To steal a quote from Mean Girls, Halloween is the one night when a girl can dress like a total slut and no one can say anything about it—but why do girls get to have all the fun? Why can't guys use the day to be good looking? Scary good looking? Well, use one of the followin ...more
Live Photos capture the seconds before and after you take a photo, creating a fuller and also unique moment to share with friends and family. Unfortunately, it has been nearly impossible to share Live Photos with non-iPhone users — until now. Thanks to iOS 13, you can easily c ...more
If your smartphone is running Android 10, iOS 13, or a newer version of each, you have access to a system-wide dark theme. And that dark theme works well with Google Calendar, but it's not the only way to go dark. If you have an older operating system, it's still possible to d ...more
Apple has released the third beta of its iOS 7.1 software to developers, just a few weeks after their second beta introduced us to button shapes, a new calendar list view toggle, a hidden Car Display control and several other tweaks and performance improvements. Update: iOS 7 ...more
Taking screen captures is a standard feature on iPhones and newer Android smartphones, but for some reason it's not very intuitive. Screenshots allow you to share your phone's screen with your friends, document technical problems for customer support, and even make how-to guid ...more
As the U.S. inches closer to herd immunity and reopening after the pandemic, it may become necessary to keep your COVID-19 vaccination cards on you at all times to gain access to places and events that are prone to spreading the coronavirus. You probably won't want to lose you ...more
Your iPhone is full of features, many of which you might not even know about yet. Still, Apple keeps adding feature after feature with each new iOS update, and iOS 14.5 is no exception. The latest iOS version adds at least 69 features for your iPhone that you should be happy a ...more
If you spend most of the time on your iPhone shooting photos and taking videos, you'll be happy that Apple has improved a few aspects of its Camera app in iOS 14. Even if you're just a casual photographer or videographer, you'll benefit from the new changes to the default came ...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
With so much stimuli in today's world, it can be hard to keep track of all the places we've visited and the events we've attended. Thankfully, a great feature in Google Maps lets you view a detailed log of your phone's location history to help you remember where you were at al ...more
If you don't want to dress up as a vampire, witch, werewolf, or zombie again this Halloween, step things up a notch and go viral. There have been a ton of funny memes and absurd news since last October, so the only hard part is settling on the right one for inspiration for you ...more
Sometimes, when it comes to Halloween costumes, the easiest ones to make are the best. They require little effort, but can pack a punch and look even more authentic than complex character replications. Recreating Agatha's look from Wes Anderson's The Grand Budapest Hotel is p ...more
Apple added a Bedtime Mode to its Screen Time tool for curbing smartphone distractions. Google's version of Screen Time, called Digital Wellbeing, actually predates Apple's, but a recent update is finally bringing in Bedtime Mode. The new Bedtime Mode is mostly a rebranding o ...more
On Instagram, you can write text over any picture or video in your Story, but it may be hard to get your message across with a distracting background. Although there is a "Type" option for Stories, which allows you to write text over colorful gradient backgrounds, the selectio ...more
If you've never used the Home button shortcuts on your iPhone before, you've been missing out. And no, I'm not talking about opening up Siri. By clicking the Home button three times, you could quickly pull up tools such as Magnifier, VoiceOver, Zoom, and Assistive Touch, but t ...more
If you've just started a freeform editing project in Adobe Premiere Clip on Android or iPhone, what's next? The first thing you're going to want to do is trim down the video clips you imported into your draft, that way you can lay them out perfectly in your timeline and create ...more
With the Nexus 6, you get a very clean software experience with minimal bloat. While this is generally the main selling point for most Nexus fans, it can be a bit of a detraction for some. Default software and system apps can seem a bit bare-bones at times, and this is most n ...more
Android Lollipop's new Material Design interface does its best to strike a delicate balance between intuitiveness, usability, and aesthetics. For some folks, though, the use of a lighter color palette throughout the interface disrupts this balance. If Lollipop's white backgro ...more
At the core of your Galaxy S5's hardware lies the central processing unit, or CPU for short. Practically every piece of data, every binary bit, has to pass through your CPU before it can be used to display a video or execute a game command. During times of heavy load, the CPU ...more
After lots of waiting and anticipation, the OnePlus One Android smartphone has been unveiled, and it's ready to take down the Nexus. Video: . This CyanogenMod based device comes in with high-end features and a killer price point, and is set to go on sale in May. The OnePlus O ...more
Silence can therapeutic at times, but unsettling at others. When I'm in bed at night, I need some sort of background or white noise to help me fall asleep. Pure silence just does not do it for me. Whether it's a fan oscillating left to right, or the TV playing, I need backgrou ...more
With a 5-inch screen, it's possible that the Samsung Galaxy S4 can be a bit large for our hands. While my grubby hands let me navigate the phone pretty easily, the same can't be said for everyone. A lot of us use two hands to type on the phone, play games, and perform tap or s ...more
So, you've got a brand new PlayStation 4, but unfortunately, you've got "No Signal" now, too. You can't really game or watch movies on your new toy if you can't even bring up the PlayStation menu on your TV screen. However, there are a few ways to fix the no connection alert, ...more
The new iOS 14 for iPhone arrived Wednesday, Sept. 15, 2020, alongside iPadOS 14, and there are a lot of features to uncover. Improved widgets. Better home screen customization. Exciting Messages improvements. New abilities in Camera and Photos. There's so much here that it'll ...more
The native timer feature on your iPhone works well enough that you probably haven't even thought about installing a third-party timer. With just a few taps, you can get a countdown for any amount of time up to 24 hours (or one second shy of 24 hours, to be precise). But as fas ...more
The original iPhone SE was, for some, the perfect iPhone. It brought back the popular one-handed form factor of the iPhone 5 but packed in the internals of the then-new iPhone 6S. Now, the second-generation iPhone SE is here for 2020, but can it live up to what made the first- ...more
Samsung launched One UI in 2018 to replace the now infamous TouchWiz. Since then, things have been looking pretty bright for Galaxy users. Now, the much-anticipated arrival of Android 10 is ushering in the One UI 2.0 era, including a new set of gesture-based controls. Since y ...more
Google Keep now has a dark mode. If your device is running Android 10, it kicks in automatically when you turn on the system-wide dark theme. If your device is not running Android 10, you will have to manually switch on dark mode for each app, including Keep. The benefits of d ...more
Dark mode is everywhere. Both Android 10 and iOS 13 added the feature natively, and many of your favorite apps now include the option. So far, Google has been on a mission to add it to all of its apps, and Google Photos is no exception. As with all of Google's compatible apps ...more
A universal dark theme has long been one of the most sought-after features we've been urging Apple to introduce for iOS. While this wish went unfulfilled with iOS 12, there's renewed hope that it'll finally touch down with iOS 13's arrival. The jailbreak community, however, ha ...more
Dark themes are all the rage these days, and both Android and iOS have system-wide versions. Many big-name apps and device manufacturers have already jumped on board the night train, and Google Chrome is no different. But the Chrome mobile browser offers various ways to enable ...more
In iOS, the Control Center is an easy way to toggle settings such as Wi-Fi, Do Not Disturb, and Low Power Mode. Its Android counterpart is called "Quick Settings," which provides much of the same functionality with a few bonuses. If you're curious about how this toggle menu wo ...more
Adding Stickers to your Instagram Stories is a great way to spice up your story, giving it another dimension that bare pictures don't have. Those who use Snapchat know that platform features stickers as well, and you can even pin them to your Snaps. Fortunately, Instagram lets ...more
Unlike traditional backlit LCD technology, OLED screens don't use any power to display black pixels. Many manufacturers have taken advantage of this by implementing an always-on display, which only lights up a few pixels here and there to show relevant info when your phone is ...more
One of the least important but most noticeable changes in any iOS update is the look of home screen icons. In the new iOS 11, there aren't any drastic icon differences compared to iOS 10, but there's definitely a few design modifications for some of the main stock apps, such a ...more
Regardless of what they call them—be it Pixel or Nexus—Google's line of smartphones have a cool feature called "Ambient Display" that wakes your screen in a low-power black and white state when you receive a notification. This feature was added back when Google owned Motorola, ...more
The new Google phones, which are rumored to ditch the Nexus moniker for Pixel, will most likely come with an Android feature that 7.0 Nougat doesn't currently have—a new set of navigation keys. Don't Miss: Get Android Nougat Features on Your Marshmallow Device The new phone ...more
It sounds like a dream come true: just press a button on your phone, and 30 seconds later, a machine produces a custom-made, ready-to-eat meal. Finally, science comes through for the truly lazy! Impossible, you say? Not according to Israeli inventors from White Innovation who ...more
Google's got a hit on its hands with this one. Android 5.0—AKA "Lollipop"—will be making its official debut next month, but a new preview build has given us a glimpse into the future, which looks brighter than ever. New accents, beautiful animations, and a lighter overall col ...more
Most alarms just make noise to wake you up, and it can be a bit jarring coming off of a deep sleep to suddenly being woken up by a blaring sound. On the flip side, if you're a heavy sleeper, this might not even be enough stimuli to snap you out of your 8-hour coma. While ther ...more
If browsing speed is important to you—and it should be—you'll probably be interested to know that there are ten simple flag modifications you can make in Google Chrome in order to achieve the fastest browsing speed possible. A few months ago, Dallas covered six ways to speed ...more
It's nice to have a drink on an airplane, whether you're taking a flight somewhere fun or for work. However, what's not so nice is the high prices and relatively bad quality of the liquor that's available. If that's what's holding you back from having a nice tipple, never fea ...more
Google has finally announced the newest flavor of its mobile OS, Android L (Lollipop?), and I couldn't be more excited. While we won't see its official release until the fall, there are still some features we can get our hands on right now. Most of the Google Apps require you ...more
The Nexus 5 has a known issue with its display. Affecting all models from the first manufacturing run and most models thereafter, this display issue is easiest to notice on something with a white background. A yellowish tint, most noticeable when compared to other devices, see ...more
Thanks to its dedicated ImageChip, the HTC One has one of the best cameras out of all the smartphones currently on the market. Their branded UltraPixel Camera can take full resolution photos while shooting video, has superior auto-focusing, and provides great overall quality f ...more
"We all want to escape our circumstances, don't we?" Benedict Cumberbatch may have been talking about acting, but the sentiment rings true for all of us at some point or another. Whether it's work, school, or just boredom at home—we all wish for an escape sometimes. If only. ...more
Even though I am not cool enough to use Instagram on a daily basis, I still try to stay in the loop. I did take photography in high school, so I know a thing or two about picture taking. I just can't seem to find the motivation to take a picture of random crap during my daily ...more
Safari's massive upgrade in Apple's latest iPhone software update includes new features you won't find in any other web browsers on iOS, from better ways to stay organized to enhanced security and further privacy protections. Apple's latest Safari improvements make web browsi ...more
Apple's Weather app has been around forever, at least for iPhone, and it's gone through many design changes over the years. But we're at a point now where we can actually customize how the Weather app looks and feels in many different ways, some of which you probably haven't e ...more
For all of its many perks — from the best iPhone camera system money can buy, to arguably the best smartphone display on the market — the iPhone 12 Pro Max is undeniably huge. It has the largest iPhone screen to date despite being 0.46 cubic inches smaller than the iPhone 11 P ...more
Dark mode is simply a way of life these days now that both Android and iOS officially support it. Most major apps now use the system-wide setting on Android and iOS, and many had their own dark themes in-app before Google and Apple got with the program. But the social media gi ...more
Stories are everywhere in social media today, but that wasn't always the case. In 2013, Snapchat introduced the world to these temporary windows into our daily lives. Since then, stories have infiltrated other popular apps. However, to stand out, you can't solely rely on the a ...more
If you're an Apple fan, AirPods are the must-have wireless headphones to own. They know when they're in your ears, will pause music when one is taken out, and when you pair them with your iPhone they'll already work on your Mac, iPad, and iPod touch using the same Apple ID. Ho ...more
With the rise of OLED displays, Android users have been begging Google for a true system-wide dark mode for years. While a system-wide solution is still somewhat unlikely, Google has given in by providing a dark mode for certain apps, including Contacts. With most phones rock ...more
I hate folder names, especially the one Apple shoves down our digital throats. On a computer, they make total sense, but on my iPhone, it's just more clutter on the home screen. You can tell what folder is what just by looking at the app icons within it, so why are we forced t ...more
Auto rotation is generally useful, but it gets annoying when you trigger it accidentally. In past Android versions, you could lock rotation into portrait mode as a workaround, but you'd have to disable this every time you wanted to put your phone in landscape mode. Luckily, An ...more
Google's been using their "Material Design" look in Android for years now, but a change is coming up with "Material Design 2," their updated version focusing on new colors, icons, and spacing. Whether it'll be called "Material Design 2" or not remains to be seen, but you can t ...more
After several Android phones started incorporating the iPhone X's notch, the online community was vocal, with many expressing hatred for the trend. Well, thanks to XDA Forum Moderator Zacharee1, we already have an app to undo the incoming wave of notches. As we wait for the a ...more
As if Amazon didn't already make it easier to buy things from home than in a store, the company has now given shoppers yet another reason to avoid the holiday rush with an ARKit update to its iPhone app. While Amazon may have lagged behind IKEA in arriving to the ARKit party, ...more
Scanning important paperwork on smartphones is a tedious process, often relying on either external scanners or third-party apps that had to be either purchased or were loaded with annoying ads just to get the job done. Thankfully, iOS 11 now lets you easily scan documents usin ...more