iPhone Life - Best Apps, Top Tips, Great Gear

Video Games & Kids: Stop Worrying & Love Tech

Kids and video games: it seems like everyone has an opinion on the topic, but there isn’t a lot of practical advice for how to walk the middle road between unhinged internet addiction and living like the Amish. I’ve had my share of internal struggles about letting my kids game, and honestly still do! Here’s what I’ve learned along the way about introducing gaming in a safe and healthy way. Hopefully, my experience will help you find a strategy that works for your family.

There are certain keyboard symbols that are just not readily apparent when you search for them on your iPhone. One example is the copyright symbol; just where is it on the iPhone's keyboard, anyway? Don't worry, there is a simple way to type the copyright symbol on your iPhone so that you can easily let people know that they need to ask for permission to reproduce, distribute, or perform the work in question. Let's learn how to include the copyright symbol in messages from your iPhone! 

Charging our phones is part of everyone's daily routine at this point; so when the process goes awry, there's such a feeling of confusion. You've done everything the way you usually do, used the same outlet, cable, power adapter, or wireless charging pad. So why won't your iPhone charge, or why is the charge stopping at a certain point? Before you conclude that there's something wrong with your battery and contact Apple Support, let's go through a troubleshooting exercise to find out why your iPhone isn't charging. We'll go over a variety of possible explanations as to why your device won't charge, and discuss methods to get your iPhone charging once again. 

How to Switch between Bluetooth Devices

You can pair multiple Bluetooth devices to your iPhone or iPad and easily switch between them from the Control Center. We'll go over where in the Control Center you can switch which Bluetooth device is currently playing your sound. This is handy if you need to switch from a speaker to headphones and in other similar instances. Here's how to switch Bluetooth devices in the Control Center.

Whether indoors or out, plants add oxygen to the air and bring a sense of calm to those who look upon them. I’ve always dreamed of an apartment filled from top to bottom with sprawling green plants, but remembering the various watering schedules amid my busy schedule means more plants die on my watch than thrive. No longer! If your thumb ain’t so green, the Happy Plant (Free) app is what you need. The app lets you create a little profile for each of your plants and set a watering schedule. For each plant you add, the app prompts you to take a picture of the plant. And each time you water it, the app asks for another picture. Overtime, all of those photos are strung together for a time-lapse of your plant and its growth. I’ll go over more of what Happy Plant does and why I love it below.

Without a Home button, how do you shut down the iPhone X? There are a couple ways; in a previous tip, I went over how to power off your iPhone without buttons, which is more of an iOS 11 feature than an iPhone X one. You can also hard restart your iPhone X, but you only need to do that if the device is frozen or glitching. However, you can still power down your iPhone X with buttons; the process is just a bit different than you’re used to. Let's get started learning how to turn on and off your iPhone X.

Have you ever had the frustration of needing to use the yen symbol in a text or email and being unable to find it on your phone? After all, in addition to being Japan's currency, the yen is Asia's most traded currency, and the third most traded currency in the world. So surely Apple must have a way for iPhone users to type the yen symbol, right? Good news, there's an easy trick for typing the yen symbol on your phone. Let's learn how to type the yen symbol on your iPhone's keypad .

Have you ever needed to use the euro symbol on your phone but been unable to find it? You're far from the only one who's had this currency symbol issue! The euro is the second most traded currency in the world at the moment. This is because not only is it used by 19 out of the 28 member nations of the EU, but also by more than 210 million people in countries around the world that peg their exchange rate to the value of the euro for stability. Let's get started learning how to type the symbol for euro on your iPhone's keypad so that you can communicate easily and effectively about the European Union's official currency wherever you are in the world.

In the 76th episode of the iPhone Life Podcast, find out why members of the iPhone Life team chose to participate in (or opt out of) of a company-wide "phone fast." Listen in to hear lessons learned and how they survived to tell the tale! Other topics include Animoji, sleep apps for combating insomnia, and Jabra's lineup of true wireless earbuds.

Why have speakers for your Mac or PC and separate ones for your wireless devices? Logitech has an interesting alternative with the MX Sound ($99.99). The beautiful speakers can plug in to your computer using the 3.5mm input jack, while also being paired with not one but two Bluetooth devices. This means you could connect an iPhone and an iPad to the same high quality speaker and alternate use between the devices.

Want to know the quickest way to open the Camera app or turn the Flashlight on or off with an iPhone with no Home button, like an iPhone X, iPhone 11, or iPhone 12? Before the iPhone X, you had to swipe left on the Lock Screen to open the iPhone Camera. If you have a newer iPhone, though, we'll teach you how to turn on the Flashlight, turn the Flashlight off, and open the Camera, right from an iPhone Lock Screen. 

If you have fond '90s cartoon memories of watching Ms. Frizzle and the gang take amazing trips in their magic school bus, I have great news! Your kids can enjoy The Magic School Bus in an updated form, The Magic School Bus Rides Again. In this reboot of the classic kids cartoon, Ms. Frizzle becomes a college professor, so her little sister Fiona Frizzle takes her place as teacher and bus driver at Walkerville Elementary. There are episodes reminiscent of the classic cartoon: trips to outer space, through the human digestive system, and under the ocean, but also shows with updated themes like renewable energy. If you're looking for an educational cartoon on Netflix that you can watch and enjoy as much as your kids will, this is the one!

I was expecting a more outrageous design for a speaker named Outcry Extreme ($54.99) from a brand named Wicked Audio, but that's what you get for making snap judgments. In reality, the Outcry Extreme looks like a high-end speaker from Sonos, but it's a fraction of the price. There is one styling cue that is subtle, but it's there. The Wicked Audio logo is embossed in the metal grill, if you're looking for it. 

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