iPhone Life - Best Apps, Top Tips, Great Gear

iOS 17: Voice Message Transcription Not Working

The latest version of iOS introduced a feature that automatically transcribes audio messages sent through the Messages app. This certainly comes in handy if you’re unable to listen to an audio message, as you can just read what the message says in the form of a text. But what should you do if your iPhone is running iOS 17 and audio message transcription is not working? Read on to find out how to troubleshoot this issue.

Online shopping is more popular than ever. Not only is it super easy to click and have a product show up on your doorstep, but also shipping prices and wait times are low enough to make you want to buy just about everything online. But once you’ve ordered something (or many somethings), you start receiving tracking numbers. And then to check the status of a package, you end up searching through emails trying to find your tracking number again. But what if there was an app that seamlessly synced across all of your devices, tracked your packages, and alerted you about arrivals? Ah yes, say hello to Deliveries: A Package Tracker ($4.99). Whether on iPhone, iPad, or Apple Watch, you’ll always know the status of your packages. Here’s more on what Deliveries does and why we love it.

You’ve probably received thousands of pop-ups asking you to rate and review an app during your time with your iPhone and iPad, but how often have you actually rated and reviewed them? Pop-ups of any kind are super annoying, and if I really love (or strongly dislike) an app, I go out of my way to rate and review it. But the overwhelming majority of these requests are denied before my brain even acknowledges what the pop-up asked me to do. Luckily, with iOS 11 and later on iPhone, you can turn off in-app requests to rate and review apps fairly easily. Here’s how.

one hand keyboard top image

Do you like to multitask and find yourself trying to text with one hand? Or are the newer iPhone models just too big for you to use one-handed? Well, the one-handed keyboard on iPhone has come in handy (pun intended) more than once after learning this tip. This one is super quick to access and makes quickly typing out a message that much more convenient when you only have one hand at the ready.

If you get special satisfaction each time you discover a new way to use your iPhone or iPad, you're going to love our latest Flipboard magazine featuring our very best iOS 11 tips. Follow "The Epic Guide to iOS 11 on iPhone & iPad" magazine on Flipboard to get time-saving tips on how to use Apple's new Battery Life suggestions, turning your Live Photos into gifs, setting up Emergency SOS on iPhone, and much more. 

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Perhaps the best smart accessory you can get for your smart home, if you have a dog or cat, is the SmartFeeder ($119.99–$149) from Petnet.io. I have a dog that I love, but my wife and I work and our kids are at school, so it's nice to know that our dog can be fed regularly. Additionally, we try to be precise about how much we feed our dog, and the Petnet.io app lets us choose the exact amount of dry dog food. The app is elegant and simple and I found it easy to set up the app and the online account, as well as the hardware.

A heavily requested feature for iOS 11 was Dark Mode. Dark Mode essentially turns white space black while leaving media, photos, and content the same. However, we did not get an official Dark Mode in iOS 11, and we haven't gotten one for iOS 12, either. Hopefully this will come out soon because macOS Mojave does offer this feature. For now, though, the next best thing is pretty darn fantastic. Inverting colors on iPhone in the past meant distorting the look of photos and content as well. But iOS 11 introduced Smart Invert, which is (almost) as good of a Dark Mode as we need. Here’s how to turn on Dark Mode or Night Mode in iOS 12 on iPhone, this will invert colors on your display and reduce eye strain.

Now that we've all got our hands on the iOS 12 update, it's worth a reminder to check a few settings. One of the biggest changes with iOS 11 was the new driving Do Not Disturb for iPhone feature. If you haven't used this driving mode for your iPhone yet, it's a safety feature that's well worth your time to set up. I’ll show you how to turn on Do Not Disturb While Driving, how to turn off Do Not Disturb While Driving, and I’ll also cover the Do Not Disturb While Driving text message auto-reply on the iPhone!

How To Add Emergency Contact on iPhone for Emergency SOS

The Emergency SOS feature lets you call for help in many different ways, including discreetly by holding down a button, via satellite, and even automatically if a car crash or fall is detected. After an Emergency SOS call ends, your iPhone will automatically send a message with your location to your Emergency contact(s). Add an extra layer of security to your life by adding your iPhone emergency contact.

With the release of iOS 11 and Apple’s debut of the new iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Pluse, and iPhone X, I wanted to feature an awesome augmented reality app so we can get a taste of what’s to come. With iOS 11 out, Apple’s ARkit for app developers is available too. Which means we’re going to see more and more apps that utilize the iPhone’s camera to present some kind of graphic, game, or information as a part of the world around us. The most popular example of AR on iPhone to date is, of course, Pokemon GO. But I’ve heard a lot of people wondering if and how AR could be used for more than just gaming. Well, I’ve got an incredible example today. Say hello to AR MeasureKit. Who needs a tape measure when you’ve got an iPhone? I’ll go over more ofwhat it does and why we love it below.

WatchOS 4 for Apple Watch added a lot of quality features to the smartwatch, including new watch faces. My personal favorite addition is the new Kaleidoscope watch face that uses either a built-in photo or a photo of your choice to create a colorful image in one of three different styles. We’ll go over how to use the Kaleidoscope watch face and how to create your own Kaleidoscope Apple Watch face on iPhone.

The app store looks very different in iOS 11. Not only are many of the tabs at the bottom different, but also Apple has added new features to the App Store that weren’t there before. The App Store has full articles on how to play certain games, interviews with the developers of a popular app, a featured App of the Day, and more. In a lot of ways, it’s much easier to find and discover apps in the new App Store. But it may take some getting used to. Here’s a quick tour of the new App Store with iOS 11 on iPhone.

Are you someone who finds themselves poring back through their deleted emails, searching for that 20% off promo code you thought you weren't going to use? If you think you might want an extra step of precaution before emails are permanently deleted from your trash folder, consider turning on the Mail app's Ask Before Deleting feature.

Ready to watch MLB and the World Series online? We’ve got four different ways you can make that happen. If you’re watching the World Series on Apple TV, we’ll also cover options that will allow you to do so. It’s unlikely you’ll find a way to watch the World Series online for free (legally, at least), but there’s a few different subscriptions you can sign up for that will allow you to watch MLB and the World Series online and without cable. For cable subscribers, we’ll cover how you can watch the World Series on Apple TV with the Fox Sports Go app. But the rest of our options will be focused on watching MLB and the World Series online and on your devices, including iPhone, iPad, and Apple TV. Let’s go.

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