Productivity & Shortcuts
How To: These Auto-Redial Apps Can Call Busy Phone Lines Over and Over Again Until You Get Through
Some phone lines make it nearly impossible to get past the busy tone, whether it's a viral call-in giveaway, your state's unemployment office, your local post office during the holidays, or the repair office for a broken warrantied product you have. Thankfully, there are apps you can use to help break through the noise.
How To: Your iPhone's Reminders App Just Got a Whole Lot More Useful
Apple just upgraded its Reminders app for iPhone, and there are some powerful new tools and improvements for task management that'll make you wonder how you ever lived without them.
How To: Batch Editing Photos and Videos on Your iPhone Just Got Way Easier
Your iPhone's Photos app just got a major new feature that lets you edit multiple photos and videos simultaneously. That means you no longer have to try and remember all the adjustments made in one image or video to try and get the same look in another photo or video.
How To: Make Your iPhone Automatically Close Old Tabs So Safari Doesn't Become a Hot Mess
It's easy to accumulate hundreds of Safari tabs on your iPhone, which makes hunting for specific tabs more difficult, especially when they're spread across different groups. Having too many tabs can even slow down Safari itself. You can close all tabs in a group quickly, but not if you want to save some. To prevent this mess, Safari can automatically weed out the tabs it thinks you don't need.
How To: Safari Now Lets You Sync and Manage All Your Web Extensions Across Your iPhone, iPad, and Mac
We've had access to real Safari extensions on iPhone and iPad for a year, and they've been available on Mac for a lot longer than that. To install the same one on all your devices, you always had to find the app in the App Store, install it, and enable the extension on each device. Now, Apple is streamlining the process, making it easier to install and manage extensions across devices.
How To: Unsend Emails on Your iPhone When You Accidentally Send Them Too Early
One of Apple's biggest iOS 16 features lets you unsend iMessages, but those aren't the only things you can take back. Your iPhone's Mail app also has the Undo Send feature, and unlike the Messages app, you can even customize how long you have before Mail sends your emails.
How To: Protect Your Private Tabs with Face ID or Touch ID So Others Can't Snoop Through Your Browsing Secrets
Safari's private browsing mode on your iPhone won't sync to other Apple devices or remember your search history, AutoFill data, or visited webpages. Still, it doesn't stop anyone who accesses your iPhone from opening your private tabs. If you don't want anyone snooping through your private tabs, use Chrome instead so you can lock the tabs behind biometric authentication.
How To: There's an Easy Way to Type Fractions as Single Characters on Your iPhone's Keyboard
Whenever you need to type out a fraction on your iPhone, whether in a message, word document, presentation, math problem, recipe, or wherever else you need it, it's easy to use numbers and slashes. But there's a way to make fractions look more professional and easier to read straight from your keyboard.
How To: Major iPhone Update Finally Lets You Manage Past Wi-Fi Networks and Even View Their Passwords
For years, Android has provided easy ways to view all the Wi-Fi networks you connected to in the past, and you can even see the saved passwords in plain text. With iOS 16, Apple finally gave us a similar way to view saved Wi-Fi hotspots, copy their passwords, and remove old ones without being near their access points.
How To: Customize Your iPhone's Lock Screen with These 27 Killer New Features on iOS 16
Apple just made its most significant update ever to the iOS lock screen, with a lot of features to be excited about. The theme of this upgrade is customization, giving you complete control over the look and functionality of your iPhone's lock screen.
How To: Your iPhone Just Got a Massive Feature iCloud and Macs Had Forever
One of the most annoying aspects of managing contacts on iOS has finally been addressed by Apple, and it's the best thing to happen to your iPhone's Contacts app since Memoji profile photos.
How To: Safari Just Gave You 17 Good Reasons to Update to iOS 16 on Your iPhone
Safari keeps getting better and better on the iPhone, and that's exactly what happened with the latest Safari 16 update for iOS.
How To: Your iPhone's Weather App Just Got 14 Major New Features
Your iPhone's Weather app received its biggest update yet. Apple finally incorporated its Dark Sky purchase into Apple Weather, so you'll see more information for each location's forecast. Plus, there are a few surprises to be excited about, such as the ability to add more trackable cities.
How To: This Is What Happens to Your iPhone Every Time You Turn On Low Power Mode
When you enable Low Power Mode on your iPhone, it's not always clear what measures it's taking to reduce battery drain and conserve power. Changes to energy-hungry features you use daily may be immediately noticeable, but some things you use frequently may be disabled or reduced without any apparent indicators.
How To: Upgrade Safari on Your iPhone with These Powerful Add-Ons
You may use Safari on your iPhone or iPad to open links and browse the web, but there's so much more it can do for you. On updated software, you can implement third-party Safari extensions in your browser that go above and beyond content blocking, sharing, and performing basic actions.
How To: The One Microwave Hack Everybody Should Know by Heart
There's a little-known secret in the world of microwave ovens that even the manufacturers don't care to tell you in their manuals. And once you know it, you'll never go back to using your microwave as you used to.
How To: This Color Hack Makes Certain Contacts Stand Out in Your iPhone's Mail App
A little-known setting on your iPhone gives you the power to change the color of certain contact names and email addresses when drafting an email. Customizing the color works well for visually separating contacts at a glance, and it can even help you from sending an email to the wrong person.
How To: 6 Hidden Apps You Didn't Know Existed on Your iPhone
Your iPhone has heaps of hidden apps that work behind the scenes to filter SMS messages, trust computers, deal with payments, test ads, and perform other actions. You won't find any of them in your App Library, but you can unlock and use a few of these secret apps with a bit of work.
How To: The Massive Accessibility Update for iPhone 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 with iOS 16, because there are some highly valuable tools that even users without disabilities can enjoy.
How To: Use Your iPhone's Mail App to Send and Receive End-to-End Encrypted Emails in Gmail
Gmail uses TLS, or Transport Layer Security, by default for all email communications, so all of your emails will use the standard encryption as long as the recipients also support TLS. But there's a way to add even more security to your Gmail emails, and you can use your iPhone's Mail app to do it.