Phones and Mobile - Tips & How-Tos
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How to Turn Your iPhone into a Smart Display with iOS 17 StandBy Mode
StandBy mode in iOS 17 turns your iPhone screen into a smart display while charging. We step you through how to customize and access a hidden feature.
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How to Update an Old iPhone
Not all iPhones can run the new iOS 17. Find out which version of iOS is the latest that's available for your iPhone and how to install it.
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How to Get a Free iPhone 15
The major carriers are all hyping getting a free iPhone 15. But is it a good deal for you? We take you through what you need to know before scoring the deal.
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How to Use Snapchat Maps
While using Snap Map is a fun way to stay connected, it has inherent privacy risks, leaking data about your movements that you may not be aware of.
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How to Disconnect Third-party Apps & Services from Your Google Account
Google Account sign-in is fast and convenient. But if you’re concerned about this single point of failure, here’s how to review and revoke access.
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How to Extend the Life of Your Phone
These seven tips will help you keep your phone in good shape well beyond when you've stopped paying off your two-year contract.
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How to Change Your Apple Watch Face
It's easy to set up and switch between a complicated watch face with all your essential data available at a glance and a cleaner, more elegant look.
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How to Share Your Screen on a FaceTime Call
Use FaceTime on your iPhone, iPad, or Mac to share a view of your screen in real-time to browse the web, watch videos, or even provide tech support.
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How to Move Text Messages to a New Android Phone
Here's how to move text messages from an old to a new Android phone and ensure you can recover all of your texts even if your phone is lost or stolen.
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How to Hide Photos on Your Android Phone
If you have photos and videos on your phone that you don't want friends and family to stumble upon, you can secure them in a locked folder. Here's how.
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How to Hide Photos on iPhone
Here's how to easily move pictures and videos in a passcode-protected hidden album within the iPhone Photos app and how to hide the hidden album.
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16 Surprising Things You Can Do with Google Maps
Google Maps does so much more than get you from point A to point B. Here are our favorite features, along with some hidden tips and tricks.
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How to Free up Space on Your iPhone and Android Phone
Smartphones fill up fast with photos, videos, games and other files. Here's how to clean our your iPhone and Android phone.
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How to Get In-Ear Headphones to Fit Properly
Getting a great-sounding pair of in-ear headphones is in part about the fit. Here's how to get the most out of your pair.
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Safeguarding Your Instagram Friends: Tips to Prevent Account Cloning
Adjust these privacy settings, limit the information you share, and stay cautious with follower requests, to reduce the risk of becoming a cloning victim.
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How to use Notes on Instagram for Private Group Messaging
Notes give you a short-form, casual way to share status updates in short posts with a limited audience. Find out how you can use it to express yourself.
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How to Silence Unknown Callers on WhatsApp
While you can’t prevent scammers from calling you on WhatsApp, you can mute them by enabling the new Silence Unknown Callers feature. Follow our guide.
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How to Get Great Fireworks Photos with Your Phone
Capturing fireworks can be hard if you stick with the auto settings on your smartphone. So, try these simple tricks for photos you'll want to share.
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Instagram 101: Understanding the Basics
Master the basics of the photo and video sharing social network Instagram with our guide that covers everything you need to know to get started.
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How to Add Highlights to Your Instagram Profile
Instagram Highlights are curated collections of Stories you can use to showcase your passions on your profile. Here's how to get started creating them.
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Is Your Spouse Cheating? Tech Clues that Give Them Away
Find out if your husband, wife, boyfriend or girlfriend is cheating on you. Here's how to catch them..how tech provides clues that your spouse is cheating.
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How to Keep WhatsApp Conversations Private with Chat Lock
Chat Lock secures conversations with Face ID or your fingerprint, hides your chat list, and anonymizes chat notifications. Here's how to enable it.
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How to Turn Off Read Receipts in Messages on iPhone and Android
You can stop everyone or specific senders from knowing if you’ve read their messages by turning off the Read Receipts setting. We show you the steps.
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Why Are My iPhone Messages Green?
Are you puzzled by why you sometimes see green iPhone messages instead of blue? We explore why this happens, how to fix it, and why sometimes you can't.
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How to Turn on Emergency SOS on Your Android Phone
Your Android phone can call for help and notify emergency contacts in case of an emergency, but you need to opt-in and input the information first.
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Don't Use Public USB Charging Stations without Taking Precautions
Warnings from the FBI about hackers stealing your data when you plug into free charging stations isn't new news, but the potential risks are still real.
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Snapchat Score: What is It and How to Check Yours
Did you know that Snapchat rates you? It's called your Snapchat Score, and every user has one. Find out how to view yours and control who can see it.
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What Every Snapchat Symbol Means
There's no need to be confused by Snapchat's emoji indicators — we'll tell you the difference between a golden heart and a pink heart, plus the rest of Snapchat's symbols.
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How to Stop Spam Text Messages
Here are 5 preventative measures you can take to reduce the number of unwanted texts you receive and avoid letting spammers know your number is real.
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How to Get a Refund for Apple App Store Purchases
You can easily request a refund from Apple for apps, in-app purchases, or subscription services you either don't want or that you purchased accidentally.
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Get Live Captions for Facebook, Instagram, and Other Videos on Android
The Live Caption feature generates real-time subtitles for videos on most Android apps, so you can follow along even when you can't hear the sound.
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How to Use Your Phone Without a SIM Card
As long as you have access to WiFi, you can set up and use your smartphone for free without a SIM, including calling and texting with a virtual phone number.
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How to Recover Deleted Text Messages on Your Android Phone
If you delete a text message, you have a good chance of recovering it if you act quickly. Here's our guide for Google Messages and Samsung Messages.
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How to Protect Your Accounts with Two-Factor Authentication
Two-factor authentication (2FA) prevents hackers from gaining access to your accounts even if they have your password. Here are the best practices for using 2FA.
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How to Add Special Texting Effects to Your iPhone Messages
Learn how to manually add screen effects, like fireworks and balloons, and text effects, like shouting and invisible ink, to iMessages with our guide.
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How to Safely Clean Your Android Phone
Here's how to keep your Android phone clean and free from bacteria and viruses, while avoiding the chemicals that can permanently damage your display.
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How to Safely Clean Your iPhone
Here's how to keep your iPhone clean, including the lint-collecting charging port, while avoiding chemicals that can permanently damage your screen.
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How to Capture Screenshots on Your Phone and Computer
Saving what you see on your computer (Windows, Mac or Chromebook) or phone (iOS or Android) is simple if you know the right combination of buttons to push.
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How to Recover Deleted iMessages
If you delete a text message by mistake, all is not lost. You can recover iMessages and SMS text messages for up to 30 days if you know where to look.
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How to Tell if Your Phone Has Been Hacked
We explore the nine ways your phone can be hacked, the tell-tale signs to look for on your device, and the steps you can take to protect yourself.
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Should you use Google Password Manager?
Google's password manager is a simple and free solution that works across multiple devices, but it lacks useful features found in dedicated products.
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How to Find Your Phone
Whether your phone is missing or you've misplaced it with the ringer off, there are easy ways to find your iPhone or Android phone.
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What to Do if You Forget Your Android Phone Password
Trying to get into your phone but don't remember your password, pin or lock pattern? There's only one way to get access to your device. Here are the steps.
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What's Draining Your iPhone Battery?
Discover what's draining your iPhone battery and what you can do about it without significantly impacting the way you use your phone.
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How to Fix Bluetooth Pairing Problems
Bluetooth can be frustrating when two devices just won't connect. Here are the common causes of pairing problems 16 tips for how you can fix them.
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Forgot Your Apple ID Password? Here's What to Do
If you have forgotten your Apple ID password, it is possible to reset it so you can regain access to your account. Here’s how.
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Use These 5 Tips to Shop More Effectively Using Google
Here are the 5 tools in Google Search and Shopping that make it easy to find exactly what you want for the best price and buy it from a trusted merchant.
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How to Prevent AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon from Sharing your Data
All major cellular providers have programs to monitor your mobile activities to serve more targeted ads. Here's how to opt out of sharing your data.
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What is WiFi Calling & How to Get it on Your Phone
Find out how WiFi calling works, how much it costs, how to get it set up on your Android phone or iPhone, and how to troubleshoot common issues.
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How Much Your iPhone Screen Repair Should Cost
I researched and analyzed the nationwide iPhone repair providers to clearly establish the costs, benefits, and drawbacks for each of the options.
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How to Update an Old iPad
Not all iPads can run the new iPadOS 16. Find out which version of iOS or iPadOS is the latest that's available for your iPad and how to install it.
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How to Set up Your Medical ID and Emergency Contacts for iPhone SOS
Your iPhone can automatically share important medical information and notify emergency contacts in case of a serious emergency, if you opt in first.
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How to Turn on the Battery Percentage in Your iPhone Status Bar
If you’ve been missing the battery percentage in your iPhone’s status bar for the last few years, it’s finally back. Here's how to turn it on in iOS 16.
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The Fastest Way to Take Videos on Your iPhone
Apple has built shortcuts into iOS that make launching video recording from your iPhone's lock screen or while using your iPhone nearly instantaneous.
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The Easiest Way to Set up Your New iPhone 14
You can easily transfer all your apps, data, and settings to your iPhone 14 if you make the right choices along the way. Here's our step-by-step guide.
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How to Use Your Phone's Camera to Search
When you're on the go, you can get the info you need on that product, place, or landmark by snapping a picture with these apps.
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3 Ways to Make Private Phone Calls
Want to make a phone call private by hiding your caller ID or using an anonymous number? Here are three easy ways to make private phone calls.
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Does a Pop-up Mean Your Phone Has Been Hacked?
A pop-up claims you have a virus and need to call tech support. Or maybe you're just getting annoying pop-up ads. Has your phone been hacked? Here's how to tell.
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How to Sell Your iPhone for the Most Money
Take your iPhone to a retail store for an instant trade-in, or sell it online if you don't need the cash immediately. We compare the major players.
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Free Personal Safety Apps that Can Call For Help
These free personal safety apps can alert others that you need help, even if you're unable to send an SOS yourself.
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Keep Your Facebook Messages Private with Secret Conversations
With Facebook’s Secret Conversations enabled, your messages are encrypted end-to-end, so no one can read them. But there are loopholes.
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How to Record Your Android Phone Screen
In Android 11 and higher, you’ll find a basic screen-recording tool built-in that can capture your phone’s video and audio, as well as sound from the mic.
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What You Need to Know About the Gmail Redesign
Gmail now integrates Chat for messaging and Meet for video conferencing. Here’s how to navigate the redesign and go back to the old view if it’s not for you.
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How to Make Text Larger on Your Phone, Tablet and Computer
Here’s how you can make your smartphone and laptop screens more readable without resorting to reading glasses.
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Tap the Back of Your iPhone to Access Your Flashlight, Camera and More
Simply double or triple tapping the back of your iPhone can launch apps and turn on settings, but only if you enable Back Tap. Here’s how to set it up.
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How to Use Google Password Manager
Passwords you save when using Chrome can sync across all your devices. Here's how to use Google Password Manager on your computer, phone, and tablet.
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How to Reset Your Android Phone Without Losing Your Data
If your phone freezes or runs slowly, a reset often clears up your problems. First, though, you need to protect your data by backing it up. Here’s how.
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What You Need to Know Before Buying a Used iPhone
We did the research to find reputable sellers that have used iPhones that work like new and are backed up by a good return policy and warranty.
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7 Ways Telemarketers Get Your Cell Phone Number
You may be the primary reason telemarketers have your number. Here's what you should stop doing.
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How to Use WiFi Calling on Your Android Phone
Even when you can't get a signal, you can still call and text on your Android phone with WiFi calling. Here's how to easily set it up on your phone.
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How to Use WiFi Calling on Your iPhone
Even when you can't get a cell phone signal, you can still call and text on your iPhone with WiFi calling. Here's how to easily set it up on your iPhone.
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12 Tips for Faster Browsing with Google Chrome
Google keeps making browsing more efficient. So even if you've been using Chrome for years, check out our 12 tips to see what you may be missing.
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10 Tips to Get More out of WhatsApp
While you might have been using WhatsApp for years, there are ten hidden features that you should be using to save time and enhance your privacy.
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The Best Ways to Print Photos from Your Smartphone
Here are our favorite apps, services and products to get your photos off your phone and into your hands as physical prints.
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The Easiest Way to Send Links between Your Phone and Computer
There’s a simple way to send links directly between your own phone and computer browsers without resorting to emailing or texting yourself.
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How to Tell if Your Facebook Messages Have Been Read
Want to know if your friends have read your messages? Facebook Messenger will tell you when your message has been sent, delivered and read.
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How to Find out Who Called Me
We found one free reverse-number lookup service that does a far better job than the rest.
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The Best Phone Insurance Options Compared for 2022
We compare the details of plans offered by the carriers, Apple, Samsung, and aftermarket providers to determine which plans provide the best coverage.
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How to Forward a Text Message on Android Phones
Want to forward a text message to someone else? Here are the simple steps to forward a text in Google Messages and phone manufacturer messaging apps.
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How to Create Ringtones for Android Phones
Easily set your favorite song as your ringtone, edit or customize sound files to make custom ringtones, and assign unique ringtones to important people.
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How to Reverse Image Search Using Google
Sometimes an image does a better job at describing what you're searching for than words. Here's how to search using just an image on your phone and computer. -
How to Make Your iPhone Battery Last Longer
Find out how to use your iPhone's essential features more efficiently and which battery-draining features you can turn off without impacting daily use.
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4 Apps That Automate Annoying Everyday Tasks
These apps will help you find the cheapest parking with a free space, stop the flow of junk mail, block spam callers from leaving voicemail, and more.
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How to Charge Your Phone Faster
Follow our 5 tips and you'll be maximizing your charging speed, whether its with your current charger or one of the new superfast ones we recommend.
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How to Make Sure You’re Never Locked Out of Your Apple Account
A new feature in iOS 15 lets you designate a person as your Recovery Contact so you can always get back into your Apple account: Here's how it works.
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How to AirDrop on iPhone
With just a few taps, you can send photos to one person or a whole group of people much faster than using email or text using our step-by-step instructions.
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How to Forward a Text on an iPhone
You have to dig a little to find the option to forward texts on your iPhone. But once you know how, forwarding messages with links intact is easy.
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How to Connect Your Phone to Your TV
After testing the solutions, we found the best ways to connect for the most popular models of TVs and phones.
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How to Make Live Wallpaper for Your Android Phone
Live wallpapers, which animate your lock screen and home screen, can be easily created from your own still images and videos. Here's how to make them. -
How to Unsubscribe from an App
Here’s how to find your subscription status and stop paying for app subscriptions on your Android or Apple device.
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How to Make Live Wallpaper for Your iPhone
Live wallpapers, which animate when you press and hold, can be easily created from your own still images, live images, and videos. Here's how to make them. -
How to Delete iPhone Search History
We show you how to delete personal data found in your online search and browsing history, as well as in Spotlight search and app data shared with Siri.
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How to Delete Apps on Your iPhone
Here’s how to delete apps on your iPhone, whether they’re on your Home Screen or in your App Library.
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How to Record a Call on Your Android Phone
We found two apps that reliably record incoming and outgoing calls on Android phones.
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How to Record a Call on Your iPhone
With a little pre-planning, recording a call can be as easy as pressing a couple of buttons. We show you the easiest way to record calls on your iPhone.
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Choosing the Best Insurance for Your Phone
Phone insurance and extended protection plans aren't cheap, but the investment can save you big down the line should your phone get lost, stolen or damaged.
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How to Download Android Phone Photos to Your Computer
You can easily download all of your photos or choose a select few to transfer from your Android phone to your computer. Here's how.
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How to Connect AirPods to a PC
Apple’s AirPods can pair just as easily with your Windows PC as any other pair of Bluetooth headphones. Here’s how.
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How to Download iPhone Photos to a Computer
Here’s how to create a full back-up of all your iPhone photos or download just a select few to a PC or Mac. We take you through your cabled and wireless options.
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How to Unlock an iPhone When You Don’t Know the Passcode
There is a fairly simple way to unlock an iPhone when you don’t know the passcode. Here’s how.