It happens to everyone, eventually: You’ll be watching a commercial, sitting down at a stadium or strolling through the grocery. And that song playing overhead will stop you in your tracks. You know this tune, but the name will elude you. What’s that song they’re playing? You’ve just got to know! Good thing you have … Read more
Wi-Fi Calling is a commonplace function, built into most smartphones by now. But as ubiquitous as it is, I still meet people unfamiliar with it, or suffering without it. So here’s all you need to know about Wi-Fi Calling: The Basics Wi-Fi Calling (rarely called Voice over Wi-Fi calling or VoWiFi) is another service that … Read more
Smartphones offer you an important tool for hiding photos on your phone. Whether you have an Android or an iPhone, you should consider using this function! For Android users: Google gives you the ability to securely stash photos in the Locked Folder, in the Google Photos app. Here’s a simple Google article on how you … Read more
Everyday, I see this posted to social media: “I found someone’s phone, anyone know whose it is?” And it rarely works. It can’t hurt to crowdsource the request, but please know that you should first check the found phone for Emergency Info. The following screen may reveal one or more Emergency Contacts. Tap on an … Read more
Tech jargon is confusing enough as it is. But then some geniuses had to go and name two completely different technologies the same thing. Not helpful…. I’m referring to the label “5G”, which can be used regarding your home Wi-Fi or with cellphones. I continue to find that people conflate the two technologies when they … Read more
iPhones Most iPhones have a largely unknown feature called Back Tap. If you turn on this special ability, Back Tap will let you trigger an app or function when you tap the back of your iPhone. Back Tap can open Settings, or the Facebook app, or your Camera, whatever you yoke it to. It’s like … Read more
Creating QR codes is easy and free for anyone! There are plenty of sites where you can make your own QR code for free, and download/save/print it immediately: QR Code Generator QR Code Monkey My WiFi Sign Explore these sites and learn all the possibilities for creating QR codes. You can make a WiFi poster … Read more
The title says it all, but I’ll go into more detail: When you see a QR code in public, use your cellphone’s camera. You can immediate scan QR codes with your phone’s camera to see what info lay inside! If you open your camera and point it at a QR code, the camera software can … Read more
You’ve probably seen people paying with their phones or watches, instead of using cards or cash. Instead of inserting a plastic card, they wave their mobile device over the reader, as if they were performing a magic trick. And it is kind of magical! This type of payment is called a “contactless payment”, and it … Read more
There’s a lot of news about the powerful spyware named Pegasus. And it is some nasty stuff, being able to infect a phone without anyone clicking anything! You can read about some basics about Pegasus here. Unfortunately, this is one of those news topics where the media can be more inciteful than insightful. For example, … Read more