Pain Points

Some people (including myself) are seeing a "Hold" button instead of the "FaceTime" button when calling people on our new iPhone 4. It turns out this problem comes from a bug where Apple disables FaceTime on the iPhone 4 if you restored from an iPhone 3G.

Due to the way Android works, you normally need to be rooted to uninstall the pre-loaded system apps, aka bloatware, that came with your device. This is because the underlying files for these apps are stored on your system partition, which can only be modified with root-level access.

You find and update all of your apps using the iOS App Store, and if you have updates scheduled automatically, it could be working hard on a daily basis. With all of that work, it can lose its footing from time to time and cause things not to work as they should.

Android's stock battery menu is pretty decent. You can see which apps have been using the most power, and you can tell when your CPU was awake or asleep, among other things. But a lot of times, battery-sucking services will get lumped under the generic "Android System" header, and even though you can see when your CPU was awake, you can't exactly see why.

Google seems to be growing tired of the way links appear in its Search results page, because they're currently experimenting with a color change (that's already causinglotsofcontroversy).

Many users across the web have reportedissues with receiving notifications from the Gmail and Hangouts apps on Android. The problem is most prevalent with users running Marshmallow, and the gist is that notifications from these apps are extremely delayed or don't come through at all.

Apple has finally addressed and issued a fix for Error 53, a "safety" mechanism that would prevent your iPhone from booting if you had certain repairs done outside of Apple's official channels.

Samsung makes some wonderful phones, but one thing I've noticed is that battery life can start to degrade over time, causing the phone to die a lot faster than it used to. If you've been experiencing this issue, and have asked yourself, "Why does my Galaxy S5 die so fast?" there are a few likely causes—and we've got you covered with troubleshooting tips and simple fixes below.

If you left your iPhone sitting unlocked, or have friends and family that like to play pranks, you may be stuck with an overly orange screen out of the blue. Or worse, your screen is normal most of the time, but seems to randomly change its tint in certain parts of the day.

As we go about our daily grind, our smartphones and tablets take a silent beating. Dirt, dust, oil, and grime that our hands have picked up immediately gets transferred over to our shiny pocket-sized computers every time we check the time or look for new notifications, and over the course of months, this can have a very noticeable adverse effect.

The iPhone 4 is one of the most divisive pieces of consumer electronics ever released. Its defective antenna has ruffled the feathers of even the most diehard Apple enthusiasts. This video will show you how to fix the antennagate issue using only some Scotch tape, which when applied to the proper place, will keep the antenna from grounding itself on the metal piece below, which is what causes the phone to lose signal when you hold it.

You would think that with each major iOS update, there'd be fewer ways to bypass the lock screen. Unfortunately, Apple's developers have consistently failed every year since 2013 in this department, leaving open lock screen exploits for iOS 7, iOS 8, and now the latest iOS version, iOS 9, with each exploit being discovered within days of the OS release.

While the OnePlus One is a great value, you could be plagued with a touchscreen issue or two. The most common problems come in the form of ghost touches and touches not registering with apps.

If you've recently noticed that you're missing Quick Settings toggles on on your Samsung Galaxy S6 or S6 Edge—specifically ones for Mobile data, Private mode, and Mobile hotspot—you aren't alone.

As the developer behind the most popular root methods for hundreds of Android devices, Chainfire knows the ins and outs of Android root procedures. But this doesn't mean he's infallible—occasionally, some of his root utilities can cause minor bugs.

Ever feel like you're receiving notifications way too late on your Android device? Many Android apps use Google's Cloud Messaging service to send and receive notifications, including Hangouts, Gmail, Pushbullet, Facebook, and even WhatsApp to an extent.

Android version 5.0 Lollipop introduced a ton of changes to the OS—and of course with new features, there's always a new set of bugs. One of the biggest bugs of all was a massive memory leak caused by the new screen-off animation, which loaded its assets into memory but never cleared them away.

If you're the de facto tech support person in your family or circle of friends, you know how frustrating it can be to have to hold someone's hand and walk them through every troubleshooting step. Luckily, several options now exist for you to remotely access a Mac or Windows PC, which effectively skips the middle man and lets you get straight to fixing the issue yourself.

Many Nexus 6 owners, myself included, have already started to experience the dreaded burn-in issues that often come with AMOLED display technology. These displays are different than your typical LCD screen in that each pixel emits its own light instead of using a backlight, so this leaves AMOLED screens more susceptible to issues with dim or unresponsive pixels.

Sitting at home alone on Friday night, I'm often in the mood to watch something more recent than the offerings on Netflix, Hulu, or Amazon Prime Video. And since the demise of video rental stores, that leaves me with browsing through the Redbox catalogue, then strolling down to the nearest 7-Eleven to pick up my movie.

Picture this scenario—you're using your phone in a dimly-lit room, then you move to an area with a lot more ambient light, and Auto Brightness kicks in within a few seconds to ramp up the backlight. That's the way it should be, right? But then you move back to the darker area, and your phone takes 30 seconds before it decides to dim back out. Pretty annoying, isn't it?

There's a common bug that affects many Samsung Galaxy S5 users, myself included. The software that drives the fingerprint sensor can randomly fail to load, leaving you without one of the most unique features of your beloved smartphone.

AT&T Code Scanner, DriveMode, and Samsung Hub make up just a sliver of the sea of apps on my Galaxy Note 3 that I'll probably never use in my lifetime. Additionally, there aren't any built-in methods for uninstalling these pre-loaded Android apps (aka bloatware) from carriers and manufacturers.

We recently ran into a serious iPhone 6 issue here in the Gadget Hacks office, where the device was stuck in an infinite bootloop with intermittent red and blue screens (of death?) and an unresponsive touchscreen and buttons. From what we can tell, weweren'talone, though some are experiencing only one or a few of the issues we've had.

After updating to iOS 8, some of you have probably noticed that a lot of your pictures and videos are missing from the Photos app. Even if you were to restore your iPad or iPhone to your last backup, they would still be missing. But don't worry, that's just because albums work differently in iOS 8—all of your old photos are still there, just not as in your face as before.

The Xposed Framework offers many great customization options for your Galaxy S5. S Health, with its ability to read your heart rate through a built-in monitor, is one of the main selling points of the GS5. Trouble is, the two don't seem to play nice together.

Of the sixty or so "must-have" apps that are installed on my Samsung Galaxy Note 3, there's only one that I need to use and hate with a passion. Skype. Whenever using it, I'm consumed by dropped calls, mic issues, poor quality, and random crashes, among other things—and I'm not the only one.

Apple released iOS 7.1.2 just over three weeks ago, mostly to address some big security issues and a few minor bugs. Unfortunately, the update came with a problem of its own regarding missing contacts and iCloud syncing.

I hate waiting to play, and I hate bugging my Facebook friends even more. But that's what Candy Crush Saga makes you do if you want to get new lives and levels faster.

If you've ever noticed, even just for a fleeting moment, that the auto brightness on your Nexus 5 seemed to "glitch out"—you are not alone.

Update (March 18, 2014):

We've all been there. Stranded in a large lot or parking garage, braving the rows upon rows of identical cars in an endless concrete landscape because, for the very life of us, we can't remember where we stashed the very ride that brought us there.

Many Samsung Galaxy S4 users, specifically for Sprint, are reporting that the latest KitKat upgrade to Android 4.4.2 is causing some strange behavior.

The sensors in your mobile device are integral for gaming (try to beat my Temple Run 2 score), as well as many of the basic Galaxy S3 features like Smart Stay and other fancy additions. But sometimes those sensors can become overly sensitive or just downright unusable.

Seemingly out of nowhere, something strange started happening on my Nexus 7. Every time I restarted my device, the camera application on the far right of my dock kept disappearing on me.

If you're an iPhone user, iMessage is great for cutting down on SMS costs from your carrier, but it doesn't always work right away.

With the release of iOS 7, the entire Internet was abuzz with what's the exact opposite of excitement as Apple's servers were overloaded, causing many download fails of the new operating system.

The Google Play Store exists so you can download as many apps as your heart desires (and as your memory can hold). Sure, you may only use them once, but it's your choice—and isn't that what life is really about?

I've been a Sprint customer for a long time. Normally, Sprint (flagship) phones come with some useful apps, such as Sprint TV, Sprint Zone (for payments, updating PRLs, and account information), and NBA Game Time. In other words, relatively free of bloat.

During last week's D11 event, Sundar Pichai, head of Google's Android division, announced that a Google Edition of the HTC One would be available for sale on June 26th in the Google Play store.