Tips & Tricks For iPhone And iPad – May 2013 (Part 1)

Practical tips for newbies and advanced users

Tips for beginners

Open and (completely) close apps

For the newbies out there, you have to start somewhere. Tap an app icon to open it, and press the home button to exit the app. Note that this only takes you out of the app, as the app remains open in the background. To close the app com­pletely, double-tap the home button, and when the bottom row (the "Multitasking bar") pops up, tap and hold any app icon until it starts wiggling. Tap the circular red icon at the top left of the app to close it com­pletely, and press the home button to stop the crazy wiggling.

Open and (completely) close apps

Connect to your computer

Use the Lightning to USB cable to con­nect your iPhone 5, iPad 4, or iPad mini to your computer, or the 30-pin to USB cable for any older iPhone or iPad models. Connecting will automatically launch iTunes, and if you're connect­ing on a Mac, iPhoto will launch as well. Once you're connected, your de­vice will start charging, and you'll be able to download software updates and sync music, movies, and apps.

Use the Lightning to USB cable to con­nect your iPhone or iPad

Customize your home screen

You can change the wallpaper back­grounds, rearrange the apps on the screen, or group the apps into folders. To change the background image of the home screen and the lock screen, open Settings>Brightness & Wallpaper. You'll be able to choose an image from your camera roll or from the default Wall­paper folder. Once you choose an im­age, you can set it to show on the lock screen, the home screen, or both.

To move an app, tap and hold one until they all start wiggling, then tap and hold it again to drag it around. You can drag apps to other screens if you hold them close to the edges. To create a folder, drag one app on top of another, and give the folder a name (or use the default name that pops up). Press the home button when you're done.

Go online

There are several ways to get on the In­ternet from your iDevice. If you're using an iPhone, you can con­nect using the cellular networks or by signing into a Wi-Fi network. If you're using a Wi-Fi-only iPad, you can only get online by signing into a Wi-Fi net­work. To sign into a Wi-Fi network, open Settings>Wi-Fi and tap on the network to which you wish to connect. If the network requires a password, your iDevice will prompt you to enter it. Note that using a Wi-Fi network instead of a cellular network to go on the Internet is a good way to save on cellular data charges, as wireless carriers typically limit the amount of data you can use in a given month.

Create an Apple ID

Create an Apple ID to access iCIoud, iTunes, and the App Store.

When you first turn on your iDevice, it'll ask you to enter or create an Apple ID, which is used to access iCIoud, iTunes, and the App Store. Unless you're planning on never down­loading a single app, song, or movie, you'll likely use it quite a bit. If you don't yet have an Apple ID, don't fret. You can create one when you're asked to sign in. Simply follow the onscreen instructions and you'll be set up within a couple of minutes.

Sync with iTunes

Syncing with iTunes means copying in­formation from your iDevice to your com­puter, and vice versa. You can sync to iTunes by manually connecting your device to your com­puter via a USB cable, or by setting it to sync wirelessly every day. To set up wireless sync, connect your iDevice to your computer, select your device from iTunes, click summary, and finally, select "Sync over Wi-Fi con­nection." For wireless syncing to take place, your iDevice must be connected to a power source, iTunes must be open on your computer, and both must be on the same wireless network.

Switch and lock the screen orientation

You've probably no­ticed that most apps, including Safari web pages, have landscape and portrait orientations that you can ac­cess just by tilting your iDevice. You can also lock the screen orientation to avoid the automatic switching - a handy op­tion for when you're trying to read in bed. Simply press the home button twice, and when the Multitasking bar pops up, swipe from left to right and tap on the icon with the circular arrow. A lock symbol will appear, and the device orientation will be locked in either landscape or portrait mode.

Switch and lock the screen orientation

Adjust the brightness

Sometimes you need to change the bright­ness of the screen to match the environ­ment. If it's dark out, you can lower the brightness and still see the screen very clearly. The screen brightness uses up a lot of power, so lowering the screen brightness is one way you can lengthen battery life. To change the brightness of the screen, open Settings>Brightness & Wallpaper and move the bright­ness slider left or right.

Sometimes you need to change the bright­ness of the screen to match the environ­ment.

Share everything

You can share just about anything from your iPhone and iPad - photos, web­site links, status updates, and more. Look for the Action icon (see image) when you're in Safari or inside other apps. Tapping on the Ac­tion icon pulls up a set of sharing op­tions such as Mail, Message, Twitter, and Facebook.

Tapping on the Ac­tion icon pulls up a set of sharing op­tions such as Mail, Message, Twitter, and Facebook.

You can also swipe your finger down from the top of the screen to pull down the Notification Center, from which you can post directly to Facebook and Twit­ter. To set up Facebook and Twitter shar­ing from the Notification Center, open Settings, scroll down to Facebook and Twitter, and sign in to your profiles.

Manage auto-correction and spell check

By default, your iDe­vice will automatically correct text as you type it, and it'll suggest the word you're trying to finish. To ac­cept the word, simply type space, enter a punctuation mark, or tap the return key. To reject the word, tap the small "x" next to the suggested word. When you reject a suggested word, it becomes more likely that your iDevice will stop trying to correct that word. Your iDevice may also underline words that it thinks are misspelled. Tap on the underlined word to bring up suggested changes, or re-type the word manually. To turn off these automatic tools, open Settings>General>Keyboard, look for Auto-Correction and Check Spelling, and slide each bar to the Off position.