By Kevin McNeish
By Sarah Kingsbury
If you've ever tapped on a link that unexpectedly took you to a sketchy website while using your iPhone or iPad, you'll be glad to know Safari makes it easy to check the URL of any link before you go there.
By Rheanne Taylor
I admit it. I use Instagram a lot. In fact, it’s probably the most-used app on my iPhone. That's why I'm always surprised when I discover there are things about it that I don't know yet.
By Dig Om
Vainglory (free) is a new iOS game that has taken the world of mobile gaming by storm. Developed by Super Evil Megacorp, Vainglory belongs to the Multiplayer Online Battle Arena genre—MOBA in gaming vernacular. Recently I got to chat with Kristian Segerstrale, COO & Executive Director at Super Evil Megacorp. We had a great conversation and I even got to play a few rounds of Vainglory with pro gamer turned Vainglory Video Community Manager, George “Zekent” Liu, and Super Evil Megacorp's Director of Marketing and Communications, Heini Vesander. I'm even more excited than ever to see what the future holds for this game, a game that is not only the pinnacle of awesome, but is also poised to revolutionize the way core gamers perceive and interact with modern games on the iOS platform. The following transcription is a must-read for any core gamer, as we delve into the creation of what is being hailed as one of the best new iOS games, and the only MOBA perfected for touchscreens.
By Sarah Kingsbury
A few weeks ago we published a tip explaining how to add an item to a specific list in Reminders using Siri. If you don't specify which list you want to add the reminder to, it will get added to your default Reminders List. But if you find yourself mostly adding items to a list that is not the default Reminders List, such as your Shopping List, why not make that your default list?
One of the nice features of the iPhone and iPad is the ability to see a photo of your contacts, such as when a call is coming in. You can manually add a photo to a contact by tapping Edit and then tapping Add Photo. Doing so lets you either select a photo you already have on your device or take a photo of the person on the spot. However, there's a much faster way. With just a couple taps you can add photos from all your Facebook friends to your contacts.
By Sarah Kingsbury
When you're in bed reading a really compelling book, you don't always want to stop just because it's late and your spouse wants to go to sleep. That's when you need the low-light Night theme in iBooks. It means you can finish the chapter without the glare of the screen hurting your eyes or disturbing your partner.
By Sarah Kingsbury
If you ask Siri to set a reminder for you, but forget to specify a Reminders list, it will end up on your default Reminders list. (Read this tip to find out how to set a Reminders list as your default list.) There's no need to recreate the reminder on a different list though; it's easy to move a reminder from one list to another.
By Rheanne Taylor
Sifting through hundreds of pictures when you’re looking for one in particular can be a nightmare. Though we still can’t tag our photos or add descriptions in the iOS Photos app, Apple has added a new feature that allows users to search their images by location, date, time, and even album name. This makes looking for images much easier, if you know when or where they were taken.
It’s easier than ever to stay on top of your appointments with the Calendar widget in Notification Center on iOS 8, but it’s even easier to be late if you don’t know when to leave for your next appointment. Fortunately, you can integrate travel time into your Calendar events in just a few short steps.
If you're wanting to get into the spirit of the holidays, you now have a wide selection of Christmas-themed music in iTunes Radio. Early this month Apple added a number of curated stations for a total of 10 options: The Sounds of Christmas, Holiday Hits, Latin Holiday, Children's Christmas, Rockin' Holiday, Country Holiday, Souful Holiday, Holiday Classics, Classical Holiday, and Swingin' Holiday. Only a couple of these appear in the Featured Stations listing, so you'll want to add them to your list of My Stations.
Keeping track of what you need to do can be difficult when your errands, or you, cross different time zones, but that can easily be managed right in the Calendar app.
So maybe you love group messages, maybe you hate them. Either way, the new iOS8 update came with ways to customize your group message experience.
By Rheanne Taylor
Once I return home from a trip and I can finally relax, I love looking through my collection of pictures and sharing them on Facebook and Instagram. Unfortunately, if you’re like me, you tend to take a lot of pictures, which can be both good and bad.
By Becca Ludlum
I’m a pretty patient person, but when it comes to Music, I want to be able to switch playlists and songs quickly. I’m usually working out or driving while I listen to music, and I need to be able to quickly change what I’m listening to at a stoplight or in between sets. That's why it's a good idea to customize the bottom toolbar in the Music app to show what you use most, instead of having to click More for the extended menu.
Everyone likes movies. And no one likes wasting time on the lousy ones. So no doubt you check out the reviews to see what people are saying about it. Siri can help. Siri will not only let you find out what's playing at local theaters and play the trailer, but will also tell you how a movie is rated.
By Abbey Dufoe
Some notifications on iOS 8 have become interactive! With most, you can swipe left and delete unwanted notifications in seconds, but they don’t delete from the app (so you can go back later and check them out). Here’s how:
By Becca Ludlum
There are several reasons why you might want to edit a pin description. Maybe you'd like to add your comments about a recipe, mention another way to do a step in the DIY project that you found easier, or even just make a note for yourself that you have already tried that pin. The reasons are plentiful. Here's how to edit a pin description in Pinterest.
I love Instagram because of it's fun visual nature. I can scroll through my friend's pictures, quickly double-tap to like, and even leave a comment if I want to. What I don't love about Instagram is how easy it is to accidentally add location information (longitude and latitude of the device you're posting from) to your photos, which can be dangerous—especially for teens who are using the social media network. Here's how to remove your location from Instagram photos.
By Jim Karpen
Spotlight has long been a great feature of iOS, and is especially useful at helping you find apps that are buried away in a folder on your device. Since iOS 7 you invoke this handy search tool by simply swiping down on any home screen. (But keep in mind that if you swipe down from the very top of the display you'll get Notification Center instead.) In iOS 8, introduced last fall, Apple greatly expanded what Spotlight can do. In addition to finding apps and text strings in apps such as Mail and Notes, it also now searches the web, searches Wikipedia, finds related apps in the App Store, finds related movies, and even brings up results in Maps if you search on a location.
