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How To: The 5 Best Phones for Video Chat
Video chatting has become an important factor in the overall smartphone experience. Even just a few years ago, 37% of teens were making video calls on a regular basis, and that number has surely grown. 85% of households with infants have used video chat apps to call relatives in other cities, and it's been shown that toddlers can create bonds and learn from visual cues in video calls.
How To: Make YouTube Music Stop Playing the Music Video Version of Songs
YouTube Music has been around since late 2015, but it only started becoming a viable music service in 2019. It makes sense for Google to utilize YouTube's existing library of music videos, remixes, and cover songs to create one massive music platform. But one downside is you get a lot of the music video versions of songs instead of the album versions. Thankfully, you can change this.
How To: Send Higher Resolution Images on Slack for Mobile
By default, Slack optimizes the images you upload and send to other users in your workspace. Although optimization lowers the resolution of the image, it does send quicker, which is better if your internet service is poor. However, you may want to send the highest-resolution image possible, so how do you stop Slack from sending only optimized and lower-quality photos?
How To: Make a Picture Black & White Using Google Photos
Editing photos on a phone, while not as good as editing on a desktop, is getting better and better with powerful tools to whip photos into shape. But sometimes you just want a simple edit, like making a color photo black and white. Instead of downloading a separate app to fine-tune the picture, you can just use Google Photos.
How To: Save Pandora Stations & Songs for Offline Playback
Tuning into a favorite station on Pandora has become part of a routine for many, and it's easy to see why. The app automatically plays songs tailored to your tastes to ensure a relatively hands-free experience. And if you're a subscriber, Pandora even has you covered in moments where there's poor cellular service by letting you keep listening to your go-to tracks uninterrupted.
Venmo 101: How to Send Money to Friends & Family
In the not so distant past, you had to actually go meet someone in person to repay money you owed them. Say they covered your half of dinner or picked up movie tickets — they wouldn't get their money back at least until the next time you saw them. Thankfully, Venmo has effectively eliminated this inconvenience.
How To: What to Do if You Accidentally Liked a Photo on Instagram
The act of liking someone's really old Instagram post is called "deep-liking," which is pretty apt if you think about it. While going "deep" into older posts on the feed of your ex or crush or whoever, your finger may slip accidentally and double-tap on a photo or video that you'd rather not let them know you're looking at.
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: Root and Unlock the Bootloader on a Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 (7.0) 4G LTE from Verizon
The Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 (7.0) 4G LTE on Verizon has only been released for a couple months now with good reviews. It comes with dual cameras, memory expansion, and very quick 4G LTE speeds, without needing a contract. While most users are satisfied with the tablet as is, there are others that prefer rooting the tablet in order to install their own custom ROM. Now you can do it with the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2.
How To: This Hidden Setting Is the Trick to Uploading HD Videos on Your TikTok Profile
You might have noticed some of the videos you upload to TikTok don't always look great. If you think the answer is that you need a DSLR, you're wrong. The blurriness, pixelation, and overall bad quality that can happen in your uploaded videos is probably not your smartphone's fault — it might be because you aren't uploading your videos in HD.
How To: The Fastest Way to Add Someone's LinkedIn Contact Info
When attending networking events, a LinkedIn exchange is a common occurrence. Equally common is the awkward fumbling dance with how to add each other. Fortunately, we have the solution: the ultimate way to add LinkedIn contacts.
How To: 10 Free Endless Running Games for Android & iPhone You've Gotta Try
When it comes to platform games on mobile, endless runners are some of the hardest to play since they can go on seemingly forever. There's always room for improvement since your goal is to beat your previous score (or someone else's high score). But which endless running games are worth your time?
How To: Hide What You're Listening To on Spotify So Your Friends Don't Make Fun of You
There's nothing wrong with indulging in guilty pleasures on Spotify every once in a while — we all need a little Coldplay and Creed in our lives. The only problem is, all of your friends and family might be watching. Anyone that is following your Spotify account can potentially see what you're listening to, but there are several ways to hide this shameful and embarrassing activity from the world.
How To: Archive Telegram Conversations to Keep Your Main Chats List Clean & Organized
In Telegram — as with all instant-messaging apps — threads and conversations can pile up quickly. But you don't need to stare at all of your open chats on the main screen of the Android and iOS app. Instead, you can archive any conversation you like, keeping your main chats view relevant to your day-to-day communications without needing to delete any for good.
How To: Get Data Directly from a Paper Table into an Excel File on Your Phone with This Neat Feature
Creating a digital spreadsheet by hand can certainly be tedious, especially if you're copying a printed paper table word for word, number for number. Instead of typing information that's already there, however, use Microsoft Excel on Android or iOS to snap a photo of that printed chart and import it directly into your digital one.
How To: Hack Your Old Phone Line into an Emergency Power Supply for Your Cell Phone
"Ahoy-hoy." If telephone titan Alexander Graham Bell had his way, we'd all be answering phones like Mr. Burns. Thankfully, frienemy Thomas Edison had enough sense to realize we weren't always on the briny. He preferred "hello" as our standard telephone greeting, which he is credited with coining in 1877. Fellow American pioneer Davy Crockett actually used it as a greeting first in 1833 (as compared to an exclamation)—but in print, not over the phone.
How To: The Hidden Meaning Behind Those Mysterious, Nonnumerical Dialer Pad Keys on Your Phone
You might have missed it, but the virtual keypad you use to enter phone numbers in your smartphone's dialer and contacts app isn't all numbers. Take a closer look, and you'll notice a few mysterious buttons you've likely been tuning out unconsciously. But it's time to stop ignoring them because each has a particular purpose that could come in handy one day.
How To: Easily Convert Handwritten Lists into Interactive Digital Checklists Using Google Keep Notes
Handwritten notes are no doubt useful at home, work, and school, but digitizing them with your smartphone will make them easier to edit, organize, and review. You'll also always have a digital copy ready if your handwritten notes get lost or erased. And Google Keep for Android, iOS, or iPadOS makes the conversion from physical form to digital a cinch, especially when it comes to checklists.
How To: Hide Your Liked Videos on TikTok So That Nobody Can See Them but You
Every video you like on TikTok, whether it's a stranger performing a series of choreographed movements or a celebrity showing off their new workout, is saved to your profile. If you want to watch your liked videos at any time in the future, you can easily do so from your profile — but so can everyone else.
How To: Use Create Mode to Make Colorful Text-Only Stories on Instagram
In a similar vein to Facebook's colorful backgrounds for text posts, Instagram has a way to add vivid text-only status updates for your stories. That way, you can conjure up colorful stories that make a statement without even needing to take a photo or video in the first place. And now there are even more fonts to choose from.
How To: Add PayPal to Google Pay as a Payment Method to Use in Gmail, YouTube & Other Google Services
On Android, you can connect your PayPal account to Google Pay so that you can use that as a payment option when checking out with Google's digital wallet platform. It even works across Google services like the Play Store, Gmail, YouTube, and the Google Store. If you have an iPhone, you can also use PayPal via Google Pay, but what you can do is limited.
How To: Communicate Offline — No Wi-Fi, Cell Reception, or Mobile Data Needed
Almost 20% of the US population (about 60 million Americans) live in rural areas where mobile reception is weak or nonexistent. In times of crisis, these Americans can't rely on the internet to communicate with loved ones or receive new information. This is why being able to interact offline is so important.
How To: Here's the Difference Between Real 5G & Fake 5G
5G is undoubtedly the future of mobile networks, and there's a good chance your next phone will have it. But just like with 4G, as carriers race to get the best 5G coverage, the ones running behind are abusing marketing terms to make themselves seem further ahead than they actually are.
How To: Migrate Your First-Gen Google Wifi Pucks to the Google Home App
Google is known for merging older products into a new one's ecosystem for ease of use. The transition can take time, and that's the case with the old Google Wifi system now that Nest Wifi is out. Google is working on phasing out the dedicated Google Wifi app in favor of using the Google Home app for all your IoT needs.
How To: Boost Internet Speeds & Hide Your Browsing History from Your ISP
If you have friends who aren't privacy-conscious, you've surely heard the old "What do I have to hide?" excuse. Despite the fact that billions of people are using the internet each day, many of them don't know the dangers that can find them. And many don't know the tools to combat them.
How To: Find Specific Words or Phrases in Websites on Chrome
While browsing the web on a computer, most of us are familiar with using Ctrl + F (or Command + F) to search for a specific word on a page — but what if you want to do that on mobile? If you're using Google Chrome, there's a simple way to search for specific words on iPhone or Android.
How To: Block Spoofed Numbers & Robocalls on Any Phone with Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, or Sprint
In recent years, unwanted calls have become a top priority for the FCC. In 2016, analysts estimated that US customers received over 2.4 billion robocalls per month. As a result, the FCC has provided carriers new tools to combat this problem.
How To: Disable Read Receipts in WhatsApp So Nobody Can See Those Blue Check Marks in Chats
WhatsApp, like other popular messengers on iOS and Android, shows when recipients have read your sent messages with a blue double check mark indicator. On the flip side, for those of you who are bad at replying promptly or don't feel like replying at all, you can disable "read receipts" so the senders won't know when or if you even read their messages.
How To: Temporarily Disable Your Instagram Account When You Need to Take an #InstaBreak
When you don't want certain friends viewing your account or just need to take a break from social media, Instagram lets you do so. While you can completely delete your Instagram account, then start over when you're ready again, it makes much more sense to just disable your account temporarily. Doing so will hide your profile, photos, comments, and likes from everyone, including your friends.
How To: The 5 Best Meal Tracking Apps for Managing Your Diet & Counting Calories
Whether it's for health reasons or just to look better, many of us want to get in shape. It's a long process that starts with nutrition, and dieting is never easy. Fortunately, there are some great food-tracking apps that will make it a lot easier to become a healthier version of yourself.
How To: The Best Socialization Apps on Your Phone for 18-Month-Olds
Your childhood "social networking" may have been to go outdoors to the neighbor's — and outdoors is a great place for kids to be. But these days, the terms educational, digital media, entertainment, and toddlers don't have to be mutually exclusive. Like most things in life, it's about balance, and these apps can aid your child with social-emotional development when not playing with friends.
How To: Improve Gboard Accuracy by Deleting Suggested Words You'd Never Use
Predictive text is a common feature in most mobile keyboards these days. However, many times, its guesses are way off, sometimes hilariously so. As absurd as it can be, predictive text can also continuously suggest the same wrong word over and over. Thankfully, Gboard offers users a way to quickly remove these suggestions for good on both iOS and Android.
Signal 101: How to Send Disappearing Messages for Ultimate Privacy
With Signal's class-leading end-to-end encryption, you can be sure your messages will remain secure as they travel to the recipient. However, once the message arrives, its privacy is completely dependent on the receiver, who could share it anywhere if they wanted. To patch this vulnerability, Signal added disappearing messaging.
Snapchat 101: How to Create & Use Stickers
Snapchat offers a rich experience for anyone looking to communicate with pictures in addition to (or instead of) words. There are many ways to share your snaps, from Memories to My Story. You can even draw all over your snaps, creating a unique experience that hinges on your own illustrations. Sometimes, though, you want to customize your snaps in a different way. In a more collage-y sort of way.
How To: View & Manage Your Location History on Google Maps to Track Where You've Been & What You Were Doing
With so much stimuli in today's world, it can be hard to keep track of all the places we've visited and the events we've attended. Thankfully, a great feature in Google Maps lets you view a detailed log of your phone's location history to help you remember where you were at almost any given point in time.
How To: The 5 Best Apps for Recording an Electric Instrument with Your iPhone or Android
In the music world, it's safe to say electric instruments are more versatile, but they lack the portability of their acoustic counterparts. However, with the aid of your smartphone plus an audio interface, you can play your electric instrument anywhere — with all the pedal effects you please — and even record your efforts.
How To: Create Double Exposures with Your Cell Phone
In photography, creating a double or multiple exposure photo involves combining two different images to make one single image. This technique has been used in film photography by exposing a piece of film twice to two different images. The second image becomes superimposed onto the first image, creating various effects that may mirror one another or seem ghostly.
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: Change the Cover Images on Your Spotify Playlists to Get Rid of All Those Ugly Album Art Grids
Spotify lets you customize some aspects of your experience, whether on the desktop, web, Android, or iOS app. And one of the simplest yet coolest customizations you can perform is changing your playlist cover images. However, it doesn't work on all playlists.
How To: Pin Your Favorite TikTok DMs to the Top of Your Direct Messages Inbox for Quicker Access
Want quick access to message threads with your favorite or important contacts? Just pin them to the top of the conversations list. It's a common feature in many messaging apps, including Apple's Messages in iOS 14. While it's not particularly well-advertised, TikTok also lets you pin chats to the top of your direct messages inbox on Android or iPhone.