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How To: Remove Annoying Auto-Playing Videos, Banners, & Other Distractions from Any Website in Safari

Ads aren't the only annoying part of navigating websites in Safari. Colorful banners, autoplaying videos, embedded objects, and other distracting elements can make it harder to read or watch what you want. Although ad blockers are one answer, they only get rid of advertisements, so you'll need something else to remove other irritating elements from your favorite websites.

How To: The Secret iPhone Dialer Trick That Dials Extensions Automatically & Navigates Automated Call Menus for You

Automatic phone menus are the worst. You call the number, listen to prerecorded prompts, press button, listen, press button, listen, press button, listen, until you're routed or connected to the right extension, directory, menu, person, or whatever. But you can bypass these automated attendants to get right to where you need to go by setting up a simple shortcut on your iPhone.

How To: Safari for iPhone Lets Advertisers Track Your 'Clicks' — Here's How to Disable It

Apple wants to support the advertising economy, but its primary focus of late has been user privacy and security. In Safari, cross-site tracking, which lets content providers track you across websites and apps to show you more targeted ads, is disabled by default. However, content providers can get around that using less privacy-invasive ad measurements, but you can stop that too in iOS 14.5.

How To: Stop Your iPhone from Automatically Sharing Audio to Your HomePod or HomePod Mini

Pushing music from your iPhone to your HomePod or HomePod mini by just moving the devices close to each other is certainly a great party trick. But if Handoff is too easily triggered, you might not think it's worth the wow factor. Thankfully, there's an easy way to stop your iPhone from sharing audio to your HomePod or HomePod mini (and vice versa) if you're finding it happens way too often.

How To: Make Your iPhone Switch Wallpapers Automatically When Dark Mode or Light Mode Is Enabled

There are still and live wallpapers on your iPhone that can go dark when Dark Mode is active or light when Light Mode is on, but there's no easy way to do the same for custom backgrounds. That doesn't mean you're out of luck, though, because you can use Shortcuts to build a workaround until Apple gets us an official "Dark Mode" option for automation.

How To: Enable Offline Finding on Your Galaxy So You Can Locate Your Phone in Airplane Mode

Nowadays, even the dumbest thieves know that the first thing you should do after you steal a phone is turn on airplane mode. Not only does this make it harder for police to track the phone through cell tower triangulation, but it also disables security features the person you stole it from may have implemented — for instance, Samsung's Find My Mobile service.

How To: Magnify Details in Screenshots & Photos on Your iPhone to Focus Attention on What Matters

Over the last few years, Apple has significantly improved and scaled up your iPhone's ability to edit photos. Using the Markup feature, which was introduced back in iOS 10, you can add doodles, highlights, important text, your signature, and arrows and other objects onto pictures and screenshots. One of the lesser-known tools in Markup lets you zoom into essential details without cropping.

How To: These Are the iPhones That Can Upgrade to iOS 14

The latest iOS version hit iPhones in September 2020, but which models work with iOS 14. There's good news on that front since all iPhone models that could run iOS 13 can also run iOS 14. That means all of the following iPhone models are compatible with iOS 14 and all of its features. And as you can see below, the iPhones that came out in the fall of 2020 have iOS 14 preinstalled.

How To: Burst Mode Missing on Your iPhone SE? Here's Where to Find It in the Camera App

If you need to capture a still image of some high-speed action, Burst mode is the way to go. Burst shots take photos in rapid succession, providing a range of pictures to choose from and ensuring that at least one great shot comes out of it. You might notice, however, that your new second-generation iPhone SE doesn't seem to sport Burst mode as your old iPhone did. Is it gone? Not at all.

How To: Turn Off Live Photos Forever on Your iPhone's Camera App

Love them or hate them, Live Photos have their place. The problem is, they're always on, requiring you to disable the feature every single time you open the Camera app. At least, that's how Apple has things set by default — but you can change that with just a few taps.

How To: This Tweak Puts Your iPhone in Hibernation Mode to Save Tons of Battery

If running out of battery while out and about weren't bad enough, the experience is a lot more painful if your iPhone has a semi-untethered jailbreak. With that kind of jailbreak, when the iPhone dies, all of the mods will be disabled after the device powers back up. Fortunately, instead of restoring your jailbreak and tweaks manually after recovering from a critically low battery, you can avoid it altogether.

How To: Use This Zoom Hack to Make Everyone Think You're Still in the Video Meeting When You're Not

It's OK to want an extended break when you're working or learning from home. Maybe you want to play a video game, spend more time with your family, hang out with your dog, or FaceTime with friends. But how can you do that when you're supposed to be in a Zoom video conference or class? Thanks to one Zoom feature on your iPhone, it may be easier than you think.

How To: Enable Gaming Preferred Mode on Google Wifi or Nest Wifi for Smoother Stadia Streaming

Although not quite as common today with the always-connected world we live in, you still might be having bandwidth wars in your home right now. If the internet connection in your area is mediocre, you know the feeling well. Google Stadia recommends having a 25 Mbps connection for playing in 4K, so you can expect to need at least that much to maintain a smooth, high-quality gaming session.

How To: The Hidden Action That Opens Apple Pay from Your iPhone's Lock Screen

I think everyone with an iPhone should be making every purchase they can with Apple Pay. I also think everyone who uses Apple Pay should open the Wallet app ahead of time, instead of simply tapping their iPhone to the card reader. But there's a much faster way to open Wallet than slogging through the sea of apps on your iPhone. You can open it right from the lock screen.

How To: 24 Voice Control Features in iOS 13 That Let You Use Your iPhone Totally Hands-Free

There are times when physically interacting with your iPhone is less than ideal, like when you're cooking or driving. Fortunately, iOS 13 has you covered regardless of the circumstance you may find yourself in. With the new Voice Control feature, you can control pretty much everything on your device without even touching it.

How To: Get Google's Call Screen Feature on Your OnePlus

Spam calls are one of the most annoying things to happen in the world of smartphones for more than one reason. Not only are they bothersome, but they can also be dangerous to people who don't know any better. Google has come up with a crafty solution known as "Call Screen" to let the Google Assistant handle the call for you while you listen in on the caller like a stealth ninja.

How To: Bulk Delete Messages Faster with This Hidden iOS 13 Gesture

On the surface, deleting conversations in Messages seems harder in iOS 13 after Apple removed the "Edit" button on the main page. Fortunately, they added a new gesture that lets you remove entire threads and individual messages with ease.

How To: Use Your Saved Passwords from Google Chrome to Log into Android Apps

The idea of a world without passwords used to be a pipe dream. But as we inch closer to making that a reality, we have services now that securely store all of our passwords under a single master password. It's a convenient way to keep our accounts safe and sound without having to remember all of their credentials. And there's no reason to be afraid — I'll explain why.

How To: Stop a Show from Continuously Autoplaying Episodes in Apple Podcasts

Introduced to Apple Podcasts back in iOS 11.2, whenever one episode of a show ends on your iPhone the next one begins right away for an uninterrupted experience. While the continuous playback feature for each show or station is incredibly useful for lengthy commutes, long drives, or to catch up on what you've missed, it may not be ideal for other situations.

How To: Use Color Adjustments in Photoshop Express for More Vibrant Images

Imagine an Instagram feed filled with a wild array of vivid color. Beautiful right? But when you look at the photos in your iPhone or Android phone's albums, they're all just too dull to pull off that dynamic look. There's no doubt that colorful images are more eye-catching than dull ones, so how do you get your photos to overflow with vibrant color? The answer: Add it in post.

How To: Play Pokémon GO in Fullscreen on Your OnePlus 6T

Phone displays have gotten taller in the past few years, and it seems the OnePlus 6T might not make use of the entire screen by default for a few games. Most games play nicely with the large display on the 6T and its teardrop camera notch, but Pokémon GO is one that doesn't scale correctly. Until an official fix happens, there's a quick workaround you can use to make things a bit better.

How To: Stop Third-Party Apps You Never Authorized or No Longer Use from Accessing Your Instagram Account

Unless you're completely new to Instagram, it's likely that you've linked your account with a third-party service at some point and forgotten about it. Those services still have access to data such as your media and profile information, so it's important that you not only know how to find these "authorized" apps, but that you know how to revoke their permissions.

How To: Root Your OnePlus 6T with Magisk

With the recent launch of the OnePlus 6T, the company continues to impress us with some of the best phones when it comes to the rooting and modding. OnePlus has made it easy enough to get up and running with the rooting process as fast as possible. The OnePlus devices follow the same core principles Google uses for their Pixels, which is excellent news for both the user and the development side of things.