Sound Recognition might be an accessibility feature in iOS 14, but there are times when it might come in handy for any iPhone user. Find out how to enable and customize this brand-new feature in our handy guide.
The next iPhone and iPad operating systems warn you when the microphone or camera is on, let you share your approximate location, and block apps from tracking you. And these are just some of the ways iOS 14 and the iPad equivalent protect user privacy. Apple is clearly working hard to live up to its promise that it regards privacy as a fundamental human right.
How much time have you wasted watching YouTube videos this week? It’s really easy to find out, thanks to a helpful tool built into the YouTube app on iOS. Here’s how to use it to uncover hard truths you probably aren’t ready for.
Riley Testut’s brilliant AltStore is an App Store alternative (kind of) for iPhone and iPad that allows you to install unauthorized third-party apps. In this tutorial, we’ll show you how to install it the right way.
Tired of seeing the same old Home screen on iPhone and iPad? You don’t really want to move around all your apps because then you’ll have to get used to finding them again. Instead, treat yourself to a fancy new wallpaper.
Find out how in today’s pro tip.
You might need to exercise a little more if you hope to stay fit while stuck at home for most of the day during a global pandemic. Give yourself a little push by increasing your Move goal on Apple Watch.
It’s easy to do, and if you’re one of the many Apple Watch owners who likes to complete their Move goal every day, it will help you burn a few additional calories to make up for spending most of the day on the couch.
The iPhone 12 Flip is the foldable iOS device many are hoping for. This proposed concept fits a large screen into a tiny package.
While currently only a dream, Apple is hard at work on technologies that could eventually make it real.
Watch a video of the iPhone 12 Flip concept now:
A 2020 iPhone SE teardown shows just how similar the new phone is to the iPhone 8. Many — but not all — components of the new handset are totally swappable with the 2017 iPhone, according to a weekend report from iFixit.
The iPhone SE’s cameras, SIM tray, Taptic Engine and display assembly can be directly swapped out with the iPhone 8. However, not all parts are so switchable. The iPhone SE’s battery might look the same, but it won’t work on the earlier iPhone due to a different logic board connector.
Overbridge 2 is an amazing new app/plugin from Swedish drum machine and synthesizer maker Elektron. As its name suggests, it acts as a bridge between your computer and Elektron’s hardware boxes.
Using Overbridge, you can plug in, say, the Digitakt drum computer and sampler, and stream all eight of its audio tracks to your Mac or PC over a single USB cable.
The iPhone 12 may be proceeding as scheduled, but not every Apple product in development is proceeding in a timely manner. According to a new research note from Hong Kong analyst Jeff Pu, sent Thursday, the forthcoming Mini LED iPad could be pushed back to early 2021.
A previous rumor suggested it would arrive later this year. Pu doesn’t give any explanation for the delay in his note, which was seen by Cult of Mac. However, it could relate to the continued disruption in Apple’s supply chain, which is only now starting to get back on track following the effects of the coronavirus pandemic in China.
If you’re a stuck-at-home musician, or just someone who would like to learn to make music with their Mac, then maybe you’ve just downloaded the generous, lockdown-era, three-month free trial of Ableton Live. And if you’re a GarageBand (or Logic Pro X) user, you may be feeling a little lost.
Fear not. I did the same thing last year. At first I was overwhelmed just trying to do basic stuff, like routing my guitar into Ableton or trying to work out why the app offers at least three record buttons.
So, as a relatively fresh Ableton user, I thought I’d make a list of handy tips for new users coming from Apple’s music apps.
Kindle library books can provide hours of entertainment as you self-isolate due to the coronavirus pandemic. You likely can check out ebooks from your local library, just like a regular paper book.
In the United States, you typically can check out books using an Amazon Kindle or an iOS app. In other countries, you can use alternative e-readers or apps. By borrowing books online, you can avoid leaving your house — perfect when libraries are closed during COVID-19 lockdown — and you don’t need to leave your house to return anything, either. Returns happen automatically at the end of the borrowing period.
Let’s see how it works.
Emergency medical workers in San Francisco are turning to an iPhone-connected smart ring to track their body temperature and other vital signs as a way to identify early symptoms of COVID-19.
2,000 Oura Rings have been distributed to workers at the UCSF Medical Center and Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital. It’s the first study developed to spot COVID-19 symptoms and help curb its spread. Researchers are hoping the medical data can be used to create an algorithm that can detect COVID-19 before symptoms even manifest.
Apple vs. Samsung is the modern Apple vs. Microsoft — a battle between seemingly unstoppable tech titans. In his new book, Samsung Rising, author Geoffrey Cain charts the surprising story of the South Korean electronics giant. He also reveals how a burning desire to beat Apple drove Samsung’s successful strategies.
Cain, a former reporter for Time and Fast Company, based his book on more than 400 interviews. Over the years, he spoke with top Samsung and Apple executives to gain an insider’s perspective on the battle between the two companies. In this exclusive interview with Cult of Mac, he serves up surprising insight into a tech rivalry for the ages.
In a civilized society, there would be no such thing as a “read receipt” for messages or emails. You’d send your message, and that would be it. But read receipts are here, and if you’re one of the folks that doesn’t turn them off, then you’re going to love this WhatsApp tip.
You already know the meanings of the checkboxes that indicate successfully sent, delivered and read messages in WhatsApp. Today we’ll see how to check the exact time a recipient read your WhatsApp message.
Apple’s next AirPods go into production very soon, according to an unconfirmed report coming out of Asia. These are the wireless headphones that are typically referred to as AirPods Pro Lite, though they are unlikely to have that name when released.
One of the best Twitter features is the mute. You can pick any keyword, hashtag or person, and shut them up for as long as you like. This works in various Twitter apps, but if you’re using the official Twitter app, you can mute these keywords just by long-pressing them.
The Do Not Disturb mode built into iOS is excellent. It hides incoming alerts, and generally stops you from being disturbed by outside forces. But it won’t save you from yourself. What if you accidentally click on a YouTube link or — more likely — that GIF you clicked in Tweetbot turns out to be a noisy video? The sudden racket will surely wake your spouse.
Today we’ll see how to make a shortcut that automatically silences your iPhone whenever it enters Do Not Disturb mode.
Professional colorist and YouTube HDTV reviewer Vincent Teoh says he cannot recommend Apple’s $5,000 Pro Display XDR to creatives who do commercial color grading.
But the pricey monitor’s “beautiful design will look good in the office of a divorce lawyer,” Teoh says.
The Chinese company that assembles most of the world’s iPhones has ordered employees in one region of the country not to return to work next week to prevent further spread of the deadly coronavirus.
Foxconn sent text messages to Shenzhen-based employees that those sites will remain closed until further notice. While Foxconn’s main iPhone factory is in Zhengzhou, a portion is assembled in Shenzhen. Shenzhen is also the headquarters for Foxconn’s parent company, Hon Hai Precision Industry Co.
We all know how to scroll through long documents or lists on iOS, right? You swipe on the screen, and then keep doing it, over and over, as fast as possible, like some kind of maniac. And, at some point in the future, you will probably arrive at the other end of the list. Scrolling to the very top is easy — just touch the top of the screen. But in iOS 13, you can grab the scroll bar that appears on the right side of the screen, and use it to navigate.
This is a really, really useful feature. Here’s how it works.
If you and a friend both have AirPods or Beats headphones, you can share audio coming from a single iPhone or iPad. This is great for listening to the same music track or podcast, or — most useful I reckon — watching a movie together. Apple makes it really easy for you to share your audio stream with someone else. In fact, you could say it’s easier than doing it the old way, because A) there are no wires to get tangled and B) there’s no splitter adapter to lose.
Here’s how to set up audio sharing on AirPods.
Apple’s AirPods Pro are just fantastic, especially if you hack them to fit your ears even better. But those interchangeable silicone tips are just one (or two) more thing to lose, or to break. The good news is, Apple will sell you replacement silicone tips for your AirPods Pro. The bad news is, you can’t just order them up from the Apple Store, or from Amazon.
It’s easy to mock smart toothbrushes, but most people don’t have very good dental hygiene. High-tech solutions like Colgate’s Plaqless Pro or Oral-B iO might be able to help by giving users feedback with an iPhone application.
Both toothbrushes were honored at CES 2020, with Colgate’s even earning the Best of Innovation award for Health and Beauty.
If you missed Aaron Sorkin and Danny Boyle’s Steve Jobs biopic, there’s some good news: The Oscar-nominated movie is coming to Netflix.
The movie, which came out in 2015, is an adaptation of Walter Isaacson’s bajillion copy-selling 2012 biography of Steve. It stars Michael Fassbender as the mercurial Apple co-founder and former CEO.