iOS & iPhone Features

How To: Downgrade an iPhone to iOS 7.1.2 from iOS 8

There are a lot of great new features in iOS 8, but not everyone is enjoying them. Some of you may just genuinely prefer iOS 7 over iOS 8, and some of you may be experiencing lag on older devices like the iPhone 4S, however minimal it may be. Whatever the reason, if you don't want iOS 8 on your iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch, there's still time to downgrade back to iOS 7.1.2.

How To: Announce Messages with Siri Not Working on iOS 13.2? Here's the Fix

Apple added "Announce Messages with Siri" with the release of iOS 13.2, and it came as a welcome surprise for me; I missed the feature from its initial run during iOS 13 beta testing. However, while users online gleefully showed off their newfound Announce Messages with Siri capabilities, I was frustrated to see that I didn't have the setting, even though I just updated my iPhone to 13.2. So, what's the fix?

Touch, Don't Press: Extend the Lifespan of Your iPhone 5s Home Key

Take a minute and think about how many times a day you press the home key on your iPhone . . . a lot, right? It is quite literally the most important button on your device. If the home key stops working, you won't be able to multitask or back out of apps to go to your home screen, so preserving its life should be priority, otherwise you're stuck using one of these tips for fixing your home button. Luckily, for 5S users, you can add a tweak that will utilize your touch ID sensor, instead of ha...

How To: Use One App to Listen to Spotify, SoundCloud, & YouTube Music on Your iPhone

There are a lot of music apps on my iPhone's home screen, and the reason I have so many is because I can't get all of the songs I want from just one service. I use Spotify to listen to new releases, SoundCloud for remixes and unreleased tracks, and YouTube for just about anything else that isn't available through the rest. If you're thinking that it's a pain in the ass to jump from app to app, you're right—but not anymore.

How To: Add Endless Scrolling to Home Screen Pages & App Folders on Your iPad or iPhone

When you're scrolling through your iPhone's home screens, you'll inevitably reach the end and have to either swipe backwards or hit the Home button to return to the first page. Why Apple didn't instill an endless scrolling feature, or at the very least an option for it, is anyone's guess, but just because you can't do it out of the box doesn't mean you can't do it.

How To: Fix the 'A [?]' Autocorrect Bug in iOS 11 When Typing 'i' Out on Your iPhone

There's an annoying bug in Apple's latest operating system for iPhone, iOS 11, that autocorrects the lowercase letter "i" by itself (which usually turns into a capital "I" pronoun) into a capital "A" followed by a strange question mark in a box "[?]" symbol. There is now an official patch for this bug, as well as a workaround fix if you don't want to update yet.

How To: Increase iPhone Security with an Easy-to-Remember Passcode That Changes Every Minute

If somebody really wants to gain access to your iPhone, they'll get in. Phone thieves (and mischievous friends) can easily figure out your passcode just from looking over your shoulder or tracing over the oily smudges on the screen. And if you're using popular passcodes, birthdays, and addresses on your iPhone, you might as well disable lock screen security entirely.

How To: Get Back the Camera's Missing HDR Button on Your iPhone 8 or 8 Plus

Out of the box, when you shoot a photo on your iPhone using the stock Camera app, it will either shoot a normal or HDR photo. That's because Apple's high-dynamic-range setting is set to automatic by default. However, there's a button in the app so you can turn HDR on or off manually. While this HDR toggle persists in iOS 11 on the iPhone 7 models and older, it's not visible on the iPhone 8 or 8 Plus.

How To: Get Siri to Play Music for You on Spotify—Without Jailbreaking Your iPhone

While Siri's integration with the iPhone is becoming increasingly substantial, restrictions with the intelligent personal assistant are apparent when it comes to third-party apps like Google Maps, Netflix, and Spotify (unless your iPhone is jailbroken, of course). As an avid Spotify user, it's distressing that I can't use Siri to navigate through the music streaming service's extensive library. In the car, I use Spotify about 90% of the time and it can become increasingly frustrating to chang...

How To: App Not Following iOS 13's Dark Mode? Check These Settings

There's no denying that native Dark Mode in iOS 13 is awesome. Stock apps that were blindingly white for over a decade can now be comfortably used in the middle of the night. You might find, however, that some of your third-party apps aren't taking the hint. Why won't YouTube switch to dark mode when iOS as a whole does? We put together a troubleshooting checklist to get your apps cooperating.

How To: Improve Battery Life on Your iPhone Running iOS 12

Performance and stability improvements, as well as new features, are just some reasons to install iOS 12, but new changes mean new battery health challenges. It can be difficult to boost battery life while taking advantage of everything this update has to offer. Luckily, there are plenty of ways to avoid unnecessary battery drain when using iOS 12 on your iPhone.

How To: Scan Documents Right to Your iPhone, iCloud, or Third-Party Services with the Files App in iOS 13

As part of the iOS 11 update, Apple added a document scanner function that creates high-quality digital copies of physical documents, but it was only available inside the Notes app. With iOS 13, Apple has built its scanner right into the Files app, enabling you to quickly create PDFs with your iPhone and do more with them.