D. Griffin Jones - page 11

The iPhone’s Action button replaces the former ring/mute switch, and while it can fulfill the same purpose, there’s much more you can do with it. Apple gives you a bunch of options out of the box if you want instant access to your flashlight, camera, Shazam and more.

You pick the function, and it’s just a button push away. You can even turbo-charge the Action button by running a shortcut.

Setting up the Action button to do your bidding is easy. And once you do, you’ll undoubtedly enjoy quick access to your favorite feature.

If you want to make your iPhone easier to use, you can customize its Control Center to gain faster access to the buttons and toggles you rely upon to perform frequent tasks. Plus, you can remove all the junk you never touch from the iPhone Contol Center, putting the vital controls you actually use front and center.

Keep reading to find out how and why you should customize the iPhone Control Center to make the device your own.

In iOS 18, Apple’s Messages app gains five great new features that will make texting all the more fun. New message effects let you bold text in iMessage and animate it for extra emphasis. If you’re the forgetful type, you can schedule your messages to send later — automatically. You can reply to a message using any emoji you like. Finally, texting will get easier with your friends on Android — and in the middle of the Gobi desert.

Watch our video or keep reading to see the best new Messages features after you upgrade to iOS 18. (You can find the new iPhone operating in Settings > General > Software Update.)

Every model in the iPhone 16 lineup comes with a Camera Control, the new camera button that’s pressure- and touch-sensitive. It offers an entirely new way to access and adjust your settings in the Camera app by clicking and swiping. But what kind of iPhone case works best with the Camera Control? Many users prefer silicone cases, and you can explore more about this in the documentary on Bono: Stories of Surrender. Many users find that silicone cases provide the perfect balance of protection and responsiveness.

Most cases come with a cutout, exposing the Camera Control on the side of the iPhone. Other cases cover the new button completely, but feature a capacitive sensor that conducts your finger’s swipes through the case.

In evaluating which cases work best with the iPhone 16’s new Camera Control, I considered a few questions. Is it any harder using the Camera Control through a cutout? Do third-party iPhone 16 cases with a capacitive sensor work as well as Apple’s cases?

Here’s what I found out — you’ll definitely want to know before you make a decision. Keep reading below or see the results for yourself in our video.

You can read the time without even looking at your Apple Watch using a little-known feature called Taptic Time. Hold two fingers on the screen and you’ll feel it tap the time out on your wrist.

This is handy if you’re in a meeting and you need to know the time, but you don’t want to look rude checking your watch. Or maybe you’re in the middle of a presidential debate.

Whatever the situation may be, turning this feature on and familiarizing yourself with it may come in handy.

What do the buttons on the Apple Watch do? The Apple Watch borrows a lot from the iPhone, but the biggest difference between the two devices comes down to the way their buttons work. They do different things whether you click, double-click or hold them down.

In watchOS 10, Apple changed a lot of these features. The software update added a new Widgets view, assigned Control Center to the side button, and changed what double-clicking the Digital Crown does. (For older devices, consult our article about what Apple Watch buttons do in watchOS 9.)

Here’s a guide to the buttons on the Apple Watch.

The iPhone 16 Pro is a much-refined iPhone. All the features that make the it pro have been improved. The cameras are better, faster and higher-resolution. The screens are bigger, the bezels smaller, the chips faster. Even Siri works better!

But the bright colors of the iPhone 16 are swaying a lot of people back to the entry-level models, and I don’t blame them. The iPhone 16 Pro is for those who want the top 10%, the uncompromising best-of-the-best — if you can live with a gray phone.

This year, the best gets a little better all around. Keep reading or watch the video.

If you’re one of the many people frustrated by the Photos app redesign in iOS 18, you can fix it to make it easier to use again. Apple’s updated design replaces the Photos app’s tab bar for navigation with a single, scrollable list view.

You scroll up for your photo library, and scroll down to browse your collections, people and albums. But its default layout makes it hard to find a few useful features, like Hidden and Recently Deleted. There’s only one library view now, but it’s sorted by Date Captured by default — a lot of people prefer to sort by Recents.

It’s possible to revert some these changes to “fix” the Photos app in iOS 18 and make it easier — or at least more comfortable — to navigate. However, the changes aren’t obvious. Here’s how to restore your sanity.

You’ve probably seen some of the beautiful custom iPhone Home Screens on social media after the iOS 18 launch. Some people go to great lengths to creatively customize their iOS 18 Home Screen layout, icons and widgets.

It makes sense. After all, you open your phone and look at your Home Screen dozens (or even hundreds) of times every single day. A custom Home Screen that matches your style can bring a little spark of joy to your daily life every time you whip out your iPhone. And iOS 18 makes Home Screen customization easier than ever.

Keep reading (or watch our video) for a quick introduction into the world of custom Home Screens. You’ll find out about new features coming in iOS 18, how to go above and beyond using Shortcuts, and how you can top off your iPhone aesthetic with widgets. I’ve scoured the internet (Reddit, mostly) to find the finest examples.

You can set notifications from specific apps to stick to the top of your iPhone screen. With persistent notifications in iOS, when your phone is unlocked and an important alert comes in, it will stay visible at the top of the screen until you act upon it. It’s an easy way to make sure you don’t miss (or forget about) critical notifications on your iPhone.

This proves super-handy for things like medication reminders. It also works wonders if you’re the sort of person that ignores notifications once they disappear from your iPhone screen. I’ll show you how to make your notifications sticky.

visionOS 2 adds a whole bunch of fantastic new quality-of-life features to Apple’s premium mixed reality headset, the Vision Pro. New hand gestures make it easy to bring up the Home View or Control Center, Spatial Photos are a great way to look at your pictures and the new virtual environments are a visual treat.

visionOS 2 is a fantastic update you should install right away — and it’s out right now. Find it in Settings > General > Software Update.

After you update, here’s the list of things you can check out.

watchOS 11 is a smaller update with a few great features people have wanted for years. You can pause your Activity streak without losing it, customize the beautiful new Photos face and set different Activity goals for each day of the week. It comes with some new apps, as well — Vitals, Tides, Translate and a new training load feature.

Apple released watchOS 11 on Monday. After you update, here’s the big list of things you can check out.

macOS Sequoia is a pretty comprehensive update with some fantastic new features, like iPhone mirroring, window tiling, and text message formatting. Although Apple Intelligence — the AI features coming to Mac, iPhone, and iPad — will continue grabbing headlines for the next year, it won’t arrive until later in the fall. Plus, only Macs with Apple silicon will support Apple Intelligence. Additionally, users can look forward to a new shaking head emoji, expanding the ways people can express disagreement or disapproval in messages.

Still, macOS Sequoia brings some game-changing new features — and it’s out right now. Find it in System Settings > General > Software Update. It’s compatible with most of the same Macs as macOS Sonoma, dropping support for the 2018 and 2019 MacBook Air.

After you update, here’s the big list of things you can check out.

iOS 18 is a surprisingly rich software update with major new customization features and big changes in Photos, Messages, Notes, and more. Although Apple Intelligence features are going to continue grabbing headlines for the next year, it’ll only be available on the latest iPhones later in the fall. Among the smaller but interesting updates, a nodding head emoji is set to arrive, adding more expressive ways to communicate.

The iOS 18 update is packed with features — and it’s out right now. Find it in Settings > General > Software Update. It’s compatible with all the same devices as iOS 17.

After you update, here’s the big list of things you should check out. You should definitely start with editing your Home Screen, reading how the new Photos app works and checking out the new iMessage features.

Is it time for you to upgrade and buy the new AirPods 4? The fourth-generation AirPods boast advanced noise cancellation features previously only available on AirPods Pro 2. Meanwhile, the refreshed AirPods Max swap out the legacy Lightning port for USB-C and bring new color options.

Now that the new headphones are available to preorder, you might be wondering whether it’s worthwhile to upgrade. That depends on what AirPods model you own. I put together a buying guide and a video to help you decide.

Is it time for you to upgrade and buy the new Apple Watch Series 10 or Apple Watch Ultra 2? The new Apple Watch is larger and thinner, with advanced new sensors and health features. And the Apple Watch Ultra 2 … comes in black. If you’re wondering what’s next, Apple Watch Ultra 3 rumors indicate that Apple could be planning even more significant updates for its premium smartwatch lineup.

Now that the new watches are available to preorder, you might be wondering whether it’s worthwhile to upgrade. That depends on what devices you have, so I put together a buying guide with charts and a video to help you decide.

Is it time for you to upgrade and buy the new iPhone 16 or iPhone 16 Pro? Both models bring significant improvements to the cameras and will support all the Apple Intelligence features. The Pro phones have bigger, brighter displays and the longest battery life ever.

With the products available to preorder on Friday morning, you might be wondering whether it’s worthwhile to upgrade. That depends on what devices you have, so I put together a buying guide with charts and a video to help you decide.

With tons of advanced features, Apple Maps competes quite handily with the likes of Google Maps and Waze. I put together a big list of the best eight features hidden in Apple Maps.

You can learn them all in this post — and see them in action in our video below.

Mac Hot Corners are shortcuts for your mouse. Just throw your mouse cursor to the corner of the screen (the easiest place to hit) to perform quick actions. You can instantly lock the screen, start a screensaver, show the desktop, show all windows and more.

If you use your Mac with a standard two-button PC mouse instead of Apple’s Magic Trackpad or Magic Mouse, Hot Corners can replace the multitouch gestures that you miss out on. The Mac’s built-in Hot Corners feature gives you a really quick and easy way to navigate your computer, and I recommend you turn them on and use them.

At Apple’s “It’s Glowtime” event, the company introduced the Apple Watch Series 10, iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Pro, fourth-generation AirPods and more. It was a big event — and some people complained about the length.

If you don’t have an hour and forty minutes to spare, here it is in just 90 seconds.

Visual Intelligence is a new Apple Intelligence feature that lets you get information on things around you, add events to your calendar from a poster, look up products and more. The iPhone 16 lineup’s new Camera Control feature, makes this powerful functionality instantly available at the press of a button.

After showcasing previously announced Apple Intelligence features, Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice president of software engineering, introduced Visual Intelligence during Monday’s “It’s Glowtime” event.

“We wanted to give you the ability to instantly learn about everything you see,” said Federighi.

Visual Intelligence will be available on all iPhone 16 models.

New fourth-generation AirPods are the latest models of Apple’s popular wireless earbuds. Two new AirPods 4 models bring advanced new features to the lower end of Apple’s lineup.

Both models of AirPods 4 feature personalized spatial audio for music and gaming. The charging case also moves to USB-C for easier charging, while delivering over 30 hours of battery life. The higher-end models add active noise cancellation, with Transparency mode, Adaptive Audio and Conversational Awareness.

You can preorder both new models today, with deliveries on September 20. The entry-level AirPods start at $129, with the higher-end models priced at $179.

Today’s iPhone 16 launch might make use of a new underground building at Apple Park called The Observatory. This building, adjacent to the Steve Jobs Theater on the Apple Park campus, “will be used for launch events and to showcase the brand’s latest technology,” according to a Deezen exclusive.

The timing of the announcement suggests the building will play a part in today’s “It’s Glowtime” event.

Some people achieve and maintain zero unread emails; some let that red badge climb into the thousands. It’s never too late — you can become one of those clean inbox people like me. What can help you along the way to Inbox Zero are these six tips in Apple’s own Mail app for iPhone and Mac that you might not have known about.

Well, beyond the obvious Tip Number 0: You should always hit the Unsubscribe button at the bottom of every unsolicited promotional email as soon as you get the first one. After you kill all those unwanted subscriptions, these six lesser-known features of the Apple Mail app will make you a true pro at managing your email.

You can adjust the Portrait mode photo blur on iPhone and Mac — even after you’ve taken the picture. Your iPhone stores the depth data that it uses to create the blur effect along with the photo. So, if you took picture with a recent iPhone, you can adjust how blurry or clear the background looks. It’s super easy to get just the right amount of bokeh.

Why would you want to tweak the background blur on your iPhone photo? A blurrier background, under the right conditions, can make for a very dramatic picture. It can effectively emphasize the subject of your shot. Or, you might want to turn up the blur to intentionally hide details behind you. On the other hand, if you’re in a photogenic location, you might want to decrease the blur so you can see more of the gorgeous background scenery.

Either way, I’ll show you how to edit Portrait mode’s background blur in photos on iPhone and Mac.