iPhone Life - Best Apps, Top Tips, Great Gear

Ever since my mom got an iPhone she’s been complaining about the alarm. In general, she feels that the darn thing just isn’t loud enough for her to hear it. I too have slept through my iPhone alarm more times than I care to admit, but I’ve never been able to figure out why the volume is so quiet—until recently. If you feel like you’re constantly sleeping through your iPhone alarm, here are some things to do about it. Here’s how to make sure you don’t sleep through your iPhone alarm.

Recently, I wrote about the difficulty in using a 16 GB iPhone and how Apple should really consider making a larger capacity model be the entry-level configuration. Perhaps I would have been okay with 16 GB if I had iMyFone Umate iPhone Cleaner ($19.95).

It's super convenient to be able to rotate your screen from portrait to landscape mode automatically, as well as lock it later when you need to. Luckily, both the iPhone's and iPad's screen rotation lock button is easy to access via the Control Panel. With the orientation lock enabled, you can keep your screen from adjusting regardless of whether the device is rotated vertically or horizontally.

Some iBooks in the Apple iBooks store include multimedia elements you can interact with, such as movies, diagrams, presentations, galleries, 3D objects, and more. But when you stumble across one of these multimedia iBooks, how do you navigate it? There’s a couple different taps, pinches, and swipes to know before you start reading. Here’s how to read an iBook with interactive multimedia.

The Podcasts app on iPhone allows you to listen to all of your favorite podcasts in one simple app. There are podcasts on literally every topic imaginable, from creativity to tech and beyond. But those podcasts pile up if you aren’t an avid weekly listener. One way to make sure you don’t miss episodes from your favorites is to create a station, which is the Podcasts app's version of a playlist. Here’s how to create a station of your favorite podcasts.

The Mail app on your iPhone can connect all of your email accounts in one place with different folders that allow you to organize and view your emails in the best way for you. One way the Mail app helps you stay on top of your communication is with the Drafts folder, where you can find messages you started and saved, but never got around to sending. You can use this tip to quickly and easily see all the drafts you’ve begun across all of your Mail app connected accounts. Here’s how to view all drafts in the Mail app on your iPhone right from your Inbox.

When you put a playlist together in your Music app on iPhone, the Music app will automatically generate a cover image. Often, it will be some combination of the album covers from the albums represented the playlist. However, you can also add a photo of your choosing to any playlist you create. Here’s how to add a cover image to your Playlist.