How Tos

How to Reset an iPhone 7 or Enter DFU Mode for Last-Ditch Recovery

This tutorial explains how to reset an iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus, and how to activate Device Firmware Upgrade (DFU) mode to troubleshoot your device if needed. Apple has changed the reset process with the iPhone 7 series, and with the devices now making their way into users' hands, it's a good time to let everyone know what to do when things go wrong. A hard reset basically force-reboots your iPhone, which is useful if the device is freezing, throwing up errors, or has stopped responding completely. DFU mode, on the other hand, restores an iPhone if a reset or standard Recovery Mode doesn't solve the problem you're experiencing. DFU mode lets the device interface with iTunes, update the firmware and restore the OS without automatically installing the last downloaded version. It's useful for installing older versions of iOS if a beta persistently hangs your phone, or if a jailbreak goes bad. Note for iPhone 6s and earlier owners: Apple has had to alter the hard reset process and DFU mode activation on the iPhone 7 because the physical-click home button has been replaced with a Force Touch-based Taptic Engine, which is rendered unresponsive if the OS isn't functioning properly. Owners of iPhone 6s/6s Plus or earlier devices should therefore consider all mentions of the "lower volume button" in the below steps to indicate when the home button should be held down instead.

How to Customize Favorite Contacts in iOS 10

Among the many new features in iOS 10 is a neat way to organize your favorite contacts and even access them quickly thanks to a new widget system introduced in the update. iOS 10 goes beyond general phone call-launching features, introducing ways to customize whether each contact icon will call, FaceTime, text, or email the person you tap on. The addition makes favorites a far more useful and personal feature, superior to the 3D Touch Quick action it was limited to in previous versions of iOS (an enhanced 3D Touch option is still available). It should be noted that the basic communication preferences stored within each contact card on your iPhone will come into play when customizing your new favorites widget, so be sure to add in any phone numbers and email addresses before you start if you haven't done so already. Customizing Favorites in the Phone App Once you have iOS 10 downloaded, follow these steps to navigate through the new way you can customize favorites in the phone app. The above image represents Step 5 in the instructions below Navigate to the Phone app. The app should open on the "Favorites" tab, but if not tap to it. Tap the "+" button in the top left corner of the screen. Search for the contact you want to add and tap it. Choose between Message, Call, Video, or Mail as your shortcut. To pick a number or email other than the one shown as default, tap the small down arrow to the right of Message, Call, or Mail to pick from any number/email already stored in your phone for this contact. Return to the Favorites tab and your new quick

Messages in iOS 10: How to Send Handwritten Notes

The Messages app in iOS 10 has been entirely overhauled, adding a slew of new capabilities that make it more fun to keep in touch with friends and family. One of the more personal touches added to Messages is a new handwriting feature, which allows users to send handwritten messages to their loved ones. Using the handwriting feature is simple, but it's also a bit hidden on the iPhone, because the button to activate it won't show up unless you're in landscape mode. Here's how to do it: On an iPhone, turn it to landscape mode. On the iPad, you can use handwriting in landscape or portrait mode. Tap the handwriting squiggle to the right of the return key on the iPhone or to the right of the number key on the iPad. On the iPhone 6 and 6s, the handwriting screen will pop up automatically. Use a finger to write whatever you would like to say on the screen. Once you reach the end of the screen, press the arrow if you would like to keep writing. Go back to the beginning by using a two finger swipe. Alternatively, tap one of the pre-written options below, which include phrases like "thank you," "happy birthday," and "I'm sorry." When finished, tap "Done" to return to the standard keyboard. Your handwritten message will be available as an image to send in the message compose box. After you send your handwritten message to someone, it will display as a neat little animation that lets the person on the other end watch as you write each letter. Handwritten messages need to be viewed within the Messages app and notifications for them will simply read

How to Use Apple Music Lyrics in iOS 10

One of the newest features in iOS 10's redesigned Apple Music app is the ability to view lyrics for your favorite songs. While the ability to quickly access song lyrics to learn the lines is helpful, the new feature may get lost in the midst of Apple Music's new look. We've put together a how-to guide to show you how to view lyrics for your songs. First, you'll need to start playing a song. Once a song is playing, click on the song's banner, just above the Apple Music menu bar at the bottom, to open the song's individual card. From here, there are two methods to view lyrics. Method One: Tap the "three dots" button in the bottom right corner. This brings up a menu overlay displaying options for the song, like adding it to a playlist or creating a station. Tap the "Lyrics" button below the "Share Song" option. Songs with available lyrics will have this option displayed, while songs without lyrics available will not. The lyrics will pop up in a separate translucent window that slides over the song window. Method Two: Scroll down while in the song card. The lyrics toggle will be displayed directly beneath the song, right above the "Up Next" feature. Tap on "Show" to reveal the lyrics to your song. Currently, lyrics are not available on all songs and albums, but Apple has been rapidly expanding the number of tracks with lyrics support throughout the beta testing period and coverage has become fairly broad in time for the public

Photos in iOS 10: How to Edit Memories

Within the new Photos app in iOS 10, there's a tab called "Memories," which curates various photos and videos you've taken in the past into specific memory collections. Without any steps required on your part, Memories gives you an automatic homemade movie from these past family gatherings or vacations, but thanks to a few editing tools, you can also tweak each memory to your liking (note all steps are in portrait mode, although landscape is available). Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. Navigate to Photos to find the new "Memories" tab in the center of the app, where you can scroll through your personally curated list of memories and choose whichever one you wish to edit and share. Within each detailed memory view, you'll find a list of all the photos and videos contained in the memory (tap "Show all" to see more than a summary), the geographic location the pictures were taken, nearby photos, and related memories you might be interested in. A few examples of Memories in the new Photos app The last two options at the very bottom let you favorite the memory or delete it permanently. Although the "Select" option on this page might seem like an option to remove photos only from this memory, it should be noted that deleting any content through this method will delete it from your iPhone and iCloud Photo Library, not only the memory. Jump to the instructions for "complex memory editing" below to discover how to delete photos and videos only from the memory, as well as add more.

Messages in iOS 10: How to Use Digital Touch

In iOS 10, the Messages app is gaining Digital Touch, a communication feature that was previously limited to watchOS. With Digital Touch, you can send friends and family drawings, heartbeats, fireballs, kisses, and more, all with just a few taps. Sketches, taps, and other Digital Touch messages created on your iPhone are also viewable on the Apple Watch and vice versa, giving you plenty of ways to express yourself. Here's how to use the new feature. Accessing Digital Touch Open the Messages app. Open an existing conversation or start a new one. Tap the icon that looks like two fingers over a heart. Tap on the arrow on the right hand side to expand the Digital Touch window. You can send taps and drawings by using the smaller Digital Touch interface that replaces the keyboard, but there's more screen real estate to work with when it's expanded to the size of the full iPhone display.

How to Use the New Control Center in iOS 10

Although iOS 10 brings with it a few subtle visual and mechanical changes, some of its alterations to the most-used iPhone software features will probably be pretty easy to spot. One of those is the new Control Center, which has not only received a cosmetic upgrade, but has gotten a few new added abilities as well. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. The Control Center, in essence, is no longer a single card stocked with all of the expected iOS features you've become used to seeing (like the flashlight, calculator, and timer) — it's now a sliding collection of three panels. The first is a basic launchpad of settings like Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, the second is dedicated to Apple Music, and the third houses your favorite accessories from Apple's new HomeKit-focused app "Home." Control Center in iOS 9 (left) and iOS 10 (right) Some of these shuffled-around buttons can make Control Center in iOS 10 a bit discombobulating when you first bring it up, so follow this guide to get a general impression of how to use Control Center, and how to find your favorite features that may not be where they were before.

How to Use Native 3D Touch Actions in iOS 10

With iOS 10, Apple has focused on expanding 3D Touch functionality to make it more relevant to users, in the hope that they eventually come to see it as second nature. If you have an iPhone 6s or later, there are a wide range of 3D Touch gestures that you can test out in iOS 10, particularly from the home screen. Here we've compiled a list of native app icons that now support 3D Touch, as well as a handful of other useful functions. Some of them will be more relevant to you than others, depending on your usage habits. You can find additional 3D Touch shortcuts for the Control Center and Widgets Panel in iOS 10 in our respective how-to guides. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. Settings Icon Some of the most handy 3D Touch functions can be found by hard-pressing the Settings app icon, which allows you to access the Bluetooth and Wi-Fi screens to quickly connect to a wireless device or hotspot.

Messages in iOS 10: How to Use Emoji Replacement and Prediction

In iOS 10, Apple is making it even easier to use emojis with an all-new replacement and predictive system that replaces key words and phrases with relevant emoji characters. Although still short of a full-featured search functionality -- which many have asked for -- the new emoji replacement ability turns text messages into emoji-filled communications that are fun alternatives to basic blocks of text. Using Emoji Replacement To insert a few emojis into texts for yourself, follow these steps: Open Messages. Tap on the person you want to chat with. Type a message as normal, but don't hit the send arrow yet. Long-tap on the Globe icon to bring up your list of installed keyboards, and choose "Emoji." Tap any orange-highlighted word directly in your text message to turn it into an emoji. If no highlighted words appear, Apple didn't find any potential emoji replacement opportunities in your message. Tap the send arrow when you're finished. Some emojis have multiple potential keywords, and for these you'll be presented with a pop-up box where you choose the emoji you want to use. The word "confused," for example, is associated with both the "confused" and "neutral" faces.

How to Use Messages' Tapback, Screen Effects and Bubble Effects in iOS 10

In iOS 10, Messages features creative tools to give users new ways to express themselves and communicate with friends and family. Additions include new bubble effects that change the way iMessage bubbles look, tapback reaction options for sending quick feedback on texts or photos, and screen effects that add fireworks, confetti, and more to the whole messages screen. All of these tools are simple to use, but there are some hidden features and accessing them for the first time can be tricky, so make sure to check out our how-to for pointers. Using Bubble Effects There are currently four kinds of bubble effects that can be added to chat bubbles to impact the mood of a message: Slam, Loud, Gentle, and Invisible Ink. Each one changes the way a chat bubble looks when it's delivered to a friend. Slam, for example, expands the size of the chat bubble and slams it down onto the screen, while Loud enlarges the chat bubble and makes it shake for a few seconds before it settles down. Gentle, meanwhile, makes the text within the chat bubble tiny for a few seconds before it expands in size, and Invisible Ink, the neatest effect, fully obscures the look of the text in the chat bubble until a finger is swiped over it to unveil it.

Photos in iOS 10: How to Find and Use Image Markup

Apple is expanding the iPhone's photo editing abilities in iOS 10 with a new feature called "Markup" that lets you doodle, magnify, and place text on any picture you have within the Photos app. Thanks to Markup's flexibility, it could be used for both casually sharing photos with friends and family, and also to enhance and add detail to an image in an enterprise situation. Markup is also available directly through the Messages app in iOS 10, adding it to the roster of inventive and colorful updates coming to text messaging in the new iPhone operating system this fall. In both locations, Markup is a bit buried and somewhat difficult to find, so follow these steps to discover the new photo editing feature in iOS 10. Finding Image Markup in Photos Open the Photos app. Find the image you want to edit and tap on it. Tap the editing slider button. While in editing mode, tap the button that looks like an ellipsis within a circle and choose "Markup" from the popup menu. Finding Image Markup in Messages Open Messages. Tap the contact you want to send the photo to. Tap the Camera icon to the left of the iMessage conversation box. Find the image you want to edit by taking a new picture, scrolling right to browse all your images, or scrolling left to jump into a vertical version of your Photo Library. Tap on the photo to place it in the conversation box, then tap on it once again within the box. Tap "Markup" in the bottom left corner. Using Image Markup In Photos or Messages, the editing features of Markup are mostly similar, although the former

Messages in iOS 10: How to Install and Use Sticker Packs

In iOS 10, the simple Messages app you're familiar with has transformed from a bare bones texting platform into a fun, interactive communication service that takes advantage of games, apps, drawings, stickers, message effects, and more. Following in the footsteps of apps like Facebook and Line, Apple is delving into stickers in a big way, giving iOS users new ways of expressing themselves. Like the real thing, Stickers in iOS can be stuck onto messages or images, or sent by themselves, and they can be resized, rotated, and stuck to other stickers for fun layering effects.

How to Use iOS 10's Redesigned Lock Screen

With a brand-new iOS operating system now available, many users are excited to delve into iOS 10's biggest and boldest changes, like an overhauled Messages app and a more personal space in Photos to relive past vacations and family get-togethers. However, before you even get to all of iOS 10's new features, you'll have to get used to its new lock screen mechanisms, which completely change the way the iPhone is unlocked moving forward. iOS 10 brings about the first major overhaul to the lock screen since the iPhone launched in 2007, ditching the popular "Slide to Unlock" instruction on the bottom of the screen for a collection of new prompts that make it easier than ever take advantage of the lock screen. Prior to iOS 10, iPhone 6s and 6s Plus users in particular experienced some frustrations with the traditional method of unlocking the phone, as the faster Touch ID system would unlock "too quickly," causing users to miss notifications that might have been on the lock screen. While slightly complex until you get the hang of it, iOS 10 streamlines this process so that you can still have your thumb placed on Touch ID when the iPhone wakes up via a new Raise to Wake feature on the iPhone 6s, iPhone 6s Plus, and iPhone SE, without immediately jumping past the lock screen. For more details on how to navigate the lock screen, interact with notifications, and unlock your iPhone, follow each set of instructions below.

How to Install the iOS 10 Public Beta

With the release of the iOS 10 public beta, many users are thinking about putting the new operating system on their devices to try out all of the new features. We've already taken a look at whether it's a good idea to install the iOS 10 public beta considering potential bugs and other issues that can interfere with your daily usage, but if you've decided to go ahead with installing it, we've put together this how-to to show you the steps you need to take. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. First, you'll need to prepare your iOS device for the update, and the first step is backing things up in case you run into a problem. A full backup to iTunes is recommended, and it should be encrypted if you wish to preserve your Health and Activity data. Archiving the backup is also a good idea to make sure it remains available should you need to roll back from iOS 10. Next, you'll need to install a profile on your device that will give you access to the beta software. It's accessible through Apple's Beta Software Program website, and once you've registered there you'll need to log in from the device you want to install the profile on. If you've previously been enrolled in an iOS public beta or developer program, you may already have profiles installed on your device for testing beta software, and these should be removed through the Settings app before trying to install the new iOS 10 profile. It's possible you may also have a previous pending beta update such as a iOS 9.3.3 beta already downloaded to your device but not yet installed, and you'll want

How to Password Protect Notes in iOS 9.3 and OS X 10.11.4

Although more prominent features like Night Shift and a few new Quick Actions are getting the spotlight with the launch of iOS 9.3, one new lesser-known update is definitely worth checking out. In iOS 9.3, Apple has improved the functionality of its first-party Notes app with the ability to add password or Touch ID security for individual notes. The feature allows users to prevent access to sensitive information on a case-by-case basis (some notes, like a shopping list, might not be as high risk), just in case someone gets past the lock screen security of the iPhone itself. With some people even using Notes to store passwords for various sites and services, Apple's security-enhanced update is well worth checking out. Creating a Password in Notes on iOS The steps needed to set up a password or Touch ID for your Notes are straight-forward and should only take a few moments to complete.

How to Downgrade From an iOS Beta

If you've installed an iOS beta either through Apple's developer program or the public beta testing website, you may find yourself wanting to downgrade if you've run into issues. iOS beta software can be notoriously buggy, especially during the first few betas of a major update. Apps often don't work, devices crash, battery life is poor, and entire features can be rendered non-functional. In some cases, these problems are a big enough deal that users will want to downgrade back to the more stable release version of iOS. It's possible to restore your iPhone or iPad to the release version of iOS, but you're going to need an archived iTunes backup to restore your iPhone or iPad to its pre-beta state, so hopefully you have one on hand (this is the first step in any beta installation). If not, downgrading will require wiping your device, so you'll need to start from scratch with apps, accounts, and preferences. Here are the steps to downgrade:

How to Create an Archived iTunes Backup

Regularly creating iCloud or iTunes backups should be routine for every iOS user, but if you want to upgrade to a beta version of iOS or if you think you might want to downgrade shortly after installing a new iOS update, you'll want to make sure create an archived iTunes backup beforehand. An archived iTunes backup is essential because it saves the current state of your iOS device and prevents it from being accidentally overwritten by subsequent backups. Apple recommends all public beta testers create an archived backup before installing a beta in case something goes wrong and a restore is needed. Here's how to do it.

How to Create a More Secure Passcode on Your iPhone or iPad

Apple's iPhones have long been protected by numeric passcodes, giving iOS users a way to protect keep their devices safe from hackers and prying eyes. Over the years, passcodes have been supplemented by Touch ID, Apple's fingerprint recognition system, but the passcode is still the iPhone's main line of defense. A passcode is required to set up Touch ID, and Touch ID is automatically disabled after 48-hours until a passcode is input by an iPhone or iPad's owner. In the United States, passcodes are especially important because the law suggests that while law enforcement officers can require you to provide a fingerprint to unlock a device, the same is not true of a passcode. For a long time, passcodes were four-digit numeric codes by default, but with iOS 9, Apple began using a six-digit passcode as the default option. Six-digit passcodes offer 1 million possible combinations instead of 10,000, making a passcode harder to crack. Apple doesn't advertise it, but the iOS operating system offers an option to make your passcode even more secure through the use of an alphanumeric passcodes or custom length numeric passcodes. Alphanumeric passcodes contain letters and numbers. Both alphanumeric and custom numeric passcodes can be much longer than four or six digits.

How to Create an 'Unread' Folder in the iOS Mail App

In iOS 7, Apple introduced the option to add an "Unread" mailbox to the iOS Mail app, giving users a place to aggregate all incoming email for quick access. The feature was never widely publicized, and as a result, many iOS users today are unaware that it exists. Adding an "Unread" mailbox takes just a few taps, but it's highly useful, especially when you've got a lot of incoming emails. We've created a video that shows how to enable the Unread mailbox on your iPhone or iPad, and below that, you'll find step-by-step instructions on the process. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. Steps to enable the "Unread" Mailbox: Open the Mail app. Tap "Edit" in the upper right corner. Scroll down beyond the currently enabled mailboxes, and check the "Unread" box. Use the hamburger button to move the Unread box to a spot that's most convenient for your usage habits. Tap "Done." Each incoming email will be filtered into the "Unread" mailbox as its received, and when read, the email will be removed from the box so you can always keep tabs on what hasn't been read. You can also filter emails by other parameters using specialized boxes found in the Mail app, including total emails received in a day, emails with attachments, flagged emails, and more. For more quick tips on hidden iOS features, make sure to check out and subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel.

How to Download the iOS 9.3 Beta to Your iPhone or iPad

Ahead of new software releases for iOS devices, Apple provides early copies to both developers and public beta testers to work out bugs and refine features. Major updates often include exciting new additions that people are eager to try out right away, such as iOS 9.3's Night Shift Mode and all of its other new features. If you want to get your hands on iOS 9.3 ahead of its prospective spring public launch date, there are two legitimate ways to do it: a developer license or a public beta invitation. We'll outline both ways to get iOS 9.3 below, plus we'll include some instructions on downgrading in case you run into bugs. Both those who sign up for a developer license and those who test betas through Apple's public beta testing program should use caution when installing beta software. It's called a beta because it's unfinished, and there are often significant issues and problems that can prevent apps and features from working, especially in the early beta testing process. iOS 9.3, though relatively stable, should not be installed on a main iOS device that's used on a daily basis. Testing should be done on an extra device that can be easily wiped should something go wrong.