Hot Gadget Hacks How-Tos
How To: All the iPhone Accessories You'll Need for Back to School
Whether you're in high school or college, you no doubt will have your iPhone in your pocket all day long. To make your iPhone last the whole time and even help you out with your studies, these are the accessories you'll want to get your hands on.
How To: Use WhatsApp's Four-Way Calls for Group Video & Audio Chats
While WhatsApp remains one of the world's most popular messaging apps, you could only call or video chat with one friend at a time. To group audio or video chat, you'd have to use a different app, but that's no longer the case. Announced on July 30, 2018, WhatsApp now lets you group audio or video call with up to three more users on Android and iOS.
How To: Get True Stereo Sound on Your OnePlus 6 by Using the Earpiece Speaker
OnePlus pulled out almost all the stops with their latest flagship, but there are a few areas where the phone falls just short of perfect. The single bottom-firing speaker leaves a lot to be desired, for instance, but thanks to the awesome development community for the OnePlus 6, you can already give your phone true stereo speakers with a software mod.
How To: 4 Ways to Get Your Fortnite Fix While You Wait for the Official Game on Android
Since early March, iOS users have been able to enjoy the most popular video game sweeping the rounds. Android users have been left envious as they wait for a "few months," the only vague release date given by Epic Games. In the meantime, there are a few ways we can still satisfy our urge to play.
ARKit 101: How to Place a Group of Balloons Around You & Have Them Float Randomly Up into the Sky
Have you ever seen pictures or videos of balloons being let go into the sky and randomly floating away in all directions? It's something you often see in classic posters or movies. Well, guess what? Now you'll be able to do that without having to buy hundreds of balloons, all you'll need is ARKit!
How To: Replace Your iPhone X's Battery Just Like Apple Would
Each year, Apple seems to design its devices to be more difficult for owners to repair themselves. So when an iPhone breaks, a trip to the Genius Bar or an Apple Authorized Service Provider is most likely necessary. But if you have an iPhone X that needs a new battery, a leaked video just spilled the beans on how to replace the battery precisely as Apple would.
You're Doing It Wrong: 3 Bad Habits That Are Ruining Your Phone's Battery
I was in college, and my 15-inch Sony Vaio laptop was my prized possession. It was my first PC and probably the most important thing I brought with me to my dorm — it was both how I completed my assignments and my primary source of entertainment. How could it turn its back on me in my time of need?
How To: Use BlackBerry's Redactor to Hide Sensitive Info in Screenshots
Sometimes we need to share screenshots, but don't want to reveal the entire screen. This usually requires some editing that isn't typically easy to do on a smartphone. BlackBerry recognized this issue and created a tool called Redactor that makes it easy to hide your data before sharing.
How To: Here's How Your Apps Will Get Better Now That They Have to Target Oreo
On August 1, Google Play started requiring new app submissions to target at least Android 8.0 Oreo's API. Then, as of November 1, all updates to existing apps were required target the same API. While at first glance, this change may mean little to you, it will have a profound impact on Android. Now, your favorite apps will be getting better.
How To: Turn Your Galaxy S9's Super Slow-Mo Videos into GIFs
The Galaxy S9's Super Slow-mo feature comes packed with tools that help you tweak your slow motion clips like a pro. Among these is the ability to convert your slow motion videos into GIFs with a user-friendly interface. As a result, it's incredibly easy to go from recording to GIF conversion and on to sharing in a few taps.
How To: Timehop Breach Impacts Everyone Who's Ever Used the App — Here's How to Check What Info Leaked About You
Data breaches are all too common now, and the latest one you need to know about involves Timehop, a mobile app that makes it easy to reminisce over old photos. The breach, which took place on July 4, was revealed on Sunday, July 8. At the time, Timehop disclosed that 21 million users had been affected by the breach, but it now appears that all users were impacted in some way.
How To: Use Firefox Rocket to Browse the Web Faster & Save Data on Any Android
Mozilla has created yet another browser for Android. Similar to Firefox Focus, Firefox Rocket was designed to address specific problems: limited internal storage and low data caps. However, in the process of solving these problems, they created one of the fastest browsers on the market.
How To: Use Instagram's Q&A Sticker in Stories to Get Viewer Responses on Any Question You Have
Your Instagram followers deserve to be heard. Whether through polls or DMs, Instagram offers your followers a unique way to share their thoughts and opinions with you on any subject you can think of. Now, the social media giant is expanding these options with the introduction of a new "Questions" sticker for your stories.
How To: Hide WhatsApp Photos & Videos from Your Phone's Default Gallery
When you receive a photo or video from a contact in WhatsApp, after you load it, it's automatically saved to your phone's local storage. That means all received content from WhatsApp is visible to anyone who gains access to your default photo gallery. Luckily, there's a new feature available for the Android version of the app that can prevent this from happening.
How To: Play Marvel Battle Lines to Unleash Spider Man & Other Heroes on Your iPhone Right Now
Marvel has solidified itself as the dominant superhero franchise with the release of Avengers: Infinity War, and it's now dipping its toes into the world of mobile card-based strategy games with the soft launch of Marvel Battle Lines in select countries ahead of a worldwide release. If you'd like to install this game right now and get a head start on your fellow gamers stateside, there's a workaround.
How To: Use BlackBerry's DTEK Security Suite to Protect Your Device
When BlackBerry made the move to Android OS, they were aware of the limitations it presented. Unlike with BB10, they didn't create the operating system and would have to deal with the vulnerabilities already included. As a result, they added numerous security enhancements, and at the heart of this is DTEK.
How To: Remove the On-Screen Keyboard on Your BlackBerry KEYone or KEY2
One of the best parts of the BlackBerry KEYone and KEY2 is the iconic physical keyboard. There is one major downside, though: By default, the virtual keyboard appears on these devices even when typing on the physical keyboard. Luckily, there's a way to change that.
How To: You've Probably Let Several Apps Read Your Gmail — Here's How to See & Delete Them
Thanks to recent reports, we now know third-party apps have a lot more access to our Gmail than we may have initially thought. In fact, these third-party apps have the ability to read our emails, not because these companies are necessarily shady, but because we agreed to it. Luckily, there's a way to view which apps have this access, as well as a way to boot those apps from your Gmail entirely.
How To: Take Better Fireworks Photos with Your iPhone
The default Camera app on your iPhone can take some pretty incredible photos during the day. Newer iPhone models can even make nighttime shots look good. But you can't just point and shoot if you want to capture some pretty spectacular fireworks photos on July 4th, New Year's Eve, or another pyrotechnic celebration.
How To: New RAMpage Vulnerability Affects Every Android Device Since 2012, but There's Not Much You Can Do
A team of academics from three different universities and two private companies have just discovered a new vulnerability that affects almost every Android device since 2012. The vulnerability is known as RAMpage, and it could be used to gain complete control over the device.
How To: iOS 12 Adds Quick-Reply Tapbacks to iMessage & Text Notifications on Your iPhone
Ever since iOS 8, Apple's quick reply feature had made it easy to respond to messages without leaving the lock screen or whatever app you're currently in, but you can't utilize all of Messages features when responding this way. You can't add photos, use iMessage apps, record audio, choose effects, or send handwritten messages. You also couldn't use Tapback, but iOS 12 just changed this.
How To: Completely Revamp the Lock Screen on Your Galaxy S8 or S9
Samsung's Good Lock app has has breathed much needed life into its TouchWiz UI by giving us the ability to customize our Galaxy phones in ways that previously would've required root or a custom ROM. One companion app in particular even lets you personalize your lock screen to set it apart from the rest of the crowd.
How To: Talk to Google Home Normally Without Having to Say 'Hey Google' Each Time
At I/O 2018, Google showcased features that would make the Google Assistant easier to communicate with. While some people were impressed with (and maybe creeped out by) Google Duplex, one feature that was well received was the ability to talk to the Assistant without the constant "Hey Google" before each question.
How To: Lock Your Apple Watch with a Passcode to Increase Security & Keep Prying Eyes Out
While there isn't as much personal data residing on your Apple Watch as there is on your iPhone, it's still a good idea to set a passcode for it and lock it up when you're not using it. If you don't, while it's charging or otherwise off your wrist, others may be able to sneak a peek at your activity, messages, emails, and other personal details. Plus, you won't be able to use Apple Pay without one.
ARKit 101: How to Measure the Ground Using ARKit
Have you noticed the many utility ARKit apps on the App Store that allow you to measure the sizes of horizontal planes in the world? Guess what? After this tutorial, you'll be able to do this yourself!
How To: Get Android P-Style Multitasking on Your Galaxy S8 or S9
A revamped Recent Apps overview is one of the most significant changes set to arrive with Android P when it touches down later this year. Incredibly, Samsung has beaten Google to the punch, and has made this feature available for all its Oreo-based Galaxy handsets courtesy of its Good Locks app.
How To: Remove Any Status Bar Icon on Your Galaxy S8, S9, or Note 8
Samsung reintroduced its well regarded Good Lock app, so now you can tweak parts of your Galaxy's interface without the need for root or other labor-intensive mods. Thanks to an awesome add-on, you can even tidy up you phone's status bar — so if you've always wanted to get rid of that pesky NFC "N" icon or any other indicator at the top of your display, you're now just a few taps away.
How To: Install Samsung's Good Lock App to Customize Your Galaxy
Customizing the lock screen, status bar, and other aspects of your Galaxy's UI usually requires root. Thankfully, Samsung has reintroduced a well-regarded app that gives you the freedom to tailor parts of your Galaxy's interface in just a few simple steps.
How To: The 10 Best New Features in iOS 12's Photos App for iPhone
Apple's own Photos app received some pretty amazing updates in iOS 11, but does iOS 12 have what it takes to one-up last year's Photos improvements? We think so.
How To: Send & Receive Texts from Any Computer with Android Messages
It's no secret that Android has a messaging problem. iPhone users can turn to iMessage as a one-stop shop for all their messaging needs — features like read receipts and the ability to text from a computer have been standard with Apple products for quite some time. Android has no such solution, but Google's looking to fix that with a huge update to the Android Messages app.
How To: Disable the 'Unlock iPhone to Use Accessories' Notification in iOS 11.4.1 & Higher
If you're on iOS 11.4.1 or iOS 12 and go more than an hour without unlocking your iPhone, an "Unlock iPhone to Use Accessories" message will appear whenever you connect your iPhone to a computer or other device that tries to use the Lightning cable's data lines. This is to protect you, but it can be annoying if you have no reason to believe that law enforcement or criminals will have access to your iPhone.
How To: Get Your FIFA Fix & Play Kings of Soccer on Your iPhone Right Now
Kings of Soccer recently soft launched in the Netherlands and a few other countries, garnering positive reviews from the mobile gamers who've experienced it. With the 2018 FIFA World Cup now in full swing, we wanted to let you in on a little secret: You can play Kings of Soccer right now ahead of everyone else, regardless of where you live.
How To: Prevent Accidental 911 Calls from Your Apple Watch (So Emergency Services Don't Show Up While You're Sleeping)
I've called 911 accidentally more than a few times on my iPhone using the Emergency SOS triggers, but it's also just as easy to trigger an unintentional call to emergency services using an Apple Watch. These accidental 911 calls can put a strain on local public-safety answering points, or call centers, as well as local authorities and emergency medical technicians.
How To: The Best Way to Keep Up with World Cup News & Scores on Your Phone
With the World Cup in Russia fast approaching, you're probably wondering how to keep track of your country (unless that country is the USA). While there are a ton of apps that do just that, there's one that stands above the rest if you're looking for World Cup coverage — and it's not ESPN, Yahoo, or CBS.
How To: Find Songs by Lyrics in Apple Music for iOS 12 — With or Without a Subscription
Has this ever happened to you: You're singing a song in your head and want to look it up on Apple Music but you just can't think of its name or even who recorded it? In iOS 12, if you can sing it, you can search for it, as the update lets you find songs in Apple Music by lyrics alone. It's like Shazam, only instead of identifying music by sound, it uses the lyrics in your head.
How To: Watch YouTube Red Content for Free
For a while, YouTube Red original content was a joke, lagging behind other services like Netflix and Hulu in terms of quality, so breaking down the paywall didn't seem necessary. However, with series like Cobra Kai turning heads, it's a good time to start using Red. Luckily, Android users can get all of this content for free, and without rooting.
How To: Play Power Rangers All Stars & Pilot a Megazord on Your iPhone Before Its Official Release
The Power Rangers universe is massive, spanning numerous shows and movies that feature different heroes — from the original dinosaur-themed Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, to Power Rangers Samurai, and so on. To tie it all in, Nexon has soft launched Power Rangers: All Stars in select countries ahead of a worldwide release. But you can try the game out right now thanks to a simple hack.
How To: iOS 12 Makes 2FA for Third-Party Apps & Websites Easy with Security Code AutoFill from SMS Texts
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 Messages, then jump back in a timely manner to log in. Apple's latest iOS version streamlines this process.
How To: Customize Gmail's Swipe Actions So They're Not Just 'Delete' & 'Archive'
For a while, Gmail only had one swipe gesture, and it could only perform one of two actions: Archive or Delete. Not that it wasn't useful — you could eliminate most spam emails in a matter of seconds by swiping left or right on any email in your inbox. But now, Google has finally added more custom actions to its swipe gestures.
How To: 3 New Ways to Save Snapchats Without Getting Caught on Android
When Snapchat first hit it big, people just assumed it'd be used for seedy activities. And while that's not completely true, it's definitely true sometimes. For those moments when you need to take a sneaky screenshot that doesn't notify the sender, Android has plenty of ways to keep your cover from being blown — no root needed.