How-To

If you’re wondering how to block a website on Safari, never fear. In this tutorial, we’ll explain how to block websites on iPhone and how to block websites on an iPad running iPadOS. Most smartphone users keep their devices to themselves and have no real need to share their phones except to share pictures or lend it to a friend to make a call. There are times, however, when restricting website access is necessary. Say your kids or grandkids are over, and they want to check out your apps. You’ll want to be sure to block explicit content. Or maybe some malware or ransomware is circulating. Knowing how to block a website or sites on your iPhone or iPad will keep things safe and blocking content will automatically apply to all installed browsers, including Safari, Chrome, Firefox, or Opera Touch.

How to Manage Your Apple CarPlay Apps

By Amy Spitzfaden Both

Apple CarPlay is the smarter and safer way to use your iPhone while driving. The Apple CarPlay apps available to you are designed to make changing songs, getting directions, and checking your schedule easy and safe. We’ll show you how to add and remove apps on CarPlay, and how to change their layout on your screen. You can also check out our suggestions for the best Apple CarPlay apps to try.

Prior to iOS 13.5, iPhones had the option to store a Medical ID, which could be viewed from the Lock screen by selecting it from the emergency call screen. On iOS 13.5 and later, you can conveniently automatically share your Medical ID information with emergency dispatchers. By immediately giving access to your medical conditions and blood type, among other information, dispatchers and first responders can waste less time gathering that data. They can then spend more time attending to your needs! Follow our guide to set up your iPhone to automatically send your Medical ID information during an emergency call.

Learn how to use Podcast settings to limit the number of automatic podcast episode downloads on your iPhone. Podcasts are entertaining, educational, and free in the Podcast app, so there's a temptation to subscribe to every one that catches our fancy. Unfortunately, though, if the podcasts you've subscribed to are automatically downloading, they can very quickly eat up a lot of your iPhone storage. There's a way to limit the number of episodes that your iPhone automatically downloads, so you can stop podcasts from using too much storage space. You can even set this episode limit at different numbers for different podcasts you're subscribed to! Let's get started learning how to limit podcast downloads.

Learn how to keep your podcasts from deleting themselves from your iPhone. If you’re wondering why your podcasts keep getting randomly deleted from the Podcasts app, you’re in the right place! What you’re likely dealing with is a setting that was designed to help keep your iPhone storage from getting too full. You can keep your podcasts from being deleted with a quick change to your settings, and the steps to get back deleted podcast episodes are pretty simple as well.

Learn how to temporarily disconnect from a Wi-Fi network using the Control Center on your iPhone. You're connected to a Wi-Fi network with a weak signal, and you'd like to turn off Wi-Fi on your iPhone. Of course, you could open your Settings app, open Wi-Fi, disconnect from your current Wi-Fi network, and join another or switch to cellular. But did you know there's a much faster way to accomplish this task by using the Control Center? Here's how


Going to your library of songs in Apple Music and hitting Shuffle can be a freeing experience when you don't want to limit yourself to one album, artist, or playlist, but few things ruin a mood quite like an unexpected Christmas song popping up on your playlist. So what do you do when you want to shuffle almost all of you songs but want to leave a couple options out? Here is how to exclude a song from Shuffle on your iPhone or iPad.

Being offered an app free trial, whether it's a three-day free trial, one week-free trial, or even a month-long freebie, is a tempting and frequently useful offer. I watch sports exactly once every four years, so a free trial enables me to watch the few games of the FIFA Women's World Cup that I care about without signing up for a whole platform I wouldn't use outside of a six week window. They're also perfect for their intended purpose of testing out an app to see if it's something you want to subscribe to. Unfortunately, it can also be a money drain when you forget to cancel and end up with charges on your card for apps you don't want. Here is how to enjoy free trials without ever seeing a charge.

How to Fix iPad Sound Not Working

By Amy Spitzfaden Both

Did your iPad’s sound mysteriously stop working? Have you lost audio while playing music or using apps? If you have no sound on your iPad, and you've already tried rebooting it to no avail and you know there are no headphones plugged in, follow these steps to fix the most common causes of iPad sound not working.

We all want our kids to avoid screen addiction and be safe online, but that can be hard to accomplish when children have open access to the internet via their iPhone or iPad. Fortunately, Apple's Screen Time parental controls are easy and free to use. In the past you might have had to pay for iPad or iPhone parental control apps to make sure inappropriate content wasn't getting through on your kids' devices, but not anymore. Learn how to set up Screen Time settings on your child's iPhone and iPad, and how to lock those settings so your curious kids can't access the content you've blocked.

People want to know how to change the default Apple Pay card quickly, without hassle. Having a default card can be useful, but sometimes you you'd rather put a big expense on a credit card instead of your bank card. This tip teaches you the most convenient method for swapping out your default Apple Pay card, right from inside your wallet! Let's dive in with how to change an Apple Pay card.

Forget package tracking apps! Did you know you can track shipments on your iPhone without ever leaving the app in which you received the tracking number? If you’re worried about porch pirates, one of the best security measures is knowing when a package is supposed to arrive. Your iPhone will automatically detect tracking any tracking number that you receive in Mail or Messages. You can also use the same method to track packages from websites like Amazon by copying and pasting the tracking number into Notes. For an extra layer of security, you can add a unique passcode to Notes. With this tip, you’ll be able to set up tracking from any carrier. Let’s dive in to how to use iPhone package tracking.

If you have a child who uses your iPad or iPhone, you'll love this tip. Keeping our kids from seeing inappropriate content online can be a struggle, but Apple makes putting parental controls on your iPad or iPhone easy. (We cover how to use Parental Controls to set restrictions on a child's personal device in a different tip.) If you ever hand your iPhone to the back seat to keep your kids occupied on a long car ride or let them watch a movie on your iPad while you get dinner together, you'll want to read how to restrict your iPad or iPhone for your child to make sure they're only accessing age-appropriate material. 

If you're wondering, "how can I stop spending so much time on my phone," Screen Time settings can help you combat smartphone addiction. Apple offers Screen Time settings on your iPhone and iPad with a section called App Limits that tracks and limits how much time you spend on particular activities, sites, and apps. Read on to learn how to set restrictions on the iPhone and iPad and limit screen time for specific apps. 

You can stream music from your iPad, iPod Touch, and iPhone to your Apple TV using Apple's AirPlay feature. This wireless option makes listening to your music on an Apple TV easy to do. We'll answer the questions, "what is AirPlay", and "what is Screen Mirroring", as well as the differences between the features. Then, we'll jump into how to AirPlay music on an Apple TV from an iPhone from Apple Music or a third-party app.

The native Apple Books app, formerly iBooks, has the ability to save e-books and audiobooks to a wish list for later purchase. This feature, called Want to Buy, is perfect for keeping track of which e-book or audiobook you'd like to read or listen to next. Let's get started learning how to save audiobooks and e-books to purchase later in the Books app on your iPhone or iPad. 

We all know the frustration of that notification that pops up telling us our phone storage is low. When looking to see what's taking up space on an iPhone, one of the first things to check are podcasts and TV shows. Removing even just a couple of these larger files can free up storage quickly, but not all of them take up the same amount of space. Here's how to see how much storage podcasts and TV shows are taking up so you can make efficient decisions about what to remove and get back to enjoying your content. For more great Apple product tutorials be sure to check out our free Tip of the Day.

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