iPhone How-To

Apple News gives you a streamlined way to keep up with current events. It’s a sane, if somewhat generic-looking, way to stay on top of the news that matters to you. If you want more, Apple News+ offers paywall-free access to major publications, local news and magazines. And to sweeten the deal, it has fun daily puzzles, excellent recipes and audio stories.

Admittedly, not a lot of people pay for Apple News+ on its own. It’s hardly a fan favorite. But if you have the Apple One Premier bundle, you can enjoy all of its hidden benefits — here’s how to make the most of it. Keep reading or watch our quick video. 

All the tiny signs, symbols and icons on the Apple Music app’s Now Playing screen lack labels — and it’s not obvious at all what they do. Do you know what tapping the infinity symbol does? How about the two wavy lines? 

This quick guide runs through all the Apple Music buttons and controls, so you can get acclimated to its interface. Keep reading or watch our short video.

Developer Mode lets you run unsigned code on your iPhone or iPad. Enable it, and you can download and run apps that are not from the App Store (or alternative app marketplaces) or in TestFlight, Apple’s tool that lets developers invite users to beta-test new apps.

If you want to write your own apps in Xcode, you will need to enable Developer Mode on your iPhone or iPad before running your app.

Developer Mode is also essential if you want to sideload apps onto your device from a Mac, using an app like Sideloadly. This could include apps that aren’t allowed on the App Store (such as porn app Hot Tub) or apps that are no longer available from their original developers, like Apollo (the now-shuttered Reddit client). For sideloading to work, you will need to turn on Developer Mode. 

Read on to see how to enable Developer Mode on your iPhone or iPad, as well as the potential security implications.

I finally figured out the perfect set of controls to assign to the iPhone’s Action button. I created a shortcut that cleverly combines the two controls I want to use it for.

The Action button can toggle the flashlight, mute audio, toggle an accessibility feature, open the camera, start translation, run any shortcut of your choosing and more. It’s so open-ended that figuring out what to use it for can trigger decision fatigue. 

Don’t panic — I discovered what you should use the iPhone’s action button for. And I’m sharing the shortcut, which combines two actions into one elegant system, so you can use it, too. 

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.

Apple released new firmware for AirPods Pro 3 on Tuesday that offers bug fixes, and there’s optimism that the new 8B34 version removes a bug that sometimes causes whistling noises when active noise cancellation is used.

Last year, Apple finally explained exactly how to update your AirPods firmware. The process can happen automatically, in the background, but there is a way to speed things up. It’s a good idea to manually check that you’re running the latest version, which brings bug fixes and sometimes great new features.

Read on for more details, and find all current AirPods firmware versions, along with instructions for getting the AirPods update as quickly as possible.

The new iPhone setup process gets easier every year. These days, you only need to do a few things to transfer all your old iPhone data to a new one. Still, certain tips and tricks can smooth the way.

The hot new tip this year is that you can directly transfer data from your old iPhone to your new one using a cable. Plus, other time-honored iPhone setup tricks will help things run smoothly. Here’s how to set up your new iPhone the right way.

Apple Music Replay is a great way to find your music stats for the past year: the most played songs, artists and albums in the last 12 months. Similar to Spotify Wrapped and the like, your annual Apple Music Replay is a fun way to see what tracks you listened to most.

Fun fact: Apple usually publicizes Apple Music Replay in December, but it’s actually updated weekly and available throughout the whole year! You can check in whenever you want to see how your year is shaping up.

We’ll show you how to find it and how to share your top music of the year to your friends and social media.

In several states, Apple’s state ID initiative enables iPhones and Apple Watches to hold a digital copy of the user’s driver’s license, in the same way these devices store credit cards and airline tickets. And across the United States, you can create an Apple Digital ID based on your passport that can get you through some airport security checks. 

The day when an iPhone can completely take the place of an old-fashioned wallet remains years away, but it’s a goal Apple is working toward. Apple Pay is making progress on replacing credit cards, you can put airline tickets in the Wallet app, and the same goes for loyalty cards.

But no wallet is complete unless it can hold an ID. And that’s where Apple’s digital ID initiative comes in. Here’s what you need to know to add your driver’s license, state ID or federal passport to your Apple Wallet.

You can use the built-in iPhone Wallet app for some basic order tracking with classic Apple ease of use. No need to fiddle with finding and copying tracking numbers — your orders will appear there automatically. 

If you order something from an online store that doesn’t automatically integrate with the Wallet app, there’s a solution for that as well. If your device supports Apple Intelligence, it’ll scan your email inbox and add in all those Amazon orders, too. 

Here’s how the iPhone’s order-tracking feature works. 

You can hide apps on your iPhone so they’re completely invisible, and you can lock all kinds of apps so they require Face ID to open.

Why would you want to? Maybe you have sensitive content you don’t want anyone to see, or you don’t want anyone to know you’re using dating or hookup apps. Hiding apps is also good for staying off social media or away from addictive games. Plus, it’s a great way to declutter your iPhone’s Home Screen. You can really clean things up without deleting apps you might want to keep.

There are, however, a few essential apps on your phone that can’t be hidden. Here’s how it all works.

Knowing how to edit or unsend iMessages on your iPhone could come in clutch. Like when you text your mom, “Finally got laid today” when you meant to say “paid.”

Thankfully, it’s easy to rewrite history in iMessage. Let me show you how this lifesaving feature works.

In iOS 26, you can use Apple Cash in a group chat to make it super-easy to split a bill. You won’t need to chase down everyone separately if you use this incredibly convenient feature.

Here’s how to request money and send payments using Apple Cash from a group chat.

How can you watch Apple’s iPhone event? You can stream the keynote on YouTube, on the apple.com website or on your smart TV. It starts at 10 a.m. Pacific time on Tuesday, September 9.

At the September event, Apple unveils new iPhones, Apple Watches and other accessories. The iPhone 17 series will be the highlight — with the iPhone 17 Air being a standout new model. Rumors point to the Apple Watch Ultra 3 getting a faster processor, satellite messaging and (possibly) blood pressure monitoring. Some of these features might make it to the Apple Watch Series 11. A couple of other new devices might put in an appearance at Apple’s September event, too. We’ve heard rumors of AirPods Pro 3, an updated Apple TV 4K and AirTag 2.

Here’s how you can watch it all live, whether you’re watching at home or secretly at work.

Anyone interested can download the iOS 26 public beta for free — right now. You can get a look at the exciting new Liquid Glass design coming to the iPhone before the update is shipped to everyone. The iOS 26 public beta also comes with a new Camera and Phone app, new Apple Intelligence features, 3D photos and more.

Of course, there are a few things you should look out for. Beta software is buggy and can lead to data loss or apps that don’t work. Battery life will suffer and your phone will often get hot. You have been warned.

If you want to try it out, you should make sure you have a backup of your most important data with two copies of your photo library before you try installing. I’ll show you how.

AutoFill on iPhone is supposed to help you out when you’re entering a password or typing in your email. When it doesn’t work, it can be incredibly frustrating — especially if you don’t know some complicated password offhand. The phone’s supposed to remember it so you don’t have to!

Sure, you could switch over to the Passwords app — or you can instantly autofill passwords right from the text box. AutoFill works anywhere you can input text, including third-party browsers.

In addition to passwords, you can autofill credit cards, contacts and more. You can even autofill scanned text from documents, signs and more using the camera.

Here’s how it’s done.

The Translate app built into your iPhone is a hidden gem if you’re traveling abroad. It gives you the ability to download languages in advance, so you don’t have to worry about a dodgy cellular connection.

The camera lets you translate text in-line of a restaurant menu or parking meter — it could help you out of a sticky situation. The Translate app’s conversation view makes it easy having a back-and-forth with someone who doesn’t speak your native tongue.

Here’s how to make the most out of the built-in Translate app.

iMessage effects can add much more meaning, emotion and fun to your texting. You can add bold, italics, underline and strikethrough text, just like a formatted document, and even choose from a bunch of cool, animated effects. Plus, you can use full-screen animated effects, including lasers, confetti and  fireworks — which seems perfectly appropriate on the Fourth of July.

With Apple’s text message effects, you can make quite an impression. You can make congratulations more bombastic (to rejoice in someone’s finest moments). Or, you can use formatting and effects to convey sarcasm, stress and sorrow more clearly.

These text effects are fun and incredibly useful. Keep reading below or watch our video.

With a little know-how, you can photograph fireworks with an iPhone and achieve great results. But just pointing and shooting with no prior planning can lead to blurry, unexciting fireworks photos.

For instance, does this sound familiar? Last year’s fireworks made you say ooh and ahh, but when you look at your iPhone photos from that night, the sound you make is more of an ugh.

Don’t blame Siri or some engineer in Cupertino for previous photo fails. The iPhone camera, as mighty as it is, can’t do all the thinking for you — especially in challenging lighting conditions like a fireworks display. But with a little thought and preparation, you can make this holiday worth reliving on your iPhone camera roll.

Below are some simple tips to make your iPhone fireworks photos sizzle.

Thanks to a settlement in a class-action lawsuit related to Siri and data privacy, most U.S. Apple users can receive up to $100. You just need to fill out an online form by July 2, 2025. (Spoiler alert: That’s today.)

You’re eligible for a settlement if you live in the United States and used Siri between September 17, 2014, (when Apple released “Hey Siri” in iOS 8) and December 31, 2024. You can receive up to $20 per device, for up to five devices, if you’ve ever accidentally triggered Siri in the middle of a private conversation or meeting.

Here’s how Apple got in this mess, how to find out if you’re eligible, and how to submit your claim.

you can turn off autocorrect on your iphone if you want your texts to come across as casual and laid back. psychologically, lowercase writing that isnt punctuated with apostrophes or periods read as more informal and friendly

turning off autocorrect is super-easy. you can even turn off capitalization but leave on corrections for spelling and grammar. see how awesome it is? heres how to do it!!! :)

If you know how to schedule texts on iPhone, you can make sure you never forget to send a reminder, birthday greeting or early morning message for someone in a different time zone. You can schedule a whole slew of texts up to a week in advance, with links, photos, attachments and more, using the iPhone’s Send Later feature.

This can save your bacon if you’re often the type of person to forget to text someone later. And it’s really easy to do, once you figure out how to use the somewhat hidden feature.

iPhone Stolen Device Protection offers increased safety for your accounts and financial information if someone steals your handset and its passcode.

Here’s how to activate the security feature, and — more importantly — why you should do it now.

Apple has a daily crossword and crossword mini that you can play on your iPad and iPhone inside the News app. This feature is available to anyone with an Apple News+ subscription or the Apple One Premier bundle.

I absolutely love playing the crossword puzzles every day. I’m not very good at them, but it’s a fun challenge and it’s a well-designed app.

Here’s how it works.

There’s been another big data leak of over 16 billion records, and that’s a great opportunity to do something you’ve probably been procrastinating on: Replace your website passwords that hackers stole because of some lax security. Fortunately, Apple’s new Passwords app makes it easy to find out which of your passwords leaked so you can change passwords right on your iPhone.

Stay one step ahead by fixing a potentially serious problem now, before something bad happens.