iPhone Life - Best Apps, Top Tips, Great Gear

I've tried several smart door locks over the years and, while such devices can be quite convenient, there are often compromises. Not so with the Assure Lock SL ($169) from Yale. I really liked how heavy duty and well made the equipment is. The Assure Lock SL is sold in assorted finishes (satin nickel, polished brass, or oil rubbed bronze) so it should fit in with most homes. It also sports a compact, elegant touchscreen that makes it easy to lock the door on your way out; just tap the keypad as opposed to hunting for a lock button.

The box that the Viotek FastPad ($34.95) ships in doesn't do it justice. While the box is the size of a box for a large iPhone 8 Plus, what's inside is remarkably small and thin. The FastPad is a Qi charger but it's smaller and thinner than any others out there. Despite its small size, the FastPad delivers fast wireless charging, making it the ideal charging pad when you need a quick charge. 

How much data does Spotify use is an important question to answer if you have limited data on your iPhone or iPad. If you often enjoy streaming music on the go with the Spotify app on your iPhone, it makes sense to ask yourself, does Spotify use data, and also, does Spotify Premium use data. We’ll answer the question how much data does streaming music use and how to find out the details of your Spotify data usage. Remember, if you’re streaming music on Wi-Fi or listening to music you’ve downloaded over Wi-Fi (only available for Spotify Premium), there’s no reason to be concerned about Spotify data usage, unless you have very limited bandwidth with your internet provider at home. Let’s jump in: Here’s how to find out the answer to the question how much data does Spotify use and what you can do to control how much data Spotify uses on your iPhone.

I had the opportunity to serve as a judge at IHS Markit Innovation Awards during ShowStoppers at CES in Las Vegas this past January. The product that I and the other judges voted for was the X5 Car Charger ($24.99) from RapidX. It's a simple concept, but well-executed.

In the 84th episode, members of the iPhone Life team tell you everything you can expect Apple to announce at its annual Worldwide Developers Conference June 4. Other topics include tracking a fitness streak with the Apple Watch, storing passwords and credit cards in iCloud keychain, and trying to have a better relationship with Siri.

Jabra, one of the early market leaders in the Bluetooth wireless headset space, has manifested its wealth of audio engineering and communication expertise in the Elite 45e Wireless Stereo Headset ($99.99). How does this high-end headset compare to the sea of other wireless stereo headsets on the market? Read on to find out.

If you weren’t able to tune-in live or if you’d like to watch it again, here’s the workshop replay for iCloud Photo Library versus Google Photos. This workshop focuses on giving you the information needed to make an informed decision on which cloud-based photo storage tool is right for you. Thank you to everyone who joined us and all of you who watch it now. This was our second ever workshop, and we are thrilled with your feedback. We had almost 400 of your join us live! So again, thank you! Learn more on what we covered and watch the full replay below.