Hot Gadget Hacks How-Tos

Apple Maps 101: How to Avoid Toll Routes During Driving Directions

If you're trying to get somewhere fast, taking a toll road or two can definitely help you do that, but at a cost. When you're not in any rush, that would-be toll money will work much better in your gas tank, especially if it's only minutes that are being shaved from your trip. With this in mind, Apple Maps has a simple way of avoiding tolls to save you money while navigating on your iPhone.

Gmail 101: How to Mute Conversations to Reduce Inbox Clutter

Whether inappropriate or unimportant, some emails don't need to be viewed at a certain times of the day. For example, you might not want to see any personal emails during work hours. By default, Gmail will notify you of all emails that hit your inbox, but fortunately, there's a feature that can automatically hide certain emails and prevent distracting notifications.

Instagram 101: How to Share Posts & Stories to All Your Close Friends' Feeds Only

Instagram is a great platform to share photos and videos with the world, but sharing with smaller groups is near impossible. You can directly message pictures, stories, or post links to friends, but that only works for one person at a time or in group chats you create. To share your content with a small group of people you care about the most, you'll want to use the "Close Friends" list.

How To: Get Hands Free for Directions & Traffic Info from Waze to Avoid a Crash (Or Ticket)

Drivers the world over are painfully aware of the inherent danger of taking their eyes off the road even for a second. In fact, according to the National Safety Council, 27% of all car crashes result from distracted driving due to attempted cell phone use. Fortunately, Waze comes with a feature that can help keep you from being a part of this grim statistic.

Instagram 101: How to Natively Regram Other Posts on Your Feed Without Leaving the App

You can retweet on Twitter, and you can reblog on Tumblr, but you cannot regram on Instagram. Until now, that is. For years, third-party apps have made it their business to help Instagram users share content from other users. With some new developments, Instagram looks to render those apps obsolete by adding a native regram button to the official Instagram application.

How To: Get the OnePlus 5T's Face Unlock on Any Phone

The OnePlus 5T was just released, and it's packing several new useful features. While many OnePlus 5 buyers are feeling frustrated with the quick release cycle, lots of fans are still clamoring to buy the new device. Aside from the larger screen, most of the buzz around the 5T has centered around the new face unlock method. Thanks to a clever hack, you can now get this feature on almost any phone!

How To: A Smartphone User's Guide to Surviving Thanksgiving

The holidays are stressful. Between traveling, family, and dinner, Thanksgiving weekend can feel like weeks. Many families have traditions that make the days long, but some of us would rather curl up somewhere and watch our favorite shows. But all is not lost — our phones do so much for us now that they can help make the long stressful weekend much more bearable.

How To: Change These Settings Now to Protect Your Data in Case Your Phone Is Stolen

As smartphone users, we live in dangerous times. The value of phones continues to rise, making them prime targets for thieves. In 2015, the FCC estimated that one million phones are stolen each year, and with several devices starting to hit the $1,000 mark now, these numbers are sure to rise. But what do you do if you fall victim to phone theft?

How To: Set Up the Meta 2 Head-Mounted Display

So after being teased last Christmas with an email promising that the Meta 2 was shipping, nearly a year later, we finally have one of the units that we ordered. Without a moment's hesitation, I tore the package open, set the device up, and started working with it.

How To: Set Up Grandma's First iPhone (A Guide for Newbie iOS Users)

So, your grandmother finally wants to ditch her flip phone for a shiny new smartphone? Congratulations. But helping her get used to her new device, even when it's an iPhone, is no small task. Grandma mastered checking her email in late-2012 and just recently learned there's a thing called "Facebook." But we love grandma, and thanks to this guide, we can definitely make this happen for her.

How To: 4 Easy Steps to Keep Malware Off Your Android Phone

Because of the way Google Play works, Android has a "bad app" problem. Google allows any developer to upload an app to the Play Store, regardless of if it works, how it looks, or whether or not it can harm users. Malware scanning happens primarily after apps are uploaded, and though Google has recently taken steps to safeguard users with its Play Protect program, you don't have to depend on them.

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: Fix the 'A [?]' Autocorrect Bug in iOS 11 When Typing 'i' Out on Your iPhone

There's an annoying bug in Apple's latest operating system for iPhone, iOS 11, that autocorrects the lowercase letter "i" by itself (which usually turns into a capital "I" pronoun) into a capital "A" followed by a strange question mark in a box "[?]" symbol. There is now an official patch for this bug, as well as a workaround fix if you don't want to update yet.