iPhone Alley - Tips and Tricks

Quickly Cut, Copy, Paste Entire Paragraphs

Darren Beckett — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 14:03:08 -0400

It's well documented that when editing text on the iPhone you can double-tap to quickly select a word for copy and paste. But there's an undocumented feature that also lets you quickly select an entire paragraph. Quadruple-tapping on any editable text highlights the entire paragraph, not just the single word. It might take a little practice to get it just right, but after only a couple tries it becomes much faster than double-tap-dragging to select a block of text. This feature only works when editing text, so don't expect it to work while in Safari or other apps.

Get Travel Times Based on Traffic in Google Maps

Michael Johnston — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 21:33:26 -0400

Even though there are plenty of great navigation apps in the App Store, Google Maps on the iPhone is still one of the best ways to get basic navigation info. I especially like it because it gives me a good idea of how long it'll take to get to a destination. However, in some cases it'll be necessary to get travel times with current traffic conditions factored in. To do this, simply enable the "Show Traffic" option before requesting directions, and traffic will be factored in. If it's working, you should see your estimated travel time followed by the words "with traffic."

Bonus tip; if you've already requested directions but forgot to enable traffic, simply enable it, tap "Edit," then "Route," and Maps should recalculate based on traffic. Enjoy!

Improve Readability of Small Sites on the iPhone

Darren Beckett — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 19:30:39 -0500

As great as Mobile Safari is, there are times when a web site is formatted poorly, and it is just too difficult to read comfortably on the iPhone. Enter Readability, a free and easy to use bookmarket that will reformat any web site, making it much more enjoyable on your small screen. There are three simple options: Style, which include options like newspaper or eBook; Size, from extra small to extra large; Margin, extra narrow to extra large. After you specify your preferred reading format, add the bookmarklet to your bookmarks. The next time you're browsing a page you simply tap on your bookmarklet and the site is instantly reformatted to your preferred style.

iPhone Basics: Enable and Use Caps Lock

Michael Johnston — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 21:24:03 -0500

While the usage of caps lock is generally reserved for comment trolls and confused old folks, it can be very useful when used responsibly. The iPhone does have a caps lock mode built in, but it's disabled by default. To enable it, go to Settings > General > Keyboard and turn on "Enable Caps Lock." Now whenever you need to type in all caps, simply double-tap the shift key to engage caps lock.

Additionally, you can also use this method to enable CHOCK LOCK MODE OK.

Syncing Apps: How To Select All/Select None

Michael Johnston — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 10:30:00 -0500

By now most of you have probably accumulated a ton of apps, but you don't want every one of them to sync to your iPhone. You have it set up the way you want it now, but if you restore or sync a new device, iTunes will try to sync every app you have.

So the easiest solution is likely to deselect all of the apps you have an manually select the ones you want synced. To do this, go to the applications sync tab in iTunes and command-click (control-click on Windows) the checkbox next to an app. This will tell iTunes to uncheck every app, not just the individual app you clicked on. From there you can check the apps you want. It works in reverse too, but for this example we're assuming you don't want to select them all. Enjoy!

iPhone Basics: Download Movies & TV Shows Right On Your iPhone

Michael Johnston — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 09:30:00 -0500

You know that iTunes app on your home screen? Some people completely ignore it while others sometimes use it to download music and podcasts. What you might have forgotten though is that you can actually rent and download movies, TV shows, and music videos over the air, right from your iPhone.

Yes, this is definitely a "no duh" for some of you, but I'm betting that quite a few of you totally forgot about this feature. And while I tend to agree with David Lynch about watching movies on your iPhone, it'll certainly do in a pinch.

How To Fix Broken or Crashing iPhone Apps

Michael Johnston — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 10:30:33 -0500

Anyone who's had an iPhone or iPod touch for a while knows that sometimes apps just stop working. In some cases a single app will stop working while the rest seem just fine. The first step is reboot your phone, but sometimes that doesn't work. In that case, the solution is generally to delete the app from your iPhone and the re-download it.

However, in some rare instances, all of your third-party iPhone apps can stop working, even after a reboot. I'm not 100% sure why this happens, but it seems to be an issue with the FairPlay DRM database becoming corrupted. I've found that the best solution is to download another app from the App Store.

Fix The "Verifying iPhone" Issue In iTunes

Michael Johnston — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 11:30:40 -0500

I recently ran into an issue where my iPhone would take an inordinate amount of time to sync but I couldn't figure out why. The step it always seemed to hang up on was "Verifying iPhone," but why? After doing a bit of investigating, I found out that this step is actually a part of iTunes' backup process. So to solve the problem, I deleted all of my iPhone backups under the "Devices" tab in the iTunes preferences. After doing a full backup, my iPhone syncs nice and fast!

Enjoy!

Watch And Listen To Large iTunes Podcasts Over 3G (or EDGE)

Michael Johnston — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 11:00:00 -0500

You've been able to directly download podcasts on your iPhone for quite some time now, but to download anything over 10MB requires that you be connected to WiFi. However, it's incredibly easy to get around this arbitrary limit. Instead of tapping the "download" button on a podcast, simply tap the episode. Your iPhone will begin playing it right away, completely ignoring the limit. If you're streaming audio, you can continue listening even if you exit the iTunes app.

Enjoy!

iPhone Basics: Triple-Click Your Earbuds To Go To The Previous Song

Michael Johnston — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 10:30:22 -0500

One of the great things about the iPhone is that its headphones come with a handy little microphone with an integrated button. The button of course allows you to answer and end calls, as well as play and pause your music. You've also been able to double-click them to skip to the next song, but in iPhone 3.0 you can actually triple-click to rewind and go back to the previous track! It's a little tough to do at first, but it's a handy little addition that's sure to help out with your daily iPhone use. Enjoy!