Want to know how to transfer photos from your camera to a Mac or scan documents? Here's how to use the Continuity Camera feature on the Mac, which enables you to scan documents or take photos on your iPhone and instantly have them uploaded on your Mac. Your Mac needs to be updated to macOS 10.14 or later and your iPhone to iOS 12 or later. You won't have to use AirDrop or have your device physically connected to the Mac with a cable for this tip. However, both your iPhone and Mac do need to be connected to the same Wi-Fi network with Bluetooth enabled and be near each other (like in the same room). Both Mac and the iPhone will also need to be signed in to iCloud with the same Apple ID using two-factor authentication.
Photo & Video
A cool feature in the Photos app is the geolocation tool. Let’s say you took a vacation to Mexico. You can look at a photo on a map and see all your other pictures from that trip grouped by the different places you visited. Here’s how to view photos by location on a map with the iPhone or iPad.
How to Find Imports in the Photos App on an iPhone & iPad
By Leanne Hays
Are you wondering, "how do I find my photos and videos I imported to my iPhone?" There's a section just for imported media in the Photos app where you can easily find all the images and videos you've saved from text messages, the web, and more. We'll show you how to find Imports, and filter for pictures, video, edited media, and favorites, so it's easier to find the image or video you're searching for.
How to Draw Perfect Shapes on Your iPhone or iPad
By Amy Spitzfaden Both
This article will tell you how to draw perfect shapes on your iPhone and iPad. Whether you just like to doodle or are looking to mark up your photos, you might be interested in how to draw shapes on your iPhone perfectly. Maybe you want to add a heart to a photo of you and your family but don't like the way yours look, or you're trying to create a geometric pattern in your notes app, or want to teach a child about shapes and how they're made. Whatever your reason, learning the trick to draw shapes on your iPhone or iPad perfectly can save you from downloading third-party sticker or design apps. Perfect shapes make for easy drawing on your iPad and iPhone, so let's get started!
This article will tell you how to take a screenshot on your iPhone using Siri. We've gone over how to take a screenshot manually, but pressing buttons on an iPhone can be a literal pain if you have joint problems. That, plus messy fingers from cooking or being outside in the cold can make it hard to use to your hands to do a screenshot. For those times when a manual screenshot isn’t an option, you may have wondered, "can I ask Siri to take a screenshot?". The answer is, yes! With iOS 14, you can now just tell Siri to take a screenshot, instead of having to use Voice Control, as you did previously. Let's learn how.
Why Is Location Search Not Working in Photos on iPhone?
By Erin MacPherson
Location Services on your iPhone lets Apple apps (like the Camera app) and third-party apps (like your banking app) figure out where you're located while using your phone. When iPhone Photo Location Services is turned on and you take a photo, it'll tag your photo with your current location. This way, you can search through the photos that you took on your vacation to Bora Bora or in your own hometown. Location Services uses Wi-Fi or cellular data plus GPS services to find your location. If you're connected to data or Wi-Fi but your photos aren't being tagged, we have a few simple fixes for you to try. Here's how to get Photos Location Services working again.
Review: Philips Hue Play Smart Lighting
By Mike Riley
Due to its early establishment in the consumer autonomous lighting space, the Philips Hue brand has been one of the most successful and prolific in the home automation market. The Philips Hue Play product line intends to elevate their capabilities beyond simply turning lights on and off by augmenting the home entertainment experience. Are these expensive enhancements worth the aesthetic response they elicit when activated? Read on to find out.
Apple introduced the ability to take full page, or scrolling, screenshots in Safari with iOS 13. In addition to web pages, users can take a full page screenshot in the iPhone Notes app and iPad Notes app. This means that, rather than capturing only the section of the note that's visible on your display, you'll now be able to do a full page screen capture on your iPhone or iPad. Let's get started learning how to screenshot a whole note on your iPhone or iPad. You can use this tip to learn how to take a full page screenshot on the iPhone SE (first generation) and later models, including the iPhone 6s, iPhone 7, iPhone 8, iPhone X, iPhone 11, and the iPhone 12 series. You can also take a full page screengrab in the Notes app with the Pad Air 2 and later, all iPad Pro models, the iPad 5th generation and later, and the iPad mini 4 and later.
How to Adjust Portrait Mode Lighting on the iPhone
By Cullen Thomas
This article will tell you how to adjust the lighting in Portrait mode shots. Portrait mode has been making folks look great since the iPhone 7 Plus and 8 Plus—taking great portraits has never been so easy as picking a Portrait Lighting mode and letting the iPhone work its magic. With iOS 13, Apple added even more flexibility: you could adjust the intensity of the lighting effect applied in Portrait mode. iOS 14 has made the process even smoother, which we'll look at below. To avoid your photo looking like a bad Photoshop job, just tap the lighting intensity icon at the top of the screen and swipe on the slider left or right to tune the effect up or down. A little goes a long way! Let's get started.
New Ways to Use the Photos & Camera Apps in iOS 14: Sort, Caption, Organize & Filter Photos
By Amy Spitzfaden Both
This article covers all the new features in Photos and Camera apps in iOS 14 including how to add captions to photos, how to filter photos, the best way to organize photos, how to create a memory or make a slideshow from an album, how to save mirror selfies to your camera roll, and how to take burst photos on the iPhone using the volume controls. Some of the most exciting new features introduced with iOS 14 are in the Apple Photos and Camera apps. Let's take a look at what's new and how best to utilize these features.
How to Customize Which Photos Each App Can Access (New for iOS 14)
By Hannah Nichols
Customizing which photos individual apps can access is a great security feature. Now, you do not have to allow every app to access all of your photos. You can grant access to a few photos or even just one depending on what you are using the app for. In this article, you will learn how to customize the photos an app can access on your iPhone. This is a feature new to iOS 14. You must have iOS 14 on your iPhone in order to utilize this setting.
Some iPad and iPhone apps require mic and camera access to function properly, and some don't. Apple has introduced new app privacy settings with iOS 14, which allow users to customize access to personal data like photos and videos, app by app, choosing to allow full access, partial access, or no access at all. There's also a way to check microphone and camera access in your Settings app. This way, you can change camera and microphone settings for any app, all in the same place, so apps that don't need to listen to you or see you can't. Let's learn how to allow camera access on your iPhone and iPad or turn it off, and how to allow microphone access, or turn off access to your iPhone or iPad microphone.
How to Automatically Save Pictures Taken in the iPhone Notes App to Your Camera Roll
By Amy Spitzfaden Both
Being able to add pictures to your Notes app is a fun and useful way to increase its value. Whether you want to snap a picture of a shopping list, grab an image for a project, or help yourself remember what image goes with which words, taking pictures with the iPhone Notes app is a great option. It can be frustrating, though, when we expect a picture we took to be in our camera roll only to find it's only in the Note where we originally took the pictures. Here how to save Notes app pictures to your Camera Roll in iOS 14.
Review: AxisGo Waterproof iPhone Housing by AquaTech
By Todd Bernhard
Apple claims its newer iPhones are waterproof, and they can indeed support being splashed or sometimes even submerged in water, but my daughter found out the hard way when her iPhone suffered water damage that you cannot use them underwater as if they were a purpose-built waterproof camera. If you truly want to take photos and videos underwater on your iPhone, you have to check out the AxisGo (starting at $149) waterproof iPhone housing case from AquaTech. The company sent me a review unit to try and I cannot convey how well-built and rugged these things are.
Review: The Adonit V-Grip Is More than a Selfie Stick
By Todd Bernhard
I have reviewed stylus after stylus from Adonit, but it makes more than styluses as I discovered when the company sent me a review unit of its V-Grip ($34.99). This is not a stylus, but a selfie stick with something more. Yes, it expands to over two feet, using a telescoping metal rod. And it has a squeeze grip that secures your iPhone in place. But Adonit added a Bluetooth shutter button that, when paired with your iPhone, can act as a remote control trigger.
Review: Joby GorillaPod Mobile Vlogging Kit
By Mike Riley
With the continued success of YouTube, Twitch, and other user-generated-content video-streaming services, an opportunity for anyone with a captivating presence and good communication skills is available. But just like the days of the California Gold Rush, those with better tools often (but not always) have a better chance to strike it rich. In today's internet streaming boom, those better tools equate to the high-quality camera optics, noise-free audio recording, and exceptional lighting necessary to capture those captivating mobile moments. Joby has assembled a package equivalent to the prospector's mule, shovel, and pan. Will the compilation of equipment the company assembled into a single kit, aptly called the Joby GorillaPod Mobile Vlogging Kit ($199.95), help deliver vlogging gold? Read on to find out.
Have you ever taken a photo that would be perfect if the top of Grandma's head wasn't cut out of the frame? The iPhone 11, 11 Pro, and 11 Pro Max have a feature called Capture Content Outside Frame that captures details outside the standard 4:3 frame and saves them for 30 days in case you decide to adjust the framing of the image. By default, your iPhone 11 and other new models come with the feature disabled. Let’s dive in with how to adjust your Camera settings so you can use the extra content to fix poorly framed photos after the fact.
iOS 13 has a whole slew of new editing tools for you to explore—from auto editing, to vibrance, to color saturation, to photo cropping. And with the new features of the dual camera on the iPhone 11 and 11 Pro, including the Ultra Wide camera, Night Mode, an upgraded Portrait Mode, Smart HDR, Quick Take videos, and slow-motion selfies (a.k.a. slofies), you will never want to stop taking photos and videos! If you want to take your photo editing skills to the next level, check out these photo apps that will enhance your shots.
In every issue of iPhone Life magazine, we feature the iPhone Home screens of people from different walks of life, so our readers can see how they use iPhone apps to meet a variety of needs. In our Spring 2020 issue, we featured photographer and blogger Amber Faust, who uses her iPhone for social media, photo editing, games, weather, and more. If you have a story and apps you'd like to suggest, email Tamlin Day, and we may feature you in an upcoming issue of the magazine!
In every issue of iPhone Life magazine, we feature the iPhone Home screens of people from different walks of life, so our readers can see how they use iPhone apps to meet a variety of needs. In our Spring 2020 issue, we featured fashion designer and blogger Louisa Moje, who uses her iPhone apps for photo editing, social media posting, meal planning, personal finance, and more. If you have a story and apps you'd like to suggest, email Tamlin Day, and we may feature you in an upcoming issue of the magazine!