Category: iPhone

4 iPhone Apps That Use Geofencing (And, Geofencing, Explained)

Exactly what is Geofencing? Geofencing is like creating an invisible fence around a location on a map, and if the iPhone enters or leaves that area, the iPhone performs an action like sending an alert or text message. It’s a pretty powerful feature that was introduced in iOS 5, but currently, there are few apps that take advantage of it. Below are 4 awesome apps that do. Also, check out our forum post for a complete list of geofencing apps.

1. Twist

Twist (free) is a cool new app that uses geofencing to automatically inform friends when you leave a location and sends updates estimating when you’ll arrive. It’s different from past GPS tracking apps in that after the initial setup, everything is pretty much automatic.

After setting up an event, like leaving your home to meet someone at a restaurant, the app won’t do anything until you actually leave your location, then it leaps into action, informing your friends about your departure and estimated arrival. Updates are sent via SMS, push notification, or email. This could help prevent angry girlfriend syndrome.

2. Checkmark

Checkmark ($0.99) is similar to Apple’s Reminders app in that it supplies location-based (geofenced) reminders. For example, you create a reminder to buy diapers, and as you drive by the grocery store, the iPhone reminds you to buy diapers. But Checkmark takes things to the next level by letting you set timers on top of your geofences. For example, remind me 15 minutes after I leave work to stop at the pharmacy. Checkmark also lets you establish how big your geofence is around a location. The app’s interface is also built around making it easier to create geofencing reminders based on repetitive tasks you do, such as grocery shopping or your daily feeding of a parking meter.

3. Instapaper

Instapaper ($2.99) is one of my favorite iPhone/iPad apps. Its main function is to allow you to save articles you find on the web for reading offline later. The app’s geofencing feature is buried in the settings, so you have to dig to find it, but it’s worth it. With Instapaper’s geofencing capabilities you can have the app automatically download your saved articles to the iPhone whenever you enter or leave a location(s). So if you’re heading home from work, by the time you arrive the articles you saved throughout the day will be waiting on your iPhone.

4. Reminders

Reminders is Apple’s official “to-do” app introduced in iOS 5. With Reminders, you can create location-based reminders for your various to-do items. For example: you create a reminder to buy milk, then the iPhone reminds you as you drive near the grocery store. The downside to Reminders is that you can only use locations in your iPhone’s Address Book, and that’s one of the big reasons why more people don’t use the geofencing feature of the app. Another official Apple app, Find My Friends, will be getting geofencing capabilities when iOS 6 arrives this fall.

Maintain a Single Grocery List Between Multiple iPhone Users With AnyList App

Here’s a cool feature of AnyList, a free grocery list app I came across while writing up our recent 5 Best Free Grocery Lists Apps article. AnyList allows multiple users to maintain a single master grocery list, which means an entire family with iPhones could add, change, and cross off items on a single grocery list that updates in real time.

Setting up the master list is pretty easy. First, each users must install the AnyList app on their iPhone and create a free account, which can be done in the app. One person then creates a grocery list and taps the share button at the bottom. That person then enters the email address(es) of the person(s) they want to share the grocery list with (the email addresses must match the one used to create the accounts of the other users). The shared grocery list will then appear under Shared in the app. Any changes will update in real-time (as long as there is an Internet connection). So in theory, you could watch your husband in the grocery store pick off items one-by-one in the app. Pretty cool.

I’ll be sticking with GroceryIQ as my favorite grocery-list app for now, but for families who share grocery-shopping duties, this could be a killer feature.

Basics: How to Activate Caps Lock on the iPhone and iPad

The iPhone’s keyboard has a Caps Lock feature, but you may have to first activate it in the iPhone’s Settings to use it. To test if Caps Lock activated, first try double tapping the shift key (the key with the up arrow, see image above) on the touchscreen keyboard—the key will turn blue to tell you Caps Lock is activated. If it doesn’t turn blue, you’ll need to go into the iPhone’s Settings to enable it. Just follow the step-by-step instructions below.

Video Instructions:

Text:

1. Open Settings:

2. Tap General:

General in iPhone Settings

3. Scroll down and tap Keyboard:

4. Slide the tab for Enable Caps Lock to On:

Now, when you double tap the shift key on the iPhone/iPad’s keyboard (the key with the up arrow), Caps Lock will be activated. To turn off Caps Lock, tap the key again.

The 5 Best Free Grocery List Apps for iPhone

When it comes to grocery lists, some people may ask, why use a specially designed app instead of, say, the iPhone’s Notes app, or a good To-Do app, or even a piece of paper? Here are a few reasons:

  • A grocery list app will save you time, lots of time, typing in grocery items via autocompletion tools that pull from a special database of food names.
  • A history of old grocery lists stored in the app can help you remember what to buy.
  • List sharing via iCloud (such as maintaining a single master list between multiple people/devices) or email (“Honey, remember the milk!”)
  • You’re more likely to always have the iPhone on you to record spur-of-the-moment ideas.

I’ve sorted through 13 free grocery-list apps I found in the App Store, and below are the 5 best. All 5 will get the job done, but I’ve included 3 Editor’s Picks, each for a specific purpose.

1. Grocery IQ (Editor’s Pick for Best Overall)

Grocery IQ (free) is the most-popular and most-used grocery-list app, and my top choice for best all-around app. GroceryIQ has been around for a while and has added a lot of new bells and whistles along the way. It also has the largest food-name database, which is continually updated. Some of its features are:

  • A huge database of food names and brands to aid list creation.
  • Support for multiple lists.
  • A barcode scanner to scan foods you have in the fridge to quickly add to your list (I use this a lot).
  • Voice dictation in case you don’t want to type (works on older iPhones too)
  • The ability to sort items in list by the order of the aisle they are in at your local grocery (you can create aisles from your grocery store).
  • Share lists by email.
  • Sync a single list across multiple devices and users.
  • Coupons that you can email for printing or print out directly from iPhone via AirPrint.

GroceryIQ has it all, and it’s fast. If I have any complaints, it’s that it’s kind of ugly and it suffers a little from feature bloat. But GroceryIQ is the app I use to create grocery lists and has been for years. If you have a family with multiple people shopping for it, the fact that you can maintain and sync a single master grocery list across multiple iPhones and iPads is a huge plus.

2. GrocerEaze (Editor’s Choice for Tracking Costs)

GrocerEaze (free) is for the serious grocery shopper who wants to track costs and stick to a budget. The app’s best feature is the ability to add prices to items in the database and add up total costs for each list. And here’s the cool thing: you can have prices for different stores. For example, if steak costs $7.99 at Store A, and $6.99 at Store B, you can add both into the database and select a price depending on what store you’re shopping at. Features include:

  • Database of food names and drop-down list as you type for fast grocery list creation.
  • The ability to add new foods, prices, and photos to food database.
  • Budget and spend tracking (with ability to add tax rates for individual items!).
  • Multiple shopping lists.
  • The ability to create meal plans.
  • Browsing of recipes and ability to add ingredients to list.
  • Sharing of lists via email.

GrocerEaze is for the serious grocery shopper keeping a tight rein on food costs. To get the full benefit of this app, users should not mind tapping away at home and in the store to enter in data. Another cool feature is the email sharing that adds a twist. Not only can you email someone a basic grocery list you made, but the app also automatically attaches a file that can be opened and viewed by another GrocerEaze app. Slick!

3. GrocerySmart (Editor’s Choice for Easiest to Use)

Grocery Smart (free) is the best looking of the apps listed here, and its interface is the easiest to use. Here are the app’s features:

  • A database of food names to make list creation easier.
  • Support for multiple grocery lists.
  • Barcode scanner to scan foods in the fridge/cupboard for quick entry.
  • Built-in loyalty card support for a limited number of grocery stores (enter in your card’s number and it creates a scannable barcode that matches your loyalty card).
  • Ability to sync with an online account, create lists online, and sync back to iPhone.
  • Share lists by email.

Overall, Grocery Smart is fast and slick, with the easiest to use interface of all the apps listed here.

4. AnyList

AnyList (free) is another simple app, and its interface probably the least cluttered. The main annoyance with this app is that it requires you to set up an account to use. But it’s only a one-step process, and after that creating a grocery list is a breeze. Its features include:

  • Database of food names for quick list creation.
  • Support for multiple grocery lists.
  • Sync a single list across multiple devices and users
  • Recipe database and easier adding of the recipe’s ingredients to shopping list.

AnyList is a simple app, and quick and easy to use. My only two complaints are the forced account sign up, and that there’s too much spacing around each list item—only 3 list items fit on the screen at a time. But if you’re looking for a simple interface, AnyList is it.

5. Grocery Mate

Grocery Mate (free) is one of the more customizable apps on this list. And it’s pretty good-looking as long as you ignore the iAd at the bottom of the screen. It also offers cost-tracking features. If the previously mentioned GrocerEaze is too much for you, Grocery Mate is the simpler cost-tracking choice. Features include:

  • Database of grocery items and drop-down list that makes list creation quick and easy.
  • Create multiple lists.
  • Share lists via email.
  • Ability to add prices to food items.
  • Maintain history of grocery costs.
  • Create account, create lists on web, sync back to iPhone.
  • Customizable look: wood, metallic, leather (default)

My favorite features of Grocery Mate are the ability to get rid of the food categories in list view, which I feel visually clutters up the app, and the easy way to share lists via email in app. The customizable skins are also neat, although one of them (the wood skin) requires you to share via Facebook in order to unlock it (cheesy!).

11 Things You Can Do With Apple’s New Podcasts App You Couldn’t Before

The best thing about Apple’s new Podcasts app (free) is that it adds functionality to the iPhone that wasn’t there before. Managing podcasts was one of the last few things you still needed iTunes running on a computer to do. But no longer. Here are 11 things the Podcasts app lets you do on the iPhone and iPad that you couldn’t before.

1. Subscribe to podcasts on the iPhone/iPad

Previously you could browse, stream, and even download podcasts on the iPhone, but you couldn’t subscribe to a podcast. That had to be done using iTunes on a computer. But subscriptions can now be established on the iPhone. Subscribing, however, doesn’t mean your podcasts automatically download. That is a separate function you can also set up in the new app (see the next item in this list). Subscribing simply means the podcast will appear in your list of podcasts for quick and easy access, sort of like the Favorites feature in the iPhone’s Phone app.

2. Set up automatic podcast downloads on the iPhone/iPad

When a new episode of a podcast becomes available, it will automatically download in the background the next time you plug in your iPhone/iPad for charging.

3. View all your podcasts in an easy-to-browse tile view

The Podcasts app introduces a beautiful tile view that displays all your podcasts by album art. There is also a button to switch to a list view that not only lists all your podcasts, but displays the number of unplayed episodes for each podcast next to the name.

4. View a single chronological list of unplayed podcast episodes on the iPhone/iPad

This is one of my favorite new features. Going for a 5-hour drive and want to catch up on all your unlistened-to podcasts? Simple navigate to this list and hit the play button. Your unplayed podcasts will play one after another. Pressing the skip button skips to the next one.

5. Skip ahead 30 seconds to avoid commercials

Most podcasts these days rely on hosts reciting product pitches (“sign up for Audible and get a free audiobook!”) to pay the bills. Well, Podcasts’ new 30 seconds skip-ahead button is out to destroy that revenue model, muhaha! OK, it likely won’t do that no more than TiVO destroyed television commercials, but still, this is a nice feature for when those commercials become annoying or go on too long.

6. Skip backward 10 seconds

Previously, you could only skip backwards 30 seconds in podcasts. The Podcasts app changes that to 10 seconds. Which is better? I like 10 seconds because I usually tap this button to re-listen to something someone said a few seconds ago, not 30 seconds ago.

7. Play video podcasts at 1.5x, 2.0x, and 0.5x speeds

Previously, video podcasts had one viewing speed. Now, there are 4. That’s even 1 more than audio podcasts get (0.5x, 1x, 2x). I wouldn’t mind seeing that 1.5x speed for audio podcasts as well.

8. Set how many podcast episodes the iPhone/iPad keeps at a time

You likely don’t want an old podcast episode from 2009 taking up space on your iPhone. Podcasts lets you determine how many episodes are stored before they are automatically deleted.

9. Share a link to a podcast via Twitter or Text Message (and soon Facebook)

Previously you could share a link to a podcast only by email using the Music app. Now you can tweet your favorite podcasts using the Podcasts app. And I’m sure Facebook will appear with iOS 6.

10. Browse top podcasts with a swipe of your finger

The Podcasts app introduces a slick (but currently slow and buggy) radio-dial interface to browse the top podcasts in various categories. It’s cool looking but I have problems with it every time I use it. If you want to enjoy this app, I suggest avoiding using this feature.

11. Set a sleep timer for podcasts without using the Clock app

The iPhone has always had a sleep timer buried in the Clock app, but now you no longer have to leave the app you’re in to set it. The Podcasts app’s sleep timer can be found in the the new retro reel-to-reel tape player view. To access it, swipe up on the album art while playing a podcast, the reel-to-reel tape player will appear along with a sleep timer button.

Basics: How to Make the iPhone Vibrate in Silent Mode

The iPhone can vibrate when you receive a phone call, text message, or notification even if the iPhone is in silent mode (when the ringer switch is set to mute). Turning on vibrate is simple and is done in the iPhone’s Settings. Below are step-by-step instructions for how to turn on vibrate in silent mode in both video and text format:

Video:

Text:

1. Tap the Settings icon:

2. Tap Sounds:

3. Under Silent, swipe Vibrate tab to On:

And that’s it. The iPhone should now vibrate to let you know there is a call, text message, and notification when the ringer switch is set to off.

Note there is a second Vibrate option further down in the Sound settings. Turning on this option will make the iPhone vibrate alongside playing the ringtone (in other words, when the iPhone’s ringer switch is set to on and a ringtone plays when you receive a call or text message). It will cause quite a racket, but it is also more likely to get your attention when a call comes in.

Apple Releases Podcast App Into App Store

Apple has released an app called Podcasts (free) into the App Store that is basically a standalone app for podcasts in iTunes. It’s been rumored that Apple will be breaking up the many-headed monster that is iTunes into smaller apps, and this seems like an early indication of that happening.

With the app, you can stream and/or subscribe to podcasts, and browse around using top lists and categories. There is also a cool radio-like feature where you swipe your finger across a simulated radio dial (which looks really cool, great design) to listen to the top podcasts for a variety of categories. The categories of podcasts (tech, video games, automotive, etc) serve as the “radio stations.” Another cool feature is that subscribed podcasts automatically download when they become available, essentially removing the need for iTunes desktop software for downloading podcasts. < Podcasts is a universal app for iPhone and iPad.

App Description:

Podcasts app is the easiest way to discover, subscribe to and play your favorite podcasts on your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. Explore hundreds of thousands of free audio and video podcasts from the Podcasts Catalog, and play the most popular podcasts, organized for you by topic, with the all-new Top Stations feature.

Features:

• Enjoy all of your audio and video podcasts in a single app
• Explore hundreds of thousands of podcasts including shows in over 40 languages
• Try the innovative new Top Stations feature to find new podcast series in a variety of topics, including arts, business, comedy, music, news, sports, and more.
• Browse by Audio or Video podcasts, or see what’s most popular in Top Charts
• Tap subscribe for your favorites and automatically receive new episodes for free as they become available
• Stream episodes or download to listen while offline
• Skip forward and back using simple playback controls
• Turn on Sleep Timer to automatically stop playing a podcast while listening in bed
• Share your favorite episodes with friends using Twitter, Messages and Mail
• Optionally sync your favorite episodes from iTunes on your Mac or PC
• Sync your episode playback for seamless transition between devices

Image Gallery:

Weekly iPad/iPhone App Provides Sales Circulars for All the Major Stores

One of the reasons people still buy a Sunday newspaper is for the huge pile of weekly store circulars that come with it. Weekly for iPad (and iPhone) by Twicular gives you access to those circulars for over 100,000 stores with no need to toss them out when you’re finished. It’s a pretty sweet app that can save a lot of hassle.

I’ve been trying it out that past few weeks, and can report that Weekly had the updated weekly circulars for every store located near me, even my grocery store. Kohl’s, Target, K-Mart, Home Depot, Jewel (my grocery), etc, were all there. Another thing that impressed me is that app sometimes had multiple circulars that appeared in different local newspapers for the same week, but which had different info and formatting. The circulars also downloaded fairly quickly.

You can zoom in and out of the ads. The image resolution is fine for reading, but of course, the more you zoom in the blurrier they get (the text is still readable though). If you want to clarify the information for a product, you can tap on it and a pop-up will appear providing more data. It’s clear that the developers are working with a service that scans the circulars and adds info for the pop-ups.

The other great feature is that the app lets you use GPS to locate all the stores near you, so you don’t have to enter in an address, etc. You can save products as a shopping list and then email that shopping list to yourself to remember what to buy in the stores.

My only complaint about Weekly is that it doesn’t save the ads for offline viewing (although you can save specific items in the ads for offline viewing). But for the ads themselves, you have to download them each time you want to view them. Hopefully they’ll add offline viewing as a feature in the future.

As mentioned, they support over 100,000 stores, but here’s a list of a few stores from the app description: Macy’s, JCPenney, Best Buy, Sears, Kohl’s, Jo-Ann Stores, Dillard’s, Old Navy, Toys R Us, Babies R Us, Pet Smart, Sports Authority, Staples, Aaron’s, Lowe’s, ACE Hardware, True Value Hardware, Home Depot, GNC, Wal-Mart, Target, CVS/pharmacy, Walgreens, Family Dollar, RadioShack, Save-A-Lot, Kmart, RiteAid, Aldi, Office Depot, Michaels, SAFEWAY, OfficeMax, Albertson’s, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Big 5 Sporting Goods etc.

Image Gallery:

Mophie’s New Juice Pack Pro Battery Case for iPhone 4 & 4S Goes Beyond Military Specifications for Protection

If there’s been one complaint about the popular Mophie Juice Pack battery cases for the iPhone, it’s that they don’t offer much protection. The new Mophie Juice Pack Pro ($130) changes that. The Juice Pack Pro has an “an impact resistant design that exceeds military specifications (MIL-STD 810G),” according to the company.

The case is water-tight and protects against drops, sand, dust, shock, vibrations, and other abuse you can throw at it. The case completely covers the iPhone, including the screen (similar to the Otterbox Defender), but still allows you to use all of the iPhone’s features. Even the speaker and microphones work with the case on. You can even plug in the iPhone to your computer and iTunes with the case still on for synching and charging. Oh yes, and the case can completely recharge your iPhone, too.

The Mophie Juice Pack Pro has a 2500 mAh battery and comes with a belt clip attachment, 4 LED lights that indicate battery status, side switch for standby mode, and a micro-USB charging cord.

Image gallery:

Here’s a Simple Trick to Make the iPhone/iPad’s Reader Button More Useful

Reader is one of my favorite and most-used features introduced in iOS 5. If you’re not familiar, Reader is a feature of the iPhone/iPad’s browser that strips aways ads from a web page, enlarges the text, and fills the entire screen with the article to make it easier to read on the iPhone/iPad. You activate it by tapping a button that appears in the browser’s address bar:

But there is one huge annoyance with Reader: the button doesn’t appear until after a web page stops loading. This means, if you’re waiting for an entire web page to load, you can often wait up to several minutes for the reader button to show up, even though you can see the text of the article has loaded. The solution is simple:

When you see the article’s text and images have loaded, simply tap the X in Safari’s address bar to stop the rest of the web page from loading. The Reader button will then appear:

It seems like an obvious solution, but I admit, it took me a while to figure it out.

So why, oh why, do web pages seem to keep loading and loading sometimes? It often has nothing to do with the website you are visiting, but rather third-party advertisements that are attempting to contact other Internet services to pull in data. The good news is that websites are usually designed to load their own content first, and that’s why this tip works.