Accessories

If you've ever wished for the ability to pair two sets of AirPods to your iPhone so you can share audio with a friend, Apple has finally granted your wish. As of iOS 13 you have the ability to sync two pairs of AirPods to one iPhone, so that you can listen to your music, audiobook, podcast, or movie together. Connecting AirPods this way isn't hard at all, but you might want to first rename your AirPods so that you can keep them straight. Let's get started learning how to pair two sets of AirPods to your iPhone and listen to the same audio simultaneously.

When iPadOS 13 came out, I was delighted to discover that I could use a mouse with an iPad, as long as the mouse used Bluetooth. When Apple released iOS 13.4 and iPadOS 13.4, it added even more support for using a trackpad or wireless mouse for the iPad, iPad Pro, or even an iPhone, if it's the correct model. Here's how to connect your iPad mouse or trackpad to your tablet.

Want to use your iPad as a monitor for your Mac? No problem, Sidecar has you covered! With macOS Catalina and iPadOS 13, you can use a feature called Sidecar to turn your handy iPad into a second screen. Want to see your iPad mirroring your Mac's display? Not a problem either. Sidecar is easy to set up, and works like a charm. The ability to use an iPad as a second monitor for an iPad dual-screen setup has been possible with the third-party Duet Display app for a while. Now an even better way to do it is available to everyone, built right into the operating systems. Read on to find out how to set up this feature, and what requirements to check for if it doesn’t seem to be working.

Using your iPhone to check the status of your AirPods and AirPods case is a quick way to know if your Airpods case is charging, if your AirPods are charging, or how much time you have left to listen to music. We'll show you how to check the battery levels of your AirPods and their charging case, and how to make sure your Apple AirPods case is charging properly. Let's get started with how to use your iPhone to monitor the status of your AirPods battery life.

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. If adding a HomeKit accessory means you'll also want to change your HomeKit Hub, we can show you how to do that to.

Most professional videographers agree that high-quality audio capture is just as important, if not more so than, high-quality video capture. Watching a low resolution YouTube video with superb audio reproduction is far more tolerable than watching a high resolution video with poor audio quality. That is why I find it so surprising that Apple has focused so much of its iPhone feature attention on camera and video capture quality while still utilizing a run of the mill embedded mono microphone for audio. The founders of Hooke Audio saw this subpar configuration in not just the iPhone but other smartphones and video capture devices like GoPro's, and built a product to address this discrepancy. Read on to find out if the Hooke Verse wireless binaural 3D audio microphone system ($159.99) succeeds at eliminating this mobile audio capture fidelity problem.

The Apple Pencil is seen by many iPad users as a stylus (much to Jony Ive's annoyance), but its main use is as a tool for markups and creative projects in apps like Procreate or something more simple like Notes. Here are some quick tips for drawing with the Apple Pencil including adjusting opacity and line thickness, shading with the side of the Pencil's nib, erasing, and using the Apple Pencil 2's double tap feature to switch between tools. While there is some overlap with the basics functions of both a regular pencil and an Apple Pencil, you'll find the Apple Pencil has potential to unlock a digital flood of creative possibilties and may help with an artist block or two.

I have used Sennheiser wired headsets for years, finding them to be high quality sound and comfort. So I was excited when Sennheiser announced their initial entry into the rapidly crowding market of wireless earbuds.  How could they possibly match the audio and comfort quality they were known for in the wired headset world in the earbud market, especially when even high-end wireless earbuds were prone to subpar audio reproduction and dropouts?  It was with some trepidations that I inserted each earbud and cranked up the tunes to determine if Sennheiser could master the wireless space as well as they had the wired audio experience.  Read on to find out.

Is your AirPods' volume low? AirPods Pro and AirPods volume control can be a bit unintuitive. It's not easy for everyone to figure out how to adjust the volume on AirPods when there are no buttons and no dials! AirPods controls are hidden in Siri commands, AirPod tap controls (some call them AirPods touch controls), and AirPods gestures. There are two Airpods volume control options for increasing and decreasing the volume on your AirPods: One involves using Siri commands to turn your AirPods up or down. The other method allows people to use their iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, or Mac to adjust volume on AirPods and AirPods Pro. We've already written about how to change AirPod settings, and even a full guide of AirPods instructions. If you've been wondering how to work AirPods and AirPods Pro volume control, read on to learn how to make your AirPods louder or lower the volume. 

Bluetooth technology has been around for twenty years, and new and improved Bluetooth devices for iPhone are hitting the market every day. Bluetooth speakers, Bluetooth headsets, Bluetooth keyboards, all of these devices work in essentially the same way; they automatically detect and connect to each other and share information. If you haven't purchased a Bluetooth device or paired one to your iPhone yet, it's time to learn how! Let's get started learning how to connect your iPhone to Bluetooth devices.

Qi charging, wireless charging, inductive charging... whatever you call it, it's fast becoming a must-have feature in the smart phone world. Apple's latest three iPhone offerings, the 8, 8 Plus, and X, are all Qi enabled and can charge their batteries at the wireless charging stations that are popping up everywhere from airports to coffee shops. There's even a free app, Aircharge Qi, that lets iPhone users know where their nearest Qi charging station is! The versatility and convenience offered by electromagnetic charging isn't just for the latest iPhones, though. If you have an older iPhone and want to get on the wireless charging bandwagon, there's more than one way to Qi-enable your pre-iPhone 8 device. Choices include wireless charging cases, and a variety of wireless charging receiver cards, stickers, and patches; and remember, if you're going to buy a Qi-enabling accessory for your device, you'll also need a Qi charging pad. Let's get started going over your options to get wireless charging on your older iPhone.

With the incredible video-processing technology embedded in Apple's latest iPhones, the optics and 4K video capture make them highly capable video cameras. Unfortunately, the most significant limitation of the iPhone's portability is the reliance on its embedded iPhone microphone to capture audio. AmpRidge has addressed this constraint head-on with two external microphones for iPhones. Let's take a closer look at what each iPhone mic has to offer iOS videographers.

There are notable inflection points in technology when a groundswell of a new approach bursts through and rapidly diffuses through the population of digital early adopter enthusiasts. With the advent of Apple's AirPods, truly wireless headphones are the latest innovation manifesting this new approach to wire-free audio consumption. Indeed, I predict that 2018 will be the year that a majority of audio headset manufacturers will offer AirPods alternatives ranging from low to high cost and quality. One of the new companies that is attempting to make a name for itself with this new market opportunity is Stockholm-based Yevo, debuting its Yevo 1 wireless eabuds ($249). Does the Yevo 1 offer a value proposition stronger than Apple's for iOS users looking for an incredible wire-free listening experience? Read on to find out.

If you're asking, "how do I sync Fitbit to Apple Health?" we've got the answer. Syncing your Fitbit or other health and fitness tracker to Apple’s Health app makes it easy to keep all of your general health information in one place on your iPhone. You can integrate your fitness trackers and other health accessories with all of your Health app information to keep a running log of measurements, nutrition, blood pressure, medical records, and much more. Since wearable fitness monitors can track so much data about exercise, sleep, weight and even blood pressure, a connection between your Fitbit, Garmin, Polar, Misfit, Withings, or other wearable tracker to a single Health app makes sense. However, connecting a Fitbit to the Apple Health app requires support from a third-party app.

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