iPhone Life - Best Apps, Top Tips, Great Gear

Enable Siri: How to Switch Back to Hey Siri on iOS 17

While previous versions of iOS required you to say, "Hey Siri," to activate Siri, iOS 17 drops the "Hey" and now allows you to summon your virtual assistant with just a simple "Siri." Some may find this more convenient, while others may find it more frustrating since simply saying Siri's name is enough to accidentally make unneeded reminders, set random timers, or search the web.

Crush Your 2025 Health Goals with the Withings Body Scan

(Sponsored Post) By Amy Spitzfaden Both on Thu, 01/09/2025

Your 2025 health goals deserve so much more than just a number on a scale. Withings is here to support all your body resolutions with a revolutionary health analysis. The Withings Body Scan revolutionizes home health checkups in a powerful, incredibly simple experience, directly from your home, in just 90 seconds.

9.7-inch iPad Apple released today is the second iPad Pro. With over 1 million apps in the App Store for iPad and 600 million iPads active that are over five years old, Apple saw a market for a smaller laptop replacement. Even though the original iPad Pro is still fairly new, the iPad Pro line-up is clearly taking over. 

“The most powerful 4-inch iPhone ever.” Apple announces Special Edition iPhone with 64-bit A9 chip, giving it the same performance as the iPhone 6s but in a smaller package. So, the new iPhone will be faster than the iPhone 6s because of size alone. Plus, the iPhone SE will have improved battery life across the board. Apple has focused lots of attention on its camera with 12mp iSight camera, and it can capture Live Photos.  The iPhone SE has improved low light functions, slow motion functions, and can capture 4K video.

By now you’re aware of the fight on privacy and security taking place between Apple and the FBI. An iPhone 5c was recovered from the San Bernardino shooter after the terrorist attack back in December of 2015. In order to access the phone’s data, the FBI is citing the All Writs Act in its demand that Apple create a ‘GovtOS’ which would allow the agency to enter unlimited passcodes until the phone is unlocked. Tim Cook was recently interviewed by Time magazine on the matter, stating the whole ordeal feels like a “bad dream.”

How to Set Up Apple Watch & Pair It with Your iPhone

Pairing an Apple Watch the first time is self-explanatory! We'll teach you how to connect your Apple Watch to your new phone or your new Apple Watch to your old phone. If you got both a new Apple Watch and a new iPhone, I recommend setting up the new Apple Watch first and then I set up my new iPhone, but it doesn't make a difference as long as you do one device at a time.

3D Touch, introduced with the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus, is still a relatively new feature and as such, more Quick Actions and Peek & Pops are being added to third-party and Apple apps all the time. Every instance where I can use 3D Touch is a welcome shortcut, and previewing a city’s weather is one of those instances. You already know that you can have multiple cities listed in your Apple Weather app, but did you know you can use Peek & Pop to preview each one? Here’s how.

App developers are consistently releasing updates and upgrades to improve in-app experiences and to fix bugs. To make this process easy, your iPhone will automatically download available updates over Wi-Fi. Apps, books, and music you purchase on other devices are also automatically downloaded. If you prefer to updte your apps manually, here’s how to turn the option off.

 
Audials Radio offers Internet lovers a great deal of radio services.  The app isn't just a simple radio app; it also offers news and a chance for users to keep track of their favourite stations. Its catalog is made up of over 90,000 radio stations from various countries around the world.  Talk radio, all of your old favorites from the FM and AM days, and music from a ton of genres are also included.

Even if you're pretty good at doing math in your head, there are so many different measures that you may often find yourself needing to do conversions. For example, when I'm watching tennis on TV and the announcer says the serve was 220 kilometers per hour, I'm fairly clueless. So I just ask Siri to convert to the more familiar mph. (And that would be 137 mph—definitely a fast serve.) Siri can convert currencies and also measures such as distance, weight, volume, cooking measures, temperature, and speed. Plus, since the introduction of iOS 9, there are two ways to get Siri to do conversions: ask Siri or use Spotlight Search—which is basically sending Siri a text message.

Instagram is one of the few popular social networks that still shows content in chronological order. Soon, however, it’ll be adding algorithms for personalized social feeds. Similar to Facebook, Instagram will order the photos and videos based on “your relationship with the person posting and the timeliness of the post,” the company shared in a recent blog post.

Since getting the iPhone 6s, I’ve slowly but surely become accustomed to Peek & Popping various links in different apps. But the problem with 3D Touch being a relatively new feature is that you’re not always sure when you can and can't use it. Luckily, Apple and developers are consistently adding Quick Actions and Peek & Pop features to existing apps. One such app you can utilize the Peek function in is Music. Here’s how.

True to my geek nature, I am more excited about Apple’s March event than a child on Christmas morning. And we’re less than a week away. Next Monday, March 21 Apple will (finally) hold its Spring event and introduce its first product line-up of 2016. Rumors have consistently predicted a 4-inch iPhone SE, smaller iPad Pro (or Air 3, who knows), additional Apple Watch bands, and one more thing. But Apple also loves to add a little spice to its announcements, so I’ve got my fingers crossed for a closing performance by Adele.

Every now and again you need a simple but challenging game to play while on your commute to work or if you're just having a relaxing Sunday. The Little Prince - Bubble Pop Journey (free) game for iOS is a puzzler that involves matching three bubbles of the same color to eliminate them. The app is based on the film, The Little Prince, which is an adaptation of the book by Antoine de Saint Exupéry. In the film the mother imposes strict rules on her daughter, so she can pass the entrance exam to get enroll in a prestigious school.

Richard Clarke, who led counterterrorism efforts for nine years during the Clinton and Bush administration says “Encryption and privacy are larger issues than fighting terrorism,” citing the example of the Obama administration which has said no to torture methods. NPR’s David Green then asks why he would compare the FBI’s request that Apple create an iOS backdoor to unlock the San Bernardino shooter’s iPhone with an extreme method such as torture, “that seems like a jump.” To which Clarke replied, “No, the point I’m trying to make is there are limits.”

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