Hot Gadget Hacks How-Tos
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: Use the Hidden Thesaurus on Your iPhone in iOS 12 for Fast Synonym Searches in 'Look Up'
One gem that Apple added with iOS 12 is the perfect companion for the dictionary that's already available with the "Look Up" tool. I say gem because it's taken a backseat to all of the other new iOS 12 features, but it shouldn't, because a thesaurus is like the phloem to a dictionary's xylem, making it hard to believe that Apple didn't include this synonym finder from the start.
How To: Enable Android 9.0 Pie's New Manual Dark Theme on Your Google Pixel
Android 9.0 Pie is now available to install on Google's own Pixel devices and a select few other phones. In the new release, there's a fairly hidden setting that lets you enable a system-wide dark theme that changes the look of your Quick Settings panel and other menus.
How To: 5 Ways to Improve the Bluetooth Experience on Your Samsung Galaxy
Many of us rely on our smartphones for all our media needs. Now more than ever, we're using Bluetooth connections to play audio over speakers, headphones, car sound systems — the list goes on. If you own a Samsung smartphone like the Galaxy S9, there are a number of Bluetooth tweaks and hidden tricks that can maximize your audio experience.
How To: Make an Album of All Your Favorite Pictures in Google Photos
Google Photos is a fantastic service, giving you unlimited storage on either your Android or iPhone. With all this free space, some pictures can get lost in the shuffle. Fortunately, Google will now let users "Favorite" pictures — whereupon they're automatically put in their own standalone album.
How To: Use Screen Pinning in Android 9.0 Pie to Lock Apps in the Foreground
Screen pinning is a fairly unknown feature despite the fact that it's been around since 2014. It's a helpful security tool that limits access to your device to only one app — perfect for those times when someone asks to borrow your phone. While previous versions kept this feature exactly the same, Android 9.0 Pie's new multitasking UI changes the way it works.
How To: All of the Ways You Can Use 3D Touch on Your iPhone
One feature in iOS you're likely underutilizing is 3D Touch, a highly useful, unique tool for iPhones ever since it first appeared on the iPhone 6S. Apple's pressure-sensitive interactivity gives iOS an extra layer of functionality, which can be clearly seen across the entirety of your device. From the lock screen to the home screen to the apps in between, there are plenty of ways to use 3D Touch.
How To: Make Apps Use the Entire Screen on Your Essential Phone — Even the Notch
In the Android community, there's a lot of discussion about how display notches should be used. For some, hiding the notch is more appealing, but others feel that hiding it wastes screen real estate. Well, Essential just provided another solution that should satisfy both sides.
How To: Hide the Notch on Any Android Phone
After several Android phones started incorporating the iPhone X's notch, the online community was vocal, with many expressing hatred for the trend. Well, thanks to XDA Forum Moderator Zacharee1, we already have an app to undo the incoming wave of notches.
How To: Hide Private Photos on Your iPhone
When a photo or video is just too sensitive to leave laying around in your Photos app, you'll want to either delete it for good or hide it away in safe, secure location on your iPhone. As for the latter, Apple actually has a few tools available to make photos and videos hidden — even password-protected — on your iPhone.
How To: Make an Anonymous Facebook Profile to Keep Your Personal Data Private
Between the Cambridge Analytica scandal and the revelation that Facebook logs your calls and text history on Android, many are considering joining the #DeleteFacebook movement. But it can be difficult to leave the site, because so much of its content is only available to active users. If you want to keep in the loop without sacrificing your privacy, you'll want to follow the steps below.
How To: 13 QR Code Scanners That Won't Send You to Malicious Webpages on Your iPhone
The default Camera app got a few more tricks up its sleeves when iOS 11 was released, and the best addition by far was the inclusion of a built-in QR code reader since that meant no more third-party apps just for QR code scanning. However, Apple's built-in QR code scanner did have a vulnerability at one point that would let hackers direct you to a compromised website without you even noticing it.
Hacking WhatsApp: How to See Messages That Someone Deleted
To help keep potential drama at bay, WhatsApp lets you delete questionable messages before the other person even sees them. If you're on the receiving end and you're curious about the deleted text, however, there's an Android app that lets you view erased messages.
How To: Easily Share Your Wi-Fi Password with a QR Code on Your Android Phone
The first question people ask me when they come to my apartment is usually "What's your Wi-Fi password?" While I'm happy to give my friends free access to the internet, it's hard to walk each person through my secure password. Luckily, there's a way to create a QR code that will let people easily connect to a Wi-Fi network.
How To: Improve Bluetooth Audio on Your Galaxy S9 with Custom Codecs
Many Samsung fans were excited when the Galaxy S9 kept the 3.5 mm headphone jack. While this is a rare delight in 2018, you also have the option for high quality audio playback over Bluetooth. When used with compatible headphones, the S9's new Bluetooth audio codecs can greatly improve audio quality.
Snapchat 101: How to Use the Snap Map Without an Account
While it's easy enough to make yourself invisible on Snap Map, nothing is quite as private as not having a Snapchat account at all. Whether you're concerned about your privacy or you simply never signed up for the social media platform, Snapchat's web-based map is an easy way to check in on what's happening in your area and beyond.
How To: 5 Settings to Change in Firefox Mobile to Improve Privacy & Security
Unlike many browsers, Firefox gives a lot of control to the user. By default, Firefox does a great job of balancing security and performance. However, within the app's settings, you can modify options to shift this balance in one direction or another. For those looking to shift it toward security, here are few suggestions.
How To: 7 Tips to Help You Use Waze Like a Pro
Waze is the go-to navigation app for millions of drivers, and it's easy to see why. Benefits such crowd-sourced traffic data, police trap locations, and road work avoidance are just the tip of the iceberg. It can almost be overwhelming, but with these simple tips, you'll master Waze and start navigating like an expert in no time.
How To: Accidentally Post to Your Snapchat Story? Here's How to Delete It
Snapchat is a wonderful app that allows users to "talk with pictures." You can send other users pictures of what you have going on in your day-to-day life, and they can respond with what's happening in their own. It's a seamless way to have a conversation with someone using visuals — sometimes even faster than you would be able to with words.
ProtonMail 101: How to Make Images Show Up in Your Emails Automatically
By default, images embedded using external links will not automatically load in any emails that you get with ProtonMail. This is a security mechanism that can prevent malicious code from being executed on your system, but it can also be fairly annoying to have to manually load images in email after email.
Pocket Camp 101: How to Use Market Boxes to Buy & Sell Items with Other Animal Crossing Players
Market boxes are an integral part of the player experience in Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp, but using them effectively can be a tricky task. The item-trading tool between human friends is the locale for both junk and diamond-in-the-rough deals, and it can greatly increase the number of bells you earn if you play your cards right.
Apple Pay Cash 101: How to View Your Transactions History
With Apple Pay Cash, sending and receiving money with fellow Apple users has never been easier. One big plus about Apple's new Apple Pay Cash card is that all of your transactions are available just a few taps away, so you can see all your person-to-person payments, balance additions, and bank transfers.
How To: All the Swipes You Need to Know to Get Around Your New iPhone X
The iPhone X is Apple at its most classic — they take away a key feature that seems odd at first, but usually, the change pans out in the end. So is the case for the long-lived Home button, whose last appearance may be on the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus. That begs the question — how do you use an iPhone without a Home button?
Understanding OLED: The Difference Between LG's POLED & Samsung's AMOLED Screens
With the recent launch of the LG V30 and the Pixel 2 XL, LG has reintroduced the world to POLED. This display tech was showcased at CES 2015 and billed as a rival to Samsung's AMOLED displays, then promptly disappeared from the market for two years. But now that two of the biggest flagship phones this year are using the technology, many folks will be wondering what makes POLED different.
Action Launcher 101: How to Configure Notification Dots & App Shortcuts
I don't know about you, but I love options. Personally, I think Android's notification system is easy to use — providing access to new notification with a swipe down from the top of the screen. But, as Android users, we like the ability to do things differently whenever we see fit, so what if you wanted a different way? Well, with Action Launcher, this is possible.
How To: Get Back the Missing 'Message' Icon in iOS 11's Share Sheet
Some iPhone users who updated to iOS 11 can no longer see the "Message" icon in the share sheet when in apps such as Photos, which means they can only text or iMessage an image from within the Messages app itself now. This is a bug with remote management software which will hopefully get fixed soon, but until then, the solution isn't pretty.
Nova Launcher 101: How to Set Up Home Screen Gestures
Your dog is doing something charming, and you need to take a quick photo, but you don't have time to search in your app drawer for the camera app. The moment would have long passed by the time you find it. What if instead you could you open the camera or any other app simply by sliding your finger down on the home screen? Well with Nova Launcher and gestures, this is easy to accomplish.
How To: Access the Home Screen on the iPhone X, XS, XR, 11 & 11 Pro
Is the Home button the main reason you haven't pulled the trigger on a new iPhone? Are you worried that you'll miss its functionality too much, or that simple things like accessing your home screen will be too hard? Well, don't worry about any of that, because Apple came up with some intuitive gestures that makes the old Home button seem clunky and outdated once you get used to things.
How To: Flash Everything in One Shot with TWRP — ROM, Gapps, Kernel, Magisk & More
When you're flashing a custom ROM with TWRP recovery, it's almost never just one ZIP. Instead, you have to flash the ROM file, the Gapps, a custom kernel, and maybe even Xposed or Magisk, which results in a lot of back-and-forth. Thankfully, it doesn't have to be this way.
How To: Hide Your Waze Location from Others by Going Invisible
Some of the things that make Waze such a great navigation app are also its biggest downsides. Real-time data shows where individual users are, and the app automatically gathers traffic info that other drivers may encounter. These elements ensure that road conditions are as up-to-date as possible so that everyone gets to their destination safely, but it's certainly not ideal if you're a privacy-minded user.
How To: Manage Your HBO Max Watchlist to Add, Sort & Remove Titles
HBO Max's watchlist, dubbed "My List," is a great tool that lets you collect and sort the video content you're interested in. That way, you don't need to sift through HBO Max's enormous catalog every time you open the app — just open your personal list of saved titles and start binging.
How To: Create a Station on SoundCloud to Discover New Artists & Songs
In the SoundCloud app, when you find an awesome song, you can build off of it by creating one killer music station that will give you like-minded songs you might not have ever discovered otherwise. And finding cool new songs and artists isn't the only reason to create a SoundCloud station — it's a great opportunity to set the tone of your workday or your party without ever worrying about the music ending.
How To: Type to Siri on Your iPhone When You Don't Want to Talk
Back in May 2017, Apple filed a patent application for a way to communicate with Siri by writing her questions and responses using iMessage. While that didn't make it into iOS, thankfully, something even better did — a way to ask Siri things with the keyboard directly in the Siri interface. This works in iOS 11 and later.
How To: Get an Immersive Mode Quick Settings Tile on Any Nougat Device — No Root Needed
Up until now, enabling full-time Immersive Mode on an Android device has been a tedious task which required you to run individual ADB commands each time you wanted to toggle it on or off. This was a shame, too, since Immersive Mode helps reclaim lots of screen real estate by auto-hiding your navigation and status bars.
How To: Make ADB & Fastboot Work in Any Folder on Windows
Unless you're experienced using the Linux terminal, running ADB and Fastboot commands can get confusing very fast. The problems often stem from having to hunt for various files — usually IMG or ZIP files that you need to mod your Android phone — and then move them to your platform-tools folder, which, depending on how you installed ADB in the first place, could be anywhere.
How To: Root Your OnePlus 3 or 3T & Install TWRP Recovery
The OnePlus 3 and 3T are two of the most modder-friendly devices to be released in 2016. Not only that, but they're both extremely solid phones which happen to sport a very reasonable price tag. Among the things that make these devices such a joy for tinkerers is the fact that they have an unlockable bootloader, receive timely kernel source releases, and are actually quite easy to root.
How To: 20 Tips to Help You Master Gboard for Android
Typing on a mobile device has come a long way since the days of flip phones. Today, there are awesome keyboard apps like Gboard, which integrates Google search features and makes typing a breeze. But the whole experience still stands to improve if you take some time to learn a few useful tips.
How To: Set Up Location Alarms on Android That Wake You When You Reach Your Destination
If you have a long commute, it only makes sense to catch a bit of shuteye while you're headed to work on the train or bus. The only problem with this is that, if you're napping a little too hard, you might end up oversleeping and missing your stop when the subway pulls into your station.
How To: Completely Control Your Android Device with Just Your Head
If you have a mobility impairment that affects your hands, arms, or manual dexterity, a smartphone's touch-based interface can almost be a barrier between you and the mobile internet. Eye-tracking software requires too much computing power for today's smartphones to handle, so it might seem as though there's no good way to interact with an Android device.
Mac Troubleshooting: How to Find Your Restart, Shutdown & Uptime History
When was the last time you restarted or shutdown your Mac? In the post-iPhone era, most devices are now powered on almost constantly. For better or for worse, the computing landscape has accommodated this "always on" trend, but you still need to periodically restart your devices—especially your Mac.