iPhone Life - Best Apps, Top Tips, Great Gear


The New Year is quickly approaching and it’s time to reflect on how the previous year has gone. As we do so, we appreciate the goals we met and strive to improve the areas we didn’t. Featurings apps for quitting smoking, staying calm, getting good sleep, and improving nutrition, here’s five apps for keeping your new year's resolutions. Plus an app that focuses on goal tracking, allowing you to join a community of people on a similar path. 

We brought you a best apps roundup for the iPad Pro a couple weeks ago, but more apps are being optimized for the tablet all the time. While those apps are still amazing and you should definitely give them a try, here’s five more of the best apps for the iPad Pro to sink your teeth into. We’ll feature an epic gaming app for iPad Pro and apps to take your productivity up a notch.

Funded on Kickstarter, the Canvas Smart Desk ($68) by iSkelter is a gorgeous and functional lap desk for tablets. With notches for your devices carved out, this lap desk is made of beautiful, unstained wood. The Canvas Smart Desk is compatible with all devices, but you’re especially going to want it if you have an iPad Pro. The open slot of the lap desk is cut to fit the iPad Pro perfectly and there’s a slot for the Apple Pencil as well.

I love my devices, and I hate when protecting them makes me look... unstylish. Big bulky cases and thick padded bags aren't what I want to carry around every day; but seriously, you need to protect your devices! They're expensive and so easy to drop. Here are some of my favorite products that I use to protect my devices—thin, protective, and stylish. You don't need to compromise.

Looking for some escape time while the in-laws take over the house this holiday season? Maybe just recovering from a football overdose? Here are three titles to grab now before you reach your mental breaking point. Rune Story (free) is the game for mindless maze crawling and baddie destruction for you and a friend. If mind-blowing graphics and TPS award-winning combat is what the doctor ordered, Warhammer 40,000: Freeblade (free) lets you pilot a Warhammer mech knight into epic battle! Finally, find some retro shooter action reminiscent of 90s games like DOOM in Kepler 22 ($4.99). Hack on, oh holiday warriors!

Core games typically deliver an intensely captivating gameplay experience. Though challenging and requiring concentration and practice, core games are enjoyable at every level of play. And core games usually consume a lot of time, simply due to the fact that they are so fun to play. Not everyone will enjoy core games, especially if they are just looking for a quick gaming fix like Words with Friends or Crossy Road can give you. This short list of premium titles features a range of games in a variety of different genres, so there's something here for just about every core gamer's tastes. The following aren't by any means the only core games for iOS but they are some of the best core games for iPhone.

It’s amazing the products you find available for the iPhone, iPad, or Apple Watch when you delve into the Internet rabbit hole. A friend recently sent me to a website called Fancy for finding lesser-known gadgets at good prices. Needless to say, I found a lot of awesome gifts, whether you buy them for friends and family or to treat yourself. Featuring gifts that range from the practical to the whimsical, here’s my roundup of great gifts for the Apple lover in your life.

According to music analyst Mark Mulligan, Apple Music will reach nearly 8 million subscribers by the end of this year, and he predicts the music streaming service will have 20 million subscribers by the end of 2016. Currently, the service has 6.5 million subscribers and Mulligan observed that Apple managed to bring Apple Music “from zero to the No.2 streaming service in a matter of months.” Mulligan also notes a key factor in how Apple approached its new service with a “clear commitment to making Apple Music work [that] have surprised some.”

Apple released its top 25 apps of 2015 list on the App Store last week. The company declared these apps the “most visionary, inventive, and irresistible” of the year.  Did your favorite make the cut? Top picks include Paper for sketching and Instagram for sharing, but the winners range largely in category. So let’s get to it: here’s a look at the top award winners on Apple’s list and quick links to all the apps.

Before the recently enhanced Apple TV was introduced, rumor sites speculated that Apple might actually make large-screen television sets and embed its Apple TV intelligence into them. I was never a fan of that strategy. TV sets are fragile and bulky, and Apple doesn't need to get into that business. For several years, I have relied on an Epson projector connected to an Apple TV for my home entertainment. I've never looked back since I set up the home theater system. My screen is as large as my wall, which is far bigger than any TV set at Best Buy. I mounted the Epson projector to my wall and painted the screen-side of the wall with a special paint to make the image even better.

Walmart hasn't adopted Apple Pay, and it's not clear whether it will (though one report I read said the company is increasingly open to it). Now, however, you have another option for paying at Walmart. Last week the company launched a new mobile payment system at selected stores that lets you pay for your purchase at the checkout counter by scanning a QR code with your iPhone or iPad. (For it to work on an iPad, though, you'll likely need to have a cellular data model.) The new mobile payment system will be available nationwide by the first half of next year.

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