iPhone Life - Best Apps, Top Tips, Great Gear

How to Organize Your Calendar in 2025

(Sponsored Post) By Amy Spitzfaden Both on Thu, 10/31/2024

Apple is pretty good about updating its products, but it seems to have forgotten about the Calendar app and its many downsides. The makers of Informant 5, on the other hand, do not forget to regularly improve their app based on user experience. The latest updates to this calendar and task-management app are a productivity game-changer.

Have you ever wanted to turn your text into a call on the iPhone? Text messages are quick to send and read, but sometimes you'll need to call the other person to clear something up or if you need more direct communication. Here's how to make a phone call from the text chat, so you can reply to a text message with a phone call without leaving the Messages app. This can also be helpful if you don't have a contact's number saved on your phone, but have received text messages from them. 

Do you remember when the first smartphone came out? It was only a little more than a decade ago. A couple years later, my husband told me he wanted to upgrade from his old-school flip phone to an iPhone 4. Let me tell you, I was not on board. I remember complaining that he would be on it all the time—just like all our friends who had already converted. Fast forward to today, and I myself am the proud user of an iPhone X and am sad to say that my behaviors are probably worse than those of my friends all those years ago. It took me a while to realize I had a problem. 

In the 113th episode of the iPhone Life Podcast, members of the team talk everything iPhone 11. Will the next iPhone model slated for a September release really house a triple camera array on the back? Will it be as unsightly as critics say, and will improved photo quality make it a worthy tradeoff? Listen to find the answers to these questions and more.

Are you wondering how to use the Safari app because you're not quite sure what the icons mean? Here's a brief overview of the main icons in the iOS Safari app and how to use them. All the icons reviewed can be found along the bottom bar after you open the Safari app on your iPhone. The icons do the same thing in the iPad Safari app, but may be located in a different part of the screen.

If you use a sleep tracking app or otherwise like wearing your Apple Watch while you sleep instead of charging your watch overnight, you might struggle to find times to charge your watch and keep your battery levels up. Here's a list of suggestions for how to save Apple Watch battery life at night, while you sleep! While there's no way to keep your battery fully powered, if you try one or a combination of the suggestions below, you'll notice a difference and be able to roll out of bed without having to recharge your Apple Watch battery as often!

If you're just getting started with Apple HomeKit automation, beginning with a timed automation is a great first step! Here's how to schedule an Apple Home automation, so your smart home accessory will perform an action like clockwork. For example, you can set your porchlights to turn on every day at sunset or open the curtains at a certain time while you're out of the house so your indoor plants get plenty of sunlight. The smart accessory will need to have previously been added to the Home app, as well as be charged and connected to Wi-Fi.

How to Remove Unearned Steps from Apple Health

While wearing your Apple Watch, you'll notice arm movements during activities like knitting, playing games, or even just waving might register as steps. Here's how to delete steps from your Apple Watch, which will erase the data and reset your step count closer to the correct number. You can't do this from your Apple Watch; you'll have to use the Health app on your iPhone.

Do you have questions about how to find, download, open, close, organize, delete, and otherwise manage iOS apps on your Apple device? Here's your roadmap to the App Store, and how to navigate all the applications you discover there. Whether you're wondering how to find a specific type of app, how to delete apps you no longer need, how to organize your Home screen so you can easily find the apps you're looking for, or even how to fix an app that's frozen or crashing, we have you covered. Dive in to our apps guide and find the information you need to get the most out of your apps.  

Apple previewed big security and privacy software updates for its users during the WWDC 2019 Keynote. The updates address concerns such as location tracking, information gleaning, and device hacking, giving Apple customers more control over whether and how their data is shared. On the horizon are more choices in location sharing and tracking, a feature called Sign in with Apple, the option to use a randomly generated email instead of your own, Find My Phone and Find My Friends unifying, and HomeKit security improvements.

Now that Apple has announced that it's getting rid of iTunes and splitting it into three, everyone wants to know, without iTunes, what will happen to my music library, will my playlists be transferred, and will the iTunes backup be replaced with a new option? Don’t worry; we’ve got the answers to all your burning iTunes related questions. 

The Apple Pencil is seen by many iPad users as a stylus (much to Jony Ive's annoyance), but its main use is as a tool for markups and creative projects in apps like Procreate or something more simple like Notes. Here are some quick tips for drawing with the Apple Pencil including adjusting opacity and line thickness, shading with the side of the Pencil's nib, erasing, and using the Apple Pencil 2's double tap feature to switch between tools. While there is some overlap with the basics functions of both a regular pencil and an Apple Pencil, you'll find the Apple Pencil has potential to unlock a digital flood of creative possibilties and may help with an artist block or two.

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