iPhone

Whether you have a road trip coming up, a long commute to work or just a series of errands to run around town, it's nearly inevitable that you'll spend some time every day in that home away from home: your car. No matter what your destination, there are a few Apple accessories that can help make daily driving more convenient, safe, and pleasant. We've included reviews of a magnetic phone charger, an iPad car mount, a portable jump starter, a mobile air purifier, and even more cool car accessories you never knew you needed (until now.) Read on for our car-tech roundup, where we'll introduce you to six of our top picks for auto accessories this year.

I have reviewed a number of gaming controllers from GameSir but the i3 Gaming Case ($39.90) the company sent me to try breaks the iPhone Bluetooth game controller mold. Instead of a plastic Xbox-like controller fitted to work with and house an iPhone, GameSir started with an iPhone case and added buttons to it. 

If you're not all-in on Apple Arcade, and still use a dedicated gaming console like the Xbox One, you might want a gaming headset that can support chat via a removable boom microphone. But before you spend nearly $200 (as much as or more than the console) you should get one that also works with your iPhone. LucidSound sent me a review unit of their LS35X Rose Gold Wireless Gaming Headset ($149.99) to try and Apple users who like to game will find it is a perfect fit, especially if they use Rose Gold Apple gear.

I've reviewed several game controllers from GameSir, but the latest one is a sharp departure from previous models. The company sent me the F4 Falcon Mobile Gaming Controller ($35.99). While most of GameSir's other iPhone game controllers are large and enclose or prop-up the entire iPhone, the Falcon is quite compact and folds into itself to be smaller than a computer mouse. The wings expand, like a falcon, and it can clamp on to an iPhone.

We've probably all used a flash drive, jump drive, or thumb drive (they're all the same thing) to safely store and transport our important files. Now though, in the age of iCloud, does anyone really need a USB storage device for their iPhone? Apple's cross-device storage system, iCloud, syncs all devices that are signed in with the same Apple ID; meaning that if you delete a photo on your iPhone, it's also gone from your iPad, Mac, and your iCloud account. This brings us back to the necessity of external storage for the iPhone. We can, of course, save photos and other files to another location on our devices, separate from our iCloud Libraries, but those files will still consume storage space. Now the longevity of the flash drive becomes more clear. If you're beginning to think that a flash drive for your iOS device might be a good investment, read on to learn how to use a flash drive with your phone, and about a few of the best flash drives on the market today. 

Drones are intimidating. Whether it’s the loud roar of the propellers or just the mere idea that you are actually controlling an unmanned aircraft (something that just a few years ago sounded like science fiction), using drones to capture aerial photos can be quite overwhelming. But fear not, cautious ones! It’s actually very easy to get beautiful drone photos and video every time that you fly.

If you are an iPhone or iPad user who wants to sync to your new Apple MacBook via a Lightning cable, you will first need to acquire an expensive dongle that converts from the MacBook's USB-C connector to the older USB standard plug. This may also leave you with no way to power your laptop with your iPhone’s cable occupying the port, since the MacBook has but a single USB-C port that also doubles as a power supply port. Fortunately, the power specialists at FINsix have created a power adapter that can deliver both USB-C capable power while also adding a standard USB plug inline to the power cord. It also comes in a package far smaller than Apple's USB-C charger and dongle combined.

After awhile, the Apple lightning cable is bound to fray. Finding the best durable lightning cable for charging your iPhone is a must. Apple switched to lightning cables with the iPhone 5, which means iPhone 6 and iPhone 7 users will be searching for a strong lightning charging cable too. You can get another one from Apple or put that money towards a third-party lightning cable that will be more likely to last a lot longer. We’ll cover the best, most durable lightning cables, the best short lightning cable, and multiple other categories. If you need a new charging cable, this is the roundup for you.

Sometimes you need just a little more power, but carrying around a heavy 10,000 mAh power pack is overkill. For those times, the IonGo 5K Duo Portable Battery ($74.95) from Moshi might be the perfect companion. Moshi sent me a review unit and it is compact and comfortable to the touch and stylish, thanks to the hand-stitched vegan leather exterior and aluminum accents, common with many of Moshi's accessories.

How many times do you find yourself without power and no outlet nearby? Well, if you're trekking in a sunny area, you have a nice and nice looking option. In fact, my daughter will be backpacking in South Africa this summer, so I was excited when I received the Solar Backpack ICONIC ($119.90) from SunnyBAG. It's a backpack with a solar panel built-in to the exterior.

Should you upgrade to Apple's $1,000 new iPhone X or defend your dollars and opt for one of the more reasonably priced iPhone 8 models? Sarah and David fiercely debate this point in the 66th episode of the iPhone Life Podcast following Apple's tenth-anniversary event. The team also analyzes the significance of the tech giant's other big updates, from the cellular-enabled Apple Watch Series 3 to the 4K Apple TV.

If your iPhone X is stuck on the Apple logo, a spinning wheel, a completely black screen, or otherwise frozen, one quick method for getting everything back to normal is a force restart. There are lots of different names people call this procedure; a hard restart, force shutdown, a hard reset, or even a hard reboot. What all these terms refer to, though, is the same thing; forcing your iPhone to turn off in such a way that it has to completely reboot when you turn it back on. This iPhone X reboot allows your device to restart with refreshed memory and, hopefully, minus the glitches. This isn't something you want to do every time you turn off your iPhone; it’s more of a last resort when your iPhone is acting wonky or freezes completely. A hard reset is a bit more complicated on the iPhone X than on other iPhones, so let's learn how to reboot your iPhone X. We've also covered other methods for unfreezing all iPhone models, so check that out if you'd like as well.

The beautiful edge-to-edge display of the iPhone X leaves no room for a Home button. But if you find yourself missing the old Home button, you can add an on-screen Home button to your iPhone X screen thanks to the accessibility features. This is actually something that anyone with an iPhone can do, and it comes in handy if you have an older iPhone with a broken Home button. For iPhone X users, however, it’s the only way to retrieve the lost Home button. It’s not for everyone, but it’s great for those who want it. Here’s how to add an on-screen Home button to your iPhone X.

Did you just upgrade your iPhone to a new model with no Home button? The most common question we hear from users new to the no-home-button "club" is how to find the Home screen on an iPhone without that button. I encountered this issue with my iPhone 11 and was stuck Googling "How do I get to my iPhone 11 Home screen?" So I'm here to help, and hopefully to make it easier for you to feel comfortable with the new way to navigate home on your iPhone without a Home button. Here’s how to get to the Home screen on iPhone XR, XS, X, 11, and more.

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