iPhone Life - Best Apps, Top Tips, Great Gear

Saved by the Apple Watch: Stories from Our Readers

I frequently call my Apple devices lifesavers. I would miss 99 percent of my appointments without the help of my iPhone alarms, but it may be a bit of an exaggeration to say I would die without my HomePod. There was no hyperbole needed for many of you who wrote in with stories of when your Apple devices saved the day! Once again, you came through with some amazing tales of your iPhones, Apple Watches, and AirTags coming to your rescue. I will reproduce several of them here, edited for space and clarity.

Your New Favorite iPad Case is Here!

(Sponsored Post) By Amy Spitzfaden Both on Tue, 12/03/2024

Zugu iPad cases are considered the very best in their class for good reason. But even the most careful iPad owners will notice dust and dirt accumulating during regular use. Zugu's soft microfiber cloth and specially formulated wipes will keep your iPad sparkly clean. Learn more about Zugu's specially formulated wipes and how you can protect your iPad for years to come!

If you’re a public transportation user and you don’t have Moovit (free), then you’re missing out.

Moovit is a transit alert app that acts like Waze for public transportation. While Waze allows users to input alerts like traffic, a cop sitting in the median, or an accident on roadways, Moovit users can report delays, out-of-service lines, incidents, crowdedness, or route change for public transportation.

A lot of people feel that their fingers can’t type properly on the iPhone keyboard, especially if they have an older model and less space to type.

Enter MyScript’s Stylus keyboard (free). This keyboard model allows you to write into the keyboard extension with your finger or your own stylus of any variety. Tip: writing with a stylus is better—and it's more accurate. The app is more likely to pick up thin pen writing over sloppy finger writing.

Do you have an idea for an app but lack the programming knowledge to begin build it? In this weekly blog series, I will take you, the non-programmer, step by step through the process of creating apps for the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Join me each week on this adventure, and you will experience how much fun turning your ideas into reality can be! This is Part 18 of the series. If you are just getting started now, check out the beginning of the series here. (This post has been updated to Swift 1.2, Xcode 6.3 and iOS 8.)

We've been discussing Core Data in my last several posts and now you should understand the basics of:

Do you have an idea for an app but lack the programming knowledge to begin building it? In this weekly blog series, I will take you, the non-programmer, step by step through the process of creating apps for the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Join me each week on this adventure, and you will experience how much fun turning your ideas into reality can be! This is Part 17 of the series. If you are just getting started now, check out the beginning of the series here. (This post has been updated to Swift 1.2, iOS 8 and Xcode 6.3.)

In my previous post, you learned how to generate Swift classes from entities in a data model and you were introduced to the mmBusinessObject class, which provides an easy-to-use wrapper for Core Data classes. In this week's post, we're going to create our app's custom business controllers and take them for a test drive!

There are many ways to stay connected with friends, family, and coworkers on iOS. Today we'll show you how to grant and revoke access to a shared calendar. Please note you can only share calendars with contacts who also have iCloud accounts and the email associated with their iCloud account must be saved in their contact card.

While iCloud Photo Library has generally replaced iTunes for syncing photos between your computer and your iPhone or iPad, you can still opt to use the iTunes software. I can think of a couple reasons you may want to do this. If you'd like to keep a limited selection of your photos on your device in order to save storage space, iTunes may be a good choice. Also, some people simply don't feel comfortable using the cloud.

This tip works for iOS 8.3 // The feature cannot be found on iOS 9 or later. 

Apple requires users to enter a password or use Touch ID every time content is obtained from the iTunes or App Stores. The purpose of this is to prevent others who may have access to your Apple account from making unauthorized purchases and running up the bill on your credit card. In the past, it didn’t matter if the content was purchased or free, a password still had to be entered to download the material. Now, with iOS 8.3, you no longer have to enter a password when downloading free material from iTunes or free apps from the App Store. It’s free, so what does it matter?

Do you have an idea for an app but lack the programming knowledge to begin building it? In this weekly blog series, How to Unleash Your Inner App Developer, I will take you, the non-programmer, step by step through the process of creating apps for the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Join me each week on this adventure, and you will experience how much fun turning your ideas into reality can be! This is Part 16 of the series. If you are just getting started now, check out the beginning of the series here. (This post has been updated to Swift 1.2, iOS 8, and Xcode 6.3.)

In my previous blog post, you learned how to add Core Data to a project and design entities in a data model. In this post, you will learn how to generate entity classes from the entities in a data model and use them within your app. You can get the latest version of the iAppsReview project at this link.

What it is: ZipGrade ($1.99 2 months/$6.99 1 year subscription), an automated multiple choice grading app for teachers on the go.
 
Pros to using ZipGrade: 
 
  • Scores are returned instantaneously as the student waits.
  • You can see how your entire class did on a test from the Item Analysis screen. 
  • You can import students and classes and then export them to many online grading sites.
  • Backed up to the cloud.
  • You have

Do you have an idea for an app but lack the programming knowledge to begin building it? In this weekly blog series, How to Unleash Your Inner App Developer, I will take you, the non-programmer, step-by-step through the process of creating apps for the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Join me each week on this adventure, and you will experience how much fun turning your ideas into reality can be! This is Part 15 of the series. If you are just getting started now, check out the beginning of the series here. (This post has been updated to Swift 1.2, iOS 8, and Xcode 6.3).

In my previous post in this series, I discussed some of the basics of Core Data, the technology that allows you to store and retrieve information on an iOS device. You learned about entity data models, databases, and how you can improve on Apple's default Core Data implementation. 

Losing an iDevice is not something any of us plan to do—but it happens. The easiest way to keep track of your device is to turn on the Find My iPhone feature. Hopefully you'll never need it, but if you do, it's a lifesaver! And using Find My iPhone in conjunction with Family Sharing means you can find any family member's lost iDevice. Here are some reasons that you'll want to use Find My iPhone to see the location of your devices and family members:

How to Open Private Tabs in Safari

Apple knows you may have good reason not to want your iPhone or iPad to track what you're doing while browsing the web in Safari. For some time, iOS has had Private Browsing Mode, in which no record is kept of which websites you've visited, your search history, or your AutoFill information. Here's how to use Private Browsing in Safari on iPhone.

Take out the trash, do your chores, don't forget about your sister's dance recital... these are all things I'm sure we find ourselves saying to our children often. Reminders help keep everyone in the family on schedule without you and your spouse having to remember it all! Here’s how to setup a reminder for the family.

There have been a couple of times now that I’ve been startled out of a deep sleep by my iPhone emitting a high pitched screeching sound. The sound was to make me aware of an AMBER (child abduction) Alert. 

I think AMBER Alerts are a great thing and help save lives, but what annoyed me was that the alert was from a city almost 300 miles away from me. Was it really relevant to me?

Most of the time the alerts are pinged off of cell towers and are specific to the area. I’m not sure why I received this particular alert, but it made me consider turning it off.

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