Phone Hacks | iPhone Tricks and Tips

Despite Apple reducing its Q1 2019 forecast by $9 billion, Tim Cook says iPhone activations in the US and Canada set new record this Christmas.  But due to the weak iPhone sales in China, Apple could not set a new iPhone sales record in Q1.   Tim Cook revealed this in an internal memo to Apple employees. He says in the memo that he is “disappointed” the company will be falling short of its revenue goal, though Apple’s wearable, Services, and Mac business set new revenue records. Cool also notes in the memo that Apple is expected to set an all-time revenue record in the US, Canada, Mexico, Italy, Germany, and more.   Cook will be holding an all-hands meeting with Apple employees on Thursday where he will be answering more of their questions about the revenue shortfall and the decline in iPhone sales.   You can find the full memo from Tim Cool to Apple employees below.   Team,   Happy New Year — I hope everyone was able to rest and enjoy time with loved ones over the holidays.   This aft...

For the first time in many years, I was impressed with Apple’s event in October especially when it came to the new iPad Pro. It had all the features that I had hoped for such as Face ID, thinner bezels without the notch, powerful A12X processor, base storage option of 64GB, Type-C connector and lots more. But whenever Apple launches a new iPad, there is a huge debate about whether the iPad is a replacement for a computer. While most reviewers felt that it is the best tablet, it still can’t replace the laptop. But I wanted to figure it out myself. After using the iPad Pro for over a month, I wanted to share some of the reasons I thought it could replace a computer, and some of the reasons the iPad Pro still can’t replace a computer at least for me. Before I start, it is important to note here that to consider an iPad Pro as a replacement for a computer or laptop, you need to get the Apple’s Smart Keyboard Folio or any other iPad Pro keyboard accessory. I bought the Smart Keyboard ...

USB-C promised a future where we could use a single connector and cable to charge our devices and transfer data between them. Sadly, in reality, USB-C has turned out to be a confusing mess with low-quality cables and chargers flooding the market. These chargers and cables end up damaging the host device by supplying them more power than they can handle. To solve these issues for good, the USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF) has announced the launch of USB Type-C Authentication Program. The program defines cryptographic-based authentication for USB Type-C chargers and devices. This will allow host devices to protect themselves for low-quality and incompatible USB-C chargers. It will also provide a higher level of security as host devices will be secure against USB-C chargers and cables which come with malicious malware-ridden firmware or hardware. All these security checks are done right when the connection is made and before any kind of data is transferred to the host device. The program w...

There have been plenty of rumblings that Apple hasn’t been selling a lot of iPhones through the holiday season. And now the company’s CEO may be setting the record straight. Tim Cook today sent out a letter to investors, warning them of weaker first-quarter earnings as 2019 kicks off. The reason? According to Cook, it’s because of “fewer iPhone upgrades than we had anticipated”. The primary concern for Apple, according to the letter, is centered around greater China. However, Cook also points to a weak presence “in some developed markets”, where “iPhone upgrades also were not as strong as we thought they would be”. Cook is also ready to hand out reasons like candy, too. That includes an “earlier release date” for the iPhone XS and XS Max compared to the iPhone X (which could make sense, because it wasn’t quite a year between the launch timing), the overall strength of the U.S. dollar, and even due to the number of d...

What’s next after the touchscreen? Some might say voice commands, but others, like Google, may be heading in another direction. To be fair, Google is giving a lot of attention to voice commands, especially with Google Assistant. But this is a company that is always looking ahead. Reuters is reporting this week that Google has landed approval in the United States for its “Project Soli”. Specifically, the FCC has green-lit Google’s ability to use more powerful sensors than what’s currently allowed, and Project Soli can also be used on aircraft as well. Per the FCC: “We find that the Soli sensors, when operating under the waiver conditions specified herein, pose minimal potential of causing harmful interference to other spectrum users and uses of the 57-64 GHz frequency band, including for the earth exploration satellite service (EESS) and the radio astronomy service (RAS),” the FCC wrote in its order. “We further find that grant of the waiv...

Back in October, Apple confirmed that iOS 12 was installed on more than 50% of devices out there in the wild. Now, three months later, the company is back with the latest findings. The company has confirmed that 75 percent of all devices out there in the wild are now running Apple’s latest version of the mobile operating system. Meanwhile, 17% of devices out there are still running iOS 11. Finally, Apple says 8 percent of devices are running earlier version of iOS. These findings are the result of data taken from the App Store on January 1, 2019. Apple has another stat to work with this time around. According to the company, 78% of all devices launched in the last four years are using iOS 12. 17 percent of devices in the same category are using iOS 11. And 5% of devices released in the last four years are running earlier versions of iOS. So, there we go! The latest stats are in and it looks like iOS 12 is outpacing iOS 11 –within the same stretch of time– by at least ...

A new promotion at work is a solid way to start the New Year. Ebro Darden has been working as a Beats 1 host for quite some time, but, as reported by Billboard , he has recently been promoted to a bigger role at Apple Music. According to the publication, Darden is now the Global Editorial Head of Hip-Hop and R&B at the streaming music platform. With the new role, Darden will be tasked with heading the teams in both genres, cultivating editorial content for new releases. Darden will continue to host his “Ebro in the Morning” radio show on Hot 97 in New York City, which runs between 6:00 A.M. and 10:00 A.M. local time. Darden already has tasks in front of him, saying that he’s going to put a major focus on making sure consumers can find the music that they love: “First things first is making sure that we’re firing on all cylinders in the best way possible, helping consumers find the music that they love and also helping artists connect with consumers in a real...

The Apple Watch is a great smartwatch, and it’s also a fantastic device to keep tabs on your health. And now Apple is showcasing new stories on how that works for individuals out there in the real world. Apple has launched a brand new “Close Your Rings” page dedicated to the Apple Watch, and the stories that some owners have on how the wearable has impacted their life. The idea is to get inspiration to close your own rings, the colorful circles that can show you just how close you are to reaching specific caloric, standing, and movement goals. On the site, we can read and watch stories from Haley A., Jason L., Lucy L., Natsumi Y., Atilla K., Eric G., and Yocelin S. In the case of Natsumi, for instance, the Apple Watch is about finding a balance, and she talks about how the Breathe app, and the Apple Watch, has helped her be a better yoga instructor living in Tokyo, Japan: “Natsumi is a yoga instructor and model living in Tokyo. She uses the Yoga workout to close ...

The latest update to the popular Unc0ver jailbreak for iOS 11 – iOS 11.4 beta 3 adds a useful Re-Jailbreak feature which would make the life of jailbroken iPhone users easy if they end up installing a bad or incompatible tweak on their device.  The next time you install an incompatible tweak and your device ends up in a respring loop, you will be able to recover it without losing your jailbreak. This would be possible since you will still have root access to the system. Here’s how  Pwn20wnd has explained the feature: (You can also “re-jailbreak” without running the exploit if you (re-)jailbreak for once with “Export TFP0” on till you reboot although this basically gives every possible privilege on the system to every app and completely kills your security, you could use it in cases like, jailbreaking with “Load Tweaks” off and “Export TFP0” on, uninstalling a broken tweak, re-jailbreaking with “Load Tweaks” on and...

Roku has a large library of free content available, from TV shows and movies, but it looks like a bit of a premium mix is heading to the platform as well. TechCrunch has the report out this week that Roku is officially adding premium subscription content from a variety of sources. That includes Showtime, CuriosityStream, EPIX, Dropout from College Humor, Baeble Music, Magnolia Selects, Smithsonian, Fusion, Viewster Anime, Noggin, and several others. “Offering a centralized place to subscribe to paid content is a fairly significant change for Roku’s platform where, historically, viewers would download and add apps (“channels,” in Roku’s lingo) to their Roku homepage for each service they wanted to watch. Some of those channels require subscriptions, like Netflix and Hulu, while others offer free content.” This is a pretty big change for Roku and should align the company more in the likes of Hulu, Amazon Prime, and other options out there. Interestingly enough, it has also be...

Digital streaming services are leading the charge when it comes to music consumption these days, but that doesn’t mean that some folks out there don’t want something a bit more physical in their lives. That’s the case here, with designer Chris Patty building something pretty remarkable. It’s a small jukebox, custom-built by Patty for a holiday gift for his father. The family decided that they should give handmade gifts this year, and Patty saw a window to create something pretty special. The whole thing is deceptively simple, too: There’s a Raspberry Pi inside the box itself, and Patty created his own software to run on the hardware. Songs are stored locally on an SD card inside the box, and each one is pulled up when a custom-made swipeable card, with a magnetic stripe similar to a credit card, is swiped. Here, you can check it out in action in the video that Patty uploaded to Twitter: This year my family decided that each of our presents had to be handmad...

Remember the 17-year old  kid Xiao Wang who sold his kidney for around $3,000/RM 13,000 to buy an iPhone 4 and iPad ? His parents could not afford to buy an iPhone which prompted him to take this extreme step. Seven years later, things have not gone as planned for Wang. Wang struck a deal with a black market organ dealer to sell his kidney in return for some serious moolah. The operation was performed at an illegal underground hospital in Chenzhou, China. After the operation, Wang was told he’d return to his normal life after about a week. Sadly that never happened. The operation theatre and the equipment used were not sanitized properly which led Wang to develop an infection on his wound. Worse, Wang never revealed to his family that he had sold his kidney to buy an iPhone. It was only when he became terribly sick from the infection that his parents came to know about his deeds. Sadly, by the time he was taken to a hospital, it was too late as his kidney function had been severel...

Don’t get excited about hearing the news of an iOS 12 jailbreak tool being released with Flux since it is fake. Unc0ver developer team took to Twitter to confirm that the iOS 12 jailbreak tool is fake. Most jailbreaking teams tend to drop a major jailbreak release around Christmas/New Year. Many jailbroken users on iOS 11 were hoping for a possible iOS 12 jailbreak tool to release at the end of this year. It is this expectation that led to the fake tool being released. There’s a fake jailbreak for iOS 12 floating around. Don’t fall for it and stay away from iOS 12 if you care about jailbreaking. — Pwn20wnd (@Pwn20wnd) January 1, 2019 The said fake tool has already been removed. If you have already updated your jailbroken iOS 11 to iOS 12 in hopes to jailbreak it using the fake jailbreak tool, you are now going to be stuck using a non-jailbroken iPhone. With Apple no longer signing iOS 11.x releases  or even iOS 12.0.x releases, there’s no way to downgrade back to iOS 1...

With the iPhone X in 2017, Apple launched a smartphone that was ahead of its time. In 2018, Apple only made some basic improvements to that same formula and launched the iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max. While some of these improvements are notable, they are overall very iterative in nature. Apple follows a tick-tock policy where a major iPhone release is followed by an ‘s’ refresh that focuses on speed and camera. The iPhone XS was no different. But 2019 needs to be different. With smartphone sales slowing down and heavy competition from Chinese OEMs, Apple simply cannot afford to sit back and release another iterative iPhone upgrade in 2019. For the 2019 iPhones, there’s are a lot of areas that Apple can improve upon. The rapid pace of innovation and development of Chinese OEMs means that Apple no longer enjoys a technological lead that it had earlier. I am not talking about the usual upgrades like improved camera and processor. They are a given with every iPhone refre...

Desperately looking for a last minute New Year gift for your loved one? How about an iTunes gift card? Walmart is running a deal on a $50 iTunes gift card where it is offering it for only $40.  The gift card will be delivered over email within a few hours of your order being processed. This deal will last only until stocks last so make sure to pull the trigger as soon as possible. You can use an iTunes gift card towards  app  purchases on the iOS App Store. Additionally, it can also be used for purchases in the iBooks Store, and the iTunes Store towards your purchase of music, movies, and more. You can also use the iTunes gift card towards an Apple Music subscription which would essentially help you score a subscription to the music streaming service at a discount. You can use an iTunes gift card towards  app  purchases on the iOS App Store. Additionally, it can also be used for purchases in the iBooks Store, and the iTunes Store towards your purchase of music, movies, and more. You ca...

While Apple’s AirPower is nowhere in sight, we have seen quite a few Qi wireless chargers hit the market that can charge the Apple Watch and an iPhone simultaneously. AT&T seems to be working on a similar accessory as per an FCC filing. An FCC filing from AT&T shows the carrier working on the Power Drum Wireless Charger. As the images show, the Power Drum is capable of charging the Apple Watch and an iPhone at the same time. It even comes with a 3,000mAh battery and is capable of Qi wireless charging a device at up to 10W. The Power Drum definitely seems like a handy gadget to have especially if you own an Apple Watch and an iPhone. The integrated battery makes it an ideal device to carry while traveling, though the 3,000mAh battery inside is not going to be enough to fully charge an iPhone XS Max and an Apple Watch at one go. The retail box documentation in the FCC filing only mentions support for Apple Watch Series 1-3, though there’s no reason ...

Following other analysts, Citi Research analyst William Yang has slashed the first-quarter production estimates of Apple’s 2019 iPhones due to weakening global smartphone sales. The analyst now believes that Apple will ship 45 million iPhones in Q1 2019, down by 5 million. He notes that the iPhone XS Max will be the one to see its sales fall considerably, with its shipment expected to decline by as much as 48 percent in Q1 2019. Yang is cutting the forecast for the new iPhones because they are “entering a destocking phase, which does not bode well for the supply chain.” Almost all reputed analyst have slashed their iPhone sales forecast by 5-10 million due to a fall in demand. They now expect Apple to sell anywhere between 38-45 million iPhone units in Q1 2019. There have been reports of Apple asking its suppliers to cut down on iPhone XS and iPhone XR orders  due to weak demand. The weak iPhone sales have even forced Apple to offer attractive trade-in discounts in a ...