Want to know how to start a Siri FaceTime call? It’s no secret that you can use Siri to do things like control your music or launch apps. And most people are familiar with using Siri to make a voice call, but you can also use Siri to make a FaceTime call. My mom is a huge fan of this as she continues to learn the best ways to use her iPhone; using Siri to FaceTime me is her personal favorite how-to. Here’s how to use Siri to make FaceTime calls.
By Conner Carey
Once we’re done with schooling, it’s all too easy to let learning fall by the wayside. But in any field, writing, reading, and speaking skills can help you stand out from the crowd. Most brain game apps focus on games that have no real-world application, but Elevate (free) takes a different approach. The free version of the app offers three types of daily games: Brevity, Processing, and Memory. Listening and Math are included in premium content. If you want to expand your vocabulary, improve how many words you can read per minute, and keep your memory sharp, give this learning game a try. Here’s more on what Elevate does and why we love it.
With the weather turning, now is the time to consider the ClimateCase 700 Series ($28.95). It's easy to forget and leave your iPhone in your car overnight where it can be exposed to low temperatures. And in the summer, the same is true of high temperatures. That's where the ClimateCase comes in.
By Conner Carey
Did you know you can zoom in and out using just your thumb in the Apple Maps app? Before iOS 11 you needed two fingers, which meant you generally also needed two hands—one to hold the phone and another to zoom. But now using Apple Maps is easier than ever before on your iPhone; you can hold your phone in one hand and use just one finger or your thumb to zoom in and out of maps in the Maps app. Here’s how.
By Conner Carey
We can all use a bit of help fine-tuning our productivity. And technology is one way we’re able to be more productive with less stress while juggling all of our responsibilities. It’s even better when the technology's already at your disposal, which is what we strove to accomplish with our brand new Insider Guide to Productivity Apps. Get up close and personal with Apple's Notes, Reminders, and Calendar apps on your iPhone and iPad. All of these apps come with every Apple device and have a lot of useful functions for organizing your life, so why wouldn’t you use them? With a video for each tip to make learning easy, we’re excited to present the latest offering from our premium membership, iPhone Life Insider. Get a sneak preview of the new Productivity Apps Guide and learn about all the benefits of an Insider subscription below.
By Conner Carey
A somewhat hidden feature, did you know you can take pictures of a FaceTime call, including Live Photos? You can turn on a setting that allows you to take Live Photos while you’re on a FaceTime call in the Settings app. Just like with other Live Photos, this means you’ll have a still image of your FaceTime screen that, when activated, comes to life for a few seconds. You can also turn the Live Photo into a still image. Here’s how to turn on FaceTime photos and how to take a pic on FaceTime.
By Conner Carey
The Notes app is your handy iPad and iPhone notepad and sketchpad. If you're looking for a drawing app for the iPad, look no further than the built in Notes. You can simply draw right on the note as though it were the paper. Here’s how to add inline drawings to Notes on iPhone.
By Conner Carey
If you've been wondering, "how do I scan a QR code on my iPhone?", you're in luck. Before iOS 11, you needed a third-party app to be able to scan QR codes on an iPhone or iPad. Now, you can use the stock Camera app on your phone or tablet to scan QR codes, and it’s pretty easy to do. We will show you how to use the Camera app on your iPhone or iPad for scanning QR codes.
By Mike Riley
Augmented Reality (AR) is supposedly "the next big thing" in videogames, and Apple has embraced that possibility by outfitting iOS game developers with ARKit to help standardize and accelerate AR on iOS. During the recent iPhone 8 and 8 Plus and iPhone X launch event, Apple had a developer from Directive Games take to the stage and demonstrate the company's ARKit-powered new game, The Machines. After upgrading to iOS 11, the first AR-enabled game I played was The Machines ($4.99). Does it live up to the hype? Read on to find out.
By Conner Carey
We've already gone over how to take and share a screenshot on an iPhone. With iOS 12 or later, the screenshot appears in the lower-left corner of the screen for a few seconds. If you want to use Apple's Markup feature on the screenshot, you can tap on the fleeting image to instantly make your changes, adding text, drawings, and more. If you accidentally took the screenshot, you can also immediately delete the image by tapping on it. We'll cover how to mark up screenshots with iOS 13 on your iPhone below.
