iPhone Life - Best Apps, Top Tips, Great Gear

When Apple released its hunchback battery case, users were less than impressed by the company's ability to hide the extra power. It’s generally accepted in the battery case world that a case that recharges will also add a significant amount of bulk to your iPhone. Well it’s time to strip that assumption away and set a higher standard, because Kuke by Kuner ($46) has proven you can do it another way.

Taking the baton from Apple in the war on privacy, Microsoft is suing the Justice Department for the right to tell its customers when the government is looking at their emails. Microsoft receives thousands of government requests for emails and documents, and it wants to let its users know when the government is snooping on them. The lawsuit cites a violation of our Fourth and First Amendment constitutional rights.

Wi-Fi Assist was introduced with iOS 9. When enabled, Wi-Fi Assist will automatically switch over to your data plan if your Wi-Fi connection becomes too slow. When the feature was released, a lot of people were upset by the surprise charges they received from their data bills. With iOS 9.3, however, Apple added the ability to see how much data Wi-Fi Assist is using. Here’s how to check.

Did you know that a simple iPhone gesture can save your thumb the workout of scrolling back to the top of most apps? Across all apps, pages, and platforms, this simple tip will automatically return you to the top of any screen. Whether you've been scrolling Instagram or Facebook, or you've been searching in the Settings app, just tap once at the top of the iPhone's screen to snap back to the beginning.

I had the opportunity to try a few VRS Design cases for my new iPhone SE, including their Crystal Bumper Series Case ($32.99). While most iPhone 5s  cases will "just work" out of the box, VRS deliberately created new versions for the iPhone SE. The result is, while the phone has the hard, flat edges of the iPhone 5 and 5s, when ensconced in cases from the Crystal Bumper Series or High Pro Shield Series or Thor Series, they resemble the soft, curved edges of the iPhone 6 and 6s. If you like that, then these cases can make the iPhone SE feel like the 6 series.

Everyone who has wondered how to get Starz without cable can now rejoice. The premium cable channel is now available as a standalone service, joining similar offerings from HBO and Showtime that launched last year. The service is less expensive, at $8.99 a month, compared to $10.99 for Showtime and $14.99 for HBO. In addition, it allows you not only to stream movies and shows but also download them — which makes it unique among the premium services. Note, however, that Starz doesn't stream its programming live, instead making all of its content on-demand.

Did you know that when your iPhone is locked, you will be prompted with the Slide to Answer feature when someone calls, but when it's unlocked, you can tap the green button to answer or the red button to decline? This makes it tricky to send calls to voicemail when your iPhone is locked. Here's how to make calls go straight to voicemail.