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iOS 14 Tips, Tricks, How-Tos & News

How To: The Easiest Way to Resize Photos on Your iPhone in Bulk or Individually

The rear cameras on iPhones have remained at 12 megapixels since the iPhone 6s, but with each new iPhone model, more data is going into photos. That means larger file sizes. If you're running into issues with your pictures being too large, whether you're sharing or uploading them, there's an easy way to resize an image or group of images using a shortcut.

How To: Stop Control Center from Interrupting You in Apps & Games

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: How Autoplay Works for Apple Music on iOS & Android

No matter how expertly crafted a playlist is or how long your favorite album runs, they all come to an end eventually. And nothing quite kills the vibe like your DJ suddenly running out of steam. But a feature in Apple Music for iOS and Android will continue playing songs after an album or playlist is over, choosing tracks that fit perfectly with what you were just listening to.

How To: Check This Setting if You Don't Want Your Friends to See What You're Listening to on Apple Music

You shouldn't care what other people think, but sometimes, it's unavoidable. Take your music tastes, for instance. Sure, you might want your friends to think you only listen to the coolest songs, but we all have our guilty pleasures. If you're uncomfortable with your peers seeing your listening history in Apple Music, know there's something you can do about it — on iOS or Android.

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: Music Playlist + Shortcut = Cool New iPhone Wallpaper

The music you listen to is often a reflection of your personality, which is why people tend to use the artwork from their favorite albums as device wallpapers. But one lonely album cover may not look right on your iPhone's lock screen, and it's not indicative of your broader music interests. To combine cover art into one lock screen background, there's a shortcut that makes it easy to do for any playlist.

How To: Create a 'My Year in Music' Cover Art Collage from Your iPhone's Music Library to Share on Social Media

Apple Music's Replay feature sucks. Aside from not being very accessible, it offers a fraction of your history compared to Spotify Wrapped, which does a deep dive into what you listened to over the last year. Not only that but Spotify packages data into visuals you can share on social media. While you could share Replay screenshots, there are better options out there for Apple Music users.

How To: The Fastest Way to Clear Apps from Your iPhone's App Switcher

If you like to keep your iPhone's app switcher clean, you don't want to hear what Android phones have. Pixel, OnePlus, Galaxy — these phones let you quit all running apps at once. Apple omits the option on iOS because apps are optimized to stay there and only be force-closed when acting up. But if you like a slim app switcher profile, there's a faster way to force-quit them than one by one.

How To: Learn to Create Your Own Apple Apps for the App Store with This SwiftUI Course Bundle

If you want to quickly pick up a new skill over the holidays, learning to build your own Apple apps is one of the most impressive ones you can work on. This complete course bundle on SwiftUI and iOS 14 will have you submitting your own iOS apps to the App Store in just two weeks. Right now, The iOS 14 & SwiftUI Bootcamp Bundle is on sale at 95% off, for just $24.99 (regular price $600).

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: The Trick to Taking Night Mode Time-Lapses on Your iPhone 12, 12 Mini, 12 Pro, or 12 Pro Max

Good time-lapse videos capture cities, nature, and other long-running events in a way normal photos and videos simply can't. Your iPhone 12, 12 mini, 12 Pro, or 12 Pro Max can make time-lapses look even better, thanks to Night mode. But it isn't exactly intuitive or even clear on how to enable the feature since, unlike with Video mode, you won't find a Night mode icon to use.

How To: Control Focus & Exposure Separately in Your iPhone's Camera for Pro-Level Photos

While iPhone cameras these days are downright impressive, the same can't be said for the Camera app. In true Apple form, Camera is as simple as possible, forcing you to go third-party for pro-level features. With iOS 14, however, Apple adds a little extra professionalism, allowing you to lock focus and exposure separately.

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.

How To: Turn Your Pixel 5's Camera Cutout into a Vibrant Notification Indicator

The Pixel 5's beautifully slim and symmetric bezels don't leave much room for extra hardware like a notification LED. But with the Ambient Display feature and an inventive app, you can turn the display cutout for the front-facing camera into an animated notification indicator.

How To: Set Custom Wallpapers for Individual WhatsApp Chats So That Each Thread Has Its Own Look

One of WhatsApp's best features is being able to change the default wallpaper for all chats. There's no reason to stick to the default WhatsApp backgrounds when you can be texting over an image of literally anything. In a newer WhatsApp update, you can go a step beyond that by setting custom wallpapers for individual chats, personalizing every text thread you have.

How To: Bring Back the Squeeze Gesture for Google Assistant on Your Pixel 5 — No Root Needed

The Pixel 5 is a bit of a departure from previous Pixels. Gone are the Pixel 4's Soli-based Motion Sense gestures, the Pixel 3's dual front-facing speakers, and the glass back panel of previous generations. But perhaps the most notable omission for long-time Pixel users is the lack of a squeeze gesture to trigger the Google Assistant.

How To: Pick Different Chat Wallpapers for WhatsApp's Light & Dark Modes for Even More Control Over Your Theme

If you're like me, you enjoy using your phone's dark theme at night and light theme during the day. When switching from dark to light and vice versa, many of the UI elements in supported apps adjust accordingly, but you have no control over what does and doesn't change. WhatsApp, on the other hand, does give you some granular control by letting you pick a chat wallpaper for each theme.

How To: Send & Receive SMS/MMS Text Messages from Your iPhone on Any of Your Other Apple Devices

One of the best reasons to enter Apple's ecosystem is iMessage, where you can communicate more securely with other Apple users and send and receive chats across all of your connected iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, and Mac devices. While those blue bubble conversations sync across devices, the green bubbles — SMS and MMS texts — remain on your iPhone alone unless you change a setting manually.

How To: The Secret Way to Zoom In & Out in Apple Maps Using Only One Finger

Zooming in and out of map areas in Apple Maps is pretty easy, but not if you're using the fingers on the same hand that you're holding the iPhone with. Yes, it's still possible to use the two-finger pinch gestures to zoom in and out, but if you're not that dextrous, there's a hidden trick that'll let you zoom both ways using only one finger.

How To: Get a 'Select All' Button for Webpages in Safari on Your iPhone

It should be simple to select and copy all text on a webpage in Safari, but it won't work as it does in other apps. Usually, you can press-and-hold down anywhere on a page and choose "Select All" from the edit menu, but that functionality is disabled in Safari and WebKit-based browsers by default — including in the latest iOS 14 version. Luckily, there is a workaround to getting a "Select All" button back.

How To: Use This Hidden Trick to Play Your iPhone Videos in Their Full Original Quality

One of iCloud Photo's biggest perks is its ability to store large video files taken with your iPhone, so you can fill up your iPhone's storage with other items. That said, when you play back those videos, you may not be watching the footage in its original quality. Instead, they may be low-res versions. To view the high-quality originals — or to make sure that's what you see — just follow this trick.

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