Hot Apple Posts
How To: Your Photo Texts Might Be Giving Away Your Location (Here's How to Prevent It on iPhones)
Location Services, a native feature on iPhones since iOS 6, is used to pinpoint your approximate location using a combination of GPS, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and cell tower information. Apple uses this on their smartphones for many useful reasons: so that you can tag locations in Instagram, get better directions in Maps, and check for matches based on your location in Tinder.
How To: Use Siri to Control iTunes, Put Your Mac to Sleep, & More from Your iPhone
While Apple's Continuity feature has certainly impressed me, I can't help but feel like it could be used to create a better connection between my iPhone and Mac. Sure, Handoff allows me to pick up where I left off in certain applications between the two devices, and it lets me pick up calls and send text messages on my Mac, but I want even more functionality.
How To: Set Up Continuity & Handoff Between Your Mac & iPhone
Earlier this year, Apple announced Continuity, a feature for Yosemite and iOS 8 that lets you connect your iOS devices to your Mac in order to access apps, receive phone calls, send text messages, and more while seamlessly switching between the two.
How To: Add a Google Search Widget to Your iPhone's Home Screen
Aside from identifying songs with Shazam and using the "Hey Siri" feature while driving, Apple's personal assistant isn't something I regularly use on my iPhone.
How To: Add Custom or Pre-Made HTML5 Widgets to Your Mac's Desktop
Apple hasn't been the most avid supporter of widgets over the years. Yes, they added them to the Notification Center in Yosemite, but that requires a drawer to be opened and closed whenever you want to check them. In my search for a better solution, I came across Ubersicht by developer Felix Hageloh.
How To: The Easier Way to Capitalize Words with Your iPhone's Keyboard
An uncapitalized proper noun in a message or email is a serious no-go for those skilled in the art of grammar. But trying to make a lowercase letter uppercase (and vice versa) is not a fun task if you're using an iPhone. You've got to point the cursor is just the right spot to change a letter, and that's a skilled art in and of itself.
How To: Monitor System Usage Stats in Your Mac OS X Menu Bar
Like a car, your Mac needs to be monitored and cared for to keep it running as smoothly as possible. While your vehicle comes with a ton of gauges to keep track of your oil, temperature, and in some cases, even tire pressure, your Mac has no easy way to watch for low memory or high disk usage. Normally you would have to open up Activity Monitor to take a look at your usage stats, but now there is something better.
How To: Get Squeeze, Twirl, X-Ray, & Other Photo Booth Effects on Your iPhone
If you've got a MacBook, I'm sure you've spent some time messing around with the Photo Booth app. Who would have thought that adding simple effects like Comic Book or Stretch could make a selfie look so hilarious. Photo Booth is available for all Mac OS X computers running 10.4 or higher with an iSight camera, and it's also available on a few of Apple's iOS devices. Actually, it's only for the iPad 2 and all newer iPads since. It is NOT available on the iPhone, don't ask me why.
How To: Completely Close Out Running Applications on Your iPhone
If you're anything like me, you'd like the ability to fully exit your iPhone apps to help free up memory, improve battery life, stop background processes, and fix unresponsive apps. The thing is, you can, with the help of the app switcher. Force-closing apps also helps keep your app switch clean and organized.
How To: Create a Bootable Install DVD or USB Drive of OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion
If you have a Mac, you've probably been anticipating the release of OS X Mountain Lion. If you have multiple Macs, you've probably been dreading the long process of downloading and installing it on all of them. Here's how to create a bootable backup disk and save yourself some time. Before You Start
How To: 12 Reasons Why You Should Be Using Text Replacements on Your iPhone, iPad, or Mac
You probably know of Apple's Text Replacement feature for iOS, iPadOS, and macOS, but you're probably not using it as much as you should. With it, you can create your own keyboard triggers for almost anything you can think of, whether it's an email address or an entire email. There are endless reasons to create custom text replacements — and we'll show you why.
Home Screen Customization: How to Hide and Show Specific Home Screen Pages on Your iPhone
Sure, you can remove apps from your iPhone's Home Screen without deleting them. But there's something satisfying about seeing them laid out and well-organized on the Home Screen, just a tap away, especially if you use user-selectable or custom icons for all your apps. Still, there may be days or situations when you want to hide apps without removing them entirely from the Home Screen.
How To: Focus Profiles Will Change How You Use Your iPhone — Here's How to Set Them Up for Distraction-Free Experiences
There's a powerful tool on your iPhone that can fine-tune your iOS experience based on what you're doing and when, and it's completely customizable. With it, you can control what notifications appear or are silenced, who can call you, which Home Screen pages you want to view, the Lock Screens you can pick from, and more. And you can automate it based on a variety of triggers.
How To: iOS 17.2 Includes 50 New URL Schemes You Can Use in Shortcuts on Your iPhone
The iOS 17.2 update for iPhone is a big one. Aside from huge new features like the Journal app, Contact Key Verification for iMessage, and a revamped TV app, there are 50 new URL schemes you can use in your self-created shortcuts.
How To: Apple's Reminders App Has 7 Hot New Features That Can Help Boost Your Productivity and More
If you're still using a third-party task manager on your iPhone, you might want to check out Apple's updated Reminders app. With each new update, Reminders gets more powerful yet remains one of the simplest task managers to use, and iOS 17's new to-do list features reinforce that statement.
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: Apple Weather's Latest Update Gives You 12 Important New Features for Forecasts on Your iPhone
Last year, your iPhone's Weather app received some great features, but things are even better now with the latest iOS 17 version.
How To: Apple's Reminders App Has the Ultimate Solution for Managing Grocery Lists on Your iPhone
If you couldn't pick between putting your grocery list in the Reminders or Notes app, there's now a clear place for it. With the latest software updates, the Reminders app, which now supports sections, sports a groceries template that automatically moves the items you add to related categories to help you better find products in-store.
How To: Disable iOS 17's Live Voicemail on Your iPhone's Incoming Call Screen
Apple's Live Voicemail lets you preview what an incoming caller is speaking to your voicemail system in real time. It's a revolutionary feature like Visual Voicemail on the original iPhone, only better since it helps you screen calls to quickly decide whether to answer or ignore callers. It's similar to answering machines, whose popularity peaked in the mid-90s, but you quietly read transcribed messages instead.
How To: Create Safari Profiles to Separate Browsing Activity for Personal, Work, and Other Topics on Your iPhone or iPad
Apple is finally adding profiles to Safari, so you can now keep your personal, work, and other topical browsing totally separate in their own instances, with their own history, cookies, website data, and active extensions.
How To: 15 New Features Hiding in Your iPhone's iOS 16.6 Software Update
Apple just released its iOS 16.6 update for iPhone on July 24. When you install the new software, it may look like there's not much to it since Apple doesn't include any features in the release notes beyond "important bug fixes and security updates," but a few new features are hiding within.
How To: Apple Music Subscribers Just Got a Massive New iPhone Feature
A massive new feature just hit Apple Music, and it's the biggest thing to happen to Apple Music since Apple Music was even a thing.
How To: 14 New iOS 16.3 Features for iPhone You Need to Know About
The latest software update for iPhone has a few new features you should know about, including an enhanced security feature to protect your Apple ID account from phishing and other attacks. Keep reading to see everything new that's included with iOS 16.3 for iPhone.
How To: Customize the Always-On Display on Your iPhone 14 Pro or 14 Pro Max
Apple's Always-On display feature for the iPhone 14 Pro and 14 Pro Max can show important information on the screen even when the device is sleeping. While the dimmed Lock Screen may seem like a WYSIWYG component, there are actually a few ways you can customize it to fit your needs better.
How To: Your iPhone Has 25 New Accessibility Tools You Shouldn't Ignore
While it's not usually the first thing everyone looks at after installing a new iOS software update, I'd give the new accessibility features on your iPhone priority attention because there are some highly valuable tools that even users without disabilities can enjoy.
How To: Apple Just Improved Messaging on Your iPhone with 26 New Must-Try Features
If you haven't noticed yet, there are a lot of new features hiding in your iPhone's Messages app, and some of them are things users have been requesting for a long time. While iMessage is getting a lot of attention by letting us edit and unsend messages, it's only just the start of a pretty big update.
How To: The Big Shortcuts Update for iPhone Is Bursting with New Features You Need to Try Out
Apple made significant improvements to its Shortcuts app in the latest iOS update, so you can do even more with your custom-made macros for iPhone.
How To: These Are the Only Differences Between iPhone 14 Pro and 14 Pro Max
If you're looking to get a new iPhone 14 Pro or 14 Pro Max, which model should you choose? What makes the iPhone 14 Pro different than the 14 Pro Max? Find out.
How To: Finally! Permanently View Battery Percentage in Your iPhone's Status Bar Instead of Battery Levels
When the first iPhone with Face ID came out, Apple removed a popular feature — the status bar's battery percentage indicator — because of how much space the TrueDepth camera system's notch took. It's been absent on all Face ID models since. Now, almost five years later, it's finally made a comeback.
How To: Upgrade Your Screenshots by Framing Them with Your iPhone or iPad's Body — No Third-Party App Needed
Have you ever seen an image on social media, somebody's blog, or a news website that shows an iPhone or iPad screenshot with an actual iPhone or iPad model framed around it? You can do that too, and it's really easy to accomplish with a third-party app — but you can do the same thing with a shortcut that won't bug you to pay or subscribe.
How To: Watch YouTube Videos Using Picture in Picture on Your iPhone or iPad
Apple has given third-party developers access to Picture in Picture on iPad since iOS 9 and, more recently, on iPhone since iOS 14, but YouTube has been one of the few not to support the feature outside of Safari or premium memberships. Thankfully, that's no longer the case if you live in the U.S.
How To: Get Apple's Very First iPhone Wallpaper on Your Home or Lock Screen
When the very first iPhone was unveiled by Steve Jobs in 2007, it sported a clownfish wallpaper throughout the keynote presentation — a wallpaper that never actually ended up on any iPhone models. Now, 15 years later, it's finally made its appearance in the latest iOS 16 beta. If you don't want to run beta software, you can still download the wallpaper for whatever iOS version you use.
How To: Get Rid of Frequently Visited Websites in Safari on Your iPhone, iPad, or Mac
Safari has a helpful feature that shows your most frequently visited webpages whenever you open a new tab or window, but it's not for everyone. If you never use it, would rather have a minimalist start page, or want to prevent other people with access to Safari on your iPhone, iPad, or Mac from seeing the websites you frequent the most, you can get rid of it.
How To: Snap Photos on Your iPhone Hands-Free for Better Selfies, Group Shots, and Low-Light Pictures
You can take a photo on your iPhone with just one tap or press, but you can also use the Camera app hands-free for more impressive images. Doing so lets you take more detailed selfies, include your whole group in the frame, or get steadier results in Night mode — and it's easy to accomplish. Spoiler alert: using "Hey Siri" is not enough.
How To: How Your iPhone Can Help You Read Faster with a Bionic Reading App
Apple News. Facebook. Twitter. Reddit. LinkedIn. These are just a few of the apps you probably have on your iPhone or iPad that keep you up to date on today's events. Unfortunately, they can also cause information overload. But a new viral speed-reading tool thinks it can help you process your daily news more efficiently.
How To: Scroll Through TikTok Hands-Free on Your iPhone or iPad Using Simple Voice Commands
If you can't curb your TikTok obsession, at least make it more efficient by taking your hands out of the equation. So when you're eating breakfast, working on your computer, or using your hands for another non-TikTok task, you don't even have to touch your iPhone or iPad to scroll through all of those videos in your feed. Instead, you can just tell it what to do, and it'll listen.
How To: The Trick to Managing iCloud Contact Groups Right from Your iPhone (Since Apple's Contacts App Won't Let You)
You can view and hide iCloud contact groups on your iPhone, but Apple won't let you create or delete groups or add or delete contacts from any groups unless you're on a tablet or computer. Why Apple refuses to add a group management tool to Contacts on iOS is anybody's guess, but there is a workaround you can use instead.
How To: Make Notifications on Your iPhone Appear Exactly When You Want Them To
Apple unrolled an array of nifty iPhone features in iOS 15. One of the more valuable updates lets you group all your untimely notifications and view them throughout the day at only the times you choose.
How To: Organize Your iPhone Reminders with Tags You Can Search, Filter, Browse, and Create Smart Lists From
The standard way to sort your notes and to-dos in Reminders has always relied on you putting them in the correct list and group. Then came smart lists for flagged and scheduled tasks, followed shortly by a smart list for tasks assigned to you. In iOS 15, Apple brings yet another way to find your reminders more easily — tags.
How To: iPhone Not Getting Any Photo Messages? iOS 15 Updates Disable MMS on Google Fi & Other Carriers — Here's the Fix
If you have an iPhone running iOS 15 that's connected to Google Fi or another mobile virtual network operator, you may not be getting any photos or videos in Messages. That may be because you recently installed a software update, and you'll have to restore your cellular data network settings to get MMS working again.