Since its introduction on the iPhone 5S, Touch ID has made unlocking Home button iPhones quick and secure. The second-generation iPhone SE brought back the beloved feature in 2020 but didn't take any steps to improve on the technology. So if you're rocking Touch ID and having trouble getting it to read your fingerprints, there are some things you can do to fix it.
The world of Android gaming is much bigger than what's available in the Google Play Store. If you have a Samsung Galaxy S3 or other Android device—don't just stop there—a hidden treasure of games lies in those boxes of old, dusty game cartridges in your closet.
Apple Maps just received a major upgrade in its latest software update, and some of its new features are perfect for urban explorers, national park adventurers, and everyday travelers alike. Some of these enhancements provide more personalized and precise guidance, making every journey more enjoyable and efficient.
Apple Maps keeps getting better and better for all the hikers in the world. The latest update gives you access to thousands of detailed trail maps within U.S. national parks and topographic views, but it also lets you create your own walking and hiking routes.
Apple has finally given Control Center the love that it needs with an updated interface design and more customizations than ever before. Taking the more customizable overhaul one step further, iOS 18 and iPadOS 18 have elevated controls beyond Control Center, so you can use controls from other places on your iPhone or iPad for even faster access to your most-used shortcuts.
When typing an email or website address in a compatible input field on an iPhone, most people will manually type in the domain extension. But there's a much faster way to enter domain suffixes for email addresses and website URLs that you should be using on your keyboard. Even better, there's a way to customize what domain extensions appear in the keyboard shortcut!
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.
In less than a month, WWDC, Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference, will reveal the company's plans for the upcoming iOS 18 and iPadOS 18 software updates. But we already know what accessibility features will be hitting iPhones and iPads later this year, and many of them will be helpful to everyone, not just users with accessibility issues.
Whether you're wielding an iPhone, iPad, Mac, Android phone or tablet, or even a Windows PC, this little-known secret holds the key to effortless assistance and unwavering obedience. Intrigued? I thought so.
Whenever your iPhone's ringer is on, you'll hear Apple's iconic "Connect Power" chime every time you connect it to a wired or wireless power source, which lets you know that charging has started. There's no way to disable the sound without turning on Silent mode, but there is a way to make Siri automatically say whatever you want after a successful connection.
Perhaps the biggest new feature within Apple's iOS 17.2 update for iPhone is Journal, a new journaling app designed to help you take a moment to reflect each day using reflection prompts, recommendations via on-device intelligence, and suggestions for recent activities and events.
Previously, you'd have to use a third-party password manager on your iPhone, iPad, or Mac to securely share passwords with other people or groups outside of AirDrop range. And while apps like 1Password, Bitwarden, and Dashlane let you store passkeys, only 1Password has added support for passkey sharing so far. Now, Apple itself makes sharing passwords and passkeys much, much simpler.
While Apple Maps didn't receive as huge of an update on iOS 17 as other apps such as Safari, Camera, Photos, Notes, Weather, and Messages, there are still some very important new features and changes you need to know about.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Generative AI, or GenAI, is the hottest thing in tech at the moment, particularly for its ability to create content,p including essays, images, and videos. After Microsoft added its own GenAI tool to its Bing web search engine, Google is eager to follow suit, and you can be one of the first to try out Google's new GenAI search tool.
Emoji have taken over the world, so there's a good chance you regularly use (or overuse) emoji on your iPhone's keyboard just like everyone else. But before emoji were popular, there were emoticons, short for "emotion icons" — and iOS has a secret emoticon keyboard just waiting for you to unlock.
Whether you're staying in your hometown for the weekend or traveling to a nearby or faraway city, live music is always a great option for entertainment — but finding decent music or a good music venue isn't always easy. With new features added to two of its core apps, your iPhone just made it easier to do both.
Taking a cue from Apple and its Health app for iOS, Google has created a central hub to collect health and fitness data on your Android device. With it, you can share and sync health and fitness data, such as steps, heart rate, water intake, sleep quality, and calories burned, between different apps and devices and use your favorite app to view all the information.
Apple's latest multitasking feature for iPad lets you go beyond Split View's two-app restriction to use up to four apps at once. Here's how it works.
Gaming just got easier, thanks to Apple. A secret feature on your iPhone or iPad makes it so much easier to beat that level or opponent you can't seem to defeat, and it can even help you learn to play a new game faster.
An invaluable button on your iPhone can do hundreds, even thousands, of amazing things, but most iPhone users don't even know it exists. You can't push it. You can't click it. You can't press it. But it's the largest button on your iPhone, more powerful than the versatile Side button, and it's hiding in plain sight.
If you think you know everything there is to know about using emoji on your iPhone, think again. You may be aware of a few of these tricks, but I'm confident there's at least one or two here that you overlooked or never thought possible. Feel free to prove me wrong.
Apple's Notes app has an important feature many users overlook, yet it's arguably the most crucial thing you should use for all your notes synced across iOS, iPadOS, macOS, and iCloud.com. And Apple makes the feature much easier to use than years before, so there's no reason you shouldn't be using it.
Is the emoji you're using really the one you think it is? While you can use any emoji that looks like it fits what you have to say, it may have been created for a different purpose. On an iPhone, it's easy to find that purpose by retrieving the actual name of the emoji in Apple's operating system.
It's not an easy task when it comes to customizing apps on your iPhone. Sure, you can build automations in Shortcuts to add color-related filters, enable Live Captions, or play a background sound specific to each app, but it can be too much work. If you don't mind that, go ahead, but there are also some easier per-app settings hiding on your iPhone that are much easier to assign.
When you need to take notes, sketch out projects, brainstorm with others, create mood boards, or map out ideas without constraints, look no further than Freeform, Apple's new collaboration-friendly digital whiteboard.
Live Activities is Apple's hottest new feature for iPhone, but it's not always straightforward. Sometimes you'll trigger one without realizing it, but it may seem frustratingly impossible to start one when you really want it.
Customization has always been the main draw of Android for me, but Apple has an impressive feature on iOS 16 that lets iPhone users create customized emoji wallpapers for their home and lock screens. While Android doesn't have something like that built-in by default, it's easy enough to make emoji wallpapers for your Android phone.
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.
You may prefer reading news stories, web articles, and books on your iPhone over listening to them in spoken form. Still, sometimes it's necessary when driving, walking, cycling, cleaning, working, or performing other activities requiring a little multitasking. To help you out, Apple has a text-to-speech service on your iPhone — you just need to know how to find and set it up.
It's no secret that Apple's iOS 16 update is packed with useful features, but some of them Apple never even mentioned. Not at the software's unveiling in June and not even after iOS 16's public release in September. It's actually surprising considering that one little-known new feature may actually be one of the most important upgrades iOS 16 has to offer for iPhones.
Apple's Contacts app just got its biggest update ever. Since the first iPhone in 2008, there have only been minor upgrades here and there to how you manage and interact with contacts. That changes with iOS 16.
We've been able to mark all or individual unread conversations as read in Apple's Messages app since iOS 8. Eight years later, Apple is finally letting us mark individual text and iMessage chats as unread.
One of the most useful new features Apple included on iOS 16 lets you instantly lift the subject out of a photo, separating it from the background. Once extracted, you can paste, save, or drop the cutout wherever you want as a new image, and you can even make it a sticker in messaging apps.
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.
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.
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.
