iPhone Life - Best Apps, Top Tips, Great Gear

Smart Outdoor Living in 2025

By Sarah Kingsbury

Smart Outdoor Living in 2024

One of my favorite things since I moved to Las Vegas is starting my day by sipping coffee on my patio as the sun rises, surrounded by thriving flowers and herbs, while a small fountain burbles in the background, and hummingbirds whizz to and from the feeder so quickly they’re gone before I can even catch a good look. My second favorite thing is sitting on the patio enjoying the evening breeze sipping wine with my husband or friends with the perfect lighting and background music to set the mood. The only thing that could make it better is if it all happened with little to no effort from me. That’s why this spring, I decided to extend my smart home to the outdoors and turn my patio into a tech-powered haven for pollinators and people alike.

On June 10 at Apple's annual developer conference keynote, we learned what Apple has in store for the latest Mac operating system, Sequoia, and it's a big year for new features. Many of the updates are shared by iOS and iPadOS 18, but several are Mac specific. Let's get into some of the most exciting updates we'll see this year. They include iPhone Mirroring, desktop organization, more immersive gaming, and new video conference features; Presenter preview and background replacements.

Find Out If Your Data's Been Compromised

(Sponsored Post) By Amy Spitzfaden Both on Thu, 01/08/2026

Here's a hard truth: it's a new year but the same people are buying and selling your information daily. But who are these people? This is where our friends at Incogni come in. They've launched a free data checker so you can see exactly which data brokers and people search sites have your information. 

Which AirPods Do I Have? Quick Airpods Serial Number Check

"What AirPods do I have?" Sometimes, it's hard to know which AirPods you have just by looking at them, and the difference between AirPods Gen 1 vs. AirPods Gen 2 is even more difficult to spot. Learn how to find your AirPods model number on your iPhone or iPad, where to find it on the AirPods themselves, and how to tell what generation AirPods you have using that number.

This article covers all the new features in Photos and Camera apps in iOS 14 including how to add captions to photos, how to filter photos, the best way to organize photos, how to create a memory or make a slideshow from an album, how to save mirror selfies to your camera roll, and how to take burst photos on the iPhone using the volume controls. Some of the most exciting new features introduced with iOS 14 are in the Apple Photos and Camera apps. Let's take a look at what's new and how best to utilize these features.

Access to a deceased family member’s Apple account allows you to recover photos, finalize financial matters, and save other important digital information. To protect the privacy of customers who have passed away, Apple requires a court order before granting you access to a deceased person’s iCloud account. This ensures that your loved one’s information stays secure even after their passing. To help make this process as easy as possible for you, we've put together a guide to Apple's policies and requirements for gaining access to a deceased person's Apple or iCloud account.

If your recent iOS 14 update came with orange or green dots at the top of your screen, you’re not alone. But don’t worry, these indicators on the iPhone status bar are there to safeguard your security and privacy. They let you know when apps use your microphone or camera, and are especially helpful when you’re not aware that your microphone or camera is in use. Let’s take a look at what each dot means and how you can monitor which apps accessed your iPhone microphone or camera recently.

This article will tell you how to turn off Auto-Join Wi-Fi on an iPhone. The iPhone automatically connects to known Wi-Fi networks whenever it's in range. While auto-joining a known Wi-Fi network can be useful in saving us from having to manually reconnect to our preferred networks every time we want to use the internet, it can be frustrating to automatically join a network. Maybe you are in range of two known networks, such as the coffee shop where you're working and the restaurant next door and your iPhone connected to the wrong one, or maybe you don't want your device to connect to the coffee shop Wi-Fi every time you happen to walk by. Whatever your reason is, if you are unhappy when Wi-Fi keeps turning on on your iPhone, here is how to turn off Auto-Join Wi-Fi.

If you're a regular user of any device, it's likely that you listen to music or watch videos on your device as well. If you stream that media to another device in your home, you've probably wondered which streaming method works best for your device and whether AirPlay is more reliable than Bluetooth or Wi-Fi. In this article we'll discuss the pros and cons of each streaming method, and offer some tips to get the most enjoyment out of your streaming.

Apple's Photos App has some great features including Effect Suggestions, and it uses intelligent suggestions to improve the quality of the photos you took with the iPhone camera. This new iOS feature will help you edit your photos to be the best possible. Effect Suggestions selects photos that could be improved by adding a filter, adjusting the light, creating a loop, or by utilizing other effects available on your iPhone. 

Customizing which photos individual apps can access is a great security feature. Now, you do not have to allow every app to access all of your photos. You can grant access to a few photos or even just one depending on what you are using the app for. In this article, you will learn how to customize the photos an app can access on your iPhone. This is a feature new to iOS 14. You must have iOS 14 on your iPhone in order to utilize this setting.

What's the best way to charge your iPhone? What is MagSafe? What's the difference between fast charge and Quick Charge? Do you have to use Apple charger cables to charge your iPhone? There are so many questions about how to safely charge your phone. Don't worry, we've got your back. In this article you'll learn which charging method will work best for your iPhone, if fast charging is bad for your battery, which MacBook adapters can charge your iPhone, why third-party charger cables may hurt your phone, and other top charging tips. Let's get to it: here's Charging 101. 

Pages