iPhone Life - Best Apps, Top Tips, Great Gear

We don’t always have the luxury (or forethought) to book our hotels months in advance. And sometimes, unexpected travel plans arise. When that happens, we still want to get the best deals possible on the room we book. Luckily, there are multiple apps designed especially for those occasions. Here’s four of the best apps for booking your hotel last-minute.

All of the outstanding protective iPhone 6s cases included in this head-to-head battle have to meet a minimum criteria; and therefore, they all have the following core features in common. They are all waterproof to a depth of at least six feet for a minimum of half an hour and they are all drop-proof from a height of at least six feet. Additionally, these cases can all be considered full-time-use cases, which means that they allow full access to all of the iPhone's ports, controls, and features, without ever having to remove the case itself. Read on to see which of these quality cases—the Lifeproof Nüüd, the Catalyst, or the Punkcase Spikestar—is the best rugged waterproof iPhone 6s case.

Some apps we use once and never visit again. Others become addicting rabbit holes where time disappears. Every now and again, we find a few good apps that stick with us through the good and the bad. They’re the staple apps often found on Home screens, free of folders to confine them, because they’re used too often for the extra tap. These are five of those awesome (& free!) apps that you’ll use often, if not every day.

It's hard to believe that after all these years, someone could reinvent a USB cable and leave me impressed. But that's exactly what Lander did with its Neve Lightning Cable ($29.99). Lander paid a lot of attention to the pet peeves of most users. The cable is remarkably thin and while I've seen flat cables before and I've seen fabric braided cables before, I've never seen one cable that is both flat and covered with braided fabric. The result is a tangle-free, comfortable cable with an attractive design. It's one of the best lightning cables out there. 

I recently bought myself an Apple Watch. Now it’s time to find the perfect band for my wrist and I’m a sucker for a good leather cuff. For those of us who have expensive taste (I’m looking at your Hermes) but want to stay in a reasonable budget, this is the list for you. Just make sure to keep these out of water; your Apple Watch may be waterproof, but leather bands are not!

Apple released its top 25 apps of 2015 list on the App Store last week. The company declared these apps the “most visionary, inventive, and irresistible” of the year.  Did your favorite make the cut? Top picks include Paper for sketching and Instagram for sharing, but the winners range largely in category. So let’s get to it: here’s a look at the top award winners on Apple’s list and quick links to all the apps.

Walmart hasn't adopted Apple Pay, and it's not clear whether it will (though one report I read said the company is increasingly open to it). Now, however, you have another option for paying at Walmart. Last week the company launched a new mobile payment system at selected stores that lets you pay for your purchase at the checkout counter by scanning a QR code with your iPhone or iPad. (For it to work on an iPad, though, you'll likely need to have a cellular data model.) The new mobile payment system will be available nationwide by the first half of next year.