Quick Tips
How To: Your Samsung Galaxy S20 Has a Built-in Level to Check if Any Surface Is Flat
The next time you need to build some IKEA furniture or assemble a shelf in the bathroom, bring your Samsung Galaxy S20. It has a hidden feature that replaces one tool you will need for the job.
How To: There's a Super Fast Button Combo to Put Your Android Phone into Vibrate Mode
Everyone has that internal checklist on the way out the door. Keys? ID? Phone? Check, check, check. But it still feels like you're missing something as you head off to work. It's not until your ringtone starts blasting at full volume in an important meeting that you realize what you forgot to do: put your phone on vibrate.
How To: iOS 14's Revamped Home Screen Search Can Help You Open Hidden Apps Faster
The ability to hide entire pages on your iPhone's home screen is an excellent privacy upgrade packed into iOS 14. That said, it can be a bit of a pain to find and open the hidden apps on those pages in a timely fashion. Luckily, iOS 14 has a solution that makes opening those apps, as well as any others, faster and more convenient — and we're not talking about the new App Library.
How To: Telegram Has a Hidden Attach Button That Works After You've Started Typing
On the Android version of the Telegram app, the attachment icon disappears when you input your first letter or emoji. This "feature" forces you to either delete what you wrote to attach a picture first, or just send the file afterward. Since both of those options suck, we were happy to find a hidden third way.
How To: There's a Hidden Notification History Widget on Your Android
Have you ever accidentally dismissed an important notification? Realized you didn't mean to delete an alert after hitting "Clear all?" Instead of pulling out your hair, know you can see the alert again — at least, a portion of it.
YSK: Gboard Lets You Copy & Paste Multiple Items
Touchscreen typing has always presented its own unique challenges, so a phone's copy and paste capabilities are more important than you might think. Gboard users should know about a useful feature in this category: extended clipboard history.
How To: This Secret FaceTime Trick Lets You Zoom with Your iPhone's Camera
With Zoom and Google Meet, you can zoom in using your rear camera on a video call to focus on something far away or to get a closeup view. But in Messenger, Snapchat, WhatsApp, Skype, Instagram, and most other video chat apps, zoom functionality is disabled. And it may appear to be blocked in FaceTime too, but that's not the case — the feature is just hiding in plain sight.
How To: Make a Panic Button That Deletes All Your Google History in Seconds
We all know Google keeps a history of everything we do on our phones unless we say otherwise. However, you might not realize just how detailed it is until you check it for yourself — even the actions you do in each app are tracked by default.
How To: Use Your Pixel's Camera to Quickly Estimate the Angle of a Slope
It feels like every few months, some new feature is discovered in the Pixel's Camera app. By taking advantage of machine learning and the high-quality camera, Google continues to add hidden functions that improve your life even if they're a little niche.
How To: YSK That You Can Mute Live Photos So Nobody Has to Listen to Them
Live Photos are a great way to relive moments beyond a simple still image since you get up to 1.5 seconds of video before and after the shot. Of course, your iPhone doesn't just capture motion during a Live Photo — it also records audio. And that audio portion may not be something you want to share.
How To: Don't Want to Share the 'Live' Part of a Live Photo from Your iPhone? Do This
Have you ever taken a photo to share with a friend, only to realize it was actually a Live Photo? Maybe you said something embarrassing in the background, or perhaps you moved the camera out of frame onto a subject you don't want your friend to see. Luckily, making a Live Photo a regular still photo is a breeze.
How To: Your iPhone Can Switch to Dark & Light Modes Automatically When the Sun Sets & Rises
Apple's Dark Mode in iOS 13 and later offers a cool, comfortable viewing experience on your iPhone. You may prefer the dark theme all day long, but if you like to use it only at night, it's not very convenient to switch it on and off daily. But there's a setting that lets you set it and forget it, so you never have to do it manually again.
How To: Lock Facebook Messenger Behind Face ID or Touch ID for Maximum Security
Although Facebook has some questionable privacy and security practices, you'll find it still offers you ways to protect the information that's important to you. One of those ways is locking Messenger behind biometric authentication protocols such as Face ID and Touch ID, ensuring that no one else can access your private chats.
How To: There's a Better Way to Zoom with Your iPhone's Camera
The iPhone 11 series models have sophisticated camera systems that include both a wide and ultra-wide lens. On top of that, the Pro models also have a telephoto lens. So you can zoom anywhere between 0.5x optically to 5x or 10x digitally, depending on the one you have. While you can pinch in and out on the screen to control the zoom, there's a way to get more granular control for photos.
How To: There's a Faster Way to Check for System Updates on Your Pixel
Prompt and frequent system updates are a big part of the Pixel's identity — we're even getting quarterly feature drops now. But not all devices receive these all-important updates at the same time because of Google's staged rollout system. If you want the update right away, there's a way to manually check without having to dig around in Settings every time.
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: The Simple Way to Enable Caps Lock on Your iPhone
When you need to type in all caps on a computer, you just press the "caps lock" key. But no such key seems to exist on iOS. The "shift" key appears to work at first but will deactivate once you type one capital letter. Holding down the shift key while you type gets the job done, but it's a pain. While it might not be obvious, enabling caps lock is actually really simple.
How To: Your iPhone's Using More Data Than It Needs, but This Could Stop It
While mobile data caps are larger than they used to be, many of us still have limits to contend with. If you find yourself up against that ceiling month after month, your iPhone itself might be to blame. Luckily, there's an easy fix to stop your iOS device from burning through data in the background.
How To: The Fastest Way to Share Your Location via Messages on Your iPhone
Apple makes it simple to share your location with your family and friends using tools built into the "info" page for each conversation thread in Messages. With those tools, you can send your current location or share trackable real-time coordinates. But iOS always has a few hidden tricks to make things easier than they seem, and that's precisely the case if all you need to do is share your current location.
How To: Telegram Has a Fun Way to Jump Back into Group Chats
Although Telegram wasn't able to make our roundup for the best encrypted messaging app, it's my go-to for group messaging thanks to its ever-expanding list of features. The app even makes jumping into group chats fun and easy by allowing you to set a home screen shortcut for your favorite Telegram threads.
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