iPhone Life - Best Apps, Top Tips, Great Gear

iPhone users have a lot of questions about Facetime in regards to its data usage, with the first and most obvious one being, “does Facetime use data?” And if so, how much data does Facetime use? The great thing about Facetime is that it does not use your cellular plan minutes, which is perfect if you have an unlimited data plan. However, if you have limited data, you may want to turn cellular off for Facetime, which will make Facetime completely free (apart from Wi-Fi expenses). Don’t worry if that seems like a lot of information; we’ll break it down step-by-step. So does Facetime use data? It sure does; and here’s how much, plus how to disable Facetime from using your data.

Summer is here and that means that many of you will soon be gearing up for outdoor escapades. Many of these adventures might even include going off grid, roughing it, or visits to the waterside. With that in mind we've rounded up some of the best rugged, waterproof, portable Bluetooth speakers on the market, and we're featuring a wide range of styles at a variety of price points

This year at the World Wide Developer Conference (WWDC) Apple announced some significant changes to the way the iPhone will behave while its user is driving. The new Car Safety features in iOS 11 arrive in response to increased pressure from the National Highway Safety Traffic Administration, which has urged Apple and other cellphone manufacturers to develop safeguards to reduce death and injury attributed to distracted driving. Distracted driving has been an issue in at least some capacity for over 20 years without much response at the developer level. Distraction related accidents, whether involving gadgets or otherwise, killed nearly 3,500 people in 2015, according to the National Highway Safety Traffic Administration, with 391,000 lesser injuries.

Have an individual contact that you want to put on silent for awhile? Maybe you’re on a date and don’t want to receive texts from that contact who likes to embarrass you in awkward situations. Or perhaps you’re in a meeting and don’t want to be disturbed by non-work related calls or texts while you’re at the office. Whatever the reason, you can turn on Do Not Disturb mode for individual contacts with iOS 10. This allows you to mute specific texts and calls that you don't want interrupting you. Here’s how to turn on Do Not Disturb for individual contacts on iPhone.

On iPhone, you can easily save images you’ve received from email or messages. Whether you receive a message from a friend with pictures of your road trip or an email from family with photos of the grandkids, you can save those images to your iPhone with a couple of taps. Saving images on iPhone from email or messages is roughly the same process, but with email you can also copy and paste the image from one email into a new email. We'll cover both methods, plus some quick ways to transfer those images from your iPhone to your desktop. Here’s how to save images from email and messages on iPhone.

Reader mode in Safari on iPhone allows you to read a webpage without any distractions. When you turn on Reader mode, only the text and photos are left. This makes it easy to focus on reading the article you’re looking at; I’ve also found that Reader mode makes the text easier on the eyes. Here’s how to use Reader mode in Safari on iPhone.

I was looking forward to an Amazon Alexa killer from Apple. Instead, the company pre-announced a high-end speaker that only the well-heeled will be able to justify in every room. For the rest of us, there's the Genie from DreamWave, which costs $60, but can be purchased for as little as $40 via Kickstarter. It's not exactly a fair comparison, as the Genie requires an iOS device to be paired with it, and "Hey Siri" functionality enabled. Your iPhone or iPad does the heavy lifting of voice recognition and executing commands. The Genie is basically a remote speaker which can be connected via Bluetooth or audio cable.

Apple has placed what it thinks are the most useful apps in the dock of the iPad and iPhone, where they are accessible on every Home screen. However, your idea of the most useful apps may be different from Apple's. Here's how to add or remove apps from your dock.