Table of contents for iPhone X: Tips, Tricks & Apps in iPhone X: Tips, Tricks & Apps

By now you are undoubtedly familiar with most of what Apple’s recent update, iOS 11, has to offer and what new features Apple has added to the iPhone 8. Or so you think. iPhone 8 Tips, Tricks & Apps will astound you with an array of things you probably didn’t know your iPhone could do. We explore the home apps, discovering how to get the most out of your device and customise it to suit your everyday needs. Not only that, you can take your IPhone to the next level with the variety of third-party apps on offer, from editing your photos to increasing your iPhone's security. For those looking to get even more out of their device, we'll show you the best downloads to be discovered in the App…

Make calculations Accessing the calculator The need to make quick calculations is something that all of us require from time to time. Whether you are using a bank app or simply need to work out some quick figures, the Control Centre offers the fastest way to get started. Swipe up to enable the Control Centre and you will see the calculator icon in the bottom row. Tap it and the Calculator app will immediately open ready for you to start adding and subtracting. Don’t forget that entering landscape mode enhances the available functions and will give you scientific capabilities as well. Once you have finished what you need to do, double-tap the home button to go back to the previous app that you were using. It’s a handy feature that…

Multi-task Do other things while calling You can make and receive calls on your iPhone while doing other things in the background, which is a feature that you may come to use time and time again. For example, if you are surfing the internet with Safari and a call comes in, you can accept it and jump straight back to the browser. A green bar will be shown at the top of the screen that you can tap to return to the calling screen at any time. If you are playing a game on your phone and have headphones in, the other party will not hear any sounds from your iPhone; just your voice which is as it should be. The Phone app is there when you need it, but…

Calendar integration Check availability Apple’s pre-installed Mail app works closely with the Calendar app to save you precious time planning meetings and events when using email. For example, if you compose a new email and then include phrases such as “I’m available at…”, the Calendar app will kick in to check your availability and present free windows as predictive text options above the keyboard – so all you have to do is select the time slot instead of typing it all out the long way. You will find that there are far more predictive text options in general when typing out emails, undoubtedly saving you a lot of time from your busy working day that you would normally spend typing everything out one letter at a time!. Format any email…

Location reminder Receive reminders on arrival Ever gone somewhere and then, on your way home, realised there was something you needed to do there but had completely forgotten about? With the ‘Remind me at a location’ service, you can make sure that as soon as you are close to a location, your iPhone will remind you of a certain task. Add a reminder in the usual way and tap on the blue ‘i’ icon. Slide the ‘Remind me at a location option’ to green and tap Location. Search for a location or choose the current location. Select the ‘When I arrive’ option. A map displays the address and you can alter the circumference of the circle to dictate the distance from the location you need to be before the reminder…

Dictate notes Write messages using your voice Built into iOS is a brilliant voice recognition system that can be used via the Notes app. Create a new note within Notes by tapping New and call up the keyboard by tapping in the main writing area. Tap the microphone key and start to talk. When you have finished, tap Done and your words will be processed. They will be placed within your note. You can complete the note and save it by tapping Done in the top right-hand corner. For an even faster way of doing this, hold down on the Home button to activate Siri. Now say “write note” and dictate whatever you want to write in the note. Siri will then create the note on your behalf and save…

Connect with artists Follow bands socially One of the cool features of the Music app is the Connect service. Much like Twitter, you can browse through all of the available bands and artists and then choose to ‘follow’ them. To do this, tap on the ‘For You’ section and then go to the Connect section. Here you can tap on the ‘Find More Artists and Curators’ option to choose who to follow. After you have selected a few bands and artists, you can come back to the ‘For You’ section at any time and then scroll down to see all of the respective act’s recent activity. If you don’t use the Connect service then you can simply turn it off in your settings. To do this, go to Settings>General>Restrictions and…

Share listings Pass on song descriptions If you really enjoy a song or other entertainment item on iTunes, you can let the world know about it by sharing the description listing with other people. Navigate to the song’s page within iTunes on your iPhone and select the share option in the top right-hand corner of the screen. You can share a direct link to the page via a message or email by tapping the corresponding apps or you can link to it on Twitter or Facebook. This is a great way of referencing a song on social media since it inserts the cover of the song or movie into your tweet or post. You can add your own message alongside the pre-written one created by iTunes and then send it…

Master the playback options Use the video, audio and other controls When a movie starts playing, the iPhone automatically switches to landscape mode and there are controls at the top and bottom of the screen. Tap the screen to hide or show the controls. The Done button in the top-left corner stops the video and goes back to the menu. Starting the video again carries on where you left off. The video duration is shown at the top and dragging the small circle along the bar enables you to jump to any part. The audio volume is bottom left while the bottom middle contains video play/pause, start and end buttons. Show/hide iCloud videos Do you want to see iCloud items? Videos can be stored in two places – on the…

Add your data Manually input your data points Although Health relies to a great extent on pulling in data from other thirdparty apps, it’s important to remember that you can also add data yourself from within the app. Tap on the Health Data tab located at the bottom of the screen and choose a category such as Nutrition. Then choose one of the subcategories which appears, such as Protein. If an app is sending data to Health, the graph will be filled in automatically. But if you need to supplement the information, you will need to tap Add Data Point. You can now indicate a date and time and insert the data you wish to add to the app. That data can then be shared with a number of other…

App used: Spotlight Price: n/a When you swipe left from the home screen or down on any other, you are able to use Spotlight to search for anything on your iPhone. The more you use it, the more suggestions it will make based on your history but there may be times when you don’t want your past to show. Unfortunately, there is no dedicated button you can press to clear the history so many will labour under the illusion that it can’t be deleted. But it can. Doing so will pull the plug on your search history, removing the keywords. Siri app suggestions will remain available, though. Here we are going to take you through the steps of not only deleting your Spotlight search history but disabling it forever. “Siri…

Service used: Family Sharing Price: n/a As fans of Apple products, it is highly likely that you will have more than one iDevice at home, possibly being used by multiple people. But what if you could bring all of your family’s accounts together and allow purchases made on one iPad or iPhone to be made available on another? And what if you didn’t have to share your own Apple ID or password but allowed everyone to have their own accounts while using a single credit or debit card that you can still control? With Family Sharing, you are able to link accounts together within a single group. Purchases made by one family member can be downloaded by another. Children under 13 can be forced to have their payments verified by…

App used: Settings Price: n/a Many of you will have taken out a subscription to a service only to find you don’t use it that often. You really should cancel any you’re not taking full advantage of – here we’ll show you how to amend your Apple Music, Spotify or Apple News subscriptions, for instance, while putting a stop to little-read newspaper subs and ongoing payments to apps. Don’t hesitate. Some subscriptions renew if you don’t cancel within 24 hours of the renewal date, forcing you to pay for that extra period. “We’ll show you how to amend your Apple Music subscription” 1: Open Settings app In order to view your subscriptions and make amends to them, you first need to go to the Settings app and click your name…

Service used: Apple Music Price: £9.99/$9.99 When it comes to the Apple Music app, one of the most intuitive features you’ll come across in your exploration is the For You tab. This is the bit, in audio terms, for making you feel all warm and fuzzy inside, suggesting music matches tailored to your tastes. When you want to listen to fresh selections beyond your normal library of music, take time to explore the personalised playlists and you won’t need to look any further. What’s really neat is the way For You trains Apple Music to identify and learn your genre, band, artist and musical era preferences. Over just a few screens of selection ‘bubbles’ you can manipulate to signify your likes and dislikes – even the most eclectic music fan…

App used: Facebook Price: n/a How much data usage is included on your mobile phone contract? 2GB, 1GB, 500MB? It never seems to be enough whatever the limit is set to. It is all too easy to reach the data limit each month and if you go over it, you might be charged quite high fees on top of your normal service bill. The Facebook iPhone app could be one of the biggest users of mobile data – photos and videos in the news feed and other settings might be gobbling up your data allowance. Our guide shows you how to optimise the settings for minimal data use or even to block it completely. You don’t need to apply all the tips and a range of options are covered. Pick…

App used: Instagram Price: Free One of the best things about Instagram is swiping through other people’s posts – but what if you want to share one of these on your own Instagram feed? In-app, no such feature exists but there are other free third-party apps to perform the task for you, one of which is Repost for Instagram. The process is actually quick and easy once you know how, and we’ll guide you through it here. When sharing posts, you are invited to credit the original poster in your reposts. However, this can be cropped out when you return to the Instagram app leaving you with a moral quandary – do you populate your own window with other people’s talent? We’ll leave you to ponder that one. “The process…

App used: Runtastic Push Ups Trainer Pro Price: £1.99/$1.99 Keeping fit is one of life’s challenges and going to the gym isn’t always possible if you lead a busy lifestyle. Mind you, even with a gym, without a motivational incentive you are likely to slack off your fitness regime. One of the simplest and costeffective means to combat this is to utilise the Runtastic Push Ups Trainer Pro app, as for a small fee it provides a rep-style training plan and various motivational features (voice and achievements, similar to those on the Xbox games consoles) to keep you going. The voice – thankfully – is kept to a minimum, but the clever part is how it logs your push-ups in the first place. One method is to use a proximity…

App used: OneDrive Price: Free OneDrive is Microsoft’s equivalent of iCloud, essentially a hard drive up in the sky – or rather the internet – that can be used to access, store and back up your files. Much like how iCloud is built into macOS, OneDrive is built into Microsoft’s Windows 10 operating system. It’s particularly handy if you use any of Microsoft’s desktop office apps such as Word, Excel or PowerPoint. The OneDrive iOS app, then, is likely to appeal to those who use a Windows PC at work but have an iPhone at home. It’s free to set up and use, and you get 10GB of storage space on your OneDrive to begin with. What’s not immediately obvious when you first install OneDrive onto your iPhone, though, is…

App used: Settings Price: n/a Security is one of the most important things you need to factor in when setting up and using your smartphone. While there are many options already available, iOS 11 provides a few more key options for your to explore – one being Two-Factor Authentication. The main purpose of Two-Factor Authentication is to add an additional layer of security to your Apple ID, preventing unauthorised access to your account. Whenever a new device looks to sign in with your Apple ID, it’ll be prompted to enter a verification code that will be sent to your primary device. It’s an easy enough system to use, but be warned that you’ll need to wait three days for the verification to be enabled before use. We’ll outline all of…

App used: GarageBand Price: Free The Tracks view in GarageBand is essentially your mobile musical post-production suite. You’ll probably be in the numerous Instrument views while you’re actually recording your music but, when it comes to the editing portion of your project, the Tracks view is where you’ll be spending most of your time. It’s the perfect place to make changes to your tracks; a simple double-tap on the screen will open up a wide range of options. You can do everything from going inside your keyboard recordings and changing the length or pitch of each individual note to looping recordings so that they form a full-length track. However, even if you get all your takes right first time, the Tracks view is still a great way to tune your…

App used: Keynote Price: Free A huge part of giving any presentation is how you come across as you go through the slides of your beautifully crafted Keynote file. Using just your Mac can feel a little restrictive, though, as you have to keep stepping back and forward to it in order to move along to the next slide in your keynote. Thanks to the addition of the new Remote feature, you can now use your iOS device to control your presentation, moving through slides as it suits you. Remote uses either Wi-Fi or Bluetooth to enable you to connect Keynote on both Mac and iOS while you’re giving your presentation. This is the perfect solution if you don’t have access to an Apple TV, with its AirPlay mirroring features.…

App used: Safari Price: n/a When we browse the internet, advertisers use different software to track our activity, in order to produce individual profiles that allow them to target you based on your browsing habits and history. It can sometimes feel very invasive when you look at a product on Safari, and then see advertisements for this very product on your browser when you next go online. Many people are concerned about the effects that this could have on their online privacy, so Apple has included a feature in its iOS called Do Not Track. This feature tells advertisers not to track your browsing sessions when you are using the Safari app. Although the advertiser is not obliged to act on this, the option does go some way to stopping…

App used: Siri Price: n/a Siri gets more and more innovative with each version of iOS. If you have ever looked at something on your phone that you know you will need to remember later, but then forget all about it when it actually matters, you’ll definitely welcome Siri’s context-aware reminders. You can now use Siri to remind you about a whole host of important things, from a page on a map to an event that you put into your calendar. This means that you no longer have to leave the app that you are in to head to your reminders page or to take a screenshot. This is because it gets automatically saved in your Reminders app, allowing for you to continue from where you left off in the…

Thanks to your iPhone, there’s no danger that you’ll get bored on long journeys or rainy lunch times, especially if you pack it with the best apps from the Entertainment category of the App Store. You can use apps to help you pass the time by sketching out something cool, watching a boxset on the go with Netflix, or accessing content saved on your desktop at home with Plex. You can also make the most of the BBC’s massive radio output of music, live shows and talk radio and download podcasts using the iPlayer Radio app. Alternatively, you can sample podcasts from around the world with Pocket Casts. This download has been popular on the App Store for a long time, but has recently been given a facelift for iOS…

If you love listening to music, or even want to make it, then these apps deserve a place on your iPhone. We’ll feature an amazing app that enables you to discover new artists every single day of the year, complete with biographies and tour dates. Alternatively, you may want to simply tap the screen to compose tracks and record them on the move – there’s an app for that too! If you’d rather consume music than create it, then there’s an app that will tell you the track and artist that you’re listening to by sampling it through your iPhone’s mic, meaning you won’t miss out on discovering new bands. You can rediscover old music too by listening to music-streaming apps, and use the internet radio in one app to…

Because of apps, your iPhone can be more than a phone; it can also help you get things done. In this section, we’ll show you productivity-boosting apps that enable you to access important documents while you’re out of the office and a range of task managers that not only help you to create to-do lists, but in one case put time limits and deadlines on each item to keep you productive. There’s also an app that helps you to share and delegate tasks to those around you, and an alarm clock that saves you time by opening your essential apps for you when you wake up in the morning. 5 essential apps WeTransfer Price: Free Developer: Intuit WeTransfer allows you to create a board of photos, files, videos and more…

There are many sports and recreational activities to enjoy and no matter what you’re interested in, there’s bound to be an app for you in our sporting musthaves. We have an app that enables coaches of teams from any level to analyse their players by uploading footage and then annotating the screen as plays develop. You will also find the app that has the Premier League goals before anyone else on a Saturday, so you don’t have to miss out even if you can’t be there. You can prep for the World Cup and study all there is know about the stadiums, so you can post on sports social networks when the time comes. You can also stream video highlights and listen along to games via digital radio. 5 essential…

The wait is over and iOS 11 is officially out and comes pre-installed on the iPhone 8. So, how much do you know about the new system update? Apple has naturally highlighted the standout changes in iOS 11 because these are the ones that catch the eye and potentially the money needed to develop such complex operating systems. However, in daily use it is the small things that add up and which greatly enhance the experience over time. Some of them are barely noticeable because of the way they have been implemented, but rest assured that they have been included to help you get more out of your iPhone and the more you understand about them the better. As you will see over the coming pages, there are many changes…

Display widgets Access app features The iPhone has built on the use of widgets to help you access key features of your favourite apps without having to launch them. To access your widgets, swipe to the left while on your Home screen or Lock screen and you will see an array of widgets in effect. Scroll down to the bottom of the list and you will see the ‘Edit’ button. Tap on this and you will see a list of widgets that are already being used (you can disable them by tapping the red ‘–’ next to each one) and a list of those that aren’t. You can enable currently unused widgets by tapping on the green ‘+’ icon next to each one, after which they will vanish from one…

Wipe conversations Delete with a swipe All of your messages are automatically organised by conversation and when you tap any item in the list, you will see the entire chat with a contact. If you want to delete a single comment you can tap and hold any entry and then tap the trash can that appears at the bottom of the screen, but remember that this will obviously disrupt the flow of what has been said. You can, however, delete entire conversations from the main list by swiping from right to left and tapping the red Delete option. Be careful when doing this because no archive is held on the phone itself and if you want to retrieve it, the steps are quite time consuming and involved. So always proceed…

Define any word Understand unknown words You can discover the meaning of a word in a web page by simply tapping and holding it. You will see a pop-up box appear with two options; Copy and Define. Tap on Define and a new page will appear with a full dictionary definition, along with as much information as possible. There are also two more options which are available to help you gain more detail. Search Web lets you find more links about the word and Manage will show a list of dictionaries that can be downloaded for many different languages. The entire process from defining a word to arming your iPhone with even more sources of useful information can be done in seconds and will prove to be useful time and…

Swipe around Using many swipe gestures Open up the Calendar app and you will see a glimpse of your schedule ahead. You can swipe to the left or right to show the previous or next day or you can swipe up and down to see more of any particular day. When you double tap an event to view it, you can swipe left to go back to the calendar view. Swiping is also useful when you are not actually in the Calendar app. You can swipe down from the top of the screen to call up the Notifications panel on your iPhone and then look for the Calendar section (make sure it is enabled by going to Settings>Notification Center and turning the button next to Calendar Day View to green).…

Tilt map window Rotate and tilt the view You can use a host of gestures to better interact with the Maps app. While zooming in by pinching the screen is likely to be familiar to you, it is also possible to use two fingers on the screen to rotate the map window so that you are able get a 360-degree view. Another neat trick is being able to place two fingers on the screen and drag when you are in the 3D or Flyover view. It gives the feeling that you are looking down and over at the map. In order to use both the two-finger rotate and the two-finger drag, you need to have the map in Overview but it works in both landscape and portrait mode. You can,…

Import contacts Every contact you need FaceTime contacts are no different to normal contacts and when you set up synchronisation with an online service, they will be available within the app. Go to Settings>Mail, Contacts, Calendars and tap on Add Account. Work through the instructions to add any account, which includes your contacts, and they will be available in the main Contacts app and the FaceTime app for calling immediately. The contact entry will need at least an email address or mobile number to be recognised as capable of using FaceTime and also remember that the other party will need an iPhone, Mac or iPad to use FaceTime. Not all contacts will be able to use FaceTime by default, so check before calling. Mute FaceTime calls Add some privacy to…

Keep everything straight Use a grid to straighten your photos Sometimes, there can’t be anything worse than taking a great snap and having it be annoyingly wonky. To combat this, you can turn on the grid of thirds. Go to Settings>Camera and then scroll down to find the ‘Grid’ option. Once activated you will see it active in the Camera app all of the time and our advice would be to leave it on all of the time if you are happy with it. Whenever you take a photo in the future you will be able to align the image correctly and also ensure that your subject is positioned in the right place. The end result will be photos that need less editing and you can also quickly learn how…

Add your favourites Create your own feed Replacing the Newsstand app after the iOS 9 update, News is a handy one-stop news digest that saves you the time and effort of accessing your daily news via Safari websites and other apps. By tapping on the Explore icon you will be presented with all of the available news sources across a vast range of topics which you can then add to your feed by tapping on the ‘+’ icon next to a source. Once you have finished compiling your sources, tap on the ‘For You’ icon and a neat news digest will be packaged up and presented in a continuous feed. In your news feed the main headlines and the source will be listed and tapping on a story will allow…

3D Touch in the iPhone 6s was undoubtedly a cool feature, and it certainly proved popular with users. However, in iOS 9 it always felt like the new technology was a little under-utilised. There were a few stock apps that used it, yes, but it was mostly a neat trick rather than a proper reason to upgrade. Luckily, it has changed almost entirely since then. The new system adds new 3D Touch controls for built-in apps, but also expands the feature to include things like Control Centre and notifications. What’s more, Apple has also opened up 3D Touch to third-party app developers, so in the coming months you’ll see more and more apps using the new abilities to expand the usefulness of their apps on the latest devices. Suddenly, 3D…

App used: Maps Price: n/a Out of all the apps that Apple provides, Maps is arguably the one with the most new features for users to check out. If you love driving, the new traffic search function is remarkably helpful. In practice, it can help drivers to pinpoint the areas of your route that are currently experiencing traffic problems, or even spot passages of a motorway that are currently completely blocked up. What we like even more about this traffic direction system is that it stems from the first time that you search out a route. Maps will automatically give you a series of possible routes, each displayed with the traffic you’ll potentially face and the estimated time that it will take you to reach your destination. You are still…

App used: Home Price: n/a Smart home devices are growing in number and the good news is that many of them are compatible with Apple’s HomeKit. This means they can be controlled using iOS; in the past, getting all of those various devices talking to each other was a bit of a pain, as you had to use third-party apps. Not any more. Apple has created a built-in app that lets you add accessories, create rooms and produce various scenes from your iPhone, to your own home. Say, for example, that you wanted your lights to turn on, your thermostat to kick in and your locks to open the minute that you arrive home – this can now all be achieved with Apple’s ingenious new app. With the right gadgets…

App used: Tumblr Price: Free These days you have a plethora of social platforms through which you can post your innermost thoughts and opinions. There’s Facebook, Twitter, Blogger and WordPressbased sites, to name a few. All of these have their own pros and cons, however. Facebook is more of a friends-only affair, unless you create a page to go alongside this, but then you have the hassle of managing your private and public posts. Twitter is limited to only 280 characters per post, whereas WordPress sites can be time-consuming to manage. Fortunately, Tumblr offers a best-of-both-worlds scenario, in that it sort of acts like Facebook/Twitter, so you can follow other users and get updates in real-time, but you also get more characters to play with when posting your thoughts. As…

App used: Pocket Casts Price: £2.99/$3.99 While vlogs from YouTube are starting to eat away at the popularity of audio podcasts, they still have a large following. Listening to your favourite podcast on the way home or to relax after a busy day is one of the most rewarding experiences, as there are some genuinely brilliant podcasters out there. Podcasts are also a way to catch up on your favourite radio shows without the distraction of music. In recent versions of iOS, Apple opted to move the podcasts away from the main iTunes app, underlining their importance. Mind you, the default app is not perfect by any means and this is where third-party alternatives can come in handy. One example is the focus of our tutorial, an app called Pocket…

There are many ways to reduce the amount of mobile data that the Facebook app uses, but what about blocking it completely? This is certainly possible and there is the nuclear option of turning off all mobile data, or the slightly less drastic step of just blocking Facebook. Both options are straightforward and could potentially save busting your data allowance and incurring extra costs on your monthly mobile phone bill. Here’s how to configure the options on the iPhone. 1: No mobile data Open the Settings app and tap Mobile Data (in some parts of the world it is labelled Cellular Data). Tap ‘Mobile Data Options’ and turn off roaming. Turn off Mobile Data to stop all apps using mobile data. 2: Configure apps individually Blocking all apps may be…

App used: Prisma Price: Free If you’re fed up with the overused image filters offered to you by the likes of Instagram, Prisma may be the perfect solution for you. The app will completely transform even the most mundane amateur photograph into an impressive and artistic masterpiece. Using a powerful AI, Prisma will redraw your chosen image to make it look like it was painted by hand, transforming any picture on your smartphone using the art styles from a selection of famous artists. Through the user-friendly interface, you will be able to create an exciting piece of art in just a few simple steps. In this tutorial you’ll learn how to use and make the most of the Prisma app, from image selection and capture, all the way to exporting…

App used: News Price: n/a Arguably one of the biggest and most welcome additions to iOS was the launch of the News app. As the name suggests, News is an all-encompassing news app, which collates the latest headlines and stories from hundreds of outlets from around the world. Due to the vast library of articles and sources available, you’ll want to make your first port of call to be the task of curating your own personalised news feed. Thankfully, the News app makes the process easy for beginners and seasoned iPhone users alike, even if it can take a little while to complete the initial process. Once finished, you’ll have your own list of sources to enjoy, with a steady stream of articles appearing each day to keep you in…

App used: Iconical Price: £2.29/$2.99 Your iPhone 8 is a wonderful device. It’s arguably one of the finest pieces of tech in the world, the trailblazer for the intensely competitive smartphone market today. It lets you do a massive range of tasks with simplicity that you don’t get elsewhere. However, where the iPhone loses points is in the lack of freedom for users to be able to customise their device – unlike open source Android smartphones But iPhone users need not fear. Iconical from app developer DAP Logic sets out to let you personalise certain parts of your iOS experience – namely app icons. It’s true that Apple doesn’t allow you to do this, but Iconical finds a handy workaround without needing to jailbreak your device and void your warranty.…

App used: iMovie Price: Free Making your own movies using just your iPhone is great. But how much greater would they be if you could add your own sounds? Using iMovie for iOS, you can do just that We’re going to take a look at two of the most common uses of audio in video projects – recording voiceovers and adding sound effects. Voiceovers are the perfect addition to documentary-style movies and movie trailers, and the great news is that you can create your own using the built-in mic on your iOS device, giving your movie project a professional edge to really make it stand out of the crowd. It’s incredibly simple, too, with a few quick taps giving you the perfect commentary for your clip. The biggest budget Hollywood…

App used: Pages Price: Free In order to keep someone’s attention when reading a document these days, black ink on a white page doesn’t always cut it. Luckily, Pages for iOS has become an impressive hub for creativity thanks to the templates, styles and other aspects that can be dropped in to bring documents to life. In this tutorial we will focus on how you can add new levels of style and excitement to your text, in order to make your documents all the more appealing. Whether it be a school report or board meeting preparation, there are settings and options built into Pages that can help you do a lot more to your text than you realised. From simple upgrades like changing the text’s font, colour and size, to…

App used: Music Memos Price: Free Apple’s new Music Memos app (released alongside an update to GarageBand) might not mean much to everyone, but to musicians, it’s made their iOS devices all the more useful. The iPhone’s Voice Memos app has long been a tool for songwriters and musicians to quickly record their ideas – it’s simple, convenient and easy to work with. Music Memos, though, takes things a step further. As well as making it quick and easy to hit Record and capture the early stages of your next big hit, Music Memos has a whole set of music-specific features to enhance those quick recordings. Once you’ve captured your idea, Music Memos will be able to add chord names to your recording and work out its tempo and key.…

App used: Mail Price: n/a Threading has been a feature of the Mail app for a while now, enabling you to better see the flow of a conversation. Instead of forcing you to move back and forth between each email message that you have received by pressing Next and Previous, you are now able to view each email message within the one thread on a single page. Each email appears in its own easily identifiable block, and you simply have to scroll up and down to view the message completely. This makes the threading feature far cleaner than it was before, while allowing you to better keep on top of your messages. What’s more, you can also customise the look of the threads, which will ensure that it works well…

App used: Settings Price: n/a It has long been known that exposure to artificial light fools the brain into staying awake. This obviously isn’t an issue during the day but it’s certainly a problem when you’re trying to drop off to sleep at night. The cells in your retina are sensitive to blue light and too much exposure in the dark hours affects the chemicals in your brain. Given our iPhones and iPads emit a lot of blue light, it means quickly checking your email and social media can lead to an upset of your circadian rhythm. For that reason, the Night Shift mode was welcomed with open arms (and bleary eyes). It moves the colours of your screen towards the warmer end of the colour spectrum, replacing stark white…

Your iPhone isn’t just for playing games or reading books – it means business. There’s a whole category on the App Store dedicated to turning your iPhone into a valuable business tool. Time is money, so we’ve highlighted five essential apps that will speed up typical work chores and inspire you in the workplace. There are apps that will turn your speech into text, enabling you to write out an email to a colleague more quickly, apps to give you remote access to your work or home computer. There are even apps in the Store that will help you turn your iPhone into a scanner that automatically lifts vital contact details from business cards and adds it to your iPhone’s address book. You can also connect with clients and prospective…

We tend to carry our iPhone around with us at all times, so it’s the perfect device to help us get where we want to go, or find local amenities like pubs or hotels. Your iPhone already comes with a decent built-in Maps app that does a great job of showing you how to get from A to B, but there are other apps that can extend and expand your gadget’s navigational abilities in exciting ways. In this section, we’ll introduce you to five essential navigation apps that perform a variety of different functions. One of them even transforms your iPhone into a turn-byturn navigator at the fraction of the price of a dedicated gadget like a Sat Nav – just make sure you use it safely in the car.…

We all take the internet for granted as a source of information, and the iPhone is often the portal we use when we need to access the world wide web’s vast ocean of knowledge. Although the Safari app’s search field is often our first port of call looking for information, it can take a while to wade through hundreds of search results before we find exactly what we’re after. The apps featured in this section should help you narrow down your search to find relevant information more quickly, whether that’s foreign text translations or facts like how many inches there are in a foot. Looking up articles on Wikipedia is made easier with bookmarks, while another app claims to be as smart as the computer in Star Trek. Our essential…

Your iPhone is the perfect travel companion, especially when armed with a selection of essential Travel apps. There are apps for every style and way of travelling, whether you are going abroad, or just trying to get across London. You can track your flights, even seeing the exact location of the plane live if you so wish. There are some greatlooking and detailed travel guides that can be downloaded and used offline so you avoid any data-charge issues, and there is even an app to take with you if you’re just going for a walk in the country, enabling users to capture and blog every step of the journey so you can share what you’re up to with others. There’s even an app that turns your iPhone’s camera into a…

Move and delete Manage all of your Home screen apps It’s easy to manage all of your apps on the iPhone Home screens. To move between screens, simply slide your finger left and right or tap any folder to bring up a new selection of apps. If you can manage to keep all of your apps and games to a maximum of two screens, you will be able to navigate a lot easier. The use of folders will also help to keep the amount of gestures you need to use to a minimum. To delete an app, tap and hold your finger on the icon and wait for the ‘x’ to appear. Tap it and you’ll see a new box to confirm the deletion at which point the app will…

Closed captions Enable subtitles quickly There are two ways to enable closed captions on an iPhone; one is for all movies that support it and the other is to use them when you feel the need. If you take a trip over to Settings>General>Accessibility and scroll down to the Hearing section you will see an option called Subtitles & Captioning. Select this and then switch the top icon to green. You can now spend some time choosing the exact style you prefer for your captions. When in the Videos app, you can also tap the closed caption icon, which looks like a speech bubble at the bottom. This will offer the ability to turn it on and off as you wish. It is likely that you will need this all…

Merge duplicates Merge and link contacts Over time, it is likely that you will end up with a series of duplicate contacts that not only make your contact list bigger, but which cause confusion and mean you have to tap multiple entries to find the information you need. There is, however, a simple solution built into the Contacts app that will let you merge two contacts together in one easy step. Scroll through your list and find two contacts that share the same name. Select one of them and then tap the Edit option at the top. Scroll down to the bottom to locate the ‘link contacts…’ option and tap it. You will now be asked to select one and once you have, tap Link at the top. The two…

Global clocks Set the time for different cities Even though you will use the clock for the time zone of the country you are in the majority of the time, setting up world clocks is incredibly useful if you regularly keep in contact with people in other countries. Tap the + symbol in the right-hand corner and select a city or country from the long alphabetic list that will be displayed. Use the search box to speed things up. Tap on the location and it will be added to your world clocks. Tapping Edit lets you remove any clocks and it also enables you to rearrange clocks (press and drag three-line icon to the required spot). Possibly to improve battery consumption, the option to switch between digital and analogue clocks…

Stay secure Create a unique finger password The Wallet app replaced Passbook in iOS 9, and it’s certainly an apt name for it as it replaces your physical wallet. It not only stores your coupons, tickets, boarding passes, etc, as before, but you can now add all of your debit, credit and store cards to purchase goods at outlets that using Apple Pay. The main concern with using a contactless payment method is security. When setting up the Wallet app, one of the first things you’ll find is that Apple will prompt you to set up a variety of security levels to make sure that your sensitive data is kept safe. One of these is Touch ID, a great system that uses your fingerprint as a way of accessing the…

Passwords Generate random passwords One little-known tip when using Siri is its ability to generate random, secure passwords to help protect your device. It uses Wolfram Alpha, a computational knowledge engine, and it takes mere seconds to do. Simply hold down the Home button on your iPhone and, when Siri activates, say “Wolfram password”. Siri will take a moment and then show you some results which you will be able to use to register for a site or service. It will also spell it out to you in written form using the phonetic alphabet. For more information, just scroll down. Siri’s search for a random password shows that the password would take a hacker a mere 229 years to crack. It also shows a list of common password types. Who’s…

Apps for kids View children-friendly apps When iOS 7 was launched, it brought with it so many great visual flourishes as well as a host of new features and one of those was the introduction of a Kids App Store within the main App Store app, which is still present. In order to view it, open the App Store app, scroll down to Categories and select Kids. Scroll down again and you will see four sub-sections. One will show you apps for all kids, and the others are broken down for ages five and under, between six and eight and between nine and 11. By tapping on each of these categories, you are able to view a whole host of amazing apps that are completely appropriate for that age range.…

Delete images Select and erase many photos Professional photographers always shoot many photos and they take dozens and then select only the best to show off. This is a great tip for improving your snapshots and there is no reason not to shoot as many as you can. Afterwards you can go through the images, selecting the ones you don’t need and deleting them to leave only the finest. After taking many photos, open the Photos app, select Albums, then Camera Roll and view your photos. Press Select and tap the images you don’t want to keep. Swipe up and down to see more photos and keep selecting them until you have marked all the unwanted ones. Press the trash can icon in the bottom-right corner and then tap Delete…

Search for text Find any word anywhere There may be occasions where you want to find where a particular word appears in a book. This situation would probably arise more often with study books, cookery books, reference works and the like, rather than novels you are reading for fun. You might be researching a subject, reading books associated with an iTunes U course, using a reference book and so on. All you need to do is to tap the magnifying glass icon at the right side of the toolbar and enter a word or phrase into the search box. Every place the search term appears in the book is listed. It shows the chapter, page number and the surrounding text. Another way to search is to long-press on a word…

App used: Widgets panel Price: n/a To many people, the term widgets simply means a block of information that resides in the home screen, as is the case on Android devices. Apple, however, has continued to stay away from such a notion in order to keep the home screen as clean and clear as possible, but that doesn’t mean that improvements haven’t been made in it’s latest OS update. The beefing up of the Widgets panel in iOS makes them more accessible and easier to read for the user, thanks to a more pronounced design and added features, that app developers can leverage to make them more interactive. The Widgets screen is no longer just a list of information to read when you’re in a hurry, and is now more…

Service used: Files Price: n/a In old versions of iOS there was iCloud Drive; this let you access the files saved to your iCloud account, on any Apple device. The Files app is the evolution of this concept. Various cloud storage services such as; Dropbox, Google Drive, Microsoft OneDrive and Apple’s own iCloud Drive can all be accessed through Files. This means that for example, you can save a Word document to Dropbox on your PC and then pick it up on your iPhone – through files - while on the go. Documents are also made accessible outside the confines of the app that created them. For example, a file created in the Notes app can be opened in Pages. Any changes are automatically saved across all locations, so the…

App used: Calendar Price: n/a The Calendar app enables us to remain organised in our day-to-day lives whether it’s at work, at home or in our spare time. But a calendar isn’t effective if it doesn’t work well for you personally. Maybe your working week starts on a Saturday and runs through to Wednesday or perhaps you’re flying from one place to the next all the time and you need a calendar that reflects your multiple destinations. Did you know that Calendar in iOS is highly customisable? Whatever your needs, the Calendar app should have an option to cater for it. It will allow for you to use colour coding, for instance, and will let you view dates by week as well as by month if that is how you…

Service used: Apple Music Price: £9.99/$9.99 Apple Music, as we all know, is an online subscription service from Apple providing cloud access to all of your favourite, familiar tunes and a whole load of new ones too. By its very nature, to experience the latest tracks or benefit from the live radio broadcasts, you need to be connected to the internet via Wi-Fi or a cellular network. However, there is a workaround if you don’t have or can’t find a connection, because with iCloud Music Library enabled, users are able to save tracks for offline enjoyment. This is particularly useful on iOS devices (including iPads, if you have one) when you’re away from your Wi-Fi connection, when cellular networks are unavailable or you simply wish to conserve data caps. The…

App used: iMessage Price: n/a Text messages have historically been exactly that – simple text used to communicate with others via a mobile phone. iMessage, however, has grown into a complete platform that can be used to keep in touch with those most important to you in a variety of useful and fun ways. Messages does work very well on a Mac or MacBook, but at this time the boundaries are being pushed by Apple on its mobile devices: the iPhone and iPad. With stickers, fun additions and even games, you and others can communicate as if you are in the same room no matter where you are. Let’s take a closer look at the iMessage app, and the fun things you can do to add personality to your messaging…

App used: Afterlight Price: £0.79/$0.99 When taking shots with the iPhone camera (or another and importing them), the results may not be how you envisioned them. While the default Photos app offers an editor, its feature list may not have enough grunt for some, which is where third-party apps can come in handy It’s for this reason that we take a look at the image-editing app called Afterlight. This provides numerous features for enhancing your photos. For example, you can adjust the saturation/tone or apply several pre-rendered effects/filters that can be previewed in real-time. Afterwards, you can save the photo back to your Library or share it with others via photo-centric social-media services such as Instagram. Interestingly, there is even an integrated postcard maker so you can send a postcard…

App used: Figure Price: Free The iPhone is not only an ideal platform for listening to music, it’s also great for making your own. However, while many of its third-party music-making apps offer a vast range of sounds, effects and creative options, they can often be a bit daunting to get to grips with. Figure, on the other hand, is incredibly intuitive to use and yet enables you to record some impressive electronic tracks made up of three simple layers: Drum, Bass and Lead. It’s hard to explain fully here just how much fun Figure is to play around with – even for nonmusicians – but with a little practice you can use it to create some superb sounds. Indeed, you can listen to other users’ creations that have been…

App used: Eurosport Price: Free Eurosport is without doubt one of the biggest sports broadcasters on the planet. So when you need a source to turn to for up-to-the minute bulletins, news and clips of what your sporting heroes have been up to while you’re on the move, the Eurosport iOS app can readily be considered a safe pair of hands. And we’re not just talking football either: Eurosport’s pantechnicon of content also includes tennis, golf, cricket, F1, rugby, cycling, superbikes, Moto GP, boxing, snooker, swimming, athletics, basketball – in fact practically any sport you can think of. The app is free to download and no subscription is required to view the content, which is updated daily with over 100 news stories and 30 video clips. There’s also a live…

App used: Lookout Price: Free With so many of us now keeping so much precious data on our iPhones, the thought of it being lost or stolen doesn’t bear thinking about. It’s not just the physical loss of the device itself, but all the personal data it contains that would be hardest to bear. For this reason, with something as personal and valuable as an iPhone, it makes sense to adopt a ‘belt and braces’ approach to security. While Apple’s Find My iPhone function provides the ability to locate a lost device via GPS, and iCloud Backup can automatically back up your Camera Roll, accounts, documents and settings, Lookout offers a combination of several useful security features in one app – if you lose your iPhone, you can log into…

App used: iMovie Price: Free Being able to not only shoot, edit and export movies on your iPhone, but also upload them to popular video streaming sites such as YouTube or Vimeo, means that you can quickly distribute your videos online for your friends, family and followers to see. All of this can be done within the iMovie app. With the app’s handy Share function, your video will be exported and uploaded to the internet in a quality of your choosing. Of course, if you’d rather, you can export a MOV file and then transfer it to your computer, where it can then be uploaded manually. iMovie connects directly to YouTube, allowing you to sign in with your YouTube account login details. Once you are signed in, you can add…

App used: Numbers Price: Free Numbers lets you input data quickly and easily using keyboards that adapt for the kind of info you’re adding. You can form this info into eye-catching graphs and charts that help you visualise your statistics, using the selection of pre-made templates and styles. You can use this info and graphs in Pages and Keynote, but should format it first to make it a little more interesting. Numbers contains all kinds of formatting options, allowing you to quickly change styles with a tap or completely customise individual areas with your own selection of colours or gradients. You can even pull out specific areas of your graphs that you want to pay particular attention to, and recolour them using a series of preset styles Alternatively, switch your…

No matter how much storage you have available on your iDevice, it’s likely that you’ll start to run out of space at some point. Whether you’re an avid gamer, music lover, frequent visitor to the App Store or someone who uses an iPhone like a mini-computer for all your creative work, there comes a time when you can’t squeeze much more on, meaning little room for that next update or must-have app. Thankfully, there are many things you can do to freshen up your iPhone and regain lots of space, and the same goes for iCloud too. The free 5GB iCloud plan only lasts for so long before you’re gnashing your teeth with frustration at the thought of having to pay for extra storage, but some simple tricks will pull…

App used: Move to iOS Price: Free Moving to a new operating system can be a daunting prospect, whether you use Windows, Android or iOS. Not only do you have to find a secure way of moving all of your files, you also need to deal with porting your number and switching tariffs. To help those moving across to iOS from Android, Apple has released a new Move to iOS Android app on Android’s Google Play Store. The app itself looks to port over files, contact information and other important data directly from your Android device to your new Apple iPhone. It’s important to note that the app doesn’t cater for every single file type, so it’s advised to make use of the various cloud storage options that are at…

Your iPhone is the perfect platform to help you develop your knowledge of a wide range of subjects and there’s an app for everyone, regardless of your age and qualifications. If you want to find out more about the iconic NASA space program then there is the official news app. If this inspires you to explore the heavens yourself, find constellations using your iPhone’s GPS and augmented reality. Younger users can explore the human body and interact with organs. We have entire university courses that you can get direct to your phone, complete with the required reading. If you’re more concerned about the depleting bee population, then there’s an app to help you see what you can do to help. 5 essential apps Night Sky 4 Price: Free Developer: iCandi…

Health and Fitness is something we all promise to do more about but rarely get round to starting. Luckily there are enough fitness fanatics out there that the App Store has taken the idea of fitness on your iPhone and run with it. In this section we will look at the apps that are designed to help you get more aware and active. There are apps to take along with you when you exercise to help track your progress, as well as provide that little boost of support when you need it. One of the apps here even allows friends to record messages of support that can then be played back to you in times of need. We’ve also included an app that takes the physical action of your exercise…

Thanks to your iPhone there’s no danger that you’ll miss a photo (or video) opportunity. The built-in Camera app enables you to focus on your subject matter and capture a decent exposure, but there will be occasions when you may want to produce more creative-looking results. One of our essential apps enables you to turn photos into striking works of art that you can share with a huge community, so you can impress your friends with your apparent artistic skills. Another one mimics the amazing colours and tones of toy cameras, turning ordinary snapshots into extraordinary retro images with attractive borders. If you prefer to shoot videos, experiment with quick fire creations like Kscope, that enables you to shoot sixsecond videos. If you prefer to watch rather than create videos,…

Many of us now spend more time socialising online, enabling us to sustain relationships with family, friends and colleagues over any distance. Your iPhone is a key tool in helping you keep up-to-date with your friends and so we take a look at apps that let you find out who’s doing what, and discover apps to help you make cheap or even free calls to other iPhone users. If you use any of the main social networking sites then you will find dedicated apps that let you access these sites with ease. We will take a look at the apps from big-hitters such as Pinterest and a very good Facebook client. We’ll also show you an app that communicates only in photos that quickly vanish and show you how to…