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iOS 16 Tips, Tricks, How-Tos & News

How To: Switching Between Typing and Dictation Has Never Been Easier Thanks to iOS 16

Apple's dictation tool for iPhone is a useful hands-free way to enter text without typing anything manually. While its transcriptions aren't always precise, it's better than having to type out long messages, emails, and notes by hand — and it just got a significant improvement in iOS 16.

How To: Use Any Animated GIF as Your iPhone's Lock Screen Wallpaper

You can set a GIF as the wallpaper for your iPhone's lock screen, but it won't animate like it does when looking at the image in the Photos app. It's an annoying limitation on iOS, but one that's easily bypassed with a tiny bit of work.

How To: Tell When Someone Opens the Emails You Send Them (Using Hidden Trackers or Read Receipt Requests)

You may not always want to, but there will probably be a time when you'll want to know if an email you send — like a job application or a support request — is opened by the recipient. It's actually easy to implement, and you may be using an email client on your device right now that supports email tracking.

How To: Erase or Recover Deleted Texts and iMessages on Your iPhone, iPad, or Mac

Among the many exciting features coming this fall to iPhone, iPad, and Mac is the ability to recover recently deleted texts. Imagine never being frustrated again for accidentally deleting an important text or iMessage, knowing that you can recover it in just a few taps. The feature is long overdue, but it's better late than never.

How To: Finally! Permanently View Battery Percentage in Your iPhone's Status Bar Instead of Battery Levels

When the first iPhone with Face ID came out, Apple removed a popular feature — the status bar's battery percentage indicator — because of how much space the TrueDepth camera system's notch took. It's been absent on all Face ID models since. Now, almost five years later, it's finally made a comeback.

How To: 16 Harry Potter Spells for Siri That Turn Your iPhone into a Magical Elder Wand

Your days as an ordinary Muggle are over, as long as you have an iPhone. With just a word or two, you can use your iPhone and newfound Muggle-born powers to cast spells just like Harry Potter and team. Only your "wand" is from Apple, not Ollivanders in Diagon Alley.

How To: Use Your iPhone's Hidden Microphone Effects to Improve Your Audio in FaceTime, Zoom, and Other Video Calling Apps

Being seen clearly is an essential part of any video call you're on, but being heard is equally important. Lousy audio from your side can ruin the experience for others on the call if they can't understand you or hear the sounds they need or want to hear. To improve your audio feed during FaceTime, Google Meet, Instagram, WhatsApp, Zoom, and other video calls, unlock your iPhone's hidden audio filters.

How To: Water in Your iPhone's Speaker? This Shortcut Can Get It Out

Remember when water and iPhones couldn't mix? Pools, tubs, and toilets would suck down the working iPhones of clumsy and careless owners and spit out expensive paperweights like they were nothing. Times have changed, however, and the newest iPhones can take a swim without fear of certain death. But a dip in liquid can still cause muffled music and audio from the speakers.

How To: iOS 16 Has a Hidden Unit Converter for Temperatures, Time Zones, Distance, and Other Measurements

Fans of "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" will remember the Babel fish, the universal translator you put in your ear so you can understand every language you hear. While Apple has its Translate app, there's another iPhone feature reminiscent of the Babel fish, but it lets you convert measurements, times, and other units without having to leave the app you're currently using.

How To: Disable App Icon Badges and Unread Notification Counts on Your Samsung Galaxy Smartphone

If you scan the notification panel on your Samsung Galaxy smartphone daily, all those red circles with numbers that litter the apps on your home screen and app drawer can feel like persistent nagging and unnecessary clutter rather than friendly reminders to check your app alerts — but you can do something about it.

How To: Upgrade Your Screenshots by Framing Them with Your iPhone or iPad's Body — No Third-Party App Needed

Have you ever seen an image on social media, somebody's blog, or a news website that shows an iPhone or iPad screenshot with an actual iPhone or iPad model framed around it? You can do that too, and it's really easy to accomplish with a third-party app — but you can do the same thing with a shortcut that won't bug you to pay or subscribe.

How To: Edit Your Sent iMessages to Fix Spelling Errors and Other Mistakes (Works on iPhone, iPad, and Mac)

Apple is finally letting us edit iMessages after sending them, and I can honestly say it's a game-changer. Editing texts after sending them can prevent miscommunication and allow you to fix embarrassing mistakes before the other person even notices them.

How To: Unlock Haptic Feedback for Your iPhone's Keyboard to Feel Everything You Type

While Apple has included a vibration motor in the iPhone since the beginning, it's never let us use it for haptic feedback on its default keyboard — until now.

How To: Apple Notes Has 13 New Features/Upgrades in iOS 16 You Should Know About

Many of Apple's apps, including Books, Messages, Photos, Shortcuts, and Weather, are getting significant upgrades in iOS 16. Another app with lots of exciting new features to explore is Notes, and some of the new tools it offers might end up being things you use every day to make lists, save ideas, jot down thoughts, create outlines, draw sketches, record observations, and more.

How To: Easily Lock Any App on Your iPhone or iPad Behind Passcode or Biometric Authentication

Some iOS and iPadOS apps give you an option to lock them behind Face ID, Touch ID, or a passcode, but there aren't many.

How To: Apple Just Made Its Controversial iMessage Editing Tool in iOS 16 Less Problematic

Apple's controversial iMessage-editing feature in iOS 16, iPadOS 16, and macOS 13 Ventura is now less likely to be abused by malicious users.

How To: Mark Texts and iMessages as Unread on Your iPhone, iPad, or Mac

We've been able to mark all or individual unread conversations as read in Apple's Messages app since iOS 8. Eight years later, Apple is finally letting us mark individual text and iMessage chats as unread.

How To: Apple Books Is Getting Its Biggest Update in Years with iOS 16

Apple is finally giving the Books app for iPhone the attention it deserves in iOS 16, making the experience even better for reading books and listening to audiobooks on the go. You can even do more with Books in custom shortcuts you develop.

How To: Get iOS 16's Live Weather Lock Screen Wallpaper on Your iPhone in iOS 15

Apple's bringing big changes to your iPhone's lock screen in iOS 16, and one of those changes lets you pick an always-updating wallpaper for your local weather conditions. If you don't want to wait until the fall for the stable iOS 16 version and don't want to install any iOS 16 betas, you can still get an always-updating weather wallpaper for your lock screen on iOS 15.

How To: Unlock Your iPhone's Hidden Selfie Portrait Mode for Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Zoom, and Other Popular Apps

If you like using Portrait mode for selfies on your iPhone, there's a hidden feature you need to check out that adds a shallow depth of field effect to video when using the front-facing camera in FaceTime and even third-party apps like Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and Zoom.

How To: See Who's Viewed Your TikTok Profile (And How to Stop Them from Knowing You Visited Theirs)

Most of you have probably wondered at least once who has been checking out your social media profiles. While most platforms prohibit you from seeing who's viewed your profile, such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, TikTok is one of the few places that lets you track profile visitors. And unlike with LinkedIn, you don't have to pay for the privilege.

How To: Watch YouTube Videos Using Picture in Picture on Your iPhone or iPad

Apple has given third-party developers access to Picture in Picture on iPad since iOS 9 and, more recently, on iPhone since iOS 14, but YouTube has been one of the few not to support the feature outside of Safari or premium memberships. Thankfully, that's no longer the case if you live in the U.S.

How To: Keep Other iMessage Users from Editing or Taking Back the Messages They Send to You

Apple is adding controversial features to its Messages app that lets you edit or delete any iMessage you send in a conversation. You may only use them to fix autocorrect failures or take back something you accidentally sent, but others may have malicious intentions. Luckily, there are a few ways to protect yourself from evildoers and nefarious tricksters.

How To: Tame Your iPhone's Lock Screen Notifications with iOS 16's Different Display Styles

You probably receive an overwhelming number of notifications on your iPhone every day — maybe even every hour — which can quickly clutter your lock screen. With Apple's focus on lock screen customization in iOS 16, there are now options that can reduce the screen space that lock screen notifications take up, giving you more room to enjoy all your different wallpapers.

How To: You Can Now Use Any Emoji for WhatsApp Message Reactions

Instead of responding to a WhatsApp message with short texts like "LOL" or thinking too hard about something meaningful to say, use an emoji reaction. They cut down on clutter in group chats and take up less space than typing emoji individually in a conversation. WhatsApp initially limited reactions to just six emoji, but a new update lets you use any emoji you want.

How To: iOS 16 Has New and Improved Wi-Fi Features for Your iPhone — Here's How You Manage Them

For years, Android has provided easy ways to view all the Wi-Fi networks you previously connected to, and you could even see the saved passwords in plain text. With iOS and iPadOS 16, Apple finally gives us a similar way to view saved Wi-Fi hotspots, copy passwords for them, and remove old ones without being near any of the access points.

How To: 3 Ways to Find TikTok Videos You've Already Watched

It's easy to lose the TikTok video you were watching when you accidentally refresh your For You feed, but it's not gone forever. TikTok has a new feature for your iPhone, iPad, or Android device that can show you all your watched videos over the last seven days. There are also other, more hidden ways to see your watch history — one that goes well beyond a week.

How To: Get Apple's Very First iPhone Wallpaper on Your Home or Lock Screen

When the very first iPhone was unveiled by Steve Jobs in 2007, it sported a clownfish wallpaper throughout the keynote presentation — a wallpaper that never actually ended up on any iPhone models. Now, 15 years later, it's finally made its appearance in the latest iOS 16 beta. If you don't want to run beta software, you can still download the wallpaper for whatever iOS version you use.

How To: 8 Safari Extensions You Should Be Using on Your iPhone or iPad

You may use Safari on your iPhone or iPad to open links and browse the web, but there's so much more it can do for you. Since iOS 15 and iPadOS 15, you can implement third-party Safari extensions in your browser that go above and beyond content blocking, sharing, and performing basic actions.

How To: Say Goodbye to Annoying CAPTCHA Verifications in Apple's Newest Software Updates

If you hate matching images or typing letters for CAPTCHA human verification, you'll love Apple's newest iOS, iPadOS, and macOS software updates.

How To: Apple's New Cutout Tool Magically Isolates Subjects and Removes Backgrounds from Images on Your iPhone or iPad

Apple's upcoming iOS 16 and iPadOS 16 software updates bring an exciting new feature that lets you instantly lift the subject out of a photo, separating it from the background. Once extracted, you can paste, save, or drop the cutout wherever you want as a new image, and you can even make it a sticker in messaging apps.

How To: 20 Things You Can Do in Your Photos App in iOS 16 That You Couldn't Do Before

There are many great things about Apple's Photos app for iPhone and iPad that we know and love, and the new iOS 16 and iPadOS 16 software updates bring even more features that are about to become your favorites. There's one big change you may have already heard about and several minor improvements that make the app more useful and enjoyable.

How To: 22 Exciting Changes Apple Has for Your Messages App in iOS 16 and iPadOS 16

The iOS 16 and iPadOS 16 updates for iPhone and iPad include significant improvements to Apple's Messages app, and some of the new features are things users have been requesting for a long time.

How To: Get Rid of Frequently Visited Websites in Safari on Your iPhone, iPad, or Mac

Safari has a helpful feature that shows your most frequently visited webpages whenever you open a new tab or window, but it's not for everyone. If you never use it, would rather have a minimalist start page, or want to prevent other people with access to Safari on your iPhone, iPad, or Mac from seeing the websites you frequent the most, you can get rid of it.

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