How-To

This is one iPhone Life journey I’m very much going on with you all. It’s that time of year: new devices in means old devices got to go. But how? Should you sell your iPhone or trade-in your iPhone? How do you get the best deal? I’m facing these same questions. Sure, selling my iPhone would mean more money toward that shiny new iPhone X, but how much trouble do I want to go through? There are a lot of iPhone trade-in offers out there, including those from carriers like Verizon, third-party resellers like Gazelle, and even from Apple itself. We can’t make the decision for you, but we can lay out all of your options and the money (or credit) you can expect to get from each. Here’s how to sell or trade-in your iPhone so you can get that new one.

Do you have an idea for an app but lack the programming knowledge to begin building it? In this weekly blog series, I will take you, the non-programmer, step by step through the process of creating apps for the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Join me each week on this adventure, and you will experience how much fun turning your ideas into reality can be! This is Part 22 of the series. If you are just getting started, check out the beginning of the series here. (This post has been updated to Swift 1.2, Xcode 6.4, and iOS 8).

In the last few posts in this series, you have learned a lot about retrieving entities from a database using Core Data, and displaying the results in a table view. Now that we have we have all the other functionality working in the Write Review scene of iAppsReview, it's time to learn how to save a ReviewEntity using Core Data!

Sometimes, you need to record a thought quickly. Using the Voice Memos voice recorder app on an iPhone or iPad to record that thought out loud is the fastest way to capture an idea before it flies away forever. The Voice Memos app is the little-known gem of the iPhone and iPad. Ease of use and clarity of sound makes the native Voice Memos app ideal for recording interviews, notes, and vocals, with the ability to record for hours at a time. If you're the type of person whose brain moves faster than your typing hands can keep up with, then Voice Memos is the ideal app for you. 


With iOS 9, Apple introduces the iPad to split-screen multitasking. Also called Slide Over, this new function is supported by the iPad Air, iPad Air 2, iPad mini 2, and iPad mini 3 and later. Located on the right edge of the screen and designed to run multiple apps, Slide Over allows you view another app without leaving the one you're in; however, the two applications won't run together side by side unless you have an iPad Air 2 or later. 

What Is AE/AF Lock & How to Use It

When you capture an image with your iPhone, the camera's autofocus (AF) and auto exposure (AE) features will automatically determine the best focus position for you and the best exposure for that area of focus. However, you can manually adjust these settings and lock them so that you don't have to reset them between shots. Now, let's find out how to use AE/AF Lock!

Siri is an awesome time saver. Want to view your most recent calls, text someone, get directions, or post to Facebook? Just ask Siri. You can even do all this from your lock screen. The problem is, so can anyone else. If your settings allow for it, anyone can access your call history, send a tweet, or get directions to a contact's home from your lock screen just by bringing up Siri and asking.

Some of your Facebook friends like games. A lot. Some of your Facebook friends want you to like games a lot too. And you know this because they've sent you so many Facebook game requests that you are considering unfriending them just to make the onslaught stop. 

We at iPhone Life don't want to tell you who to be friends with, but you don't actually have to unfriend the Facebook gamers you know in order to make the game requests stop. Here's what you can do instead:

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