Apps

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.

Airline travel can be so draining, especially when flights don't stay on schedule; one thing that can help is to have all the information you need to track a flight right on hand. It's possible to get information about a flight with JetBlue, Spirit Airlines, Frontier, or any other airline by turning to Google or using an airline's app or a flight tracker app. But there's an even faster way that doesn't require opening an app. iPhone users can track flights using Search on their devices. Let's get started learning how to track a flight right from our iPhones; all you'll need will be the airline and flight number. 

Whether they're for a summer dinner party with a group of friends or an extravagant wedding for 200 people, sending invitations and keeping track of who all is attending can be a lot of work. Particularly for weddings, acquiring or creating invitations is either lots of time or lots of money. But with the Paperless Post app, you can create invitations, ecards, and textable flyers to send to all of your guests. Learn more on what this app does and why we love it below.

Establishing a Virtual Private Network (VPN) is important for keeping your personal information safe, especially when on public Wi-Fi. We often think about using a VPN on our computers, but it's worth getting on for iPhone as well. With TunnelBear VPN on iPhone, you can browse the web securely at home and in public. Each month you can use 500 MB of data completely free, and TunnelBear offers affordable options thereafter. With super strong encryption and security that’s been verified by a third-party company, TunnelBear has positioned itself as a VPN to trust. Learn more on what TunnelBear does and why we love it below.

In the 87th episode, discover the best apps and gear for summertime, from a mini waterproof Bluetooth speaker to the American Red Cross apps that will help keep you safe during your outdoor adventures. Also, David shares how to set up your Nest thermostat to save the most money on utilities during summer, Donna teaches you how to create an Apple ID (and when you really shouldn't), and Sarah explains how to make the best use of your iPhone's Home screen real estate.

The developer of anxietyhelper, Amanda Southworth, was one of the recipients of Apple’s WWDC scholarship program this year. Her main focus is on helping people, and both of the apps she’s created so far have already done this. anxietyhelper is a mental health toolkit that provides easy-to-access information, resources, and tools for anyone struggling with anxiety, panic attacks, depression, bipolar disorder, or recovery. Her app has already made a big difference in my life; but I’m just one of many, which quickly becomes apparent reading the reviews. Learn more on what this app does and why we love it below.

Apple Music has a plethora of playlist choices, and Apple heavily promotes the fact that humans curate these playlists instead of computers. There are various options for finding Apple Playlists from the For You section of Apple Music, and you can create playlists as well! If you discover or create a playlist you particularly love, you might be wondering how to share Apple Music playlists. It’s easy to share music on your iPhone with Apple Music playlists; let's learn how now!

The iPad mini 5; to be released, or not to be released, that is the question. I'd already come to my own conclusion about Apple's iPad mini line; I felt that with the advent of larger displays on iPhones, plus the less expensive 2018 iPad that was released earlier this year, iPad minis will be discontinued. It turns out that the Apple fans who vehemently disagree with me were correct, though; the iPad mini 5 was just announced! Below are the ideas we had about features to expect if and when the latest in the mini 5 was released, including release date and features might we expect to see in a new version of the iPad mini. Finally, we wondered how much the latest iPad mini would cost. Let's get started discussing the iPad mini 5 rumors, then you can compare them to the newly-released tablet and see how close we were to accuracy! 

When you set out to learn coding, it can be overwhelming. There is a lot to learn, and the best way to learn something big is to break it down into manageable sections. For this reason, I was immediately drawn to Mimo. I tested competing code-learning apps and quickly felt like what I didn't know was pilling up around me. But with Mimo, I chose my goal (ie. build an app, make a website, etc.). Then the app set me up on a Track starting with the absolute basics. Plus, at the end of each course, Mimo has a section for practicing what you’ve learned. I’ll go over more on what the Mimo app does and why we love it below.

Splurging on a $7.99 iOS game is not something I make a habit out of, but Oceanhorn is well worth the price. While some will dismiss it as a Zelda-like action adventure, I would argue that even calling it that is a compliment. Especially since you can’t play Zelda on your iPhone—comparing Oceanhorn, oringally an iOS game, to one of the most successful game franchises in history is a massive tip of the hat. And one that I think is well deserved. If you enjoy an action adventure game with a strong storyline, beautifully animated world, and addictive gameplay, Oceanhorn is right for you. Learn more about the game Oceanhorn and why we love it below.

If you have the Facebook app on your iPhone, you've agreed to allow Facebook access to all your phone's contacts. If you don't remember giving that permission, neither do I; but apparently, it's part and parcel of the terms of service. Don't worry, though; there's an easy way to change this sharing setting and make the names and numbers in your Contacts app private again. Let's get started learning how to stop Facebook from accessing your Contacts on iPhone. 

I've been a fan of audiobooks since they were books on tape, and I clearly remember the very first one I ever listened to, Brahm Stoker's Dracula. Thanks to my local library, this classic audiobook was free; and as the years rolled on, I checked out the new-and-improved books on CD, until I finally modernized and started streaming audiobooks on my iPhone. I don't have a lot of time to sit down and read anymore, so the Audible app has been a great way to keep up with my favorite authors. One problem, though; I listen to far more than one book per month, and it's getting expensive to keep purchasing extra credits. That's why I'm excited to report that I've ended right where I began, with free audiobooks from my local library! There are two apps, called Libby and OverDrive, that let me borrow e-books and audiobooks, read or listen to them, and then return them all on my iPhone or iPad.  Let's get started learning how to find audiobooks on Libby and OverDrive, so you can have as much fun exploring and "reading" these free audiobooks as I am! 

If you've ever wondered how to download videos or music from YouTube and been frustrated that you can't, there's a fix for that. Better yet, it's a legal one, and it doesn't violate the YouTube terms of service. I'm talking of course about YouTube Premium (formerly called YouTube Red), a paid membership that allows you unlimited access to commercial-free videos, background play to keep your tunes going even when you're using other apps or your screen is off, and the ability to download songs and videos to watch on your iPhone even when you're offline. Let's go over the details of YouTube's premium service, so you can decide if this is the way to save YouTube videos you've been looking for. 

Did you know your iPhone has a helpful feature that allows you to color code email addresses that you're composing messages to? You've probably had the experience of inadvertently sending an email to the wrong person and the problems that can cause! Fortunately, Apple's Mail app has a feature that lets you identify a particular domain by highlighting it blue and turning all other addresses red. This can be useful if, for example, you want to make sure you don't inadvertently send your work-related emails to someone outside your company. Recipients within the company will have their email addresses appear blue in the To field, and the email address of recipients outside the company will appear red.

It’s easy to lose track of the pages you’ve liked on Facebook, and they can add up quickly. Before you know it, your news feed is jammed with content from all those Facebook likes, and you're not seeing the posts from friends and family that you're really looking for. How to see your likes on Facebook, and how to unlike pages on Facebook—those are the questions! There’s an easy iPhone tip to find all your page likes on Facebook so you can unlike the pages you're no longer interested in; let's get started!

How much data does Snapchat use on an iPhone is an important question to answer if you have a limited data plan. If you often enjoy using Snapchat filters, posting stories, and sharing snaps with friends, you may find yourself wondering, "Does Snapchat use data? And if it does, how much data does Snapchat use?" Remember, if you’re sending photos, videos, and text messages or sharing your location over Wi-Fi, there’s no reason to be concerned over Snapchat data usage. But if you are doing these things using cellular data, you may be wondering how to limit Snapchat data usage. Let’s jump in: Here’s how to find out the answer to the question how much data does Snapchat use on your iPhone and what to do about it.

I'm just now diving into the world of Spotify, and one of my favorite features is, of course, the Spotify playlist! After using Spotify for at least two weeks, a new Spotify playlist appears; it's called the Spotify Discover Weekly playlist. Discover Weekly is a batch of song recommendations that are based on the music you've played and liked over the course of the week. The frustrating thing about this list, though, is that it disappears and is replaced every Monday. It's great to get the new recommendations, but what if you'd like to save the old playlist? Let's get started learning how to save or download your Discover Weekly playlist on Spotify, so you can save the playlists you really love and listen to them whenever you want. 

I appreciate a good podcast though I have never cared for the built-in Podcast app on my iPhone. Yet it wasn’t until very recently that I decided to finally look for a solid replacement. There are various options in the App Store; you can certainly try out your fair share of podcast apps and see which you like the best. But my choice was surprisingly easy to make: iCatcher Podcast Player is a highly customizable podcast app that makes discovering new podcasts fun and listening to those you already love easy. Learn more on what it does and why we love it below.

When you have thousands of photos, there’s no way you’re going to look through them to try and spot the duplicates. There’s also the matter of exact versus similar duplicates—it would be a pain in the ass to try and sort that out manually. Well, a question in the iPhone Life Facebook group about this very topic sent me on a search for the best app for easily removing duplicate photos. And I do believe I’ve found it: Remo Duplicate Photos Remover on the iPhone is a free app that scans all of your photos, presenting you with a quick look at all of the duplicates. Then the app makes it easy for you to quickly remove the photos you don’t want to keep. Learn more on what this app does and why we love it below.

Instagram keeps track of the various hashtags, accounts, and locations account holders search for so that they can easily find their favorite pictures again, and also to use in offering suggested searches to follow and like. If you're not comfortable with your search history being saved, you can clear your Instagram search history. Keep in mind, though, that your new searches will continue to be logged, so you'll need to go through and delete all searches periodically if you don't want them on record. Let's get started learning how to clear search history on Instagram on your iPhone. 

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