How Your iPhone Can Help You Beat the Winter Blues
By Hallei Halter
Ah, winter. As much as I wish I could curl up in bed and hibernate like a bear, I still have as much to do during this season as any other. There are apps such as AccuWeather (free) to keep me informed about the forecast and the Winter Survival Kit (free) to help me prep my car or send for help when the weather gets scary. But on average, I just want my chilly days to be easy and enjoyable. Here are a few iPhone apps and accessories to make winter less of a hassle and more of a holiday.
How to Add a Smart Home Accessory to Homekit
By Hallei Halter
Adding Homekit enabled accessories like smart lights to the HomeKit app lets you control, schedule, and monitor your smart home devices from anywhere in the world. To add a smart accessory to your Homekit, you'll need to pair the smart device using the app's Scan QR function or enter the code manually on your iPhone or an iPad. Now, plug in your smart accessory, power it up, and let's dive right in with adding your first smart accessory to your HomeKit.
How to Stop Kids from Accessing Blocked Apps on the Apps' Websites
By Hallei Halter
If you've set up Screen Time for your child's iOS devices and have blocked or limited social media and other apps, those apps's services may still be accessible via their URL websites, providing kids with a way get around your restrictions. Here's how to limit access to those websites on any browser on an iPhone or iPad so you'll be able to fully block an app's website and not worry about kids finding a way to use them. This tip can also be used by adults who are trying to limit their own social media use.
How to Turn Off Auto-Capitalization on Your iPhone
By Hallei Halter
Sometimes I'll have words randomly capitalized while texting, such as "may" into "May" like the month. If you're bothered by unwanted or random capitalizations while typing on your iPhone or iPad, you can try turning off auto-capitalization in your device's keyboard settings, which can be found under General in the Settings app. While this is not the same as turning off auto-correct, having auto-capitalization off can stop words from being capitalized when you don't want them to be. Try this tip to cut down on your texting frustration!
The Fastest Way to Your Share Location from an iPhone
By Hallei Halter
There are a couple ways to share your location, but this might be the quickest! Here's how to share your location from your iPhone in a text message using predictive text. For this tip, you'll have to have both Predictive Text and Location Services enabled. And if you're not connected to Wi-Fi, you'll have to enable Apple Maps too.
How to Disable Your iPhone's Attention Aware Features
By Hallei Halter
If you have an iPhone X or later, you might notice your device does a few things automatically if you're looking at it. For example, your screen won't dim if you're still facing it and your ringer's volume will lower when you're facing the screen as well. This is because of the Attention Aware feature. By disabling Attention Aware, you can stop your alert noises from lowering automatically and your screen will dim with your face in view, which may save you some battery power.
How to Make a Voice Memo into a Ringtone on iPhone
By Hallei Halter
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!
Instantly Transfer Photos & Scans from iPhone to Mac Using Continuity Camera
By Hallei Halter
Want to know the quickest way to transfer photos and scan documents from your iPhone to your Mac? Here's how to use the Continuity Camera feature on the Mac, which enables you to scan documents or take photos on your iPhone and instantly have them uploaded on your Mac. Your Mac needs to be updated to macOS 10.14 or later and your iPhone to iOS 12 or later. You won't have to use AirDrop or have your device physically connected to the Mac with a cable for this tip. However, both your iPhone and Mac do need to be connected to the same Wi-Fi network with Bluetooth enabled and be near each other (like in the same room). Both Mac and the iPhone will also need to be signed in to iCloud with the same Apple ID using two-factor authentication.
8 Best Habit Setting & Goal Tracker Apps for Your iPhone
By Hallei Halter
Do you have new habits you would like to create, but don’t know how to begin? Feel like you start working toward a new goal only to find that you can’t quite keep it going or reach a finishing point? Here are our picks for the best apps that can help anyone with forming and tracking a habit or setting and completing a goal.
How to Play Games in the iMessages App
By Hallei Halter
If you have iOS 10 or later, you can challenge a friend to a quick game in the Messages app, provided your friend is also using iMessages! Just find a game you like in the iMessaages App Store, tap to get it, and then start playing with your friend. Playing a game via iMessages is great for when you don't have much to talk about, but still want to keep in touch with someone. Here's how to start and play games in iMessages.