Tweaks & Hacks
How To: Set a GIF as a Live Wallpaper for Your iPhone's Lock Screen Background
In iOS, Apple provides a few live wallpapers that you can use for the background on your iPhone's lock screen, but these animated options are just wavy color shifts and ink-in-water effects. To really customize your lock screen, you can use a Live Photo for your wallpaper. If you can't find the right Live Photo, GIFs are the next best thing, and experimenting with them feels like a game almost.
How To: Unlock the Hidden Weather Lock Screen Widget in iOS 12 on Your iPhone
There are a lot of things that make iOS great, but lock screen widgets are not among them. If you want more information on your lock screen other than the date, time, and notifications without having to swipe to a sidebar of widgets, you'd normally look toward Android. However, iOS 12 aims to shake that up a bit with a secret Weather widget for the lock screen — not for the Today view.
How To: Customize the App Icons on Your iPhone's Home Screen
The most significant customization aspect of the iPhone is most definitely the home screen. Before iOS 14, Apple only threw in a feature here and there to appease those who like a more personal touch on the most visible part of the operating system. Now, there are great customizability options to give you a real personalized touch, and that includes app icons.
How To: Theme the Home Screen App Icons on Your iPhone Without Jailbreaking
Believe it or not, there are a variety of ways to customize app icons in iOS. While iOS 12 made gave us an unofficial built-in way to do it, and iOS 13 improved it, and iOS 14 made it the best it could possibly be, there's still another option if you don't like using the Shortcuts app.
How To: Hide the Dock's Translucent Background on Your iPhone
The idea of a dock on any smartphone, be it iPhone or Android, is a fantastic invention. It allows you to stay grounded with a core group of apps that you frequently use. However, sometimes that dock can feel like an obstruction in the face of style — but there's a trick to hiding that translucency behind those core apps at the bottom of your iPhone without jailbreaking.
How To: Add Shoulder Buttons to Any Phone with a Few Strips of Tape
With ultra competitive games like Fortnite Battle Royale and PUBG taking the mobile world by storm, gamers are looking for ways to get a leg up on the competition. One of the biggest advantages you can give yourself is the ability to aim and shoot while on the move, but that's not exactly easy with a touchscreen.
How To: View the Battery Percentage Indicator on Your iPhone X, XS, XS Max, or XR
On all other iPhone models, you go to "Battery" in the Settings app and toggle on "Battery Percentage" in order to see the exact amount of power left in the status bar. On the iPhone X, XS, XS Max, and XR, however, that option no longer exists since there's not enough room up there to show the percentage indicator because of the notch for the TrueDepth camera system. But that doesn't mean it's gone entirely.
How To: Unlock Apple's 'Dark Mode' in iOS 11, 12 & 13 for iPhone
Apple gave us the ability to invert colors on the screen a very long time ago. Then they gave us grayscale mode in iOS 8, Night Shift in iOS 9, and the red screen filter in iOS 10. While the long-awaited "Dark Mode" finally appeared in iOS 13, iOS 11 and iOS 12 both have a decent placeholder for it you can use on your iPhone.
How To: Hide Folder Names on Your iPhone for Good
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 to label them? Technically, we're not, since there is a workaround in iOS 12 and iOS 13 to make those labels disappear for good.
How To: Completely Disable Bixby on Your Samsung Galaxy
Sorry Samsung. I know you really wanted Bixby to be the next Siri, Google Assistant, or Alexa — but it just isn't. Burying the option to disable the app won't change that. Sure, Bixby has some redeeming qualities, but there are many of us who don't want it shoved down our throats. We'll show you how to disable the app to prevent it from launching every time you try to access just about anything.
How To: Stop Incoming Calls from Taking Over Your iPhone's Entire Screen
Incoming phone calls and FaceTimes, whether you want to answer them or not, will take over your entire iPhone's screen — no matter what you're in the middle of doing on the device at the moment. You could be browsing the web, playing a game, or chatting on social media. It doesn't matter, you'll get interrupted. But you don't have to put up with it anymore.
How To: This Tweak Gives You Free YouTube Premium Features on Your iPhone for Nothing, Including Background Playback
If you want the ability to play YouTube videos in the background as you multitask on your iPhone, you'll have to shell out $11.99 a month for the privilege of doing so with YouTube Premium. Not all of us can afford nor justify such an expense, but if your iPhone is jailbroken, you can get your hands on this sought-after feature — and much more — without spending a dime.
How To: Use the Shortcuts App on Your iPhone in iOS 12 for Custom Siri Actions & More
One of the most exciting additions to iOS 12 for iPhones is called Shortcuts, a tool integrated with Siri to help you get things done faster. While there are a few recommended shortcuts available to you in Siri's settings in iOS 12, the Shortcuts app brings the functionality of Workflow to Siri so you can build your own custom actions or select from the gallery of available shortcuts.
How To: Turn GIFs into Live Photos on Your iPhone
If you've ever wanted to turn your favorite GIF into a live wallpaper for your iPhone or even just make it a 3D Touch-friendly Live Photo that you can share, there's a super simple way to do so.
News: 10 Free Icon Packs That'll Change the Look & Feel of Your Android
Being able to customize the look and feel of your device is the main reason a lot of folks choose Android over iOS. And perhaps the single biggest way to visually overhaul your phone or tablet's UI is to apply an icon pack, which can liven up your home screen with bright colors or make things look a bit more classy with a sleek, minimalist style, for instance.
News: 10 Awesome Android Apps You Won't Find on Google Play
As Android's official app provider, the Google Play Store is packed with thousands of useful programs. But Google's terms of service is extremely restrictive, which means that countless apps simply don't qualify to be hosted on the Google Play Store.
News: 15 Great Reasons to Root Your Phone
Okay, so you finally got around to rooting your Android device—now what? Well, to get the most out of your Superuser status, you'll need to find some good root apps, which will allow you to easily add features, reduce battery drain, remove ads, and much more.
News: The 12 Best Android Widgets for Getting Things Done
For people that like to get things done, Android's home screen widgets are almost indispensable. Rather than packing your launcher with a bunch of icons, you can utilize widgets to get quick information in a beautiful package or provide one-tap access to a particular functionality within your apps.
News: Android's Best Build.Prop Tweaks for Better Speed, Battery Life, & Customization
Android has a single text file named build.prop that determines tons of various system-wide settings on your device. You need root access to edit this file, since it's stored on the system partition—but the various lines of codes it contains are actually fairly easy to interpret and modify.
How To: This Hack Turns Any Phone into a Black Light
Black lights come in all shapes and sizes, and they're useful in a variety of ways. They can help you spot fake currency, urine stains, interesting rocks, and deadly scorpions, and they can even help you view cool fluorescent artwork.