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iPhone

The iPhone is a smartphone from Apple that runs the iOS mobile operating system. Between its apps, communication features, the camera, mobile internet access, and other functionalities, the iPhone has quickly become an integral part of many peoples tech lives.

How to find new music with Apple Music on iPhone

by Kevin Hollington

When you subscribe to Apple Music, you can browse new and noteworthy music, music videos, playlists, and more.

In New, you can browse featured songs and videos, listen to one of the many playlists created by music experts, or look through the albums listed below New Releases. And it’s not just new releases. On any Artist page, you can see upcoming concerts.

Here’s how to find new music with Apple Music on iPhone.

The New tab showing a new album at the top. You can swipe left to see more featured music and videos. The Best New Songs section appears below. You can swipe up on the screen to explore new and recommended music.

Discover new releases, featured music, and more

  1. Open the Music app on your iPhone.
  2. Tap New to find new music and then do any of the following:

    • Explore featured music: Swipe through featured songs and videos at the top of the screen.
    • Browse playlists created by music experts: Tap one of the many playlists created by music experts.
    • Explore new music: Tap a song below the Latest Songs heading or swipe through the albums listed below New Releases.
    • See upcoming concerts: Go to any Artist page to see upcoming concerts. Scroll down to see details under All Upcoming Concerts. To view all upcoming concerts and update your location in the Concerts Hub, tap the Search tab and then tap Concerts.

      Note: Concerts isn’t available in China.

    • See what’s hot: Tap a song below the Trending Songs heading. Swipe left to see more songs.
    • Listen to the top songs from around the world: Tap one of the Daily Top 100 playlists. These playlists reflect the day’s most popular songs in countries across the globe.
    • Listen to songs from upcoming albums: Tap an album below Coming Soon and tap an available song to play it.
    • Watch music videos: Tap Music Videos and then tap a featured music video or playlist of music videos.
    • Play the day’s most popular songs: Tap Charts and tap a song, playlist, album, or music video to play it. Tap All Genres at the top of the screen to see the top songs and music videos in a genre you choose.
    • Browse your favorite genres: Tap Browse by Genre, choose a genre, and then tap a featured playlist, song, album, artist, or radio station to enjoy music handpicked by music experts.
    • Play music that matches your mood: Tap Moods and Activities and tap a playlist such as Feel Good, Romance, or Party.

Note: Swipe left on the album art for more music, or tap the Forward button next to a section’s name — New Releases, for example — to see everything in that section.

Discover your most-played music of the year

If you’ve subscribed to Apple Music for a year and played enough music to be eligible, Apple Music creates a Replay personal chart for that year that ranks the songs you’ve played the most.

  1. Open the Music app on your iPhone.
  2. Tap Home, swipe down to Replay: Your Top Music, and tap an option (for example, a year).

Throughout the year, you can also see all your insights on your iPhone or at the Apple Music Replay website.

Discover music you’ve never played before

Apple Music uses your listening history and taste profile to recommend music you may like that you’ve never played before.

Siri: Ask Siri something like, “Play my Discovery Station.”

  1. Open the Music app on your iPhone.
  2. Tap Home, then swipe down to Stations for You.
  3. Tap Discovery Station.

Turn on or off new music notifications

  1. Open the Music app on your iPhone.
  2. Tap the My Account button or your profile picture.
  3. Tap Notifications, then turn on (or off) New Music.
Tag: Music
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How to request or give remote control in a Phone call on iPhone

by Abigail Shilets

During a one-to-one phone call on iPhone, you can remotely control someone else’s screen or allow a trusted person to remotely control yours. The person controlling the screen can help with an issue or demonstrate how to use an app.

It works with an iPhone screen that’s being shared with you. You can accept or decline a remote control request, or stop remote control whenever you want.

Here’s how to request or give remote control in a Phone call on iPhone.

Note: Remote control is not currently available in the European Union.

Request remote control

You can ask for control of an iPhone screen that’s being shared with you.

Note: You need iOS 26 or later. So does the other participant.

  1. Open the Phone app on your iPhone.
  2. During a call, tap the window showing the shared screen. Then tap the Remote Control button.

If the other participant accepts your request, you can tap or swipe to interact with the shared screen. You can also use the onscreen keyboard within apps.

Accept a remote control request

A participant can remotely control your screen if they’re saved in your contacts and using an iPhone with iOS 26 or later. To help protect your data and privacy, additional restrictions may apply to remote control requests. When you receive a remote control request notification in the Phone app on your iPhone, tap Allow.

WARNING: The person remotely controlling the screen can perform tasks on your iPhone such as opening and closing apps, changing settings, deleting items, or sending messages. Only approve remote control requests from people you trust. The person remotely controlling the screen may be restricted from tasks such as changing your Apple Account or Face ID settings, making payments, or erasing your device. Your Face ID and Touch ID will be disabled during a remote control session. You can still tap, swipe, or type while your screen is remotely controlled—your actions take priority over remote actions.

Decline a remote control request

When you receive a remote control request notification in the Phone app on your iPhone, tap Don’t Allow. Screen sharing continues, and the other participant can still tap, draw, or write on your screen to highlight important areas.

Stop remote control

To end remote control at any time, do one of the following:

  • If you’re allowing someone to control your screen: Tap Stop at the bottom of the screen sharing window.
  • If you’re controlling someone’s screen: Tap the Remote Control button at the bottom of the screen sharing window.

Ending a call ends remote control and screen sharing, too.

Tag: Phone
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How to automatically categorize incoming emails in Mail on iPhone

by Stacey Butler

The Mail app automatically sorts your email messages into categories to help you find and manage messages more quickly (not available in all countries or regions). You can change a sender’s category or turn off categories.

Messages from a Transactions, Updates, or Promotions sender are grouped in a digest view, so you can take action on all of them at once. When one includes time-sensitive information, it also shows up in the Primary message list.

  • Primary: Find personal messages and time-sensitive information.
  • Transactions: Keep track of your confirmations, receipts, and shipping notices.
  • Updates: Catch up on news, newsletters, and social updates.
  • Promotions: Browse your coupon and sales emails.

Note: If a Transactions, Updates, or Promotions message has time-sensitive information, you’ll also see it in the Primary message list.

View all messages from a Transactions, Updates, or Promotions sender

When you tap a Transactions, Updates, or Promotions message, a digest view of messages from that sender opens.

Open a Transactions message, for example, and you’ll see all of the other Transactions messages from that sender when you scroll up or down.

Note: Open the digest view, and you can take action on all messages from a sender at once.

  1. Open the Mail app on your iPhone.
  2. Tap a Transactions, Updates, or Promotions message.

    All of your messages in that category from the same sender appear in a list.

  3. To view all of your messages from a sender, tap the Action Menu button at the top of the sender’s message list. Choose Show All Messages.

    Note: Primary messages are not grouped by sender.

  4. To view only one Transactions, Updates, or Promotions message when scrolling, go back to your inbox, tap the More button, and deselect Group by Sender.

Change the category of a sender

To put messages from a sender into the category of your choosing, categorize them manually.

  1. Open the Mail app on your iPhone.

    Do any of the following: Recategorize Primary messages from a sender: Tap a Primary message, tap the More Actions button, then choose Categorize Sender.

    Recategorize Transactions, Updates, or Promotions messages from a sender: Tap a Transactions , Updates , or Promotions message.

  2. Tap the More button at the top of the message list. Choose Categorize Sender.
  3. Choose a category and tap Continue.

    All current and future messages from the sender will appear in the category you choose.

Turn off categories

Quick tip: You can quickly view all emails in an inbox.

  1. Swipe left on the categories at the top of the inbox to open All Mail.
  2. Open the Mail app on your iPhone.
  3. In an inbox, tap the More button at the top of the screen and choose List View.
Tag: Mail
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How to change advanced camera settings on iPhone

by Emily Long

Advanced iPhone camera features let you capture photos more quickly, apply tailored and enhanced looks to your photos, and view content outside the camera frame. And on supported models, the Main or Fusion cameras can use a different default resolution. There’s also Prioritize Faster Shooting, which is on by default.

Change the Main camera default resolution

If you have a supported model, the default resolution of the Main or Fusion cameras can change from 24 MP to 12 MP.

Go to Settings > Camera > Formats > Photo Mode, then choose 12 MP or 24 MP.

To capture resolution at 48 MP, go to Settings > Camera > Formats, then turn on Resolution Control or ProRAW & Resolution Control (depending on your model).

After you turn on ProRAW & Resolution Control, you can choose the default compression format. Open Camera, then tap the control at the top of the screen to turn the format you want to use on and off.

Turn View Outside the Frame off and on

View Outside the Frame is on by default for supported models. The camera preview then displays content outside the frame, showing what can be captured with another lens in the camera system that has a wider field of view.

To turn off View Outside the Frame, go to Settings > Camera, then turn off View Outside the Frame.

Turn Prioritize Faster Shooting off and on

The Prioritize Faster Shooting setting modifies how images are processed—allowing you to capture more photos when you rapidly tap the Shutter button. Prioritize Faster Shooting is on by default.

To turn off Prioritize Faster Shooting, go to Settings > Camera, then turn off Prioritize Faster Shooting.

Turn Lens Correction off and on

For more natural-looking results, the Lens Correction setting on supported models adjusts photos taken with the front camera or Ultra Wide camera. It’s on by default.

To turn off Lens Correction, go to Settings > Camera, then turn off Lens Correction.

Turn Scene Detection off and on

The Scene Detection setting on iPhone 12 models, which is on by default, can identify what you’re taking a photo of. It then applies a tailored look that brings out the scene’s best qualities.

To turn off Scene Detection, go to Settings > Camera, then turn off Scene Detection.

Stop saving photos taken in Messages

Any photo you take in the Messages app is saved automatically to your library in the Photos app.

To turn this feature off, go to Settings > Camera, then turn off Save Captures to Photo Library.

Turn off lens cleaning hints

If your lens is smudged, iPhone can detect it on supported models and suggest you clean it for the clearest possible picture.

To turn off lens cleaning hints, go to Settings > Camera, then turn off Lens Cleaning Hints.

Tag: camera
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How to log your state of mind in Health on iPhone

by Stacey Butler

You can reflect on how you’re feeling and log your momentary emotions and daily moods to keep track of your mental wellbeing. You can also learn how your state of mind may correlate with lifestyle factors like exercise, sleep, time in daylight, and mindful minutes.

You can also view your state of mind history and set state of mind reminders.

Here’s how to log your state of mind in Health on iPhone.

Log your state of mind

A screen in the Health app identifying the current mood as Slightly Pleasant. At the bottom of the screen is a slider to adjust the level of the emotion.

  1. Open the Health app on your iPhone.
  2. Tap Browse, tap Mental Wellbeing, and then tap State of Mind.
  3. If this is your first time logging, tap Get Started. Otherwise, tap Log.

Quick tip: To log your state of mind for a previous day, tap the Calendar Button, tap a day, then tap Log.

  1. Choose one of the following:
    • Log an emotion: Tap How you feel right now and then tap Next.
    • Log a mood: Tap How you’ve felt overall today and then tap Next.
  2. Drag the slider to indicate how you’re feeling. Then tap Next.
  3. Tap any words that describe how you’re feeling (optional) and tap Next.
  4. Tap any words that describe what’s having the biggest impact on you (optional) and tap Done.

If you’ve described what’s having the biggest impact on you, you can tap Additional Context to enter more information.

View your state of mind history

  1. Open the Health app on your iPhone.
  2. Tap Browse, tap Mental Wellbeing, and then tap State of Mind.
  3. Tap Show in Charts, then do any of the following:
    • View your state of mind over time: Tap an option from the time range selections at the top of the chart.
    • View the types of entries you’ve logged: Tap States and then tap Daily Moods or Momentary Emotions to see those entries on the graph.
    • View factors associated with your entries: Tap Associations. Then scroll through the different factors you logged in your state of mind entries.
    • View lifestyle factors associated with your entries: Tap Life Factors and tap a lifestyle factor to see it alongside your state of mind entries.

You can also tap the Show Information button next to each lifestyle factor to learn more about how it can impact your mental wellbeing.

Set state of mind reminders

You can get reminders to log your state of mind.

  1. Open the Health app on your iPhone.
  2. Tap Browse, tap Mental Wellbeing, and then tap State of Mind.
  3. Scroll down to the bottom of the screen and then tap Options.
  4. Turn During Your Day and End of Day on or off.

You can also tap Add Reminder to create additional reminders.

Tag: Health
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How to see your activity summary in Fitness on iPhone

by Kevin Hollington

You can see a summary of your daily activity, trends, awards, and more, to keep track of your progress. You can also add, edit, move, and delete the metrics that appear in your summary.

Carry your iPhone, and its motion sensors track your steps, distance, and flights climbed. You can see your Activity rings, completed workouts and meditations, and awards, too.

Here’s how to see your activity summary in Fitness on iPhone.

The Summary screen in Fitness, showing the Activity Rings, Step Count, Step Distance, and Trends areas.

Check your progress

Go to the Fitness app at any time to see how you’re doing. You can see your Activity rings, trends, completed workouts and meditations, awards, and more.

Your iPhone’s motion sensors estimate active calories burned by tracking your steps, distance, and flights climbed while you carry it. Workouts you complete in compatible third-party apps also count toward the progress shown on your Activity rings.

Your red Move ring shows the active calories you’ve burned. With an Apple Watch, you’ll also see a green Exercise ring for the minutes of brisk activity you’ve done, and a blue Stand ring for how many times in the day you’ve stood and moved, at least 1 minute per hour.

An overlapping ring means you exceeded your goal. Tap the Activity rings to see details of your progress for that day.

Note: If you’d like to track your daily activity from your Home Screen or Lock Screen, add a Fitness widget.

See your summary

  1. Start the Fitness app on your iPhone.
  2. Tap Summary and then do any of the following:

    • See your activity summary for a specific day: Tap the Activity rings, tap the Calendar button, and then tap a date.
    • See your steps metrics: Tap the Step Count or Step Distance area.
    • Begin a recommended Apple Fitness+ workout or meditation: If you subscribe to Apple Fitness+, swipe left or right on the Fitness+ area to browse activities and then tap one.
    • See your trends: Tap the Trends area. To see the history of a specific trend, tap it.

      Your last 90 days of activity are compared to the last 365. If the trend arrow for a particular metric points up, then you’re maintaining or improving your fitness levels. If an arrow points down, your 90-day average for that metric has started to decline. To help motivate you to turn the trend around, you receive coaching—for example, “Walk an extra quarter mile a day.”

      Note: It takes 180 days of activity to start your trends.

    • See your workout and meditation history: Tap the Sessions area and then tap an activity to learn more about its details.
    • See your awards: Tap the Awards area and tap an award to learn more about its details.

The Fitness screen showing a list of fitness categories.

To view all categories of your summary, scroll down to the bottom of the screen, then tap See All Categories.

Customize your summary

To see what’s important to you, add, edit, move, and remove fitness metrics in the Summary tab.

  1. Start the Fitness app on your iPhone.
  2. Tap Summary, scroll down, and then tap Edit Summary.
  3. Do any of the following:
    • Add a metric: Tap the Add button, scroll to find the metric you want, tap it, swipe through the different options, and then tap Add Card.
    • Edit a metric: Tap a metric, swipe through the different options, and then tap Swap Current Card.
    • Move a metric: Touch and hold a metric, then reposition it.
    • Delete a metric: Tap the Delete button next to a metric.
  4. When you’re finished, tap the Delete button.
Tag: Fitness
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How to receive FaceTime calls on iPhone

by Tyler Stephen

In the FaceTime app, you can answer video and audio calls, decline calls, view video messages or listen to voicemails, and delete calls from your call history. If you’re on a FaceTime audio call and another one comes in, you can put the current call on hold, and Siri can announce incoming calls, too.

Note: Live Voicemail isn’t available in all languages or regions.

Answer a FaceTime call

As a FaceTime call comes in, you can do any of the following:

  • Accept the call: To answer a video call, tap the Accept button, then tap the Join button. To answer an audio call, tap the Accept button.

    If a slider appears, you can drag it right to answer.

  • Decline the call: Tap Decline or the End button.

    For FaceTime video calls, tap Message to send a text message or tap Remind Me to set a reminder to call back. For FaceTime audio calls, tap Message to send a text message or tap Voicemail to send the caller to voicemail. (You may need to tap the incoming call banner to see these options.)

  • Accept an incoming call and place the current call on hold: Tap the Accept button.

    Note: This option is only available if you’re on a FaceTime audio call and you receive another incoming FaceTime audio call. Otherwise, accepting an incoming call will end the current call.

View information when receiving a FaceTime call

When you receive a FaceTime call, a Call Context card with related information may appear. This can include an upcoming or recent birthday during a call to a contact, or it can include tickets, orders, or confirmation numbers during a call to certain businesses. Tap the card to view the information in the related app, such as Mail, Messages, or Wallet.

Note: Apple Intelligence on iOS 27 or later is available on an Apple Intelligence-enabled iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max, or iPhone 16 model or later. Apple Intelligence is not available in all languages or regions. Usage limits may apply.*

View a video message or listen to a voicemail

If you miss an incoming video call and the caller leaves a video message, you receive a notification about the video message. A thumbnail image from the video also appears in your FaceTime call history. You can tap the notification or image to view the video message.

Note: You’ll only get video messages from saved contacts, people you’ve called, and people Siri suggests.

If you miss an incoming audio call, the caller can leave a voicemail if you have Live Voicemail turned on in Settings > Apps > Phone. You can see a real-time transcript of the voicemail and pick up the call as the caller is leaving the message. To stop the incoming voicemail without answering or blocking the call, tap Stop.

Quick tip: Tap a contact’s name in the call history and tap the Voicemails button or the Videos button to see all their voicemails or video messages at once.

The FaceTime call history, showing a suggested contact, a recorded video message, a voicemail, and a Group FaceTime video call.

Delete a call from your call history

  1. Start the FaceTime app on your iPhone.
  2. Touch and hold the call in your call history. Tap Delete.

*Apple Intelligence is available with Siri and device language set to Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), Danish, Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish, or Vietnamese. Some features may not be available in all regions or languages. Some devices may not be available in all regions.

Siri AI is available in beta in iOS 27, iPadOS 27, macOS 27, watchOS 27, and visionOS 27 and requires an Apple Intelligence–enabled device set to a supported language. Available in English to start. Siri AI will not be initially available in the EU on iOS, iPadOS, and watchOS. Certain Apple Intelligence features that rely on server-side models are subject to daily usage limits, including but not limited to Siri AI, Intelligent Photo Editing Tools, Image Playground, and AFM 3 Cloud models in Shortcuts.

Daily limits may vary by feature, request complexity, system demand, system policies, and other factors. Expanded access to such features will be available for a fee in the future. Use of these features is subject to the Apple Intelligence Terms and Conditions.

Tag: FaceTime
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How to change your default search engine on iPhone

by Emily Long

You can select an alternative search engine as the default to search for content on the web. It’s a single setting: you pick the search engine you want to set as the default, and that’s the one your searches use.

  1. Open the Settings app on your iPhone.
  2. Tap Search, then tap Search Engine.
  3. Tap the search engine you want to set as the default and then tap the Back button.
Tag: iPhone
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How to interact with content in a photo or video on iPhone

by Dave Johnson

Live Text recognizes text within your photos, videos, and images you find online. You can interact with this text in multiple ways. You can select text to copy, share, or translate, or you can use quick actions to perform tasks like making a phone call, opening a website, or converting currencies.

You can use Live Text in Safari, Photos, Camera, Quick Look, and more. But before you start, make sure Live Text is turned on for all supported languages.

Here’s how to interact with content in a photo or video on iPhone.

Note: Live Text isn’t available in all regions or languages.

Turn on Live Text

Make sure Live Text is turned on for all supported languages before you start using it.

  1. Open the Settings app on your iPhone.
  2. Tap General and tap Language & Region.
  3. Turn on Live Text.

Copy, translate, and look up text in a photo or video

  1. Open a photo or pause a video that contains text.
  2. Tap the Detect Text button and then touch and hold the selected text.
  3. Use the grab points to select specific text. Then do any of the following:
    • Copy Text: Copy text to paste into another app such as Notes or Messages.
    • Select All: Select all the text within the frame.
    • Look Up: Show personalized web suggestions.
    • Translate: Translate text.
    • Search the web: Look up the selected text on the web.
    • Share: Share text using AirDrop, Messages, Mail, or other available options.
  4. Tap the Selected Detect Text button to return to the photo or video.

Perform tasks within a photo or video with quick actions

Depending on the content of the photo or video, you can tap a quick action at the bottom of the screen to do things like make a phone call, get directions, translate languages, convert currencies, and more.

  1. Open a photo or pause a video that contains text.
  2. Tap the Detect Text button.
  3. Tap a quick action at the bottom of the screen.
  4. Tap the Selected Detect Text button to return to the photo or video.
Tag: Photos
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How to export a Voice Memos recording to Files on iPhone

by Tyler Stephen

Any recording can be exported from Voice Memos to the Files app on your iPhone. By default, recordings are exported in .m4a format, so layered recordings are flattened and Spatial Audio becomes stereo.

You can keep them, though. When you share, you can adjust your sharing options to retain any layers or recording effects, and from the Files app, you can import your recording into Logic Pro, where you’ll edit or enhance it with professional audio editing tools.

  1. Start the Voice Memos app (in the Utilities folder) on your iPhone.
  2. Tap the recording you want to export, tap the More button, and then tap the Share button.
  3. To export a file where the effects and layers can be adjusted later (QuickTime Audio format), tap Options. Then tap Editable. Choose if you want your layers merged or separated. Then tap the Done button.
  4. Scroll down and tap Save to Files, go to the location where you want to save the recording. Then tap Save.
Tag: Voice Memos
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