iPhone Life - Best Apps, Top Tips, Great Gear

Best Photography Gear for 2025

By Michael Schill

Best Photography Gear for 2024

I turned 72 this year and have been enjoying photography for close to 50 years. I started with a Pentax 35mm film camera and while taking photos of my children one day in the living room with a wonderful light coming in my south window, I captured several images that were accidentally extraordinary. With that experience, I was hooked. Fast forward 30–40 years, and now I enjoy an incredibly rich universe of photographic capabilities I can carry around in my pocket.

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.

Are Apple Watch Calories accurate? Yes, the Apple Watch is quite accurate at calculating calories burned as long as you have two important settings correct. We'll teach you how to improve your Apple Watch calorie accuracy by updating your height and weight in the Health app, recalibrating your watch, and making sure you are wearing it correctly.

This article will tell you how to draw perfect shapes on your iPhone and iPad. Whether you just like to doodle or are looking to mark up your photos, you might be interested in how to draw shapes on your iPhone perfectly. Maybe you want to add a heart to a photo of you and your family but don't like the way yours look, or you're trying to create a geometric pattern in your notes app, or want to teach a child about shapes and how they're made. Whatever your reason, learning the trick to draw shapes on your iPhone or iPad perfectly can save you from downloading third-party sticker or design apps. Perfect shapes make for easy drawing on your iPad and iPhone, so let's get started!

An adventurous or active lifestyle means you're more likely to invest in an iPhone that takes great pictures and videos to capture your favorite memories, such as the iPhone 12 Pro or Pro Max. Unfortunately, adventure and shenanigans go hand in hand with an increased likelihood of dropping or damaging your phone. I can't count the number of times my iPhone has fallen off of a rock climbing wall, slipped out of my backpack on a hike, or tumbled from a saddle bag while riding. Needless to say, I'm a bit of a protective iPhone case connoisseur, and I have high expectations of any case I use. With that in mind, I've put together a list to help you narrow down your search for the best drop-tested, shock proof, or otherwise strong and durable iPhone case.

good headphones and headphone brands

There are various Bluetooth wireless headphones and wired headsets available on today's market, which can get a bit overwhelming for the average buyer. We have made a list of the best headphones for all your potential needs. If you are a gamer or listen to your music via your iPhone or iPad, you will find that this review of wired headphones and wireless Bluetooth headphones will help limit your decision.

There are so many types and brands of phone cases out there that it can be hard to know which is the best iPhone case for you. Personally, a wallet phone case suits my needs best, based on my tendency to lose small items. Having an iPhone case with a card holder for my ID, debit card, and, of course, coffee punch card has been so convenient that I've used an iPhone wallet case with every new iPhone I've purchased. Let's go over my favorite iPhone wallet cases of 2020, so you can pick your very first iPhone wallet case, or find the best wallet case for your new iPhone 12. We'll go over an Otterbox case, two options from Smartish, and more, that will fit everything from an iPhone 7 and iPhone 8 through the iPhone 11 and iPhone 12 lines.  

This article will tell you all the group messaging features in iMessage introduced in iOS 14. Group messages are a great way to keep families and friend groups in close contact, whether you're all in different places in the world or just want to have your plans written down in one place. However, if there are too many people talking about too many different things, the group chats can get confusing, and if you have too many going on at once it can be hard to keep track of which is which. iOS 14 introduced some new ways to organize and label your group messages to keep your communication easy and fun - as it should be! Let's take a look at these new features and how they can help you get the most out of your group chats.

Is your phone’s default battery widget too small or missing percentage information? If you’re wondering how to turn on battery percentage on your iPhone, this step-by-step guide walks you through the process. In just a few taps, you’ll be able to choose your favorite version of this widget and keep battery status always visible on your Home Screen or Today View.

This article will tell you how to use the iPhone's new Wind Down feature to benefit your bedtime routine. The Sleep Schedules introduced with iOS 14 have a lot of potential to get people on the right track when it comes to their bedtime routines, but it can also be a nuisance if you don't optimize it for your personal habits. Wind Down Time is a mode where your phone goes into Do Not Disturb mode to encourage you to stop your usual activities and — you guessed it — wind down. This can be overridden on your lock screen, and you can also set up shortcuts to the activities that help you wind down, so you don't have to open your whole phone and see all the notifications vying for your attention that you should really leave until the morning. When I set up my first Sleep Schedule I was annoyed at the Wind Down notifications and subsequent Do Not Disturb mode. However, if you take just a little extra time to think about your own habits and what helps you settle down at night, Wind Down mode can be a very useful tool to help your mind settle down at the end of the day. So here are the best ways to get the most out of Wind Down mode and, if all else fails, how to turn off your Sleep Schedules.

If you're willing to make the investment to add a HomePod or HomePod mini to several rooms in your house (if not all of them), you'll be able to take advantage of the new Intercom feature. Intercom is incredibly handy, allowing users to send and receive communications via a network of Bluetooth connected devices. This means that, for instance, instead of yelling to your kids that dinner is ready, now Siri can do it for you. That's right, you can now use Intercom to make Siri do some of your parent-to-child yelling. Just keep in mind that they, too, can join in the fun!

Have you waited for an email to arrive in your Primary Gmail inbox, but it never appeared? Gmail has multiple inboxes, or tabbed inboxes, and your email may have been delivered to your Social, Promotions, Updates, or Forums tab instead. Gmail usually does a good job sorting your email into these different categories, but sometimes gets it wrong. Don't worry; you can not only move your email to the correct Gmail inbox, but make sure that emails from that sender are directed to your Primary Gmail inbox in the future. Here's how to move an email between Gmail categories and redirect future emails from that sender to your Primary email inbox.

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