iPhone Life - Best Apps, Top Tips, Great Gear

There are so many types and brands of phone cases out there that it can be hard to know which is the best iPhone case for you. Personally, a wallet phone case suits my needs best, based on my tendency to lose small items. Having an iPhone case with a card holder for my ID, debit card, and, of course, coffee punch card has been so convenient that I've used an iPhone wallet case with every new iPhone I've purchased. Let's go over my favorite iPhone wallet cases of 2020, so you can pick your very first iPhone wallet case, or find the best wallet case for your new iPhone 12. We'll go over an Otterbox case, two options from Smartish, and more, that will fit everything from an iPhone 7 and iPhone 8 through the iPhone 11 and iPhone 12 lines.  

This article will tell you all the group messaging features in iMessage introduced in iOS 14. Group messages are a great way to keep families and friend groups in close contact, whether you're all in different places in the world or just want to have your plans written down in one place. However, if there are too many people talking about too many different things, the group chats can get confusing, and if you have too many going on at once it can be hard to keep track of which is which. iOS 14 introduced some new ways to organize and label your group messages to keep your communication easy and fun - as it should be! Let's take a look at these new features and how they can help you get the most out of your group chats.

iPhone Life Insider Lifetime Subscription Offer Extended for Cyber Week!

(Sponsored Post) By Erin Smith on Tue, 11/24/2020

We have extended our famous lifetime subscription offer for iPhone Life Insider to include Cyber Week! For less than the cost of a two-year subscription, you will receive access to our entire archive of Insider content for the rest of your life. We are also proud to offer an additional $40 discount for seniors, veterans, health professionals, and service personnel, as well as a no-questions-asked 60-day money-back guarantee.

The Apple Watch is an excellent tool to help you achieve your fitness goals. When you track your daily exercise, it’s important to keep an eye on active calories versus total calories. These numbers are good indicators of your physical activity. They let you know how many calories burned come from exercise and how many come from resting. With this information, you can easily adjust your routine to make sure you keep closing those rings. 

Is your phone’s default battery widget too small or missing percentage information? If you’re wondering how to turn on battery percentage on your iPhone, this step-by-step guide walks you through the process. In just a few taps, you’ll be able to choose your favorite version of this widget and keep battery status always visible on your Home Screen or Today View.

This article will tell you how to use the iPhone's new Wind Down feature to benefit your bedtime routine. The Sleep Schedules introduced with iOS 14 have a lot of potential to get people on the right track when it comes to their bedtime routines, but it can also be a nuisance if you don't optimize it for your personal habits. Wind Down Time is a mode where your phone goes into Do Not Disturb mode to encourage you to stop your usual activities and — you guessed it — wind down. This can be overridden on your lock screen, and you can also set up shortcuts to the activities that help you wind down, so you don't have to open your whole phone and see all the notifications vying for your attention that you should really leave until the morning. When I set up my first Sleep Schedule I was annoyed at the Wind Down notifications and subsequent Do Not Disturb mode. However, if you take just a little extra time to think about your own habits and what helps you settle down at night, Wind Down mode can be a very useful tool to help your mind settle down at the end of the day. So here are the best ways to get the most out of Wind Down mode and, if all else fails, how to turn off your Sleep Schedules.

If you've ever wondered what the icons and symbols on your Apple Watch are, this guide is for you! On the Apple Watch, icons and symbols are quite small and don’t come with much explanation, but they can be extremely useful. To get the most out of your Apple Watch, you need to know what these symbols are so you can turn on Water Mode or interpret when your watch is low on battery or disconnected from your iPhone. Here's a guide to the wonderful world of Apple Watch icons.

If you're willing to make the investment to add a HomePod or HomePod mini to several rooms in your house (if not all of them), you'll be able to take advantage of the new Intercom feature. Intercom is incredibly handy, allowing users to send and receive communications via a network of Bluetooth connected devices. This means that, for instance, instead of yelling to your kids that dinner is ready, now Siri can do it for you. That's right, you can now use Intercom to make Siri do some of your parent-to-child yelling. Just keep in mind that they, too, can join in the fun!

Have you waited for an email to arrive in your Primary Gmail inbox, but it never appeared? Gmail has multiple inboxes, or tabbed inboxes, and your email may have been delivered to your Social, Promotions, Updates, or Forums tab instead. Gmail usually does a good job sorting your email into these different categories, but sometimes gets it wrong. Don't worry; you can not only move your email to the correct Gmail inbox, but make sure that emails from that sender are directed to your Primary Gmail inbox in the future. Here's how to move an email between Gmail categories and redirect future emails from that sender to your Primary email inbox.

This article will tell you about the new security updates iOS 14 brings to your iPhone. While a lot of the flashier features of iOS 14 have been getting the most attention—App Clips! Translate app! The new App Library!—one of the most important parts of this update is what it means for your security. The security updates include always being able to tell if your camera or microphone is recording, even if you don't have it pulled up on your screen; being able to choose which photos you share with an app, instead of always sharing your whole camera roll; controlling whether or not an app can see your approximate or precise location; more transparency in the app store; privacy reports on pages you visit; and joining Wi-Fi from a private network. This sounds like a lot, and it is, but it's important to know all the privacy features your iPhone has to offer, and to learn how to take full advantage of them. So let's take a look at each feature and what it means for you. For more great ways to get the most out of iOS 14, check out our Tip of the Day!

I love my apps and widgets, but I can't stand clutter. It drives me nuts to have to spend several minutes looking for an app on my iPhone. If you're suffering from the same frustrations, you've come to the right place! I've put together some tips and tricks to help you remove clutter while still keeping your apps and data easy to access, and looking cool at the same time. Let's look at the eight best ways to declutter your iPhone Home Screen while still keeping things easy to find.

iPhone app icon customization is another great way that iOS 14 allows users to personalize their devices. While iPhone icons have always looked sleek, you can now make your own iPhone app icons or download an app to change your icons. The iPhone Shortcuts app allows users to create a custom aesthetic for their Home Screen without payng for a third-party app. It allows custom images to be used as icons that then function as a shortcut to the corresponding app in the App Library. Find out how to change app icons on iPhone with Shortcuts in a few simple steps.

Not only are iPads great portable devices for on-the-go creativity or entertainment, they can also be powerful productivity tools. With the right iPad gear, you can easily achieve laptop-level productivity. In this 2020 Buyer's Guide article, we'll cover the best accessories for your iPad, including our favorite iPad keyboard, bag, wireless mouse, and USB hub. 

Buyer's Guide 2020: Mac Gear

By Nicholas Naioti

Macs are our main hub for work and entertainment. We need to have gear and accessories to keep them charged, protected from accidents, and have components that add the most to their value. We've put together some of our favorite Mac docs, charging ports, adaptors, and even a headphone stand in our 2020 Buyer's Guide to Mac accessories. You'll find items from Brydge, Avantree, Anker, and more, offering a range of sturdy, innovative, and classic products for your Mac. 

Buyer's Guide 2020: Smart Home

By Amy Spitzfaden–Both

If you're in the market to buy your first smart home device or adding to your collection of smart home accessories, our 2020 Buyer's Guide has lots of excellent options for you to look at. Whether you are searching for a smart doorbell, a full smart home starter pack, or a laundry sensor, we've evaluated the best protection, safety, and energy-saving accessories for your home. 

Location Services on your iPhone lets Apple apps (like the Camera app) and third-party apps (like your banking app) figure out where you're located while using your phone. When iPhone Photo Location Services is turned on and you take a photo, it'll tag your photo with your current location. This way, you can search through the photos that you took on your vacation to Bora Bora or in your own hometown. Location Services uses Wi-Fi or cellular data plus GPS services to find your location. If you're connected to data or Wi-Fi but your photos aren't being tagged, we have a few simple fixes for you to try. Here's how to get Photos Location Services working again.

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