Apple Apps

If you’re listening to an audio book or podcast while getting directions to a location from Apple Maps, you probably want the audio to pause so that you can clearly hear the next turn you need to make or exit you need to take without missing anything important in the book or podcast. If your Maps’ voice volume is Normal or Loud, you can turn on Pause Spoken Audio so your navigation prompts are heard and you don’t miss any part of your podcast. Here’s how to pause spoken audio during navigation prompts.

Handoff can help you be more productive by making it easy to switch between iPhones, iPads, and Macs. This is especially true when you need to transfer an unfinished email to your Mac because it's getting too long to type on your iPhone, or when you have to leave your computer and need to finish your email on an iPhone or iPad. Here’s how to start an email on your iPhone and finish it on your Mac or iPad.

A little known trick of the Apple Watch is that you can use it as your shutter remote for taking pictures with your iPhone. When you open the Camera app on your Apple Watch, you’ll see whatever the iPhone’s camera can see. This is perfect for taking family photos since you can station the iPhone on a tripod, join the group, and tap the button or activate the three-second timer right from your Apple Watch. Here’s how to take iPhone photos using your Apple Watch.

Whenever we read something that inspires or excites us, it’s natural to want to share that discovery with others. Luckily, sharing a quote from apps such as Safari, Notes, or iBooks is easy to do. You can share the quote you find on Facebook or Twitter or through Mail and Messages. You can also use this tip to share quotes you find to your Notes app for safe keeping. Here’s how to share a quote from Safari, Notes, iBooks, and more.

Whether you want to use this feature to take travel journaling notes about your adventures or to remember a particular place you went that you liked, saving a Map location in Notes is easy to do on your iPhone. You could add the location to your Map Favorites as well, but placing the location in Notes gives you a chance to add extra information. Here’s how to save a map location in notes.

By default, when you create a new note in the Notes app, you’re immediately creating the body of the note. This is so you can jump straight into the thought you were having and get it on “paper” in the Notes app. However, it’s easier to keep notes organized and know what is what if each note has its own headline. Here’s how to automatically start each note with a headline.

Currently, Live Photos can only be viewed from an Apple device running on iOS 9 or later and Macs running OS X El Capitan. Others will see only the still version of the Live Photos. However, iPhone 6s and 6s Plus users are eager for those Live Photos to be shareable beyond that limited circle of Apple users. Here’s how to create a GIF from a Live Photo so you can share it with anyone.

You may have had the experience of working on a draft of an email but then needing to look at a different email in your inbox. But the draft obscured the screen and couldn't be quickly pushed aside and then returned to. Fortunately, you can easily swipe away a draft, access your other email, and then quickly bring it back into view to continue working on it. This is typically referred to as "minimizing" the email draft.

Siri is an awesome time saver. Want to view your most recent calls, text someone, get directions, or post to Facebook? Just ask Siri. You can even do all this from your lock screen. The problem is, so can anyone else. If your settings allow for it, anyone can access your call history, send a tweet, or get directions to a contact's home from your lock screen just by bringing up Siri and asking.

 

Panoramic photos are great for capturing an expanded view of a beautiful landscape. Typically, this is done by moving your iPhone from left to right or right to left as you take the photo in Pano mode. But what about when you want to capture a shot of something really tall, like a tree, for example, or even the Eiffel Tower? Well, you'll be excited to hear that you can take vertically oriented panoramic photos with your iPhone too!

Kindle by Amazon may still hold the monopoly on e-books, but Apple is trying to catch up. The iBooks app has seen consistent improvements. One great advantage it has over Kindle is the ability to purchase a book within iBooks and immediately begin reading it. Another great feature is the ability to  preview chapters from the Table of Contents with an iPhone that has 3D Touch. Here’s how to do it.

The Apple News app is a great place to follow your favorite magazines and websites, and the day's top stories. You can save articles to read offline, Like articles to see more of the same, Mute Channels you don’t want to hear from, and Share articles you want your friends to read as well. Regardless of what topics you’re interested in, there’s easily something for everyone here. Here’s how to share articles in News that you find and love.

If you have an Apple Watch paired with your iPhone, you’re familiar with Activity rings. On the Apple Watch, your activity is represented by three concentric circles that track how much of your daily goals you have met. There’s a red circle for your Move goal, a green one for Exercise, and a blue one for Stand. However, you can also view these Activity rings in graph form in the Health app and include it as a part of your health Dashboard. Here’s how to view your activity rings in your health app dashboard.

Pages