How-To - page 10

So, you’ve been using Safari’s Private Browsing mode on your iPhone or iPad, for whatever reason, but you forget to close out of the tab. The next time you open Safari, you’ll be thrown into whatever unscrupulous web page you had open last time — and the result can range from unfortunate to embarrassing, depending upon what you were looking at and where you are when you unexpectedly resume the Private Browsing session.

Luckily, iOS offers a foolproof way to avoid reopening a Private Browsing mode session. Let me show you how.

If you’re a super lucky duck, then Santa may have left you a pair of AirPods. They are truly one of the best products Apple ever made, because they really do offer a huge upgrade on all previous headphones. Here’s how to set up your new AirPods.

The Apple AirTag is arguably among the company’s most useful product releases in recent years. Once you set up an AirTag, it gives you powerful options for locating it (and whatever you attach it to). Put one of Apple’s tracking tags on an item like a keychain or luggage, and you can easily track its location from your iPhone, Mac, or iPad. If you’re wondering, do AirTags make noise, the answer is yes, but only in specific circumstances.

Since AirTag’s launch, numerous reports have detailed how the tracking tag helped owners find lost items. If you recently acquired an AirTag, here’s how you can set it up the right way and use it properly.

It’s Christmas Eve, and Santa Claus is on his way. You can find out exactly where he is with the help of the NORAD Santa tracker and your Mac or iPhone. You can even track Jolly Old Saint Nick’s progress in real time.

Here’s how to keep an eye on Kris Kringle‘s progress.

When Apple launched the AirTag, you could link the tracking tags to only one person. Luckily, Apple expanded that. Now you can share an AirTag with up to five other people, so each one can see where it is.

Here’s how to share an AirTag with family members or friends.

If your iPhone storage is full, you’ll need to quickly clear up space. You don’t need to panic and delete all your pictures, though. There are easy ways to free up iPhone storage without losing any precious data forever.

Apple put a convenient screen in Settings that can walk you through non-destructive ways to clear up space on your phone. Apps that you don’t use frequently can be temporarily uninstalled (and instantly redownloaded when you need them again). If you sync data to iCloud, like photos and music, your phone can automatically offload some of that data. You also can limit the number of podcasts your phone keeps, if you’re falling behind on your listening.

Here are the easiest steps you can take if your iPhone storage gets too full.

A little-known feature in macOS lets you share your Mac’s screen to someone else’s Mac directly from the Messages app — no third-party apps or downloads required. It’s great if you need to give tech support to a far-off family member in a pinch. Often, you just need to see what’s happening instead of counting on what your dear old father is trying to describe over the phone.

Get him to share his Mac’s screen with you, and you likely can solve his problem quickly. Even better, it’s not complicated setting up screen sharing on a Mac like it is on a PC. It takes only a few clicks in the Messages app. Let me show you all around this awesome hidden feature.

The Mac pointer (also called the cursor) is black with a white outline by default, but you can change the pointer color if you want to make it more prominent. Plus, you can even change the Mac pointer size. 

You might lose track of the small cursor if you have low vision — or just a really big monitor. Making the pointer larger can make it easier to see. 

Changing the pointer color to, for instance, bright red can make it easier to see, too. You can choose any color, like light purple or green, to fit the aesthetic of your setup. (This is especially cool if you have a matching colorful iMac.)

Here’s how to change your Mac pointer size and color.

Being able to see your iPhone battery percentage right in the status bar is incredibly useful. You can keep an eye on it throughout the day if you’re getting low and need to top up.

The standard battery icon gives you a rough idea of where your iPhone stands. But instantly seeing the exact battery percentage number can give you peace of mind. It’s useful seeing the precise number without pulling down Control Center or checking a battery widget, wherever you are.

For those of you with real battery anxiety, you can even add a widget to your Lock Screen and Home Screen. I’ll show you how.

It’s easy to take a screenshot on your iPhone to keep a copy of something in your photo library for later. You can even screenshot a whole page on an iPhone at once using a somewhat hidden feature.

If you want to take a screenshot of something like an in-depth recipe, a lengthy email or anything else that doesn’t fit on your iPhone screen, you can take an extended screenshot. Instead of filling your library with five separate images, you can use your iPhone to screenshot the entire page (or a large section of it) without using an app to stitch them together after the fact.

Here’s how it’s done. (I’ll show you how to do this on a Mac, too.)

There are plenty of old iPhone wall chargers still out there very slowly powering up handsets. Fortunately, iOS 18.2 made it quick and easy to tell if it’s time to trash your old, slow iPhone charger.

The best iPhone chargers give your handset a big boost in as little as half an hour. Older ones take all sodding day. You don’t have to put up with slow charges if you don’t want to.

It can be hard figuring out what advice will actually save your iPhone battery life and what’s basically tech superstition. What settings can you easily change that make the biggest impact without ruining your phone?

Low Power Mode is the obvious setting, a single switch that pulls all kinds of levers behind the scenes. Turning down your brightness as far as you can is another easy trick. But how about quitting apps? Does it make any difference? What about the always-on display? Should you turn it off?

Here are the 10 things you can do to save iPhone battery life — and help your iPhone battery thrive over the long term, too.

In iOS 18, users can finally change out their iPhone Lock Screen buttons from the standard Flashlight and Camera to whatever they want. There’s a giant selection of buttons you can swap in their place.

In fact, any button you can put in iOS 18’s new customizable Control Center is a button you can put on your iPhone’s Lock Screen. Plus, you can add different shortcut buttons to different Lock Screens, making them context-dependent (and tied to a Focus Mode if you like).

Here’s how to swap out the iPhone Lock Screen buttons to put whatever you want at your beck and call.

iOS 18.2 drops a huge number of new features onto the iPhone. The second major iOS 18 update, available now, expands the capabilities of Apple Intelligence — and adds plenty of goodies for everyone else, too.

Keep reading or watch our video on the new features awaiting iPhone owners in iOS 18.2.

iOS 18.2 will go out to iPhones everywhere next week, but you don’t need to wait. It’s possible to go ahead and install the iOS 18.2 release candidate — the final version before Apple pushes it to the public — this weekend. That way you’ll have time to play around with the AI-powered Image Playground and other new Apple Intelligence features.

Getting iOS 18.2 now doesn’t require doing anything dodgy or risky. You’ll download the final version of the upgrade straight from Apple … just a little earlier than scheduled.

Working in an office or in the city, you’re probably inundated with noise from people chattering, cars running and nearby music. Your iPhone has a built-in feature called Background Sounds for playing rain noises or white noise to tune it all out.

You don’t need to download any apps or pay a cent; it comes for free on your Mac and iPhone. Let me show you how it works.

Apple Music has a karaoke mode for people who love to sing along as they listen. Apple Music Sing lets you turn down the lyrics so you can karaoke to your favorite hits with just one tap.

In fact, I’m using it right now to listen to some of my favorite music without the lyrics distracting me from reading and writing. Let me show you how it works!

When traveling internationally with your iPhone, staying connected and avoiding unexpected surprises can be a bit of a balancing act. Whether it’s navigating unfamiliar streets, keeping in touch with family, or ensuring you don’t get hit with outrageous roaming fees, a little preparation goes a long way. Here’s how you can improve your iPhone use while traveling internationally.

Apple added Share Item Location to the Find My app to let AirTag users securely share with an airline the exact position of a tracking tag attached to lost luggage.

Here’s how to use the new feature to show an airline employee that your bag is actually just outside Concourse C in the Atlanta airport, not in Denver where they think it is. They can even see the exact position of the luggage.

If your Apple Watch feels like it’s not responding to your taps, it could be in Water Lock mode. It’s easy to forget to turn off Water Lock Mode after you go for a swim or a shower.

There’s also a bit of confusion about how Apple Watch’s Water Lock feature works. Read on to see how to (and how not to) use it.

I always use Apple’s privacy-focused Sign in with Apple and Hide My Email services whenever I get the option.

 The Sign in with Apple feature, which lets you log into third-party accounts using your Apple ID while keeping your personal info private, is so easy to use that I utilize it everywhere. But that also means my disguised logins pile up, accumulating in the digital junk drawer that is iCloud Settings. If you ever need to manage or transfer your Apple purchases history, Apple now offers an option to migrate digital purchases between accounts.

I’ll show you where you can find, manage or delete these accounts. Perhaps you’re jumping ship from iPhone to Android, and you want to make sure you still have another way of signing into your Chipotle account.

The Hide My Email service is similar. It creates a temporary email address that forwards to your real one — handy if you’re signing up for a shady website, or if you need a public contact email. I’ll show you where you can create new ones and delete the old ones.

You’re at a party and your friend takes a great picture. You ask them to AirDrop you a copy and the two iPhones won’t connect. So frustrating … what the %^#* is wrong? Why can’t you share iPhone photos the way you used to? You probably just need to tweak a setting to turn on AirDrop’s capability to work with any iPhone.

You see, Apple changed the way AirDrop works in iOS 16. If you haven’t updated your AirDrop settings, it might not work the way you want. Here’s how to set the easy wireless file-transfer system so you can get that picture from your friend.

Sick of apps constantly asking you to rate them? There is a way you can block App Store rating requests completely on iPhone, iPad and Mac so that the pesky popups no longer appear. We’ll show you how.

The M4 Mac mini is so tiny that taking it on trips isn’t an unreasonable idea. With the right accessories, you might not need a MacBook. Seriously.

Here’s the gear needed to turn Apple’s diminutive desktop into a portable computer for your next holiday or even business trip.

Camo is a powerful app that lets you use your iPhone, and any connected USB camera, as a webcam for your Mac. I use it every week to record videos and livestream podcasts. The camera built into the MacBook — and even the high-end Studio Display — just doesn’t compare to the clarity and quality of an iPhone camera.

Apple built a basic version of this feature into macOS and called it Continuity Camera. But like most apps that have been sherlocked, Camo goes above and beyond with powerful tools and pro features.

Camo also works with Windows PCs, Android phones and most modern cameras, not just Macs and iPhones.