Tips

How to get your iPhone on Friday morning at 8am sharp

Sébastien Page ∙ Updated April 10, 2019

It's the same dilemma every year. You want the new iPhone as soon as possible, but don't want to spend the night waiting in line to get it. As much as I love Apple crowds, I'd rather spend the night in my bed.

Even if you ordered your iPhone for delivery, there is always a chance the UPS guy won't come by your house until later in the day, which means you could still be left hanging there for several excruciating hours. First world problems indeed!

Thankfully, if you've ordered your iPhone for delivery, we have a trick that may help you score your iPhone first thing in the morning, as soon as 8am.

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How to upload HD photos and videos on Facebook

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated November 9, 2016

One of the more annoying things about Facebook has got to be the diminished quality of photos and videos you upload to the service, be it via iOS's Facebook integration integration or through the official mobile app for the iPhone and iPad, a free download in the App Store.

For whatever reason, Facebook's mobile app defaults to low-resolution photo and video uploads, likely in an effort to minimize bandwidth usage in this digital age of capped cellular data.

Fortunately, there is an easy yet not immediately obvious way to configure Facebook for iPhone and iPad to record and upload videos and photos in glorious high-definition.

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How to only show the days you completed dedicated workouts with Activity app

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated December 9, 2022

Folks who track their workouts with the Apple Watch or a third-party fitness accessory tend to analyze their logged history in the iPhone's Activity app in order to gain a valuable insight into when they have—and more importantly, have not—met their personal goals.

Realizing you're consistently failing to hit your set workout goal on weekends, for example, is the first step toward changing your routine, working out more and leading a healthier life overall.

Though largely unchanged from its iOS 8 counterpart, Activity on iOS 9 has gained a useful, somewhat hidden toggle for switching between displaying Move, Exercise and Stand rings and highlighting the days you completed dedicated workouts.

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How to enable iOS 9 News app if you’re outside US

Christian Zibreg ∙ September 17, 2015

Among other things, iOS 9 adds four new non-removable apps to your Home screen, one of them called News and the other three being iCloud Drive, Find My iPhone and Find My Friends.

Unfortunately, folks living outside the United States are out of luck as News is US-only at launch.

Now, the forthcoming iOS 9.1 software update will officially bring News to the United Kingdom and perhaps some other markets. That being said, you can actually enable News regardless of where you live, and here's how.

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How to start up your Mac from a bootable CD/DVD, USB thumb drive or external storage device

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated June 14, 2023

macOS can start up your Mac in a myriad of ways. We've already covered some of them in detail, such as using built-in Startup Manager to pick a disk to startup your Mac from and booting into Safe, Verbose and Target Disk modes.

In this article, we get to talk about starting your Mac up from external storage like optical media or an external USB-based hard drive or flash storage. Booting from an external storage allows you to start up your Mac in another version or copy of macOS, Additionally, it can help you troubleshoot certain issues, and more.

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How to pre-order your iPhone 6s contract-free from Apple

Christian Zibreg ∙ September 10, 2015

If you're thinking about pre-ordering a new iPhone 6s or iPhone 6s Plus, purchasing the device outright is a viable option. I always buy my iPhones outright because I don't want to be tied to lengthy carrier contracts.

In the past, Apple wouldn't sell you the latest iPhones contract-free (at its full, non-subsidized price) unless at least a few months have passed following their introduction. As it turns out, you can now pre-order an iPhone 6s or iPhone 6s Plus contract-free, straight from Apple—here's how.

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