Reuse Old Cell Phone Camera

Hack N Mod offers an incredibly simple cell phone camera mod that delivers striking results. All you need is a lens from an old DVD player and you can magnify your zoom by five times. "You’ll find the lens directly under the disk tray. If you’ve just upgraded to Blu-Ray, now ...more

Oh, LifeHacker, we love you. You've brought us so many handy HowTo's: Hack Wireless Internet, Bypass Blocked Websites, Convert a Laptop Into a Projector, Watch TV & Movies on the Web For Free, 10 Must-Know Google Privacy Settings, and more. And now, another great one: LifeHac ...more

We almost forgot about the disposable camera. With every cell phone outfitted with a camera, who needs the emergency 7-Eleven point-n-shoot? Well, until it transformed from photographic instrument to weapon. Be careful. Seriously. Consider the how-to lineage. The disposable ...more

Arachnophilia and technosexuals rejoice. This whimsical, skittering robot takes only 5 minutes of tinkering. This simple toy is made possible with a bit of solder, AAA battery, copper wire and an old mobile phone's vibrating motor. Like the EvilMadScientist's Bristlebot, this ...more

In this week's Phone Snap Challenge, we would like you to experiment with lighting and mood setting to create a silhouette. A silhouetted photograph contains a subject that is defined with an outline, appearing dark against a bright background. The subject generally appears da ...more

The next big iOS version for iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch was revealed by Apple at WWDC 2018 and dropped for everyone on Sept. 17, 2018, less than a week after Apple revealed the new iPhone lineup. We've rounded up all the big picture items and secret features and changes we c ...more

Android comprises an entire ecosystem of apps, games, functions, and features, so it would only make sense that it has its own lexicon. Words, phrases, and acronyms that didn't exist ten years ago are now used in an off-the-cuff style by developers and support technicians acro ...more

There’s a good chance that you’ll be alone in life one day, and no... I’m not talking about a couch-bound, dateless loser with a pocket pussy and a bag of potato chips. I’m talking about alone. In the wilderness. Hungry. Cold. Lost. You can’t stay in one place too long, so it ...more

In photography, using filters over lenses is a common practice and provides a great way to set the mood or to create an artistic image. The only problem is that they can be quite costly and there currently aren't many available for cell phones specifially. Fortunately, there i ...more

Giveaway Tuesdays has officially ended! But don't sweat it, WonderHowTo has another World that's taken its place. Every Tuesday, Phone Snap! invites you to show off your cell phone photography skills. Submit your best shot to our weekly competition for a chance to win an awes ...more

Toys are not only useful for playtime, they can also be wonderful props to photograph. With the right setting, pose and angle, you can bring your subject to life. To participate in this week’s Phone Snap Challenge, photograph a toy of your own and post it to the corkboard by M ...more

Giveaway Tuesdays has officially ended! But don't sweat it, WonderHowTo has another World that's taken its place. Every Tuesday, Phone Snap! invites you to show off your cell phone photography skills. Submit your best shot to our weekly competition for a chance to win an awes ...more

When was the last time you took some time out of your day to play with your favorite action figure? Or build an entire town of Legos? Well, it’s time for you to dust off that old toy chest for this week’s Phone Snap challenge! To kick off Phone Snap’s very first weekly photo ...more

Giveaway Tuesdays has officially ended! But don't sweat it, WonderHowTo has another World that's taken its place. Every Tuesday, Phone Snap! invites you to show off your cell phone photography skills. Submit your best shot to our weekly competition for a chance to win an awes ...more

Giveaway Tuesdays has officially ended! But don't sweat it, WonderHowTo has another World that's taken its place. Every Tuesday, Phone Snap! invites you to show off your cell phone photography skills. Submit your best shot to our weekly competition for a chance to win an awes ...more

This colorful image may look like a miniature set of model cars, foam buildings and painted grass, but it's nothing of the sort. It's a still photo from a time-lapse video that Stu Kennedy shot in his hometown of Lincoln, England. But it's not your ordinary time-lapse. Kennedy ...more

Giveaway Tuesdays has officially ended! But don't sweat it, WonderHowTo has another World that's taken its place. Every Tuesday, Phone Snap! invites you to show off your cell phone photography skills. Submit your best shot to our weekly competition for a chance to win an awes ...more

There's nothing like buying an awesome new gadget, but it leaves you with one problem (besides an empty wallet)—what do you do with the ones you already have? There are plenty of ways to put your old gadgets to use, but if you'd rather get rid of them, you may as well get some ...more

There's always an iPhone in our list of top phones for privacy and security, due in large part to advanced security measures like Face ID, consistent iOS updates, and easy ways to prevent unwanted access and excessive data sharing. However, some of those options actually do th ...more

At one point in the '90s, about fifty percent of the CDs produced worldwide had an AOL logo. About fifty percent of the CDs in my home still have that AOL promise of 500 free hours on them. Though they never got me to join their internet service, I did get a lifetime supply of ...more

If you're into photography, you're probably no stranger to the myriad of ways you can take macros with your smartphone. Your phone's built-in camera may not take great pictures up close, but you can modify it to do so with anything from a magnifying glass to a drop of water. H ...more

Smartphones are almost completely controlled through touchscreens now, but most of them still rely on physical buttons to turn it on or adjust volume. When those buttons stop working, you've got trouble (especially if it's your Home button). Dujo, a user on Sugru's website, h ...more

The new iPhone 5 was just revealed yesterday, and it's 18 percent thinner and just 1/5 the weight of its 4S predecessor. It's also taller with a larger screen, which gives you a fifth row for apps now. As far as speed is concerned, it has a speedy A6 chip and can tap into wire ...more

Reading through various internet forums, it certainly sounds like the Google Pixel and Pixel XL are attracting more iPhone users than any of Google's previous Nexus devices. The sales figures seem to back that up, too, as the Pixel is outpacing last year's Nexus 6P, and pre-or ...more

The latest film addition in the American-produced Millennium series, The Girl in the Spider's Web, was just released on Blu-ray a few days ago. As you could expect, the movie has many hacking scenes throughout, just like the previous English and Swedish language movies centere ...more

The battery in the Samsung Galaxy S4 may pack 500 more milliamps per hour than the old S3 battery, but that doesn't necessarily mean more battery life. High-powered devices need lots of juice, and the S4 is definitely more powerful than its predecessor. The new battery can han ...more

If you had a phone in 2004, there's a pretty good chance it was a Motorola RAZR. The iconic phone is the tenth highest-selling of all time, and it marked the height of the flip phone era. Now that the technology has caught up, Lenovo (Motorola's parent company) is bringing it ...more

Apple released the eleventh developer beta for iOS 12 to registered software testers on Monday, Aug. 27, only four days after the company unexpectedly released both dev beta 10 and public beta 8. Apple has ramped up its beta release schedule as of late, offering minor updates ...more

For all the benefits 5G brings to cellular data, it isn't without weaknesses, the biggest being privacy. Yes, the latest standard comes with breakneck downloads speeds up to 4.3 Gbps, but at what cost? Like with all things on the internet, 5G devices open opportunities for bot ...more

Apple officially released iOS 12 to everyone on Sept. 17, and while the new iPhone XR, XS, and XS Max will come with the software by default, you have a choice on whether or not to update your current iPhone model from iOS 11. There are a lot of tempting features to want to up ...more

We're nearly there — Apple released the seventh iOS 12 beta to developers Monday, August 13. While not totally unexpected, beta testers understand the struggle of predicting the next update, as Apple has switched haphazardly between two-week, one-week, and irregular release sc ...more

If you're in the market for a new smartphone, you'll likely scan spec sheets and read reviews of the top phones, compare display size and technology, RAM amount, and processors. But one factor that is often overlooked is cell reception — and for T-Mobile subscribers, there's o ...more

As a former repair tech, I've heard the same reasons over and over as to why people opt not to purchase phone insurance. Some cite the cost—why pay extra every month for insurance when you're careful with your phone? Deductibles are expensive, so why not just spend that money ...more

Google's new Pixel and Pixel XL flagships are some very powerful smartphones, but as with any high-tech gadget, they're only as capable as the user allows them to be. So if you're a proud new Pixel owner, it's time to bone up on a few new features to help get the most out of y ...more

Google inconspicuously announced an Android update yesterday, and while it's not quite the overhaul that the initial Lollipop release was, version 5.1 brings plenty of bug fixes and new features. This new version is currently on a staged rollout for Nexus devices, so the upda ...more

Silence spreads over these mountains like nothing I've ever felt. If I didn't have Moby blasting in my earphones, there'd probably be no other sounds around. Well, except for someone, Phil probably, murmuring in a nearby tent just low enough to make his words indiscernible. W ...more

If you've grown bored of day-to-day hacking and need a new toy to experiment with, we've compiled a list of gadgets to help you take password cracking and wireless hacking to the next level. If you're not a white hat or pentester yourself but have one to shop for, whether for ...more

If tradition holds, we're roughly one month away from Apple's big iPhone announcement. While we're excited to see what will mainly be a significant camera upgrade, it's not all about the hardware. Apple will also release the official version of iOS 13 to coincide with the iPho ...more

You can mod every aspect of your phone's software with root, but if you want to make changes at the hardware level, you'll need a custom kernel. If you've looked into custom kernels before, one name undoubtedly kept coming up: ElementalX. It's easily the best custom kernel out ...more

Rumors about the 2022 iPhone series stirred well before the iPhone 13 models were even released. While Apple remains quiet on the next big iPhone, as it always does, we're seeing more and more leaks and reveals for the iPhone 14 series as we lead up to a likely fall release. ...more

|Choose Your View: Quick Bullet Points | Detailed Descriptions Android's newest major update is a special one — it's the tenth full version of the world's most commonly used operating system. The latest release, dubbed simply Android 10 (codename Android Q), was first showcas ...more

Apple's iOS 15.4 update for iPhone is out after 46 days of beta testing, and it has some exciting features you won't want to miss. Here's everything you need to know about the new software. The iOS 15.4 software has been available to developers since Jan. 27, 2022, and public ...more

If you missed our tips on taking top-notch photos New Year's Eve, you may want to tune in for Lifehacker's tutorial on making your smartphone pictures look like they were taken with a quality camera. Below, learn how to: Create a more shallow depth of field to make the subjec ...more

Now that the holiday weekend is over, there's only one more celebration this year, and that's saying goodbye to 2011 and welcoming 2012 with open arms! For this week's Phone Snap challenge, we'd like to ring in the new year with you and see your best cell phone photo from your ...more

"Ahoy-hoy." If telephone titan Alexander Graham Bell had his way, we'd all be answering phones like Mr. Burns. Thankfully, frienemy Thomas Edison had enough sense to realize we weren't always on the briny. He preferred "hello" as our standard telephone greeting, which he is c ...more

The cell phone has come a long way. The very first "mobile devices" were made and used by the military in the late 1930s, with the first commercial mobile telephone service introduced by Bell in 1946. These devices were hardly what we'd call mobile today—some took up the whole ...more

Prank Calls, Masked NumbersWho is calling your phone or your child's? Pranksters use a lot of tricks to make sure they can get on your nerves. Being able to trace prank calls is important because you're not going to learn much from your Caller ID, since most prank callers use ...more