How-To

Making plans to meet at a particular location goes more smoothly when you share directions from the Google Maps or Apple Maps app on your iPhone or iPad. Are you wondering, "how do I share a route on Google maps on my iPhone?" We'll show you how to find and share Apple Maps and Google Maps driving directions, and how to create driving directions with multiple stops with the Google Maps app.

When your iPhone is locked, you can glance at your notifications previews to see if you need to respond to messages or open another app, but that means other people can read your text notifications, too. Fortunately, you don't have to hide alerts altogether to ensure your privacy. Instead, we'll show you how to hide notification previews, so they're only visible when your iPhone or iPad is unlocked. If you found this tip because you want to learn to hide text messages, that's not what this tip is about, but we have a different article about how to hide messages on your iPhone.

Are app purchases shared in Family Sharing? Most of them are, including some paid and subscriptions apps, but other paid and subscription apps are only available to their individual purchasers. Family sharing is a great way to share apps on the iPhone or iPad, but you want to be able to monitor which ones are shareable to minimize extra purchases if something you have can already be shared, or to find new apps if the ones you currently have aren't available on Family Sharing. Luckily it's easy to do! 

The Reminders app, Apple's free to-do list app, allows users to stay organized by creating to-do list on the iPhone. Reminders can also be edited to include subtasks, nested tasks that will help you break down jobs into smaller components. Learn how to use Reminders on the iPhone to add subtasks to your to-do lists, three different ways. 

Apple Pay Cash gives iPhone users a convenient way to send and receive money right from the Messages app on the iPhone. Apple Cash doesn't need any new accounts or app downloads to work; it functions within your normal iMessages as long as you already have Apple Pay set up. While Apple Pay is a super convenient way to receive money, not everyone will want to keep their entire balance on their Apple Cash card. We've already gone over how to use Apple Pay in the Safari browser on your iPhone, and how to send money with Apple Pay. Now, if you've been wondering, "how do I transfer money from Apple Pay to my bank account?" we'll show you how to use the Wallet app to transfer money from Apple Cash to your bank account of choice, instantly, or in one to three days. 

If you haven't downloaded iOS 13.5, there's a feature that will make unlocking your iPhone while wearing a mask a little faster. Apple has rolled out a small but helpful improvement for the age of Covid-19, and if your iPhone has Face ID, it will save you time. Now, if your iPhone detects that you're wearing a face mask when you attempt to unlock your iPhone, it will immediately give you the option to go to the Passcode screen rather than rquiring you to wait while it tries to identify your face. We've already gone over how to add another person to your iPhone's Face ID and how to turn on iPhone Face ID for apps. Now, let's learn about the new Face ID update that makes it easier to unlock your iPhone while wearing a mask.

Want to know how to hide music purchases from Family Sharing? Do you have some movies or shows you'd like to keep private? When using Family Sharing, some family members (like children) sometimes end up with things on their devices that others (like parents) didn’t really want to share with everyone, like when my favorite song (with explicit lyrics) popped up on my 10 year-old's iPad! In that moment, I was inspired to write a how-to for setting up your Family Sharing so you can share what you’d like, and keep hidden what you don’t. You can use your iPhone to hide app and book purchases, but not music or shows, so this tip focuses on how use your Mac to hide shows, movies, and music. Here’s how to use your Mac to hide purchases in Family Sharing.

Want to know how to find Apple purchases using Family Sharing? After all, the best part of Apple Family Sharing is... sharing! After setting up your Family Group, you can get to sharing all of your content, including purchases like apps, music, TV shows, and movies, as well as books from the Apple Books app (well, except for the content that's hidden.) I love sharing music with my boys, but don't care to have any of their apps on my phone. With this tip you can use Family Sharing to share everything you want to and download none of what you don't. Here’s how to access and download shared purchases with Family Sharing.

Did you know that your iPhone tracks everywhere you go? It does; and if there is a place you visit often enough, it marks it as a Significant Location (a feature formerly known as Frequent Locations). This tip will show you how to find your iPhone location history in your Location Services settings. And we'll also cover how to turn Significant Locations tracking off and how to clear your iPhone location history, in case looking at the list of all the places you frequently visit gives you the heebie-jeebies.

Apple Cash doesn't need any extra app downloads or new accounts to work; all you have to do is set up Apple Pay in Settings. Once set up, Apple Cash will allow you to request and receive payments quickly and conveniently through your Messages app, and even cancel payments if needs be. Not everyone will want to receive payments automatically, though. Some people may want to approve each payment that gets sent to them, and there is a setting in Apple Cash that allows for manual rather than automatic payment acceptance. Let's get started learning how to change your Apple Pay settings from automatic to manual receipt of payments. Please note that there is no Apple Cash for Android; only iMessage users can send and receive Apple Cash.

People are asking, “How do I remove Memoji keyboard stickers from my emoji keyboard?” You might have been annoyed to find that your Frequently Used emojis are preceded by a bunch of Memoji stickers that you never actually use. Luckily, there’s a hidden setting you can adjust to remove Memoji stickers from the emoji keyboard. Let’s dive in with how to get rid of Memoji stickers on the emoji keyboard so that you can once more find your favorite face-palm emoji.

If you find that a podcast is playing too fast on your iPhone, you might need to adjust the playback speed. Podcasts are perfect for listening to while completing a task, whether that be cooking dinner or driving home from work in bumper-to-bumper traffic. The length of podcasts varies hugely from a few minutes to a couple hours. But what if you don’t have a couple hours but you also really want to listen to that podcast you love? Speed it up.  Or, if you find yourself asking, "Why is my Podcast app playing so fast?" slow it down. Here’s how to change the playback speed of a podcast.

Some people are wondering, "Can you share iBooks?" While you can share purchased e-books with other members of your Family Sharing group, if you want to know how to share iBooks, now just called Books, with a friend outside of Family Sharing, this tip will show you how to give them an e-book. Sending the gift of a good book is a real pleasure, and being able to do so instantly with just a few clicks is even better! As long as you've set up an Apple ID and you have the email address for the friend you want to send a book to, you'll be able to complete your purchase quickly. So let's dive in with how to send an Apple book as a gift.

The Apple Calendar app for your iPhone and iPad is one of the best free calendar apps available, and has many features you might not be fully utilizing. Did you know that the Calendar app has a hidden list view that allows you to see your daily events while in the month view? We've already shown you how to see the weekly view in your Calendar app, and how to get directions from the Calendar app. Now, here’s how to save time and switch to the list view in the Calendar app in two quick steps.

People are asking, "Can I use my iPhone to type on the Apple TV?" The answer is yes! Being able to use your iPhone or iPad to enter text instead of the Siri remote is a huge bonus. Using Siri or the Siri remote to input text on the fourth-generation Apple TV can be a real pain. Using your iPhone or iPad to type on the Apple TV is the quickest way to input text. Forget sliding across or spelling out each letter of a sword to Siri; just use the Apple TV Remote keyboard on your iPhone or iPad to make it easy. Here’s how to use your iPhone or iPad to type on the Apple TV.

 

If you've ever wondered, "Can you pair headphones with an Apple TV," then you'll want to check out this tip. Pairing your Apple TV with Bluetooth headphones is simple if you know where to look. Apple TV is striving to be your one-stop box for all things TV, movies, and video. But you may not want the sound of your Apple TV disturbing the people around you (or a baby sleeping in the next room.) Luckily, with a 4th-generation or later Apple TV, you can pair headphones with Bluetooth headphones like you would any other Apple device. Here’s how to pair headphones with an Apple TV.

The current panic about the novel coronavirus causing the COVID-19 outbreak has made us all a little more conscious about bacteria, viruses, and germs in general. While you're busy house cleaning and washing your hands to prevent disease and kill germs, remember to disinfect and sanitize your Apple devices, including your iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, AirPods, EarPods, Mac, and even your Apple TV remote. Whether or not you ever come in contact with the coronavirus, studies have shown that our phones are downright filthy. A University of Arizona study shows that the average cell phone carries ten times more germs than a toilet. Ew. Bacteria found on iPhones include Streptococcus, MERS, and E. Coli, and viruses can linger on your smartphone as well. If this news leaves you wondering how to clean your phone and other Apple devices, this article will fill you in on all the methods to disinfect or sterilize them all without damaging them. Let's get started.

Sometimes, you need to respond quickly to multiple texts. Unread messages can pile up fast, and it sure would be nice to reply to conversations without having to type out every single reply. Luckily, Apple put a hidden feature on the iPhone that lets you respond to texts fast using automatic replies. With this tip, you’ll be able to send replies like “Okay” and “See you soon,” just by pressing a couple of prompts. Let’s dive in with the fastest way to respond to text messages on an iPhone.

Want to learn how to rent a movie on Amazon Prime to watch on your iPad or Apple TV? Movies and shows can be an exciting way to pass the time, but Amazon sure doesn’t make rentals easy on the iPhone, iPad, or Apple TV. With so many different Amazon apps, why is buying and renting movies and TV shows so hard to figure out? Don’t worry; we’ve got you covered to make your next family movie night a success.

Did you know that the person you've invited can call into your meeting straight from their iPhone's Calendar app? We'll show you how to use this easy and efficient way to keep calls and meetings on time and in order. We've already gone over how to get directions from the Calendar app, and also how to create events and meetings in your iPhone's Calendar app, then invite people to them; let's get started learning how to use this iPhone Calendar app feature. 

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