Hot Gadget Hacks How-Tos
How To: Play Music on 2 Devices Using Your Samsung Galaxy Phone
Let me paint a picture for you. You're on a long flight home, and while listening to music on your Samsung Galaxy S10, a great song comes on. You want your friend to hear it too, who's also listening to music using a pair of Bluetooth headphones. Thanks to Dual Audio, you can easily share your experience.
How To: Save Any Instagram Pic to Your iPhone's Camera Roll
As a picky "liker" on Instagram, I make sure to only double-tap on the photos that I truly enjoy looking at: delicious cheeseburger shots, Siberian Husky snaps, music festivals photos, and obligatory baby pictures that my mom posts from my youth.
Text Replacements: The Secret Weapon to Typing More with Less on Your iPhone, iPad, or Mac
There are plenty of tools that'll help you type faster and more efficiently on your iPhone or iPad, such as Slide to Type, Dictation, and even a case with a physical keyboard. But one of the best tricks will help you type frequently used words, phrases, sentences, email addresses, and more faster, and you can sync your settings with your Mac so you can type more with less effort on all your Apple devices.
How To: Missing Burst Mode? Here's How to Find It on iPhone 11, 11 Pro & 11 Pro Max
Burst mode on iPhone is a great way to ensure you capture the photo you truly want, especially when your subject is moving too fast. You'd be forgiven for thinking that Apple ditched the feature entirely on iPhone 11, 11 Pro, and 11 Pro Max, since a long-press of the shutter button now records video instead. However, burst mode is alive and well on your new iPhone — it's just hidden.
How To: Apple's Weather App Just Got 13 New Features and Changes in the Latest iPhone Software Update
Apple's Weather app keeps getting better and more refined with each new software update. For example, 2023's big update gave us yesterday's weather, averages, and wind maps, while 2022's unleashes Lock Screen widgets, severe weather alerts, and an iPad version. Now, we have significant changes to feels-like details, an update to measurement units, more pollutant statistics, and more.
How To: Open an ADB or Fastboot Command Window in Platform-Tools
When it comes to rooting and modding any Android device, ADB and Fastboot commands will quickly become your two new best friends once you realize the power they have. From unlocking your bootloader to flashing any file you could ever want — if you're serious about the modding and customization game, you'll want to become acquainted with these commands as soon as possible.
How To: The Best Way to Send High-Quality Videos from Android to iPhone
Being an Android user and having friends who are in the Apple ecosystem does not need to be a pain. You can easily send high-quality videos to iPhone users, so don't feel handicapped without access to iMessage. Sending high-resolution videos to iOS users is easy with this fast video-sharing method.
How To: Install TWRP Without a Computer
TWRP is the premiere custom recovery for Android because of how many devices it supports and how simple it is to use. But installing it in the first place hasn't always been the easiest thing to do — until now. With the help of a Magisk module, you can finally use one Android device to flash TWRP on another.
How To: Redirect Links on Android to Open in the App You Really Wanted
One of Android's biggest strengths relative to iOS is the fact that you can use any app to open compatible links, not just the stock ones that come preloaded on your device. When you tap a link that two or more of your apps are capable of opening, you'll see a message asking which app to launch it with—and from there, the choices are "Just Once" or "Always."
How To: Transfer Your Authy Account to a New Phone
One of the main reasons Authy was able to top our list of the best two-factor authentications apps was its ability to transfer access to a new device. This feature ensures that whenever you get a new phone, you don't lose all your tokens. However, if the process is done incorrectly, you can leave your account vulnerable.
How To: Edit Android's Share Menu — No Root Needed
Android's share intents system is great in theory, but the execution can sometimes be frustrating. When you tap the "Share" button next to a link, app, or file, you see a list of apps you can share that item with. But it seems like every time you use this function, the list of apps is in a different order — especially when it comes to the Direct Share targets at the top.
Google Photos 101: How to Use Google Lens to Identify Landmarks in Your Images
When traveling or sightseeing, you may come across a landmark you can't quite identify and want to know what exactly it is and the history behind it. It could be a building, waterfall ... anything. If there are no signs around or they're in a different language, you'll have no idea what you're looking at. Fortunately, Google Photos can be your personal tour guide with the power of Google Lens.
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.
How To: There's an Easy Way to Type Fractions as Single Characters on Your iPhone's Keyboard
Whenever you need to type out a fraction on your iPhone, whether in a message, word document, presentation, math problem, recipe, or wherever else you need it, it's easy to use numbers and slashes. But there's a way to make fractions look more professional and easier to read straight from your keyboard.
How To: Unlock the Bootloader on Your Pixel 5 — An Easy-to-Follow Guide
Google doesn't get enough credit for it, but they definitely make some of the best phones for rooting and modding. Heck, if you want to replace the entire operating system on a Pixel, you can do it pretty easily. It all starts with the bootloader.
How To: Hide the VPN 'Key' Icon on Android — No Root Needed
Depending on how you use your phone, you may have noticed your status bar is a bit crowded due to various icons being enabled. While some icons make sense to have, such as Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, the VPN key icon can be redundant, especially if the app uses a notification. Good thing, there is a way to get rid of the icon.
TWRP 101: How to Mount Your SD Card or USB OTG Drive to Flash External ZIPs
With great power comes great responsibility, and when it comes to modding Android, nothing is more powerful than TWRP custom recovery. As easy as it is to replace your phone's entire OS with a custom ROM, when things go awry, you can also be left with no operating system at all.
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.
How To: Apple's Repair Mode for iOS Makes Prepping Your iPhone to Be Fixed Easier and More Secure
You no longer have to worry about repair technicians accessing the personal information on your iPhone when you send it in for repairs. With Apple's new security feature, you'll no longer have to erase your iPhone to ensure your photos, messages, accounts, and other private data remain for your eyes only.
How To: The Easiest Way to Resize All Windows on Your Mac Simultaneously to the Same Dimensions
It can feel pretty chaotic when you have a lot of open windows on your Mac that are different sizes, but there's an easy way to organize the mess in just a few seconds.
How To: Google Maps vs. Google Maps Go — Which App Is Right for You?
Google's "Go" line of apps are lightweight counterparts designed to be limited speedy alternatives to their full-featured sibling apps. There is a Go version of Photos, Search, Maps, and more — but are they the right apps for you?
How To: I Tried 5 Different Pomodoro Apps Over 5 Days — Here's Which Helped Me Get the Most Done
Procrastination is an ugly beast. At first, it seems so innocent to spend five minutes checking Reddit or Twitter. You'll get started on work right after. Next thing you know, it's 1 a.m. and that paper is due in seven hours. Before you start another YouTube video, know you don't have to be like Spongebob. You can be like me, taking control of your productivity with the right app.
How To: Secretly Call & Message Contacts Using an Innocent-Looking Android Calculator
Whether you're a secret spy or just a regular person with a few secrets, you may want to keep certain information on your smartphone private, and it's totally possible on Android to do so.
How To: 11 New Apple Maps Features That Improve Hikes, Search, Favorites, Saved Locations, and More on Your iPhone
Apple Maps just received a major upgrade in its latest software update, and some of its new features are perfect for urban explorers, national park adventurers, and everyday travelers alike. Some of these enhancements provide more personalized and precise guidance, making every journey more enjoyable and efficient.
How To: High Heart Rate Warning on Your Apple Watch? Here's What That Means
Your Apple Watch sends you notifications from friends, family, and the apps that are important to you. Occasionally, however, the watch may scare the heck out of you with a notification warning of an abnormal, elevated heart rate. If you have no history of heart conditions, this alert might come as a shock. Why do you have a high heart rate, and what are you to do with the information?
Tasker 101: How to Create an Exit Task
When you create a profile in Tasker, it will run a task as soon as all of the conditions in your profile are met. But what happens when the profile's conditions stop being met? By default, nothing will happen, but if you create an exit task, the automation tool will run that instead.
How To: Set Volume Levels to Change During Scheduled Times on Android
Different times call for different ringtone volumes. When you're at work or school, you need your phone to be quiet so it doesn't make a disturbance—but when you're at home or out and about, the volume should be turned back up so you don't miss any important notifications.
How To: FaceTime Finally Lets You Send and Receive Video Messages — Here's How It Works
Missing a FaceTime video call no longer means missing out on a conversation. With the latest FaceTime update, an incoming caller can leave you a video message when you don't answer — and you can leave a video message for somebody who misses or rejects your FaceTime video call.
How To: Disable the Startup Sound on Any Android Phone
Android's open source nature means it gets modified quite a bit. First, the phone manufacturer will add their customizations, then your carrier will add even more on top of that. Between the two, someone almost always adds a startup sound so that you and everyone around you will hear their jingle every time your phone reboots.
How To: Use Wireless ADB in Samsung's One UI 3.0 (It's Actually Pretty Easy)
Samsung's One UI 3.0 skin is built on top of Google's Android 11 open source code base, which means you get all of the standard features, plus some cool bonus stuff from Samsung. However, it's one of those standard AOSP features that you might find most useful if you send a lot of ADB commands.
How To: Find & Recover Apple Notes Stored in Gmail, Yahoo, Outlook, AOL & Other Third-Party Mail Accounts
If you can't locate a specific entry in the Notes app on your iPhone, chances are that it's hiding in a different place than you thought, connected to a third-party email service such as Gmail, Yahoo, or Outlook. When one of those notes gets lost or accidentally deleted, you're going to run into issues, but it's possible to recover it.
Binance 101: How to View Your Transaction History
Given the volatility of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), and Ripple (XRP), it's good to keep track of your transaction history and get a better idea where you stand financially. Though tracking down past trades on Binance may seem convoluted at first, it gets surprisingly intuitive once you get the hang of it.
How To: Get Fastboot Flashable Factory Images for Any OnePlus Phone
OnePlus phones are easy to root, but that also means they're easy to brick if you get trigger happy with your superuser privileges. If you find yourself in this situation, you'll quickly realize the OnePlus firmware download page doesn't provide files you can flash in Fastboot mode.
How To: Use Gestures to Control YouTube's Brightness & Volume on Android
YouTube has a couple of basic gestures: you can double tap each half of the video to skip forward or back ten seconds, and you can swipe down to minimize the video. But wouldn't it be more useful if there were gestures to control brightness and volume? Well, as with all things Android, where there's a will, there's a way.
How To: Multitask Like a Pro on Your iPad by Using Up to 4 Open Apps at the Same Time
Apple's latest multitasking feature for iPad lets you go beyond Split View's two-app restriction to use up to four apps at once. Here's how it works.
How To: Check Your Android Phone's DPI Value to See the Screen Density
There are at least 24,000 different Android devices, and they all have varying hardware components. This is why many developers publish several unique variants of their apps, which, among other things, helps accommodate all of the different display sizes and resolutions on Android phones and tablets.
How To: Get a System-Wide Audio Equalizer on Your Google Pixel — No Root Needed
Google's version of Android is best described as AOSP with extra features. But while the Pixel's UI is rightfully praised for its simplicity, those "extra features" aren't as numerous as they are on other OEM skins like Samsung's One UI. Case in point, there's no real system-wide audio EQ.
How To: Annoy Your Friends on iMessage with a Barrage of Automated Texts
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 still banished, you can now use a Siri Shortcut to send text bombs through iMessage on your iPhone.
How To: Set Up Greenify Without Root & Save Battery Life on Any Android
Despite newer phones having larger batteries, after a few months, my battery life drops significantly. I started researching solutions after my third phone. No matter who I asked, the most recommended solution was always Greenify. And unlike other solutions, you don't need root to use it.
How To: Use These Price Trackers to Find On-Sale and Newly Free Apps for Your iPhone or iPad
To the end user, mobile apps are sometimes expensive. To the developers, those costs are justified for all the hard work put into making the apps. Sometimes app creators will meet in the middle by putting their apps on sale or giving them away for a limited time to gain more traction in the App Store.