iPhone Life - Best Apps, Top Tips, Great Gear

I’m a pretty patient person, but when it comes to Music, I want to be able to switch playlists and songs quickly. I’m usually working out or driving while I listen to music, and I need to be able to quickly change what I’m listening to at a stoplight or in between sets. That's why it's a good idea to customize the bottom toolbar in the Music app to show what you use most, instead of having to click More for the extended menu.

Once I return home from a trip and I can finally relax, I love looking through my collection of pictures and sharing them on Facebook and Instagram. Unfortunately, if you’re like me, you tend to take a lot of pictures, which can be both good and bad.

How would you like to extend the surface area of your app's user interface exponentially? How would your users react if you added multiple display devices to your app, each containing different content? All of this is possible by using an iOS feature many developers are not aware of—external displays.

Keeping track of what you need to do can be difficult when your errands, or you, cross different time zones, but that can easily be managed right in the Calendar app.

It’s easier than ever to stay on top of your appointments with the Calendar widget in Notification Center on iOS 8, but it’s even easier to be late if you don’t know when to leave for your next appointment. Fortunately, you can integrate travel time into your Calendar events in just a few short steps.

The following dozen games are either ports of popular console titles, or iOS games that shine in their own right as being console quality. To be included on this list, a game must either be a new release as of this year, or it must have been updated recently to support iOS 8 and Apple's advanced new programming interface known as Metal. With the introduction of iOS 8 and Metal, alongside the powerful A8 and A8X processors that are inside the latest iDevices, Apple has leveled the virtual playing field. It would be ignoring the facts for a core console gamer to say that iOS can't support video games that are on par with console or PC titles, especially if you indulge in iOS' streaming capabilities that allow us to play these great games on a large screened TV. With the graphic capabilities of iOS 8 and the exciting titles currently available for the platform, it's easy to see how Apple's iOS is leading the way in a mobile eSport industry that is on track to bring in a revenue of over 24 billion dollars this year, and set to overtake PC and console gaming's revenue in 2015. As the holidays are upon us again, don't forget that you can gift any of these apps to your favorite gamer via the App Store.

When you're in bed reading a really compelling book, you don't always want to stop just because it's late and your spouse wants to go to sleep. That's when you need the low-light Night theme in iBooks. It means you can finish the chapter without the glare of the screen hurting your eyes or disturbing your partner.