iPhone X

In 2017 Apple rolled out the iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, and the iPhone X, and it looks like a repeat performance is slated for 2018. Rumor has it that three new iPhones will be revealed this year in September. Will Apple take a jump back on the timeline and dub one of these offerings the iPhone 9? Perhaps a 9, a 9 Plus, a second generation iPhone X, an iPhone X Plus, or even an iPhone 11 are on Apple's menu for this year? The names of the new iPhones may remain a secret until the moment they're unveiled, but we have several bits of information about their capabilities and features ahead of their unveiling. Here's our 2018 iPhone rumor roundup with information on features, as well as image mockups we've gathered from around the internet. 

Apple confused quite a few people when it removed the Home button from the iPhone X. Now that we're mostly used to using gestures, swipes, and the Home bar instead of relying on the Home button, it's time to learn a few more easy iPhone X tricks for navigating quickly around our devices. One important one, especially for people with page after page of apps, is learning how to get back to the main Home screen on their iPhone X. The main Home screen on your iPhone X is often the screen that contains all the apps you use the most, which for me includes the Calendar app, the App Store app, the Photos app, you know—all the important apps I use all day! So let's get started learning how to save time by returning to your primary Home screen on iPhone X with one easy gesture.

Without a Home button, how do you turn off the iPhone X? There are a couple ways; in a previous tip, I went over how to turn off your iPhone without buttons, which is more of an iOS 11 feature than an iPhone X one. However, you can still turn off your iPhone X with buttons, it’s just a bit different than you’re used to. We’ll also cover how to turn on your iPhone X. Here’s how to turn on and off your iPhone X.

When looking at the Lock screen on your iPhone X, you’ll see two icons on either side near the bottom: a camera and a flashlight. Having quick access to the Camera app and Flashlight on your iPhone X is a great feature that utilizes some of your extra screen space. But how do you open the Camera app or turn on the flashlight from Lock screen? Your instinct may be to tap each icon, but you’ll need to make it a 3D Touch. Here’s how to access the flashlight and camera from the Lock screen on your iPhone X.

The iPhone X has an app switcher that’s nearly identical to the App Switcher on all other iPhones. There are two major differences: how you access the App Switcher and how you remove apps from the app switcher. We’ve already covered how to close apps in the App Switcher; here’s how to open the App Switcher on an iPhone X. We’ll also cover a really cool feature on the iPhone X that allows you to quickly swipe between apps without ever opening the App Switcher. Let’s get into it.

The iPhone 8 and 8 Plus and previous iPhones use the Home button to activate Siri, but that’s not an option with the iPhone X. While activating Siri may not be as intuitive on the iPhone X, it’s just as easy once you retrain your muscle memory. The Side button (formerly known as the Sleep/Wake button) on the iPhone X performs many functions, including activating Siri. Of course, Hey Siri is still an option on the iPhone X and it’s the same as before. But we’ll cover how to manually activate Siri on your iPhone X below.

In a previous tip, we covered how to access Control Center on your iPhone X. I talked about the notch at the top of the iPhone X, which naturally divides the top left and right of your screen. Apple uses that simple divide to the fullest by giving you access to both Control Center and Notifications with a swipe down from the top. Here’s how to access Notifications on iPhone X.

Without a Home button on the iPhone X, how do you return to Home screen? I love the gesture Apple uses to go back to Home, as it feels just as intuitive as clicking the Home button had become. Look for the thin long bar, that usually appears white, black, or gray, at the very bottom of your screen. This is a good visual cue. Here’s how to return to Home screen on iPhone X.

Taking a screenshot allows you to capture exactly what’s on your screen and save it as a photo. I take a lot of screenshots in my job; but even outside of work, there are various reasons taking a screenshot can come in handy. Every iPhone, except the iPhone X, uses the Home button and Side button together to take a screenshot. But with an edge-to-edge display, Apple needed to shift how you take a screenshot on the iPhone X. Let’s go over it.

If your iPhone X is stuck on the Apple logo, a spinning wheel, a completely black screen, or otherwise frozen, one quick method for getting everything back to normal is a force restart. There are lots of different names people call this procedure; a hard restart, force shutdown, a hard reset, or even a hard reboot. What all these terms refer to, though, is the same thing; forcing your iPhone to turn off in such a way that it has to completely reboot when you turn it back on. This iPhone X reboot allows your device to restart with refreshed memory and, hopefully, minus the glitches. This isn't something you want to do every time you turn off your iPhone; it’s more of a last resort when your iPhone is acting wonky or freezes completely. A hard reset is a bit more complicated on the iPhone X than on other iPhones, so let's learn how to reboot your iPhone X. 

Face ID can be used to unlock apps on iPhone. For example, when I open my Day One journaling app, it pretty quickly recognizes it’s me and lets me in. This saves me from needing to enter the passcode. Whether or not Face ID works with an app depends on the app’s developers and what they’ve programmed it to be able to do. But you can easily see which of your apps will work with Face ID within Settings; you can also turn Face ID on for apps in the same place. Here’s how to turn on Face ID for apps in settings on iPhone.

Animoji is a new iMessage feature that currently is only available on the iPhone X. Animojis are animated emojis, and the technology required to create them is really incredible, with far-reaching potential applications. The Animojis feature allows iPhone X owners to animate various characters in ten-second videos and send them to friends. When you move your face, the Animoji automatically moves with you. With Animojis, you are essentially animating your own face, as though you were in a cartoon right from the comfort of your iPhone. The first iteration of Animojis allowed you to be a unicorn, the poop emoji, a panda, a chicken, and more. With iOS 11.3, Apple has added a bear, a dragon, a lion, and a skull.  Here’s how to use Animojis on your iPhone X.

Typically when Apple releases a new iPhone, the changes are indisputably upgrades. There’s nothing controversial about adding a better camera and faster processor while keeping the price the same. When Apple decided to remove the headphone jack from the iPhone 7, it was the first time that the changes felt more like a trade-off than an upgrade. When Apple released the iPhone X, I was left with a similar feeling. Apple upgraded the camera, designed an edge-to-edge display, and added Face ID, but removed the Home button and with it the popular Touch ID sensor. To further complicate the equation, Apple raised the price to $1,000. When I watched Apple announce the iPhone X, I was left with more questions than answers. Would I miss the Home button and Touch ID? Would the iPhone’s unusual notch at the top of the display bother me? How reliable would Face ID be? Most importantly, I wondered if the iPhone X was worth the extravagant price tag. After two months of using the iPhone X, I’m ready to weigh in with a definitive hands-on review.

The beautiful edge-to-edge display of the iPhone X leaves no room for a Home button. But if you find yourself missing the old Home button, you can add an on-screen Home button to your iPhone X screen thanks to the accessibility features. This is actually something that anyone with an iPhone can do, and it comes in handy if you have an older iPhone with a broken Home button. For iPhone X users, however, it’s the only way to retrieve the lost Home button. It’s not for everyone, but it’s great for those who want it. Here’s how to add an on-screen Home button to your iPhone X.

One of, if not, the most talked about features of the iPhone X is Face ID. And it works eerily well. The process is so fast that you’re tempted to make sure it doesn't just let anybody in (don't worry, it doesn't). The iPhone X prompts you to set up Face ID when you set up your device for the first time, but if you skipped that part or feel like it didn't do as good of a job as you wanted it to, use this tip to set up Face ID in Settings. Here's how to set up Face ID on the iPhone X.

The Home button on iPhone served a lot of functions, which means Apple had to figure out a way to make those same functions work without a Home button. You can still easily access Apple Pay for both real-world and in-app purchases with your iPhone. And it’s not that different than before. Here’s how to use Apple Pay on the iPhone X.

When you set up the new iPhone X, it tells you how to open the App Switcher: swipe up from the bottom of the screen to just below the center, hold for a second, and let go. There will be a subtle bit of haptic feedback when you’re holding to let you know it’s okay to let go. But once you’ve opened the App Switcher, figuring out how to remove apps and fully close them isn’t so obvious. With every other iPhone, you simply swipe up on an app to close it. I’m not sure why Apple changed this for the iPhone X, but here’s how to close apps in the App Switcher on iPhone X.

Face ID is designed to be secure first and fast second. By default, the iPhone X has a setting turned on that requires you to look directly at your iPhone screen before it will unlock. This is meant to make Face ID more secure by making it much more difficult for someone to unlock your phone with your face when you don't want them to. However, I've noticed that this does make Face ID feel slower. That's due to the fact that even though I pick up my phone, it doesn't even attempt to unlock until I've directly looked at it. Of course, we're talking seconds here. But for some, speed may be more important than an added layer of security. Here's how to make Face ID faster by turning off Require Attention on iPhone X.

How to Find Out What iPhone You Have: 

1. Your iPhone’s model number is located on the back near the bottom of the phone.
2. It’s in extremely fine print. You might want to take it to a window for more light or have someone with top-notch vision look if needs be.
3. It will say Model: A#### (The letter A followed by four numbers).
4. Make note of the model number.

Scan the list below for the model number you took note of. I’ve very simply listed them, starting with the original iPhone and moving towards the iPhone X. Here are all the iPhone model numbers and the iPhone models that go with them.