How-To

The Messages app in iOS 10 on iPhone has its own App Store. While the Messages App Store is mostly stickers, there’s also apps that complement the original app available in the normal App Store. When you download an app from the normal App Store, it will automatically install the complementary Messages app. Luckily, you can turn this whole business off so that apps within Messages are only added manually. Here’s how to turn off automatically installed iMessage apps.

Control Center in iOS 10 got a big upgrade that divides the single page into multiple tabs you can swipe through. And if you have Homekit devices paired with your iPhone, you'll be happy to use the new Home app, which allows you to easily organize and manage all of your HomeKit devices within a single app. Better yet, part of the redesigned Control Center is a tab that's dedicated to your HomeKit devices. When you open Control Center, simply swipe left twice and you'll be able to change the temperature in your home, turn the lights on, unlock a door, and whatever else the HomeKit devices you own can do. Here's how to access your Smart Home from Control Center with iOS 10.

If you want to buy an iTunes or Apple gift card for a friend, you can easily do so right from your iPhone. Sending an iTunes gift card is a great gift because it can be used in iTunes, the App Store, Mac App Store, or iBooks so long as the recipient is logged in to each with the same Apple ID. This means the iTunes gift card you buy and send can pay for not only their music but any monthly app subscriptions or best selling novels they’ve had their eye on. If you’re not sure how to send that iTunes gift card, no worries, we’ll go over the whole process below. Here’s how to send an iTunes or Apple gift card from your iPhone.

We’ve all been in this situation: you’re reading a book and come across a quote or passage you just have to share. For whatever reason, the quote is just too good to keep to yourself. iBooks is Apple’s e-reading app for iPhone and iPad. You can purchase and read your books right from the iBooks app. You can also highlight quotes you love and then share those quotes with a friend or on social media. Here’s how to share a quote from iBooks on iPhone.

Apple Maps in iOS 10 saw huge upgrades the platform really needed. In a lot of ways Apple Maps caught up to Google Maps with the iOS 10 update, and in some ways, Apple Maps even managed to surpass its competition. You can now get directions for a location that’s on your way in Apple Maps. For example, if you’re on a road trip, you can use Maps to find a gas station along the highway on your route without stopping the road trip directions. Here’s how to get directions for a locations that’s on your way in Apple Maps.

Facebook has used stickers in Messenger for quite a while now. It seems Apple wanted to bring that same fun aspect to Messages in iOS 10. Better yet, Apple introduced an App Store within Messages that allows you to buy or download all the stickers you could possibly want to send. Adding stickers to Messages is one of the many light-hearted features in iOS 10. Here’s how to add stickers to Messages in iOS 10 on iPhone.

In Messages with iOS 10, you can share clips of the music you’ve been recently listening to. This is thanks to the ability to download apps within the Messages app for use. In the same way you can send gifs and stickers to friends with Messages in iOS 10, you can also send clips of recently played music from the Music app with friends. Here’s how to share recently played music with friends.

With iOS 10, the Messages app got its own App Store. This will allow you download apps within the Messages app that can be used in conjunction with it. For example, you can download Giphy and share your favorite gifs without needing a gif keyboard. You can also use Messages apps to buy and send stickers, share recipes, share weather forecasts, share flight information and maps, make dinner reservations, and more. It’s a whole new Messages world. Here’s how to download apps in Messages.

Clearly something happened between the final beta and release of iOS 10. I had very few issues on the beta program, but iOS 10 public users, including myself, are having loads of problems and experiencing all kinds of big and little bugs. From battery drain in iOS 10 to Bluetooth connectivity problems, people are asking, “what were you thinking Apple?” We sure don’t know, but we’ve got plenty of troubleshooting fixes for those iOS 10 problems we’re all having. The first public iOS 10 update bricked some iPhones and iPads, but it seems Apple has fixed that issue with iOS 10.0.2. However battery drain remains the largest iOS 10 issue, so we’ll first cover how to fix that problem until another update can remedy the issue entirely. Let’s jump into the top iOS 10 problems and how to fix them.

When I first downloaded iOS 10, I had a moment of panic. I opened Control Center and media playback was nowhere to be seen. With iOS 10, Apple made a lot of changes to Control Center. Thankfully, Media playback in Control Center is still there and only a swipe away from where it used to be. In fact, it got a bit of an upgrade with its own page in Control Center. We'll go over where media playback in Control Center on iOS 10 went, and how to use it.

One of the new (very odd) things you can do with Messages in iOS 10 is send your heartbeat to someone. If your loved one is concerned you’ve turned into a zombie, send them your pulse to let them know you’re still very much alive. Luckily, sending your heartbeat in Messages is quite easy to do. I’m confident this will become an important tool for the zombie apocalypse to come, because I have no idea why it exists otherwise. Here’s how to send your heartbeat to someone in Messages.

Depending on your point of view, the new effects features in the Messages app is either lots of fun or totally ridiculous. But you never know when you’ll need to send your friend fireworks and confetti, so you might as well be prepared. Reduce Motion on iPhone is a setting we’ve recommended turning on in the past to save battery life. Keeping it on will still help battery life, but if you want to enjoy Message effects, you’ll have to turn it off. This is due to the function of Reduce Motion, which cuts out all the extra transitions and animations on iPhone. If you’ve been wondering why the new, fancy effects in Messages hasn’t been working for you—here’s how to fix it.

iOS 10 added lots of new 3D Touch functions, especially from Home screen. Apps such as Photos, Weather, Maps, Phone, Activity, Camera, Find iPhone, Music, and iCloud Drive all got brand new options. When you 3D Touch one of these icons from Home screen, options pop up that allow you to jump directly to the place within an app you’re trying to access. We’ll go over my favorite new options from the most popular, necessary stock apps your Home screen holds. Here’s how to use the new 3D Touch functions for Home screen apps.

If you’re having trouble with iOS 10, or simply don’t like the changes, you can revert your iPhone back to iOS 9.3.5. The key is to do it as soon as possible and downgrading iOS takes a certain file called an IPSW file, which you can find a link to below. You certainly can downgrade from iOS 10 back to iOS 9, and doing so is the equivalent of uninstalling an update on iPhone. But it’s good to note ahead of time that you’ll need the backup you made before upgrading to iOS 10 in order for this to work smoothly. Without it you risk losing data and information that no iOS downgrade is worth. To downgrade iOS there are three major steps: put your iPhone into DFU mode, revert your iPhone using the downloaded IPSW file, and restore your iPhone with an iOS 9.3.5 backup or older. It may seem daunting to downgrade your iOS, but we’ll go step-by-step so that it’s an easy process. Here’s how to downgrade from iOS 10 to iOS 9 on iPhone or iPad.

Apple added all the different bells and whistles it could think of to Messages with iOS 10 on iPhone. One of the features is the ability to add effects to messages you send. These effects might be applied to an individual text or the entire screen. We’ll go over how to use both. Here’s how to use Effects in Messages.

iOS 10 is Apple’s biggest operating system update since iOS 7. You can finally remove stock apps from Home screen, and soon you’ll be able to ask Siri to hail you an Uber. Voicemails are now transcribed, the Messages app is having it’s own party with fireworks and confetti, Apple Music has been redesigned, and your iPhone can tell you when to go to bed. Yet even outlining all that, I’ve only scratched the surface of what you can do in iOS 10, which is why we created an easy, fun-to-watch video guide for iPhone Life Insiders. If you’re not familiar, iPhone Life Insiders receive daily video tips for mastering their iPhone in one minute a day. Among other features, they also receive in-depth guides filled with helpful information each time Apple does something new. Check out a sneak peak to the guide below where we’ll show you how to send handwritten messages and delete unwanted stock apps in iOS 10.

 

iOS 10 is now available to install on your device! September 13 is here, and users with an iPhone 5s or later will be able to update to the long-awaited iOS 10. Meanwhile iPad users will need to have an iPad mini 2 or later. Anybody who is upgrading will automatically have iOS 10 when their new device arrives, but you'll still want to upgrade your older device (if compatible) for a smooth transfer when you move your data from the old phone to the shiny new one. There are loads of new features in iOS 10 that we’ll be covering in our daily tips in the coming months. Ready to update to iOS 10? Here’s how to do it. New iOS 10 features include a Lock screen widgets page, upgrade Maps, lift to wake screen, ability to delete Apple stock apps, voicemail transcription, and much more. Here’s how to update to iOS 10.

In the Health app on iPhone, you can create a Medical ID with important information in the case of an emergency. Your Medical ID can be accessed from the emergency dialler without unlocking your iPhone. When creating your Medical ID card, you’ll have the option to sign up as an organ donor with Donate Life America’s organ donation registry. Here’s how to register as an organ donor in the Health app on iPhone.

Need to free up space on your iPhone, but having a hard time parting with absolutely anything it contains? I don’t know about you, but I’m that person with a 64 GB iPhone that has 35 GB of music—in other words, way more than I could ever listen to. That storage could be put to better use; and now with iOS 10, it can be, without any of my Apple Music disappearing. Optimizing your iPhone music storage in iOS 10 is pretty easy to do and completely automatic. Optimizing storage on iPhone means selecting a minimum amount of storage your music can take up and allowing your iPhone to remove the downloads of all that extra music you rarely listen to. Here’s how to optimize your iPhone music storage.

Next Wednesday, September 7, Apple will hold its fall keynote event and officially release the iPhone 7. You can easily watch the event on your device or Apple TV—we'll tell you how below. At the September event, we're certain the iPhone 7 will debut with redesigned antenna bands and no headphone jack. Beyond that, we may see the new Apple Watch 2 or a line-up of Macbook Pros. A lot has been kept secret this time around, so tune in and follow our coverage to stay up to date. See you on September 7; we’ll be covering the latest product launches while we stuff our face with pizza. Here’s how you can watch Apple's iPhone 7 September keynote event too.

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