iPhone Life - Best Apps, Top Tips, Great Gear

In Episode 218, Donna and David break down all of Apple’s spring releases, from the budget(ish) iPhone 16e to the M4 MacBook Air and M3 iPad Air with Magic Keyboard support. Other topics include delays to the promised Apple Intelligence-driven contextual Siri (no longer rumored to release with iOS 18.4 in April) and reviews of Donna’s new Uplift standing desk and David’s M4 MacBook Pro.

Everyone knows how to set an alarm on the iPhone. However, what if you want to set an alarm for a later date? If you need to set an alarm for a month from now, the Clock app doesn’t offer a way to do this. But there is a secret workaround. Let’s find out how to use your iPhone to set an alarm for a future date.

On March 4, Apple announced its 2025 iPad Air with an M3 processor designed to support Apple Intelligence and a brand-new Magic Keyboard. Let's dive into these tablet upgrades and see if they might be right for you.

Gone are the days of taking a picture of a poster broadcasting an event you want to attend and hoping you remember to look at your camera roll in time to remember to go. With Visual Intelligence, it's just a matter of point and tap and you'll have the event added right to your Calendar app. Here's how to use this fancy new feature to add an event right from a poster into your Calendar app.

Widgets are a super fun way to customize your Home Screen, and one of the best ways to put a personalized stamp on your iPhone is with the Photos widget. In the past, the Photos widget has shuffled through your camera roll using an algorithm to determine featured photos. Now, you can choose a specific album for the Photos widget to shuffle (and avoid certain photos) on your iPhone's Home Screen.

Are you looking for the best plant identification app for your iPhone? With iOS 18.3, you don't need one! You can use Apple's new Visual Intelligence feature to identify plants and animals, instead.

Apple made a surprising announcement on February 19th, 2025: a brand-new budget iPhone is out, and it’s not your typical SE. The new iPhone 16e is the budget version of the iPhone 16 lineup, but it comes with a few surprises, like Apple Intelligence compatibility and a 48MP back camera. Should you consider buying the iPhone 16e? We’ll give you the pros and cons.