Apple’s newest firmware update for iPhone and iPad brings a slew of new features to them, but according to several users, iOS 10 also happens to be quite thirsty for battery power.

If you feel you’re not getting the battery life you should expect after upgrading your device(s), you may want to follow these tips to help increase the amount of time you can spend using them on a single charge.

Limit location services

Some of the most battery intensive processes on your iOS devices are those that ping your location. By limiting these features, some of which are extraneous for many users, you can reduce the amount of times your device has to track you via GPS and save a lot of battery life.

You can tinker with your location settings in Settings → Privacy → Location Services.

Control your display brightness

Right next to location services, your display is one of the biggest drains on your battery. The higher you keep your display brightness, the more battery you’re going to drain.

iOS can control this automatically, but in sunny environments this tends to lead to more battery drain because iOS is always trying to compensate for visibility by increasing the brightness. By manually controlling your display brightness, you can help reduce battery drain.

To play around with your display options, go to Settings → Display & Brightness.

Let your device lock itself quickly

With Touch ID being as fast as it is, it’s really not much of a hassle anymore to unlock our devices when they lock automatically.

You should take advantage of the shorter auto lock feature so your display doesn’t stay on for any longer than it needs to. Being on too long, or leaving it on by accident, is going to impact your battery significantly.

You can configure the auto lock feature from Settings → Display & Brightness → Auto-Lock.

Disable Raise to Wake

Apple’s latest handsets can respond to being picked up from a table surface or being pulled out of your pocket by turning the display on automatically.

The feature, known as Raise to Wake, utilizes the accelerometer sensor, as well as your display, which both impact battery usage. This feature isn’t perfect and it tends to wake the display even at times when we don’t want it to, so sometimes it’s just a battery waster.

You can change your Raise to Wake settings under Settings → Display & Brightness → Raise to Wake.

Limit background app refreshing

Having things running in the background all the time will use up more power. Unless you have the new iPhone 7 or 7 Plus with that super power efficient A10 Fusion chip, you may be using a lot more power than necessary by using background app refresh.

Disabling background app refresh entirely, or at least for the apps that don’t really need to refresh their data in the background, should significantly improve your device’s battery life.

Control your background app refresh settings from Settings → General → Background App Refresh.

Limit your app notifications

The more apps you have phoning home for notifications, the more battery life your iPhone or iPad is going to burn through to deliver them to you.

Try limiting notifications to apps that are essential throughout your day so your device isn’t always checking for new data and waking up your display to notify you of things.

You can control your notification settings in Settings → Notifications.

Enable Wi-Fi calling

The lower your cellular signal gets, the harder your iPhone has to work to keep in touch with the cellular tower.

Enabling Wi-Fi Calling on your iPhone allows your device to connect to nearby Wi-Fi networks for phone calls instead of trying to power through a low signal strength with your carrier. Keep in mind however that not all carriers support Wi-Fi calling, so ensure your carrier supports the feature first.

You can enable Wi-Fi Calling from Settings → Phone → Wi-Fi Calling.

Disable automatic downloads

Enabled by default are automatic downloads, which automatically install apps on your device that you’ve installed on your other devices, as well as updates for any apps you have installed.

By keeping this feature on, you not only force iOS to check for updates in the background, which uses battery juice, but you also allow services like Facebook to force unwanted features down your throat. You may want to turn this off entirely, or at least disable some of the features to help conserve battery.

You can change your automatic download settings in Settings → iTunes & App Stores.

Manage your wireless radios

The more wireless activity your iPhone or iPad experiences, the more battery it’s going to use. If you foresee this being a problem, try to limit wireless radio usage by disabling cellular data or Wi-Fi when you don’t need them.

You can also toggle Airplane Mode from Control Center, a method of battery savings that a popular jailbreak tweak called Airplane Enhancer showed was very effective, when you don’t need access to the internet at all. You can always reconnect when you need to use your device.

Use Low Power Mode

Whenever you want to save some extra battery juice on your iPhone, you can always turn on the trusty Low Power Mode feature, which limits features like Mail fetch, Hey Siri, app backgrounding, downloads, and visual effects to reduce power consumption.

You can enable this feature manually even when your battery is at 100% to conserve power from the start of your day, all the way to the end of it.

You can turn on Low Power Mode from Settings → Battery → Low Power Mode.

Use your Apple Watch whenever possible

The Apple Watch is intended to be an accessory you can use alongside your iPhone, and it can handle a lot of tasks, like notifications, while reducing the load on your iPhone and taking some of the battery abuse instead.

Using your Apple Watch reduces display usage on your iPhone, which overall can yield improvements to your iPhone’s battery life and still get your tasks done.

The logic behind this tip is the tried and true “divide and conquer” method, which just so happens to work with saving your battery too.

Use wired headphones

Apple eliminated the headphone jack on the iPhone 7 & 7 Plus, but they still include a Lightning to 3.5mm adapter in the box. If you’re going to be listening to music a lot, you may want to use wired headphones instead of wireless ones.

According to Apple’s tech specs, wireless audio playback uses more power than the typical audio playback we see on earlier iPhones. It can make a difference of anywhere from 10-20 hours. Bluetooth is very efficient, but it’s still not as efficient as a hardwired connection.

Keep your software up to date

Apple regularly releases software updates for its iOS operating system that improve its efficiency and squash potentially battery-hungry bugs. Make sure you’re always running the latest version of iOS to ensure you have the best software available.

You can update your version of iOS from Settings → General → Software Updates.

Is iOS 10 draining the battery of your devices faster than expected? If so, what are you doing to save your battery? Share in the comments!

Tags: apple | edit | ical | live | pulled | refresh | savings | tea

Power Reserve mode is a feature of watchOS that let’s you conserve what’s left of your battery when you get low on juice by limiting your Apple Watch’s functionality to nothing more than a time piece.

Starting with watchOS 3, the steps to enable it has changed, so we’ll show you how it’s done.

Making room for the Emergency SOS slider, Apple made it so you’ll no longer find a Power Reserve mode slider in the slider menu. Now, you’ll need to follow these steps:

1) Swipe up from the bottom of the display to reveal Control Center.

2) Tap on the button at the top left that shows your current battery percentage.

3) Once you’re in the battery view, tap on the Power Reserve button.

4) You will now be given a prompt message. Tap on the Proceed button to continue.

Your Apple Watch will now be placed into Power Reserve mode.

In this mode, you should see nothing more than the time in green digital format and you can’t access any software features of your Apple Watch until you reboot it by pressing and holding on the side button.

If your power is too low to reboot your device, connect your Apple Watch to a power source to charge the battery up some and then try to reboot it once again.

In a pinch, this feature can help you keep your Apple Watch from dying, but still allows it to keep track of time for you. If you use it wisely, you may never have to worry about losing track of time again.

Tags: book | facebook | features | find | functionality | now | pinch | sing

Game publisher Niantic has published yet another update for its popular GPS-based Pokémon GO game on Friday that adds some new features and squashes bugs. Version 1.9.0 of Pokémon GO can now be downloaded by avid Pokémon trainers who want the latest features.

Amid the unveiling of Pokémon GO on the Apple Watch at the keynote event earlier this month, we still don’t have Apple Watch support in this update, but it does add some other neat features.

The biggest feature by far in this version is the ability to see where and when you’ve caught your Pokémon by tapping on any of the Pokémon in your inventory and scrolling to the bottom of their about screen:

It’s really nothing fancy, but in case it slipped your mind where you may have caught a rare Pokémon, this feature helps fill the void in your memory by reminding you.

Also new in this update is the ability to use your Pokémon GO Plus accessory (if you have one) with incense in the game to capture Pokémon. The GO Plus accessory was officially launched this month via various retail outlets, and following that move, Niantic also added official GO Plus support into a game update they released earlier this month.

Apart from these new features, which are nothing really that major, the update also adds some bug fixes and improvements to make the game a little better for players.

One of those, which seemed to affect a lot of people from time to time, is a fix for a problem where players might get stuck at the loading screen even after restarting the app, leaving plenty of Pokémon trainers frustrated and unable to get into the game until several attempts later.

Moreover, a fix also comes for those who use the augmented reality (AR) mode while catching Pokémon; the camera lag that seemed to occur sometimes during those moments should no longer occur, making AR mode a lot more fluid. Nevertheless, it’s still a battery hog.

Other bug fixes are also noted in the change log, but are not detailed, so they probably pertain to performance improvements, text fixes, and other minor things that you may not even notice.

If you’re already playing Pokémon GO, then this update can be had from the App Store‘s Updates tab. Alternatively, those who haven’t even downloaded the game yet can get started by downloading it for free from the App Store.

Tags: alter | case | gps | now | over | ping | roll | things | update

You’ll soon be able to listen to news articles in iTunes, reports TechCrunch. The outlet says that in the near future, you’ll be able to browse through a new category of podcasts that will allow you to listen to news stories from your favorite publishers.

These new podcasts will be labeled “Spoken Edition” in iTunes, and the format will be short-form programs that offer listeners an audio version of a publisher’s articles. So you could essentially listen to the news while commuting or working out.

During early tests on iTunes, Spoken Editions for several media brands showed up.

Wired, for example, will launch Spoken Editions for “Business,” “Science” and its homepage. TIME will offer a Spoken Edition called “The Brief.” Forbes, .Mic, Bustle, Playboy, OZY, and — yep — TechCrunch (which I discovered while browsing our iTunes page, of all things) will have Spoken Editions, it seems, as all popped up for a time on iTunes.

The links to all the publishers’ Spoken Editions have since been pulled, after our discovery and outreach.

Spoken Editions podcasts are expected to launch in October, and yes there will be ads—with revenue split between publishers and SpokenLayer. The text-to-voice company powering the platform prides itself in its ability to become “the voice” of brands.

Source: TechCrunch

Tags: api | app | cat | connect | discovery | home | listen | pulled | style | tests | things | work

Although Apple has taken some major steps this year to make the iPhone more durable, the device is still very susceptible to bumps and scratches. This is why we recommend putting a case on your smartphone if you want it to stay in like-new condition.

We’ve already recommended a number of different cases, but for those who work and use their phones in more harsh environments, a heavy-duty case is the only way to go. Here are a few we like so far that are available for the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus right now.

OtterBox Defender Series Case for iPhone 7 and 7 Plus

The OtterBox brand is synonymous with heavy duty/rugged smartphone cases, and the Defender is one of its most popular lines. It features a robust, 3-layer design with built-in screen protector that helps your iPhone withstand scratches, drops and bumps. It also has a belt-clip holster, that doubles as a kickstands, and port covers to keep out dust and debris. Comes with a 1-year warranty.

You can buy the OtterBox Defender case for iPhone 7 for $50 and for the iPhone 7 Plus for $60.

i-Blason ArmorBox Case for iPhone 7 and 7 Plus

The ArmorBox case from i-Blason features a dual-layer design with a polycarbonate hard shell exterior and flexible TPU inner core. Like the Defender it too has a built-in bubble free screen protector and a built-in belt clip holster. Button covers and port plugs keep your handset free from dust and debris.

You can buy the i-Blason ArmorBox for iPhone 7 for $18 and for the iPhone 7 Plus for $19.

Spigen Rugged Armor Case for iPhone 7 and 7 Plus

The Rugged Armor case from Spigen isn’t nearly as heavy-duty as some of the other cases, but it’s a nice blend of portability and protection. It features a dual-layer design with a flexible tpu interior and then a tough polycarbonate exterior. Spigen says it offers military-grade protection and of course it looks sharp.

You can buy the Spigen Rugged Armor case for the iPhone 7 for $11 and for the iPhone 7 Plus for $12.

Supcase Rugged Holster for iPhone 7 and 7 Plus

Supcase has a fairly solid record on Amazon for creating well-made inexpensive cases, and it looks like the Rugged Holster case is no different. Early reviews are good for this dual layer case, which features a built-in screen protector and belt clip holster. This case comes in multiple colors and is available for both iPhone 7 models.

You can buy the Supcase Rugged Holster for the iPhone 7 for $20 and for the iPhone 7 Plus for $21.50.

Be sure to check out our other iPhone 7 accessory roundups:

• Some great minimalist cases for iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus
• 5 ultra-thin cases for iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus
• 7 screen protectors for your new iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus
• 7 great Bluetooth headphones for your new iPhone 7
• 6 great iPhone 7 cases you can buy right now

Tags: cloud | connect | environment | full | fun | image | javascript | lex | link | stand | who?

If I had to guess, I’d say Dog Sled Saga is the most adorable racing game on the App Store right now. It’s a dog sled racing sim full of adorable, loyal puppies. Just look at those fluffy little tails wagging.

Behind that cute, pixelated facade is a racer and pet management sim that’s actually quite deep. There’s a lot to consider both off and on the trail. Use these tips to help you conquer the dog sled racing circuit.

Pay attention to your lines
The lines attached to your dogs’ harnesses can often get tangled, slowing down your team significantly. You’ll want to avoid this, of course, and luckily there’s a way to do a little pre-emptive maintenance to keep you sledding smoothly.

Keep an eye on the lines as your dogs run down the trail. If you notice some slack in the leads don’t hesitate to pull them apart. This will keep your lines from getting tangled without you losing speed, so pay attention!

Aim for perfect throws
There are a lot of perks if you can skillfully toss treats to your dogs mid-race. Most importantly, it keeps them in top racing shape and prevents any slowdowns. If your dogs catch treats on the first try, you’ll get that pleasant little “perfect!” message, and it also pleases your fans. You’re here to win, but you’re also here to put on a show. Perfect throws are a great way to build up your fame and win those oh-so-important sponsorships.

Learn how to read your dogs
Pulling a sled around is hard work, and your loyal pups will eventually tire out. Notice when your dogs start to pant. There are three levels of heavy breathing: light, medium, and exhausted.

You’ll want to pay attention to these signals carefully. As the courses ramp up in difficulty, treat stops become increasingly rare, so you don’t want to be chucking Milk Bones around haphazardly at the first sign of exhaustion. The best time to feed your dogs is somewhere around the second tier, which is when you’ll get those coveted perfect throws.

With that said, it’s always better to feed your dogs sooner, rather than later. If there’s an obstacle coming up, like rocks or trees, it’s a good idea to feed your pups beforehand rather than risk them tiring after making a jump. Pay attention to your dog’s fatigue ratings and what’s happening on the trail and you’ll soon have a natural knack for it.

Dog sled racing isn’t for chumps, even if it’s just a video game. It’s essential that you keep your dog’s needs first on your list of priorities, while also paying attention to the trail. Follow the tips above and you’ll be racing with the pros.

Are you an expert musher? Share your tips and tricks in the comments below.

Tags: android | books | cats | fitness | food & drink | guide | ipad apps | ipad education | magazine | new app | privacy | sing

Apple’s expressive Messages application on the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch includes features that help you annotate image attachments with the Markup tools, touch them up with just a few taps using built-in Photos filters and browse files such as PDF or Pages docs separately of images—all without ever leaving the Messages app.

In this step by step tutorial, we’re going to teach you how you can edit, annotate and manage attachments in Messages for the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch.

In iOS 10, annotation tools are available in both Messages and Mail with one crucial distinction: in Messages, you can only annotate photos. In Mail, you can also edit PDFs attached to emails, draw over them (for instance, to sign legal documents) and then respond with the newly marked file.

How to annotate photo attachments in Messages for iOS

You can annotate any photo attachment you added to a Messages conversation with the built-in Markup tools. Annotating an existing photo will limit the edits to the Messages attachment without rewriting the original image in your Photos library.

1) Open Messages and tap a conversation or create a new message.

2) Attach a photo by tapping the Camera button to the left of the text entry field. You can take an instant image (hit the shutter button on live camera preview), use the fullscreen camera interface for added punch (swipe left) or choose an existing image from your library (swipe right).

3) Now tap the attached photo in the bubble, then hit Markup on the next screen.

4) You can now annotate the image to your liking with the built-in Markup tools lined up alongside the bottom of the screen. The Markups tools let you:

• Draw objects with your finger
• Change line/stroke width
• Add text
• Adjust text size
• Switch between Helvetica, Georgia and Noteworthy typeface
• Adjust text alignment
• Magnify specific spots
• Use various colors
• Undo/redo your actions

Markup is smart, too.

Draw an arbitrary shape with your finger and Markup instantly analyzes it and brings up an overlay with two choices: leave it as is or turn it into the closest built-in shape. This lets you quickly jot something resembling an arrow, star, rectangle, thought bubble or some such and trust Markup to do the trick.

5) Tap Save to remember the edits, or Cancel to dismiss a marked up photo and return to the original attachment you added to the conversation.

6) Tap Done on the Markup preview screen to go back to the conversation.

7) Now type an optional message below the attachment and hit the Send button to shoot the message along with your marked up attachment to the recipient.

And that’s all there’s to it!

Ways to access Markup tools in Messages for iOS

You can access the Markup tools in several places throughout Messages.

Instant photos shot with built-in camera

Tap the Camera button to the left of the Messages text entry field, then hit the white shutter button inside the live camera preview to instantly take a photo and attach it to your message.

Photos taken with the built-in Messages camera are not saved in the Photos library.

Photos shot with fullscreen camera

Tap the Camera button to the left of the text entry field, swipe right to reveal the Camera option and tap it to launch the stock Camera app.

Now you can take advantage of the full arsenal of Camera’s tools, shooting modes and live filters. Tap the camera shutter button to take a photo, then tap Done to attach and annotate it from the chat bubble or hit Markup to start annotating right away.

The original image taken in the fullscreen Camera mode is saved to your Photos library while its marked up counterpart gets attached to your message.

Photos added from your image library

Tap the Camera button to the left of the text entry field and swipe left to scroll through your recently taken photos, or swipe right and tap Photo Library to reveal your full Photos library and select a photo from your albums.

Edits made to existing images are only applied to the attachments, not the originals in Photos.

How to edit photo attachments in Messages for iOS

Editing a photo in Messages has a similar workflow like annotating an attachments.

1) Open Messages and tap a conversation or create a new message.

2) Take an image or select an existing one to attach to the bubble.

3) Tap the attachment in the bubble, then tap Edit on the next screen.

You can now use the built-in Photos tools and options to edit the attachment, like the Auto-Enhance tool, crops, zooms, rotations, filters and color adjustments.

Unfortunately, third-party Photos extensions are unavailable here.

4) Tap Done to apply any touch ups to the image and exit the interface.

5) Tap Done on the next screen to return to your conversation.

6) Enter an optional message to accompany your edited image, then tap Send to shoot the attachment along with your accompanying message to the recipient.

Like with the Markup tools, your edits are limited to the attachment: you can rest assured that the original image in your Photos library will be kept intact.

How to manage attachments in Messages for iOS

Starting with iOS 10, the Details screen in Messages permits you to edit attachments separately from the images sent and received in the conversation.

1) Open Messages and select a conversation in the list.

2) Tap “i” in the chat view to reveal the Details screen.

3) You can see the images exchanged in this chat under the Images tab. To browse other attachments, like PDFs, Office documents or any other files, hit the Attachments tab

4) You will now see a grid-based layout of thumbnails representing any attachments you have sent to this person or received from them. You can now preview, copy and delete one or more attachments.

Preview an attachment

Tap a thumbnail to preview an attachment. On devices with 3D Touch, press an attachment to peek at its contents, then press harder to display it in fullscreen mode.

Use the Share menu in fullscreen preview to open the attachment in another app, print it, send it wirelessly to another device with AirDrop, save the file in iCloud Drive or share it with friends and family using Twitter, Facebook or any third-party sharing service installed on your device.

While previewing the attachment in fullscreen mode, hit the Attachments button (it looks like three horizontal lines) to get to the more organized list view of any attachments you have sent and/or received in this conversation. This lets you quickly select another attachment without going back to the grid view.

Tap Close to exit the list view.

Copy an attachment to the clipboard

Tap and hold a thumbnail and select Copy in the popup menu.

Choose the Paste command in another app to insert the attachment you just copied.

Delete a single attachment

Tap and hold a thumbnail, choose Delete from the popup menu, then tap Delete Attachment to confirm the action (choose Cancel if you changed your mind).

The selected attachment will be permanently deleted from Messages.

Delete multiple attachments

Tap and hold any thumbnail until a popup menu appears, then select More and tap one or more thumbnails to select multiple attachments.

Lastly, hit the Delete button (it resembles a trashcan) and confirm the action by selecting Delete [x] Attachments in the popup menu.

And that, boys and girls, concludes our tour of the Markup annotation tools, built-in Photos filters and the handy Images/Attachments browser in Messages

How do you like this tutorial?

Let us know what you think in the comment section below and do not hesitate to submit your tutorial suggestions at tips@iDownloadBlog.com.

Tags: att | chat | exp | feature | pages | pdf | photos | quick | rop | shoot

Apple has released a small update for compatible iPhones, iPod touches, and iPads on Friday dubbed iOS 10.0.2 that fixes a handful of small bugs introduced with the initial release of iOS 10.

iOS 10.0.2 is recommended for all users who just upgraded to iOS 10, however if you’re jailbroken, then you should obviously say far away as there isn’t a jailbreak available just yet for iOS 10.

This update fixes a bug related to headphone audio controls not working, a bug that could make the Photos app quit unexpectedly, and yet another bug that could prevent you from using some of your favorite app extensions.

The full change log is available below:

• Addresses an issue that could prevent headphone audio controls from temporarily not working
• Resolves an issue that caused Photos to quit for some users when turning on iCloud Photo Library
• Fixes an issue that prevented enabling some app extensions

The firmware file is available on our downloads page and you can update through both iTunes and the iOS over the air (OTA) updating service in Settings → General → Software Update.

iOS 10.0.2 can be installed on all of the following devices:

• iPhone 7
• iPhone 7 Plus
• iPhone 6s
• iPhone 6s Plus
• iPhone 6
• iPhone 6 Plus
• iPhone SE
• iPhone 5s
• iPhone 5c
• iPhone 5
• Pad Pro 12.9-inch
• iPad Pro 9.7-inch
• iPad Air 2
• iPad Air
• iPad 4th generation
• iPad mini 4
• iPad mini 3
• iPad mini 2
• iPod touch 6th generation

Did the update go smoothly for you? Let us know in the comments!

Tags: cloud | compatible | dating | ipad mini | iphone | iphone-5 | ipod touch | javascript | release | service

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