Hot Gadget Hacks How-Tos

How To: This Top-Rated Bundle of Self Improvement Courses Will Make You a Better Version of Yourself

There's no better time to reset, improve yourself, and develop new skills than at the start of a brand new year, where you're stuck at home with nothing better to do. Thankfully, this amazing deal on The 2021 Career & Self Development Master Class has come at a perfect time. Right now, it's on sale for just $39.99 — that's a whopping 98% off the regular price of $2,000.

How To: This Discreet Panic Button for iPhone Will Help You Escape Bad Dates, Uncomfortable Encounters & Annoying People

Strange or uncomfortable encounters can be difficult to get away from sometimes if you're overly polite and don't want to hurt anybody's feelings. Thankfully, your iPhone can help save the day, providing you with a plausible excuse to exit the scene without having to conjure up some last-minute reason on the spot.

How To: Use Customizable App Pickers on Your iPhone's Home Screen to Group Apps, Reduce Clutter & Find Apps Faster

If your iPhone's home screen is littered with apps in no discernible order, and you rely on muscle memory to locate one when you need it, it gets harder with each new app icon added. Folders can help organize the mess, but you can also create your very own app picker or group of app pickers. They act similar to folders but show apps in a list and let you add the same app to multiple app pickers.

How To: Disable or Delete Your Location History in Google Maps for More Privacy

Google Maps tracks everywhere you go with your smartphone, even when you're not using the app. Even if it's as mundane as your weekly grocery trip, Google Maps has it saved for you to see in its Android and iOS apps. And while it's mostly used for recommendations and your reference — you may not want Google Maps to keep such a rich location history.

How To: Protect Your Internet Browsing for Life for Less Than $20

We all know that using a VPN not only has a ton of benefits but is essential in our digital age. But did you know that you can get access to your own industry-leading VPN for life with one one-time payment? Even better, we've found an amazing deal on one right now: for a limited time, a YoData VPN: Lifetime Subscription is on sale for just $17.99. That's 69% off the regular price of $59.

How To: Quickly Paste or Save Highlighted Text to Files, Messages, Mail, Notes & Other Apps

Highlight text, tap "Copy," open the app to paste the text into, long-press or double-tap where you want it, and hit "Paste." That's probably what you do when you need to copy text from one location to paste into another on your iPhone. It's a tried-and-true method, but there's a hidden trick for saving and sharing text on iOS that cuts down on that lengthy copy-paste process.

How To: Quickly Download Streamable Videos on Your iPhone Before They Disappear Online

Videos hosted on Streamable may be fleeting or forever. So when you come across a cool video that you want to watch again later, it's a good idea to download it to your device in case it's one that disappears after a few months. There is no built-in download button in the Streamable player, but that doesn't mean you can't save anything on your iPhone.

How To: Use This Trick to Quickly Access Spotlight Search from Anywhere on Your iPhone

Spotlight, Apple's system-wide search feature, lets you search for apps, contacts, messages, webpages, music, notes, and other content that's on and off your iPhone. On iOS, it's known as "Search," and you can access it by swiping your home screen down or swiping open the Today View screen. It's not exactly convenient, but an accessibility feature can unlock Search so you could open it from anywhere.

How To: Get Extra Security with This VPN & Email Encryption Bundle

The first step to getting your life together? Getting your online security together. After all, security when you're shopping, video calling, and more means more than ever in a digital age when anyone can copy your info or try to pose as you on the web. This Premium Privacy Bundle featuring Zenmate and StartMail will give you a secure VPN and encrypt your emails, all at a bundled price. The security duo is on sale for 60% off for a limited time, which means it's just $44.99 (regularly $113).

How To: The Easiest Way to Download High-Res Cover Art for Albums, Movies, Books, Podcasts, Apps & More — Right from Your iPhone

The internet is saturated with low-quality pictures, making it difficult to find a high-resolution image for specific albums, TV shows, movies, podcasts, music videos, apps, and books. Apple uses high-quality images, but it seems impossible to download cover art, posters, thumbnails, icons, and other images from within its apps on your iPhone. Now, with the help of a shortcut, it's as simple as can be.

How To: Make Project Management Easier Than Ever with This Professional Tool, Now Almost Half Off

Did you know there is a simple trick to making beautiful, professional charts? Whether for your work or for making running your own business easier, Edraw Project Software will make all your projects simple. Right now, a Perpetual License, which includes three-year upgrades and maintenance, is on sale for almost half off, at just $89.99 — that's a 49% discount off the regular price of $179.

How To: Get 75% Off Unlimited Access to Life-Changing Courses with This App, Which Is Basically Master Class for Audio

You can learn countless skills from the world's leading experts — without the need to watch a screen — by using the incredible audio learning platform Knowable. Not only will this platform revolutionize your downtime, but right now, a lifetime subscription to Knowable Audio Learning Platform is on sale for just $59.99 — that's 75% off the usual price of $249.

How To: Discover the Unbelievably Easy Way to Animate Your Own Cartoons with This Animation Software Bundle for Mac

Did you know there's a way to make animating your own cartoons that's way easier than it looks — and that you can learn all the skills you need from home? Whether you want to pick up a fun, creative hobby over the holiday season or learn the skills to start working in animation, The Ultimate Cartoon Animator 4 Pro Mac Bundle will have you quickly making your own cartoons. Right now, it's on sale for 74% off, at just $49.99 (regular price $196).

How To: Get One UI's Rounded Corners on Non-Samsung Devices

The two primary design paradigms in Samsung's One UI Android skin are vertical padding and rounded UI elements. The extra empty space at the top of most menus moves touchable elements closer to your thumb, and the rounded UI elements match the curved corners of modern smartphone screens. While you can't add the vertical padding on other Android phones, you can now get the rounded corners.

How To: See Which Audio Codecs Your Bluetooth Headphones Support with One UI 3.0

Codecs are like ZIP archives for media files. Rather than storing an entire analog sound file, the digital version is compressed to save space. The algorithm used to reduce file size is called a codec, as it encodes to digitize and decodes when it's time to play the file back. So as you can imagine, a better codec can lead to drastically improved sound quality.

How To: Turn Off Amber Alerts on Your iPhone, Plus Emergency, Public Safety & Other Government Warnings

Amber, emergency, and public safety alerts on an iPhone are loud — startle-you-to-death loud even. They can happen at any time, day or night, and sometimes back to back when you're in a big city. Those blaring sirens can wake you from sleep, interrupt an important meeting, or disrupt an entire movie theater mid-movie, but you can turn most of them off if you're tired of hearing them.

How To: Stop Control Center from Opening Accidentally in Apps & Games on Your iPhone

You're in the middle of the fight for your life in your favorite iPhone game when all of a sudden, that critical move you tried to make activates Control Center inadvertently, throwing you completely off track. Instead of fuming, do something about it — block Control Center when you're in apps.

How To: 27 Features in iOS 14.3 That'll Make Your iPhone Experience Way Better

Apple's latest big update to iOS 14 has a lot to be excited about. While iOS 14.2 had some fun new features, such as new emoji and wallpapers, People Detection in Magnifier, and a Shazam control, iOS 14.3 brings on the heat. There are new Apple services and products that are supported, ApplePro RAW is ready to go, the TV app makes searching better, and custom home screen app icons work even better now.

How To: Blank Squares Filling Up Control Center? Here's How to Remove Them or Fill Them Up on Your iPhone

Your iPhone's Control Center is your main hub for quick access to controls like brightness, volume, Wi-Fi, and Do Not Disturb, but if you're using iOS 14, there may be a bunch of screen real estate taken up by blank squares. If that wasted space is bothering you every time you just want to use your flashlight, there's a quick way to get rid of those empty tiles for good.

How To: Make Your iPhone's Camera Remember Your Last Used Exposure Compensation Value for Later

Your ability to control exposure in the Camera app is much better in iOS 14. Instead of setting the exposure for a single shot, you can also lock an exposure compensation value for an entire session while you take photos and videos. A session ends as soon as you exit the app, but you can also remind your iPhone to use your last used ECV the next time you open Camera.