Category: iPhone

Tip: How to Force an App to Quit on the iPhone/iPad

If an iPhone/iPad app freezes or becomes stuck, you can force that app to quit with two steps:

1. Press and hold down the iPhone sleep button until Slide to Power Off appears:

2. Press and hold the home button until the app quits:

This method will completely shutdown the app and clear the app’s saved state from the iPhone’s memory. When the app quits, you should be taken back to the iPhone’s home screen.

Notes:

  • If you double-click to bring up the iPhone’s app switcher bar, you’ll note that the forced-quit app’s icon still appears in the list of apps (it will appear first in the list). However, if you tap the app to launch, it will launch a fresh version of the app—in other words, it won’t launch the app from its previously saved state.
  • If you want to close the app in the app switcher bar too, simply hold your finger on the icon until it starts wiggling, then tap the red circle with the white minus sign in it.

Tip: How to Rename Your iPhone or iPad

Your iPhone has a name. You’ll see it in iTunes in the left sidebar when the iPhone/iPad is connected. You may not remember, but you gave it that name when you originally set up your iPhone/iPad. You’re not stuck with it though, it can be changed right on the iPhone itself or in iTunes. The following are step-by-step instructions on changing your iPhone’s name, both on the iPhone and in iTunes.

How to Change Your Device’s Name on the iPhone/iPad:

1. Open Settings:

2. Tap General:

3. Tap About:

4. Tap Name and enter in a new one:

How to Change Your Device’s Name in iTunes:

Changing your iPhone/iPad’s name in iTunes is even easier. Here’s how.

1. Connect the iPhone/iPad to iTunes either by the USB cable or through Wi-Fi Synching:

2. Double click on your device’s name in the left sidebar and enter in a new name:

Notes:

  • Make sure to give your device a unique name. The more iPhones, iPads, iPods, and AppleTVs you connect to your computer’s iTunes, the more confusing your sidebar could get. I like to include the type and generation of the device in its name, ie, Alan’s iPhone 4, to help avoid confusion.

How to Add a Pause to Telephone Numbers on the iPhone

You can easily add pauses to phone numbers on the iPhone for those times when you need to dial into automated phone systems or use calling cards. It’s pretty simple, just hold your finger on the * key until you see a comma appear in the phone number. Each comma equals a 2-second pause.

Please note that you can’t begin a phone number with a pause, there must be a least 1 number in the phone number before you can add a pause.

How to Quickly Add All U.S. Holidays to the iPhone or iPad’s Calendar

There’s no need to enter holidays into the iPhone’s calendar one by one. There’s a much easier way. In fact, if you’re reading this on an iPhone or iPad, simply tap this link to add all US Holidays to your calendar. If you’d rather do it manually, below are step-by-step instructions on adding US Holidays to your iPhone calendar. Also see the Notes section at the end of this post for more useful calendars.

1. Open Settings:

2. Scroll down and tap Mail, Contacts, Calendars:

3. Tap Add Account:

4. Scroll down and tap Other:

5. Tap Add Subscribed Calendar:

6. Next to Server, type in files.apple.com/calendars/US32Holidays.ics:

7. Tap Next:

8. Tap Save:

That’s it. Now launch the Calendar app and flip through it to see the US Holidays.

Notes:

  • You can find and add more calendars to your iPhone at icalshare.com.
  • Subscribed calendars are read only—you can’t edit the events or add new ones.
  • Many Internet companies have compatible calendar-subscription services, including Google and Yahoo.

Basics: How to Delete Individual or Multiple Text Messages on the iPhone

It’s now possible to delete individual text messages on the iPhone (previously to iOS 5, you had to delete whole conversations). Below are step-by-step instructions on how to delete individual or multiple text messages at the same time on the iPhone.

1. Open the Messages app:

2. Tap Edit in the top right corner:

3. Tap the circles next to messages you want to delete. A red circle with a white checkmark will appear next to messages selected for deletion:

4. Tap Delete:

Notes:

  • You can also delete entire conversations at once. Here’s how: If you’re in a specific conversation, tap Messages in the top left corner to take you to the conversations view. Now tap Edit in the top left corner. Tap the red and white circle that appears next to the various conversations, the tap Delete.
  • You can also forward specific text messages to other contacts as well. In a conversation, hit Edit in the top right corner, tap the circle next to the message you want to forward, tap Forward in the bottom right, choose a contact and hit Send.

Tip: How To Activate Emoji on the iPhone

iPhone users no longer have to resort to tricks to activate emoji (the colorful icons most popularly used in text messages). They can now be turned on easily enough with a simple swipe of the finger. Here’s how:

1. Open Settings:

2. Tap General:

General in iPhone Settings

3. Scroll down and tap Keyboard:

4. Tap International Keyboards:

5. Tap Add New Keyboard:

6. Scroll down and tap Emoji:

Now you’re able to access the emoji keyboard. But how do you bring that keyboard up? Here’s how.

How to Access the Emoji Keyboard

1. A new globe icon will now appear at the bottom left of your keyboard. Tap it:

2. You should now see the emoji keyboard. Tap away to enter the cute little icons!:

3. Extra tip: Please note that for some types of emoji, there are several pages of graphics. Swipe to the left to access them:

Notes and Tidbits:

  • Extra tip #2: You can use emoji to label your iPhone folders. For example, if you put all your restaurant apps into a folder, you could label it with the hamburger emoji.
  • Emoji are activated on Japanese iPhones by default.
  • It used to be that emoji on iPhones sold in the United States and elsewhere could only be activated through complicated tricks via third-party apps. With iOS 5, they are now easily activated via the iPhone’s settings.
  • The blog Narratives in Emoji tells stories using just emoji.

Tip: Make the iPhone’s LED Light Blink When You Receive a Call, Text Message, or Notification

The iPhone’s LED light can be used for more than just flashlight apps. You can have it blink whenever you receive a call, text message, or notifications from apps. Below are step-by-step instructions for setting it up.

1. Open Settings:

2. Tap General:

General in iPhone Settings

3. Scroll down and tap Accessibility:

4. Scroll down and swipe the tab next to LED Flash for Alerts to the On position:

And that’s it, you’ve turned on LED light notifications. See the Notes section below for interesting details about LED light notifications.

Notes:

  • The LED Flash for Alerts feature will only work if the iPhone is locked or in sleep mode.
  • If you have your alerts set up to repeat multiple times, (see our instructions on setting up repeating alerts), the LED will flash every two minutes for however many times you set for repeating alerts (up to 10 times!).
  • LED Flash for Alerts only works for iPhone 4, 4S, and newer iPhones (in other words, iPhones with an LED light).

How to Manually Set the iPhone’s Time and Date and Prevent Them From Auto-Updating

If you’re looking for a way to manually set the iPhone’s time and/or date, you won’t find it. At least, not at first. You’ll need to change something in the iPhone’s settings to make the option appear. Below are step-by-step instructions on how to turn off the iPhone’s automatic time/date updating and set the time & date manually.

1. Open Settings:

2. Tap General:

General in iPhone Settings

3. Scroll down and tap Date & Time:

4. Next to Set Automatically, swipe the tab to Off:

5. You’ll see a new option appear labeled Set Date & Time. Tap it:

6. Tap both the date and time to set them:

That’s it. You’ve set the time and date, and the iPhone will no longer automatically update the time.

Notes:

  • When auto-updating is on, the iPhone will automatically reset to local time when you travel into a new time zone.
  • The iPhone updates the time and date via its cell network connection.
  • While traveling, if you want to keep track of the time in your home city, try adding your city to the iPhone’s World Clock. Open the iPhone’s Clock app, tap World Clock in the bottom left, then tap the plus sign in the top right.

Tip: How to Get Text-Message Alert Tones to Repeat on the iPhone

You may know that the iPhone can play a sound (called an alert tone) whenever you receive a text message, but did you know the alert tone can repeat up to ten times in case you missed it the first time? You’ll need to dig down into the iPhone’s settings to set it up. The following are step-by-step instructions on how to get your text-message alert tones to repeat.

1. Open Settings:

2. Tap Notifications:

3. Tap Messages (you may have to scroll down to find it):

4. Scroll down and tap Repeat Alert:

5. Select how many times you want the sound to repeat*:

*Note that Never means an alert will indeed play, but you’ll only hear it once (in other words, it won’t be repeated).

That’s it, you’ve now set up repeating alert tones on the iphone.

Notes and Troubleshooting:

  • Alert tones will repeat every two minutes.
  • To stop alert tones from repeating, simply press the sleep button or unlock the iPhone.
  • If you want to completely turn off Sounds for text messages, you’ll need to do that in Settings–>Sounds–>Text Tone and select None.
  • You can use any ringtone as an alert tone. You can even buy alert tones from the iTunes Music Store (you’ll need to use the iPhone’s iTunes Music Store app to access the alerts).
  • Are the alert tones not working at all? Confirm these three steps:
    1. Go to Settings–>Sounds–>Text Tone and make sure an alert tone is selected (in other words, make sure None is not selected.
    2. Make sure the iPhone’s ringer/mute switch is set to an On position.
    3. Make sure the Ringer and Alerts volume is turned up. The volume controls are found in Settings–>Sounds–>Ringers and Alerts

Tip: How to Turn On Private Browsing Mode on the iPhone & iPad

Need to browse to some websites without leaving tracks on your iPhone? Do you want the iPhone to not remember your sites visited, searches, and the information you entered into fill-in forms? That’s what the new Private Browsing Mode is for. I mean, does my wife need to know I spent 20 minutes looking at Anne Hathaway pictures last night? No she doesn’t. Here’s how to turn on Private Browsing mode.

1. Open Settings:

2. Scroll down and tap Safari:

3. Next to Private Browsing, swipe the tab to On:

4. The following pop-up may appear:

This allows you to either keep all the webpages currently open in the iPhone’s browser or to close them all as you switch to Private Browsing mode. Tap Keep All to keep them open, or Close All to close them.

5. Now open Safari. The border of the app should be black instead of gray:

A black border means Private Browsing mode is on.

Endnotes:

In private browsing mode:

  • Visited sites are not added to the browser’s history.
  • Searches are not added to the search history drop-down for Google (or your choice of search engine).
  • Filling out forms won’t result in have that info being saved to the browser’s autofill feature
  • Cookies are deleted.
  • If you want to completely cover your tracks after you finish browsing, make sure to close all your browser windows.