Use your AirPods’ Spatial Audio for movies, not just the built-in iPhone speakers.
The IMAX Theater for Your Ears
Watching a movie with your iPhone’s speakers is like watching a blockbuster on an old, tinny television set. Spatial Audio with AirPods is like walking into a private, state-of-the-art IMAX theater and having the sound happen all around you. When a plane flies by on screen, you will hear it coming from over your shoulder and then roaring past your ear. It’s a stunning, three-dimensional, and deeply immersive experience that transforms a flat video on a small screen into a full-blown cinematic event.
Stop just listening to playlists. Do listen to full albums in Apple Music to appreciate the artist’s vision.
The Collection of Short Stories vs. The Full Novel
Listening only to playlists is like reading a collection of great, but disconnected, short stories. You get a taste of many different authors and styles. Listening to a full album, however, is like sitting down to read a complete, cohesive novel. The artist has carefully crafted a journey from the first track to the last, with a deliberate flow, a developing theme, and a unified emotional arc. You can’t appreciate the full power of a great novel by only reading a single chapter out of context.
Stop scrolling endlessly through Netflix. Do use an app like JustWatch to find where a specific movie is streaming instead.
The One Giant Store vs. The Universal Shopping Assistant
Scrolling through Netflix to find a movie is like wandering aimlessly through one single, giant department store, hoping they have the one specific shirt you want. An app like JustWatch is like having a personal, universal shopping assistant. You can simply tell the assistant, “I want to find the blue silk shirt,” and it will instantly tell you which of the dozens of stores in the “mall” of streaming services currently has that exact shirt in stock, saving you from an hour of frustrating, aimless wandering.
The #1 secret for a better podcast experience is using a dedicated app like Overcast for its Smart Speed and Voice Boost features.
The Magical, Self-Editing Sound Engineer
A dedicated podcast app like Overcast is like having a tiny, brilliant, and invisible sound engineer who edits the show for you in real-time. Its “Voice Boost” feature is like the engineer turning up the volume of the hosts and turning down the background noise, making every show crystal clear. The legendary “Smart Speed” feature is the engineer magically and imperceptibly shortening all the tiny, awkward silences and pauses in the conversation. It can save you hours of listening time over a year without ever making the hosts sound unnatural.
I’m just going to say it: Apple Arcade is the most underrated gaming subscription service available.
The ‘Netflix’ for Beautiful, Ad-Free Games
Apple Arcade is the Netflix for high-quality, artistic, and beautifully crafted video games. In a world of aggressive, ad-filled, and “pay-to-win” mobile games, Arcade is a walled garden of pure, uninterrupted fun. For one low monthly price, you get unlimited access to a huge, curated library of incredible games that have absolutely no ads and no in-app purchases, ever. It’s a safe, affordable, and deeply underrated service that feels like a throwback to the golden age of gaming, where you just paid for the game and played.
The reason your streaming video looks pixelated is because you’re on a slow network; use the “Download” feature instead.
The ‘Buffering’ Stream vs. The Flawless Blu-ray Disc
Trying to stream a high-definition movie over a slow, spotty Wi-Fi or cellular connection is like trying to watch a live broadcast during a terrible storm. The signal will constantly cut out, buffer, and look like a pixelated mess. The “download” button is your secret weapon. It’s like having the movie studio mail you a perfect, flawless Blu-ray disc of the film ahead of time. It allows you to watch the movie in its full, beautiful, high-definition glory, completely immune to the “bad weather” of your unreliable network.
If you’re still buying individual songs, you’re losing money compared to a streaming subscription like Apple Music or Spotify.
The Expensive ‘A La Carte’ Menu vs. The ‘All-You-Can-Eat’ Buffet
Buying individual songs on iTunes is like ordering every single dish on a restaurant’s menu “a la carte.” It is an incredibly expensive and inefficient way to eat. A music streaming subscription is the “all-you-can-eat” buffet. for one, low, fixed monthly price, you get unlimited access to a library of over 100 million “dishes.” You can sample anything you want, you can eat as much as you want, and it will almost always be dramatically cheaper than buying each dish individually.
The biggest lie you’ve been told about mobile gaming is that it’s just for casual players.
The ‘Go-Kart’ vs. The ‘Formula 1’ Race Car
The idea that mobile gaming is just for simple, casual games like Candy Crush is a lie from a bygone era. It’s like looking at a modern Formula 1 race car and thinking it’s just a simple go-kart. A new iPhone has more processing power than a dedicated home console from just a few years ago. It can run massive, graphically-intensive, and deeply complex games with stunning visuals and intricate storylines. The “go-karts” are still there, but the platform has evolved into a true, high-performance racing machine.
I wish I knew about the “Sleep Timer” in the Podcasts app when I was falling asleep to shows and losing my spot.
The Butler Who Turns Off the Radio for You
Falling asleep to a podcast and then having it play for three more hours is a frustrating experience. You lose your spot and you wake up to a dead battery. The “Sleep Timer” is like having a thoughtful butler in your room. You can tell him, “Jeeves, please turn off the radio in 30 minutes.” The butler will then quietly turn off the show after you’ve drifted off to sleep. It’s a simple, brilliant feature that ensures a peaceful end to your listening session and a fully-charged phone in the morning.
99% of users make this one mistake with their music: not creating a “lossless” or “high-res” streaming setting for Wi-Fi.
The ‘Standard Definition’ vs. The ‘HD’ Television for Your Ears
By default, your music streaming is set to a “good enough” quality to save data. This is like watching a standard-definition television. But when you are on Wi-Fi, you have an unlimited “signal.” In your music app’s settings, you can tell it to stream in “Lossless” or “High-Resolution Lossless” when you are connected to Wi-Fi. This is like automatically switching your TV to stunning, crystal-clear high-definition the moment you have the bandwidth for it. It’s a free, instant, and profound upgrade to the quality of your audio.
This one small action of creating a collaborative playlist with a friend will change how you discover new music.
The Modern, Digital ‘Mixtape’
A collaborative playlist is the 21st-century version of making a mixtape for a friend, but it’s a living, breathing document. It’s like a shared, magical jukebox that you can both add to. When your friend in another city adds a great new song they just discovered, it instantly appears in your library. It’s a fun, personal, and deeply social way to share and discover new music, turning the lonely act of listening into a shared, ongoing conversation.
Use your iPhone as a remote for your Apple TV, not hunting for the physical Siri remote.
The Remote Control You Can Never Lose
The physical Siri remote is a beautiful, slippery, and perfectly-designed object for getting irretrievably lost in your couch cushions. The Remote feature in your iPhone’s Control Center is the remote control that you can never, ever lose, because it’s built into the one device you always know the location of. With a single swipe, your phone’s screen transforms into a powerful remote, complete with a trackpad and a keyboard for typing, saving you from a frustrating, 10-minute couch-cushion excavation.
Stop just listening to the same old songs. Do check out the curated playlists and radio stations in Apple Music instead.
The Personal Record Collection vs. The World’s Best Radio DJ
Listening only to your own library is like only ever playing the records that you already own. The “For You” and “Radio” tabs in your music app are like having the world’s best, most knowledgeable radio DJ living in your phone. This DJ knows your taste, but they also have a vast knowledge of music history. They will create personalized stations and curated playlists that will introduce you to new artists and old classics that you are statistically guaranteed to love, breaking you out of your musical rut.
Stop getting blasted by loud commercials. Do use a podcast app that normalizes volume levels.
The Automatic Volume Knob for Your Ears
When you are listening to a podcast, the volume of the hosts is often much quieter than the loud, jarringly-produced commercials. A great podcast app has a feature called “volume normalization” or “voice boost.” It’s like having an intelligent audio engineer who is automatically and silently riding the volume knob for you. They will turn up the volume of the quiet hosts and turn down the volume of the loud ads, creating a smooth, consistent, and much more pleasant listening experience.
The #1 hack for reading on your iPhone is using the “Sepia” theme and adjusting the brightness in the Books app.
The Harsh Office Light vs. The Warm Reading Lamp
Reading on a standard, bright white screen is like trying to read a book under a harsh, fluorescent office light. It’s sterile and can cause eye strain. The “Sepia” theme in the Books app is like switching on a warm, soft, and gentle reading lamp next to your favorite armchair. It changes the background to a soft, off-white, paper-like tone that is dramatically more comfortable and calming for your eyes, especially during a long, late-night reading session. It transforms the screen from a light source into a page.
I’m just going to say it: The iPhone is the best portable gaming console ever made.
The Swiss Army Knife That’s Also a Supercomputer
The iPhone is the ultimate “sleeper” agent in the gaming world. It’s like a discreet, elegant Swiss Army knife that also happens to have the engine of a Formula 1 race car hidden inside it. It has a screen that is better than your TV, a processor that is faster than a laptop, and a library of games that is larger than any other console in history. It is the most powerful, most versatile, and most ubiquitous gaming device ever created, and it’s hiding in your pocket.
The reason you can’t get into audiobooks is because you’re not listening at a faster speed (like 1.5x).
The Slow, Deliberate Storyteller vs. The Natural Conversationalist
Listening to an audiobook at its normal, 1x speed can sometimes feel painfully slow, like a storyteller who is deliberately and dramatically pausing between every single word. Most people’s brains can process information much faster than that. By increasing the playback speed to 1.25x or 1.5x, you are not making the narrator sound like a chipmunk. You are simply removing the unnatural pauses and making the narration sound like a more engaging, natural, and energetic conversation. It’s the secret to getting hooked.
If you’re still not using Shazam, you’re losing the chance to identify and save every great song you hear.
The ‘Butterfly Net’ for Music
A great song that you hear in the wild—in a coffee shop, in a movie, in a store—is like a beautiful, rare butterfly that flutters past you. If you don’t act quickly, it will be gone forever. Shazam is the magical, instantaneous butterfly net for music. With a single tap, you can capture that fleeting, beautiful song, and it will instantly tell you its name and its species (the artist). It allows you to save and revisit those moments of musical discovery that would otherwise be lost to the ether.
The biggest lie you’ve been told is that you need a Kindle to be a serious e-reader.
The Dedicated Kitchen vs. The Master Chef’s Multi-Tool
A Kindle is a fantastic, dedicated e-reader. It’s like a beautiful, specialized kitchen that is only designed for cooking. But a master chef can create a gourmet meal with a simple, high-quality multi-tool. Your iPhone is that multi-tool. With its incredibly sharp and vibrant screen, its powerful Books app, and its access to every digital bookstore on the planet, it is a phenomenal and perfectly capable e-reading device. You don’t need the specialized kitchen to be a serious reader; you just need a love for books.
I wish I knew that I could use my iPhone to control the music playing on my HomePod.
The Remote Control for Your House’s Jukebox
Your HomePod is the jukebox for your house, and you can control it with your voice. But your iPhone is the powerful, visual remote control for that jukebox. When music is playing on your HomePod, you can open the Control Center on your phone and take command. You can see what’s playing, you can skip tracks, you can adjust the volume, and you can even choose to transfer the music from the HomePod to your AirPods, all without ever saying a word. It’s a silent, powerful, and deeply integrated control panel.
99% of people don’t use the lyrics feature in Apple Music to sing along.
The Karaoke Machine in Your Pocket
The Lyrics button in Apple Music is one of the most fun and most overlooked features of the entire service. It’s like having a beautiful, perfectly-synced karaoke machine built directly into your phone. As the song plays, the lyrics will appear and highlight, word by word, in perfect time with the singer. It’s a fantastic tool for learning the words to a new song, for settling a lyrical dispute with a friend, or for just belting out your favorite tunes in a solo, car-seat karaoke session.
This one small habit of downloading a few podcast episodes will save you from boredom when you have no signal.
The ‘Emergency’ Library for Your Brain
A sudden, unexpected loss of cell signal—in a subway tunnel, on a long country drive—can be a moment of profound and sudden boredom. The simple, two-minute habit of always having a few “emergency” podcast episodes downloaded to your phone is the intellectual equivalent of having a spare tire in your trunk. It’s a small, proactive preparation that ensures you will always have a fascinating story, an interesting conversation, or a new idea to keep you entertained, no matter how remote your location is.
Use a mobile game controller like the Backbone, not just the touch screen, for serious gaming.
The Touchscreen vs. The Console Controller
Playing a complex game using the touchscreen controls is like trying to drive a race car by drawing on the windshield with your fingers. It’s imprecise, your thumbs cover up the action, and it just doesn’t feel right. A controller like the Backbone One is like getting behind the wheel of that same car and being given a proper steering wheel, pedals, and a gearshift. It snaps onto your phone and gives you real, physical joysticks and buttons, transforming your device into a powerful, portable gaming console with the tactile feedback and precision you need.
Stop just watching videos on a tiny screen. Do use the AirPlay button to send it to a nearby smart TV.
The Tiny Porthole vs. The Big Picture Window
Watching a beautiful, cinematic video on your phone’s screen is like looking at a stunning ocean view through a tiny, six-inch porthole. It’s nice, but you’re missing the big picture. The AirPlay button is the magical command that instantly transforms that porthole into a giant, 65-inch picture window. With a single tap, it can take the video that’s playing on your phone and wirelessly send it to your big-screen TV, allowing you to enjoy the content in its full, glorious, and immersive scale.
Stop letting your kids watch YouTube on the main app. Do use the YouTube Kids app for better filtering and controls.
The Wild Jungle vs. The Walled Garden
The main YouTube app is the entire, wild, and unpredictable jungle of the internet. You never know what your child might stumble upon. The YouTube Kids app is a beautiful, safe, and carefully curated walled garden within that jungle. The content is filtered, the comments are turned off, and you, the parent, have a powerful set of controls to choose the specific channels or types of videos your child can see. It provides all the fun and educational content of YouTube, but within a much safer and more controlled environment.
The #1 secret for finding new podcasts is looking at the “You Might Also Like” section at the bottom of a show you love.
The ‘If You Liked That Book, You’ll Love This One’ Librarian
The podcast universe is a vast and overwhelming library. The “You Might Also Like” section is like a genius, hyper-intelligent librarian. When you finish a book that you absolutely loved, this librarian will come over and say, “Ah, if you enjoyed that, then you will absolutely love these other three books, which are on the same subject and have a similar tone.” It is the single most powerful and accurate discovery tool for finding your next favorite show, based on the things you already know you love.
I’m just going to say it: The sound quality from the iPhone’s speakers is surprisingly good.
The Tiny Orchestra in Your Pocket
For a device that is so thin and small, it’s easy to assume the speakers will sound like a tiny, tinny radio. But that’s a mistake. The stereo speakers on a modern iPhone are a marvel of engineering. They are like a tiny, surprisingly powerful orchestra that has been cleverly hidden inside your phone. They produce a rich, full, and spatially separated sound that is more than capable of filling a room with music or making a movie feel immersive. They consistently punch far above their weight, delivering an audio experience that has no right to be that good.
The reason you run out of storage is because your podcast app is set to download and keep every single episode.
The Mailbox That Never Gets Emptied
Imagine if your physical mailbox was set up to receive a new, 300-page magazine every single day, and you never, ever threw any of the old ones away. Within a few months, your entire house would be filled with magazines. This is the default setting for most podcast apps. In the settings, you can become the “housekeeper.” You can tell the app to only keep the five most recent “magazines,” and to automatically throw away the old ones after you’ve read them. It’s a simple, crucial setting for keeping your digital house clean.
If you’re still watching videos with your screen brightness on max, you’re destroying your battery life.
The ‘Full Power’ Searchlight vs. The Reading Lamp
Your iPhone’s screen is the single biggest consumer of its battery power. It’s the engine of the ship. Watching a video with the brightness turned all the way up is like running a giant, high-powered searchlight off a tiny battery. It’s an unnecessary and massive drain of energy. Turning the brightness down to a comfortable, mid-range level is like switching to an efficient, but perfectly adequate, reading lamp. You can still see everything perfectly, but you are consuming a fraction of the power, dramatically extending your “ship’s” range.
The biggest lie you’ve been told is that you need to be online to be entertained by your iPhone.
The Library You Carry With You
The idea that your iPhone is a useless brick without an internet connection is a complete lie. It’s like believing that a library is only useful if the doors are open. The real magic is in the books that you have already checked out and brought home with you. By taking a few minutes to download your music, your podcasts, your movies, and your books, you can turn your iPhone into a massive, self-contained, and endlessly entertaining personal library that requires absolutely no connection to the outside world.
I wish I knew about the “skip silence” feature in podcast apps sooner; it saves so much time.
The ‘Fast-Forward’ Button for Awkward Pauses
The “Skip Silence” or “Smart Speed” feature in a good podcast app is like a magical, intelligent “fast-forward” button that only activates during the boring parts. It is constantly listening for the small, unnatural gaps and pauses in a conversation, and it will imperceptibly snip them out in real-time. It’s like a brilliant editor who is tightening up the show for you. Over the course of a single, hour-long episode, this can save you five to ten minutes of real time, without you ever noticing it’s happening.
99% of users don’t customize the EQ settings in the Music app to match their headphones.
The ‘Tone’ Knob on Your Stereo
Your headphones are like a pair of high-quality speakers, but every single pair has its own unique sound profile. The EQ (equalizer) settings in your Music app are the “bass” and “treble” knobs on your stereo. You can use them to custom-tune the sound to your specific “speakers.” If you have a pair of bass-heavy headphones, you might choose the “Bass Reducer” EQ. It’s a powerful, simple tool that can dramatically improve and personalize your listening experience, but almost nobody ever touches it.
This one small action of creating a “Focus” playlist will help you get in the zone for work or study.
The ‘Soundtrack’ for Your Deep Work
A “Focus” playlist is the personal, custom-designed soundtrack for your own deep work sessions. It’s not just a collection of songs you like; it is a carefully curated set of instrumental, ambient, or classical music that is specifically designed to help your brain get into a state of flow, without distracting you with lyrics or jarring changes in tempo. It’s like putting on a pair of noise-canceling headphones for your mind, creating a predictable and calming audio environment that signals to your brain, “It is now time to focus.”
Use SharePlay to listen to music or watch movies with a friend over FaceTime, not just texting about it.
The ‘Virtual Couch’ for Your Long-Distance Friendship
SharePlay is the “virtual couch” for the 21st century. It’s one of the most magical and underrated features of the Apple ecosystem. While on a FaceTime call, you can hit “play” on a song or a movie, and it will start playing for both of you, at the exact same time, perfectly in sync. You can listen to an entire album together, or watch a movie and hear your friend laugh at the same jokes, in real-time. It closes the physical distance and creates a true, shared experience.
Stop just consuming content. Do use your iPhone to create it with apps like GarageBand or iMovie.
The ‘Art Supplies’ vs. The ‘Art Gallery’
Your iPhone is not just an art gallery, designed for you to passively walk through and consume the beautiful things that other people have made. It is also a professional-grade, fully-stocked box of art supplies. It contains a movie studio (iMovie), a recording studio (GarageBand), and a world-class camera. The secret to a more fulfilling digital life is to spend a little less time in the gallery and a little more time with the art supplies, using these powerful, free tools to create something that is uniquely your own.
Stop getting annoyed by autoplaying video previews in apps. Do find the setting to turn them off.
The ‘Movie Trailers’ You Never Asked to See
Autoplaying video previews are the digital equivalent of being forced to watch a series of loud, flashy movie trailers every single time you walk into a store. It’s a distracting, data-wasting, and deeply annoying experience that you never asked for. Deep within the settings of almost every app that has this “feature,” there is a hidden “off” switch. Taking a minute to find this switch is a simple act of digital self-defense that can bring a sense of peace and quiet back to your browsing experience.
The #1 hack for a better reading experience is adjusting the font and text size in the Books app.
The ‘Prescription Glasses’ for Your Book
The Apple Books app is not a static, printed page; it is a dynamic, intelligent document. It’s like a book that comes with its own, built-in pair of prescription glasses. In the settings, you can choose from a variety of beautiful, comfortable fonts, and you can adjust the size of the text until it is perfectly, effortlessly legible for your unique eyes. It’s a simple, powerful customization that can transform the act of reading from a squinting, eye-straining chore into a deeply relaxing and pleasurable experience.
I’m just going to say it: Most mobile games with intrusive ads are not worth your time.
The ‘Book’ That’s Interrupted Every Two Pages
Imagine you are trying to read a thrilling novel, but every two pages, a loud, obnoxious salesman jumps out and forces you to watch a 30-second commercial before you can continue. You would immediately throw the book in the trash. This is the business model for most free-to-play mobile games. They are not designed for your enjoyment; they are designed to maximize the number of ads you see. A game that does not respect your time and your attention is not a game that is worthy of being on your phone.
The reason your data plan disappears so fast is because you’re streaming high-quality video over cellular.
The ‘Fire Hose’ That’s Draining Your Water Tank
Your monthly data plan is like a finite, limited tank of water. Streaming a high-definition video over your cellular connection is like hooking a massive, high-pressure fire hose up to that small tank. The visual quality is beautiful, but you are consuming a huge amount of “water” at an incredible rate. In your settings, you can tell your video apps to use a smaller, more efficient “garden hose” when you are not on Wi-Fi. The quality will be a little lower, but your “water tank” will last the whole month.
If you’re still not using your local library’s app (like Libby or Hoopla), you’re losing access to free audiobooks and e-books.
The ‘Secret, Free Bookstore’ in Your Phone
Believing you have to pay for every single e-book and audiobook is a huge mistake. The app for your local public library is the secret, magical key that unlocks a massive, world-class, and completely free digital bookstore. With your library card, you can “check out” best-selling e-books and popular audiobooks and have them sent directly to your iPhone, for free. It is one of the single best and most under-utilized resources in the entire digital world, hiding in plain sight.
The biggest lie you’ve been told is that Apple TV+ doesn’t have any good shows.
The Small, Curated, Michelin-Starred Restaurant
Apple TV+ is not a giant, overwhelming, all-you-can-eat buffet like Netflix. It is a small, exclusive, and beautifully curated Michelin-starred restaurant. It doesn’t have a thousand different “dishes” on its menu. Instead, it has a smaller, hand-picked selection of high-quality, prestigious, and award-winning “meals.” The lie is that a smaller menu means a worse restaurant. In reality, it is a testament to their focus on quality over quantity, offering a more refined and less overwhelming dining experience.
I wish I knew that I could use my Apple Watch to control the playback on my iPhone.
The DJ on Your Wrist
Fumbling with your phone to change the song in the middle of a run or a workout is a surefire way to break your focus. Your Apple Watch is the perfect DJ for your iPhone. The “Now Playing” screen on your watch is a remote control for any audio that’s playing from the phone in your pocket. You can pause, skip tracks, and adjust the volume with a simple tap on your wrist, allowing you to stay completely in the zone without ever breaking your stride or reaching for your phone.
99% of people don’t use the “Mark as Played” feature to keep their podcast library clean.
The ‘Tidy Up’ Button for Your Audio Library
Your podcast library can quickly become a cluttered, messy room filled with hundreds of “magazines” that you’ve already read. The “Mark as Played” button is the simple, satisfying “tidy up” button for that room. It’s the digital equivalent of taking an old magazine and putting it in the recycling bin. This small, simple habit of marking the episodes you’re done with keeps your library clean, organized, and focused only on the new and unread “magazines” that are waiting for your attention.
This one small habit of creating specific playlists for moods (e.g., “Chill,” “Workout”) will make choosing music effortless.
The ‘Personal DJ’ for Your Life
Staring at a library of 100 million songs and trying to decide what to listen to can be a paralyzing experience. Creating a few, simple, mood-based playlists is like hiring a personal DJ who has already done the hard work for you. When you want to relax, you don’t have to think; you just tap the “Chill” playlist. When you’re heading to the gym, you just tap “Workout.” It’s a simple, upfront investment of time that removes the friction of daily decision-making and makes your music instantly accessible.
Use picture-in-picture to watch a video while you reply to a text, not constantly switching between apps.
The ‘Floating TV’ in the Corner of Your Room
Picture-in-picture is like having a small, magical, floating television that you can place in the corner of any room. You can be watching a video, and then, with a simple gesture, shrink it down to a small, floating window. You can then open your email or reply to a text message, and the “TV” will continue to play in the corner. It’s a powerful multi-tasking tool that allows you to keep an eye on your video content while still being productive in another app, without the jarring experience of constantly switching back and forth.
Stop just listening to podcasts. Do use the show notes to find links to things mentioned in the episode.
The ‘Bibliography’ for Your Audio Book
The “show notes” for a podcast episode are the rich, detailed bibliography for your audio book. It’s where the host puts all the important links, the names of the books they mentioned, and the pictures of the things they discussed. It’s a treasure trove of extra content and resources that can dramatically enhance your understanding and enjoyment of the episode. It turns a passive listening experience into an interactive journey of discovery, allowing you to explore the topics you found most interesting.
Stop trying to hold your phone while watching a movie in bed. Do get a simple stand or case with a kickstand.
The ‘Personal Movie Theater’ for Your Nightstand
Trying to watch a movie in bed by propping your phone up on a pillow is a clumsy, unstable, and neck-straining ordeal. A simple, inexpensive stand or a case with a built-in kickstand is the personal, private movie theater for your nightstand. It holds your “screen” at the perfect, comfortable viewing angle, allowing you to lie back, relax, and enjoy the film without having to perform a constant, frustrating balancing act with your hands. It’s a small, simple accessory that can completely transform your viewing experience.
The #1 secret for discovering new artists is the “Discovery Station” in Apple Music.
The ‘Personal Scout’ for Your Musical Taste
The “Discovery Station” is like having a brilliant, personal music scout who works for you 24/7. This scout has listened to every song you have ever liked, and they have an encyclopedic knowledge of all the music in the world. They then go out and find new, undiscovered artists and songs that they are almost certain you will love, and they present them to you in a single, personalized radio station. It is the single most powerful and effortless tool for breaking out of your musical bubble and finding your next favorite band.
I’m just going to say it: Reading a book on an iPhone is a perfectly acceptable way to read.
The ‘Content’ vs. The ‘Container’
There is a strange form of snobbery that suggests that reading a book on your phone is somehow a “lesser” form of reading. This is like believing that the wisdom of a great novel is somehow diminished if it is printed in a paperback instead of a beautiful, leather-bound hardcover. The “container” is not what matters. The words, the story, and the ideas are what matter. An iPhone is a portable, convenient, and perfectly capable “container” that allows you to carry an entire library in your pocket. The content is the same.
The reason your home videos are boring is because you’re not using iMovie to add titles, transitions, and music.
The ‘Raw Footage’ vs. The ‘Finished Film’
A collection of raw, unedited video clips from your vacation is like the pile of raw footage that is left on the cutting room floor. It’s a chaotic mess. The free iMovie app is the simple, powerful editing suite that allows you to be the director. By trimming your clips, adding simple transitions, putting in some background music, and adding a title, you can transform that pile of raw footage into a short, compelling, and emotionally resonant “finished film” that people will actually want to watch.
If you’re still connecting your iPhone to your car with an aux cable, you’re losing the superior audio quality and features of CarPlay.
The ‘Tin Can Telephone’ vs. The ‘Digital Command Center’
Connecting your phone to your car with an old-fashioned aux cable is like a tin can telephone. It transmits a weak, analog audio signal and that’s it. CarPlay is a full, digital command center. It uses a high-fidelity, digital connection that provides dramatically better audio quality. But more importantly, it puts a simplified, driver-safe version of your phone’s “brain”—your maps, your music, your messages—onto the car’s built-in screen, creating a safer, smarter, and more integrated driving experience.
The biggest lie you’ve been told is that you need a powerful PC to make music; GarageBand is incredibly capable.
The ‘World-Class Recording Studio’ in Your Pocket
The idea that you need a huge, expensive studio full of complex equipment to make professional-sounding music is a lie from a bygone era. The free GarageBand app is a literal, world-class recording studio that has been shrunk down to fit in your pocket. It has a huge collection of incredibly realistic-sounding instruments, a powerful multi-track recorder, and a suite of professional-grade effects. It is a stunningly deep and capable tool that gives you everything you need to write, record, and produce your next hit song, all from your phone.
I wish I knew about the “Sound Check” feature to normalize the volume of all my songs.
The ‘Automatic Volume Knob’ for Your Music Library
You’re listening to a playlist, and you’re constantly having to adjust the volume. A quiet, acoustic song is followed by a loud, booming rock anthem. The “Sound Check” feature in your Music settings is the magical, automatic volume knob you’ve always wished for. It intelligently analyzes your entire music library and adjusts the volume of every single song to a consistent, comfortable level. It’s a simple, set-it-and-forget-it feature that creates a much smoother and more pleasant listening experience.
99% of users don’t organize their podcasts into “stations” or playlists.
The ‘Personal Radio Station’ Curated by You
The Podcasts app allows you to become the program director of your own, personal radio station. Instead of just having one giant, chronological feed of new episodes, you can create “Stations.” You could have a “Morning News” station that groups all your daily news podcasts together, or a “Comedy” station for your weekend listening. It’s a powerful organizational tool that allows you to group your favorite shows by theme, creating a curated, custom-built set of “radio channels” that are perfectly tailored to your moods and your routines.
This one small action of downloading a movie before a trip will make a flight delay much more bearable.
The ‘Emergency Entertainment Kit’ in Your Carry-On
A long, unexpected flight delay can be a moment of pure, soul-crushing boredom. The simple, five-minute action of downloading a movie or a few episodes of a TV show to your phone before you leave for the airport is the ultimate “emergency entertainment kit.” It’s a small, proactive piece of travel insurance. It ensures that no matter how long your delay is, you will have a perfect, high-quality, and deeply engaging escape hatch from the noisy, stressful, and wifi-free environment of the airport gate.
Use the “Live” section in the Apple Music app to listen to interviews and special broadcasts, not just songs.
The ‘Backstage Pass’ to Your Favorite Artists
The “Live” tab (formerly Beats 1) in Apple Music is the secret “backstage pass” to the music world. It’s a live, 24/7 global radio station that is curated and hosted by real, human DJs and famous artists. It’s not just a playlist; it’s a place for deep-dive interviews with your favorite musicians, for exclusive world premieres of new songs, and for special, themed shows that can introduce you to a whole new world of music. It’s a touch of old-school, human-curated radio in a modern, algorithmic world.
Stop getting spoilers. Do use an app that helps you track the TV shows you’ve watched.
The ‘Digital Checklist’ for Your Binge-Watching
In the age of a hundred different streaming services, it can be hard to remember which episode of which show you’re on. A TV tracking app is the digital checklist for your modern, media-saturated life. It allows you to keep a simple, clean, and satisfying record of every single episode you’ve watched. It will remind you when a new episode of your favorite show has aired, and it will prevent you from accidentally reading a spoiler for a show you haven’t started yet. It brings a sense of order to the chaos of “peak TV.”
Stop just being a consumer. Do try creating your own podcast using just the Voice Memos app and GarageBand.
The ‘Radio Station’ That’s Already in Your Pocket
You don’t need a fancy, expensive studio to start your own podcast. You already have a professional-grade, broadcast-quality radio station in your pocket. The Voice Memos app is a fantastic, high-fidelity microphone for recording your voice. And the free GarageBand app is the simple, powerful editing suite that allows you to trim your recording, add intro music, and export it as a finished episode. The barrier to entry for creating your own show has never been lower. The tools are already in your hand.
The #1 hack for saving battery while listening to music is to download the playlist and listen with the screen off.
The ‘Local’ vs. The ‘Streaming’ Radio Station
Streaming music is like listening to a radio station that is being broadcast from a thousand miles away. Your phone’s “radio” has to constantly and actively work to maintain that long-distance connection, which drains your battery. Downloading the playlist is like having that same radio station broadcast from a tiny, low-power tower that is located right inside your own house. The “signal” is local, the connection is effortless, and the amount of energy required is dramatically lower, especially if you also turn off the screen.
I’m just going to say it: The iPhone’s haptic feedback in games is a subtle but amazing feature.
The ‘Rumble Pack’ for Your Phone
The Taptic Engine is the secret “rumble pack” for your iPhone. It’s a tiny, incredibly precise, and sophisticated motor that can produce a huge range of subtle, tactile effects. In a good game, this is not just a generic buzz. It can create the feeling of a tiny, sharp “click” when you solve a puzzle, the soft “thump” of a character’s footsteps, or the powerful, rumbling explosion of a spaceship. It is a subtle but powerful feature that adds a rich, immersive, and deeply satisfying physical dimension to the flat glass screen.
The reason you hate audiobooks is because you haven’t found the right narrator.
The ‘Storyteller’ vs. The ‘Book’
An audiobook is not a book; it is a performance. The narrator is not just a reader; they are a storyteller and a voice actor. Hating audiobooks because you listened to one with a boring, monotone narrator is like deciding you hate all movies because you saw one with a terrible actor. The secret to falling in love with audiobooks is to find a narrator whose voice and whose performance you connect with. They are the “actor” who can bring the “script” to life and transform the words into a captivating, immersive experience.
If you’re still using YouTube for music, you’re losing out on the background play and audio quality of a dedicated music app.
The ‘Music Video Channel’ vs. The ‘Hi-Fi Stereo System’
Using YouTube for music is like getting all your music from a TV channel that only plays music videos. It works, but the audio quality is compressed for video, and the moment you switch to another “channel,” the music stops. A dedicated music app is a high-fidelity stereo system. It is designed, from the ground up, for one thing: to play the highest-quality audio possible. It will continue to play in the background, it will allow you to download songs, and it will give you a much richer, cleaner, and more powerful listening experience.
The biggest lie you’ve been told is that mobile games are “lesser than” console games.
The ‘Pocket-Sized Epic’ vs. The ‘Big Screen Blockbuster’
The idea that mobile games are inherently “lesser” is a form of snobbery. It’s like believing that a brilliant, 200-page novella is somehow a “lesser” form of literature than a giant, 800-page epic. They are different formats, each with their own unique strengths. A mobile game can be a deep, beautiful, and emotionally resonant experience that is perfectly designed for the intimate, personal, and portable nature of the device it is played on. It is not a “lesser” experience; it is a different, and equally valid, one.
I wish I knew that I could use Siri to identify a song playing nearby.
The ‘Musical Butler’ Who is Always Listening
Siri is not just a butler for your tasks; she is also a world-class musicologist who is always on call. When a great song comes on in a store, you don’t need to fumble to find the Shazam app. You can simply hold up your phone and ask, “Hey Siri, what song is this?” She will listen for a few seconds and then give you the answer. It’s a faster, more natural, and completely hands-free way to use the power of Shazam, which is now a core part of her brain.
99% of people don’t use the “Up Next” queue to plan what they want to listen to.
The ‘Personal DJ Booth’ for Your Playlist
The “Up Next” queue is the personal, real-time DJ booth for your listening session. It allows you to be the master of ceremonies. You can be listening to a playlist, but then you can manually add a specific song that you’re in the mood for to play next, without interrupting the flow. You can see the next dozen songs that are coming up and easily reorder them on the fly. It’s a powerful tool that gives you complete, granular control over your musical journey, transforming you from a passive listener into an active DJ.
This one small habit of checking the ratings on a mobile game before downloading will save you from wasting time.
The ‘Movie Review’ Before You Buy the Ticket
The App Store is a movie theater with a million different screens. Downloading a new game without checking its rating is like walking into a random movie without ever having looked at the reviews. You are taking a huge gamble on your most precious, non-renewable resource: your time. The star rating and the user reviews are the “Rotten Tomatoes” for the App Store. A quick, five-second glance at these reviews can be the difference between discovering a hidden gem and wasting an hour of your life on a terrible, ad-filled “movie.”
Use the “Crossfade” feature in Apple Music for a seamless transition between songs, not awkward silence.
The ‘Professional DJ’s Mix’ vs. The ‘Awkward Silence’
The “Crossfade” feature is the secret weapon that makes your personal playlists sound like a professional DJ’s mix. It’s a simple setting that creates a smooth, seamless, and almost imperceptible transition between your songs. One song will gently fade out as the next one gently fades in, eliminating the jarring, awkward, and amateurish moment of dead silence between the tracks. It’s a small, professional touch that can make your playlists sound dramatically more polished and cohesive.
Stop just flipping through channels. Do use the TV app to aggregate all your streaming services in one place.
The ‘Universal TV Guide’ for the Modern Era
In the age of a dozen different streaming services, trying to find something to watch is like flipping through a thousand different channels. The Apple TV app is the universal, intelligent TV guide for the modern era. You can connect all your separate “channels”—Netflix, Disney+, HBO Max—to this one central hub. It will then show you what’s new and what you’ve been watching, all in one single, beautiful, and easy-to-navigate interface, saving you from the frustrating ritual of opening five different apps just to find your show.
Stop letting your kids watch unvetted content. Do create a “kid-friendly” playlist on your video streaming app.
The ‘Curated Bookshelf’ vs. The ‘Entire, Unfiltered Library’
Most streaming apps allow you to create different profiles. Creating a dedicated “Kids” profile is like creating a small, safe, and carefully curated bookshelf for your child in the middle of a giant, unfiltered library. You can then use the parental controls within that profile to ensure that only age-appropriate, “G-rated” content will appear on their “shelf.” It’s a powerful and essential tool that allows them to explore and discover new shows, but only within the safe and pre-approved boundaries that you have set.
The #1 secret for a great party is a shared playlist that everyone can add to.
The ‘Democratic Jukebox’ for Your Living Room
A shared, collaborative playlist is the ultimate, democratic jukebox for a party. Instead of having one person be the designated “DJ,” you can create a playlist and then share the link with all your guests. Everyone can then use their own phone to add their favorite songs to the queue. This creates a fun, eclectic, and ever-evolving soundtrack for the evening that everyone has had a hand in creating. It’s a fantastic ice-breaker and the secret to ensuring the music has a little something for everyone.
I’m just going to say it: Paying to remove ads in a mobile game you love is often worth it.
The ‘Ticket Price’ for an Uninterrupted Experience
Many free-to-play mobile games are a constant, frustrating barrage of interruptions. Paying a few dollars to “remove ads” is not a microtransaction; it is the “ticket price” for the game. It is the one-time fee that transforms the experience from a choppy, ad-filled nightmare into the pure, uninterrupted, and enjoyable game that the designers originally intended to create. If you find a game you truly love, paying that small ticket price is often the best investment you can make in your own enjoyment.
The reason your music recommendations are bad is because you haven’t “loved” or “disliked” enough songs.
The ‘Personal DJ’ Who is Trying to Learn Your Taste
Your music app’s recommendation engine is like a personal DJ who is desperately trying to learn your unique and specific taste in music. Every time you “love” or “dislike” a song, you are giving that DJ a crucial piece of feedback. You are training them. If you never give any feedback, the DJ is just making a blind guess. The more you tell them what you like and what you don’t like, the smarter they will become, and the better they will be at creating a personalized radio station that you will absolutely adore.
If you’re still not using a streaming stick like an Apple TV or Chromecast, you’re missing out on the best way to watch content from your phone.
The ‘Smart Brain’ for Your ‘Dumb’ TV
A streaming device is like giving your big, beautiful, but ultimately “dumb” television a brand new, genius-level brain. It is a small, simple, and relatively inexpensive upgrade that can transform your old TV into a powerful, modern, and internet-connected smart TV. It is the crucial and superior bridge that allows you to take all the amazing content that is on your phone—your movies, your photos, your games—and experience it on the big, beautiful screen it was often meant to be seen on.
The biggest lie you’ve been told is that you need expensive equipment to start a YouTube channel; your iPhone is enough.
The ‘Hollywood Studio’ in Your Pocket
The idea that you need a fancy camera, an expensive microphone, and a powerful computer to start a successful YouTube channel is a complete lie that benefits the people who sell that equipment. Your modern iPhone is a literal, all-in-one Hollywood studio that fits in your pocket. It has a broadcast-quality camera that can shoot in 4K, a surprisingly good microphone, and a powerful video editing suite (iMovie). For 99% of aspiring creators, the “studio” you already own is more than powerful enough to make your first film.
I wish I knew about the “Autoplay” feature that continues playing similar music after my playlist ends.
The ‘DJ’ Who Knows When to Take Over
The “Autoplay” or “Infinity” feature is like having a smart, attentive DJ at your party. When your carefully curated playlist comes to an end, the DJ doesn’t just let the room fall into an awkward, dead silence. They see that the party is still going, and they seamlessly take over, using their knowledge of your taste to start spinning a new set of songs that perfectly match the vibe of what was just playing. It’s a brilliant feature that ensures the music, and the party, never has to stop.
99% of users don’t know they can use their iPhone as a level when hanging a TV.
The ‘Secret’ Carpenter’s Tool in Your Pocket
Hidden inside your iPhone is a perfect, minimalist, and surprisingly accurate carpenter’s level. If you open the Compass app and swipe to the left, you will find this secret tool. You can lay your phone flat on a surface, and the screen will turn green when it is perfectly level. You can also place it on its side on top of a big-screen TV as you are mounting it to the wall, and it will tell you if it is perfectly straight. It’s a real, practical, and incredibly useful tool that is hiding in an app you’ve probably never used.
This one small action of turning on “Do Not Disturb” while watching a movie will make it so much more immersive.
The ‘Soundproof Door’ for Your Personal Movie Theater
When you are watching a movie on your phone, you are in your own, tiny, personal movie theater. A sudden, buzzing notification from a text message or a social media app is like someone barging into that theater and shouting in the middle of a quiet, emotional scene. It completely shatters the illusion. Turning on “Do Not Disturb” is like closing and locking the heavy, soundproof doors to that theater. It’s a simple, crucial action that protects your immersion and allows you to get completely lost in the story.
Use the sleep timer in your podcast app, not just letting it play all night and drain your battery.
The ‘Butler’ Who Turns Off the Lights for You
Falling asleep to a podcast and then having it play for three more hours is a frustrating experience. You lose your spot and you wake up to a dead battery. The “Sleep Timer” is like having a thoughtful butler in your room. You can tell him, “Jeeves, please turn off the lights and the radio in 30 minutes.” The butler will then quietly turn off the show after you’ve drifted off to sleep. It’s a simple, brilliant feature that ensures a peaceful end to your listening session and a fully-charged phone in the morning.
Stop just watching movie trailers. Do use an app like IMDb to check ratings and reviews.
The ‘Marketing Hype’ vs. The ‘Audience’s Real Opinion’
A movie trailer is a brilliant, two-minute piece of marketing hype. It is a professional advertisement that is specifically designed to show you only the best, most exciting parts of a movie. An app like IMDb or Rotten Tomatoes is the honest, unfiltered voice of the actual audience. It’s like asking a hundred people who just walked out of the theater, “So, was it actually as good as the trailer?” It’s the crucial “second opinion” that can save you from wasting two hours and twenty dollars on a beautifully-advertised, but ultimately terrible, film.
Stop scrolling social media when you’re bored. Do play a quick game from Apple Arcade instead.
The ‘Junk Food’ vs. The ‘Healthy Snack’ for Your Brain
Mindlessly scrolling through a social media feed is the “junk food” of the digital world. It’s a passive, low-quality, and often anxiety-inducing way to spend your free moments. An Apple Arcade game is a “healthy snack.” It is an active, engaging, and beautifully-crafted experience that can challenge your mind, tell you a story, or provide a moment of pure, unadulterated fun. When you find yourself with a few minutes of downtime, reach for the satisfying and nutritious snack, not the empty calories of the endless scroll.
The #1 hack for finding a movie to watch is using the “search by actor” feature in your streaming app.
The ‘Follow the Artist’ Method of Discovery
Staring at a wall of a thousand movie posters can be a paralyzing experience. The “search by actor” or “search by director” feature is the secret hack for navigating that wall. It’s like deciding that you are in the mood for a “Leonardo DiCaprio” film tonight. By searching for a specific artist whose work you already know you love, you can instantly narrow down a thousand choices to a handful of high-quality options. It’s a powerful and efficient way to cut through the noise and find a movie you are almost guaranteed to enjoy.
I’m just going to say it: The iPhone has made us all amateur photographers and videographers.
The ‘Art Studio’ in Every Pocket
In the past, the tools of photography and filmmaking—the darkrooms, the expensive cameras, the editing bays—were only accessible to a small, dedicated group of professionals. The iPhone has been the great democratizer. It has put an entire, professional-grade art studio into every single person’s pocket. With a powerful camera that can shoot in 4K and a capable editing suite, it has given us all the fundamental tools to be a creator, not just a consumer. It has unleashed a wave of visual creativity that is unprecedented in human history.
The reason your iPhone gets hot during gaming is because of the graphically intensive processing; take breaks.
The ‘Race Car Engine’ That’s Working Hard
Your iPhone’s processor is a high-performance race car engine that is packed into a tiny, sealed-up box. When you are playing a graphically-intensive game, you are asking that engine to run at its absolute, red-lining limit. Just like a real race car engine, this intense work generates a huge amount of heat. The phone getting warm is not a sign that it’s broken; it’s a sign that the engine is performing as designed. It’s also a sign that you should probably give the “engine” a short break to cool down.
If you’re still buying physical books, you’re losing the convenience of carrying your entire library in your pocket.
The ‘Backpacking Trip’ with a Suitcase Full of Books
Buying and carrying a physical book, especially when you are traveling, is like going on a lightweight backpacking trip but insisting on also lugging a separate, 50-pound suitcase that is filled with nothing but heavy, paper books. Your iPhone, with an e-reader app, is the magical, weightless, and impossibly tiny bookshelf that can hold ten thousand books. It allows you to have your entire library with you, at all times, without adding a single ounce to your pack. It is the ultimate minimalist’s library.
The biggest lie you’ve been told is that you need to be a musician to use GarageBand.
The ‘Lego Set’ for Music
Saying you need to be a professional musician to use GarageBand is like saying you need to be a master architect to play with a Lego set. It’s a lie that completely misunderstands the point. GarageBand is a fun, colorful, and incredibly powerful “Lego set” for music. It has hundreds of pre-made, great-sounding “bricks” (the loops and the smart instruments). You don’t need to know music theory to start snapping them together and building a cool-sounding song. It’s a tool for joyful, creative play, not just for serious work.
I wish I knew I could set a sleep timer for Netflix by using the Clock app’s “Stop Playing” feature.
The ‘Master Power-Off Switch’ for Your Phone
The Clock app’s timer has a secret, hidden superpower. It can be the master power-off switch for any media that is playing on your phone. Instead of choosing an alarm sound to play when the timer ends, you can scroll to the bottom and select “Stop Playing.” Now, if you are watching Netflix or listening to Spotify, that timer will act as a universal sleep timer. After 30 minutes, it will gently fade out and stop the media, saving your battery and your place in the show.
99% of people don’t use the “Chapters” feature in podcast apps to skip to specific segments.
The ‘Table of Contents’ for Your Audio Show
A long podcast episode can be like a dense, non-fiction book. The “Chapters” feature is the detailed, clickable “table of contents” for that book. If the podcast creator has included them, you can look at the show notes and see a timestamped outline of the episode’s main topics. You can then tap on a chapter to instantly jump to that specific segment of the conversation. It’s a powerful and time-saving tool for navigating long episodes and for finding the exact part of the discussion that you are most interested in.
This one small habit of downloading your “New Music Mix” every Friday will ensure you always have fresh tunes.
The ‘Personalized Magazine Subscription’ That Arrives Weekly
Your “New Music Mix” or “Discover Weekly” playlist is like a personalized music magazine that is curated just for you and delivered to your digital doorstep every single Friday. The simple, two-second habit of hitting the “download” button on that playlist at the beginning of each week is like bringing that magazine inside and putting it on your coffee table. It ensures that you will have a perfect, fresh, and exciting collection of new music ready to go for your commute or your workout, even if you find yourself with no internet connection.
Use the “Audio Description” accessibility feature to have movies and TV shows described to you, not just for the visually impaired.
The ‘Narrator’ Who Describes the Scene
“Audio Description” is a brilliant accessibility feature, but it’s also a fascinating new way to experience a movie. It’s like having a calm, professional narrator who is sitting next to you and, during the silent parts of the film, will quietly and discreetly describe the important visual action on the screen. “A single tear rolls down his cheek.” “She looks at the clock on the wall.” It’s a fantastic tool for when you are “listening” to a movie while you are cooking or working, as it fills in the visual gaps and allows you to follow the story with your ears.
Stop just listening to the radio in the car. Do plug in your iPhone and listen to a podcast or audiobook.
The ‘Junk Food’ vs. The ‘Healthy Meal’ for Your Commute
The commercial radio in your car is the “junk food” of audio. It’s a repetitive, ad-filled, and intellectually empty experience that is designed to pass the time. Your iPhone is the key that unlocks a world of healthy, nutritious, and deeply satisfying “meals” for your brain. Your daily commute is a perfect, captive opportunity to listen to a fascinating podcast, to learn a new skill from an audiobook, or to get lost in a great work of literature. It can transform your boring drive from a waste of time into one of the most productive parts of your day.
Stop letting your kids drain your data. Do enable the “Wi-Fi only” download setting in their apps.
The ‘Home-Cooked Meals Only’ Rule for Their Digital Diet
Your child’s phone is constantly trying to “eat” data. The “Wi-Fi only” download setting is like a simple, clear house rule: “You are only allowed to eat the big, heavy meals (the large downloads and updates) when you are at home, where the food is free and unlimited (the Wi-Fi).” This prevents them from going out and spending their entire, limited monthly “allowance” (your cellular data plan) on a single, expensive “meal” at a fancy restaurant. It’s a crucial setting for managing a shared family data plan.
The #1 secret for better sounding music is investing in a good pair of headphones.
The ‘Window’ You Look Through
Your iPhone and your streaming service are capable of producing a beautiful, pristine, and high-resolution “view” of the music. But your headphones are the “window” that you are actually looking through. If that window is a cheap, scratched, and dirty piece of plastic, the beautiful view will be ruined. A good pair of headphones is a clean, clear, and perfectly crafted piece of plate glass. It is the single most important and most impactful investment you can make in the quality of your audio, as it is the final and most crucial link in the chain.
I’m just going to say it: Portrait mode is for photos, landscape mode is for videos.
The ‘Tall’ Painting vs. The ‘Wide’ Movie Screen
There is a simple, fundamental grammar to visual media. A photo is often a portrait. It is a tall, vertical medium that is designed to capture a single person or a single moment. A video is a movie. It is a wide, horizontal medium that is designed to capture a sense of place, of movement, and of the world. Filming a vertical video is like trying to show a widescreen blockbuster movie on a tall, skinny screen. You are fundamentally fighting against the natural language of the medium.
The reason you can’t find anything to watch is because you’re subscribed to too many streaming services.
The ‘Restaurant with the 100-Page Menu’
Being subscribed to a dozen different streaming services is like going to a restaurant that has a 100-page, encyclopedic menu. You have so many choices that you are paralyzed. You spend an hour flipping through the pages, overwhelmed by the sheer volume of options, and you end up just ordering the same, familiar hamburger that you always get. The “paradox of choice” is real. Having fewer, more curated options can often lead to a more satisfying and less stressful decision-making process.
If you’re still using your TV’s remote to type, you’re losing your mind by not using the iPhone remote app.
The ‘Rotary Phone’ vs. The ‘Modern Keyboard’
Using your TV’s physical remote to slowly and painfully hunt and peck for letters on an on-screen keyboard is the modern equivalent of trying to dial a phone number on an old, clunky rotary phone. It is a deeply and unnecessarily frustrating experience. The remote app on your iPhone is the modern, high-speed keyboard. When a text box appears on your TV, a keyboard will automatically pop up on your phone, allowing you to type in your password or your movie title with the speed and ease you are used to.
The biggest lie you’ve been told is that your iPhone’s speakers are a good substitute for a real speaker.
The ‘Campfire’ vs. The ‘Bonfire’
The speakers on your iPhone are a surprisingly beautiful and impressive campfire. They are perfect for a small, intimate gathering of one or two people. But a real, dedicated Bluetooth speaker is a bonfire. It is designed, from the ground up, to produce a much bigger, richer, and more powerful sound that can fill a larger space and entertain a larger group of people. The campfire is a marvel of miniaturization, but it will never have the raw power and the room-filling presence of the bonfire.
I wish I knew that many e-books and audiobooks were available for free through my library’s app.
The ‘Secret, Free Bookstore’ in Your Phone
Believing you have to pay for every single e-book and audiobook is a huge mistake. The app for your local public library is the secret, magical key that unlocks a massive, world-class, and completely free digital bookstore. With your library card, you can “check out” best-selling e-books and popular audiobooks and have them sent directly to your iPhone, for free. It is one of the single best and most under-utilized resources in the entire digital world, hiding in plain sight.
99% of users don’t create custom radio stations from a song or artist they like.
The ‘Personal DJ’ Who Takes Your Request
When you discover a new song or a new artist that you absolutely love, you can use that as a “seed” to create an entire, personalized radio station. It’s like walking up to a genius, all-knowing DJ and saying, “I love this one song. Play me a whole set of music that sounds just like this.” The app will then instantly create a custom, endless radio station that is filled with other songs and artists that share a similar sound, style, and vibe. It’s the fastest way to dive deeper into a new genre.
This one small action of organizing your games into a folder will make your Home Screen look less cluttered.
The ‘Toy Box’ for Your Digital Playground
Your games are your digital toys. Leaving them scattered all over your Home Screen is like leaving your toys all over the living room floor. It’s a cluttered, chaotic mess. The simple, two-second action of creating a single “Games” folder is like getting a dedicated “toy box.” You can put all your toys neatly in one place. Your “living room” (your Home Screen) will instantly look cleaner and more organized, and you will always know exactly where to find your toys when you are ready to play.
Use your iPhone to enhance your media experience, not just to passively consume it.
The ‘Interactive Museum’ vs. The ‘Passive Art Gallery’
Your iPhone is not just an art gallery, where you passively walk through and look at the things that other people have made. It is an interactive museum. It has a library where you can read the books behind the paintings (the show notes). It has a workshop where you can try to create your own art (iMovie and GarageBand). And it has a social club where you can discuss the art with your friends (SharePlay). By using these tools, you can transform the passive act of consumption into an active, engaging, and creative experience.