iPhone Life - Best Apps, Top Tips, Great Gear

Save Battery by Disabling Your iPhone’s Always on Display

The iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro (as well as both of their Pro Max models) have a feature called Always On Display. This feature allows your phone screen to stay on at all times (unless you place it in your pocket or a bag) while consuming a minimal amount of battery. However, if you want to save a bit of battery or you don’t want others to see your notifications as soon as they come in, you can find out how to turn off the Always On Display on your iPhone.

I recently reviewed the SmartCine Complete Universal Smartphone Kit. It's a handheld mount that holds a smartphone in place for use in videography. I was intrigued to see how the "complete" kit could get better when Movo sent me its SmartCine Wireless All-in-One Video Kit ($149.95) to try. It turns out there was quite a bit more that could be added. First, Movo added a wireless lavalier microphone option. When combined with an added telephoto lens, this makes it easy to record a distant subject while keeping them in the picture. The kit has a convenient headphone jack as well to check audio levels. Make sure you have your own Lightning to 3.5mm audio converter to accept the output of the wireless receiver.

If you don't like either of the Apple Pencils that Apple offers, the folks at Adonit have a wide range of Apple Pencil alternatives. They even have a chart on their website to help you decide which one is right for you, with eleven models from $10 to $100. I previously wrote about their Adonit Note, and they sent me the upgraded Note Plus Stylus ($69.99) to try and it answers several of the issues I had. For starters, it uses USB-C instead of microUSB to recharge. This is important because, since my previous review, Apple has moved to standardize on USB-C for the iPad Pro. The fewer cables I have to carry around, the better, and microUSB has always been a pain because it's not reversible.

The Rocketbook Everlast notebook is a smart notebook that's conventional in look and feel, but is built for the digital age. The Everlast makes it easy to digitize and organize all your notes in an instant. Writing is the same as with any other notebook—with one main exception. Adding a bit of water erases all your notes so you can start from scratch, making it 100 percent reusable (yay for the environment).

I have been a fan of Pitaka's iPhone cases and car charger for some time. The company has a unique design combining aramid fiber (which looks like carbon fiber) and metal and magnets to not only look good but also to keep your phone and accessories connected, in place, and fully charged. But if you want an extra battery pack to carry with you, Pitaka also has the MagEZ Juice ($89.99), which Pitaka sent me to try.

RapidX has come up with a clever way to distinguish its MyPort portable charger ($79.99). The company sent me a review unit of its latest battery pack and it stands out, literally, because it works as a stand or a horizontal Qi charging pad or via a USB-A port. The battery pack charges by just being placed in the included dock, which charges via USB-C. There is an included USB-A to USB-C cable. This is a nice touch that helps deliver fast wireless charging at 10 watts from the 10,000 mAh battery.

In every issue of iPhone Life magazine, we feature the iPhone Home screens of people from different walks of life, so our readers can see how they use iPhone apps to meet a variety of needs. In our Spring 2020 issue, we featured preschool director Rebecca Bellonci, who uses her iPhone for parking, visiting museums, fitness, and more. If you have a story and apps you'd like to suggest, email Tamlin Day, and we may feature you in an upcoming issue of the magazine!

Artificial intelligence has come a long way from the HAL9000. Thankfully, it is far easier to control our virtual assistants than it was to disable HAL. Sometimes you don’t want to be asking Siri everything. Sometimes Siri is making too many errors. Sometimes you'd rather use Google Assistant. Sometimes you feel like you just want no assistance at all. Whatever the reason for putting Siri in the corner, here is a guide to turning off, limiting, and re-enabling Siri on your iPhone.

The HomeKit-enabled Eve product catalog continues to rapidly expand into a variety of home automation hardware, with the most recent being a smart Wi-Fi water sensor alarm that detects standing water. If you have ever experienced a leaking washing machine, dishwasher or overflowing sump pump, the Eve Water Guard ($79.95) is an ideal water leak detector to add to your Apple HomeKit-powered environment.

Owning a late-model iPhone means that you don't have a headphone jack on your iPhone. For many people, AirPods are the solution they've chosen to get excellent audio quality with cord-free ease. These convenient Bluetooth accessories have made living without wired headphones a breeze, but did Apple make AirPods waterproof? We’re here to help you with that and provide some other important AirPod information.

The Noise app on your Apple Watch is there to help protect your hearing against harmful decibels, but to get the notifications, you’ll need to enable the app. With the Noise app, you can set the decibel at which you want to be notified and set how you receive the notifications. Let’s dive in with how to protect your ears with the Noise app.

The AirPods Pro, Apple's latest wireless, Bluetooth earbuds, have more noise-canceling options than previous generations. AirPods Pro owners can decide how much noise reduction they'd like by choosing between three noise-control modes: Active Noise Cancellation, Transparency mode, and Off. There are several ways to switch between these modes, either directly from your AirPods, or by using your paired device, whether it be your iPhone, iPad, Mac, or Apple Watch. Let's get started learning how to turn on and switch between AirPods Pro noise-canceling settings on all your Apple devices. 

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