iPhone - page 5

December 18, 2006: Apple fans mourn the death of the iPhone before it even launches.

After Linksys begins selling new handsets, Cupertino watchers must come to grips with the fact that Apple’s rumored smartphone probably won’t be called the iPhone after all. Why? Because Linksys’ parent company, Cisco Systems, owns the iPhone trademark, despite Apple previously having made the iMac, iBook, iPod and iTunes.

December 17, 2009: Apple finally triumphs over longtime rival Microsoft … on mobile operating systems market share. New data shows that iPhone OS surpasses Windows Mobile in the United States for the first time.

With roughly 36 million Americans owning smartphones, a quarter of them run Apple’s mobile operating system, according to figures released by research firm Comscore.

This week on Cult of Mac’s podcast: After a quick spin through the news of the week, we get down to business with our second round of picks for the best and worst tech and entertainment of 2023.

Also on The CultCast:

• Would you pay 99 bucks for a USB-C case for AirPods Pro? I think the price is outrageous, but not everyone is so sure.
• Apple just raised the bar for authorities who might want to spy on your iPhone’s push notifications.
• A new iPhone security feature will soon make it harder for thieves to wreck your life.
• And the latest on how Apple might be forced to open up iPhone to appease regulators.

Listen to this week’s episode of The CultCast in the Podcasts app or your favorite podcast app. (Be sure to subscribe and leave us a review if you like it!) Or watch the video live stream, embedded below.

You’re at a holiday 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?

The problem might be because Apple changed the way AirDrop works last year. Here’s how to set the easy wireless file-transfer system so you can get that picture from your friend.

In iOS 17, many of the default sounds for notifications, alarms and timers have been changed — but how do you get back the old sounds if you don’t like the new ones?

A lot of people get deeply attached to the sound effects. If you want the old noises back, you can change (most of them) back manually. I’ll show you how.

Update: The new iOS 17.2 makes a nice change to alerts in third-party apps. Read on for more details.

In iOS 17, you can use Apple’s Reminders as a grocery list app on your iPhone — and items you add are automatically sorted into common sections.

This proves incredibly helpful when you go shopping. Just open the Reminders app, and you can easily see if you’ve got everything you need as you’re making your way through the store.

I’ll show you how to use it, including how to share your Reminders app grocery list with someone else so you can both add items and check them off the same list.

A diary can be a great and invaluable record of your life, but who has time for that? Well, now you do: Apple’s new iPhone Journal app makes keeping a diary a breeze. Really, it couldn’t be any easier.

The new Apple Journal app released in iOS 17.2 lets you build a record of your life into a multimedia digital diary. Your iPhone will pull together details from your photos, locations and events to give you prompts for memories worth writing about.

Here’s the nitty gritty on using the new Journal app.

Nearly two months after iOS 17‘s release, Apple released the iPhone operating system’s second major point build Monday. iOS 17.2 introduces several new features and changes, with many that Apple first demoed at WWDC23 in June.

iOS 17.2’s marquee feature is Apple’s new Journal app, though it enhances several other aspects of the OS. Find out everything new in iOS 17.2 and iPadOS 17.2 below.

Security and privacy concerns caused Apple to block messaging service Beeper Mini, the company said Sunday. But on Monday Beeper Mini got around the block and pledged to keep making its service available.

This followed Beeper Mini’s highly publicized launch on December 5. It said it had successfully reverse-engineered iMessage to turn green Android text bubbles blue on iPhones.

From that moment, many people wondered how long Apple would let it stand (just a few days, it turned out).

Update: Beeper Mini is back with improvements, according to a new blog post that puts the ball back in Apple’s court. Beeper said it’s willing to share its codebase with an independent research firm and reirterated it could add a pager emoji to enable filtering of Beeper Mini messages in iMessage. See more on the story so far below.

December 11, 2013: A Chinese labor rights group calls on Apple to investigate the deaths of several workers at a Shanghai factory run by iPhone manufacturer Pegatron.

Most controversially, one of the dead workers is just 15 years old. The underage worker reportedly succumbed to pneumonia after working extremely long hours on the iPhone 5c production line.

You’re running out of time to buy the Apple gifts your loved ones want for the holidays. If you need to buy an iPhone, iPad or AirPods, you need to make a well-informed decision quickly — but how do you know which model to get?

We have a helpful new video that will explain the differences between various iPhone, iPad and AirPods models. Plus, we published detailed written buying guides for your convenience.

Tang Tan, the vice president of product design for Apple’s iPhone and Apple Watch, is leaving in February 2024. He reportedly made “critical decisions about Apple’s most important products.”

Following his departure, Apple will reshuffle and split up the hardware design team to manage Tang’s responsibilities.

This week’s Cult of Mac giveaway prize is a mophie 3-in-1 MagSafe travel charger that retails for $149.95. The compact charger is perfect for anyone with a busy schedule who’s on the go. You can charge multiple devices simultaneously at maximum speed with this great fold-up Apple accessory.

The 3-in-1 charger can juice up an iPhone, an Apple Watch and AirPods all at once. It comes with a handy travel pouch to keep everything securely together, plus a USB-C cable and a wall adapter. Enter below for your chance to win — we’re giving away three of these excellent travel chargers.

iOS 17.2 will introduce a new way for sharing boarding passes, tickets and other passes stored in the Wallet app.

Like NameDrop, the iOS feature that lets owners easily share contact info, the new way to share passes will require bringing your iPhone close to the top of another iPhone with the Wallet app open.

Apple reportedly plans to use upgraded microphones on the iPhone 16 series for a better Siri experience. The new mics might feature a better signal-to-noise ratio and improved water resistance.

The improved hardware likely would boost manufacturing costs for Apple. But a better Siri — fortified with artificial intelligence — could gives Apple’s reputation a boost when it comes to AI.

The upcoming iOS 17.2 update will add Qi2 support to older iPhone 13 and iPhone 14 models. Based on MagSafe, Qi2 is the next-generation wireless charging standard.

Announced at CES 2023 by the Wireless Charging Consortium, Qi2 uses a Magnetic Power Profile with an Extended Power Profile for faster charging and better efficiency.

The number of iPhones running some version of iOS 17 passed a milestone. The total recently topped 60%, according to an analytics firm.

Users were initially slow to make the jump past iOS 16, but a solid majority have now done so.

Twelve South’s new 2-in-1 Butterfly MagSafe Charger folds into a tiny footprint, fast-charges MagSafe iPhones and Apple Watches, and can serve as a kickstand for your handset, as well.

The cool gadget, which you can get directly from Twelve South or Apple, looks like a winner and is priced as such, at a steep $129.95.

It’s good to know how to close apps on iPhone for those times when an app is acting buggy or becomes unresponsive. It’s really easy — just swipe up to see your running apps and swipe up again to close them.

Does this mean you should you quit open apps? No, not at all. Despite what you may have heard, quitting apps on iOS makes things worse, not better. It’s a myth that quitting apps will save battery life, make your iPhone run faster or free up memory. Overall, it makes things worse.

Here are three reasons why.

If you haven’t tried a multi-device charging stand, you’re missing out. There’s nothing like the convenience of plopping your Apple devices — iPhone, Apple Watch, AirPods — in one place like a side table or night stand to top them off.

And right now you can get up to 47% off SwitchEasy’s 4-in-1 and 2-in-1 magnetic wireless charging stands in the Cult of Mac Store.

Parents are mistakenly being warned that they need to quickly deactivate iOS 17’s NameDrop feature on their children’s iPhones. The warnings claim that it’s causing the devices to broadcast their contact information to anyone nearby.

This simply isn’t true.

Cyber Monday at the Cult of Mac store is a massive event you won’t want to miss. We’ve got deals on all kinds of accessories for all your Apple gear.

Get ready for incredible discounts, with savings of up to 75% on selected brands including Elago, Elkson, Mifa, Rilee & Lo, Laut, and many others. Don’t miss out on these fantastic offers!

Here are a few secret tricks and gestures that’ll help you get around your iPhone faster. These hidden gestures help you text pictures to your friends faster, scroll through big pages and screens, type special characters and use your phone one-handed.

This is a follow-up to an article from earlier this year with three other secret iPhone gestures you need to know. Learn all of these gestures and you’ll feel like an iPhone power user.

Elago’s awesome accessories for iPhone, Apple Watch and AirPods are now available at 30% off through the Cult of Mac Store. All you need to do is add Elago products to your cart and 30% discount will automatically be added.

You can save on brilliant retro charging stands inspired by iconic devices like the original Macintosh and Game Boy, Apple Watch bands, iPhone cases, AirPods bumpers, and lots more. There’s also 30% off Elago’s new Apple Pencil cover.

This discount ends at 11:59 p.m. Pacific Monday, November 27 (Cyber Monday), so enjoy it while you can.

Those cryptic laundry symbols and car dashboard icons are a mystery, until now: your iPhone camera can tell you what they mean. You don’t have to look up a guide or Google their meaning; just take a picture and your iPhone will tell you.

While in my testing, it didn’t identify every single symbol, the feature will do in a pinch. And if you want to use an app for the best possible results, I have two recommendations found on the App Store that can help you.