iPhone Life - Best Apps, Top Tips, Great Gear

The iPhone's camera is such a handy and versitile tool that I find myself favoring it even when I've got expensive photography equipment gathering dust in my office. Setting the exposure is as easy as tapping on the point in the image you want to meter, tapping the sun icon that appears next to that point to reveal the brightness slider, and then dragging the brightness slider up or down. That way you can make the darks a little darker or the lights a little lighter, and create the image you want every time. The Camera app doesn't give you exposure settings in f-stops, or let you adjust aperature or shutter speed directly. For that you'll need a third party app. However, it does let you adjust which part of the frame the auto-exposure meters quickly and easily. Here's how to do it.

In my ongoing quest to find the best wireless car charger, I tested the Airframe Wireless Charging Car Mount ($59.95), which Kenu sent me. I appreciate that it works with any case (or case-free iPhone) with no special cases or magnets required. In fact, it should handle even the biggest phones in the most rugged cases thanks to the wide spring-loaded arm design.

Adding Homekit enabled accessories like smart lights to the HomeKit app lets you control, schedule, and monitor your smart home devices from anywhere in the world. To add a smart accessory to your Homekit, you'll need to pair the smart device using the app's Scan QR function or enter the code manually on your iPhone or an iPad. Now, plug in your smart accessory, power it up, and let's dive right in with adding your first smart accessory to your HomeKit.

The Apple Watch Workout app is a fantastic assistant for those of us who like to count calories, paces, or heartbeats. If you work out as often as doctors recommend, then you might want to add a shortcut on your watch face so you can reach the app with a single tap. Such shortcuts are called "complications," a word taken from the ancient and honorable trade of watch-making, where it means any function of a watch face besides time-keeping. The Workout complication allows you to open the Workout app right from the watch face. To get started, all you need is your Apple Watch. Follow these simple steps:

During the Space Race, the United States spent millions to develop a Space Pen that could work in zero gravity. The Russians used a pencil. The lesson is that sometimes there can be too much technology. While numerous businesses are developing robotic toys and pet food dispensers, the folks at Cheerble have introduced a lower-tech, but still technically solid alternative. It's being crowdfunded, but I know it's a real product because they sent me a review unit of the Wicked Ball (starting at $34) to try.

On Tuesday, September 10,  Apple is expected to finally reveal all the details about the newest iPhones and Apple Watch. The fall iPhone announcement is the biggest Apple event of the year; for many Apple fans, finally getting all the details about the latest iPhones and finally getting to download the latest version of iOS feels like Christmas! We'll be offering commentary during the event in our Facebook group and in the special podcast episode we'll be recording right after. Here’s how you can watch Apple's iPhone reveal too.