iOS 7 beta

Downgrade And Restore Your iOS 7 Beta iPhone To It’s Former iOS 6 Glory [iOS Tips]

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iTunes Restore

If you’re an early iOS 7 beta adopter, you might want to restore iOS 6 for a number of reasons. Perhaps you just don’t like the beta experience, preferring a less changeable, buggy iPhone software. Maybe you just want to put the official iOS 7 software on your iPhone when it releases, possibly in early September. Maybe you just miss the iOS 6 version of Maps.

For whatever reason, though, it’s a fairly straightforward process; here’s how to do it.

Jump Right To The Now Playing Song With Control Center In iOS 7 Beta [iOS Tips]

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Every once in a while, I’m listening to a song via the Music app on my iPhone, or (lately) listening to iTunes Radio on my iPad through a bluetooth speaker in the house, when I want to quickly figure out what’s playing, or maybe mess with the controls, skip a song, or something like that.

Typically, I’d double click the Home button to get a basic controller to pause or skip a song, or click into the home screen, find the Music app, launch it, then tap the Now Playing button, and then make any adjustments.

Now, however, with iOS 7 beta’s new Control Center, you can tap right through to the Now Playing song with a swipe and a tap. Here’s how.

Focus Your iPhone Photos Without Tapping The Screen In iOS 7 Beta [iOS Tips]

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(Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET)
(Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET)

I’m sure you all know that you can take a photo with your iPhone using the volume up button. If not, do it real quick right now, and prepare to have your entire iPhone photo taking experience changed.

No, really, launch the Camera app, flip that iPhone onto its side, putting it into landscape orientation, and then hold it like a traditional point and shoot camera. Press down on the volume up button to snap a picture. Brilliant!

Camera+ was the first non-Apple app to use this control scheme, at least until Apple put a stop to it by rolling the feature into the actual operating system. Now, in iOS 7 beta, Apple’s added another little fun feature. Here’s how to activate it.

Apple Seeds iOS 7 Beta 6 To Developers With iTunes In The Cloud Fix

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beta6iOS7

We weren’t expecting Apple to drop a new iOS 7 beta so soon, but Apple just dropped iOS 7 beta 6 in our laps this late Thursday afternoon. Developers can download the new beta build from the Dev Center or as an OTA update.

Once we dive into the beta we’ll let you know if there are any big changes, but it looks like it’s mostly just a fix for an issue with iTunes in the Cloud.

Here are the direct download links:

Flick Quit Up To Three Apps At A Time In iOS 7 Beta [iOS Tips]

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flick quit

Back when iOS got “multitasking,” it was a matter of pride in my group of geeky friends to be able to double click the home button on their iPhones and then space three or four of their fingers *just* right to tap a bunch of apps’ little red circles to force quit the apps all at once. “Hey,” they’d say, “why settle for force quitting just one at a time?”

I suppose they had a point, as today’s tip is all about “flick quitting” up to three apps at once on the iPhone, provided said iPhone is running iOS 7 beta.

Use iOS 7 Beta’s New App Store Wishlist Feature To Manage Your App Wants [iOS Tips]

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iOS 7 Wshlist Splash

I’ll admit it. I really like buying things. I don’t like searching for them, or shopping per se, but I dig the heck out of wanting something, and then buying it. Go figure I end up a tech writer.

One of the ways I keep myself from overspending is to take pictures of items and store them on my iPhone. I do this a lot in book stores, where the number of new science fiction books I want far outstrips my ability to pay for them.

I use a Wishlist on Amazon, too, to track the stuff I want, perhaps later to actually purchase. Who knows?

In iOS 7 beta, you can add any apps you want to a new Wishlist feature, keeping the spending to a minimum, too. Here’s how.

Six Surprising Tips & Tricks For iOS 7 Beta [Feature]

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iOS 7 is chock full of new things to discover and explore. We’ve been spending some time with it on our iPhones and iPads, and have found a bunch of surprises hidden within–features and new ways of doing things that are new, different, and just plain interesting.

Here, then, are six of those surprising tips and tricks, ready for you to try out on your own iOS 7 beta-enabled iOS device.

Be Handy – Use The Compass And Level Built Into iOS 7 Beta [iOS tips]

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Level iOS 7 beta

iOS 6 gave us the Compass, which, honestly, I’ve never really used that much.

The new iOS 7 beta, however, has given me some functionality I’m much more likely to need and use. Heck, I even have a third-party app to make sure my handyman projects around the house aren’t crooked.

I’m talking about a level, and there’s a new one built right into iOS 7 beta, within the Compass app on the iPhone. I haven’t found a comparable app on my iPad running iOS 7 beta, but maybe in the future?

Either way, here’s how to find and use the compass and level app.

Force Quit Apps In iOS 7 Beta With Multitasking [iOS Tips]

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Multitasking iOS 7 Beta

iOS 7 beta brings with it a host of surprising features, one of which is the new way in which the mobile operating system handles multitasking. In iOS 6, a double click on the Home button on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch brings up a multitasking bar along the bottom of the screen. On iPhone and iPod touch, it only works in Portrait mode. On the iPad, it works in both Portrait and Landscape screen orientations.

That’s the same in iOS 7, but the visual look of the multitasking system is quite different. Instead of a small bar sliding up from the bottom, you get full previews of each app in the multitasking list. You can swipe left and right to move between apps at will. Also different in iOS 7 beta is the way you force quit apps, to start them anew or prevent certain ones from running in the background.

Use A Gesture To Go “Back” In iOS 7 Beta [iOS Tips]

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Swipe to go Back

One slick feature of Android handsets is the back button. No matter what app you’re in or what screen you’re on, you should be–in theory–able to back out the way you came. It’s tremendously helpful.

With iOS 7 beta, Apple has quietly introduced a gesture that does the same thing, and it seems to work in most apps like Safari, Mail, and Settings. Here’s how to make it work.

Manually Update Your Apps In iOS 7 Beta [iOS TIps]

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Disable Auto Updates

A promising feature of the upcoming iOS 7 is the automatic updating feature for apps. As Senator John McCain knows, manually updating ever sigle app on your iOS device–especially as you start to collect a bunch–can be a real time sink.

Fortunately, iOS 7 beta has the ability to just let all your apps update in the background, automagically, with nary a trip to the App Store UPdates tab to waste your time. HOwever, if you want to be able to pick and choose which apps to update, you’ll need to make a trip to the Settings app.

Five Hidden Secrets In iOS 7 Beta On The iPhone [Feature]

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iOS 7 Beta On iPhones

iOS 7 beta is fresh out of the gate, and already we’re finding a bunch of hidden and new features bundled into Apple’s latest revolution in mobile operating system software for iPhone. While we can’t guarantee these will work the same way–or even exist, to be honest–when iOS 7 comes out for real this coming fall, it’s a ton of fun dropping into the features and playing around a bit.

Be sure you don’t use iOS 7 beta for anything mission critical, as it’s still not quite ready for prime time, and it could mess your data up in some way unexpected.

That said, let’s look at five hidden secrets in the new beta for iOS 7, shall we?

Block Numbers From Calling, Messaging You In iOS 7 beta [iOS Tips]

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blocked numbers iOS 7 beta

Remember that any of the iOS 7 beta features and tips we share with you could change before the latest mobile operating system from Apple hits the streets this coming fall.

Also, be sure that you’re not using a beta iOS 7 on an iPhone you need to get work done on–-Apple has provided it without guarantee for developers to start working with, not for you to use on any mission critical tasks.

Another of the most exciting new features coming to iOS 7 is call blocking, in my opinion. To be able to keep folks from texting or calling has got to be one of the more requested features on the iPhone, since the beginning.

iOS 7 beta has two places to block numbers. Here’s where they are, and how to add numbers to your blocked list.

Use AirDrop In iOS 7 Beta, Set Privacy Preferences In Control Center [iOS Tips]

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AirDrop on iOS 7 beta

Before we get into today’s iOS 7 Beta tip, remember that any of the iOS 7 beta features and tips we share with you could change before the latest mobile operating system from Apple hits the streets this coming fall.

Also, be sure that you’re not using a beta iOS 7 on an iPhone you need to get work done on–-Apple has provided it without guarantee for developers to start working with, not for you to use on any mission critical tasks.

One of the most exciting features in the upcoming iOS 7, and it’s in the beta as well, is AirDrop, Apple’s configuration-free file sharing protocol that has been on OS X for a while. It’s making its way to iOS 7, and here’s how to use it in the beta, as well as how to set the privacy settings for the protocol.

Mark All Mail Messages As Read With iOS 7 Beta [iOS Tips]

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mark as read

As you may know, Apple released the first beta for its upcoming iOS 7 this past week, after an announcement at WWDC just prior.

We’ll take you through some lesser known features with our tips for a bit, giving you a sneak peek into the workings of the newest system to hit the iPhone. Be aware, however, that as this is beta software, any of these features and tips could change before iOS 7 hits the streets this coming fall. In addition, be sure that you’re not using a beta iOS 7 on an iPhone you need to get work done on–Apple has provided it without guarantee for developers to start working with, not for you to use on any mission critical tasks.

That said, let’s check out Mail, the built-in app for checking and sending your email from Apple. One of the biggest things I’ve always wished for in the previous app is a way to mark all the messages in my inbox as read in one fell swoop.

It looks like, in iOS 7 beta, anyway, that you can do just that. Here’s how.