Mobile Phone Hack

Once you connect all of your devices to your Wi-Fi router at home, you'll never need that long, complicated Wi-Fi password ever again, right? Unfortunately, life isn't that easy. If you need to reset the network settings on your phone or tablet, or have a friend or family mem ...more

Ask around anywhere that Android users gather online, and you'll find that SwiftKey is almost unilaterally the most highly-recommended keyboard for our favorite mobile operating system. It's no surprise either—SwiftKey's combination of insanely accurate word predictions and ra ...more

YouTube, the popular video streaming website owned by Google, announced on October 21st that it will be launching a new subscription service titled "YouTube Red" for $9.99 a month. Under the membership, subscribers will be able to watch videos without ads. Yup, all videos—from ...more

I'm lucky enough to have internet access on my laptop practically everywhere I go because of my mobile hotspot plan. All I have to do is enable the personal hotspot feature from my iPhone and I can surf the web on any Wi-Fi enabled device. But of course, there's a catch. I on ...more

Instead of the still image we've been accustomed to since the inception of Facebook, you also have the option to apply a seven-second video as your profile image, which definitely mixes things up a bit with GIF-like animations. Best of all, this can be done straight from your ...more

Technology can move really fast. Just consider the format for which we consume videos and movies, which has transformed from film reels to VHS to DVD to Blu-ray to steaming with nothing physical at all. But for some odd reason—maybe because it strikes a nostalgic chord or it's ...more

Accidentally deleting important files can happen as easily as swiping left on something and watching it disappear into the ether. Of course, Apple allows automatic backups through iCloud, which ensures that your data is always stored safely in the cloud in case of emergency. ...more

It's bad enough that we have to deal with autoplaying video advertisements all over the Web, so why do we have to be subjected to autoplaying videos on Twitter, too? Autoplay video are muted by default, but that doesn't make them any less annoying, especially if you have a sma ...more

I have a personal rule when it comes to an app's interface: If it doesn't follow Android's design guidelines, it was probably written with Apple's iOS in mind first and foremost. And if that truly is the case, I almost take this as a personal insult. I'm not a second-class ci ...more

There's a good chance you've never used the Dictation function on your iPhone's keyboard, or even knew that it existed for that matter. That small microphone icon in between the emoji key and the space bar is great if you use dictation, but otherwise, it just gets in the way w ...more

Checking the weather ranks among the most mundane but essential tasks you can do on your smartphone. Thankfully, both the iOS App Store and Google Play are loaded with weather apps that add some much needed spice to this daily routine, giving you less of a reason to be caught ...more

Charlie Miller and Chris Valasek conducted an experiment earlier this month that ended up with a Jeep in a ditch, although the driver didn't drive it there. The two remotely hijacked the car, controlling it through a laptop and a cell phone. FCA says vehicles from the 2013 and ...more

It's no secret that Google stores your search history in order to provide you with targeted ads when surfing the web. What's even more interesting (or freaky) is that your Google Now voice searches are also being stored, and you can actually listen to them right now. Don't Mi ...more

As it stands, Firefox OS isn't a very popular third-party operating system for Android devices, especially when compared to others like CyanogenMod, but Mozilla developer Fabrice Desré is attempting to change that. With the introduction of his new application called B2GDroid, ...more

One thing Apple users universally complain about is battery life, whether it's on an iPad, iPhone, or Apple Watch. Apple did include a Battery Usage feature in iOS 8 to help us monitor which apps suck up the most energy, but it's too big a pain to deal with. Now, in iOS 9, the ...more

SoundHound, the Shazam-like song-matching service, recently announced a new mobile app called Hound, which wants to be your one and only intelligent personal assistant. It's already a pretty crowded space with Google Now and Apple's Siri leading the pack. Plus, there's Micros ...more

On an Android device, you can download almost any file type into a neat and tidy "Downloads" folder, and those files can then be accessed with an appropriate app, shared via email, or transferred over to your computer. On an iPhone, there is no such folder, and saving files fr ...more

In an attempt to remain a mobile-exclusive app, Instagram doesn't let users upload photos or videos from their computer. On the Instagram web app, you can pretty much only like and comment on items in your feed, but what about all of those photos on your computer that scream # ...more

Nearly nine months after the release of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, we finally have some solid information on the "S" model of Apple's flagship device, slated for release this fall. Coming straight from Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo of KGI Securities (via AppleInsider), quite a few ...more

Continuity, introduced back when iOS 8 and Mac OS X 10.10 were released, lets users seamlessly connect all of their Apple devices together. With it came a feature known as Handoff that "hands off" an app or task from one Apple device to another, like starting an email on your ...more

Some variants of the Galaxy S6 will allow you to silence the camera shutter sound with an option in the app's settings menu. But this is not true of all models, plus there's an additional annoyance—when you're filming video and you get a notification, you'll actually hear this ...more

Regardless of the size and metal-type you purchased, storage and space are limited on the Apple Watch, so stuffing it full of apps like you'd do on your iPhone may not be in your best interest. If you went app crazy when you first set up your Apple Watch, don't worry—it's easy ...more

Our hands aren't necessarily getting any bigger, but smartphones still seem to be getting larger and larger. With average cell phone display sizes nearly doubling since 2007 (leading to new terminology like "phablet"), reaching all corners of a screen can become nearly impossi ...more

As your Galaxy S6 lies on your desk while you're hard at work, it's difficult to resist from periodically pressing the wake/lock button to check the weather or glance over any notifications you may have on your lock screen. While pressing the hard key is easy enough, there's a ...more

In addition to the fingerprint scanner, the Samsung Galaxy S6 has all of the basic lock screen options that other Android phones have: swipe, pattern, PIN, and password. There also just happens to be a secret sixth option called "Direction lock" that protects the device with a ...more

Aside from the fact that it was the only game available on my cell phone at the time, I was really good at Snake. I still occasionally play it on my smartphone, but I've never been able to duplicate the same level of achievement as I once did. What made Snake so awesome was i ...more

With troves of sensitive information, like receipts and password reminders, hiding in your email, your inbox can become a sort of Holy Grail for hackers—or anyone with your password. Although my crazy ex-girlfriend had no hacking experience, using my email login, she was able ...more

Serving as the primary tool of distribution for many websites, social media is how most of us catch up what's going on around the world. While there is a bunch of clickbait going around on Facebook and Twitter, there are plenty of genuinely interesting articles being shared. ...more

Most smartphone games are clichéd and mundane, but every now and then a mobile game will appear with a new concept or idea that sets it apart from all the rest. While other developers continue to regurgitate the same old "winning" formulas, developer Sebastian Goszyla is chang ...more

We previously showed you how to make your Android's LED notification light dance to music, but the app itself was limited in customization options, the devices it worked on, and the music apps and services it worked with. Now we'll be showing you a similar app that supports mo ...more

Using a timer to take a photo is great if you're looking for a quick workout. You have to prop up your phone, frame your shot, set the timer, and sprint to get into the frame. Then when you realize your position was a little bit off, you have to reset the timer and jump back i ...more

There's a reason that YouTube continues to be the most popular video sharing site on the planet—ever since its purchase by Google, they've always made sure to load YouTube up with extra features to keep it ahead of the pack. Starting today, users can now upload full 360-degre ...more

I know where I bought my phone, and I definitely know who I'm paying money to every month for cellular service, so there's absolutely no need to see my carrier's name draped all over my device. Fortunately, with Android Lollipop, the carrier label is only present on the lock s ...more

Samsung's got a pair of beautiful new flagship devices coming out this spring that will surely top the sales charts. The Galaxy S5's successor is truly worthy of that title, but a second variant with a curved display turned heads at Mobile World Congress this weekend. The S6 ...more

Back in March, Samsung partnered with Slacker Radio to create a streaming service called Milk Music. For those of us who don't own a Galaxy device, this news was a non-starter, as it was exclusive to Samsung's flagship line of phones and tablets. Since then, mods have made Mi ...more

With all of the top-notch specs that the Galaxy S5 sports, the only minor quibble users have had with its hardware is the speaker situation. A front-facing earpiece is used for phone calls, but all other media is restricted to a single rear-firing speaker. Developer langeveld ...more

As you already know, Hong Hong has been rocked in recent weeks by protests against their Beijing overlords. Promised free and fair elections, Beijing has reneged on this promise and is now telling Hong Kongians (that's what they're called, aren't they?) that they will only be ...more

In-N-Out Burgers on the West Coast is famous for their not-so-secret and secret menus, along with their cheap, no-fuss burgers. Pre-internet, you felt like you were actually part of a small, select club when you knew what secret menu items to order. But with the advent of the ...more

A warning to all of you iPhone users with parents, significant others, and nosy friends: Private Mode in the Safari browser isn't as private as you think. At least, not as private as it used to be back in iOS 7. Video: . Don't Miss: The 5 Best Hidden Safari Features in iOS 8 f ...more

As hilarious and fun as group messages can be on your iPad or iPhone, they can also be equally annoying. You may not necessarily want to leave a group message thread, but you don't want to be bothered by notification after notification as participants in the conversation conti ...more

With a new, somewhat buried feature in iOS 8, unintentionally closing a tab in Safari is no longer the burden it used to be. With iOS 7, you had to tap on the bookmarks icon from the main toolbar and go through your history to get that accidentally closed tab back. Now, Apple ...more

In certain situations, it can be a little difficult to get a handle on my exact location when others ask where I am or how to get to me. Now, thanks to one of the newly introduced features on iOS 8, I can easily share my exact location with friends, right from within the Messa ...more

There's a feature that debuted in iOS 7 that lets you to save your credit or debit card information in Safari so that you can auto-fill text boxes when purchasing something online. Unfortunately, you still had to manually fill in your card info the first time, and if you wante ...more

Skimming through the hundreds of photos you may have on your iPhone for that one selfie of you and your friends in Los Angeles can be a tedious task, especially if you were inebriated and snapping pics indiscriminately. Thankfully, as one of the many cool features available in ...more

Viewing all of the attachments in a message thread within iOS 7 has never been particularly easy. To see every single picture and video dating back to the beginning of the conversation, you have to manually scroll through the entire conversation and refresh it until all of it ...more

Despite being one of the largest and most feature driven companies on the planet, Google can sometimes come up short. I have my Chromecast running 24/7, and while I use my phone to cast most of my content, I sometimes find a video while browsing Reddit or LiveLeak on my laptop ...more

Classic party games like Spin the Bottle and Truth or Dare, immensely popular in the '80s and '90s, seem to have been long forgotten and abandoned by today's youth. Today, new forms of party games are all the rage, a prime example being Cards Against Humanity. Yes, CAH is hila ...more

The HTC One has proven to be the industry standard in mobile audio performance. With BoomSound and Harman/Kardon technology backing its front-facing speakers, there is no doubt that every other flagship out there pales in comparison. Despite this, HTC didn't include a decent e ...more

Google's Android Device Manager makes it extremely easy to track down your phone or tablet, but while it's simple to set up and use, it does require your device to have an active data connection, which can be an issue in some areas. SMSLocator, by T3KBAU5, works a little diff ...more

Climbing into bed and shutting your eyes each night is heavenly—but waking up the next morning isn't. We all hate dragging ourselves out of the comfort of sleep and into the groggy, exhausting work day. Yet starting your day doesn't have to be awful if you know how to hack you ...more

Google Now is a quick and intuitive way to tailor your device to work for you and, unlike other personal assistants, provide you with up-to-date information based on search habits, emails, and the general all-knowingness of Google. On my Nexus 7 tablet, I use the Google Now t ...more

Just the fact that you own an Android device means you're privy to an entire world of third-party development. Many of the mods you'll see here on Gadget Hacks can be performed fresh out of the box, but with root and Xposed, the list grows longer. But to truly be able to take ...more

One of the coolest features of the Galaxy S5 is its IP67 certification. This means that the S5 is internally impenetrable to dust and can be submerged in water for thirty minutes at a depth of one meter. It's definitely a handy feature for folks who've lost a phone to a toilet ...more

Location-based app shortcuts in iOS 8 work at places like Starbucks, the Apple Store, as well as train stations, banks, hospitals, grocery stores, and more. When you're in the vicinity of these locations, a small notification appears at the bottom left of the lock screen. You ...more

Using Shazam has quite literally spared me hours of searching the internet for the name of a song I briefly heard for a few seconds. At WWDC, it was announced that iOS 8 now has Shazam technology integrated into Siri. What makes it even cooler is that you don't even need the S ...more

If you've seen any videos of aurora borealis, star trails, or a solar eclipse, then you're probably well familiar with time-lapse photography. Whether it's a beautiful moving landscape or a deadly natural disaster, time-lapses show us what would otherwise be hour-long recordin ...more

If rapid battery drain is something that's been an issue for you in the past, Apple is now making it easier to monitor what might be the problem. In the new iOS 8, you can now check battery usage for every app on your device. Video: . To check how much battery your apps use up ...more

These days, our smartphones carry some very sensitive data. From banking app passwords to personal photos, there are many things on your Nexus 5 that you might not want other people to have access to. Luckily, most mobile operating systems have some sort of security available ...more

Transparent status bars and new lock screens weren't the only new additions that came with the Galaxy S3 KitKat update. Along with better battery life and a smoother user experience, we got a new toggles design and recent apps menu. Of course, Samsung's infinite wisdom left th ...more

It appears that the next iteration of KitKat, Android 4.4.3, is fast approaching. If the past is any indication, today's update to the Nexus 5 software changelog on Sprint's website tells us a new version of Android will begin rolling out within 24 hours. Sprint has broken the ...more