iOS & iPhone Features
How To: The Fastest Way to Connect AirPods from Another Device to Your iPhone
Apple's AirPods are convenient because you can easily switch which Apple device is connected to your AirPods with just a few taps. But unless you're using Shortcuts to make the connection, you aren't using the fastest method possible.
How To: Always-Updated List of Apps That Let You Change Their Home Screen Icons on Your iPhone
Apple's Shortcuts app lets you make and use custom icons for any app on your iPhone, but it won't actually replace any icons. If your goal is to change the official icon for the app itself without any redirects, there's a growing list of third-party apps that'll let you do just that.
How To: Return to the Default Font in Mail Drafts After Using a Custom One
One of iOS 13's coolest features is the ability to download, install, and choose fonts in select apps like Pages and Mail. However, you might notice an issue when writing an email with a custom typeface: there's no option to return to the default font. What gives?
How To: Jump Back to the First Home Screen Page on Your iPhone Without Tons of Swiping
If you have more than two home screen pages on your iPhone, jumping back to the main page can seem like a lot of unnecessary swiping. For example, an eight-page home screen would take seven right-swipes to get back from the last page to the main page — but it doesn't have to take that much work.
How To: Respring Your iPhone Without Losing Jailbreak & Sileo
Restarting your iPhone can cure software glitches, but it should only be done as a last resort if your device has a semi-tethered jailbreak, because it will disable any tweaks you've applied. Luckily, your jailbroken iPhone has a faster alternative to rebooting to help you troubleshoot and make changes on the fly.
How To: Block Contacts, Spam & Unknown Senders in iOS 13's Mail App So Incoming Emails Go Straight to Trash
Apple's Mail app has always been a stylish yet simple way to check and send emails. Third-party apps up the ante with powerful tools and features to help keep junk and spam mail out of your eyesight. But with iOS 13, you don't need them since Apple gave the Mail app some much-needed superpowers. One of those being the ability to block senders from emailing you.
How To: The Best Way to Bypass Website Paywalls & Unlock Full Articles on Your iPhone
One of the most aggravating things that can happen on Facebook, Twitter, and other social media apps is when a friend shares an exciting story, and a paywall prevents you from reading any of it. You could pay for a subscription to unlock it, but there are so many news sites that it can be both confusing and expensive to spend money on all of them.
How To: This Is Absolutely the Fastest, Most Convenient Way to Toggle Your iPhone's Flashlight On & Off (Hint: It's No Button)
It's easier than ever to toggle your iPhone's flashlight (or torch) on and off. From your lock screen, home screen, or from within any app, most iPhone models will let you enable or disable the flashlight from the Control Center, via the Notification Center, or with Siri. But there's an even faster and more convenient way to trigger the flashlight button, and you don't even have to look at your iPhone to use it.
How To: Finally, You Can Hide the 'Hidden' Album from the Photos App on Your iPhone
The "Hidden" album on your iPhone has always had one problem — it was never truly hidden. Since iOS 10, when the feature was introduced in the Photos app, any image or video that you conceal in the private folder could be seen by anyone with access to your unlocked device. Finally, that has changed.
How To: The Hidden Way to Delete Numbers on Your iPhone's Calculator
Let's say you're using your iPhone's Calculator app, and you're knee-deep into a complicated calculation with many steps. You type in a large number, for example, "123,466,789," but mess up. You meant to type "5" midway through but accidentally typed "6" instead. The only thing to do now is start over, no matter how far along you are, right? Wrong.
Notes 101: The Trick to Protecting Each Note with Separate, Unique Passwords
It's no secret that you can protect notes on your iPhone with a password, but one thing that most people don't know is that you can actually set unique passwords for each note instead of a blanket password for all of them. It's not obvious at all in the Notes app, but it's easy to do once you've got the hang of it.
How To: Downgrade iOS 14.2 Back to iOS 14.1 on Your iPhone Using Finder or iTunes
Apple's iOS 14.0 update has come and gone, and now we're sitting on iOS 14.2, the latest version of the iPhone's operating system. While it may be too late for you to revert to the last iOS 13 version, if the iOS 14.2 firmware is giving you problems or you're not just digging it, you can downgrade to iOS 14.1.
How To: Secure Your iPhone's Clipboard So You Won't Accidentally Paste from Other Devices or Share Your Copied Content
Continuity connects all of your Apple devices so that they all work seamlessly together. For instance, you can start tasks on one device and finish them on another, view and send text messages or make calls on your iPhone from your iPad, iPod touch, or Mac, and even use an iPad as a monitor for your Mac. Its Universal Clipboard feature is also really useful, but it can also be quite annoying in iOS 14.
How To: Get Rid of the U2 Album You Never Wanted on Your iPhone
From my experiences, there are only two types of U2 people: those that love them and those that hate them. I'm the latter, so it's pretty damn annoying that Apple just added U2's new album, "Songs of Innocence," to my iCloud. If you find it creepy that U2 is appearing on your iPhone or in iTunes, don't worry—I've found a few ways to deal with it. UPDATE: How to Delete U2 Forever & Ever
How To: This Discreet Panic Button for iPhone Will Help You Escape Bad Dates, Uncomfortable Encounters & Annoying People
Strange or uncomfortable encounters can be difficult to get away from sometimes if you're overly polite and don't want to hurt anybody's feelings. Thankfully, your iPhone can help save the day, providing you with a plausible excuse to exit the scene without having to conjure up some last-minute reason on the spot.
How To: Apple Saves Your Siri & Dictation History — Here's the Easy Way to Delete It
Apple has an excellent reputation for its privacy and security policies. That said, it isn't a perfect reputation. Take Siri, for example. The helpful iOS assistant isn't just communicating with you — Apple saves and listens to a history of your Siri interactions. If you don't want Apple storing your Siri history forever, there's something you can do about it.
How To: Send & Receive Apple Pay Cash via Messages on Your iPhone
You can send and receive money from your iPhone using Venmo, Square Cash, Facebook Messenger, and even Snapchat. There's also Zelle, which offers quick-pay solutions in major banking apps such as Bank of America, Chase, and Wells Fargo. However, Apple has a built-in system to transfer money, with person-to-person payments being available in the Messages app ever since iOS 11.2.
How To: Quickly Generate Anonymous, Throwaway Email Addresses on Your iPhone to Keep Your Real Email Accounts Safe from Spam
A temporary email can go a long way. Using your actual email to sign up for a mailing list to receive 10% off a purchase doesn't make sense if you don't use the website much. It means you'll have to deal with spam emails from then on, which is why an anonymous email is perfect not to have to deal with all that trouble. And that's where the TempMail shortcut for your iPhone comes in handy.
How To: Share Account Passwords or Passkeys with People You Trust Easily from Your iPhone, iPad, or Mac
Previously, you'd have to use a third-party password manager on your iPhone, iPad, or Mac to securely share passwords with other people or groups outside of AirDrop range. And while apps like 1Password, Bitwarden, and Dashlane let you store passkeys, only 1Password has added support for passkey sharing so far. Now, Apple itself makes sharing passwords and passkeys much, much simpler.
How To: Make Siri Run Google Assistant Commands on Your iPhone
Using Siri to perform tasks on your Google Home device was never possible until Apple released Siri Shortcuts in iOS 12. Actually, it wasn't possible until Google added support for Siri Shortcuts for Google Assistant in Nov. 2018. No matter the timing, the important thing here is that you can use Siri to command Google Assistant which, in turn, can command Google Home.
How To: Turn Your iPhone into a Bedside Clock, Digital Photo Frame, or Full-Screen Smart Display with iOS 17
With Apple's newest iOS software update, you can turn your iPhone into a smart display that's always on when you're not actively using it. So your iPhone can quickly transform into a bedside clock, digital photo frame, miniature HomePod, Live Activities tracker, widget-monitoring screen, and more.
How To: Set a GIF as a Live Wallpaper for Your iPhone's Lock Screen Background
In iOS, Apple provides a few live wallpapers that you can use for the background on your iPhone's lock screen, but these animated options are just wavy color shifts and ink-in-water effects. To really customize your lock screen, you can use a Live Photo for your wallpaper. If you can't find the right Live Photo, GIFs are the next best thing, and experimenting with them feels like a game almost.
How To: Disable the iMessage Typing Bubble Indicator So Others Don't Know You're Currently Active in the Chat
Apple's iMessage is one of the main reasons to use an iPhone, and there's a lot you can do in chats without being overly complicated. But there's one issue that continues to drive people nuts, and that's the blue typing bubble indicator with the moving ellipsis (•••). Can you stop it? Not officially, but there are workarounds.
How To: Trigger iMessage Effects with Just a Keyword
One of the coolest aesthetic features of iMessage is its animated message effects. If you're like many users, you might even have discovered them by accident, where wishing your friend a "Happy Birthday!" or congratulating them on a promotion unexpectedly flooded your screen with balloons or confetti.
How To: This iPhone Setting Instantly Improves Video Quality When Shooting in Low Light
If you shoot videos with your iPhone in low-light situations, you may not always get the results you want. And that applies when recording video in 720p, 1080p, and even 4K resolutions. But there's an easy way to maximize your video's quality when filming in dark environments.
How To: Access All Your Mac's Files Right on Your iPhone or iPad — No Third-Party Software Needed
When you need a file on your Mac as soon as possible, you usually have to get your MacBook or hop on your iMac, Mac mini, Mac Pro, or Mac Studio. But that's too much work if you're in bed, lying on the couch, or outside in the fresh air. Why even bother when you can access that file directly on your iPhone or iPad — without moving an inch?
How To: Find & Recover Apple Notes Stored in Gmail, Yahoo, Outlook, AOL & Other Third-Party Mail Accounts
If you can't locate a specific entry in the Notes app on your iPhone, chances are that it's hiding in a different place than you thought, connected to a third-party email service such as Gmail, Yahoo, or Outlook. When one of those notes gets lost or accidentally deleted, you're going to run into issues, but it's possible to recover it.
How To: iOS 17.1 Has 24 New Features and Changes for iPhone You Won't Want to Miss
Apple's first big iOS 17 point update for iPhone just came out, and it includes some of the features initially planned for the iOS 17.0 release last September. But there's much more to iOS 17.1 than that — exciting new features and changes are hiding within Books, Music, StandBy, App Store, Lock Screen wallpapers, Apple Wallet, and more.
How To: Hide All App, Folder, and Widget Names on Your iPhone or iPad's Home Screen
In recent years, Apple has made it much easier to customize the Home Screen on your iPhone or iPad, and some of the newer tools are perfect for neat freaks. Nonetheless, a tidy Home Screen can still feel cluttered when iOS and iPadOS force widgets, apps, and folders to have names — but a few workarounds can help you remove some of those icon labels for good.
How To: The Trick to Disabling Link Previews for URLs in Your iPhone's Messages App
Apple automatically converts most URLs in the Messages app into rich link previews, but they aren't always pretty, and sometimes you just want to see the full URL instead. While there is no setting on iOS, iPadOS, or macOS that disables rich link previews in the Messages app, there is an easy way to show the URL complete with the scheme, domain name, and path.
How To: Make Your iPhone Speak Its Battery Level Every Time You Start or Stop Charging
While there are many ways to see the exact battery life left on your iPhone, you can take all the work out of it by making your iPhone verbally tell you the current percentage every time you start or stop charging it. Best of all, this trick works whether you use wired or wireless chargers.
How To: Install Facebook Lite on Your iPhone
In an ongoing effort to improve its services and become more accessible to users from all regions, Facebook has released a streamlined version of its social media app. Though the leaner Facebook Lite is only officially available in Turkey for now, there's a simple workaround you can use to get the app in any country.
How To: Safari's Massive Upgrade Comes with Over 18 New Features for iPhone, iPad, and Mac
Safari's massive upgrade in Apple's latest iPhone software update includes new features you won't find in any other web browsers on iOS, from better ways to stay organized to enhanced security and further privacy protections.
How To: Group Texts Split into Separate Conversations on Your iPhone? Here's the Fix
Ah, the dreaded "green bubble" group chat. All it takes is one non-iPhone contact to turn an entire thread from iMessage paradise to SMS slog. Normally, it isn't that bad since the group chat still functions. However, sometimes, you end up getting messages individually instead of in a single group thread. Before you go blaming your Android friends, know that the issue is probably on your end.
How To: Make Your Home Screen's Photo Widget Show Only One Image or Specific Albums in iOS 14 Instead of Random Pics Every Hour
Your iPhone's new home screen widgets are awesome — until they're not. Photos, in particular, is a big disappointment. It gives you a taste of having your favorite photos appear alongside your apps but ruins it by changing the photo randomly every hour without your input. While nothing can be done with the Photos widget, there is a way to get the pictures you want to see on your home screen.
How To: There Are 18 New Features Hiding in Your iPhone's Camera App on iOS 17
The Camera app on your iPhone includes new features with the iOS 17 update that will help you take better photos and more impressive videos, but there are a lot of cool new things available that you might not see right away.
How To: 9 New Features in Apple Maps That'll Make Navigating on Your iPhone a Breeze
While Apple Maps didn't receive as huge of an update on iOS 17 as other apps such as Safari, Camera, Photos, Notes, Weather, and Messages, there are still some very important new features and changes you need to know about.
How To: Remove Annoying Contact Suggestions in Your iOS Share Sheet Completely or Temporarily
By default, your iPhone's share sheet will have a row of contacts iOS thinks you'll want to share the content with. Those suggestions are handy if you frequently share things with the same people, but they also clutter the share sheet, invade contacts' privacy in screenshots, and tell nosy people in eyeshot who you share with the most. Thankfully, you can remove or hide them whenever needed.
How To: The Easiest Way to Convert Videos to GIFs on Your iPhone
Countless third-party apps and services exist that can convert the videos on your iPhone into GIFs. With so many options available, the problem becomes which one to choose. Do you install something on the App Store that provides good quality but costs money, or should you use a shady online service where you have to jump through hoops to get the GIF? Your best option may be neither.
How To: Use Your iPhone's Hidden Microphone Effects to Improve Your Audio in FaceTime, Zoom, and Other Video Calling Apps
Being seen clearly is an essential part of any video call you're on, but being heard is equally important. Lousy audio from your side can ruin the experience for others on the call if they can't understand you or hear the sounds they need or want to hear. To improve your audio feed during FaceTime, Google Meet, Instagram, WhatsApp, Zoom, and other video calls, unlock your iPhone's hidden audio filters.