There are two major different ways you can connect or stream your iPhone or iPad to your TV. The easiest and cheapest way (if you already own an Apple TV) is to use AirPlay, which will allow you to enable iPhone screen mirroring. Alternatively, you can hook up your iPhone or iPad to your TV with an HDMI cable. If your TV doesn’t have an HDMI port, you can use a VGR or AV adapter and cable to connect to your analog TV. But that’s a fairly small pile of people, since the vast majority of TVs have HDMI ports. Which is why I’m going to focus on how to connect your iPhone or iPad to your TV via AirPlay mirroring or with an HDMI cable and adapter. Regardless of what method you choose, it may take a little money to hook your iPhone up to your TV. Which is why, if you already have an Apple TV, I recommend using AirPlay mirroring to watch your iPhone or iPad on your TV. However, I’ll go over both methods and what you need to hook up your iPhone or iPad to your TV below.
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Review: Netgear Arlo Pro Smart Home Security System
By Mike Riley
Looking for an easy-to-use home security solution that works wirelessly both indoors and outdoors? Netgear's Arlo Pro (starting at $249.99) meets those requirements and offers loads of other features that make it worth a closer look.
How to Share Kindle Books with Family Members (Setting Up an Amazon Household & Kindle Family Library)
By Conner Carey
There are various ways to share Kindle books. With friends, you can loan ebooks out for a couple weeks. But if you set up Family Sharing with Amazon, you can share Kindle books with family members easily and with fewer limitations. When you share Kindle books, the recipient can read the Kindle book you lend them via the Kindle app on iPhone or iPad, as well as Kindle devices, including Kindle Fire. Kindle family sharing allows two adults to create an Amazon Household with up to four children. The two adults in your Kindle family must have separate Amazon accounts. However, setting up family sharing and sharing Kindle books with your Amazon Household is actually quite straightforward. We’ll go over how to set up Family Sharing on Amazon, how to share Kindle books with that family, how to access content shared with you via Amazon Kindle family sharing, and how to leave an Amazon Household should you need to in the future. Here’s everything you need to know about how to share Kindle books with family members.
This is a roundup of iPad mini 1/2/3 cases, If you have a newer iPhone, check out our roundup of rugged cases for the iPad Air and iPad mini with Retina display. Smaller and more portable than its more cumbersome older siblings, the iPad mini is a device designed to come with us wherever we may wander. As a result of the mini's superior portability, it's also far more likely to be in the line of fire. At such times, a reliable iPad protective case comes in handy to ward off scratches and scrapes. A good, heavy-duty iPad case can make the difference between a catastrophic, life-ending event for your iPad mini and a mere bump in the road. The following are some of the best iPad mini cases available, each with its own unique features and advantages yet all designed to absorb and redirect the potential damage your valuable iPad mini will likely encounter.
How to Stream the NFL Draft on Your iPhone, iPad, or Apple TV
By Sarah Kingsbury
Between April 27 and April 29, the 2017 NFL Draft will be broadcast on ESPN and the NFL Network. And since you may not be near a TV that whole time, you'll want to know how to stream the NFL Draft on your iPhone or iPad from wherever you are to make sure you don't miss a moment of the excitement. How you stream the 2017 NFL draft on your iPhone or iPad will depend on what kind of cable or streaming services you are using. Here's how to watch the 2017 NFL draft on your phone or tablet.
While you're enjoying the great outdoors this Summer, whether at the beach or elsewhere, you’re going to want the loudest portable waterproof Bluetooth speaker you can find. Your Bluetooth speaker needs to be wireless and portable to easily go on adventures with you while also being rugged (ideally waterproof) and as loud as possible so that everyone in your party can enjoy the music. Furthermore, there is a seemingly endless array of excellent quality Bluetooth speakers, however, out of the multitudes of Bluetooth speakers on the market, only a limited and select few can lay claim to being loud, waterproof, portable and heavy duty. I've compiled a list of some of the best, most durable and rugged Bluetooth speakers available right now. What follows are the top outdoor wireless Bluetooth speakers for those who are adventurous or accident prone.
Review: GameVice iPad Game Controller
By Mike Riley
With the success of the recently released Nintendo Switch portable gaming tablet, there has been a resurgence of interest among iPad gamers to bring their iPads to parity with what the Switch has to offer. One standout feature of the Switch is its analog joysticks on the left and right side of the screen. Perhaps Nintendo got its inspiration for this design from GameVice, a company that announced the first iteration of its iPad game controller back in 2014. Now that its iPad game controller idea has been amplified by Nintendo's success, read on to find out how the current version of the GameVice Mfi controller ($99.95) works with the iPad Pro and Mini form factors.
Best Apps & Gear for Getting a Good Night’s Sleep
By Nate Adcock
Sleep deprivation in our always-on, social media-saturated world is a problem that is only growing as we add more tech to our homes. It affects our performance on and off the job and can result in significantly adverse health effects, particularly as we age. I have dealt with my share of sleep issues over the years, due to regularly traveling and working different shifts at my job. Although I don't have any magic-bullet solutions, I can offer what I’ve found to be the most helpful apps, gear, and tips for lulling you to sleep.
The number of Bluetooth wireless speakers available on the market is staggering, and choosing which one to buy is like choosing which outfit to wear. Depending on the occasion, the right speaker can make the difference between an enjoyable experience and an infuriating one. While some manufacturers have designed for very specific use cases, others, like 808 Audio, have opted for a kitchen sink approach. Hence, its Hex Encore XL Wireless Speaker ($399.99) is the Swiss army knife of speaker units. Does it accomplish these objectives successfully and, more importantly, does it sound great doing so? Read on to find out.
4 Best Journal Apps for iPhone & iPad
By Rheanne Taylor
As a writer, I believe that journaling regularly is an important aspect of my creative process. It’s the one time in the day I get to write freely without having to censor my thoughts or concern myself with things like grammar and editing—but writers aren’t the only ones who can benefit from journaling. Journaling can help you relieve stress, sort out your thoughts, and remember details about your life that you will value later on. I’ve kept journals since I was 14, and, believe it or not, I reference them regularly. Some of my entries undoubtedly make me cringe—here’s looking at you, 2004 (year of boys, angsty rants, and badly written Harry Potter fanfiction)—but my journals are also filled with a lot of valuable details about my life and memories I love reflecting back on. If you want to start journaling, the following diary apps are a great way to get started. Each journal app is passcode-protected, and many of them hardly require any work at all!
The iHome iPLWBT5 Docking Clock Radio ($129.99) could really eliminate some of the clutter on your nightstand. It's a clock radio, which iHome has been making for years, but it also doubles as a dual charging dock for your iPhone 7 and Apple Watch. There's a Lightning dock on the top, which should accommodate most cases except really protective ones. For iPhones in protective cases or an iPad, there's a USB port so you can charge a device via your own Lightning cable. Finally, sitting on the side is an Apple Watch magnetic charging base.
Best Board Game Apps for iPad: TreasureHunter Review
By Mike Riley
TreasureHunter ($4.99) is a iOS board game conversion of the identically named, mildly popular board game released in 2015. This card game was created by legendary game designer Richard Garfield (the creator of the wildly popular Magic the Gathering trading card game). The conversion to iPad board game app was done by the game's Germany-based publisher Queen Games, a company that has had a somewhat mediocre track record digitally converting its other physical board games such as Alhambra and Kingdom Builder to iOS board games. Does TreasureHunter rise above those previous efforts? Read on to find out.
iPhone and iPad word processors are nearly as plentiful on the App Store as flashlight apps. In order to stand out from the crowded selection, developers need to offer products that meet a specific need. In the case of prose composition, one word processing app that enables the narrative (e.g. story and screenwriting) and article construction and evolution process is Scrivener ($19.99). Originally available only for the Mac, Scrivener has recently made the leap to the iOS platform. How does it fare on both? Read on to find out.
The Amazon Kindle app is available for free for just about any and every device you can think of. That means not only can you read your e-books on a Kindle, but also on your iPhone, iPad, or MacBook as well. Adding a device to your Amazon account is as simple as downloading the app and logging in with your Amazon account email and password. But what about when you get a new iPhone or buy a different Kindle? As you upgrade devices, the old devices will remain on your Amazon Kindle Account, which can lead to e-book samples accidentally being sent to the wrong device, unless you delete the device, a.k.a., deregister it. Here’s how to delete an old iPhone, iPad, or other device from your Amazon account on iPhone.
If you are on the hunt for a powerful outdoor Bluetooth wireless speaker, one that can pump out massive volume and is also well-equipped to handle extreme environments, then the following head-to-head review of these two behemoths will be for you. I'm putting two of the best modern Bluetooth boomboxes to the test, to see which one of them fares the best.
Best iOS Games for Hardcore Gamers
By Dig Om
Over the decades, I've heard some call iOS gaming escapism, while others may call it a distraction from the headline news on any given day; but as a lifetime core gamer, I've found myself extremely grateful on more than one occasion for the comfort, the exhilaration, the competition ,and the break from the day-to-day, real-world ups and downs that some of the more deeply immersive iOS game can provide. Mobile gaming has come a long way over the years and we now have plenty to choose from when it comes to core iOS games. On that note, it's my pleasure to present iPhone Life's picks for best core iOS games.
Jade Empire Special Edition Review
By Mike Riley
The original console-based version of Jade Empire scored an 89 on Metacritic, a remarkably high score for a game. The follow-up Special Edition for PC released a few years later scored an 81 which is still admirable. Since the actual game's story, interface, and gameplay mechanics in this iOS version of Jade Empire: Special Edition ($9.99) are identical to original game, I won't spend much time on going into those aspects of this conversion. For those interested in a review of the core gameplay experience, there are a number of reviews for the game already on the web such as this one from Gamespot.
You can easily select text on iPad or iPhone by turning your keyboard into a trackpad. This is available on iPads running at least iOS 9 and iPhones running iOS 10. Before, when selecting text, there were multiple steps and your vision was obstructed by your own finger. Now you can press into your keyboard, turn it into a trackpad, and easily move your finger to select text or place the cursor in another place for easy editing. Here’s how to easily select text on iPad or iPhone.
PCalc: Is It Really the Best Calculator App?
By Mike Riley
The calculator app that comes bundled in iOS is adequate for basic, quick calculations, but it lacks even a simple memory function or running history of operations. Hundreds of alternative calculator apps, both free and paid, are available from the App Store. But when you want the best, the absolute top of the category, PCalc ($9.99) from TLA Systems claims that it's the one to beat. Let's find out if that's the case.
I have seen the future of online mobile gaming, and it is MOBA. Multiplayer Online Battle Arena is a term familiar to any core, hardcore, or professional gamer. If it's not already a common term in your vocabulary, popular iOS MOBA titles like Vainglory and Ace of Arenas plan to change that, as they help usher in a new renaissance of mobile gaming.