Phone

The iPhone's new Silence Unknown Callers feature is a great way to avoid annoying robo calls without having to keep your iPhone muted. Before iOS 13, iPhone users had to rely on third-party apps of varying effectiveness to block spam calls. The new feature is enabled by default, but if it's been disabled, you'll need to head to the Phone menu inside the Settings app to enable it. This is also where you will turn the feature off if you find you're missing important calls and don't want calls from unknown numbers to be silenced. Let's get started with how to silence unrecognized phone numbers on your iPhone.

Did you know you can create your own custom ringtones for incoming texts and calls? Here's how to make ringtones with GarageBand on your iPhone. You'll need to have your device running on iOS 11 or later, have recorded a voice memo that is thirty seconds or shorter on the Voice Memos app, and saved that recording to the Files app. You'll also need to have GarageBand downloaded to your iPhone if you don't already. With this tip, you'll be able to make the ringtone on your iPhone without using iTunes or a Mac!

Have you noticed the Photos tab in the Photos app doesn't display all the photos you took at last night's party or from your morning walk? You can turn off Summarize Photos to view photos, as in ALL photos, in the Photos app. When Summarize Photos is on, the Photos tab chooses key photos to display. For example, if you took multiple photos of the same flower, Summarize Photos will have one or maybe two displayed when you browse the Photos tab. Here's how to turn off Summarize Photos so you can view all photos on your iPhone.

Text messages are quick to send and read, but sometimes you'll need to call the other person to clear something up or if you need more direct communication. Here's how to make a phone call from the text chat, so you can reply to a text message with a phone call without leaving the Messages app. This can also be helpful if you don't have a contact's number saved on your phone, but have received text messages from them. 

If you're wanting to call someone whose number you've saved, edit their contact details, or share their contact details with someone else, you can quickly find their contact card by searching Contacts. Here's how to search your iPhone contacts in either the Contacts app or the Contacts tab in the Phone app to find who you're looking for. 

Want to know how to get in touch with your favorite people even faster? Here's how to add a contact to Favorites in the Phone app. When you add a contact to Favorites, you can set a default contact method and then just tap their their name and get instantly connected by whichever option you choose. So text, call, and FaceTime with just a tap! 

If you use your Apple Watch for phone calls, sometimes you'll need to use a keypad or even switch the audio output to a different device such as a speaker or headset. Here's how to open the keypad and how to change the audio output during an Apple Watch call. 

Sometimes I'll misread the name of someone calling me, and having a photo of the person pop up with their name on my iPhone screen has cut down on the confusion. Here's how to add a photo to a contact. Trust me, it's a great feature to use so you don't talk to your cousin Ellie thinking she's your coworker Elaine.

If I get a call on my iPhone when I'm busy, I'll tap Decline and immediately forget that someone called me. I was happy to discover that there's a way to get your iPhone to remind you to call the person back. Here's how to skip phone calls with Remind Me Later, so you won't be playing phone tag for days on end.

Need iPad and iPhone help? Sign up for iPhone Life Insider and Sarah will help you with all your iPhone troubleshooting and iOS-related issues. To learn more go to iPhoneLife.com/Insider. In this Hey Sarah column, one Insider wants to know how to change the default greeting on their iPhone's voicemail. Other questions include how to view more than the current month on Apple Watch and how to sort notes in the Notes app alphabetically.

Your Apple's HomePod delivers a high-fidelity audio experience and helps control Homekit devices with Siri. Did you know that you can also transfer phone calls from your iPhone to your HomePod for speakerphone calls? Simply tap the audio icon while making a call, and select the HomPod from the list of audio options. Using your HomePod as a speakerphone is a great way to go hands-free when you need to move around the room without carrying your iPhone or worrying about sounding muffled. Let's get started learning how to transfer calls on your iPhone to your HomePod so you can use your HomePod as a speakerphone. 

If you've just bought your first iPhone, or if you're one of the many people who just never got around to setting up their voicemail until now, you may be wondering how to open and listen to voicemail on your phone. You'll also want to learn how to delete voicemail messages, since too many undeleted messages will mean new messages can't be added to your voicemail. Voicemail on your iPhone is quick and easy to use; let's get started learning how to play voicemail messages on your iPhone, and how to delete voicemails as well, so you'll never miss a message. 

Your iPhone has a variety of free ringtones to peruse, and the iTunes Store has a gigantic selection of iPhone ringtones to purchase, but what if you want to make your own custom ringtone? Good news! You can make phone ringtones free using already purchased songs from your iTunes library. All you need is your iPhone, a Mac or PC, a Lightning cable, 20–30 seconds of your favorite song, a little bit of time, and a willingness to try something new. Let's get started learning how to make your own custom free ringtones for iPhone with iTunes! 

Voicemail-to-text transcriptions on the iPhone aren't a perfect offering—the service often drops words and mangles names—but despite that, voicemail transcriptions are useful if you would rather scan a bit of text than listen to a voice message. If you want to send that text to someone else, you'll have to select the text, then on the Edit Menu which pops up, choose the Share option, and finally tap the sharing method you prefer and send the text. One feature we'd love to see added to the voicemail-to-text feature is a single-step method for sharing voicemail transcriptions. While we're waiting for this feature, though, the select-share workaround is functional enough. Read on to learn how to share voicemail to text transcriptions on your iPhone.

You've been trying to get in touch with a friend or family member, but they haven't returned your calls or messages, or you see that your iMessage was not delivered. Are they just busy, is something wrong with their phone, or have they blocked your number? How can you tell if someone blocked your number? There's not a surefire way to know if your number is blocked, but there are a few telling signs that indicate someone blocked your number from texting or calling. We've already gone over how to block a number, as well as how to block your number or call privately, now let's go over the clues that calls and messages from your iPhone are being blocked.

When you make a call on your iPhone, Caller ID reveals your phone number to the person you're contacting. If you want to make a private call and block your caller ID from a recipient, you'll need to either enter a specific code before dialing a number or disable the Show Caller ID feature inside the Settings app. We've already covered how to block a number and how to know if someone blocked your number, so this is just one more aspect of blocked calls we need to cover. If you want to know how to make a private call, there are a few ways to accomplish this. We'll learn three ways to hide your phone number for privacy, as well as who can still see your number even with these methods, and a simple way to make your phone number visible again on a call-by-call basis. Let's get started learning how to call without Caller ID so you can maintain your privacy when you need it. 

We've gone over how to block a phone number on the iPhone, which includes how to block calls and text messages, but what happens when you block someone on your iPhone? Did you know that even when someone's number is blocked, they can still leave you voicemails? It seems odd to be able to receive voicemails from someone you've put on your block list, but there it is, and in a way, this peculiar feature has its merits. For example, if you've blocked an ex or cyberbully, it can be useful to know if they've moved on or if you may have cause to worry. So let's get started learning what happens when you block a caller, how to find out if someone you blocked has called you, and how to listen to voicemails from blocked numbers, as well. 

The camera roll on my iPhone is jam packed with pictures of my dogs—there's just something about those fuzzy faces that demands to be adored and photographed so that the pictures can be adored as well. Then of course there's the sharing; #instadog #socute #sorryyouguysicantrestrainmyself. I've been known to take dog photos with Instagram, share them to Facebook, then text and private message them to friends and family that really must see the latest iteration of canine cuteness right away. Therefore it is with great delight that I announce the discovery of my new favorite app, BarkCam, the "Instagram for Dogs." 

Signal is a privacy app that uses end-to-end encryption for individual and group texts, videos, documents, voice, and picture messaging. Open Whisper, Signal's parent company, produced Signal using grants and donations, utilizing Open Source software, with the aim of providing a free and secure platform for worldwide communication, without SMS or MMS fees—this even includes free long-distance calls to anyone, anywhere in the world who also has the Signal app! No one at Signal or anywhere else can read or view communications on the platform, they can only be viewed by the individual user, who can also choose when each message will disappear. Since the whole point of an encrypted communication app is to ensure privacy, Signal is free of tracking, affiliate marketers, and ads. Signal uses your existing address book and phone number, and will only allow you to register one mobile device, so you'll need to choose if you want to use your iPhone or iPad. Getting Signal on your iPhone is free and easy, it pops right up in the App Store, but Signal for iPad is a bit more complicated. Read on to learn how to get Signal on your iPad!

AirPods users: did you know you can answer a call on your AirPods? If you’re sporting AirPods, you’ll certainly want to adjust your Airpods settings so that you can answer calls using this hidden feature. You can answer your iPhone with AirPods and hang up calls with your AirPods as well; we’ll go over how to do both. You can even set up your iPhone to announce calls via Airpods, so you know who's on the line before you answer the call. When learning how to use your AirPods, make sure to memorize this short set of Airpods instructions and to keep track of your AirPods battery life. Here’s how to answer a call with AirPods.