Say goodbye to searching for a friend’s contact info when you want to call or email them. With 3D Touch (only on the iPhone 6s or 6s Plus), you can view contact information in any app where the circle containing a contact’s initials or image appears. You’ll be able to call, FaceTime, message, or email your friends and family without having to open a separate app.
How-To
How to Open the App Switcher without Clicking the Home Button
By Sarah Kingsbury
Before 3D Touch the only way to access the multitasking window was to double click the Home button. Then came the back button in iOS 9 for quickly returning to the previous app. But, if you have an iPhone 6s or 6s Plus, you can now also switch between apps using 3D Touch.
Apple Pay is slowly being adopted by different retail businesses and banks. To easily find out if Apple Pay is available at a location you plan to visit, you can check in Maps before visiting a store.
How to Use 3D Touch to Peek at Web Pages without Actually Opening Them
By Sarah Kingsbury
Whether you encounter a link in an email, a text, or while browsing the web, as long as you have an iPhone 6s or 6s Plus, you can use 3D Touch to preview the web page in Safari without actually opening it.
How to Disable Pop-Up Character Previews on the iPhone Keyboard
By Conner Carey
When typing on the iPhone's keyboard, every character you press pops up as you select it. If you’re not a fan of the feature, it’s easy to turn off.
How to Follow Your Favorite Sports Teams with Siri
By Conner Carey
Siri received some major upgrades in iOS 9. One of the new ways you can use Siri is to ask about game schedules, scores and stats, and team members. If you have a favorite team, you can find out when they’re playing next as well.
How to Use Side by Side on Your iPad
By Conner Carey
With iOS 9, Apple introduces the iPad to split-screen multitasking. Also called Slide Over, this new function is supported by the iPad Air, iPad Air 2, iPad mini 2, and iPad mini 3 and later. Located on the right edge of the screen and designed to run multiple apps, Slide Over allows you view another app without leaving the one you're in; however, the two applications won't run together side by side unless you have an iPad Air 2 or later.
How to Drag-Select Multiple Photos
By Conner Carey
With iOS 9, not only can you select multiple photos, but you can drag your finger over multiple photos to select them for sharing or deletion.
How to Disable Calendar Event Suggestions in Mail
By Conner Carey
An interesting new feature of iOS 9 is auto email event suggestions for your Calendar. The software scans your emails to see if there are any events you haven't added to your schedule. This can be very helpful, especially if a lot of your emails contain pertinent events. However, if you find yourself with a cluttered calendar, you can easily turn off the automatic addition.
How to Disable Shake to Undo
By Conner Carey
The Shake to Undo feature on your iPhone can be extremely useful if you accidentally delete an email or want to undo something you’ve typed. However, it can also be irritating and unnecessary if you find yourself constantly prompted to erase things you don't want to. No problem; disable the feature in your Settings.
How to Make iOS 9 Faster on Your Older iPhone
By Conner Carey
If you’re on an iPhone 6, the iOS 9 update likely works wonderfully and does what Apple intended. However, users of earlier models of the iPhone are reporting a major lag in performance since updating. With every software release there are bound to be bugs. If you’re considering reverting to old software, keep in mind that iOS 9.1 will soon be available. If the performance bugs are minor, I recommend you wait; however, if the update has turned your iPhone into a fancy calculator, we’ve got four ways to make it a super computer again.
Tip of the Day: How to Update to iOS 9
By Jim Karpen
After months of beta testing, iOS 9 will be available some time today for downloading. It offers a range of new features, including a News app, a more intelligent Siri, transit and walking directions in Maps, greater search capabilities, split-screen multitasking on the iPad, and more. I've been using the beta version since early August and really like it. In this tip I'll be covering how to update your device to iOS 9.
How to Adjust Music Streaming Quality on Your iPhone
By Conner Carey
Not all streaming services are created equal. With the release of Apple Music, listeners quickly realized there were no quality control options. The difference, until now, was automatic: you heard higher quality sound when streaming music over a Wi-Fi connection than when streaming across cellular data. With iOS 9, Apple is letting you decide for yourself whether better music quality is worth increasing your cellular data usage or not.
How to Disable the Lowercase Keys Display on Your iPhone or iPad
By Conner Carey
One of the smaller changes with iOS 9 is the appearance of the keyboard when using the Shift key. Before, the keys were uppercase in appearance and the highlighted shift key was the only way to know you were typing in uppercase. With the update, the keys are lowercase except when Shift is active: the entire keyboard changes to uppercase. This can make it easier to know which case you're typing in; however, if you prefer the previous set-up, there's a simple Settings change to turn the lowercase keys off.
How to Use the New Improved Shift Key
By Conner Carey
This one isn’t so much of a tip as it is a reason to rejoice. Before iOS 9, the gray highlighted shift key was the only way to know whether you were typing a capital or lowercase letter. Many users found this confusing and it interferred with third-party keyboard apps. No more!
How to Swipe Down on a Photo to Return to Album View
By Conner Carey
In the days of iOS 8, we had arrows leading from photos to album view. While the navigation arrow is still there, now, there’s an easier way. If you’re viewing a single photo, with one swipe of the finger you can return to viewing the album.
Do you have an idea for an app but lack the programming knowledge to begin building it? In this weekly blog series, I will take you, the non-programmer, step by step through the process of creating apps for the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Join me each week on this adventure, and you will experience how much fun turning your ideas into reality can be! This is Part 22 of the series. If you are just getting started, check out the beginning of the series here. (This post has been updated to Swift 1.2, Xcode 6.4, and iOS 8).
In the last few posts in this series, you have learned a lot about retrieving entities from a database using Core Data, and displaying the results in a table view. Now that we have we have all the other functionality working in the Write Review scene of iAppsReview, it's time to learn how to save a ReviewEntity using Core Data!
How to Use Google Maps to Find Nearby ATMs
By Kenneth Boshell
So, a few days ago I needed to find an ATM, but I wasn't familiar enough with the area to know where to find one. Thankfully, Google Maps makes it easy to find nearby ATMs, grocery stores, and gas stations!
How to Stop Spammers From Snooping On Your iPhone
By Paula Bostrom
Everyone hates getting email spam. Sometimes it can be more than just annoying. Sometimes spammers can collect information from your device when the email is opened. If the email contains an image, it usually is downloaded from a remote server. When you open the email, it can tell spammers that you’ve opened it and can even show your approximate location. Pretty scary huh?
How to Join a Wi-Fi Network on Your iPhone or iPad
By Paula Bostrom
Unless you have unlimited data on your iPhone or iPad, it is imperative that you use Wi-Fi whenever possible to avoid costly overage charges on your cell phone bill. You probably already use Wi-Fi at home and at friends' houses and fortunately, free Wi-Fi can also be found in public spaces, from coffee shops, to libraries, and even fast-food restaurants. Most hotels offer free Wi-Fi as well. And if you’re traveling overseas, virtually every function of the iPhone can be performed using Wi-Fi so you don’t have to pay international phone costs.