Make Your iPhone Do All Your Talking for You on Calls and in Person

Make Your iPhone Do All Your Talking for You on Calls and in Person

blognet   Thursday, June 05, 2025   Comment  

When you don't feel like talking, let your iPhone do all the work. Yes, your iPhone can speak for you, and it works over phone calls and FaceTime calls. It will even work its magic over your iPhone's speaker for in-person conversations. While Apple created this feature to support people who are unable to speak and people who have lost or are losing their speech abilities, anyone can use it. Have a sore throat during a cold? Make your iPhone do your talking. Need to save your singing voice? Get your iPhone to speak your words. Better at writing than vocal communication? Yep, have your iPhone say what you want out loud. What's even more impressive about this text-to-speech feature is that you can have your iPhone use your real voice instead of having to use one of Siri's default computer-generated voices. Here's how it all works: Enable Live SpeechOn your iPhone running iOS 17 or later, head to Settings » Accessibility » Live Speech, then toggle on the "Live Speech" switch to make it...more

The Hidden iPhone Settings That Give You Power User Control Over All Your Apps

The Hidden iPhone Settings That Give You Power User Control Over All Your Apps

blognet   Wednesday, June 04, 2025   Comment  

Imagine your iPhone adapting to each app you open — text that's always the right size, buttons you can spot at a glance, and a steady cursor that never blinks — all without touching your system-wide settings. It sounds like magic, but it's all thanks to a tucked-away feature. With Per-App Settings (introduced in iOS 15), you avoid the one-size-fits-all trap: Mail can have larger text while Instagram can stay at standard size. You can get cross-fading transitions in the Notes app while preventing your Home Screen and App Switcher from getting crazy slow. And you can boost contrast in a photo editor without affecting your widgets or Lock Screen. In iOS 18, you get two updates: hidden apps aren't left out in the cold, and you can fine-tune the cursor's blinking behavior in every text-enabled app. Below, you'll learn how to add visible and hidden apps to Per-App Settings, tweak every available preference — including the new cursor controls — and remove apps when you want to revert to...more

Turn Your iPhone into a Portable Power Bank — Everything You Need to Know About Reverse Charging

Turn Your iPhone into a Portable Power Bank — Everything You Need to Know About Reverse Charging

blognet   Tuesday, June 03, 2025   Comment  

You're probably walking around with a portable power bank in your pocket and don't even realize it. Yes, that iPhone of yours doubles as a quick-charge station for all your other pocket-sized gadgets. But it's important to understand precisely how this feature works, including its limitations, the devices you can charge, and how effectively it does the job. Now, you won't get blazing-fast quick-charge speeds with your compact iPhone power station, but it's more than enough to revive dead headphones while traveling or give your Apple Watch a quick energy boost if it's nearing shutdown. And if your iPhone starts running out of battery — because it inevitably will — you can even use your iPad (if you have one) to breathe extra life into it. Or, you know, just juice it up the old-fashioned way via your Mac, a wall outlet, a wireless charger, a snap-on battery pack, or even your iPad. To avoid completely draining your iPhone's battery for the rest of the day, here's everything you need to...more

The Most Important Photos App Feature You Should Be Using on Your iPhone or iPad

The Most Important Photos App Feature You Should Be Using on Your iPhone or iPad

blognet   Thursday, May 29, 2025   Comment  

Your iPhone has a powerful feature that can keep your secrets hidden from other people. With it, you'll never have to worry about sharing or showing someone something embarrassing or incriminating ever again. No matter who you are, you likely use your iPhone's Photos app a lot since anything you take a picture or video of using the stock Camera app — and many other camera apps — lands there. And the chances that you have an image or video you don't want anyone ever to see are high. It could be evidence to implicate you in cheating or lying, pictures of your feces to show your doctor, unedited or sexualized selfies, screenshots of login credentials or tax documents, spy pics, saved nude sexts, or practically anything else you'd like to remain for your eyes only. Since it's easy to accidentally include one of your for-you-only photos or videos when sharing an album with iCloud friends, texting a group of images, AirPlaying a slideshow, viewing your Photos widget on the Home Screen or...more

Add More Domain Extensions to Your iPhone's Keyboard Shortcut to Type Email Addresses or Website URLs Faster

Add More Domain Extensions to Your iPhone's Keyboard Shortcut to Type Email Addresses or Website URLs Faster

blognet   Thursday, May 22, 2025   Comment  

When typing an email or website address in a compatible input field on an iPhone, most people will manually type in the domain extension. But there's a much faster way to enter domain suffixes for email addresses and website URLs that you should be using on your keyboard. Even better, there's a way to customize what domain extensions appear in the keyboard shortcut. Domain extensions or suffixes, officially known as top-level domains (TLDs), are the last part of an email or web address, following the root domain, and they begin with a dot. I'm sure you all know about .com and other popular TLDs like .edu, .gov, .net, .co.uk, and .org. Here are a few examples: gadgethacks.com gthx.app test@gadgethacks.com Typing domain extensions fasterThere's a hidden keyboard shortcut on your iPhone or iPad that allows you to type TLDs more quickly. To use it, simply touch and hold (or long press) the period (.) key on your keyboard, keep your finger on the screen, and then slide your finger to a TLD...more

Unlock Jedi-Level Star Wars Emoji and Stickers in iPhone Chats

Unlock Jedi-Level Star Wars Emoji and Stickers in iPhone Chats

blognet   Wednesday, April 30, 2025   Comment  

Even if you don't know a gundark from a gonk droid, you can still sling Baby Yoda stickers and lightsaber emoji like a seasoned Jedi Master. And if you happen to be reading on May 4, may the 4th be with you. Seasoned denizens of the galaxy far, far away have been trading ASCII X‑wings since dial‑up. Today, iOS gives us far cleaner weapons: Disney‑licensed sticker packs, emoji‑like cutouts you can lift straight from Photos, and a few other sneaky Force tricks. This guide walks through every reliable method — explaining lore along the way so casual fans don't feel like they've wandered into the Mos Eisley cantina unarmed. All these holocron-grade tricks live in Messages, but any app that handles emoji and stickers can decode them. And while the walkthrough uses an iPhone, every method works just as slickly on an iPad — no Jedi temple access required. Raid the free sticker vault in Disney's Star Wars appThink of the official Star Wars app as a...more

Unlock Your iPhone's Many Hidden Text-to-Speech Features to Make It Read Virtually Any On-Screen Content

Unlock Your iPhone's Many Hidden Text-to-Speech Features to Make It Read Virtually Any On-Screen Content

blognet   Wednesday, April 23, 2025   Comment  

Speech-to-text technology can be seen on your iPhone in various places, from the Dictation tool to Apple's new behind-the-scenes, auto-created transcripts for podcast episodes. Your iPhone also has some pretty impressive text-to-speech capabilities. With them, your iPhone can read webpages, documents, or whatever text is on the screen out loud to you — only some of these tools aren't easy to find. Sure, you can listen to free audio stories in Apple News or subscribe to hear audio versions of select News+ stories. And there are plenty of audiobooks available in the Books app. And you can use third-party apps to read pretty much anything that you need, likely at a price. Some apps even work in Messages, so you can dictate in your own language and spit text out in a different one. There's a shortcut that can even help you with that. Or you can use the Translate app to speak entered or translated text. Don't Miss: Make Siri Say Whatever You Want Every Time You Connect Your iPhone to a...more

Quickly Launch Your Favorite Messages Chats from Anywhere on Your iPhone

Quickly Launch Your Favorite Messages Chats from Anywhere on Your iPhone

blognet   Monday, April 14, 2025   Comment  

Your iPhone can already send messages with your voice, reply with a tap, and suggest words while you type. Now, with iOS 18.4, it can instantly launch a specific conversation from virtually anywhere on your device. Thanks to a new action in the Shortcuts app, you're just one tap (or Back Tap) away from texting your favorite contact. Apple introduced the new Open Conversation action in iOS 18.4, and it's also backward compatible with at least iOS 18.3.1. Whether you're setting it up for speed, accessibility, or just pure convenience, it's one of the most useful Shortcuts updates in recent memory. Here's how to create a shortcut that launches your most-used Messages threads — and how to run it from your Home Screen, Lock Screen, Action button, Back Tap, Control Center, or anywhere else Shortcuts can live. This is the most basic shortcut you can create, but you can add to it to create even more useful workflows. RequirementsiPhone or iPad running iOS 18.4 or iPadOS 18.4 or later...more

iOS 18.5 Hints at 5G Advanced Support, but Hardware Readiness Is Unclear

iOS 18.5 Hints at 5G Advanced Support, but Hardware Readiness Is Unclear

blognet   Monday, April 07, 2025   Comment  

Apple's first iOS 18.5 beta has introduced a new localization string that suggests the company is preparing support for "5G Advanced," the next evolution of cellular technology. Specifically, the beta includes a new "status.network.5ga" = "5G Advanced" string, which could point to upcoming system-level support for showing a 5G Advanced label in the iPhone status bar or settings. Joining that string are ones for 5G, 5G+, 5G Evolution (E), 5G Ultra Capacity (UC), 5G Ultra Wideband (UW), LTE, 4G, 3G, Edge (E), and GPRS (G), all supported on iPhone already with their own status bar icons. It hints that Apple is preparing to support 5G Advanced (5G-A) cellular technology based on 3GPP Release 18 standards in a future software or hardware update. What is 5G Advanced?5G Advanced (3GPP Release 18), often described as 5.5G, introduces smarter and more adaptable network capabilities. With support for features like AI-based network optimization, ultra-low latency, and improved location accuracy,...more

iOS 18.5 Brings Small but Smart Upgrades to iPhone — Here's What's New

iOS 18.5 Brings Small but Smart Upgrades to iPhone — Here's What's New

blognet   Thursday, April 03, 2025   Comment  

Apple's iOS 18.5 update may be lighter on headline features than its predecessor, but it still brings a few quality-of-life upgrades and behind-the-scenes enhancements that make using your iPhone just a bit smoother. It's a smaller release, but if you dig into the details, you'll find thoughtful refinements across core apps and settings that help simplify tasks and give you more control. From quick access settings in Mail to faster recovery options in Photos, iOS 18.5 trims a few extra steps from your daily workflow. AppleCare & Warranty details have also been reorganized, and the Back Tap detection banner returns after disappearing in iOS 18.4. Plus, Apple Wallet may soon support digital car keys for another vehicle brand. While the long-promised Apple Intelligence-powered Siri experience is still absent, iOS 18.5 continues laying the groundwork with subtle under-the-hood changes. And as usual, many of these features may also appear in iPadOS 18.5 for iPads. Here's a full look at...more

28 Safari Gestures Every iPhone User Should Know for Faster Browsing

28 Safari Gestures Every iPhone User Should Know for Faster Browsing

blognet   Thursday, March 27, 2025   Comment  

Safari on iOS is more powerful than it looks, especially when you know the hidden gestures that can make your browsing faster and more productive. These shortcuts quietly transform how you navigate the web, manage tabs, and share content across devices. Once you know them all, you'll wonder how you ever lived without them. Many of these gestures work seamlessly across the Apple ecosystem. While some are optimized for touchscreens, like drag-and-drop tab management or swipe gestures, others, such as organizing and sharing links, work just as well on a desktop. Whether you're juggling work and personal tasks across devices, these tricks will help you navigate more efficiently. Don't Miss: Safari on iPhone Finally Lets You Check a Site's Security — Here's How to Verify SSL/TLS Certificates Navigation gesturesSwipe left or right on the address bar to switch tabsWhen multitasking between multiple tabs, switching can be a hassle if you're constantly opening the tab overview. Instead, simply...more

How to Stop Safari from Revealing Your Recent Searches on iPhone

How to Stop Safari from Revealing Your Recent Searches on iPhone

blognet   Monday, March 24, 2025   Comment  

Safari on iOS just got a little nosier — and it could unintentionally expose more than you'd like. With Apple's latest update, your recent searches appear front and center whenever you open a new tab or tap into the address bar. In iOS 18.4, Safari automatically shows a list of your recent search queries when you perform a query from an empty search field. While it can be useful for picking up where you left off, it also creates a small but notable privacy issue. If someone else grabs your iPhone — even momentarily — they could see what you've been looking up in regular non-private browsing sessions. Thankfully, you can clear the list quickly or shut the feature off for good. This behavior shows up most clearly when you open a new tab to the start page and tap the address bar, but it's not limited to that. Your recent searches can appear even in an existing tab with a loaded webpage — as long as you tap the address bar and clear whatever search term or URL is already in it. That means...more