iPhone Life - Best Apps, Top Tips, Great Gear

Temporarily Use Old Passcode on iPhone (iOS 17)

If you've recently changed the iPhone passcode, you can set your iPhone to temporarily use the old passcode when you forget the new passcode on iPhone. This is a great way to ensure you don't get locked out of your phone before you've gotten in the habit of remembering the new passcode. In order for this option to show up, you will need to have recently changed the passcode, and you will need to have updated to iOS 17. 

Prevent Text Predictions from Putting Words in Your Mouth (iOS 17)

If you updated to iOS 17 recently, you might have noticed autocorrect is behaving a bit differently than you’re used to. Now, you’ll see suggestions inline while typing, which can be accepted by tapping the space bar. However, if you find yourself accidentally hitting the space bar without wanting to accept the suggestion, you may want to disable these new predictions.

The leading cause of broken, unusable iPhones is a cracked screen, followed closely by water damage, so a good waterproof case can typically go a long way to keeping your precious device safe from exposure to liquids. The great thing about waterproof cases is that when they work, they turn your iPhone (or iPad) into the ultimate adventure-proof accessory. Not only does your iDevice become capable of safely handling what could otherwise be catastrophic conditions like underwater videography or surfing, but also it's protected from day-to-day hazards like an accidental drop into the bathtub or toilet. The not so great thing (major understatement) about waterproof cases, is that even the best waterproof case is only waterproof, until it isn't. When it comes to intentionally submerging your iPhone in water, there aren't usually incremental levels of damage. Let's face it, short of a minor splash, if your iPhone's innards get soaked, it's history, and hopefully you have insurance and a recent back up if that happens.

If you need to express money in dollars on the iPhone, it’s easy to find. You simply tap the 123 button on the keyboard and there it is. But what if you need to express how many pounds or even how many cents something cost? You can easily find alternate currency symbols on iPhone the same way you find all the other hidden characters of the keyboard. Here’s how to type currency symbols on your iPhone.

I’ve reached a point in my life where cooking is important to me. I may not want to stand in the kitchen when I get home after work but I’ve realized how much better I feel when making my own meals with fresh, whole ingredients. Now it’s time to find some healthy recipe apps that not only use whole ingredients to make delicious meals but also don’t take too long to make. Here’s my list of the best healthy recipe apps I’ve discovered.

Reminders are my favorite way to remember things I need to do or buy, and recent updates to the app make it easier than ever before. The Reminders app has historically allowed you to set a reminder to have a low, medium, or high priority, but now you can even sort reminders by their priority level! We'll show you how to set reminder priority in the Reminders app.

It’s not that I don’t like cooking, it’s that I don’t want to cook at the end of a long day. Yet I’ve felt the consequences of microwave meals and take out— my body is not a fan. So when I was asked to test out Mealime Pro ($5.99/mo), I figured this was a great excuse to get back in the kitchen. Mealime is a meal planning app with quick recipes that can be tailored to your personal eating preferences. The service offers five different menu types from Low Carb to Vegetarian and scales the amount of food you make based on your selection of 2 or 4 servings. Overall, I’ve made some incredibly yummy and healthy dishes the past couple weeks. But there’s certainly room for improvement here too.

Apple Watch bands have different purposes. The Sport band is particularly perfect for exercising, while you might want a Milanese Loop for special events, and a double tour leather strap for day-to-day wear. Once you’ve acquired multiple bands, the question becomes, “where do I store these things?” Especially since each band is in two pieces, it would be easy to lose one. I’ve seen plenty of travel kits for Apple Watch, but the Monochest ($79.99) by Monowear is the first Apple Watch band holder I’ve encountered.

It appears that Apple is in talks with Tidal to acquire the music streaming service owned by rap mogul Jay Z, reported The Wall Street Journal. The initial report came as a surprise to many, but now bloggers are making the case for why it could be the best of both worlds. Tidal and Apple Music both have exclusivity with certain artists, but Tidal has maintained higher pay-per-stream rates for Tidal artists.

Furthermore, Tidal now has 4 million paying subscribers while Apple Music has 15 million. If either plan to catch up or surpass Spotify’s 30 million paying subscribers, combining efforts could be a way to help bridge that gap.

The reminders app is my favorite way to easily remember events coming up. Often, I’ll ask Siri to set a reminder for me. When you add a time or location to your reminder, you’ll get a notification at the perfect moment. Usually to edit this information in the Reminders app, you need to tap the blue “i” next to the reminder. But with 3D Touch (only on iPhone 6s and later), you can skip all that and quickly jump into editing. Here’s how to edit reminders with 3D Touch.

Whenever we read something that inspires or excites us, it’s natural to want to share that discovery with others. Luckily, sharing a quote from apps such as Safari, Notes, or iBooks is easy to do. You can share the quote you find on Facebook or Twitter or through Mail and Messages. You can also use this tip to share quotes you find to your Notes app for safe keeping. Here’s how to share a quote from Safari, Notes, iBooks, and more.

I will be honest, I talk to my Amazon Echo’s agent, Alexa, more than I talk to Siri. In many ways, the Echo is a completely different creature than Siri. I don’t need Siri to use my iPhone. Apple hopes that Siri makes me more dependent on my phone, but there is no using the Echo without Alexa. Echo is designed primarily as the home for an intelligent assistant and little else.

Handoff can help you be more productive by making it easy to switch between iPhones, iPads, and Macs. This is especially true when you need to transfer an unfinished email to your Mac because it's getting too long to type on your iPhone, or when you have to leave your computer and need to finish your email on an iPhone or iPad. Here’s how to start an email on your iPhone and finish it on your Mac or iPad.

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