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How To: Disable Vanish Mode in Facebook Messenger & Instagram

Facebook recently implemented "Vanish Mode" into Messenger and Instagram, which lets you have an end-to-end encrypted conversation in a chat that will disappear as soon as you leave the thread. As cool as it sounds, it's easy to enable accidentally, and a friend could force you into using it. In some cases, that may not be ideal since everything you or the recipient said will disappear.

How To: This Hack Turns Any Phone into a Black Light

Black lights come in all shapes and sizes, and they're useful in a variety of ways. They can help you spot fake currency, urine stains, interesting rocks, and deadly scorpions, and they can even help you view cool fluorescent artwork.

How To: Prevent People Who Have Your Contact Information from Finding Your Instagram Account

Sharing your personal information can come up for any number of reasons: you may want to get in touch with a colleague after work or you've been involved in a car accident and need to stay in contact with the other driver. Unfortunately, giving out information can be the key for others to find your social media accounts, such as Instagram, whether you want it to happen or not.

How To: Find All the Reels You Liked & Saved on Instagram

So, you're trying to show a friend or two a hilarious Reel you liked or saved on Instagram, but where is it? Unlike TikTok, Instagram doesn't make it clear where you're supposed to find your liked and saved Reels. Luckily, we can help.

How To: Download Any TikTok Video on Your Phone — Even if They're Blocked from Saving

Many apps, including Facebook, Twitter, and Facebook, do not let you download videos, even if they are living on your own account. Saving these videos usually requires a third-party app or screen recorder, which is inconvenient and can result in loss of quality. However, TikTok, the newish popular short-form video platform, makes it easy to download videos — even if they're not yours.

How To: Set a Video as the Wallpaper on Your Android's Home Screen & Lock Screen

Android users have had access to live wallpapers since the Eclair days, but some newer apps have made this feature even more useful. Now, you have the ability to use GIFs as your wallpaper, and through the marvels of modern technology, you can even set a video as your home screen and lock screen background.

News: How to See What Traffic Will Be Like at a Specific Time with Google Maps

As intuitive as Google Maps is for finding the best routes, it never let you choose departure and arrival times in the mobile app. This feature has long been available on the desktop site, allowing you to see what traffic should be like at a certain time and how long your drive would take at a point in the future. Fortunately, Google has finally added this feature to the app for iPhone and Android.

How To: View All the Songs You've Loved on Apple Music in One Convenient List

In Apple Music, loving and disliking songs is a great way to teach Apple's subscription service what type of tunes you like and which you don't. While it also seems like it should be an excellent way to keep track of songs you enjoy in the wild, there's no clear way to view all of your loved tracks in one convenient list. There is a way, however, but easy it is not.

AR Snapshots: Snapchat's Latest Augmented Reality Lens Turns Celebrities into Lip-Syncing Pop Stars

The Lens Studio community, now made up of more than 200,000 creators, has generated some impressive augmented reality effects in the last few years. Amazingly, the groundbreaking Lenses for Snapchat continue to come, often from the internal AR team at Snap.

News: Facebook Finally Opens Oculus Quest Passthrough Feature to Developers, Making the VR Device an AR Playground

Facebook Reality Labs chief Andrew "Boz" Bosworth does a lot of hinting and teasing of what's coming next at Oculus, often with only a vague timeline on the horizon.

How To: The Trick That Lets You Link to Specific Start Times in YouTube Videos Right from Your Phone

The desktop version of YouTube, meaning the one you access on your computer, lets you add a timestamp to any video you're watching in just a few clicks. When you share the link or need to reference it later yourself, the timestamp makes the video start at the point specified, not the beginning. Unfortunately, tacking on timestamps from YouTube's mobile app is impossible — but there are workarounds.

How To: This Sneaky Trick Lets You Post Empty Tweets & Pin Retweets to Your Profile

On Twitter, you can pin one of your tweets or replies to your profile, so it's the first post people see when they visit your page. However, Twitter prevents you from pinning someone else's tweet. You can't even pin something you retweet. There is a clever workaround, though, and it also works for posting empty tweets.

How To: 15 Awesome FaceTime Alternatives for Cross-Platform Video Calls on Android & iOS

In these times of social distancing, video calling is becoming the technological substitute for face-to-face connections. For those who carry an iPhone, the art of video calling defaults to FaceTime, the native app on iOS that is exclusive to Apple devices. But what do you do if you or the other party is on Android?

How To: Use Desktop Chrome Extensions on Android

For years, there has been a disconnect between the Chrome app on your smartphone and the Chrome browser on your computer. The latter was a powerfully fast browser which could be enhanced with extensions to add new features and functionality, while the former was just a fast browser. Well, that all changes now.

How To: 'Airdrop' Files from Android to MacOS or iOS Devices (& Vice Versa)

Getting files from an Android device to a Mac or iOS device is not always easy or convenient, and the same goes for transferring content from a Mac or iOS device to an Android device. But we're here to tell you there is a better way than using USB cables, email, and cloud storage, and it gives you the look and feel of AirDrop.

Binance 101: How to View Your Transaction History

Given the volatility of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), and Ripple (XRP), it's good to keep track of your transaction history and get a better idea where you stand financially. Though tracking down past trades on Binance may seem convoluted at first, it gets surprisingly intuitive once you get the hang of it.

How To: Stop Your TikTok Account from Being Suggested to Contacts, Facebook Friends & Other Users You May Know

Your TikTok videos might be interesting, creative, fun, and appealing, but that doesn't necessarily mean you want the entire world to see them. While you're fine with strangers watching your videos, you may not want your close friends, family, and coworkers to see the kinds of mischief you're up to.

How To: Stream & Download HBO Max Over Cellular Data

HBO Max is finally here, all while unlimited cellular data plans have never been more available. The two seem like a perfect pair, but you might find that you can't binge "Friends" or "Westworld" on the go. At least, not without downloading episodes beforehand. Fortunately, there's an easy way to fix that.

How To: Import Apple Calendar Events into Google Calendar on iPhone or Android

If you have devices that run different operating systems, you know how frustrating it is that Apple's Calendar app isn't available on other platforms. If you use Siri to quickly create an event on your iPhone or Mac, you're not going to see that event on your PC or Android tablet unless you sync your calendar to another service.

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: Hide Your WhatsApp Profile Photo So Other Users Can't See It

WhatsApp, the popular messaging app owned by Facebook, has several important privacy and security-related features, including end-to-end encryption, screen lock, read receipts, and two-step verification. If you're an avid WhatsApp user, you'll be happy to know there are more privacy features you might not know, such as hiding your profile photo from other users.

How To: Is 5G Available in Your Area? Here's How to Check

In 2009, 4G LTE networks rolled out in Stockholm and Oslo, replacing 3G as a better upgrade to the mobile data technology that gives us the broadband speeds we have on our mobile devices. Over a decade later, and we have the latest, next-generation wireless network technology among us, 5G, but can you even use it?

How To: Check Your Google Assistant History on Mobile

Privacy is a hot topic. In the wake of Facebook's data scandal, many want to safeguard their personal info. On the other hand, we all gain a certain amount of convenience by using services administered by huge companies like Google, Facebook, and Twitter. Google Assistant collects plenty of data, but you can easily check what is stored and delete items at will.

How To: How Many TikToks Have You Watched?

If you're as addicted to TikTok as much as I am, you probably heard about the app's alleged, hidden views counter, which can show you how many TikToks you've watched on your account. Most people who look at their counters are horrified to see that they've watched hundreds of millions of TikToks so far. Can that be right?

News: Snapchat Lens Studio Adds New Segmentation Templates to Its Bag of Augmented Reality Tricks

On Thursday, Snap released three new templates for its Lens Studio that will give creators access to augmented reality capabilities previously only available to Snap's own design team.

How To: Take pictures with a camera phone and then send them to email

You don't need to sync your phone to get your pictures. Many phones offer the capability to send photos taken with the camera to send to either someone else or to yourself through email. This tutorial shows you how to send!

How To: Redial Busy Phone Lines Automatically on Your iPhone or Android Phone

Whether you're calling the unemployment office, a popular radio contest, or any other phone line that gets super busy, having to recall the number manually is a pain. Whatever you do, however, don't punch in the same digits over again and again — our smartphones can help do it for us, saving our time (and sanity).

How To: 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.

How To: Transfer Your Apple Music Playlists to Spotify from an iPhone or Android Phone

Switching from one popular music streaming service to another shouldn't have to be a hassle, but it is if you want to transfer all your favorite music over. No popular service offers a built-in feature to export or import playlists, so if you want to move your favorite Apple Music playlists over to Spotify, you'll have to use a third-party service.

How To: Use Your Smartphone as a Keyboard for Your Smart TV

With more digital content than ever, the search feature on smart TVs is essential. But typing is such a terrible experience when you're forced to use voice dictation or peck around with the remote control. Thankfully, there's a better way.

How To: Hide Stories in Your Facebook Feed on iPhone or Android

When Facebook introduced Stories in 2017, many users despised the Snapchat-like feature on their main page. However, despite the outcry, Facebook doesn't plan to let you remove it. But you don't have settle for this. With the help of some third-party apps, you no longer have to deal with Stories.

How To: Delete Telegram Messages & Whole Conversations for Everyone in the Chat

If you're looking to keep your conversations private, look no further than Telegram. Its cloud-based chats are secure and its optional end-to-end encrypted chats even more so, but you can't really prevent someone in the conversation from sharing your messages. However, you can lessen that chance by taking back your messages, deleting them for both you and the other end of the discussion.

How To: Set a GIF as the Wallpaper on Your Android's Home or Lock Screen

Recently, iPhone users have been bragging that they can set Live Photos as their lock screen wallpaper. While this is a great way to spice up a boring lock screen, Android users shouldn't feel left out in the cold. The highly customizable and feature-rich OS has a few tricks up its sleeve too, and it's really easy to set any GIF as your Android's home screen and/or lock screen background.

How To: Make the Perfect Finsta That No One Will Ever Find

Everything you post on social media lives there forever — even if you delete it. Just ask anyone that's ever posted something stupid. Instagram does not provide built-in tools to save or download images and videos from other users, but there are workarounds. Third-party tools make saving other people's photos and videos easy, and there are always screenshots.

How To: Anonymously View Instagram Stories & Posts Without an Account

Instagram makes it easy to view a public account without that person or business knowing unless, you know, your finger accidentally slips and hits the like button on a post. Aside from that, if you're careful, you can browse anonymously through an account without anyone noticing — only you can't do that with Instagram Stories.

How To: Completely Disable Your Active Status on Facebook & Messenger

Have you ever wondered how some people know you're online even though you swear you set the Messenger app to hide your active status? No, you're not crazy — it's an issue with two conflicting settings, and there's an easy fix.

How To: Download Entire Maps for Offline Use in Google Maps

Spotty cellular reception is a fact of life that we all have to deal with, especially when you're traveling. 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: Format WhatsApp Messages with Italic, Bold, Strikethrough, or Monospaced Text

Unless you're a WhatsApp pro user, you may be surprised to know that there are text formatting options that you can apply to your messages. Markdown characters can help you emphasize certain words or phrases by making them italicized or bold, and it'll even let you cross out words and change the font. It's one of those nice touches that isn't available in most other messaging apps.

How To: The 4 Best Phones for Privacy & Security in 2020

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, tracking cookies, advertising IDs, and usage stats follow you around the internet.

How To: Invite People to Messenger Group Chats with a Link So They Can Join Right Away or Wait on Approval

While some of our group chats should probably remain private and closed off, others will only get better with more people. Whether you're organizing an event and need a headcount or you want to share a funny YouTube video with a large crowd, you can add all the friends you wish to on Facebook Messenger by sending them a unique link.