4 Best Journal Apps for iPhone & iPad
By Rheanne Taylor
As a writer, I believe that journaling regularly is an important aspect of my creative process. It’s the one time in the day I get to write freely without having to censor my thoughts or concern myself with things like grammar and editing—but writers aren’t the only ones who can benefit from journaling. Journaling can help you relieve stress, sort out your thoughts, and remember details about your life that you will value later on. I’ve kept journals since I was 14, and, believe it or not, I reference them regularly. Some of my entries undoubtedly make me cringe—here’s looking at you, 2004 (year of boys, angsty rants, and badly written Harry Potter fanfiction)—but my journals are also filled with a lot of valuable details about my life and memories I love reflecting back on. If you want to start journaling, the following diary apps are a great way to get started. Each journal app is passcode-protected, and many of them hardly require any work at all!
How to Change What Day Your Week Starts in the Calendar App on iPhone
By Sarah Kingsbury
In most western countries, the Calendar app on the iPhone or iPad has Sunday set as the first day of the week. But considering the work week tends to divide quite distinctly into weekdays and the weekend, with most of our appointments and business meetings taking place Monday through Friday, you may prefer to set Monday as the first day of the week. Or if you have an unusual schedule, you could set any day of the week you prefer to be the first day of your personalized week. Here's how to change what day your week starts in the Calendar app on iPhone.
How to Show Week Numbers in Calendar App on iPhone
By Conner Carey
In the Calendar app on iPhone, you can view days and months automatically. But you can also turn on week numbers, which will allow the Calendar app to display the week number of this year. Not everyone will find this tip necessary but if you like or need to know what week of the year it is, use this tip to display it. Here’s how to show week numbers in the Calendar app on iPhone.
How to Get the Flag Icon Back in Mail on iPhone
By Conner Carey
I don’t know if you’ve noticed but Apple ditched the flag icon in Mail. When you flag an email, an orange dot appears next to the flagged message, instead of the good ol' flag icon. If you’d prefer to get the flag icon back, you can easily do so in Settings. Likewise, if you later decide you preferred the dot, you can use this top to switch back. Here’s how to get the flag icon back in Mail on iPhone.
How to Turn Off Apple Pay in Safari on iPhone
By Conner Carey
With iOS 10, you can purchases items in Safari using Apple Pay. The process for doing this is so quick and simple that you may find yourself impulse buying at speeds faster than your bank account can handle. If you need to cut yourself (or someone else) off from spending too much money buying things in Safari with Apple Pay, you can turn the function off all together in Settings on iPhone. Here’s how to turn off Apple Pay in Safari.
How to Remove Apps (& Stickers) from Messages on iPhone
By Conner Carey
With iOS 10, Apple gave the Messages app its own App Store. You can use apps within Messages to play games, share stickers, invite friends to dinner, and more. Luckily, removing apps and stickers from Messages is even easier than downloading them. Here’s how to remove apps from messages on iPhone.
How to Un-Invite Someone from Your Facebook Event
By Conner Carey
When you’re the host of a Facebook event, you can edit a guest's invitation. This gives you the ability to remove them, thereby un-inviting them from the event. You can also select the status of their RSVP, meaning you can say they’re Going, Interested, or Can’t Go. However, they will be notified that you’ve done this. Regardless, sometimes you just need to use your Host privileges, which is why Facebook set it up this way. Here’s how to un-invite someone from your Facebook event.
If you’ve ever sent invites to your Facebook friends for an event, you’ve probably wondered if those that haven’t RSVP'd are still potentially coming or just not comfortable saying no. Well, you can check your invite list on that Facebook event to see whether or not the people you invited have seen the invitation. This makes it easy to estimate how many people might show up. Here’s how to tell whether or not someone has seen your Facebook invitation.
How to Filter Out Negative Comments on Your Instagram
By Conner Carey
We all know the internet has plenty of people, sitting behind their computer, ready to make a rude, inappropriate, or otherwise unnecessary comment on something they should have just scrolled past. If you’re tired of getting negative comments on your Instagram pictures, there is something you can do about it. Here’s how to filter out negative comments on your Instagram.
15 Best Apple TV Apps for Movies, Music, Gaming & More
By Conner Carey
Apple TV has come a long way in recent years. With the introduction of the 4th-generation Apple TV, we said goodbye to limited Apple TV channels and hello to the Apple TV App Store. But where do you begin when setting up your Apple TV? How do you know what the best Apple TV apps to get are? Consider this an introduction for the newbies and a checklist for those who’ve maybe had their Apple TV a while but never really looked into the full spectrum of what they can download. This is our Apple TV apps list stocked with the best Apple TV apps from your favorite categories: TV and movies, games, fitness, and more. We’ll also cover which of the Apple TV apps are free, free to download but subscription based (i.e. Netflix, Hulu, etc.), free with in-app purchases, or (one-time) paid. Without further ado, here are the best apps for your Apple TV.
iPhone and iPad word processors are nearly as plentiful on the App Store as flashlight apps. In order to stand out from the crowded selection, developers need to offer products that meet a specific need. In the case of prose composition, one word processing app that enables the narrative (e.g. story and screenwriting) and article construction and evolution process is Scrivener ($19.99). Originally available only for the Mac, Scrivener has recently made the leap to the iOS platform. How does it fare on both? Read on to find out.
How to Delete a Song from Your Apple Music Library on iPhone
By Conner Carey
Removing a song from your Apple Music library is as easy as adding a song. If the song you’re deleting is downloaded on your iPhone, you’ll have two options when removing it: Remove Download and Delete from Library. We’ll go over what each of those mean and how to delete songs from your Apple Music library below.
How to Turn Off Comments on Your Instagram Post
By Conner Carey
Tired of receiving negative comments on your Instagram posts? If you’d rather not hear the comments from the critical internet on your Instagram feed, you can turn off comments for individual posts. You’ll need to manually turn off comments each time you post if you don’t want people to be able to leave a comment at all. Here’s how to turn off comments on your Instagram post.
How to Like a Comment on Instagram
By Conner Carey
Finally! Instagram recently rolled out an update that allows you to like (love?) comments. When you like a post, you tap on the heart to let the user know. Well, when you like a comment you can tap on the newly added heart next to each comment on a post. This is a feature I’ve been wishing for since I started using Instagram, and it’s finally here! Here’s how to like a comment on Instagram.
How to Save a Post in Instagram on Your iPhone
By Conner Carey
Instagram recently rolled out an update that allows users to save photos they like and want to be able to look at later. It’s like a scrapbook of your favorite posts within the app. I often use it to save recipes I want to try in the future or quotes I really like. It’s easy to save a post on Instagram when you come across one you like, here’s how.
How to Make Songs Available Offline with Apple Music on iPhone
By Rheanne Taylor
To listen to Apple Music offline, you need to download the songs you would like to make available for offline listening. Apple Music allows you to add lots of songs to your library without having them take up space on your device, but if you want to listen to those songs offline (or without using your data plan) you should download the songs you want to listen to offline. Luckily, it’s easy to make an album or song available offline in Apple Music. Here’s how.
How to Disable Access to Control Center from Lock Screen
By Sarah Kingsbury
Control Center is great because it allows you to quickly do all kinds of useful things like turn Wi-Fi, Airplane Mode, and Do Not Disturb on or off, lock your screen orientation, control playback, adjust volume levels, open your phone's calculator, and use your iPhone as a flashlight. However, some people worry about privacy when Control Center is accessible from Lock Screen (although, rest assured, nothing private can be opened without unlocking your phone), and others get tired of accidentally opening Control Center in an app while playing a game. Which is why Apple made it possible to turn off access to Control Center from Lock screen and within apps. Here’s how to disable access to Control Center from Lock Screen.
The beauty of Apple Music is it allows you to add tons of songs to your collection without taking up storage space on your iPhone. But songs that aren’t downloaded to your iPhone also aren’t available for offline listening. If you’re someone who listens to music without an internet connection a lot of the time, consider turning on the setting that allows songs to automatically download to your iPhone when you add them to your Apple Music library. Here’s how to automatically download songs added to your Apple Music library.
Best iOS Games for Hardcore Gamers
By Dig Om
Over the decades, I've heard some call iOS gaming escapism, while others may call it a distraction from the headline news on any given day; but as a lifetime core gamer, I've found myself extremely grateful on more than one occasion for the comfort, the exhilaration, the competition ,and the break from the day-to-day, real-world ups and downs that some of the more deeply immersive iOS game can provide. Mobile gaming has come a long way over the years and we now have plenty to choose from when it comes to core iOS games. On that note, it's my pleasure to present iPhone Life's picks for best core iOS games.
How to Make More Nuanced Sketches in Notes with 3D Touch
By Conner Carey
When Apple released iOS 9, Notes added a lot of features including the ability to create folders, share websites, add images to Notes, and more. Those features are still present in Notes on iOS 10 as well. One of the things you can do in Notes is draw a sketch and add it to the note. If you have an iPhone with 3D Touch (iPhone 7, 7 Plus, 6s, 6s Plus), you have the ability to sketch dark or light lines, depending on how firmly you press when drawing. Here’s how to make more nuanced sketches in Notes with 3D Touch on iPhone.