Tips

3D Touch tips and tricks for the stock Videos app

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated May 6, 2016

In this day and age of YouTube streaming and on-demand video, the stock Videos app feels a little outdated and way too limited in terms of features though it gets the job done.

With the Videos app, you can watch movies, televisions shows and music videos that you bought or rented from the iTunes Store, as well as enjoy your personal clips synchronized from iTunes on your computer.

On the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus, using the Videos app is a little more engaging thanks to 3D Touch. In this tutorial, we'll let you in on 3D Touch shortcuts and gestures that are available  in the Videos app.

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Spotting the signs of a fake Apple Lightning cable

Anthony Bouchard ∙ Updated June 26, 2018

Whenever you buy a new iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad, it'll come with a Lightning to USB cable that you will use to charge and sync your device. On the other hand, you have to be careful when you buy these cables separately, especially online, because you could end up with a counterfeit cable.

A counterfeit is a cable that tries to look just like Apple's OEM Lightning to USB cable, even though it isn't. Using these cables could have an adverse effect on your device, so we'll show you how to spot the differences between a counterfeit and genuine Lightning to USB cable in this piece.

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Reposting Vine videos to Instagram with VineGrab

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated February 12, 2018

I recently talked about sharing Instagram videos on Vine, a multi-step procedure that involves a third-party app to save an Instagram clip to the Camera roll before posting it manually to the Twitter-owned Vine service.

So far so good.

But what about the other way round? Of course that same process applies to posting vine clips on Instagram: save a vine to the device before manually sharing it on Instagram.

As it turns out, there's a bunch of third-party apps in the App Store which can take the pain out of resharing vines on Instagram. With VineGrab, a free iPhone app by Xiaoyu Xia, not only can you watch vines in a more elegant interface than Vine's own, you can also repost your favorite ones to Instagram.

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How to remove unwanted email addresses from the Mail app on Mac

Anthony Bouchard ∙ Updated August 15, 2018

One thing I hate about the Mail app on my Mac is how when I go to enter someone's name to email them, macOS has a nasty habit of picking the wrong email address for that person and I always notice it when it's too late.

I had this happen to me the other day and my email was sent to the wrong inbox of that person – an email address that they don't even use anymore – so they never got the email I sent and I had to resend it.

If you've ever had this happen to you before, then you're reading the right tutorial, because we'll be showing you how to delete email addresses from Mac Mail history so they aren't auto-suggested for you when you start to type someone's name.

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Simple tips for safely cleaning your Mac and other Apple devices

Anthony Bouchard ∙ Updated August 15, 2018
Cleaning Mac keyboard

Your Mac, iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and/or any other other fancy high-tech devices you have are fun to use, but they'll easily get dirty and collect dust, sneeze splatter, and bacteria from your fingers over time, whether they're used frequently or not.

To combat grime, you can clean your devices every so often, but like anything else, there's a right and a wrong way to do this.

In this piece, we'll share with you some handy tips for cleaning your Mac and other Apple devices safely so you don't accidentally damage them.

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Fixing common problems with charging your iPhone or iPad

Anthony Bouchard ∙ Updated March 20, 2020

Not only did Apple spend a ton of money and time in the research leading up to its proprietary reversible Lightning cable for charging, but they've also made the software that handles charging your iOS device intelligent too.

Nevertheless, charging your device can sometimes be followed by some frustrating problems, and they're all too common. In this piece, we'll go over some of those problems charging iPhone and iPad, and what you can do to troubleshoot them.

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Top 3D Touch shortcuts in Apple’s Podcasts app

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated May 14, 2019

Podcasts, previously an optional download from the App Store and now a stock application in iOS 9, may not be the most elegant software to enjoy your favorite podcasts, such as iDownloadBlog's Let's Talk iOS series.

That being said, the app is adequate enough for basic use: with it, you can easily browse, subscribe to and play your favorite audio or video shows on your iOS devices.

And if you own an iPhone 6s or iPhone 6s Plus, you can take advantage of 3D Touch to start listening to the next unplayed episode of your favorite show right from the Home screen, use Peek and Pop gestures in the app to preview shows, see unplayed station episodes and more.

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