Gadget Hacks: Page 8

There's not much you can customize on your iPhone's status bar beyond showing or hiding the battery percentage icon. You can't choose different icons or pick a vibrant color, but there's a secret trick that lets you bold all the text.

If you own a Google Pixel 4a or newer, there are new live wallpapers for you to explore that other Android devices can't have.

For whatever reason, you may want or need to remove multiple posts from your Instagram grid. If you only have a couple to hide from the public, archiving or deleting posts one by one is fine, but there's a much faster way when you have tens or even hundreds of Instagram posts to purge from your account.

It's that time of year again. No, not the holiday season … the "share your year in music listening" season. And no matter which music streaming service you use, there's a way to find and share (or not share) your activity from 2022.

You may not realize it, but most of your apps include third-party tracking services that monitor your activity in other apps and websites to serve highly-targeted ads to you. But now you can stop the creepy behavior on an iPhone and Android phone.

When it comes to finding the exact moment you want to see in a video, the seeking function can be hit or miss depending on the streaming service you're using. On YouTube, though, it just got much better.

If you can't find the remote for your Android TV or Google TV, don't like using its voice control feature, are sick of using the directional pad to type, or can't get it to work at all, use your smartphone instead. Using your iPhone or Android phone as a virtual remote control can be more convenient, easier to use, and more helpful than the original remote, so it's definitely worth trying out.

There's a hidden feature on iOS that will turn your iPhone or Apple Watch into a remote control for your nearby iPad or other Apple devices — and it's nowhere near as complicated as Switch Control.

If you have a screen recording with distracting UI elements, black borders, and other unneeded visuals, Google Photos can help you crop out all the junk from the video, leaving you with only the important stuff.

If you've ever wanted or needed to use an app in a different language than your phone's primary language, your Android phone now makes it a simple process.

TikTok is all the rage right now, and its green screen effect is one of the more popular augmented reality tricks creators use to boost their viewership numbers. Now Snapchat has leveled the playing field by making it easier to access its own green screen effect.

When you take a photo of something interesting, like a landmark, piece of art, animal, or plant, there's a good chance you'll also want to know more about that something than just what you see in the frame. When this happens, you can take advantage of Apple's content recognition service for iOS and iPadOS without having to install any third-party apps.

The latest iPhone update introduces big features like Live Activities and Clean Energy Charging, but those aren't the only things you'll notice different on iOS 16.1. If you build your own shortcuts in the Shortcuts app, there are a few things you'll definitely want to know about the new software. It's not a massive feature drop as with iOS 16.0, but they are important changes.

If you think you might be a likely target of a black-hat hacker, there's a new iOS security feature that offers extreme protection for your iPhone against spyware, phishing attempts, and other highly sophisticated cyberattacks.

If you use the Notes app on your iPhone and haven't updated to the newest software yet, you're missing out on some pretty valuable upgrades that improve smart folders, note security, collaboration, and more. So what are you waiting for?

Apple lets you edit iMessages in the Messages app on iOS 16 and later, but everyone in the chat can see all the edits between the final and original text. Thankfully, there's an easy workaround to stop that from happening when you only want them to see the last message and nothing else.

Apple finally lets us fix sent iMessages, and I can honestly say it's a game-changer. Editing messages after sending them can prevent miscommunication and allow you to fix embarrassing mistakes before the other person notices them. It's one of the Messages app's coolest new features, but there are some important things for you to know about how it works.

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.

YouTube Music just refreshed the user interface for playlists, seemingly taking away the ability to shuffle the songs in your playlists. While the update has been rolling out for months, you might just be getting the updated look on your smartphone, and there's no giant "Shuffle" button like there was before. But that doesn't mean there's no more shuffling.

There are two types of people in this world: those who recognize Wordle grids of yellow, green, and gray/black blocks and those who do not. No matter which category you fall in, there's a Wordle-inspired game that's perfect for you.