iPhone

If you have an iPhone 6s or later, you can turn on Siri by saying, “Hey, Siri” even when your iPhone isn’t plugged in. However, you also have the option to press and hold your Home button to activate Siri. With iOS 11 on iPhone, you can now turn press and hold to activate Siri off and reply solely on activating Siri with your voice by saying, “Hey, Siri.” If you often accidentally activate Siri when pressing your Home button, this is a great way to stop that from happening. Here’s how to turn off Press Home for Siri and instead only activate with Hey, Siri on iPhone.

The new Braven Stryde 360 ($99.99) is one of the latest in the robust lineup of rugged, adventure-ready, waterproof Bluetooth speakers from Braven. It brings a highly portable form factor and reliable waterproof protection to a speaker that also offers crisp, clear sound quality and respectable volume levels, especially for a portable wireless speaker of this size.

One of the big safety features of iOS 11 is the new Do Not Disturb While Driving feature. When it’s on and set up, your iPhone won’t receive notifications while you’re driving unless you let it know you aren’t the person driving. It will also send automatic text replies to those who try to reach you to let them know that you’re driving and not available. And if it’s an urgent message, the person can reply "Urgent" and the text will go through. It’s a great feature for those who get distracted by their phone when driving. Here’s how to turn on Do Not Disturb While Driving with iOS 11 on the iPhone.

ATTENTION: Our photo contest has recently undergone a few changes, so be sure to read our new rules carefully.

It's photo contest time again. We know you enjoy taking the occasional artistic shot with your iPhone, so why not get rewarded for it? Enter our iPhone Photography Contest on Instagram for a chance to win an Olloclip lens and a spot in our magazine! 

Welcome to App Saturdays! (*insert jazz hands*) Every Saturday we’ll feature an app we love, telling you what it can do and why it’s awesome.

Our brains have a great way of never shutting up. Just search Mindfulness in the App Store and you’ll see that people are actively looking for ways to relax, let go of the past, calm their heart, and come to a present state of awareness. But do any of those apps deliver on what they promise? I’ve tried a few and have even found some that I like. But never before have I found an app that utilizes a proven method of hacking our unconscious responses. You’ll be amazed what a simple breathing technique can do for your body, mind, and spirit. Don’t take my word for it though; this is the same breathing technique used by the military and professional athletes. This is Box Breathing. Here’s what it does and why we love it.

For some, it’s not easy to catch every word spoken when watching their favorite shows, videos, and movies on their devices. My mom has grown accustomed to watching her shows with closed captions, simply because she likes the added benefit of reading while she watches. Luckily, it’s easy to set up. You can turn on closed captions for media as your default on iPhone or iPad; here’s how.

There are few things quite as satisfying as discovering a small change to your routine that makes all the difference. The iPhone is full of hidden tricks that give you that feeling of satisfaction, that once you learn, seem obvious. If you haven’t heard of the hidden feature, your mind will be blown. Most iPhone tips and tricks we usually learn by accident or from a friend. But our latest iPhone Life Insider collection includes a full set of amazing hidden features you’re going to want to learn. Keep in mind, however, that your iPhone Life Insider membership will get you a lot more than this collection. For example, if you enjoy our daily tips, sign up for Insider to get a daily video tip; we’ll go over the other features below. From the Hidden Features collection, I’ll feature a couple of my favorite tricks and how-to videos that go along with them. Check out these hidden iPhone tips and tricks that will blow your mind.

Introducing App Saturdays! (*insert jazz hands*) Every Saturday, we’ll feature an app we love, telling you what it can do and why it’s awesome.

Our first app, Sorted, is a calendar and to-do app to rival them all. Since the Sunrise calendar app died, I’ve searched high and low for a replacement. After months of trial and error, I stumbled across Sorted last week. Here’s what it can do and why you’re going to love it.

Most people don’t understand Popsockets (starting at $10) until they try one. You’ll find one or two on the back of almost every iPhone, iPod, and iPad around the iPhone Life office. We use them when we’re snapping selfies, winding our earbud cords, Skyping in for meetings, or navigating the Iowa backroads. These 1.5-inch circles of plastic are simple, a bit silly looking, and incredibly useful. Continue reading to find out if the Popsocket and Popclip are practical iPhone accessories or goofy distractions.

3D Touch can be a cool, helpful feature for a lot of people. But I also know some who never use the feature or even find that it gets in the way of simply pressing and holding something on the screen. Whatever your reasoning, you can turn 3D Touch off on your iPhone. And it’s very easy to do. Here’s how to turn 3D Touch off on iPhone.

I love to add my photos to Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, whether it’s to show off my vacation or share pictures of my kids for distant family members to see. And, of course, there’s the not-so-occasional cute photo of my pets. If you have an account on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram, there is an easy way to upload your photos from your iPhone or iPad right to your choice of social media sites. Here’s how to upload photos to your social media account on iPhone.

I've tried out many of the best rugged and waterproof iPhone protective cases over the years, and while there are undoubtedly many excellent options on the market, my current favorite for the slightly older iPhone models (6/6 Plus and 6S/6S Plus iPhones), is hands down, the Dog & Bone Wetsuit Impact ($79.95). I'm rough on my iPhones—ike, really rough—and of all the cases I've  put to the test, the Impact has consistently performed the best. Read on after the break to find out all the ways this remarkably well-designed case performs in harsh terrain and under extreme conditions.

I remember when the Sunrise calendar app stopped getting updates. My (first) world fell apart. I jest over dramatically for effect, of course, but it was truly difficult to find an app to replace it. Had I known in advance, I could have started looking for that replacement sooner. (I now use Vantage, by the way). Luckily, you can actually check if an app you have won’t be receiving new updates on your iPhone or iPad. Here’s how to see which of your apps will no longer have updates available in the future.

Your iPhone is given a default name when you first set it up. That name appears in a few different places such as on iTunes when you plug in your iPhone or in Find My iPhone when you’re looking for it or another device. When you check to see what devices are using your Apple ID, all of your devices will be listed by name. So why not have some fun with it? Whether you want to rename it for clarity or just to be silly, here’s how to give your iPhone a new name.

A while back, you may have noticed color gradients suddenly appearing behind friends' Facebook statuses. At first, I found them quite disconcerting; but I’ve started to get used to the darn things, and I even use them now and again. By now, the feature has rolled out to most (if not all) Facebook users. Here’s how you can add colored or patterned backgrounds to your Facebook posts on iPhone.

Accessibility features on iPhone improve year after year. It used to be that those who are color blind could only to choose to use grayscale, but did you know that’s no longer the case? If you’re color blind, you can go into your settings and select the color correct palette that works with your specific type of color blindness. It’s pretty incredible. Even those with ‘regular’ vision should check it out. Here’s how to correct your iPhone’s colors for your vision.

It’s lovely to live during a time when music is so readily available. If you have Apple Music, you can go from discovering a song to listening to it offline in a matter of minutes. Apple Music allows you to have a library of music that’s stored in the cloud, as well as music that's downloaded to your device, which you can play when you don’t have an internet connection. But the music you download will certainly start to take up a lot of space after a while. Here’s how you can mass delete downloaded artists in Apple Music, without removing the music from your Apple Music library altogether.

Pages