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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.

If you sign in with your Apple Account, your health and fitness information in the Health app is stored automatically in iCloud. Your information is encrypted as it goes between iCloud and your device and while it’s stored in iCloud.

In addition to using iCloud, or if you aren’t using iCloud, you can back up your Health data by encrypting a computer backup. You can also stop storing your data in iCloud at any time. Your Health app data syncs across devices that are signed in to the same Apple Account.

Note: For your Health app data to sync across devices, make sure your devices are signed in to the same Apple Account, are connected to the internet, and are updated to the latest OS version.

Manage your Health data in iCloud

Check that your Health data is synced across all of your devices, or stop storing your data at any time.

  1. Go to the Settings app on your iPhone
  2. Tap your name, then tap iCloud.
  3. Tap Show All and tap Health. Then turn Sync with iPhone on or off.
Tags: Health, iCloud

When you’re not driving, you can play videos from your iPhone on your CarPlay display. CarPlay video apps work in vehicles that support the video-in-car feature.

You can also use AirPlay to play video or audio from your iPhone on your CarPlay display, then disconnect AirPlay when you’re done.

WARNING: For important information about avoiding distractions that could lead to dangerous situations, see Important safety information for iPhone.

Use AirPlay to play video or audio on your CarPlay display

  1. Connect iPhone to CarPlay.
  2. When you’re not driving, play a video on your iPhone from a supported CarPlay video app or any app that supports AirPlay.
  3. Tap the AirPlay button, then select your CarPlay display.

Note: If your vehicle indicates that video playback is not available, you’ll hear audio only instead.

Disconnect AirPlay from your CarPlay display

  1. When you’re not driving, open the app on your iPhone that’s playing the video you’re viewing on your CarPlay display.
  2. Tap the AirPlay button and then deselect your CarPlay display.
Tag: carplay

You can learn more about the medications you add to your medications list. You can find out what a medication is used for, how it works, its potential side effects, and how to pronounce it, and you can learn about interactions between your medications.

You can also learn whether interaction factors like alcohol might interact with your medications, and track your medications and log your state of mind in Health.

Learn about a medication

Find out how to pronounce a medication, how it works, what it’s used for, and its potential side effects.

  1. Start the Health app on your iPhone.
  2. Tap Browse and tap Medications.
  3. Tap the medication (in the list of your medications). Scroll down to About.

Learn about interactions between your medications

  1. Start the Health app on your iPhone.
  2. Tap Browse and tap Medications.
  3. Scroll down, then tap Drug Interactions.
  4. To learn whether interaction factors like alcohol might interact with your medications, tap Edit (in the Interaction Factors area), select the factors that apply, and tap Done.
  5. To learn more about an interaction, tap it.
Tag: Health

iCloud securely stores your photos, videos, documents, backups, and more, and keeps them updated across all your devices automatically. With iCloud, you can also share photos, calendars, notes, folders, and files with friends and family.

iCloud provides you with an email account and 5 GB of free storage for your data. You can set up iCloud and use it with apps on iPhone.

Here’s how to use iCloud on iPhone.

Note: Some iCloud features have minimum system requirements. The availability of iCloud and its features varies by country or region.

Set up iCloud

  1. Open the Settings app on your iPhone.
  2. Tap your name.

    If you don’t see your name, tap Apple Account, then sign in to your Apple Account.

  3. Tap iCloud, tap See All, and turn on the apps and features you want to sync with iCloud.

For example, turn on iCloud Drive to make your files in iCloud Drive available to your other devices.

The iCloud settings screen showing the iCloud storage meter and a list of features—including Photos, iCloud Drive, and iCloud Backup—that can be used with iCloud.

Use iCloud with apps on iPhone

iCloud can also store the following information and keep it up to date across your iPhone and other Apple devices:

  • iCloud Backup

    iCloud can keep your iPhone backed up automatically.

    Back up iPhone

  • Photos

    Store your full-resolution photo library in iCloud and keep it in sync across all your devices. You can also share photos and videos with shared albums or an iCloud Shared Photo Library.

  • iCloud Drive

    Keep your files in iCloud Drive, access them from any device, and share folders and documents with others.

    Set up iCloud Drive

  • Messages

    Keep your conversations up to date and available across all your devices.

    Set up Messages

  • Mail

    Get an iCloud email address and access iCloud Mail across all your Apple devices.

    Set up iCloud Mail on all your devices

  • Passwords

    Sync your passwords and passkeys securely across all your devices with iCloud Keychain.

    Use passwords

  • Find My

    Locate a missing device and share locations with friends and family.

    Locate a missing device

  • And more…

    iCloud also keeps apps like Contacts, Calendars, Notes, and Reminders in sync, along with data from compatible third-party apps and games.

You can subscribe to iCloud+ to get additional storage and access to Hide My Email, iCloud Private Relay, Apple Invites, HomeKit Secure Video support, and more.

Your iCloud data is also accessible on Mac, iPad, Apple Watch, Apple TV 4K, Apple Vision Pro, Windows devices, and iCloud.com.

Tag: iCloud

You can find photos and videos taken on a particular date—year, month, or day. The Recent Days collection shows a summary of the best photos from a particular day, and you can browse through your library by year or month. Years and Months views are curated to show your best shots.

The Photos app showing a collection of photos taken on a particular day.

View photos and videos you took on a recent day

The Recent Days collection is where you’ll find the photos and videos you took on a particular day.

  1. Start the Photos app on your iPhone.
  2. Tap Collections and then scroll down to Recent Days.
  3. Swipe left or right to quickly move between days, or tap Recent Days to view all.
  4. Tap a day to open the collection.

When you open a day in Recent Days, you see a summary of the best photos from the day. To see all the photos you took that day, tap Show All.

Browse through your library by year or month

  1. Start the Photos app on your iPhone.
  2. Swipe down on the photo library grid and tap one of the following:
    • Years: Quickly locate a specific year in your photo library.
    • Months: View collections of photos that you took throughout a month, organized by significant events—like a family outing, social occasion, birthday party, or trip.

Years and Months views are curated to show your best shots, and visual clutter like similar photos, screenshots, whiteboards, and receipts aren’t shown. To see every photo and video, tap All. You can also search for a specific date.

Tag: Photos

You can customize the settings for the Freeform app.

You can change access and permissions for boards and folders you share, change a board’s background, and align items more easily. A list of participants shows who has access to a board or folder, and you can grant individuals access, permissions, or even co-ownership. You can also use a dark canvas for a board.

Here’s how to change your Freeform settings on iPhone.

Change access and permissions for boards and folders

Once you start sharing or collaborating on boards and folders, you can change access and permissions for everyone or for individuals.

  1. Open the Freeform app on your iPhone.
  2. While viewing All Boards or the folder list, touch and hold the shared board or folder and then tap Manage Shared Board (or Folder).

    A list of participants appears, showing who has access to the board or folder.

  3. Do any of the following:

    • Grant individuals access, permissions, or co-ownership: Tap a participant’s name and then adjust their settings.
    • If you own the board, change access or permissions for all: Tap Sharing Options and then adjust settings for everyone.
    • Invite others with a link: Tap Sharing Options and tap Anyone with the Link, tap the Share button. Then tap Copy Link.

Note: Anyone can copy the link and send it to others. If you select “People You Choose,” though, the link only works for those invited to open the board.

Turn off Access Requests if you’d rather not review individual requests to view or edit the board or folder.

Change a board’s background

With Dark Mode turned on, a board can get a dark canvas and controls to match. A grid of gray dots on your board is another option, making it easier to see whether items line up.

  1. Open the Freeform app on your iPhone.
  2. Open a board, or tap the New Board button to start a new one.
  3. Tap the More button and then do any of the following:
    • Use a dark canvas: Tap Show with Dark Background. If you don’t see it, make sure you turned on Dark Mode.
    • Use another color in the background: Freeform boards have a black or white background. To define a workspace within your board that has a different background color, add a large rectangle of any color. Send it to the back and lock it.
    • Add the dot grid background: Tap View Options and then tap Show Grid.
    • Remove the dot grid background: Tap View Options, then tap Hide Grid.

Align items more easily

You can make edges and points align to the nearest dot on the grid as you resize or move an item. You can also use alignment guides to help you place items more precisely. When guides are on, they appear as you drag an item on a board and it aligns with another item.

  1. Open the Settings app on your iPhone.
  2. Tap Apps, then tap Freeform.

Turn on Snap to Grid, or turn on or off any of the following:

  • Center Guides: These appear when the midpoints of items align.
  • Edge Guides: These appear when the edges of items align.
  • Spacing Guides: These appear when three or more items are equally spaced in a line.

You can also access these settings when you’re working in a board. Tap the More button, tap Alignment Settings, then tap Snap to Grid or turn on the guides you want to use. Or turn them off if you don’t want them appearing as you move items near one another on the board.

Get math hints

It’s up to you how your iPhone responds to the math problems you enter.

  1. Open the Settings app on your iPhone.
  2. Tap Apps, then tap Freeform.

Tap Math Results, then select one of the following:

  • If you want problems to be solved automatically: Choose Insert Results. (The answer appears in writing that matches your own.)
  • If you want suggestions to appear: Choose Suggest Results. (A Solve button appears that, when tapped, adds the answer in writing that matches your own.)
  • If you don’t want to see math results: Choose Off.

You can also access these settings when you’re working in a board. Tap the More button, then tap Math Results.

Store your Freeform boards in iCloud

  1. Open the Settings app on your iPhone.
  2. Tap your name, then tap iCloud.
  3. Tap See All, then turn on Freeform.

Sort your boards or folders

  1. Open the Freeform app on your iPhone.
  2. While viewing boards in a category (such as Favorites) or a folder, tap the More button and then do any of the following:
    • View more boards at the same time (with smaller thumbnails): Tap List.
    • Change how boards and subfolders are listed: Choose Sort by Date, Name, Kind, or Shared By. To switch to descending order, tap the Sort Order button next to the sort name.
    • Categorize boards by how long ago they were last opened: Tap Sort by Date, then tap Use Groups.
    • Categorize boards by board owner: While viewing Shared, tap Use Groups.

Change Freeform privacy and analytics settings

Apple collects a variety of data, some of which is associated with your Apple Account. You can limit the use of certain analytics data or reset your identifier specifically used by apps in Apple Creator Studio.

  1. Open the Settings app on your iPhone.
  2. Tap Apps, then tap Freeform.

Turn on or off either of the following:

  • Share Analytics Data
  • Reset Identifier

If you use iCloud Passwords & Keychain, turning off analytics or resetting your identifier affects your devices with iCloud Passwords & Keychain turned on.

iPhone has an internal, lithium-ion rechargeable battery. Compared with traditional battery technology, lithium-ion batteries are lighter, charge faster, last longer, and have a higher power density for more battery life.

The battery icon tells you the battery level or charging status. If iPhone is very low on power, you’ll see an image of a nearly depleted battery, and it may need to charge for up to 10 minutes before you’re able to use it. You can improve charging speed and learn how charging behaves, too.

About charging the battery

The battery level or charging status appears in the battery icon. Charging can take longer while you’re syncing or using iPhone.

An image of a nearly depleted battery may appear when iPhone is very low on power, which means it needs to charge for up to 10 minutes before it’s ready to use. And when iPhone is extremely low on power as you begin charging, the display may be blank for up to 2 minutes before that low-battery image shows up.

Charge the battery

When it’s time to charge iPhone, you can do any of the following:

  • Connect iPhone to a power outlet using the charging cable (included) and an Apple USB power adapter or other compatible power adapter (sold separately).

    iPhone connected to the power adapter plugged into a power outlet.

  • Place iPhone face up on MagSafe Charger (connected to Apple 20W USB-C power adapter or other compatible power adapter) or on a Qi-certified charger. (MagSafe Charger, power adapters, and Qi-certified chargers are sold separately.)

    Note: You can also use third-party power adapters and Qi-certified chargers that are compliant with applicable country regulations and international and regional safety standards.

  • Connect iPhone and your computer with a cable.

A computer that’s turned off can drain the battery of an iPhone connected to it instead of charging it, so make sure your computer is turned on. To confirm your iPhone is charging, look for the Charging icon on the battery icon.

Note: Unless your keyboard has a high-power USB port, don’t try to charge your iPhone by connecting it to the keyboard.

An iCloud backup can start when you connect iPhone to a power outlet or place it on a wireless charger.

WARNING: If you suspect there may be liquid in the charging port of iPhone, don’t plug the charging cable into it.

Improve charging speed

If your iPhone is charging slowly, you’ll see a Slow Charger message in the Settings app, then tap Battery. This message appears when your iPhone supports fast charging but the connected charger isn’t capable of delivering optimal power.

The charging information card in iPhone Battery settings. The card shows the battery at 80% and indicates it’s connected to a “Slow Charger.” A progress bar estimates it will take 52 minutes to reach 100%.

Charging can take longer than you’d expect with either of these:

  • A wired charger that provides 7.5 watts or less
  • A wireless charger that provides less than 10 watts, such as a Qi-certified charger

Understand charging behavior

To help preserve long-term battery health, iPhone manages how it charges, and here’s what happens along the way:

  • Fast charging up to 80%: iPhone charges quickly until the battery reaches about 80%.
  • Trickle charging after 80%: Charging slows to reduce battery stress and limit heat. This final stage helps maintain battery lifespan.
  • Temperature: Charging may pause temporarily while in extreme temperature conditions, and resumes once the battery’s temperature returns to its normal operating range.

These protections happen automatically, without any changes to your settings.

About charge cycles and battery lifespan

The capacity of any type of battery will diminish after a certain amount of recharging. With lithium-ion batteries, the capacity diminishes slightly with each complete charge cycle. Apple lithium-ion batteries work in charge cycles and retain about 80% of its original capacity for a high number of charge cycles, depending on the product.

A charge cycle happens when you use a total of 100% of your battery’s capacity,* even if it’s not all at once. For example, you might use 75% of your battery’s capacity one day, then recharge it fully overnight. If you use 25% the next day, you will have discharged a total of 100%, and the two days will add up to one charge cycle.

Quick tip: Don’t worry about topping up throughout the day, since partial charging won’t harm the battery. Features like Optimized Battery Charging or Charge Limit can even help extend its life further.

Use and settings affect battery life and charge cycles.

The iPhone battery should be serviced or recycled by Apple or an Apple Authorized Service Provider.

*A complete charge cycle is normalized between 80% and 100% of original capacity to account for expected diminishing battery capacity over time.

Tag: Battery

Before you sell, give away, or trade in your iPhone, there’s some housekeeping to do. If you paired an Apple Watch with your iPhone, you unpair it, and you erase all content and settings that contain personal information. Be sure to perform the following tasks:

  • If you paired an Apple Watch with your iPhone, unpair your Apple Watch.
  • Back up iPhone. If you replace one iPhone with another, you can use the setup assistant to restore the backup to your new iPhone.

    If you’re replacing your iPhone with another one you have on hand, you can use extra free storage in iCloud to move your apps and data from one iPhone to another. Go to Settings > General > Transfer or Reset iPhone > Get Started, then follow the onscreen instructions.

  • Sign out of iCloud, and the App Store. Go to Settings > [your name], scroll down, tap Sign Out, then follow the onscreen instructions.
  • Before you ship your iPhone 18 Pro Max, you may need to turn on Prepare to Ship. Prepare to Ship lowers and limits the battery capacity to a level suitable for shipment like other iPhone models. This setting appears only on iPhone 18 Pro Max. Go to Settings > General > Transfer or Reset iPhone > Prepare to Ship, then follow the onscreen instructions.
  • Erase all content and settings that contain personal information. If you previously turned on Find My for your iPhone, Activation Lock is removed when you erase iPhone, making it ready for a new owner.
Tag: iPhone

In the Journal app, there are a number of ways you can protect your journal entries. You can lock your journal, you can sync your journal entries with iCloud, and you can include your journal entries in your iPhone backup if you encrypt your iPhone backup and store it locally on your computer or external storage device.

With iCloud, your entries and your changes show up on every iPhone, iPad, and Mac signed in to your Apple Account with Journal turned on.

Keep your entries in sync across your devices with iCloud

Your entries appear on your iPhone, iPad, and Mac, along with any changes you make to them. Each device needs Journal turned on in iCloud settings and the same Apple Account signed in.

  1. Open the Settings app on your iPhone.
  2. Tap your name, then tap iCloud.
  3. Tap See All next to Saved to iCloud, then turn on Journal.

How do I back up my journal entries?

Your entries are only included in a backup of your iPhone if your iPhone backup is encrypted and stored locally on your computer or an external storage device. That gives you a copy of your entries to use if your iPhone is ever replaced, lost, or damaged. In Settings, you can check that your entries sync to iCloud, but journal entries aren’t included in iCloud backups.

Lock your journal

To keep your journal private, make it so only you can access it, using Face ID, Touch ID, or your passcode.

A screen in the Journal app that prompts you to use Face ID to unlock your journal.

You can lock your journal from either of these places:

  • In the Journal app: Above the Insights summary, tap the More button, then tap Lock Journal.
  • In the Settings app: Go to Settings > Apps > Journal, then tap Lock Journal.

Keywords are tags or labels you add to your photos and videos to help you easily find them. After assigning keywords, you can search for photos and videos by the keywords associated with them.

You can type more than one keyword at a time when you search, and you can rename, delete, or favorite keywords later. A favorite keyword shows up as a filter option in your photo library, albums, and collections.

Here’s how to add keywords to photos and videos on iPhone.

Add keywords

  1. Start the Photos app on your iPhone.
  2. Open a photo or video.
  3. Tap the Info button or swipe up on the image.
  4. Tap Add Keywords, enter your custom keyword or keywords, and tap the Done button. If you’ve already added keywords and want to add more, tap Edit in the field where the keywords appear.
  5. Swipe down to close the Info menu.

Search for photos and videos by keyword

  1. Start the Photos app on your iPhone.
  2. Tap the Search button, then enter the keyword. As you type, suggested search results appear below the search field. Search results for keywords have Aa before them. Tip: You can type multiple keywords separated by spaces.
  3. Tap the suggested search result to view all the photos and videos with the keyword you entered.
  4. Tap the Close button to close the keyword search results.

Manage keywords

  1. Start the Photos app on your iPhone.
  2. Tap Collections. Tap your profile in the top-right corner of the screen.
  3. Tap Manage Keywords, tap a keyword, and tap any of the following:
    • Add to Favorite: Adds the keyword to the Keyword filter options in your photo library, albums, and collections.
    • Rename: Changes the name of the keyword applied to your photos and videos.
    • Delete: Removes the keyword from your photos and videos.
  4. Tap Add Keywords at the bottom of the screen to create a new keyword.
Tag: Photos