Tips

One of the many enhancements included with the recent iOS 7.1 update makes it easier for iPhone 5s owners to snap HDR photos. Leaving HDR on all the time means that in some cases, photos are not improved. Not only this, but saving both the normal and HDR versions of images can clog up the Camera Roll quickly and lead to time wasted deleting photos.

Apple has added a new, convenient way for iPhone 5s users to allow the Camera app to decide whether HDR is likely to improve the exposure of a scene. Once the iPhone is updated to iOS 7.1, the Camera will default to HDR Auto mode when first opened. A yellow box above the shutter release button will indicate when HDR mode is being used.

Knowing how much free space exists on an iPhone can prevent performance issues, reduce errors, and ensure enough room exists to snap photos and download content. There are several ways to check for available disk space on the iPhone.

iOS provides a built-in solution under Settings, which provides a total of storage space used for each individual app. Jailbreakers will be happy to know that Cydia can also give a comprehensive snapshot of storage availability, broken down by category.

The idea of disabling LTE on your iPhone may sound a bit odd to some, but not everyone needs 4G data speeds, and it can also be a bit of a drain on your battery. This is especially true for AT&T users whose phones tend to jump back and forth between 4G LTE and HSPA+. If you are out and about for a long trip, and don't need fast data speeds, it is may be a good idea to disable LTE so you can get more life out of your battery. Here's how:

Open your Settings app and tap the Cellular tab to open the cellular options on your iPhone. From here you can disable Cellular Data, LTE and Data Roaming. Just tap the "Enable LTE" slider so it turns white to turn it off. Just don't forget to turn it back on when need to access faster data speeds.

One great thing about the iOS Mail app is the ability to mark emails as unread. This can help remind the user that messages are waiting and need to be reviewed again later. Some prefer to use this trick instead of flagging or leaving the mail marked read. Stock iOS 7 has no such function in place for the Messages app.

Now thanks to the jailbreak tweak Unread, iMessage and SMS threads can be marked unread. Once installed from Cydia, the Unread tweak has no settings to configure. Simply open the Messages app and toggle the read / unread status by tapping and holding a message thread. The blue dot indicating whether or not a message has been read will display accordingly.

Animated GIFs have experienced a vast resurgence on today’s Internet. Ever since the 90s the popular format has circulated widely on the web and elsewhere. iOS devices display animated GIFs properly in the Messages and Mail apps, however saving these images to the Camera Roll results in a freeze.

Now you can restore the animation in the stock Photos app with one of the two jailbreak tweaks Giffy or GIFViewer. Once installed, animated GIFs will appear as intended in the iOS Photos app. There are no settings to configure or toggles to worry about. While the thumbnail preview of the image will be static, tapping the image to view the full screen GIF results in animation.