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How To: FaceTime Finally Lets You Send and Receive Video Messages — Here's How It Works
Missing a FaceTime video call no longer means missing out on a conversation. With the latest FaceTime update, an incoming caller can leave you a video message when you don't answer — and you can leave a video message for somebody who misses or rejects your FaceTime video call.
How To: Use FaceTime's Secret Hand Gestures and Reaction Buttons to Add Animated On-Screen Effects to Your Video Feed
Apple's Messages app has long had visual effects you could apply manually after long-pressing the send button, and there are even hidden keywords you could use to trigger full-screen effects automatically. FaceTime's latest update also gives you some full-screen effects to play around with during video calls, but the triggers are an entirely different concept — hand gestures.
How To: Apple Finally Lets You Set Early Notifications for Reminders to Get Custom Alerts Before Tasks Are Due
The Reminders app is a simple yet powerful task manager, and it does a great job of reminding you to start an errand, alerting you to a project that's supposed to be done, or prompting you about a recurring chore. But with the latest Reminders update, the dates and times you set for tasks can act more like due dates thanks to the new early reminders feature.
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: Organize Reminders by Sections and Columns on Your iPhone for More Efficient To-Do Lists
Apple's Reminders app on your iPhone or iPad now comes equipped with a new way to organize your tasks: sections. With sections, you can better sort through reminders in your lists by placing tasks into likeminded buckets or even in kanban-style columns for more efficient workflows.
How To: 23 New Photo Features for Your iPhone You Need to Know About on iOS 17
There are some important new features in the Photos app on iOS 17 and iPadOS 17 that will streamline editing, give your pets more recognition, help you learn about the world you've captured, and even add a bit of fun to your day. There are even a few hidden tricks that may surprise you.
How To: Top 9 Task Managers for iPhone and iPad
When you want a helpful task manager on your iPhone or iPad, any of the nine apps in this guide should be at the top of your list. But we'll review each app's features to help you determine which one might be best for your workflow.
How To: There Are 18 New Features Hiding in Your iPhone's Camera App on iOS 17
The Camera app on your iPhone includes new features with the iOS 17 update that will help you take better photos and more impressive videos, but there are a lot of cool new things available that you might not see right away.
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: Use iOS 17's Live Voicemail Feature on Your iPhone — Everything You Need to Know
Visual Voicemail revolutionized phone calls and the voicemail system when Apple introduced it with the original iPhone. Now, thanks to iOS 17, Apple has done it again with its newest calling feature, Live Voicemail. This feature uses speech-to-text technology to show you voicemail transcriptions on the incoming call screen in real time, helping you decide if it's important enough to answer the call.
How To: Apple Notes' Biggest Feature in Years Lets You Finally Link Your Notes Together
Apple Notes has received many improvements over its lifetime, but noticeably absent year after year was the ability to easily add quick links in notes to other notes for reference. The latest software updates for iPhone, iPad, and Mac finally address this with a simple note-linking tool.
How To: Turn Your iPhone into a Bedside Clock, Digital Photo Frame, or Full-Screen Smart Display with iOS 17
With Apple's newest iOS software update, you can turn your iPhone into a smart display that's always on when you're not actively using it. So your iPhone can quickly transform into a bedside clock, digital photo frame, miniature HomePod, Live Activities tracker, widget-monitoring screen, and more.
How To: Safari's Private Browsing Mode Just Made Your Private Tabs Way More Private on iOS 17
Private Browsing mode finally lives up to its name in Apple's huge Safari 17 update for iPhone, iPad, and Mac. So whether you search for things you don't want anybody to know about or want to ensure websites and trackers aren't eavesdropping on your activity, you'll want to update your devices pronto.
How To: Instantly Crop Photos and Videos on Your iPhone Using iOS 17's Hidden Quick-Cropping Tool
Cropping images and videos on your iPhone has always been kind of clunky in the Photos app, but Apple just made the process better with the iOS 17 update. And it also works for iPad on iPadOS 17.
How To: Your iPhone Has 24 New Accessibility Features You Shouldn't Ignore on iOS 17
Apple previewed new cognitive, speech, and vision accessibility tools for the iPhone back in May, and they've finally been realized with the iOS 17 release. But there are more accessibility features than that hiding in Apple's latest software update — and they're not just for users with disabilities.
How To: These Are the iPhone Models iOS 17 Does and Doesn't Support
Apple's big iOS 17 software update for iPhone was released on September 18, and it will continue to test iOS 17 point releases as betas beforehand until iOS 18 comes out next year. But does your iPhone work with iOS 17 or any iOS 17.x releases to come? Apple kicked three iPhone models to the curb, limiting them to the latest iOS 16 updates.
How To: Apple's Clock App Finally Lets You Run Multiple Timers at the Same Time with iOS 17
Aside from the addition of bedtime sleep schedules five years ago, Apple's Clock app has largely been ignored with each new iOS software update. But that just changed with Apple's iOS 17 software update. With the updated Clock app, you can finally set more than one timer to run at the same time.
How To: Transform Any Emoji into a Sticker for Messages, Mail, and Other Apps on Your iPhone with iOS 17
Not everyone stickers, but that's going to change with Apple's new sticker options on iOS 17, iPadOS 17, and even macOS Sonoma. Before you know it, people everywhere will be adding stickers to messages and emails — including you.
How To: 71 More Special Characters Are Hiding Within Your Keyboard on iOS 17 and iPadOS 17 — Here's What's New
The keyboard on your iPhone or iPad has a few new tricks up its sleeve with Apple's latest software updates, such as improved autocorrect and emoji stickers. However, a particularly hidden feature that lets you change the sound values of letters in other languages has gone unnoticed — until now.
How To: Here Are All the iPad Models iPadOS 17 Supports (And Doesn't Support)
The newest iPadOS version, iPadOS 17.0, was released on September 28, and some iPad models that worked on iOS 16 are not compatible with iPadOS 17.0 or any future iPadOS 17.x releases. Here are the iPad models that do and don't work.
How To: These Are the Only Differences Between iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max
The iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max are essentially the same phone in most regards, but there are a few features exclusive to the iPhone 15 Pro Max that may help you decide whether the bigger screen size is worth it.
How To: 20 Features the iPhone 15 and 15 Pro Models Have That Other iPhones Don't
Many of the iPhone 15, 15 Plus, 15 Pro, and 15 Pro Max features were carried over from last year's models. Still, quite a few capabilities are exclusive to the 2023 lineup, and some may be worth the upgrade.
How To: 13 Features Apple's iPhone 15 Pro Models Have That the iPhone 15 Models Don't
Apple just announced its new iPhone 15, iPhone 15 Plus, iPhone 15 Pro, and iPhone 15 Pro Max models. This year, the 15 and 15 Plus models have a lot in common with the 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max, but there are still some pretty incredible features that the Pro lineup sports that the regular lineup doesn't.
How To: 15+ New Apple Notes Features for iPhone and iPad That Will Finally Make It Your Go-To Notes App
Apple Notes started with humble beginnings as a scratchpad of sorts, a place for us to stash some simple text for later. It's received many upgrades over the years, but Apple's latest iPhone software update is a game-changer.
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: Pause & Delete Your YouTube Watch History for a Cleaner Home Feed
If you're an avid YouTube viewer, you may find yourself overwhelmed on the home page by recommendations from your past viewing habits. But now, you can have a clean slate on your YouTube home screen, free of recommendations.
How To: Silence Annoyingly Loud Emergency Alerts on iPhone Without Disabling Them Completely
Wireless emergency alerts help warn mobile phone users of imminent threats to life or property, such as extreme weather and natural disasters. These alerts target affected geographic areas and come with a loud sound scary enough to make you want to turn off emergency alerts altogether on your iPhone, but there's a way to keep emergency alerts without the ear-splitting, intrusive sound.
How To: Quickly Find the Conversations with the Most Photos and Videos in Your iPhone's Messages App
There's a quick way to see who you or somebody else has been chatting with the most in the Messages app for iOS and iPadOS. More specifically, it shows which conversations have the most attachments, such as photos and videos, giving you an idea of which chats are the most active visually.
How To: Tired of Contacts Showing Up in Your iPhone's Share Sheet? You Can Hide Some of Them or Remove Them All
If you're sick of seeing some of your contacts' faces in the sharing menu every time you share photos, apps, webpages, or other content on your iPhone, or if you want to keep nearby eyes from sneaking a peek at the people you frequently share things with, you can make some or all of them disappear.
How To: 6 Valuable iPhone Features That'll Make You Wish You Didn't Live in the US
You may think your iPhone has all the features you could ever need or want, but that may change once you discover the features and services you're missing out on by residing in the United States.
How To: 8 Hidden Ways to Make the Apple TV App on Your iPhone Even Better
Whether you subscribe to Apple TV+ or not, the TV app on your iPhone is a great place to watch movies and TV shows. On the surface, it looks like a pretty straightforward app, but hidden features are lurking in the shadows that can enhance how you use it.
How To: 12 Quirky Accessories You'll Actually Want to Use with Your iPhone or Android Phone
There is a whole world of smartphone accessories out there, some of which are more quirky than others and don't get the recognition they deserve. But these sometimes strange, sometimes embarrassing products can really make life easier on your iPhone or Android phone.
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: Lock All Your Apps Behind Face ID or Touch ID to Keep Friends and Family from Snooping Around
There is no default option on iOS 16 or iOS 17 to lock your apps behind Face ID, Touch ID, or passcode authentication. However, a clever, easy-to-implement workaround will protect your sensitive apps from nosy friends and family temporarily using or looking at something on your iPhone.
How To: The Volume Trick You Never Knew You Could Do on Your iPhone
There's a world of hidden features on your iPhone just waiting to be explored, and one of them is hiding in plain sight right in front of you. You likely see it multiple times a day after performing a routine action without ever thinking twice about what else it can do, and you're not the only one.
How To: 23 Things Your iPhone's Volume Buttons Can Do Besides Volume Adjustments
The volume buttons on the side of your iPhone can do more than just adjust the volume levels for media, ringers, alerts, Siri, and other sounds and voices. You can use them to perform different actions in certain apps and even create custom actions using the Shortcuts app. It's not exactly button mapping, but it's as close as you'll get without jailbreaking iOS.
How To: 8 Ways to Call Emergency Services on Your iPhone When You Can't Dial 911 Manually
Your iPhone has a safety feature that makes it easier to call 911 in the U.S. and other emergency services abroad. Instead of fumbling with your iPhone's dialer, you can call someone for help in various ways — with or without your hands.
How To: The Hidden Meaning Behind Those Mysterious, Nonnumerical Dialer Pad Keys on Your Phone
You might have missed it, but the virtual keypad you use to enter phone numbers in your smartphone's dialer and contacts app isn't all numbers. Take a closer look, and you'll notice a few mysterious buttons you've likely been tuning out unconsciously. But it's time to stop ignoring them because each has a particular purpose that could come in handy one day.
How To: Make Google's Messages App on Your Phone Write or Rewrite Text Messages for You Using GenAI
Text messaging is a core component of the mobile experience, and Google has added several AI-fueled features to help you text better, such as Smart Reply for quick response suggestions. But Messages by Google's newest AI-powered tool is possibly the best one yet, giving you improved response suggestions and your own personal copyeditor to fix all your message drafts.
How To: The Most Important Photos App Feature You Should Be Using on Your iPhone or iPad
Your iPhone has a powerful feature that can keep your secrets hidden from other people, and you'll never have to worry about sharing or showing someone something embarrassing or incriminating ever again.