How to

Tip: stop YouTube’s annoying video autoplay ‘Up Next’ feature within iOS app

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated July 26, 2023

My colleague Anthony recently vented his frustration with YouTube's default handling of the 'Up Next' feature on the web. Autoplay in YouTube is one of the banes of my existence, too, but as Anthony states in his write-up, YouTube for iOS lacks a switch to disable auto-play videos.

Not anymore, though: the latest version of Google's native YouTube client for the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad includes an easily overlooked switch that lets you stop an endless stream of recommended videos from being spoon-fed down your throat with a single tap.

If you watch a lot of YouTube through your iPhone's cellular connection, you're wholeheartedly recommended to disable 'Up Next' on the iOS app, here's how.

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How to view recent Safari history on iPhone and iPad

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated March 1, 2023

On any given day, I browse the web a lot—be it catching up on the news, doing research on future stories or skimming through my favorites to learn what's the latest. And more often than not do I find myself struggling to make my way back to an article I stumbled upon a few hours ago.

Locating a specific item in browsing history can feel like finding a needle in the haystack, especially if you're on the go.

Yes, I could just tap Safari's back button multiple times or swipe to go back a single webpage at a time until I found the webpage I was looking for, but that's a time-consuming process which unnecessarily wastes my iPhone's cellular data.

As you'll discover in this tutorial, Safari provides a very handy, though not immediately obvious shortcut which allows you to quickly jump to any previously visited webpage.

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Why and how to use custom DNS settings on your iPhone, iPad, and Mac

Anthony Bouchard ∙ Updated January 11, 2023
DNS Settings on Mac

When you visit a website on your computer, such as iDownloadBlog or Google, you're using domain name system (DNS) protocol to exchange information between your computer and the server providing you with that website.

Depending on the DNS server you're using on your Mac or iOS device; you might not be experiencing the best speeds and web securities that you could be.

In this piece, we'll tell you why you may want to consider switching to a new DNS and show you how to use a custom DNS on your Mac, iPhone, or iPad.

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How to quickly get your answers from a website you’ve searched before in Safari

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated February 8, 2018

In addition to finding all occurrences of a word within any webpage, Apple's Safari browser for the iPhone, iPod touch, iPad and Mac includes a nifty little feature called Quick Website Search which lets you get your answers from within a specific website as long as you've used its search box before.

Safari keeps tracks of the webpages as you surf the web so you can later find anything within a previously visited website, right from the Smart Search field.

In this tutorial, you'll learn how to leverage Safari's Quick Website Search feature to search within a website.

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How to view, search and edit Safari passwords

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated April 12, 2023

If you're tired of always having to log in, Safari will happily save web passwords in your keychain. Even better, the browser can automatically fill in your user names and passwords the next time you visit your favorite websites.

And with the iCloud Keychain feature, your saved passwords can be synchronized across devices in a safe, secure manner. In this tutorial, you're going to learn how to search saved Safari passwords without needing to visit their websites, view your saved logins, as well as add, delete and manage saved passwords. 

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Why and how to use a VPN on your iOS device or Mac

Anthony Bouchard ∙ Updated August 1, 2018

A virtual private network, commonly referred to as a VPN, is a type of connection you can use over the internet that helps to secure your identity as you surf the web.

Often times, they're used to improve your security and privacy on public Wi-Fi networks, but they're also used for a wide variety of other reasons. If you've been considering using a VPN on your iOS device(s) or Mac(s), then you've come to the right place. We're going to tell you all about why you should consider using one and how to use a VPN on iPhone, iPad, or Mac to your advantage.

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How to disable suggested search terms in Safari

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated December 28, 2022
Google Suggestions while typing in Safari address bar

Safari Smart Search Field lets you type in either an URL to visit or a search query to send to the default search engine. It's also a place where search suggestions automatically pop up as you type. With this cool feature, you can type just the first few letters of a query and rely on the search engine (Google, Bing, Yahoo, etc.) to help you complete the search term without needing to type out the rest of your query. But, certain users may not be fond of this feature for privacy reasons.

If you're among them, use the step-by-step instructions provided in this tutorial to turn off suggested search terms in Safari for iPhone, iPad, and Mac.

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How to stop ‘Up Next’ videos from autoplaying on YouTube

Anthony Bouchard ∙ Updated July 26, 2023

One of my pet peeves with YouTube is how after completing a video, the service shoves a new video down your throat with a feature called "Up Next," which gives you a 15-second time frame to click the "X" button at the top right of the video before the next video starts to play.

Sounds familiar? If you feel the same way, then you've stumbled upon the right tutorial, because we're going to be showing you how you can disable this feature right from the YouTube website without installing any plug-ins, hacks, or other crazy stuff.

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