Solving iPhone Battery Issues

No one likes a dead phone. These things are our lifelines. We cannot miss a second. Well, as physics would have it, battery technology does not care about us. I would love a battery that could last for two to three days but I also do not want to downgrade to an old Nokia phone!

Since we have to deal with the battery technology that we currently have, here are a few tips to get you through the day.

Low Power Mode

When Low Power Mode came out in iOS 9 in 2015, it is a lifesaver for a lot of people. So many people rely on this tool to help them get through their day. From Apple “Low Power Mode temporarily reduces power consumption until you can fully charge your iPhone. When this is on, mail fetch, Hey Siri, background app refresh, automatic downloads, and some visual effects are reduced or turned off”.

So what does that mean? It basically means that Apple lowers some of the non-essentials’ performance on the phone, to increase your battery.

To turn this feature on:

Go to – Settings > Battery > Switch Low Power Mode on and tap Continue

You will now notice your battery indicator is yellow. To turn this feature off, follow the same steps.

For those of you who have updated to iOS 11.3, in that same Battery menu you will see Battery Health.  Going into that setting will tell you how much capacity your battery has. Over time, batteries degrade. Anyone who has held onto anything with a battery knows this. Apple has now allowed us to view where our battery performance is at. After months and/or years, say it drops to 80%. What that means is that when your phone shows “100% charged” it really is only 80%. That will continue to drop until the battery is replaced or you get a new device.

*Bonus Tip* – Go to Settings > Control Center > Customize Controls and tap the green plus button next to Lower Power Mode. This will allow you to turn on and off Low Power Mode within control center.

Find the Culprit

Also going into Settings > Battery will show you which apps are using how much battery. If you like stats and narrowing down which app is killing your battery, this is a fantastic tool. When you have an issue, you will know. If you pull up this setting and FaceBook is using 88% of your battery, it is safe to

say there is a problem with FaceBook. By taping the clock, to the right of “Last 7 Days”, it gives you a little bit more detail. It willshow you where the usage is being allocated. Recently, I had a weather app that was draining all of my battery and I wasn’t even using it. It was running in the background all of the time refreshing for the latest weather updates.

When you find out the culprit, close out that app my double clicking your home button(iPhone’s with home buttons), finding the app you want to close and swipe it up to kill it. iPhone X users will swipe up from the button left corner of the phone to enter multitasking mode and do the same.

Charge Frequently

Duh! This is an easy one. Just charge up your phone. A lot of folks still think you need to let your phone discharge to 0 before charing again. According to Apple, lithium-ion batteries do not work that way. Apple recommends to charge up whenever you can and frequently. Contrary to what most people think, this will not hurt your battery. When you’re in the car, at the office or over at a friends house and a charger is laying around, plug it in. This will help you out more than you know and you can rest easy knowing you are not hurting your battery.

Brightness & Auto Lock

This one usually slips under the radar. Have you ever thought that your display brightness could be killing your battery? Well, if you are that person at the movie theater that looks like a ball of sun when you unlock your phone, then yes it is probably draining your battery more than you thought. Not only does it help with your eyes but lowering it will save on those percentages.

To lower your display brightness:

Go to Settings>Display & Brightness and use the slider to adjust it to you or your battery’s liking. Also, by opening Control Center, you can raise or lower the brightness by sliding up or down on the “Sun” looking icon.

Auto-Lock is another one of those settings we don’t think about too much and honestly it can be downright annoying when your phone dims out after 30 seconds. But trust me, the less amount of time that screen is on, the better the battery life. If you have your Auto-Lock feature set at more than 2 minutes, I would take look at it and suggest lowering it to 1 minute or 30 seconds.

To change Auto Lock

Go to Settings > Display & Brightness > Auto-Lock then choose your desired auto-lock time for your screen to turn off. For iPhone X users, if your attention is on the phone, the phone will recognize that and not start dimming your screen until you stop looking at it.

*Bonus Tip* – To help you get some better sleep, within the Display & Brightness settings, tap on Nigh Shift. I have mine scheduled from sunset to sunrise. This will reduce the amount of blue light emitted from your phone and it may just help you sleep better. You are welcome!

Accessories

This may seem like a cheat category but at the end of the day, maybe you are just a power user and even with a perfect battery, it still dies. Fortunately there are companies that have built their entire business around people like you. The following are some accessories that I would recommend to keep you powering through your day.

The mophie battery cases have always been a go-to for me. The awesome part about a battery case is that it is already on your phone and don’t have to carry an extra device with you. If you search around Amazon for an iPhone battery case, you will find plenty and some that I have used. mophie is one of the few companies that has their battery case certified through the Made for Apple certification process. What this means is that it is compatible with your iPhone and will not damage the battery when used. Some of these other companies cases may work fine but long term effects on your battery are unknown.

The other accessory I would recommend is a power pack of some sort. These are little, or big, bricks that are external batteries. Most people will take these with them when they travel or women will keep these in their purses as an emergency backup. They are just very convenient to have and usually don’t have too much bulk. mophie has plenty of these to choose from but at a very expensive cost. You can find battery packs on Amazon for more than double the battery capacity for half the price of mophie. Again, look for the Made for iPhone symbol when shopping around.

Last Resorts

If you have used all of these tools, it might be time for a battery replacement or time to upgrade your phone.

Recently, after a lot of controversy, Apple has started offering battery replacements for a discounted rate. A few months back, Apple got caught slowing users phones down when their batteries were old. Apple did the right thing by slowing the phones down because if they didn’t, your phone would just shutoff in mid-use. What Apple didn’t do right is tell us. So after people came down hard on Apple for this practice, Apple offered their normal $79 battery replacements for $29. The phones that can take advantage of this are the iPhone 6, 6 Plus, SE, 7 and 7 Plus. Below is the process to get the ball rolling on that:

1. Call 1-800-My-Apple (1-800-692-7753)
2. Listen for the prompt about needing a new battery
3. Remotely, Apple will run a diagnostic on the phone to see the battery’s performance
4. They could come back on and say that it is fine, but be persistent and tell them you need a new battery
5. The time table could change for the worse or better but typical wait time to get a battery to an Apple Store is around 3 weeks. After it arrives at the Apple Store, you have 2 weeks to go into the store and have them replace the battery.
6. Come prepared, it will take about 3 hours in the store to get your battery replaced. 

This is where you have to make a decision. Is that $29 battery replacement worth it to you or should you just go upgrade your phone? Depending on your finances, that is a question only you can answer. Currently, we are in April and 6 months away from potentially new iPhones. If you have had this phone for a while, the iPhone 7, 8 and X are all great phones that I would recommend purchasing today.

As always, thank you for stopping by and please share this with your friends and family to help them with all of their battery troubles!

Follow us on twitter @iphoneteam

The Color Disappeared on your iPhone and How to Fix It!

The iPhone has so many settings that are great, but sometimes something goes awry and you have no idea how you caused it or how to even fix the problem.  Losing the color on your iPhone when it goes to grayscale screen is actually a really easy fix to get it back.

Solution #1 (Feeling Lucky?): First, try triple-clicking the home button (push it three times very fast).  For some of you, this will fix the issue right away.  This happens because you have “Grayscale chosen as an Accessibility shortcut.

Solution #2: Watch the Video.  Converting your iPhone to Grayscale may improve battery life.

Let us know if this worked in the comments below.

In just a few days, the pre-orders will begin for Apple’s premium device, the iPhone X (ten).  Some of you may be waiting on the iPhone X, some of you may be deciding between the X and the 8. I will give you a couple of reasons why you should buy the best iPhone, yet.

It’s New

The iPhone 8 and 8 Plus just came out last month but that is not what most people are waiting for.  They are waiting for the iPhone X. The first reason you should buy this phone is because it is new.  This is the first re-design of an iPhone in over 4 years. Since the iPhone 6, all of the iPhones have had the same 4″, 4.7″ and 5.5″ screens and form factor. While iOS has been spiced up a bit over the years, these iPhones are getting kind of boring and are in desperate need of an update.
With phones like the Essential phone and the Samsung Galaxy Note 8, Apple is falling behind when it comes to design.  Design was always Apple’s game and sadly they are losing.  I want to see Apple get back into the game and give their users a reason to get excited for an iPhone again.

Screen

The iPhone X is the first iPhone to get an OLED display. Granted, you don’t have to know what OLED means, but it is a noticeable difference from your current iPhone. Android users have had OLED screens for a while now and I am positive they will tell you that. Apple is usually late to the game when it comes to features like this but when Apple does something, they do it right. This is probably the top feature that I am looking forward to that will, more than like, get overlooked.

If you have been paying attention to the news recently, you may have heard of the delays plaguing the iPhone X. Well, this is in part due to the slow production of the OLED screens. Reportedly, the manufacturers of the screens cannot produce enough to meet the expected demand of the iPhone X. Some news outlets are saying you may not get an iPhone X until the middle of 2018.

Camera

The iPhone X will undoubtedly have the best camera that you will find on an iPhone.  The rear cameras will be very similar to the iPhone 8 Plus. That alone would be a reason to get this phone. But also, the selfie camera on the new iPhone is going to be something to pay attention to. Using the array of new sensors, you will now be able to take portrait mode selfies.  With portrait mode, it gives you that blur in the background that you will usually find in photos taken with high end DSLR cameras. If you are King or Queen of the selfies, you are going to be blown away by the pictures you are about to take with this thing.

Animoji

I was thinking about putting this under the camera section, but for some reason, I think Animoji is going to be popular, in time.  Animoji is going to be a new interactive emoji feature on the iPhone X.  Apple will be using the sensors and camera to detect your face and turn it into an animated emoji.
Personally, I don’t know that I will use it all that much but I do know people that will buy this phone for this specific feature.  If that is what sells phones, I cant knock Apple for that.

Face ID

Most of us have gotten well acquainted with Touch ID on our current devices. Apple introduced Touch ID with the iPhone 5s about five years ago.  With the iPhone X, Apple is introducing Face ID. This is supposedly going to be a more convenient way to unlock your phone and use Apple Pay. We are looking at the future standard of iPhones and it is looking at you.
I love Touch ID and like I mentioned earlier, Apple usually only releases features when they are ready.  I don’t think they would put this into the world without being 110% confident that it is ready and even more secure than Touch ID.  If it is any less secure, it will be a failure.  But I do have faith in Apple to do the right thing when it comes to privacy and technology advancements. Recent phones, like the Note 8 from Samsung, does have a facial recognition. That phone also can be spoofed by holding up a picture to the phone to unlock it.  Apple says that this will not happen with Face ID. Time will tell.
Another way Apple is making this better is that it will learn you over time.  If you are wearing a hat, make-up, growing a beard and using certain sun glasses, it will be able to know that it is you.  That is impressive.

Wireless Charging

Technically, the first wireless charging iPhone is the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus that was released in September.  The iPhone X is also picking up this feature.  Here is another feature that Android fans have had for years now.  In my opinion, Apple is going to make wireless charging popular. It will finally be the cool thing to have. Places like Starbucks already offers wireless charging spots at some of their locations and I am positive that is only going to grow now that the iPhones will support it.
Thankfully, Apple is using the QI standard when it comes to wireless charging.  I say thankfully because Apple likes to be that company that creates their own standards when it comes to these types of technologies.  Sticking with Qi, all of those wireless chargers that are already out on the market and work with QI technology, will work with the iPhone.

Will You Be Buying the iPhone X?

There are some factors to consider on whether or not you should buy the iPhone X. It was really tough for me to recommend the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus to owners of the iPhone 7’s. While the iPhone 8’s are fantastic phones and as of today, the best iPhones yet, the iPhone X is just hanging in the shadows ready to blow us away.

How much storage do you need?

The iPhone X comes in 64Gb and 256Gb storage options. Apple is smart when it comes to their storage tiers.  Last year, we had 32GB, 128Gb and 256GB. A lot of people moved up to the 128Gb because 32GB was just not enough. Well now, you are stuck in the middle. Most will not downgrade from 128GB to 64Gb but 256GB seems like overkill. If you are holding onto this phone for more than a year, this is one area I recommend paying the premium and going up to the next level of storage.

Can you wait until after the new year?

With all of the rumored production delays, if you aren’t one of the first couple of people within the first two minutes of pre-orders, there is a very good chance you won’t be receiving your iPhone X until early 2018. If your phone is just hanging on, and need a phone sooner than that, you may want to consider upgrading to the iPhone 8.
*Pro tip – When pre-ordering, use the Apple Store app when placing your order. You usually get through a couple seconds, or sometimes even minutes, earlier than Apple.com.

Can you afford it?

The rumors that this iPhone was going to cross that $1000 threshold have been running rampant for quite a while now.  I said I would have no problem spending that much money on a device I use pretty much all day long. Now that it is about time to order, that is a very tough decision to make. A decision that only you can make.  The way I justify it is to think about your current computer. It is easy to spend $1500 on a MacBook that you may spend less than half the amount of time you spend on your iPhone. If you find enough value in an iPhone to spend $1000 on one, then I think you have answered that question.
iPhone X – Preorder October 27th and available November 3rd.
Let us know in the comments or on twitter if you are getting the iPhone X and if so, which color and storage option you are opting for.
Images courtesy of Apple.com and mophie.com

In typical Apple fashion, they know how to tug at our heart strings. Apple opened up their fall event on their new corporate campus at the Steve Jobs Theater. Co-founder, Steve Jobs, who passed away from pancreatic cancer in 2011, played a massive role in shaping where Apple is today.  Apple played an intro video showcasing the new theater and Apple’s current CEO, Tim Cook, had some touching words to say about his predecessor, to start the morning.
What did we get today?

Apple Watch

Apple introduced the Apple Watch Series 3 today.  The new iteration now has cellular capabilities.  What does that mean, you ask? It simply means that you do not need your phone nearby to receive your notifications such as making phone calls or sending and receiving text messages.

While watches like this already exist, this is Apple’s first attempt at a cellular connected watch.
The Series 3 Apple Watch starts at $329 without cellular and $399 with the cellular connectivity.  Prices through cell carriers have yet to be announced.
Pre-orders start on 9/15 and the official release date is 9/22.

Apple TV

Second up in todays event was the Apple TV 4K. Fantastic name right?
The Apple TV 4K, now allows you to watch 4K video on your 4K television.  This has been rumored for quite some time and it was only a matter of time until it came to fruition.
The great thing about this launch is that any movie that you may have purchased through iTunes, in HD, will automatically be upgraded to the 4K version for free. I am glad Apple is doing this for its users.
The Apple TV now starts at $149 for the non-4K version and $179/$199 for the 32GB/64GB models in the 4K versions.
Pre-orders start on 9/15 and the official release date is 9/22.
Waiting for the iPhone new, aren’t ya? Well…here we go!

iPhone

iPhone 8/8Plus

Or should we call these the iPhone 7s?  Essentially the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus are right where the iPhone 7s would of fallen if Apple would of stuck to their normal naming scheme.

What is new?
The new iPhone 8 comes with Apple’s new A11 Bionic chipset. Apple says that the new A11 Bionic chip is around 70 percent faster than last year’s A10 chip found in the iPhone 7.  I scoffed at the Bionic tag on the end of the name but if it is 70 percent faster, I will let it slide.
The camera on the iPhone 8 has gotten small improvements. According to Apple, the smaller 4.7″ iPhone 8’s camera has a larger and faster sensor, a new color filter, deeper pixels and optical image stabilization for both videos and photos.
The iPhone 8 Plus camera has enhanced the ability of that dual camera system from the iPhone 7 Plus. When taking a picture using the 8 Plus’s portrait mode feature you can create different lighting effects in low light situations.  Low light is where the iPhone 7 Plus’s portrait mode still lacks. So that is a really great feature to see.
The iPhone 8 looks very much the same as last years devices. Except for the material on the back. The iPhone 8 now has a glass back.  Why does it have a glass back? I will get to that in a bit. The new phones come in three colors, silver, space grey and a new gold color. Thankfully, Apple has kept the water and dust resistance in this years phones.

A couple of years ago, Apple introduced a True Tone display on the iPad Pro. I am not sure what has taken so long for the iPhones to get this display but the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus will incorporate this feature. The True Tone display allows the colors on the screen to reflect more naturally and will adapt depending on the lighting that you are currently in. It is a feature that I love on the iPad Pro and I welcome it with open arms with these new iPhones.
Ok, remember that glass back I told you about? The iPhone 8 will FINALLY allow us to charge our phones wirelessly.  Wireless charging is one of those features that Android users will rub in your face all day long. I am so happy to see this on an Apple device. I always said I could do without but I do know a lot of Android users that rely on wireless charging quite a bit.  Fortunately, Apple is using the most common wireless standard, QI (pronounced Chi), in their first attempt into this field.
The iPhone 8 will start at $699 for 64GB of storage and $849 for 256GB of storage.
Pre-orders for these devices start on 9/15 and the official release date is 9/22.
So, you want One More Thing?

iPhone X

Say hello to the iPhone X (pronounced “ten”).

The iPhone X is Apple’s new 5.8″, close to all screen, premier iPhone.  This near $1,000 phone has been  rumored for almost two years. Not only does it look different than the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus, there is a completely new way of using portions of the software.
One of the standout features is the 5.8″ OLED screen. OLED stands for organic light-emitting diode, or in Apple’s terms, Super Retina. This is the first iPhone that has an OLED screen. As with wireless charging, Android users have been throwing this at Apple users face, for years. I don’t blame them either, this is one feature Apple should of had on their iPhones AT LEAST two years ago.  Regardless, I am glad that one of this years iPhones received a superior quality screen.  One of the differences you will notice about an OLED screen versus the LCD screens on older phones, is about how black, black can be. It sounds silly, but its one of those things you have to see with your own eyes.

You will notice a little notch cut-out at the top of the iPhone X.  This is where Apple hides a variety of sensors.  As you may notice, there is not home button on this phone. In place of Touch ID, you can now unlock the device through your face using Face ID.  Face ID uses sensors and multiple cameras on the front to successfully unlock the device.  Apple has put Face ID through rigorous tests to make sure that it cannot be fooled by a picture of someone.  During the keynote, Apple showed how they used masks to try to trick Face ID and they could not.  Face ID will be the new way to unlock the device and authenticate Apple Pay. Goodbye home button and Touch ID.
Speaking of losing the home button, iOS 11 will run a bit differently on the iPhone X. To get out of an app, you simply swipe up from the bottom of the screen and it will take you to the home screen.  To summon Siri, all you have to do is press and hold the lock button or say “Hey Siri”.
A feature that was rumored that I didn’t think I would care too much about was, Animoji. Animoji’s use the cameras and sensors on the front of the phone and map your face into an animated emoji.  You have the choice of 12 different Animojis to choose from to share within messages.
The cameras on the iPhone X are even more impressive than that of the iPhone 8 Plus.  You can now use Portrait Mode using the front facing cameras. These will most definitley take your selfies to the next level.

The rest of the phone is similar to the iPhone 8. It supports wireless charging, it has the A11 Bionic chip and it is water and dust resistant.
Overall, this is an amazing machine.  We will have to see how this device holds up after we get some hands on with it next month.  If it is anything like any other Apple product, we will be getting a fantastic device with the iPhone X.
Pre-orders for the iPhone X start on 10/27 with the official release date on 11/3.
The iPhone X 64 GB model starts at $999 and the 256 GB model starts at $1,149.

The Rest

Apple also announced a wireless charging pad called the AirPower mat, that will be released sometime in 2018.
There was no mention of the Apple HomePod that we first got a glimpse at at WWDC earlier in the spring.
I would like to say that there were some surprises today but honestly, everything that was announced was leaked prior to today’s announcement. I feel bad for Apple’s team that has worked so hard to keep these products secret over time and even over years. This is the moment where all of their hard work goes out into the world and it is a shame that it gets out before it is supposed to.
I will be curious to see how the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus perform over the next year.  I am a little underwhelmed by them both. Without an iPhone X, this is what the next iPhones would of looked like.  But in reality, the iPhone X IS the next iPhone.
Keep checking back as we will keep you updated on the latest iPhone and Apple news. Also, look forward to some reviews as these new devices enter the wild! As usual, thank you for stopping by.
All images courtesy of Apple.com

What to Expect from the 2017 iPhone

What does Apple have in store for us for the new iPhone coming out September 2017?  We do not want to put a title on the unreleased iPhone that we should be receiving in September.  Names thrown around include the iPhone Pro, iPhone X and the most popular and probably the best guess, iPhone 8. Our vote is going for iPhone Pro.  We think it fits into Apple’s current lineup of iPad’s and Mac’s.  As for the 7s and 7s Plus, we like what John Gruber is going with and saying that the replacements will be called iPhone and iPhone Plus.  Having a 7s and an 8 version of iPhones this year just doesn’t sound right to me.
Per usual, as we are a month away from the release, the rumors have really ramped up.  We have a really good idea what this flagship device from Apple is going to look like.

No Home Button

At this point we don’t expect to have a physical home button. We will probably get a software home button similar to this years Samsung Galaxy S8.  Being that there will probably not be a physical home button, we may have to say goodbye to TouchID and welcome FaceID.  FaceID is purported to be Apple’s new face detection feature.  According to recent leaks, FaceID is going to be the primary unlock feature of this years iPhone. While not entirely secure, we love the convenience of TouchID and will be very disappointed if we lost that this year.  If Apple can make FaceID as successful and more secure than TouchID then sign us up.
This new iPhone should have an OLED screen. We will finally be on the same level as the Samsung and other Android phones that have had these amazing screens for years.  While on the topic of the screen, we should expect Apple to take notes from a lot of other phones and go completely “bezel-less” with the exception of a small bar at the top for multiple sensors.

(Image courtesy of @VenyaGeskin1)

New iPhone 2017 Smaller Size?

We are excited for the rumored size of this device.  This iteration of the iPhone should fall between the normal 4.7″ iPhone 7 and the massive 5.5″ iPhone 7 Plus.  I currently have the Plus and hate the size of it.  We want a smaller phone but are not willing to sacrifice a better battery or better camera for it.  We don’t expect the battery to be as good as the Plus sized phone but it better have the same, if not better, camera system that we can find in the iPhone 7 Plus.
Also according to these rumors, this iPhone should have a glass back to FINALLY allow wireless charging.  We could not care less about wireless charging but know plenty of people who rely on it on their Android devices.  So it will be a welcomed new feature.  Do you care about wireless charging? Let us know below.

(Image courtesy of @VenyaGeskin1)

Inside a 2017 iPhone (iPhone 8?)

The insides will be upgraded to Apple’s latest and greatest processor. Assuming they stick to their normal naming routine this should be the A11 chip.  Obviously, this will make it faster than the 7 series of phones but also should help power the augmented reality content that Apple teased us with at this years World Wide Developer Conference.  As far as guts, in general, we expect a better battery, better camera and fast device.  That is just a given at this point.
So how about the rumored 7s and 7s Plus?  We believe these devices will look exactly the same as the 7 and 7 Plus as the s series is an incremental update and we do expect these devices to have wireless charging and a bump in processor speed.  We would also love to see the smaller iPhone 7s receive the dual camera that the Plus model offers as the images are so incredible.

2017 iPhone Pricing

Price is pretty important and they are only getting more expensive.  Back in July, Business Insider said that the new iPhone will cost more than $1,000.  This is not an out of this world number considering the most expensive iPhone you can buy right now is $970, before tax.
Of course, these are all rumors and we don’t have too much longer to wait and see what is really coming. What would you all like to see in these new iPhones? What do you think the new iPhone is going to be called? I look forward to hearing your responses.
Feel free to share with your friends that would find this interesting!
As always, thank you for stopping by.
Featured Image courtesy: Mark Weidlich Beehance

We love our iPhone and we can’t imagine life without it. While some of us are new to iOS, most of us have had many different iPhones over the years. We think we know the smartest, most efficient way to use our iPhone…but do we really? A quick iPhoneteam survey reveals how a vast majority of you (85%) are still typing out your text messages on the keyboard. As we all know (especially those of us with larger thumbs), many mistakes are made when typing on the tiny keyboard. There is a better, faster way to text and to use your iPhone better and smarter than you do now.

Here are 8 Tips to Use Your iPhone Better

1. Location Based Reminders and Time Based Reminders via Siri

We all lead busy lives and we are constantly on the move. It’s no wonder that we often forget to do something given a specific time or location. For example, I am often asked to pick up something from the store on my way home from work. How would you handle this request? Would you write it down on a tiny sticky note? Would you put an “X” on your hand (yes, I used to do this)? Do you simply try and remember…and sometimes forget?
Using Siri Location Based Reminders: “Hey Siri, Remind me to pick up the milk and cookies when I leave the office.” The last part that is underlined tells the Reminders app to alert you when you exit a certain location. When you get in your car and drive a little ways from the office, the alert will pop-up. Another great example of this is to set an alert when you arrive home like “Hey Siri, remind me to write the check for the mortgage, when I get home.”
Using Siri Time Based Reminders: Some people get in the car and put their phones away (though I’m not sure why). So for the first example above, let’s say you always leave work at 5:30p. Then you could set a time reminder saying, “Hey Siri, remind me to pick up the milk and cookies at 5:29 PM.” I use time based reminders all the time to remember to pick up my kid at school at a certain time. It’s not that I’d forget to pick her up, it’s just that I may get immersed in something at work and lose track of time so this is a quick and simple reminder.
Side note: If your iPhone does not yet recognize your “home”, “school”, or “office” address, it may ask you to set those up with a simple step-by-step process.

2. Voice to Text Dictation

85% of iPhone users still primarily type to send text messages. Now we get that sometimes other people are around and you want the contents to be private. That aside, way more of us should be using voice to text or simply audio texts in iMessage. If you have never used dictation on your iPhone, you are missing out. This is one of the biggest time savers and conveniences of an iPhone. Say you only have one hand to text and it is extremely difficult for you to text with one hand. You can pull up your message and tap the tiny microphone that is to the left of your spacebar.

This will bring up a Siri-like interaction instead of the keyboard.

From there, just speak out loud what you want to say to whoever you are messaging. You do need to speak your punctuation. For example, “Do you want to go to the game tonight question mark” would come out to be “Do you want to go to the game tonight?”. After that, you just press done and hit send. Voice to text dictation is especially good for longer text messages. Once you use this, you will wonder why you haven’t been doing so for years.
It is very straight-forward and easy to use.
Side note: If you do not see a microphone icon beside your keyboard, go to Settings > General > Keyboard >Enable Dictation – Switch on.

3. Text Replacement/Shortcuts

If you are guilty of typing out a long phrase over and over that can get annoying. Let’s imagine you work for a school, West Mountain Community College. That would get old quick, typing that out day after day. So let’s make this simpler and make a shortcut for it.
Go to Settings > General > Keyboard > Text Replacement

Next, click the + symbol at the top right of the screen.
Now we will type in what we want the phrase to be. In this example, we will use the prestigious West Mountain Community College.
Below that we type in what we want the shortcut to be. We will type in wmcc. Then click Save at the top right.

Now, every time you type wmcc, it will change it to West Mountain Community College. Fairly convenient, huh? Think of all the phrases you type in regularly like your address so someone can get to your house. Never again.
Bonus Tip for Businesses: Are you on the road a lot and have to field similar questions over and over? Maybe your handle a lead form email or you are in support and you have often explain the same thing over and over. You can create a multi-paragraph phrase and create a simple shortcut then tweak and personalize as necessary.

4. Quick Camera Access

So we all have that one friend, family member (looking at you Mom) or maybe it is you, who pulls out their phone, enters their passcode, locates the camera app then takes a picture. That works. I get it, that’s how we did it for years. Well, I am here to tell you, Apple makes this so much easier so that you don’t miss that perfect photo opportunity.
From the lock screen, did you know you can simply swipe left (I know all you Tinder junkies know about this) and BOOM you are in your camera? Yes, that is a thing.
Also, if you are on your lock screen or even if the phone is unlocked, you can swipe up from the bottom of the phone to pull up Control Center. From there, you have a camera icon at the bottom right. I know more people know this one but the swipe left is mind blowing:)

5. Do Not Disturb

I can’t tell you how many times I wake up in the middle of the night from a notification that I truly do not care about at 2:35 a.m. It is my own fault. If you are not using Do Not Disturb, you should be.
Let’s go into Settings > Do Not Disturb.

From here we can enable Do Not Disturb. What this will do is silence all notifications while your phone is locked or always if you choose that option. Your notifications will still come through to your device, you will just not hear a ringtone or get a vibration.
I know what you are thinking, what if you are worried about missing a call from your significant other while they are away on a trip in case of an emergency. Within the Do Not Disturb settings you can go down to Allow Calls From and choose who you want to be alerted when calling.
Also, the scheduled setting is excellent. If you go to bed and wake up around the same time every day, simply turn Do Not Disturb on from bedtime to whatever time you wake up.
Once your settings are set how you want them to be, you can now turn it on quickly by swiping up from the bottom of your screen and clicking the crescent moon icon from Control Center.
Side note: If you have not been receiving notifications and don’t know why check to see if you have that crescent moon icon at the top of your screen. This inadvertently gets turned on a lot. Switch it off by swiping up from the bottom of the screen and clicking that crescent moon icon.

6. Quickly Select Photos

If you let your kids play with your phone and especially the camera, I am sure you have hundreds of photos of the ground, feet, nostrils and who knows what else. Or if you yourself just like to take tons of pictures to capture the perfect moment this is for you.
Go into your Photos app on your iPhone. Click on your favorite album. Now, click Select at the top right. From here, you can simply tap a photo and lightly drag your finger any direction to select more. This is very handy if you want to do a massive delete or select multiple photos to send to some friends.

7. Have Siri Read Your Texts to You

If you aren’t in a position to read your unread texts you can summon Siri to do it for you. Simply say, “Hey Siri “Read my texts”. Siri will then ask if you want your messages read to you. This is a nice little trick and gives you a whole new outlook on “hands-free”.

8. Low Power Mode

We all have been there, your iPhone battery is getting close to 20% and you didn’t bring your charger. Or you totally forgot to charge it the night before.
Thankfully, there is a battery saving feature called Low Power Mode. When your phone reaches 20% you will get a notification asking if you want to turn Low Power Mode on. You can also go into Settings > Battery to turn this on.

Low Power Mode will limit animations, the amount of time your email looks for new mail, location based services, auto-lock shut time, background refresh rate and many other small things to help you get the most out of your battery. Overall, it is just a beneficial tool to have at your fingertips. An even faster way to activate low power mode is through Siri. “Hey Siri, Low Power Mode On”.
There you have it, a couple of tips that will let you use your iPhone a bit more efficiently. If you learned something new or have a favorite tip, let us know in the comments below or on twitter @iphoneteam.

This year, the beloved iPhone turns eight years old. In other words, we have spent almost a decade following the news of imminent releases and important updates, counting the days until the next jailbreak announcement, and showing off to friends not lucky enough to get their hands on the newest models. It might sound trite but many of us share a very close relationship with our iPhones. They keep us in touch with friends, answer the mysteries that we ponder, protect our personal secrets, and pretty much make just about anything possible, anywhere, at any time.

It is no wonder than that we often take the iPhone and all of its many thousands of features for granted sometimes. This all knowing and all seeing device has become such a constant presence in our lives that the help which it provides is now similarly invisible. For example, we are all still so enamored by the ‘personality OS’ (Siri, Cortana, etc.) that we never give any thought to simpler things like the fact that an iPhone can store a huge amount of contact names and numbers.

It might not be a very exciting prospect or provoke as much curiosity as a thumbprint scanner, but it is precisely the kind of iPhone feature which streamlines our daily lives and allows us to spend minutes on tasks which would have taken hours in the past. This strange form of ennui is actually a natural part of our increasing obsession with technology and it is something which we will see a lot more of in the future. For now though, it is worth getting back in touch with those iPhone features which we tend to ignore in favor of shinier things.

This guide to the 8 greatest iPhone features that we now take for granted will help you to remember why the Apple invention has managed to stand the test of time.

Step By Step GPS Directions
It is easy to forget how tricky navigating in a new environment used to be before step by step GPS directions were a standard tool on the iPhone. The majority of us would have to resort to a resource like MapQuest, but this meant taking the time to find and print out a list of directions. In 2009, of course, Google Maps was introduced for the first time and it was closely followed by Apple Maps in 2012. Whilst Apple Maps did run into a lot of problems initially, it is still used by lots of iPhone owners.

Cameras and Video Recording
We live in a society which is dominated by instant news and images. These days, we are all unofficial members of the paparazzi, because our iPhones give us the power to snap photographs of everyone, everything, and everywhere that we see. Yet, can you remember the days when a camera was thought of as a real luxury on a smartphone device? Fortunately, technological innovations have allowed us to start taking brighter and clearer images and videos, as opposed to grainy snapshots which miss out most of the action.

SMS Text Messaging
It could be argued that text messaging is the feature which has had the biggest impact on telecommunications, particularly in consideration of the fact that it remains one of the most popular methods of interaction. It is perhaps surprising to realize that the fundamental format of text messaging has not changed very much at all. The difference is that developing organization structures and formats have made it much easier to track, follow, edit, record, and store text exchanges.

24 Hour Email Access
You only have to think about how frustrating it would be to not have constant access to your emails to understand why this feature should not be taken for granted. Whilst it can be handy to enjoy a certain degree of separation from work correspondence, for example, there will always be times when it is more useful to be able to log into your account and fire off a missive within minutes. This is even more useful if you can do it from the train, the coffee shop, at the dinner table, or anywhere else that you happen to be at the time.

Safari Web Browsing
In the days before the first iPhone was released, browsing the internet on a mobile device was a fussy, complex, and time consuming process – even tools like the Blackberry web browser tended to be too slow to make surfing the net an enjoyable experience. These days, web browsing is a lot more efficient and fulfilling because tools like Safari mean that every movement and action is made instantly. It is now possible to use software such as Flash to make sure that users can take advantage of a comprehensive desktop like browsing system.

Wi-Fi Connectivity
For all of those people who have opted for a fancy 4G LTE iPhone, with sophisticated features and all of the modern bells and whistles, it will be all too obvious how much of a strain they can put on the battery life. With the widespread prevalence of 4G internet connectivity now the norm, we have pretty much forgotten that a Wi-Fi connection can be utilized instead.

4G Data Speeds
Thus, we come around to the wonders of 4G data speeds. It is perfect evidence of how fast technology moves to listen to all of the complaints online about the sluggishness of 4G. In other words, it has barely begun to change the way in which we surf the net and consumers are already looking ahead to the next big development. The same exact thing occurred shortly after 3G data speeds were introduced, because once we have gotten used to a particular feature, it ceases to feel innovative. Yet, when compared with previous EDGE speeds, 4G data works very efficiently indeed.

Apple App Store
The clichéd cry of ‘I know an app for that…’ has become a clarion call for iPhone users everywhere. There are now millions of apps available on the Apple app store, all fully accessible and easy to download in a matter of minutes. From the most basic of tools like calculators and thesauruses to the most advanced photo editing programs, games, and features, there really is an app for everything these days. Whilst the very first apps were hardly more than rough complements for a stock system, now your iPhone can be used as a gateway to a very big world.

Learning To Appreciate Your iPhone
It is clear to see that a lot has changed since the conception and release of the first iPhone eight years ago. For a start, feature based devices have now made way for much more sophisticated and responsive smartphones. It is this rapid pace of change which has caused us to lose touch with the tools and features which once thrilled and intrigued us. Yet, it takes nothing more than a willingness to step back and enjoy the simple things to really start appreciating all that your iPhone is capable of offering you.

Introducing Sheep for iPhone

Welcome to the Farm!! The key to winning the game of Sheep is to Follow the Flock, as the most popular answers earn the most points. Sheep is a question and answer game, where the questions are proposed to all the Sheep on the farm in each game and scored based on how many Sheepsters answer the same. Questions are general in nature and can be answered by anyone. No geniuses needed here to win. Remember the best answer may not be your preference but rather the preference of the entire farm.
Use Sheep Coins to increase points on the answers you think you are best. Invite your friends…Sheep is much more fun when you can see the answers of your friends, family and co-workers!! Once you have submitted your answers, sit back and relax as the results will be revealed one question at a time. Make sure you have Push Notifications turned on so you don’t miss a reveal. Are you ready to join the farm? Are you ready to be crowned King or Queen Sheep?

Sheep Video Tutorial

Quite simply, Sheep is the most fun crowd sourcing game there is. Sheep will be available before Christmas 2014 on the App Store.

FEATURES –
– FREE TO PLAY
– Spend 5 Sheep Coins every game to enhance your chance to win
– Tag your friends to create your own flock
– Dual Leaderboards (one for your flock and one for the whole farm)
– Earn skins by finishing in the top 50%
– Special categorized games
– Wool Of Fame – ranking all sheep and your flock by total points earned and total skins earned (resets monthly)
– Each game consists of 5 rounds 4 questions each and a 6th round bonus question
– Images outlining every answer in every reveal
– Video tutorial showing you how to play
– Ability to submit your own questions for future games
– Ability to view your history of games completed

Feedback and Help

If you have feedback or a question post them in the comments below or fill out this handy form and we’ll get back to you.