iPhone Life - Best Apps, Top Tips, Great Gear

Since late Febraury, the world has been shocked and devastated by the violence committed by Russia in its war against Ukraine. At the beginning of March, Apple paused all digital and physical sales to Russia in response to the Russian invasion, including eliminating Russian access to the popular payment service Apple Pay. This dramatic move represents one of the largest responses by a big tech company, and not long after Apple's announcement other companies like Google, ExxonMobil, and Volkswagen followed suit. 

In the spirit of supporting Ukraine, a few apps have also really taken a stand. Some are creating easily accessible in-app donation buttons, others are committing large percentages of their profits to Ukrainian charities, and one has even reappropriated itself to combat Kremlin-controlled misinformation from the bomb shelters and bunkers under a war-torn Kyiv. Read on to find out how these apps are supporting Ukraine and how you can get involved too.

Apple announced Universal Control back in June 2021. Users had expected to start using it once macOS Monterey was released later that year, but the feature was delayed. Finally, Apple released the official software updates for your iPad and Mac that let you use Universal Control. Like many new features, Universal Control doesn't always work properly. Here's how to troubleshoot Universal control.

Since it was announced in June 2021, Mac users have been excited to try Universal Control. This feature, just released by Apple, lets you control other Mac and iPad devices from a central Mac and use its keyboard, mouse, and keypad across the connected devices. While this can be useful, it is also possible to accidentally type on the wrong device or lose your Mac cursor on other screens. I’ll teach you how to turn Universal Control off and temporarily disconnect other devices.

You know that green dot on your Instagram profile picture? It lets other users see whether you're active and online. If you don't want people to know every time you're online, this can be annoying or even an invasion of privacy. Fortunately, there’s a way to hide your Instagram active status. Here’s how to hide your online status on Instagram.

Apple thrilled a lot of us during its March event with the debut of a new iPhone SE with 5G, a fifth-generation iPad Air with an M1 chip, and the powerful Studio Mac and Studio Display. Apple also teased the future release of an updated Mac Pro. The only thing that could’ve made the event more exciting would have been the confirmation of rumored updates to the MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, and the iMac. The iMac in particular could use an update since it's the only device in the Mac line that doesn’t have one of the newer Apple Silicon chips. Could newer versions of these three Macs make their debut in the late fall when Apple typically holds a Mac event? We’ll discuss the Macs that we didn’t see in today’s event and when we might be able to expect Apple to finally release them.