Exciting tips

Twitter was once a social media platform based solely on short messages that were only 140 characters long. At the time, it wasn’t a drag on your data plan to use Twitter on the go but the social media platform has changed over the years. Now, your tweet can be 240 characters long, you can share images, GIFs, videos, and you can even broadcast live all from your Twitter account. This means the app consumes quite a bit of data. This is something Twitter is aware of and to help users keep their data under control, there’s a new data saver in Twitter apps that you can enable.

The data saver is a mode for Twitter apps where images are loaded in lower quality and videos no longer play automatically.

Data Saver In Twitter Apps

Update the Twitter app to the latest version. The data saver is available on both iOS and Android.

Once you’ve updated the app, open it and tap your profile picture’s thumbnail to open the navigation drawer. From the navigation drawer, select Settings and Privacy. On the Settings and Privacy screen, tap Data Usage.

The Data usage screen has a Data Saver switch. Turn it on and the image and video settings for the app will change so that it never loads them in HD. At the same time, autoplay for videos will also be disabled.

You can enable data saver whenever you want. It’s not tied to you using your cellular plan. It’s basically a quick switch for changing the video and image settings. It isn’t adding a special mode to the app. If you want, you can change these settings manually but it’s time consuming to do that so the switch is the easiest way to toggle them.

Twitter has changed quite a bit over the years but even if you browse it with low quality images, and no video playback you’re not missing that much. Twitter hasn’t abandoned its text-based platform for a more visual one. In addition to increasing the number of characters you can tweet, it’s also added Twitter threads. Even if you aren’t using your data plan, browsing Twitter with Data Saver enabled isn’t a bad idea. Everything will load faster and you can avoid a good deal of distraction.

Data Saver is enabled for the entire app which means if you have multiple accounts configured on the app, the data saver will be enabled for all of them.

Whatsapp has a new feature; group calls. It works with both video and voice calls. You can call up to four people in one group call. The group call feature isn’t the most obvious so you might still be wondering if it’s rolled out to everyone yet or not. It has and if you know where to look, you can make group calls on Whatsapp right now.

Update the app on your phone before you try a Whatsapp call. Since your recipients will only be answering the call and not initiating the group call, they don’t necessarily need to be running the latest version of the app.

Group Calls On Whatsapp

Open a conversation thread or, go to the Call tab. From the Call tab, select a contact you want to call. If you’re in a chat thread, tap the call button. You can choose either a video or audio call.

When the call is in progress, look at the top right corner and you will see a greyed out option for adding a second person to the call. Wait until the person you called answers, and then the add person button will be active. Tap it and select a contact from your contacts list to add the second, third, and fourth person.

The limit is four people so where Whatsapp is following Instagram and Snapchat’s trajectory in terms of feature development it’s not exactly competing with the two apps. Instagram and Snapchat have group calls for more social communication and where Whatsapp is a social app it’s not exactly in the same category. Whatsapp is best grouped with apps like Facebook Messenger and that makes the four people in a group call a reasonable limit.

It goes without saying that in a group call, everyone can see everyone though when you’re adding a second person to a call, they may not necessarily be told they’re being invited to a group call so give them a heads up before you make it.

Whatsapp is one of the most popular messaging apps on both iOS and Android. Since it’s highly unlikely that Facetime will ever make it to Android, this feature is pretty great if the call quality turns out to be good. Four is a reasonably good number of people for a group call so it will meet most needs. More importantly, you can answer calls from the web and desktop version which means you can call people on their computers too.

iOS has a pretty simple interface, and its Settings app is no exception. Most controls are where you’d expect them be, under the right label, and with predictable options. Changing anything is easy, and if you can’t find a particular setting, there’s a search bar that can help you. If your iPhone settings switch are greyed out though, that’s a problem. They don’t exactly tell you why they’ve suddenly become inactive but the answer is Restrictions.

Fix iPhone settings switch greyed out

Open the Settings app and go to Screen Time. Go to Content & Privacy Restrictions. The next screen features a long list of settings that you can manage. Look through them all and check which ones have been set to ‘Don’t Allow’. Tap the setting that is set to ‘Don’t Allow’ and change it to ‘Allow’.

Any setting in the iPhone Settings app that was greyed out can be fixed here. These restrictions are normally parental controls that allow you to control the content that is available on an iPhone. If you’re unable to use certain apps on your iPhone, it may have something to do with restrictions as well. They allow users to restrict certain Stock apps.

Restrictions used to have their own setting under General however, with the introduction Screen Time, this particular setting has been moved under it. It tends to give the impression that it’s more for limiting the time you spend on your device but it still functions that same as it did before. It’s still a means to restrict content. It may be helpful in cutting your screen time to some extent but mostly it restricts content by the type it is and doesn’t actually make you want to use your phone less.

The restrictions don’t just render the Settings inactive but will also effect other areas on iOS. For example, if the Mobile Data is set to ‘Don’t Allow’, it will lock down which apps have access to mobile data but it will also render the Mobile Data toggle in the Control Center inactive. It will basically only serve as an indicator of whether or not Mobile Data is enabled or not. The only setting that will work is the Mobile data switch on the main Settings app.

These settings don’t require that you enter your passcode to change them so anyone with access to your unlocked phone can enable them. They can be used to add an extra layer of privacy/protection as, when enabled, it will prevent apps from being granted access to your location data, photos, contacts, etc.

iOS has a dedicated Voice Memo app. This app is great and coupled with the excellent hardware that an iPhone has, it makes for a good recording tool. On the surface of it, it seems that you can only record a voice memo in one go. If you want to add something to a memo after you’re done recording, there does’t seem to be a way to do that. That’s not the case, at least not on iOS 12. If you want, you can resume recording a voice memo on iOS even days after you’ve made it. Here’s how.

Resume Recording A Voice Memo

Open the Voice Memo app on your iPhone or iPad. Tap the voice memo that you want to continue recording. When you tap a voice memo, it expands to reveal a delete button, and a more options button. Tap the more options button and from the menu that opens, select Edit Recording.

This will open the memo for editing. On this screen, you can clip parts of the memo out, shorten it, change the name, and replace parts of it if you want. Since you can trim a voice memo, it stands to reason that you can play through it on the editing screen. What you need to do is drag your finger across the voice memo’s timeline and take it to the very end. Once you’re positioned at the very end, you will see that the Replace button is replaced with a Resume button.

Tap this button and you can continue recording a voice memo. When you’re done, the new audio that you recorded will be added to the end of the original one. It will be seamless and you won’t be able to tell where the addition was made.

When you sync voice memos to iTunes, or share the one you added more voice to, it will be shared as a single file. The new addition is appended to it much like a new page is added to an existing document.

You can do this with any number of voice memos on your phone. It doesn’t matter how old they are. The option to replace a part of the memo, or to add more to it will always be there. The size and the length of an edited memo will obviously change after you’ve made your edits but apart from that, it will be a seamless audio file.

It’s a universal truth that game apps consume more battery life than other apps. The same holds true for apps that can take pictures. If an app connects with the camera on your phone, you can bet anything that it will drain the battery faster than other apps. This also holds true for a lot of social media apps. Social media apps constantly fetch updates in the background. Facebook is notorious for draining the battery and it’s in large part because of its background activity. There’s a similar case to be made for Snapchat. It’s also a social media app and it too drains your battery and takes a toll on your bandwidth. Fortunately, you can enable travel mode in Snapchat and save your data plan from being exhausted.

Enable Travel Mode In Snapchat

Open Snapchat and tap your Bitmoji avatar or the ghost icon at the top left. On your profile screen, tap the gear icon at the top right.

This will take you to Snapchat’s settings. Scroll down to the Additional Services section, and tap Manage. Here, you can enable travel mode in Snapchat.

How Does Travel Mode Work?

Think of travel mode as a ‘tap to load’ feature. By default, Snapchat loads stories and chats in the background. All social media apps do. Both iOS and Android let you selectively suspend background activity for apps but this makes for a poorer experience. The travel mode is therefore a better solution. It will load the less heavy content i.e. text. Any messages that are sent to you will automatically be loaded, however, if someone shares a snap with you, it will not download automatically. You will have to tap the image to download it. The same goes for the Stories feed. You will be able to see which accounts have new stories but unless you tap them, they will not load.

When the snaps or stories do download to your device, they will consume the normal amount of data. There’s no way around it and travel mode doesn’t download lower resolution images or anything like that. The neat thing about this feature is that it work on both a WiFi network and when you’re on your cellular plan. Public WiFi is rarely known for its speed. If there are a lot of people connected to it, it will be congested and probably work less efficiently than you cellular plan. In situations like that, it’s best to enable travel mode in Snapchat.

Customization is one of Android’s strong suits. You don’t necessarily have to root your Android phone or tablet to make it look better or unique. A lot of the built-in options in Android can be tweaked by default or with the right app. Case in point; the clock widget. Widgets on Android can be used to customize your home screen but also add useful information to it. The clock widget is one exceptionally useful widget but it’s very plain. It doesn’t lend much to customization. Seven Time is a free Android widget app that lets you stylize and resize the clock widget.

Seven Time lets you change the color and the size of the widget. It comes with seven different art styles for the clock. You can change it to any color that looks good on your wallpaper and you can make it as big or as small as you want.

Select Style

Install Seven Times and open the app. The Styles tab lets you preview all the styles the clock can display time in. Remember the name of the style you like and tap the hamburger icon at the top left. Go to the app’s settings from the navigation drawer. On the Settings screen, tap ‘Style’, and select the style you liked.

Customize Color And Size

Return to the navigation drawer and select ‘Color editor’. The color editor has two tabs; Color, and Shadow. The Shadow tab won’t effect all the clock styles, only those that have a 3D look. The Color tab lets you select any color for the clock. You can play with the sliders or, if you have an RGB code for the color you want, you can use the sliders to set it.

To resize the clock widget, return to the navigation drawer and select ‘Size editor’. Choose how big and how wide you want the time to be. You can change the overall size of the widget and increase or decrease the space between the digits.

Add Clock Widget

Once you’re done customizing  the look of the clock, return to your home screen. Tap and hold it to enter editing mode. Tap Widgets at the bottom and look for the Seven Time widget. Drag & drop it on to your home screen. If the time isn’t fully visible, tap and hold the widget and resize it.

The lock screen in the latest version of Android doesn’t support widgets. If you’ve rooted your device, or you’re running an older version of Android that had support for widgets on the lock screen, you can add your customized clock to it as well.

When you look up directions in Google Maps, it gives you an ETA i.e. an estimated time of arrival, and it tells you how far your destination is. In some cases, it will tell you if there’s heavy traffic that could make the trip longer. This works for properly identified places on Google Maps. If you’re visiting a friend’s house, for example, you won’t find it marked as a place on Google Maps. You can use pins and plus codes to get a route and measure distance. Alternatively, you can manually draw out a route and measure distance with Google Maps apps for iOS and Android.

This is a new feature in the Google Maps apps so before you can use it, make sure you’re running the latest version of the app.

Measure Distance With Google Maps

Open Google Maps and navigate to where you want to measure distance from. For example, if you’re home or at work, and you want to measure the distance to the nearest bus stop, drop a pin on your Home or Office.

Once you’ve dropped the pin, expand the menu at the bottom and tap the Measure distance option. You will see a location cross hair on your screen with a trailing line.

Position it over the first bend in the road you will take and tap ‘Add point’. The distance between the two points will appear. You can continue to add as many points as you need to map out the distance between two places. With each point that you add, Google Maps updates the distance between the two.

Once you’re done, tap the arrow on the Measure Distance bar at the top to return to the default screen.

Distance vs Vector Distance

When you measure distance with Google Maps, it’s important to remember that you need the actual distance and not the vector distance. The vector distance is the distance between two points if you draw a direct line between them. The app doesn’t stop you from doing this but this will not give you the actual distance between the two points because you’re going to walk or drive to it. Basically, you’re going to be using roads to get to a place and it’s the length of the road that will determine the distance between the points.

Zoom in on the map, and carefully add the points along the road you will take to your destination to get the distance between two points.

Microsoft has released Edge for iOS and Android. The app, at present, is in its beta version. If you’re on the Windows Insider program, you can sign up to test Microsoft Edge Preview for iOS and Android. You might think there are enough browsers for iOS and Android but there’s always room for one more. Since you need to be part of the Windows insider program with a preview build currently installed on a system, not everyone is going to be able to test it. Here’s our hand on review of Microsoft Edge for iOS and Android.

To be fair, this app is in beta. That’s why this is going to be a feature review, and not a performance review. The app crashed when we tried to sign in so it has its bugs and problems.

Microsoft Edge Preview Features

Microsoft Edge Preview supports a neat tabbed interface with incognito/private tabs. There’s a speed dial feature that most mobile browsers have and there’s a reading list much like the one you get on Microsoft Edge for Windows 10.

Windows Live Account Sync

You can use Edge for iOS and Android without signing into your Live account, however, it’s better when you sign in. Also, Microsoft wants your browsing history but it’s asking this time instead of just taking it.

Bar Code/ QR Code Scanner

Edge for iOS and Android has a bar code and QR code scanner built in. To use it, tap the little minus icon next to the search field on a new tab page.

Reverse Image Search

You can also conduct a reverse image search in Edge for iOS and Android. Tap the same minus button inside the search field on a new tab. Select ‘Camera’ or ‘Gallery’ to take/upload an image. Once the image uploads, the browser will search for it in the default search engine.

Search Engine

Bing is the default search engine in Edge for iOS and Android but thankfully, you can change it.

The options are hard-coded i.e. limited. You can set Google or Yahoo has your default search engine from the app’s settings.

Reading List And eBooks

You can save links to your reading list in Edge for iOS and Android. Edge for Windows 10 has a neat library feature where books you download from the Windows Store are saved. For now, the library/ebooks feature isn’t live but it’s in the works. Your library will sync between your desktop and phone.

Send To PC And Action Center

One noteworthy feature in Edge for iOS and Android is that you can send links to your PC. You can push the link so that it opens in Edge, or you can send it to the Action Center as an alert. Tap the little phone icon at the bottom of the screen to use this feature. It’s one of those features that require you to use your Microsoft account on both your phone and your desktop.

Judgement Reserved

Microsoft Edge for iOS and Android has decent features but again, for a beta app, we’re not going to judge performance just yet. It worked well enough and it definitely has a few features that other browsers don’t. It looks promising but isn’t ready for stable release just yet. The UI is nice and intuitive.

Android 8 is a collection of small features and minor improvements. That appears to be the norm with major OS updates this year. Both iOS 11 and macOS High Sierra are going small on features. The thing with Android is that the new features it adds are often limited based on what device you use. For example, you can only use the YouTube picture in picture mode if you have a YouTube Red subscription. Likewise, some new Android 8 features aren’t available unless you have the Pixel launcher installed on your phone. Case in point, Notification Dots on Android 8.

Notification Dots On Android 8

Notification Dots is a new Android 8 feature that alerts you when you have notifications from an app. If you have, for example, unread messages, you will see a dot on the message app icon. It’s a small, subtle way to alert users they have pending notifications.

To get Notification Dots on Android 8, you need to first install the Pixel Launcher. If you don’t own a Pixel phone though, the Play Store will tell you that your device isn’t compatible with it the app. This isn’t a big deal. You can work around the limitation by sideloading the app’s APK file.

Once installed, open the Settings app and go to Apps & Notifications > Advanced>Special App Access>Notification Access, and allow the Pixel launcher to have access to your notifications. If you already have the Pixel Launcher running on your phone then you need to enable Notification Dots on Android.

Open the Settings app and go to Apps & Notifications>Notifications. Here, enable ‘Allow notification dots.

Hide Notification Dots For An App

Open the Settings app and go to Apps & Notifications>Notifications. Tap an app from the list of apps and enable or disable the ‘Allow notification dot’ switch to suit your needs.

Limitations

You will see Notification Dots only if you haven’t dismissed a notification. If you dismiss a notification, the dot on the respective app disappears with it. This is, by all means, a terrible way to execute this feature. If you compare it to iOS, not only is there a similar feature in the form of badges but, it can be managed on a per-app basis, and it remains visible regardless if you dismiss the notification from the app or not.

On Android 8, you can only hide notification dots on a per-app basis but the rest is a poor implementation of the feature. The dots should remain visible so long as you have unread messages, emails, or alerts from the app.

When Apple develops the next version of iOS, it does so specifically with the next, latest iPhone model in mind. Every feature is designed for the new device. Devices that are up to four and five years old will still get the new version however they don’t get all the features. For example, on iOS 10, only users with a 3D touch device could change the brightness of the flashlight but the feature has been extended to all devices in iOS 11. On iOS 11, Apple added a trackpad feature which, again, was only for 3D touch devices but iOS 12 changes that. You can finally use trackpad on non-3D touch iPhones with iOS 12.

Note: iOS 12 is still in beta. Users can try it out by joining Apple’s public beta program. The stable version of iOS 12 will roll out to users in September/October 2018.

Trackpad On Non-3D Touch iPhones

The trackpad feature on non-3D touch iPhones is limited; you can’t use the two finger tap gestures but you can control the cursor with the space bar.

To use the trackpad feature open an app that lets you bring up the keyboard e.g., the Messages app. Tap and hold on the space bar. The keyboard keys will all go blank. Swipe slowly on the space bar to move the cursor through the text in the input field. That’s about all it does for now.

This feature makes it easier for users to jump to a spot on the typed text. Before, users had to tap on the text and bring up the little magnification bubble and drag their finger across the text to position the cursor. It is clumsy to select text like this. This feature is still there in iOS 12 so if you liked it, you’re not losing anything.

This is of course good news for anyone with an older iPhone. Apple may sell a record number of iPhones every year but that doesn’t mean everyone gets one. A lot of people still make do with old devices and only upgrade when their phone has slowed down too much, or it is no longer updated. That means they don’t get a lot of the new features that the newest version comes with and some of them are pretty good. It’s good that Apple is doing this. The jailbreak community is always coming up with tweaks that make up for features like this e.g., there is a tweak that can add 3D touch to the iPhone 6/6Plus.