Tips

Sponsored posts pop up all the time when browsing an Instagram feed. These ads are targeted, which means some of them can be useful. All kinds of new products and services are offered alongside user content, however some of these ads are repetitive or not relevant. In these cases, skipping the ads altogether can make for a better experience. After all, who needs an interruption from a sponsored post every time you scroll down your Instagram feed?

Curious what cellular band your iPhone is using in a particular location? The current radio band can be useful information when researching a cell phone signal booster. Cell signal boosters, otherwise known as cell repeaters can improve signal quality and cellular data speeds. These devices can be purchased and installed to increase the strength of signals coming from cellular towers, rebroadcasting them inside of a building. In any case, the iPhone features a Field Test Mode delivering information about your current cell connection.

The iPhone status bar delivers timely information in a user-friendly format. Cell phone signal strength is one of the metrics delivered quickly to users with a simplified bar graph. Fewer, smaller bars means a weaker signal strength, while more bars indicates the opposite. Of course, the better your iPhone signal strength on LTE or 5G the faster data is transferred. Stronger signal strength from a connected cell tower delivers increased call and video streaming quality to your device.

Apple Watch owners having firmware problems can now try recovering their wearable device directly from an iPhone. This wireless method, while not foolproof, can avoid a trip to Apple for service. If your Apple Watch freezes up, crashes during the update process, or stops working, it may prompt you to initiate a restore. To use this feature, the iPhone requires iOS 15.4 or later and the Apple Watch must be running watchOS 8.5 or later.

According to Apple Support:

It's easy to forget that the iPhone actually makes phone calls. There are many ways to initiate a phone call, such as launching the Phone app or asking Siri to ring a contact. Now thanks to Shortcuts, iPhone users can even put a contact directly on the Home Screen. Once set up, a single tap on this icon starts a phone call. The shortcut can even be set up to initiate a FaceTime call.

Several frequently called contacts can be added to the Home Screen in this manner. Of course, if you no longer need a person's contact on the iPhone Home Screen, it can easily be removed.