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Telegram 101: How to Make Your Entire Account Self-Destruct (Or Just Delete It)

You can send self-destructing messages in Secret Chats, but that's not the only thing that can destroy itself in Telegram after a specified amount of time. Your whole account can disappear after a certain amount of inactivity, so it's important to adjust these settings to give you more time or to kill your account even quicker.

Google Assistant 101: 70 Easter Eggs & Interesting Voice Commands

Despite a rocky start with plenty of feature disparity, the Google Assistant now provides a pretty consistent experience regardless of what device you're using it on. Be it Android, iPhone, or Google Home, the AI behind the Assistant is virtually identical — including its quirky commands and funny responses.

How To: The Five Best Apps for Streaming Movies on Your Phone

There are more than a few subscription-based movie streaming apps available for Android and iPhone, each with different benefits and varying pricing plans. Needless to say, it can get expensive fast if you sign up for multiple services because you can't decide on what's best. Hopefully, we can help you out with choosing the right video-on-demand app to spend your hard-earned dollars on.

Anonymous Texting 101: How to Block Your Cell Phone Number While Sending Text Messages

When browsing the web, I enjoy my privacy. It's reassuring that I can peruse the internet without the worry of having my activity tracked back to me, allowing me to leave fun, anonymous comments when I get the urge to troll.

How To: Top 4 Phones for Music Lovers & Audiophiles

While music may not technically be a "universe language," it is the one language listened to by all. There are over 1,500 music genres today—rap, classical, rock, jazz, trap, hip-hop, house, new wave, vaperwave, charred death, nintendocore... and the list goes on. And if you're like most people, you now probably listen to the majority of your music on your phone.

WhatsApp 101: How to Format Your Messages with Italic, Bold, or Strikethrough Text

Millions of iPhone and Android users turn to WhatsApp as their go-to messaging app, and it's easy to see why. The app comes standard with tons of great features for messaging, calling, and browsing, and that's not even mentioning the fact that it has a larger user base than any other messenger service out there.

How To: The 4 Best Phones for Privacy & Security

Cell phones — particularly smartphones — are inherently bad for privacy. You've basically got a tracking device in your pocket, pinging off cell towers and locking onto GPS satellites. All the while, the handset's data connection ensures that tracking cookies, advertising IDs, and usage stats follow you around the internet.

Snapchat 101: Never Lose a Snapstreak with These 3 Tips & Tricks

One of the most popular things to do on Snapchat is to earn a Snapstreak. This occurs when you and one other friend have sent Snaps (not Chatted) to each other within 24 hours for at least three consecutive days. One you've passed the three-day mark, then you and your friend will receive a fire emoji next to your names.

Best TV Streaming App: Netflix vs. Hulu vs. Amazon Prime vs. HBO Now vs. Showtime

Who here binges TV on a regular basis? I know I do. Never before have we had so many options for watching our favorite shows, especially when you consider how easy it is to stream from anywhere on a mobile device. But sometimes, all that choice gets a little overwhelming. What services are really worth the money? Where should you be investing your Friday-night binges?

Telegram 101: How to Send Self-Destructing Messages in Chats

While using end-to-end encryption may be enough security for most of your messages in Telegram, you can go a step beyond this by sending messages that disappear after an allotted amount of time. This prevents you from having to manually delete the message at a later time, so you can send it and forget it without worrying about whether or not it's still out there.

News: The Tools @Sennheiser Uses to Build a Pro-Quality Instagram Feed

Andrew Mucci, a New Jersey-based vlogger who is also Social Media Coordinator at Sennheiser, likes to use Instagram not only as a platform for the brand but also as a place to experiment with content on his own account.

Telegram 101: How to Password-Protect Your Chats for Extra Security

If you're using Telegram for its "Secret Chats" feature, which provides end-to-end encryption for your messages, then I'd highly recommend locking down the app itself with a passcode, PIN, or password. While your phone itself may have a secure lock screen already, if that gets compromised, you'll at least have an extra layer of security on your important conversations.

How To: Hack Someone's Cell Phone to Steal Their Pictures

Do you ever wonder how all these celebrities continue to have their private photos spread all over the internet? While celebrities' phones and computers are forever vulnerable to attacks, the common folk must also be wary. No matter how careful you think you were went you sent those "candid" photos to your ex, with a little effort and access to public information, your pictures can be snagged, too. Here's how.

News: Meet the Nokia 8 — The First Android Flagship from the Iconic Brand

Long before Apple and Android became household names, Nokia dominated the mobile industry. The Finnish company was one of the first to develop smartphones, and their classic N95 with 2G "high-speed" internet connectivity was declared the "best smartphone ever" by some in 2007. Outside of the US, before the iPhone became all the rage, owning a Nokia phone was a status symbol akin to wearing a Rolex or Omega watch.

How To: Transform Gift Card Balances into Cash from Any ATM with Google Wallet

Most people don't ask for gift cards, but they're always a popular gift choice for notoriously hard-to-shop-for people—or the time-constrained gift-giver. While most gift cards are attached to certain stores, many folks will get a prepaid Visa or MasterCard card that allows them to make purchases wherever those companies are accepted.

How To: Play 'The Sims Mobile' on Your iPhone or Android Right Now

The latest iteration of the gaming classic, The Sims, has arrived as a soft launch for both iOS and Android in Brazil. Aptly named The Sims Mobile, this free-to-play game seems to be very faithful to the PC-based version that won it so much acclaim. There are plenty of things to do in The Sims Mobile besides the usual home and character customization, and the game also lets you interact with real life friends to fully experience its virtual world together. Maintaining relationships, whether r...

Snapchat 101: How to Turn On Ghost Mode for Snap Map to Keep Your Location Private

Snapchat recently updated their Android and iPhone apps with a new feature called Snap Map which lets you share your current location with other Snapchatters, as well as see their current locations. It may sound like an interesting new feature, but sharing your exact location with all of your Snapchat followers is dangerous, to say the least. Luckily, it's easy to turn this feature off.

Signal 101: How to Register Using a Google Voice Number

Signal Private Messenger is famous for its end-to-end encryption, but you can't even use the messaging app without having a real phone number attached to it. Luckily, there is a way around this limitation, so you can use Signal even if you don't have a valid SIM card in your smartphone.

How To: Really Connect Your Instagram Account to Facebook on Your iPhone

I recently ran into a problem connecting my Instagram app on my iPhone 5 to Facebook, and neither Instagram's or Facebook's help pages were as helpful as they claim to be.

How To: 3 Easy Steps to Fixing Stuck Buttons on Your Phone or Tablet

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.

How To: The Trick to Inserting Line Breaks into Instagram Captions & Comments

Line breaks signify not only the ending of one line of thinking, but the beginning of another. We use them to emphasize points, to fragment information, to shift tone, and more. They're important in getting our message across properly, which is why I'm always disappointed when I can't insert a line break into my masterful Instagram caption.

Telegram 101: How to Enable End-to-End Encryption for Your Chats

Telegram routinely boasts about their secured messaging available for truly private conversations between two parties using their app. However, default chats in Telegram are only encrypted server-to-client, not client-to-client, which means you have to be a little proactive in making sure your private conversations on Telegram are really private.

WhatsApp 101: How to Broadcast Messages to Multiple Contacts

Let's say you want to send out a message to all of your friends. Normally, you'd have to put all of the recipients into one giant group thread to do this. But when people started responding to your message, everyone in the group would get a notification, so your friends would probably be annoyed that you started the group thread in the first place. Luckily, if you're using WhatsApp, this isn't an issue.

Signal 101: How to Verify the Identity of a Contact You're Communicating With

If you've received a spam message in Signal Private Messenger, you know that anyone can contact you as long as they have your linked phone number. But when it comes to the people you're actually trying to have a private conversation with, how do you know it's really them?

Google Maps 101: How to Download Maps for Offline Use

Spotty cellular reception is a fact of life that we all have to deal with, especially if you live in suburban and rural areas. For those of us who rely on our smartphones for navigation, driving through areas with bad mobile data service can be a cause for major headaches.

How To: Find Out Whether Your Phone Has an LCD or AMOLED Display (& Why It Matters)

When it comes to smartphone screens, there are two predominant technologies—the traditional LCD panel, and the newer AMOLED display. Most phones still use LCD screens, as the tech is more cost-effective due to its longstanding reign as the primary display type in TVs, smartphones, and tablets.

Snapseed 101: How to Blur NSFW Images to Share on Social Media

There are many different ways and many different apps that allow you to censor a racy photo and then share it to Instagram or Facebook. If you're in a time crunch and don't have the time or the patience to deal with something like Photoshop, then Snapseed is a great and easy app that will blur out your raunchy images in a quickie.

How To: Track the Location of Your Family and Friends on Any Mobile Device

Being lost sucks. There really is nothing worse than going to a huge event with a bunch of friends or family and then getting separated. Instead of partying with the bros, you get stuck next to this lame couple who keeps seriously making out every ten seconds. SMH.

How To: Tell if Someone Has Read Your WhatsApp Message—Even if They Have Read Receipts Turned Off

We've all been there... admit it. You sent a couple messages, but your friend had the "Read Receipts" option turned off in WhatsApp, so after a few minutes, you start wondering if they're away from their phone right now or just flat-out ignoring you.

News: You Can Now Record Multiple 10 Second Snaps Continuously with New Update

Snapchat is rolling out some awesome new features in their update today. The major update comes just two weeks after the company's premiere of backdrop, snap shopping, and voice clip features. They rolled out two new features this time, Multi-Snaps and the Tint Brush.

Myth Debunked: Uncooked Rice Isn't the Best Way to Save Your Water-Damaged Phone

If you drop your smartphone in water, take it apart as much as you can and place it in rice. It's been the most recommended method of cell phone rescue since the days of clamshells. In fact, it's usually the only thing recommended when searching for "how to save your wet phone." Turns out, we've been wrong all along.

News: 5 Apps That Let You Make Calls Without Giving Out Your Real Number

Throwaway phones aren't just for seedy criminals and spies—they can be useful for many everyday situations.

Hacking Time: How to Speed Up Game Clocks on Your Android Device for Faster Farming

So, you've finally managed to get addicted to one of those free farming games, like Farm Story or Tiny Village. You play the game nonstop now, and the only thing stopping you is that dreaded on-screen notice to come back in 23 hours to finish farming or building. Come back in 23 hours… WHAT?!? Most of these free games will start charging you at this point. Time becomes a luxury. Well, not anymore, thanks to XDA Developer StupidIdea, who made a time-tricking app called GMD Speed Time (that's t...

How To: Stop people with Caller ID from seeing your phone number when you call

It seems like everyone has Caller ID these days, but not everyone wants to give up their privacy. Whether you're calling from a cell phone or a landline, you can dial *67 to block your phone number from appearing on Caller ID, and many phone companies offer a permanent option as added service.

How To: 4 Ways to Find Your Lost Cell Phone—Even If It's on Silent

There's nothing worse than losing your phone—except losing your phone when the ringer is silent. If you're alone, it can be excruciatingly hard to find your lost device even if the ringer is on, considering most of us don't have landlines anymore. So, the next time you find yourself hunting for your phone, don't tear your house apart until you've tried some of these quick tips.

How To: The 4 Most Durable Premium Smartphones for Clumsy People

Your smartphone is pretty much with you every single day (every single moment for some people), so it's only a matter of time before it slips out of your hand and breaks or you spill coffee all over it. For some of you, it has already happened, perhaps even multiple times.

How To: Add a Number Row to Google's Gboard Keyboard

Google's Gboard is by far the most popular keyboard available right now. Gboard lets you search almost anything—from regular Google searches, to emojis, and even GIFs—just by using your keyboard. The app even lets you share search results, saving you a great deal of time, which would've otherwise been spent juggling between apps and programs.

Waze 101: How to Use Different Voices for Navigation & Directions

If you've been looking for an alternative to Google Maps, look no further than Waze. In addition to benefits like crowd-sourced traffic data, police trap locations, and road work avoidance, the app even lets you personalize the voices used for navigation and directions.

How To: Reorder Profiles & Reset Matches in Tinder

The modern age of techno-dating has made an interesting landscape for social interactions when there is some modicum of romance (or lust). For those of us born before the internet evolved into the prolific monster it has become, we first met our love interests face to face. Today, however, apps like Tinder have changed the introductory stage, for better or worse.

Google Assistant 101: How to Manage Account Permissions

The Google Assistant is an incredibly useful tool that's now available for both Android and iOS. You can use plain English to send voice commands that range from turning off your smart lights to answering almost any question — but many of these features won't work properly if you have certain Google activity controls disabled.