I quite like having access to spotlight without dragging down on the Home Screen but it can look odd if you like a clean setup.
Good news is that you can remove it.
Settings -> Home Screen -> toggle Show Spotlight.
Tag: How to
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I really wish that the BBC would (a) not track statistics by default and (b) put a lot of their content behind walls like the BBC Sounds app.
On using it I realised the BBC like with most of their apps turn on statistics gathering by default.
You can turn this off by tapping on ‘my sounds’ then the cog in the top right. Once there scroll down and you’ll see ‘share statistics’. Turn this off.
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I’ve been looking at a smaller phone in terms of size but also storage. 128GB does seem the sweet spot for me and whilst looking at how much space I was taking up I discovered a way to quickly delete the downloaded music I had.
If you go to general -> iPhone storage -> music
It shows you all of the downloaded music and you can then simply swipe to the left and tap delete.
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I really like my Xbox Series X but there’s one issue that still bugs me on an almost daily basis – quick resume. Almost all of the time a game resumes it’s lost it’s internet connection.
Unfortunately there’s no system setting to turn this off but there is a way around it.
When you press the centre X button to go back to the Home Screen go to the game you were playing and then close the game. This won’t then quick resume when you load it next time.
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Through my testing of used iPhone models there’s one feature that pulls me towards an iPhone 11, 12 or 13 – night mode.
Even with this quick handheld take it’s impressive how Apple have improved low light over time.
I’m yet to put on a tripod and give it a real test but if you are after the best camera for any low light situations you need to look at a used 11, 12 or 13.
Here’s how you can use the feature. Apple wrote a better guide than me so the previous link shows you all you need to know.
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I’ve been resetting a lot of iPhones lately and found if you want minimal hassle from the App Store app on your iPhone then these settings will do the job.
The only thing you need to do is update your apps occasionally. I find that they hardly ever update in the background anyway.
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I’ve realised without really trying that I’m watching YouTube without ads. I’m not signed into Google either. What I’m doing is using Safari on macOS (but this would work with any browser I suspect or operating system). I then use the DuckDuckGo search engine to search for a video. I then click to play and make sure I click ‘watch here’ when prompted. I can then just use this for any video I want to watch all within DuckDuckGo and with no ads.
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I’ve been running an iPhone 7 with 95% battery capacity for quite a few days now and the biggest issue by far is battery life. I’m often charging at 3pm and that’s just after a few photos and listening to music for a couple of hours during the due.
I have managed to get through the day now though but had to change quite a few settings. I’m not sure if it’ll last on a day trip but at least for now this works for me.
- Turn off Bluetooth when you aren’t using it. Unless I’m using my AirPods Bluetooth is off on my iPhone
- Turn off background refresh (settings, general, background app refresh, toggle the switch to off)
- Turn off all notifications except phone and messages (settings, notifications)
- Turn off fitness tracking (settings, privacy, motion & fitness, turn off fitness tracking)
This is working ok for me right now but when I’m out and about more only time will tell. I’m on a bit of a digital declutter at the moment so that probably plays into the fact that I’m getting along ok. I’m using my phone a lot less and trying to be more intentional about how I’m using my devices.
You can also implement using low power mode when you’re out and about if need be. Im yet to test this out.
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I’ve been using iCloud private relay since iOS 15 launched and I’ve noticed that it’s not been showing me news or web content in my country by default. Even when I make sure DuckDuckGo has the UK ticked off in the settings it always defaulted to America.
With playing around I discovered that I have to have the following set for it to work.
When I have this setting it works perfectly. I previously had it set to ‘maintain general location’ but for some reason it thought I was in the States. That’s why this service is still in beta I guess.
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If like me you’re in an area with no 5G and want to do what you can to improve battery life you can actually turn 5G off completely.
Here’s the steps:
- Go to your Home Screen and tap settings to launch the settings app
- Tap mobile data
- Tap Mobile Data Options
- Tap Voice & Data
- Tap 4G
This will disable 5G and hopefully help with battery life.
LJPUK 