Text Message Palm

The very first text message was sent on December 3rd, 1992 by Neil Papworth, an engineer for Vodafone, and it simply said "Merry Christmas." He may have jumped the gun on the whole Christmas thing, but you trying coming up with the first text message in history! Today, there ...more

Security researcher and iPhone hacker pod2g has brought attention to a flaw in Apple's iOS that allows the user to change the reply address of an SMS message. This bug has been a part of the iPhone's SMS since the first iPhone in 2007, but Apple has yet to address it. Basicall ...more

Safari has some cool new features in iOS 8, but the app that seems to have gotten the biggest update so far is Messages. A lot of the new Messages features were discussed during Apple's developers conference, but we found many others and picked out our favorite hidden ones bel ...more

After receiving many requests for the feature, Signal introduced read receipts last year to its mobile apps. However, some users don't like the idea other people knowing when they've read messages. Luckily, Signal lets you disable this feature and reclaim a little privacy. Re ...more

If you want to automate tasks with your smartphone, IFTTT is a great app. It does a tremendous job of helping you find applets or creating your own from scratch, so it's easy to connect your favorite online services and make them react to each other. With all this personal inf ...more

Parking. Ugh. Parking is about as fun as running through a swarm of bees while being chased by a pack of wolves from The Grey. There have been many times when I have come across some of the most terrible, idiotic parking jobs in the world, and really could do nothing about i ...more

This tutorial shows you how to create an intruder alarm that sends you text message alerts when motion is detected. This may sound complicated but I am pretty confident any beginner with electronics should be able to do this just fine. The range sensor senses motion and tells ...more

Accessing your recent contacts just became a hell of a lot quicker with iOS 8. In addition to accessing recent apps, double-pressing your Home button now shows off recent contacts at the top of your screen. Video: . Your most recent contact, whether by call or message, will be ...more

Despite being at the helms of the RCS push, Google Fi has yet to support the new messaging protocol. It would've made too much sense if the Google-created MVNO was one of the first to support the feature Google's been pushing on other OEMs and carriers for years, but alas, the ...more

Thanks to Apple's new extensibility features in iOS 8, developers are now able to create extensions for their apps that let you perform actions in notifications, widgets, and in stock Apple apps without having to open up the specific app itself. Check out: The Coolest 33 Feat ...more

Facebook Messenger Lite is an official, de-bloated version of Facebook Messenger for Android. It's snappier and it's a lot more battery-friendly, but this is because there are fewer features complicating everything. One feature they didn't leave out, however, is the ability to ...more

No matter your reasons, you might need a second phone number that's a little more disposable than your primary number — a "burner" number, so to speak. If you create this burner number using Google Voice, you'll get new functionality like call forwarding and voicemail transcri ...more

In the recent hit movie Furious 7, the storyline revolves around the acquisition of a hacking system known as "God's Eye" that is capable of finding and tracking anyone in real time. Both the U.S. spy agencies and an adversarial spy agency (it's not clear who the adversary is, ...more

When it comes to your security, you want the best of the best. Why settle for mediocre service with something as valuable as your protection? Malware continues to make its way onto the Play Store, leaving millions of devices vulnerable. You need an app that will shield your de ...more

The subject line is a crucial part of an email, but you don't see it very often in texts. That's mostly because many people don't even know it can be done, and even if they do, why would they use it? Just like with emails, subject lines can make iMessages and SMS texts seem mo ...more

Who needs a pen when you've got an iPhone? If you have a form, agreement, or contract that you need to quickly sign, you do it directly from iOS without the use of a third-party app. Using Markup, which is available in several native Apple apps, you can sign and send important ...more

Back in iOS 6, deleting individual text messages in a conversation was just a matter of tapping the edit button on the right-hand corner of the thread, selecting which texts to delete, and then pressing delete. Easy enough, right? So, it comes as no surprise that people are ...more

A pen is mightier than the sword, but a picture is worth a thousand words. That's why I tend to use more emoji and GIFs than actual text in messages. They visualize my emotions like words could never do, and now more so than ever thanks to apps like iMoji, which lets you creat ...more

Wouldn't it be cool to know exactly who is calling or messaging you without ever looking at your phone? It'd be a great way to keep you from reaching into your pocket or purse every time you get a message, and an efficient method to ignore people you'd rather not deal with. C ...more

Google is making its Phone app, the default dialer for Pixel and Android One devices, available to many other smartphones via the Play Store. If you're enticed to replace your factory-installed dialer to take advantage of the spam-filtering capabilities, you don't want to miss ...more

There are over 1.6 million apps on the Google Play Store, which makes it the largest collection of mobile apps on the planet. However, a large portion of this total is occupied by apps with overlapping functions—think social media, news, weather, music players, and various oth ...more

Want to know when you have a visitor, even if you're not home? You could always set up a security system and live-stream it with your iPhone. But if you don't have a spare iPhone, or just don't want to go to the trouble, this simple hack will add text message alerts to your do ...more

Vibrate is not as inconspicuous as one might think, which means silent mode is usually the option that many stick to when in class, at work, or anywhere that forbids loud noise. However, when silent mode is on, it can lead to missed calls that could potentially be important o ...more

While Siri's integration with the iPhone is becoming increasingly substantial, restrictions with the intelligent personal assistant are apparent when it comes to third-party apps like Google Maps, Netflix, and Spotify (unless your iPhone is jailbroken, of course). As an avid S ...more

This is a nice project that you can continue to work on and modify as you learn more Arduino projects. The Instructable linked below goes through the complete build for the Bluetooth-enabled robot seen in the first half of the video. As long as you have a 3D printer, this pro ...more

Emoji are great for conveying your exact emotion or mood in a text message, but GIF animations are even better. They're convenient, hilarious, and they accomplish so much more than a little icon or photo ever could. However, sending GIFs is not an easy task. If you're trying ...more

The new operating system for your Mac is here, and it looks fantastic—OS X Yosemite. At Apple's WWDC presentation, we were shown the new iOS-like aesthetics, as well as other awesome enhancements to the operating system. Improved Aesthetics As expected, Mac OS X will take a b ...more

While both Rdio and Beats Music look to be developing support for Chromecast, Spotify has kept their distance from the Google dongle, focusing instead on "several prevailing priorities." As an avid Spotify user, I (like many others) was disappointed to hear the news, as casti ...more

Security is always a top priority for our smartphones. Leaving your phone at the bar or even at a friend's house can leave you open to hacks and lead to the loss of sensitive information. Beyond the lock screen, passwords don't always do enough to protect the information stor ...more

Keys are on the way out. They're clunky, take up precious space, and slow you down when you have tons of identical-looking gold ones on your keyring. Everything we can open with keys can now also be opened with wireless technology in just a click—so why use keys anymore? Sure, ...more

Download a popular, legit app from the Google Play Store. Decompile it. Add malicious code. Repackage the app. Distribute the now trojan-ized app through third-party Android app sites. This is how advertising malware Ewind, what Palo Alto Networks calls "adware in applications ...more

Your iPhone just went missing, and now you're panicking. You need it for work, to get around, to contact your friends and family, and pretty much everything else in your life. So, what are the chances you might get it back? The odds may be stacked against you unless it's just ...more

Facebook will let you do pretty much anything via a text message, but unless you still have a flip phone, it's more of a novelty than actually useful. However, one thing that would be useful for smartphones is being able to update your status via a phone call, particularly wh ...more

We've all been there. Our phone rings, but we're at a concert or dinner and don't want to spend time sending a text explaining our whereabouts. While ignoring a call is easy, it isn't always the most polite thing to do. What if you could immediately respond with a picture of ...more

If you're using a VPN-based ad blocker with full HTTPS functionality on a Samsung phone, you'll get a notification informing you there's a third-party security certificate in use. No big deal, except it shows up every time you restart the phone. Samsung isn't alone in this typ ...more

Apple is bringing one of the biggest updates ever to its Messages app, including a feature that will allow users to send audio messages back and forth with the press of a button. Goodbye, voicemail. While we've reached the third beta version of iOS 8 already, the official con ...more

I used to have nightmares when I watched Terminator 2. I mean, I didn't step on a playground for a least two months after I saw that movie. There was something terrifying about computers having so much intelligence. Video: . But that was then and this is now. Terminator was wa ...more

Ever since Microsoft sunset Windows Phone, they've been working with Android to tap into the growing mobile device market. The tech giant has uploaded over 80 apps to the Play Store for any Android user to download, but some features Samsung has hoarded for themselves. Most o ...more

Estimates say that there are roughly 441 million Apple Pay users in the world, but with almost a billion active iPhones in the world, some of you have yet to jump on board the digital payment method. But once you're ready — or if you just need a refresher — adding your debit a ...more

At a time when virtually everyone has a cell phone, it's almost inconceivable to think of a time when we're without them. At work, in bed, and even in the bathroom; we're always with our smartphones. I mean, hell, someone even designed a way to bring your smartphone into the f ...more

Two-factor authentication (2FA) is a great way to add another layer of security to sensitive third-party apps and websites like Venmo. However, before iOS 12, to log into a particular 2FA-secured app or site on your iPhone, you'd have to memorize or copy the SMS code from Mess ...more

With GPS chips and Wi-Fi positioning systems, a modern smartphone is capable of tracking its user's location with pinpoint accuracy. This being the case, it's strange that the most common text message sent today is still "Where are you?" So if you're ready to get out of the s ...more

One of the best parts of Pandora is its personalized stations that auto-generate songs within the specific style or genre you've chosen. Not only does this play your favorite tracks with regularity, but it also opens your ears to previously unknown songs or artists — ones you ...more

One downside to iOS 11's awesome built-in QR code scanner in the Camera app is its only been live for a short while. In its short life, there has already been a security vulnerability discovered that was an issue for at least the last 4.5 months, but Apple has finally patched ...more

Hackers are claiming money for a security flaw in Apple's new update. Quick Summary: So, a new security firm called "Zerodium" states that they want to be up to date with the newest vulnerabilities in OS. They have said they are willing to pay seven figures to anyone who can ...more

Most of us enjoy taking photos with our iPhones and sharing them with friends and family, but it's adding that extra touch or funny caption that turns an ordinary picture into something unforgettable or downright hilarious. With Inkboard, you can use your imagination to draw a ...more

Getting caught using your iPhone at school or work (when you're using it for personal reasons) can be a little bit embarrassing. Even worse, it can be detrimental to how you're perceived by your teacher or boss. But sometimes you just have to beat that next level of Candy Crus ...more

It seems that Apple is taking a page from Google's book with their new "Hey, Siri" voice activation feature in iOS 8. This feature mimics the one found in Google Now, the voice-activated intelligent personal assistant available to just about all Android users. Apple's version ...more

There's nothing worse than losing your phone—except losing your phone when the ringer is silent. If you're alone, it can be excruciatingly hard to find your lost device even if the ringer is on, considering most of us don't have landlines anymore. So, the next time you find yo ...more

Next to spam calls, few things are more annoying than being inundated with spam, scam, and smishing texts. Your iPhone's Messages app should be a place for your friends and family to stay in touch, not a minefield of phishing attacks, malicious links, and viruses. Luckily, the ...more

Midway through 2013, a popular custom ROM called Paranoid Android introduced their multitasking feature "Halo." Bubble-style notifications inspired by Facebook chat heads pop up near the top of the screen, and you simply tap on them to bring up the app in a floating window. I ...more

Strange or uncomfortable encounters can be difficult to get away from sometimes if you're overly polite and don't want to hurt anybody's feelings. Thankfully, your iPhone can help save the day, providing you with a plausible excuse to exit the scene without having to conjure u ...more

Google's Android L developer preview has given Android a more refined look, with developers excited to update their apps with the new Material Design UI. While some apps are slowly getting updated, QKSMS (QK for quick) is a 3rd-party text messaging app that was built with Mate ...more

During a contest in 2010 regarding which country Justin Bieber should visit next on his tour, North Korea won by a landslide. Unfortunately, he never went, and that's partly because nobody in the internet-less dictatorship probably voted. Instead, the contest was rigged by 4ch ...more

There's a lot more to your iPhone's dialer screen than just entering phone numbers and hitting the green call button. It's not very obvious, but there are secret codes that you can enter on the dialer to find out information about your device, help troubleshoot issues, and mas ...more

Whether you're wielding an iPhone, iPad, Mac, Android phone or tablet, or even a Windows PC, this little-known secret holds the key to effortless assistance and unwavering obedience. Intrigued? I thought so. Let's say a friend or family member needs the email address of someb ...more

A human rights activist from the United Arab Emirates recently stumbled upon three gaping security loopholes in iOS that work by enticing you to tap a link sent to your iPhone. Ahmed Mansoor received a text message from an unknown number roughly two weeks ago, but instead of f ...more

Back in its infancy, the App Store was filled with text bomb apps that allowed users to send a barrage of text messages to friends, family, and foes. It was a fun way to annoy people, but Apple quickly scrubbed the apps because of technical issues. Although text bombs are stil ...more

With Apple's Yosemite build of Mac OS X came Continuity, a feature that has allowed us to connect our mobile devices to our computers, letting us access apps, send text messages, answer phone calls, and more while seamlessly switching from one device to the other. Pushbullet, ...more

Extra hardware buttons have become a trend with smartphones lately. Often, these are unmodifiable buttons designed to launch a voice assistant. That isn't the case with the BlackBerry KEY2. Making a return from the KEYone is the Convenience Key, which also received an upgrade. ...more