By Hallei Halter
Coffee is my co-pilot throughout the week. But if you asked me how much I drink on average, I'd draw a blank. Since my coffee habit was actually on auto-pilot, I chose RECaf - Caffeine Recorder as a a caffeine tracker for what, when, and how much caffeine I was consuming. This app is compatible with "Hey Siri" for logging entries and has customizable options so I can add specific drinks or food with their approximate caffeine content.
By Tamlin Day
At WWDC 2018, Apple made a big deal about Siri & Shortcuts during the keynote presentation. Shortcuts is based on the app Workflow, which Apple bought in 2017. In this article, we'll provide the basics to get you going with the Shortcuts gallery and the editor's screen. Now that Shortcuts is available for iOS 12, it seems that no one quite understands how the app works. Even Apple's official guide to Shortcuts fails to answer some important questions. Grab yourself a cup of a soothing herbal tea and let's dive into this mess together.
By Leanne Hays
I love using a thesaurus when I write, so the absence of this option from the iPhone's dictionary feature, Look Up, used to be a sore spot for me. Beginning with iOS 12, I no longer need a third-party thesaurus app, because a thesaurus is included in Look Up on iPhone and iPad for free! Let's get started learning how to add a thesaurus to Look Up, so you can find just the word you're looking for, be it a synonym or antonym.
By Leanne Hays
One of the iOS 12 features I've been eagerly awaiting is Apple's new Shortcuts app. This new app allows you to instruct Siri to accomplish a task or series of tasks with native and third-party apps, all triggered by a phrase of your own choosing. In addition to creating your own Shortcut, Apple's latest help app also lets you choose from a Gallery of pre-designed shortcuts. Let's get started learning how to find the Shortcuts app on iPhone and iPad, and then use the Gallery to install a Shortcut we all need from time to time: finding directions home. Once you've installed the driving directions Shortcut, you can choose and configure as many other Gallery Shortcuts as you need. We'll go over how to create your own Shortcut in a future tip.
By Leanne Hays
Apple's Photos app lets you photo search based on location, as well as with multiple search terms. Now, instead of trying scrolling through vacation pictures looking for the photos you took in a specific place, you can just search for that area, and all the pictures from that location will pop right up! Let's get started learning how to use this iPhone Photos search feature right now.
By Leanne Hays
FaceTime, the Apple live video chat app, is a fun way to connect with friends and family when hearing their voice just isn't enough. Now FaceTime is getting even better with a new filter feature in iOS 12. There are lots of filters to choose from, so you'll always find something to fit your mood: a cartoon filter, a few black and white choices, and much more. Let's get started learning how to use FaceTime filters on iPhone or iPad.
By Sarah Kingsbury
In the 94th episode of the iPhone Life Podcast, members of the team discuss the pros and cons of reading books on their iPhones, using a Kindle, listening to audiobooks, or buying old-fashioned paperbacks. Other topics include how to take advantage of iOS 12's location-based Do Not Disturb settings, tuning apps for musicians, and an iPhone game that has recently become Sarah’s guilty pleasure.
By Leanne Hays
I absolutely love going on road trips, or travel of any kind, really. One of the most fun aspects of any trip for me is finding places to eat, as well as museums and shops that are off the beaten path, local favorites that become part of my mental "must visit" list for future adventures. One of the best tools I've found for trip research to destinations near and far is the Yelp app. Yelp is a free app that collects professional and business reviews from all over the world including restaurants, movers, home cleaning services, shopping, and even doctors and clinics! Yelp has collected over 135 million reviews so far, and the number keeps growing as more and more smartphone users discover this handy app. If you're the type of person that likes to plan ahead and get the most for your money and time, you'll want to learn more about Yelp, including how to set up your own free account and use it to read and write reviews.
By Leanne Hays
Here's a fun thing to try with Apple Maps on your iPhone; did you know you can change your Maps settings from Map to Satellite and see all the real-life detail of the area you're viewing? This setting is Apple's version of the popular Google Street View. Let's get started learning how to change Apple Maps' settings to Satellite now.
By Leanne Hays
Name any hobby, sport, interest, or diversion, and you'll find out more about it than you ever dreamed possible on the Pinterest app. Not so very long ago if you wanted to find guidance for your latest woodworking project, some fresh new garden ideas, inspiration for a unique vacation destination, or an exciting new craft idea, you'd have to pore over books and magazine articles or spend tons of time surfing the web to find all the most helpful links. Now, though, your search can be much more quick and rewarding; you can look to Pinterest as a clearinghouse for pictures, videos, and information about over 100 billion different topics ranging from wildly popular to extremely obscure, right on your iPhone or iPad. What's more, you can share your favorite Pinterest categories and findings with friends and family who are also using the site or app, and keep all your best pins (saved posts) for whenever you'd like to go back and refer to them. Let's get started learning about everything Pinterest now, so you can start pinning with the best of them!
By Leanne Hays
Every morning, five days a week, we publish iPhone how-tos to help you get the most out of your phone. But just as important as understanding how your Apple devices work is finding the best apps to use with them. That's why every Saturday we share one of the apps the iPhone Life Team has used and loved with our readers.
According to AARP, only four out of ten American adults have created a will. Writing a will is an important step for every adult, particularly for those of us with children, because we don't want those we've left behind unprotected and confused about our final wishes. Since I'm one of the six out of ten who haven't made a will yet and don't want to spend the time and money to visit a lawyer, I've made it my mission to find a way to write a do-it-yourself online will, preferably for free. I've found an iPhone and iPad app called Tomorrow that not only helps users write a will, including designating heirs, executors, and guardians for children and pets, but also walks us through the process of purchasing life insurance and setting up a trust for our beneficiaries. To learn more about how the Tomorrow last will and testament app works, read on.
By Leanne Hays
iOS 12 has added tons of helpful and fun new features to your iPhone's software, one of my favorite new ones is the ability to add cool effects and Animojis (and Memojis!) while taking a picture or video in the Messages app.
By Leanne Hays
I'm on a summer road trip right now with my kids and sister; an adventure I've been planning for the last two months. My favorite booking tool for accommodations has been, by far, the Airbnb app. This free travel app has saved me not only money, but also loads of time and effort in researching and budgeting for our lodgings from Iowa to the East Coast and back again. Whether you're planning a business trip or a family vacation, going to somewhere rural or to a big city, there's an Airbnb room, apartment, or house just right for you. Let's go over what the Airbnb app is, how it works, and why you should try it out if you haven't already.
By Leanne Hays
We've probably all had the experience of finding a cool new restaurant or amazing bookstore, only to struggle to remember which block it was on when we try to go back. Apple Maps is a native iPhone and iPad app that can not only save a location but also share it! Now, when I find a place that I know friends and family will love, I can easily send its exact address directly from my Maps app, so they can find it too. Let's get started learning how to share addresses from Apple Maps on your iPhone and iPad.
By Conner Carey
News doesn’t have to be overwhelming. While it’s important to stay aware and up-to-date, there is a better way to get your daily news briefing: the Quartz app. Instead of showing you a flood of articles, Quartz is focused on a single screen that looks very similar to any messaging app, except these messages give you bite-sized nuggets of news. With the Quartz app, you can get an overview of the news and choose which subjects you want more details about. Learn more on what this app does and why we love it below.
