🍎 Secret spot to hide pics: On an iPhone, use the Notes app. Open the pic in your Photos app, tap the share icon and select Add to Quick Note. Then, go into the note you want to protect, tap the three-dot icon in the upper-right corner, and choose Lock.

📱 Update your iPhone now: Apple iOS 18.2, the update that superpowers Siri with AI, also fixes 21 security issues. That includes a major flaw in Apple’s Passwords app. Still on iOS 17? There’s a fix for you, too. Go to Settings > General > Software Update.

Improve your Mac’s display: Click the Apple menu > System Settings, then scroll to Displays on the sidebar. Click the pop-up menu for Color profile > Customize and hit the + (plus icon) to open Display Calibrator Assistant. Picture-perfect.

Use an Apple Watch? Make sure Fall Detection is turned on so you can get help if there’s an emergency. On your iPhone, open the Watch app, tap the My Watch tab > Emergency SOS. From here, you can choose Always on or Only on during workouts. Pick Always on.

🔴 How to record a call on your iPhone: It’s built into iOS 18.1. During a call, hit the Start Call Recording button. (It’s not a secret — you and everyone else on the call will get an audio notification.) To stop recording, tap the Stop button or hang up. Recordings are automatically saved to a Call Recordings folder in your Notes app. Neato!

Try this, Mac friends: Hit Option + Cmd + L to quickly open your Downloads folder. If your browser is active, it’ll show your latest browser downloads. Nice.

I know I opened my iPhone for a reason: If you accidentally delete an item from your Reminders app, you can still recover it! Open the app and select Recently Deleted. Find your note, then choose Move To so it goes back to where it was before. Don’t forget: You can only recover reminders deleted within the last 30 days. Now, what was I doing again?

Are you still watching? (No, I dozed off five episodes ago.) Set a timer to avoid unexpected time jumps. For iPhone, open the Clock app > Timer > When Timer Ends and scroll to Stop Playing so Netflix will close when the time expires.

📏 Resize your iPhone apps: Want bigger or smaller app icons? Long-press on the home screen, tap Edit in the upper left corner, then hit Customize. A menu will pop up — choose Small for compact icons or Large for bigger ones. FYI: Selecting Large hides the app names for a cleaner look.

A trio of Mac quick tips: If you don’t know, now you do! 1.) Click a file and press the spacebar to preview it, 2.) Click an open spot on your desktop to pull all your open windows to the sides, and 3.) Hit the Option key any time you have a menu open to see hidden options.

🕵️ The case of the missing Edit button: The Edit button in your iPhone Photos app was last seen in the upper-right corner before a recent iOS 18 update. Now, it’s at the bottom of the screen between the Info (i) and Trash icons. The icon looks like three stacked sliders. Apple probably thinks this is more user-friendly, but I beg to differ.

Anyone can be a math whiz: iPhone’s new Math Notes tool is neat. Open the Calculator app, tap the calculator icon (bottom right corner) and choose Math Notes from the dropdown menu. Say you’re traveling overseas and need to convert the temperature. Write 30 Celsius = and it’ll autofill the Fahrenheit temp for you. This tool works with anything math-related!

Before you text asking for a second date: Use Apple Intelligence’s new proofreading tool to catch embarrassing mistakes on an iPhone 15 Pro or Pro Max or any iPhone 16 model. Highlight your message, then press Writing Tools > Proofread. This works in any text-based app, like your email, Notes or social media.

Be an insider: TestFlight is Apple’s tool for anyone who wants to try apps before they hit the App Store. It’s perfect for beta testers who love being the first to explore new features, whether you’re on an iPhone, iPad or Mac, or using an Apple TV or even the Vision Pro.

Not too loud, not too low: Set your iPhone’s media and ringtone volumes separately so they sound just right. Fun trick: Click this link to add a custom command to your Shortcuts app. Now, open Shortcuts and search for Adjust Volume. Tap Share > Add to Home Screen > Home > Adjust Volume and set the levels how you’d like. Now your music won’t blast your eardrums and your ringtone will be loud enough to hear from down the block.

Apple’s AI wall tablet: They’re getting into the smart-home controls business to compete with Amazon, Crestron and Google. Using Apple’s AI tablet, you’ll be able to control your locks, lights, sprinklers, speakers and other appliances. Audio and video intercoms are included, too. ETA? March 2025 at the earliest.

New to the Apple App Store: Google Gemini for iPhone. The AI chatbot has a leg up on ChatGPT in one big way: It links to Google apps like Mail, Maps, Calendar and YouTube. Open the Gemini for iPhone app, tap your profile icon at the top right corner and select Extensions. Toggle on any apps you want to link all in one place.

iPhone pro tip: Apple’s Shortcuts app lets you automate actions with just one click. The sky’s the limit — for example, you can set up navigating to an event on your calendar, shrinking screenshots to save space and auto-sending happy birthday messages to your favorite people. Here’s a full guide on how to use it.

I’ve been using Distraction Control (circled in red above) in the latest version of Safari on my Mac. It really works! It lets you hide whatever you want on a webpage — images, headlines and videos. If it’s distracting, make it disappear with a click.

iPad keyboard trick: ​​When you need to type with one hand, switch to the floating keyboard. Then, all you have to do is pinch in with two fingers on the onscreen keyboard to shrink it. Move it wherever you want, and type away. To go back to normal, pinch out.