iPhone Life - Best Apps, Top Tips, Great Gear
Apple Event Recap—New iPhone 15, Apple Watch Series 9 & AirPods Pro
By Susan Misuraca
In episode 204, David and Donna dig into everything Apple announced at its annual September event, from the iPhone 15 to the Apple Watch Series 9. Is it time to upgrade? Dave Hamilton from Mac Geek Gab joins the show to help you decide.
At Apple’s September 2023 announcement event, the tech giant revealed the capabilities of its new Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2. The yearly update to both devices improves the processor to a new S9 chip, which will include AI processing cores for the first time on an Apple Watch. These cores enhance the function of every task that relies on artificial intelligence, from processing photos, to interpreting voice commands, to more accurate typing with autocorrect. Those cores will allow Siri to process some commands on the Apple Watch, without needing to communicate with an iPhone or the cloud. The new chip also enables a whole new gesture the user performs on their watch-arm, without touching the screen. Here’s everything you need to know about Apple’s latest generation of Apple Watches.
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How to Organize Your Calendar in 2025
(Sponsored Post) By Amy Spitzfaden Both on Thu, 02/13/2025
Apple is pretty good about updating its products, but it seems to have forgotten about the Calendar app and its many downsides. The makers of Informant 5, on the other hand, do not forget to regularly improve their app based on user experience. The latest updates to this calendar and task-management app are a productivity game-changer.
How to View Only Offline Music in Apple Music
By Conner Carey
Apple Music is kind of tricky. Sometimes My Music wouldn't play when I was away from Wi-Fi and out of Cellular reach and I couldn’t figure out why. Turns out, not all of My Music in Apple Music is available offline. Which means I’ve been using Cellular data without knowing it. To prevent this, Apple Music has the option to view Only Offline Music.
How to Turn Off Quick Website Search in Safari
By Conner Carey
On by default, Safari Quick Search uses search shortcuts to look within websites. Therefore, if you type a website name as a part of your search, Safari will look within that website for what you need. For example, type “Youtube cat video” to show YouTube search results for cat videos. If you’d rather this feature be turned off, here’s how.
Review: Soft Case by FÜZ Designs Is Both Slim and Protective
By Todd Bernhard
FÜZ Designs makes quality iOS accessories, so I was glad to try the Soft Case ($29.99) for the iPhone 6s. I liked the use of soft, grippy materials and the color choices (bright blue or red as well as black.)
Views on Top: Find the Best Views around the World with This App
By Krisoy Desouza
Views on Top (free) is an app where you can locate the best scenic experiences from around the world. People who love travel also adore the opportunity to take a good photograph or two. Some of the world’s best scenic locations are on here.
How to Use a Live Photo Wallpaper on Your iPhone
By Conner Carey
If you're wondering how to set a live wallpaper on iPhone in iOS 17, you're in luck! With the iOS 17 software update that will release in September of 2023, we can now set iPhone live wallpaper as our Lock Screen backgrounds again! If you haven't already done so, you will need to update to iOS 17 to use this tip!
Hans: Screen Deodorant for Your iPhone
By Conner Carey
“Hello, My Name is Hans,” says the packaging for what appears to be a small stick of deodorant. Made to clean your iPhone screen, when I first got Hans ($14.99) in the mail, I laughed. Yet, after using it, I got really happy. If you’re the type of person that hates dirt and fingerprints on your screen, Hans is about to be your new best friend.
Review: ZAGG Folio Case for iPad mini 4
By Nate Adcock
I finally broke down after the last Apple event and updated my original iPad mini with a new iPad mini 4. The mini is not only great for travel, it is completely viable as a miniature laptop. For on-the-go computing, it has replaced my old netbook (that I now use to run classic arcade games in a cocktail table cabinet). Anyway, the new mini needs a decent iPad mini keyboard case in order to act more like a laptop, and ZAGG has one of the best iPad mini cases. The ZAGG folio case (from $89.99) turns the new mini into an even more powerful tablet!
How to Turn off Contact Suggestions from Mail
By Conner Carey
With iOS 9, your iPhone looks through the Mail app to let you know who might be calling when an unknown number comes in. This is true for outgoing calls as well; iOS 9 will try to match the number you’re calling with a contact from emails. If this is a function you’d like to turn off, here’s how.
How to See Full Stories in the News App Feed
By Conner Carey
In the Apple News app, you have the option to view stories you tap as a preview or as the full story. Preview is the default function and makes sense for slower Internet connections; however, if you want to automatically read the full story, here’s how to change the setting.
Review: Withings Activité Pop Tracks Sleep, Is Waterproof
By Todd Bernhard
It's a reality today that all wearables will be compared to the Apple Watch, but the Activité Pop ($149.95) from Withings compares favorably. For starters, it's a lot more affordable, at about $150. It's also waterproof, which Apple doesn't claim. The first thing you'll notice is that it's analog. That means the battery life can be measured in months (up to eight), not hours. It's still smart, just don't expect to read your text messages on it. What you can do, though, is track your activity, steps, and sleep, and receive vibration alarms.
How to Delete the Live Photo Version of a Picture on Your iPhone
By Conner Carey
Apple introduced the Live Photo feature with the iPhone 6S, and it's still a fun and popular feature of the native iPhone Camera app. Unless you've unselected Live Photo settings in the Camera Settings, the Live Photo function is on by default when you open the Camera app, so you need to turn off Live Photo if you want a traditional still shot. Sometimes, though, we all forget to turn off Live Photo; now what? No worries, you can delete the Live Photo version of your picture and keep the still photo.
Voyager Focus UC: Listen to Music without Missing a Call
By Daniel Rasmus
For people who spend time a lot time on the phone at work or in traditional audio calls delivered through Voice over IP (VoIP), Facetime, or on any of the dozens of audio and video conferencing services, Plantronics has recently shipped the ultimate accessory: the Voyager Focus UC ($299.95).
31 Top Tips for Mastering Your New Apple TV
By Jim Karpen
I've been using my new Apple TV for several days now and have found the interface to be quite intuitive. However, I quickly discovered there are a lot of tips and tricks that make it even better. Here's a comprehensive roundup.
How to Sort Notifications
By Conner Carey
With iOS 9, you have the option to sort pull-down notifications. This allows you to group or ungroup apps and view notifications sorted manually or by most recent. When you group apps, they’re sorted into blocks under notifications with the most recent app appearing at the top. When apps are ungrouped, notifications will sort intermixed by most recent unless sorted manually.
How To Utilize iOS 9 Proactive Assistant
By Conner Carey
Proactive Assistant was one of the new features introduced with iOS 9. Since then, I’ve noticed a lot of misunderstanding as to just what Proactive Assistant does, how to utilize it, and how to turn it off. Proactive Assistant pays attention to what you do and where you use your phone. Proactive Assistant works with Siri to give you Spotlight Suggestions but the habit learning program has it’s own set of suggestions to help you out.