Here’s How Often You Should Shut Down Your iPhone (and Why)

Smartphones don’t need to rest often, but periodically shutting them down and restarting them could benefit your iPhone.

Most of us probably try restarting or hard resetting our iPhones when there’s a problem — like apps freezing up or crashing. And that’s exactly what you should do in these situations since a hard reboot can clear up many bugs and issues without any other actions.

But beyond doing it when your iPhone is acting weird, restarting your device every now and then could help prevent these issues in advance.

Many users report that their iPhones run smoother and quicker after a restart. That includes general performance, as well as animation and app loading times.

Presumably, this is because restarting an iPhone will refresh the device’s memory and clear its cache. While iOS does a great job at managing memory on its own, a simple refresh could help give it a cleaner slate to work from.

On the other hand, restarting your iPhone isn’t going to have much of an effect on your battery life. It’s really the apps you use and how often you use them that will have an impact on how long your iPhone stays charged.

If you’re worried about battery life, it’s much more effective to switch off Background App Refresh and Location Services for non-necessary apps.

There’s also another reason to periodically restart or shut down your device: digital wellbeing. We could all stand to spend a bit less time on our iPhones, and the minute or so it takes for a device to fully reboot is a good starting point. Better yet, turn it off and spend some time screen-less.

While the jury is out on how often you’ll want to power down your iPhone, giving it a quick refresh once a week has proven to be effective for many users.

As far as how to restart your iPhone, there are a couple of options. You can force restart it, though the exact method varies depending on which model of iPhone you have.

Link: Here's How Often You Should Shut Down Your iPhone (and Why) (idropnews.com)

 

Keep your phone clean

This is a friendly reminder that viruses can remain active on your phone for a few days unless you wipe it down with a disinfectant wipe.

See:
https://www.idropnews.com/news/how-long-does-the-coronavirus-live-on-your-iphone/132419/

13 of Your Obscure iPhone Questions Finally Answered

In honor of iOS 13 being released in the future!

1. What If My iPhone Won’t Stop Talking to Me (or the Display is Zoomed in)?
2. What If My iPhone Stops Responding?
3. What If I Delete My Favorite App?
4. What If I Changed the Language on My iPhone and Can’t Change It Back?
5. What If I Forget My iPhone’s Passcode?
6. What If My iPhone Gets Stolen?!
7. What If a Webpage Redirects and Won’t Let You Go Back?
8. What If I Get a Pop-up in Safari That Won't Go Away?
9. What If I Called 911 by Accident and Hung up?
10. What If My iPhone Goes for a Swim?
11. What If My Phone Gets Really Hot or Really Cold?
12. What If Another Alarm Sounds While an Alarm Is Still Going off?
13. What If My iPhone Dies While Recording Video?

FIND OUT HERE:
https://www.idropnews.com/gallery/13-of-your-obscure-iphone-questions-finally-answered/115967/16/

Apple's call to the Dark Side

How to Turn on Dark Mode in iOS 13

1. Go to Settings
2. Tap Display & Brightness
3. Then select the appearance you would like, Light or Dark.

LINK: https://www.idropnews.com/news/heres-what-your-favorite-iphone-apps-will-look-like-in-dark-mode/107978/

Even Pro iPhone Users Might Not Know These 7 Hidden Tricks

It's easy to think that you know everything there is to know about your iPhone. iOS is intuitive and simple-to-use, and there are tons of resources online highlighting various tips and tricks. But there's somehow always some useful and hidden feature that you probably missed.

Whether you're new to the iPhone or you're an iOS expert, here are some quick tricks you might not have known about. Continue reading to learn more about 7 of our favorite hidden iPhone tricks.

READ HERE:
Link: https://www.idropnews.com/news/even-pro-iphone-users-might-not-know-these-7-hidden-tricks/98276/10/

How to Use Gesture Controls on iPhone X*

https://www.idropnews.com/how-to/use-gesture-controls-iphone-x-beginners/73393/

This is a great tutorial article with video!

Also, this:

https://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/iphone-xs-tips-and-tricks/

Apple's X Trajectory

I was expecting Apple to continue with the iPhone numbered naming protocol it left off with iPhone 8, but instead as announced, it is continuing on the iPhone X trajectory. If you'll recall, the X signifies the ten-year anniversary of the iPhone, being released in 2007.

But in its 2018 line-up, it is maintaining and developing its iPhone X model into a sustained trajectory.

Namely:

• iPhone XS
• iPhone XS Max
• iPhone XR

How long will this last? Will there ever be an iPhone 9?

Here’s What Your Favorite Apps Looked Like Nearly a Decade Ago

This week, Apple's App Store officially turned 10. It's easy to take for granted, but prior to a decade ago, there wasn't anything like the App Store for mobile platforms. In other words, we can thank Apple's platform for basically kickstarting the entire app economy and helping it gain popularity.

Apps back then were revolutionary, or at least, they felt like it. But like with most things in the technology world, they didn't really age all that well (just look back at the Web 1.0 versions of your favorite websites). Continue reading to learn about seven of your favorite iOS apps, and how they looked in the early days of the App Store.

Continue:

https://www.idropnews.com/apps/heres-favorite-apps-looked-like-app-stores-early-days/76155/10/

I can definitely relate to the homescreen above, as well as to Facebook and  the App Store.

5 Ways to Increase Your Chances of Getting a Lost iPhone Back

It's a nightmare for many of us: losing or having our iPhones stolen. And there's no doubt that it's a situation we hope never to find ourselves in. But it can happen.

But before you get too anxious about misplacing your device, there are a few things you can do to bump up your chances of getting it back — beyond Apple's native Find My iPhone feature.

5 Turn on Send Last Location

We shouldn’t have to tell you to enable Find My iPhone and to use it if your device goes missing. That’s the surest way to figure out where your handset went — and to recover it. But you can do one more thing to help your chances. It’s called Send Last Location, and it does what it says on the tin.

If you’re iPhone dies or is turned off, iOS will automatically log the last location before the signal is cut. You’ll then be able to see this last location in Find My iPhone — a good last-ditch measure to recover your device.

On many devices, this is off by default. But you can enable it in

1. Settings.
2. Tap Your Name (Apple ID card).
3. Tap iCloud.
4. Tap Find My iPhone.
5. Toggle Send Last Location on.

4 Set Up Your Contact Card

Many iOS users might not know this, but Siri can help direct good samaritans to an iPhone’s rightful owner. You can try it yourself: just invoke Siri and ask “who do you belong to.” The digital assistant will provide the owner’s contact card.

Normally, it’ll just show the phone number of the iPhone in question. But you can add additional notes to your card that Siri will show when asked. Just go to Contacts and find your card (it should say “me” next to it).

Adding an email is a good idea, as is a home phone number. You can also add an alternate phone to the Notes section — which will also be shown by Siri.

3 Add Contacts to Your Medical ID

Of course, asking Siri who a device belongs to might not occur to everyone. But you can double your chances that someone will be able to find your contact info with Medical ID.

Normally a feature meant for emergency contacts, Medical ID can be accessed from the Lock screen without inputting any password. You can find and edit your Medical ID in the native Health app. From there, you can add emergency contacts with a relationship tags like “spouse,” “partner,” or “roommate.”

In the case of a missing phone, it’s a handy way for a good Samaritan to find the contact information for people close to you.

2 Add Contact Info to Your Lock Screen

If you don’t have much faith that a good Samaritan will be able to figure out how to find your contact info, you can add it directly to the Lock screen. It may not be the most aesthetically pleasing, but it could ensure that your iPhone finds its way back to you.

Research studies have found that this easily viewable contact information can triple the chances that an smartphone finds its way back to its owner. But that kind of goes without saying.

Just add an alternate phone and other information directly to the photo you’re using as a background. You can do this to a wallpaper saved in the Photos app:

1. Open the photo.
2. Press Edit in the top right corner.
3. Press the circle button with three dots.
4. Then press Markup and use the built-in text tool to add an email address or alternate phone number to the wallpaper.

1 Call Where You Lost It

Most people assume the worst when they lose their devices — but it’s probably best not to. Because of the incredibly tough encryption on Apple's handsets, it's not really a lucrative business to steal and resell stolen iPhones.

If you’re at a restaurant, hotel or business, your iPhone may have been discovered by an employee and put in a lost & found. Or someone may have found it and turned it over to staff.

So call around the businesses and locations that you may have lost your iPhone in. Be sure to identify the exact color and model of the device. In many cases, your iPhone may be sitting in a drawer somewhere waiting to be picked up.

Source: https://www.idropnews.com/gallery/5-ways-to-increase-your-chances-of-getting-a-lost-iphone-back/75485/8/

What happened to the iPhone 9?

Apple just announced its iPhone X. It’s the new flagship iPhone that will be released in November, weeks after the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus go on sale on September 23rd. Apple says you’re supposed to pronounce the iPhone X as “iPhone ten,” and it’s designed to mark 10 years of the iPhone. While the iPhone 8 is an iPhone 7S in all but name, the number jump across all the new iPhone models means we’re now officially missing an iPhone 9.

The iPhone X naming helps position the device above the regular iPhone 8 without explicitly labeling it “iPhone 10,” because most people are simply going to call it the iPhone X and not pronounce it as iPhone ten. Apple knows this, and the company only uses the X logo in its promotional materials. Jony Ive says “iPhone ten” in the company’s keynote video, but I’d be surprised if we hear Apple explicitly call it the iPhone ten on a regular basis.

This subtle difference makes it clear it’s a special edition iPhone, and not an iPhone 10 that’s going to make people think they’re not getting the latest iPhone if they go for the iPhone 8. Let’s face it, the iPhone X is the device people will want, but most will go for the iPhone 8 simply because the X is priced so high.

Microsoft did a similar trick for its Windows 10 naming. The software giant skipped Windows 9 and went straight to Windows 10, but Microsoft did this primarily to encourage Windows 7 users to upgrade. Looking at your PC and seeing Windows 7 when there’s a Windows 10 version out makes it seem all that much older, and it’s a marketing trick that helped promote free upgrades. Apple’s subtle trick does mean that next year’s iPhone names are going to get really interesting. Will we see the iPhone 8S, an iPhone 9, or an iPhone XS? Let the guessing games begin.

SOURCE: https://www.theverge.com/2017/9/12/16298006/apple-iphone-9-naming-why

5 iPhone Myths You Should Ignore

Though smartphones are a relatively new technology, there is already a handful of myths surrounding their use. Yes, most of them deal with battery life, and for the most part, smartphone myths are completely untrue.

5 Wireless Connections Are Power-Hogs

Once upon a time, connectivity options like Bluetooth did lead to a drop in overall battery life. But newer devices have better Bluetooth standards. As of Bluetooth 4.0, there is a Low Energy module that has lowered Bluetooth power consumption by half or more. On a similar note, an iPhone connected to Wi-Fi will actually use significantly less energy than one connected solely to LTE. The only exception is if your iPhone is actively “searching” for local Wi-Fi networks. So you don’t have to be obsessive about checking your connectivity constantly.

4 Rice Fixes Water Damage

Dropping a device into water is a nightmare scenario for many people, so it makes sense that users will search for quick fixes. Putting your phone in uncooked rice is one method that’s almost universally recommended. But does it work? Unfortunately, the evidence points to no. In fact, it could actually make your situation worse by speeding up corrosion due to the starches and residue in the uncooked grain. Your best bet is to take your device in for repairs, or worst case, just let it air dry on a shelf or table.

3 You Should Drain a Battery Before Charging It

This is another myth that, at one point in time, may have had some basis in truth. But modern-day lithium-ion batteries don’t need to be drained before being recharged. In fact, it’s probably better to charge your phone from whatever point it’s at rather than wait until it’s dead. If you wait until the battery is completely drained, you run the risk of stressing the battery, and going through the battery’s charge cycles quicker. Just charge your phone when it needs to be charged and you should be okay.

2 You Should Close Out of Your Apps

Many iPhone users make a habit of closing out active apps in iOS’s app switcher to save battery life — but, in reality, it’s not doing them any good. In fact, closing an app actually decreases your battery life, since iOS will need to use up resources and memory to reopen the app later. In many cases, it can use more battery than if the app had just been opened the whole time. On a similar note, closing out apps doesn’t actually speed up your device significantly, as an iPhone manages its RAM usage efficiently already.

1 Charging Overnight Is Dangerous

This is related to other “overcharging myths,” and is similarly untrue. Leaving your phone charging all night is completely safe, as long as you follow some easy tips. It won’t kill your battery’s overall lifespan. More than that, most modern smartphones have tech to reduce energy draw once they’re fully charged. Something that’s more important to keep in mind is your device’s temperature when it’s charging. So keep it cool on your bedside table instead smothered under your pillow or blanket.


SOURCE: https://www.idropnews.com/gallery/5-iphone-myths-ignore/48287/

3 Ways iOS 11’s NFC Capabilities Will Change Your iPhone

Apple’s new iOS 11 software is slated to significantly expand NFC [Near-Field Communication] and RFID [Radio-Frequency IDentification] capabilities for the iPhone 8 and other compatibles devices. Sparing all the technical jargon, here’s what expanded NFC capabilities could do for you.

At its simplest, near-field communication (NFC) allows for secure, close-range wireless data transfer without the need for an internet connection. On iPhones, it’s used for Apple Pay — and thus far, its use on iOS devices has been restricted to Apple’s proprietary tap-and-go services. iOS 11 changes that with the introduction of Core NFC, a new framework that would allow developers to create apps that can read NFC tags.

Here are a few ways expanded NFC capabilities can revolutionize your iPhone.

#3 Detailed Product Information & Purchase

For the most part, NFC has largely been focused on commerce purposes — and that trend will certainly continue. But developers are already looking into ways to take NFC beyond simple tap-and-go payments. Take WISeKey’s solutions, for example. The cyber security company recently announced that iOS 11 now supports its CapSeal smart tag, a method mostly used for anti-counterfeiting purposes but could open up a range of possibilities. Using CapSeal, an iPhone user could tap their device on an NFC tag on a wine bottle – the producers of that wine could then display a customized message to the user, relaying information or letting them know if the bottle has been opened or not. Taken further, CapSeal and similar tech can be used to purchase a wine bottle on-the-spot, without the need to stand in line or check out at a register.

#2 Interact with Your Environment

With third-party support for the iPhone’s NFC now opened up, developers can easily program information-relaying features into their apps — think a QR code without the need for a camera. Apple hinted at this ability at WWDC, giving the example of using an Apple Watch to interface with gym equipment to sync heart rate, speed, incline and other information with Health. But it doesn’t end with gym equipment. A museum, for example, could place an NFC tag near a piece of art to display information about the artist on a user’s phone. Theme parks could install NFC tags to let users easily download maps and schedules. And an NFC-tagged movie poster could bring up the film’s trailer when an iPhone is near it. The possibilities of location-based interactions are endless.

#1 Automate iOS Tasks

Using third-party NFC tags, an iOS user could also automate a wide range of tasks. Admittedly, Apple hasn’t exactly expanded on these potential capabilities, but similar functions have been available on Android for a while. It’s just that Cupertino has historically shied away from opening up third-party support for its device’s NFC technology. But the potential is there now, and in later versions of iOS, we could see a groundswell of new features. It’s not a guarantee, but the possibilities are exciting. Place an NFC tag in your car, for example, and you can tap your phone on it to automatically bring up a navigation app and commute data. Have an NFC tag by your bed, and when you put your phone down near it, it could automatically set your alarms. And Samsung recently came out with a “smart suit” that could turn your phone to silent for meetings with a simple tap on the suit’s buttons. Apple developers may have to play a bit of catch-up, but Core NFC could open up a whole new world of capabilities.

From:
https://www.idropnews.com/news/3-ways-ios-11s-core-nfc-will-change-iphone/44947/

Here’s What to Do After Dropping Your iPhone in Water

Dropped your iPhone in the water, the toilet, or the swimming pool? It can be a very frustrating moment to see your iPhone drenched with water, but panicking and rushing to dry it with anything that you find is not the solution and may actually cause more harm.

In most cases, you can still save your iPhone after it has been exposed to water, but it’s important that you take the necessary precautions to limit the damage and avoid causing extra harm. Here’s the process of dealing with an iPhone that has been damaged by water.

Precautions to Take When an iPhone Is Exposed to Water

• If your iPhone is plugged in to a power source, unplug it immediately as it can cause short circuits. Also, disconnect USB cables, headphones, or any other accessories connected to it by a wire.
• Completely dry the external surface of the iPhone with a piece of cloth. Avoid using electronic devices for drying, such as a hair dryer.
• Hold your iPhone upside down and gently shake it to get liquid out of the ports and sockets.
• If the iPhone is still turned on, power it off by holding down the power button.
• If your iPhone is in a case, take it off to avoid any liquid being trapped inside.

Now that you’ve taken the necessary precautions to limit the water damage to your iPhone, you’re ready to dry the internals.

How to Dry a Wet iPhone

It’s a popular concept to stuff a wet device into a bag full of rice to dry the internals. Based on my experience, this actually works and helps to absorb the moisture within the iPhone.

1. To get started, grab a plastic zipper-lock bag or anything else that can be filled with rice.
2. Now fill it with rice and place the iPhone in it so that its entire body is covered by rice.
3. Leave it there for about 36 hours or more until all the moisture is absorbed by the rice. Be warned that some dust or rice grains may get into the ports.
4. An alternative option is to use silica gel which is more effective in drying a wet device, but you’ll need lots of them to cover the iPhone.

Once you’ve waited for at least 36 hours and feel confident that the iPhone has dried completely, take it out and try switching on. In most cases, the iPhone will turn on successfully.

If your iPhone doesn’t turn on, then you should take it to a nearby Apple Store and have it inspected. Keep in mind that iOS devices have a liquid contact indicator that shows whether the device was damaged by water, so make sure that you don’t claim that the iPhone stopped working without any apparent reason.

SOURCE: https://www.idropnews.com/how-to/heres-dropping-iphone-water/39816/

EDIT: See Myth #4! http://techspace3000.blogspot.com/2017/09/5-iphone-myths-you-should-ignore.html