iPhone

Install the Find My from the App Store. Enable “Find My [device]”. If your device is lost, open the Find My app on another Apple device associated with you or go to iCloud.com/find on a web browser. Select the device you want to locate.

Table of Contents

• Check Compatibility
• Enable Find My
• Set Up Family Sharing (Optional)
• Locate Your Device
• Play Sound (If Nearby)
• Directions
• Mark As Lost
• Erase Device (If Necessary)
• Disable Find My (If Selling Or Giving Away Device)

Check Compatibility

Ensure your device is compatible with Find My. Generally, this includes iPhones, iPads, Macs, Apple Watches, and AirPods running the latest iOS, iPadOS, or macOS versions. As of this writing, Find My is compatible with iPhone iOS 14.0 or laters, iPad iPadOS 14.0 or later, iPod iOS 14.0 or later and Apple Watch watchOS 7.0 or later.

Enable Find My

If not already installed, download the Find My app from the App Store.

Recommend that you install this on multiple Apple devices, ex – iPhone and iPad. This way, you can simply access the Find My app from a device that you have in your possession should you lose or misplace the other device. Regardless, you can still use iCloud to find your phone if you don’t install Find My app on multiple devices.

Go to Settings on your device.
Tap on your name at the top.
Tap on “Find My”.
Toggle on “Find My [device]” on. Toggle “Find My network” on.
If prompted, enable “Send Last Location” to help locate your device even if the battery is critically low.

Set Up Family Sharing (Optional)

If you want to use Find My with family members’ devices, set up Family Sharing in your iCloud settings. This allows you to locate family members’ devices under your account.

Locate Your Device

Open the Find My app on another Apple device or go to iCloud.com/find on a web browser.

For example, here is the Find My app on my Mac computer. I searched for the “Find My” app on my Mac computer then opened the app.

As you can see, the Apple devices I have are all happily with me 🙂

Play Sound (If Nearby)

If your device is nearby and connected to the internet, you can make it play a sound to help locate it.

Directions

Click “Directions…” and a map will pop up showing the location of you device.

Mark As Lost

Use with caution. If you click “Mark As Lost…” then you will receive a notification when the location of the device becomes available, no one can use your iPhone, a passcode is required to unlock, your payment cards will be suspended as a safety precaution, a message and number can be displayed for the person who finds your device.

Erase Device (If Necessary)

If you’re unable to recover your device, you can remotely erase all data on it to protect your privacy. This action will also deactivate Apple Pay and other services on the device.

Disable Find My (If Selling Or Giving Away Device)

Before selling or giving away your device, make sure to disable Find My. Go to Settings > [Your Name] > Find My > Find My [Device], then toggle off Find My [Device]. You may be required to enter your Apple ID password.

Add a contact to the iPhone home screen by tapping and holding the iPhone screen. Click the plus button in the upper left corner. Scroll down to contacts. Choose the contact or contacts and click Add Widget.

Table of Contents

• Tap The Home Screen
• Click The Plus Button
• Choose Contact Or Contacts
• Add Widget
• Bonus: One Contact Buttons

Tap The Home Screen

Tap and hold the home screen until all of the apps on your screen start wiggling.

Click The Plus Button

Click the plus button in the upper left corner of the iPhone screen.

Scroll down to “Contacts” and tap contacts.

Choose Contact Or Contacts

You have the options to add either one, three (or four) or six contacts.

Note well that the more contacts you choose, the more space on your home screen is taken up.

I recommend no more than 3. If you choose just one contact to add you have the ability to add some buttons to make contacting that particular person even easier.

Add Widget

Click Add Widget.

While the widgets on your iPhone home screen are still wiggling, tap on the contact you just edit.

Now you have the option to change the contact that you want.

Bonus: One Contact Buttons

If you chose one contact, then you have another option.

Just below the option to choose a contact is the ability to add buttons. Those buttons allow you either call or message quickly.

Save iPhone battery by turning off system services.

Table of Contents

• What Are System Services
• How to Access System Services
• Which System Services To Turn Off To Save Battery
• Video

What Are System Services

Backing up a little bit… system services are part of location services. So you want to ask, what are location services?

From Apple:

Location Services allows Apple and third-party apps and websites to gather and use information based on the current location of your iPhone or Apple Watch to provide a variety of location-based services. 

From an iPhone battery perspective, providing that capability takes some battery juice.

Some of the system services that are enabled as a result of location services include:

• Routing and Traffic: While in transit (e.g., walking or driving), your iPhone sends GPS data, travel speed, direction, and barometric pressure anonymously and encrypted to Apple. Data is used to enhance crowd-sourced traffic, roadway, pedestrian walkway, and atmospheric databases. Opening an app near a point of interest sends location data anonymously to Apple, aiding in indicating if the point of interest is open and its busyness.
• Significant Locations: iPhones and iCloud-connected devices track visited places, frequency, and timing. Data is end-to-end encrypted and used for personalized services like predictive traffic routing and Memories in Photos.
• Suggestions & Search: iPhone location is sent to Apple for relevant recommendations. Disabling Location Services prevents precise location sharing. IP address may be used for approximate location matching for search suggestions and news.
• Alerts & Shortcuts Automations: iPhones and Apple Watches use location for geographically relevant alerts and recommendations. Examples include reminders, departure alerts, and app recommendations based on current location.
• Share My Location: Users can share current location temporarily or continuously through certain apps like Messages and Find My.
• HomeKit: iPhone uses location to control accessories upon arrival or departure from specific locations (e.g., turning on lights upon returning home).
• System Customization: iPhones customize appearance, behaviors, and settings based on current location (e.g., enabling Optimized Battery Charging at home).
• Apple Pay Merchant Identification: iPhone uses current location for accurate merchant identification during Apple Card transactions.
• Emergency Calls & SOS: iPhones and Apple Watches provide supplementary data to emergency services during emergency calls. Emergency SOS triggers location sharing with emergency contacts post-call.

How to Access System Services

On the iPhone, go to Settings > Privacy & Security > Location Services (at the top) > System Services (at the bottom).

Which System Services To Turn Off To Save Battery

… and protect your privacy.

Payette Forward has an excellent video that makes recommendations and gives the reason why to keep or disable the following system services.

Listed below are the recommendations and if the reason is for extended battery life, privacy or both.

For battery, yes means that the service uses a lot of battery. For privacy, yes means that it reveals your privacy. On / Off is the recommendation for the service.

Service	Battery	Privacy	On/Off
Alerts & Shortcuts Automations	Yes	No	Off
Apple Pay Merchant Identification	Yes	–	Off
Cell Network Search	Yes	Yes	Off
Compass Calibration	–	–	On
Device Management	–	Yes	Off
Emergency Calls & SOS	–	Yes	On
Find My iPhone	–	–	On
HomeKit	Yes	–	Off
Motion Calibration & Distance	–	–	Off
Networking & Wireless	–	Yes	Off*
Satellite Connection iPhone 14+	–	–	On
Setting Time Zone	Yes	–	Off
Share My Location	Yes	Yes	On
Sharing.framework	–	–	Off
Suggestions & Search	Yes	Yes	Off
System Customization	–	–	On
Wi-Fi Calling	–	Yes	Off
Significant Locations	Yes	Yes	Off*
iPhone Analytics	–	Yes	Off
Routing & Traffic	–	Yes	Off
Improve Maps	–	Yes	Off

Video

Open the Messages app on your iPhone and choose the group chat where you want to add someone. Tap the group name at the top. Tap the button near the bottom that shows the people in the message thread. Tap “Add Contact”. Add the new person. Boom 💥

Table of Contents

• Find The Message
• Add Another Person
• Not A Group Thread

Find The Message

Choose the message you want to add someone to. Tap the group name at the top.

Add Another Person

Go down to the section that shows who is already in the conversation (that has the right arrow >). Tap that.

Then tap the “Add Contact” option and add one or more people to the conversation.

Not A Group Thread

How do you add a person or people to a one-on-one iPhone message conversation?

You don’t.

You start a new thread with all of the people you want to include.

You can have the Shazam app on your iPhone identify music playing by simply telling Siri to Shazama it while music is playing.

Table of Contents

• Download Shazam
• Shazam It
• But wait, there is more...

Download Shazam

Go to the App Store on your iPhone and download the Shazam app.

You can use the search capability in the App Store app to find Shazam.

Shazam It

Tell Siri what you want. Hey Siri, Shazam it.

Just make sure that the music you want to identify is near your phone and in a few seconds Shazam will tell you about the song that is currently playing.

But wait, there is more…

What if you are not friendly with Siri, what do you do?

Do it the old fashion way.

Open the Shazam app on your iPhone.

The first time you open the app you will likely be prompted to allow Shazam to access your microphone. You have to say yes for this to work.

At this point, do what Shazam says Tap to Shazam.

Shazam will go to work and likely let you know what song you are listening to in a matter of a few seconds.

Display the iPhone’s percentage of battery charge left. From the settings of your phone you can toggle on / off the percentage of battery charge left.

Table of Contents

• Battery Charge Amount
• Battery Charge Percentage
• Large Battery Charge Percentage

Battery Charge Amount

In the upper right hand corner of the iPhone screen is a battery charge indicator.

You can have it display an icon of a battery with a visual indication of how much charge is left. Or you can have it display the percentage of how much charge is left.

Battery Charge Percentage

To display the battery charge percentage, go to the settings on your iPhone, then to Battery, then toggle the Battery Percentage on (green) to display the percentage.

Large Battery Charge Percentage

You can have a larger view of the battery charge percentage by placing your finger on the battery indicator in the upper right hand corner.

Let’s get started by first enabling FaceTime on your iPhone.

• First, Go to Settings > FaceTime, then turn on FaceTime.
• If you want to be able to take Live Photos during FaceTime calls, turn on FaceTime Live Photos.
• Enter your phone number, Apple ID, or email address to use with FaceTime, then set your caller ID.

On models with Dual SIM, to change the phone number you use for FaceTime, go to Settings > Messages > iMessage & FaceTime Line, then choose a line.

Note: You can use only one of your phone numbers at a time for iMessage and FaceTime. Your other number can’t send or receive messages using iMessage, or make or receive FaceTime calls.

Table of Contents

• How To Make A FaceTime Call
• Record A Video Message Instead
• Leaving A Message
• FaceTime Calling From Message Conversation
• Group FaceTime Call
• Add another person to a call
• Join a Group FaceTime call

How To Make A FaceTime Call

Now that we’re done setting up FaceTime, it’s time to make a call.

In FaceTime, click or tap the Add Button at the top right. This will prompt an entry field where you can type the number you want to call. After that simply tap the video to make a video call and tap the audio to make an audio call.

If the person you want to call is from your contact, you can also tap the Add Contact button to open your Contacts and select the recipient from there.

Record A Video Message Instead

In case the person you’re trying to reach does not answer, you can always record a video message to send.

• To record a video message simply:
  Tap the Record Video button, wait for the countdown (5 to 1), then record your message.
• When done with your video message, tap the Up Arrow button to send. You can also tap the Retake button to record a new message instead.
• Upon sending the message, the recipient will be notified.

Note: You can only receive video messages from saved contacts, people you’ve called or from people suggested by Siri.

Leaving A Message

There’s a chance that the person you’re trying to call is unable to answer, you can always to one of the following:

• Tap Leave a Message
• Tap Cancel to cancel the call.
• Tap Call Back to try calling back.

FaceTime Calling From Message Conversation

Let’s say you’re messaging someone and have the urge to suddenly call and have a chat. In the Messages conversation, tap the profile picture or the name of the person then tap FaceTime

Note: You can also choose between a FaceTime Video or FaceTime Audio for the call.

Group FaceTime Call

Now, say that you want to have a chat with multiple recipients, you can:

• Tap the “+” button in FaceTime at the top right corner.
• Type the names or numbers of the people you want to add or have the option to add people from your Contacts.
• Tap the Video button to make a video call or the Audio button for an audio call.

Note: Each participant appears in a tile on the screen. When a participant speaks, or you tap the tile, that tile moves to the front and becomes more prominent. Tiles that can’t fit on the screen appear in a row at the bottom. To find a participant you don’t see, swipe through the row. (The participant’s initials may appear in the tile if an image isn’t available.)

Add another person to a call

During a group call, anyone from all the participants are able to add another person at any time during the FaceTime call. To do this:

• Tap the screen to open the controls then swipe up to see the Add person button then tap.
• Type the name, Apple ID or number of the person you wish to add to the group call.
• Then tap the Add Person to FaceTime.

Join a Group FaceTime call

If someone is inviting you to join a Group FaceTime call, you will see the incoming call display. Simply tap the Join or Accept to join the Call. Should you wish to decline, you will receive a notification that you can tap to join at any time while the Group Facetime call is active.

In the iPhone Settings, go to the Display & Brightness settings and adjust the Text Size and Display Zoom. Here is how to do this…

Table of Contents

• Font Size On iPhone
• Increase Font Size On iPhone

Font Size On iPhone

Here is the difference between the default settings and settings that will increase the font size on your iPhone.

Side by side, these two screenshots of a text message conversation make it clear the difference between the default font size settings and adjusted font size.

• Default font size allows for more content to show on the screen.
• Increased font size allows you to more easily read what is on the screen even without glasses.

Increase Font Size On iPhone

There are a couple of things to adjust to increase the font size on the iPhone: Text Size and Display Zoom.

Text Size

Go to you iPhone settings, scroll down till you find Display & Brightness. Tap Display & Brightness. Scroll down to Text Size and tap that.

At the bottom of the screen, slide your finger along the bar. There are 11 different choices – smallest on the left, largest on the right. My suggestion is to move the marker on the slider to the 7th position from the left. This will result in a larger font size. Go ahead and slide it all the way to the right and tell me that is not too big 😁.

The image on the left is with the text size at the fourth position (smaller) and the image on the right is the text size at the seventh position (larger).

Display Zoom

Go back to Settings > Display & Brightness. Scroll down to the bottom and tap the Display Zoom option.

The image below on the left shows the text message conversation with increased text size and default Display Zoom. The image on the right is with increased text size and larger text Display Zoom.

In my observation, the larger text size combined with the display zoom setting to larger text makes it that much easier to read your iPhone – especially if you forget your glasses!

You can scan text to your phone into the Notes app on your iPhone.

Table of Contents

• Open Notes
• AutoFill
• What Else?

Open Notes

To start, open the Notes app on your iPhone or iPad.

To create a new note, tap on the pen icon in the bottom right corner.

AutoFill

Tap once on the screen and then tap AutoFill.

Choose Scan Text.

Move the camera up and down until the text you want to scan is highlighted.

Click insert.

What Else?

The scanning capability built into the Notes app on the iPhone and iPad allows you to scan in:

• Addresses
• URLs
• Phone numbers

Notes is smart enough to link to the information you scan in, ex – a url gets hyperlinked so you can click the link and visit the website. Phone numbers are linked so when you click the phone number a call is made.

You can block Spam Messages to your IPhone by selecting tapping the sender’s information at the top of the screen, tap the info button, scroll to the bottom and click Block Caller.

Table of Contents

• Select the message
• Tap the phone number
• Block caller
• Unblock caller

Select the message

Open a message from the sender you want to block.

It might be tempting to click the Report Junk link. Don’t. It simply reports the message as junk and doesn’t prevent the unwanted sender from messaging you again.

Tap the phone number

Instead, at the top of the screen, tap the sender’s profile picture (if there is one) or the phone number.

This effectively takes you to a screen where you can ‘edit’ (or block) the sender.

Tap the info button.

Block caller

Scroll down to the bottom of the screen and there in red will be the option to Block Caller.

For whatever reason, the wording changes from Block Caller to Block Contact. You will need to click the Block Contact option to confirm your request.

Once that is cone you will not receive phone calls, messages, or FaceTime from people on the block list.

Unblock caller

Oops. What do you do if you want to unblock a caller?

Just the opposite. Find the message, tap the phone number, tap info, scroll to the bottom and click Unblock Caller.

If you no longer have the message, instead go to Settings > Messages > Blocked Contacts > Find the phone number or contact you want to unblock > swipe right on that contact’s information and tap Unblock.