safari for Your iPhone
While some mobile sites have built-in text-resizing tools, many do not. A lot of those that don't won't even let you pinch-to-zoom. That makes it difficult for people with low vision to read small fonts on their iPhones. In some cases, like with photo captions, even those with perfect eyesight suffer.
How To: Find Stored Usernames, Emails, & Passwords on Safari
Every time you log in to a website in Safari on iOS, you're also asked if you would like to save the username and password—a great feature of just about all browsers that makes it so that don't have to enter your credentials each time you access website in the future. While this feature is great for quickly getting into all your favorite websites, have you ever wondered where all those passwords are saved on your device? In this guide, I'll be showing you where to find all of the stored usern...
How To: Take Full Control Over “Low Battery” Alerts on Your iPhone
The prevalence of smartphones has had profound effects on how we communicate, view media, and preserve memories, among other things. But all of these new forms of doing things are snatched away from us as soon as our phones lose power. While work is constantly being done to stretch and extend battery life, it hasn't moved fast enough for the vast majority of us.
How To: TapeACall Lets You Record Phone Conversations on Your iPhone Like a Pro
If you've ever been on the receiving end of a threatening phone call, you'll immediately know the value in being able to record phone conversations on your iPhone. Beyond that extreme example, however, recording calls is still an extremely useful feature to have for important conversations like business meetings and verbal agreements, and it's totally doable with a third-party app.
How To: This Shortcut Lets You Easily Download Twitter Videos & GIFs to Your iPhone's Photos App
There are tons of different ways to download videos and GIFs from Twitter onto your iPhone for offline viewing, but frankly, they all kinda suck. You might have to download a third-party app or copy a link and paste it into a random website — and while they work, there are better options. TVDL, a shortcut on iOS, makes the process of downloading Twitter videos and GIFs fast and easy.
How To: Your iPhone's Files App Just Became Badass with Its Latest Productivity Update
If you're not using your iPhone's Files app yet to manage images, documents, and other files on iCloud, third-party cloud services, or your local storage, it's time to start. Apple's built-in file manager is finally a powerhouse with many tricks up its sleeve in the latest software update.
How To: Control Your iPhone Using Your Eyes
During the keynote at WWDC earlier this year, Apple introduced the latest iteration of its mobile operating system, iOS 12. Despite a thorough demo on stage, Apple glossed over new eye tracking features that use ARKit 2. Developers can now use the TrueDepth camera on the iPhone X, XS, XS Max, and XR to determine where your eyes are looking, opening up incredible new possibilities for new apps.
How To: Bulk Delete Messages Faster with This Hidden iOS 13 Gesture
On the surface, deleting conversations in Messages seems harder in iOS 13 after Apple removed the "Edit" button on the main page. Fortunately, they added a new gesture that lets you remove entire threads and individual messages with ease.
How To: You Don't Have to Swipe to Switch Between Home Screen Pages on Your iPhone
Swiping between pages on your iPhone's home screen feels very natural, but surprisingly, Apple has another way to switch between screens, and it's been staring us in the face this whole time.
Apple Pay Cash 101: How to Request Money from Friends & Family via iMessage
You might be proficient at sending your family and friends money using Apple Pay Cash on your iPhone, but what about when you need some digital currency in your wallet to buy in-app purchases or to get back the money you spent on someone's lunch? Requesting some Apple Pay Cash can be done a few different ways, none of which are hard.
How To: Turn Off Live Photos Forever on Your iPhone's Camera App
Love them or hate them, Live Photos have their place. The problem is, they're always on, requiring you to disable the feature every single time you open the Camera app. At least, that's how Apple has things set by default — but you can change that with just a few taps.
How To: Your iPhone's Messages App Has 22 New Must-Try Features — And You Probably Didn't Know About Half of Them
Your iPhone's Messages app has some impressive new features and changes with iOS 17, and you've probably already noticed some of them just by using the updated app. But there are less apparent features, even hidden ones, that have likely eluded you that you're going to want to know about. There are even some new Messages features yet to be officially released.
How To: Get Instant Access to Your Account Settings for Media and Purchases on Your iPhone
There are many ways to open up the media account settings for your Apple ID on your iPhone, but they all require two or more steps. However, there is a hidden trick Apple hasn't told anybody about that can get there in one, and it's not Siri.
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: Hide Home Screen Text Labels on Your iPhone or iPad in iOS 10
There's not much you can do to customize the look and feel of your iPhone's home screen, at least when it comes to official options provided by Apple. But thanks to a new bug discovered by YouTuber iDeviceHelp, you can now hide text labels for app icons and folders on your iPhone or iPad, and this hack doesn't even require a jailbroken device.
How To: Track Your Lost iPhone, iPad, or Mac Even When Its Offline — As Long as This Feature Is Enabled
Apple's latest updates to its operating systems add another security feature to its Find My service, so you have an even better chance at locating your lost iPhone, iPad, or Mac should it ever happen. As long as you have the option enabled, you can leverage other Apple users' devices to find yours on the map.
How To: Apple's Mail App in iOS 13 Has New, Faster Ways to Select Multiple Emails
Normally, when you want to select multiple emails in the Mail app, you'd hit "Edit," tap all the bubbles next to the emails, then mark them, move them, or trash them. But in iOS 13, there's a much faster way to do it on your iPhone.
How To: The Easiest Way to Make Calls from Your iPhone's Lock Screen
Before phones became mobile-gaming, music-playing, app-downloading devices, they were used simply to make convenient, cordless phone calls. There's so much on phones these days that a passcode is needed to keep everything secure, and making calls is now more complicated.
How To: Watch Out for This Setting the Next Time You Set an Alarm on Your iPhone
When you set an alarm on your iPhone, you assume it'll go off at the set time. However, that's not always the case. There's one quirk in how iOS handles alarms that, if gone unchecked, will silence every alarm you set so that you won't wake up on time.
How To: iOS 13 Makes It Easier to Disable Content Blockers for Specific Websites in Safari
Chances are, your favorite websites run on ads. That means the sites rely on those ads to fund their operations. Without ads, your laughs, news, and guides don't happen. That's why it's helpful to disable content blockers (often called whitelisting) for sites you support. In the past, it wasn't possible directly in Safari, but in-app whitelisting becomes a reality with iOS 13.
How To: 7 Screenshot Secrets for iPhone You Need to Start Using When Capturing Your Screen
The screenshot tool on your iPhone can come in handy in various ways, but it may be even more helpful than you realize. So if you thought you knew everything there was to know about your iPhone's screenshot tool, it's time to put your knowledge to the test.
How To: Add, Switch, Reorder & Delete Keyboards on Your iPhone
Back in iOS 8, Apple introduced the option to use third-party keyboards on iPhone, and since then, there have been a ton of third-party keyboards available such as Gboard, AudioShot, SwiftKey, Slated, and many more. However, adding and even using these keyboards can be kind of tricky.
How To: Make Your iPhone Automatically Download & Install New iOS Updates
You've been able to install app updates automatically for some time now, but there was no way to install new system updates on your iPhone automatically. To get a new iOS version on your device, you'd go into the settings, then download the update. It would then either install right away or give you the option to install at nighttime. This whole process is easier in iOS 12.
How To: Your iPhone Uses a Hidden Tracker to Keep Tabs on Your Recent & Most Visited Locations — But You Can Stop It
Your iPhone keeps track of every single place you go, especially those you frequent most often, and syncs those locations across all your iCloud-connected devices. People who gain access or already have access to your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, or Mac may be able to view all of these locations to see where you've been and where you might be. If this worries you, there are things you can do.
How To: Rate & Review an Apple Podcast Series or Show for Others to View
Ratings and reviews apply everywhere, from a restaurant you want to try to a new camera you're thinking of buying and games you might want to play. Podcasts are no different. Reading reviews of shows can help determine which are worth listening to, and your opinion is valuable to other people too. In Apple Podcasts, there are a few different ways to read, rate, and review shows.
How To: Stop Your Default Apps from Switching Back to Apple's After Your iPhone Reboots in iOS 14
As cool as iOS 14 is, it isn't without bugs. One of those bugs in iOS 14.0 just happens to affect one of its coolest features — choosing default browser and mail apps. When you reboot your iPhone, iOS will reset your default apps back to Apple's defaults, Safari and Mail. Not ideal. However, there is a fix that will stop you from having to choose default apps over and over again manually.
Notes 101: How to Undo Typing, Sketch Strokes, Deletions & More on Your iPhone
Many of us use the Notes app to jot things down in a hurry. Most of the time, that's no big deal. However, the faster the typing, the higher the chance of error. If you happen to make a typo, or if you accidentally delete that chart you worked so hard on, there's an easy way to undo the changes.
How To: Speed Up Your iPhone by Removing the Super Slow Transition Animations
When iOS 7 was released, there were actually news reports of people getting disoriented and sick due to the motion of the parallax effect, along with the speedy animations when opening and closing apps and folders.