iPhone launches are always subject to intense speculation, followed by a big media explosion. When Apple announced not one but three new iPhones in September 2017, that was news enough. The fact that one of the new iPhones, the iPhone X (iPhone 10), a tenth anniversary model, was going to be the most expensive handset to date, and actually cost over £1,000, made the news wires hum around the world. There are many innovations associated with the iPhone X, which is being hailed as the template for all future mobile phones over the next 10 years. Physically, the iPhone X has been described as ‘all screen’, as the 5.8” OLED front screen extends across almost all of the front of the phone. The screen is surrounded by a band of stainless steel, and there is no Home button. The phone is unlocked by ‘FaceID’ face recognition, and the functions of the old Home button are located on a digital bar on the bottom end of the screen.

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Apple bring out shiny new versions of iPhone and other devices every year, and they are always desirable (and expensive). If you have recently decided to take the plunge and buy yourself a new iPhone, and you didn’t part-exchange your old model, what can you do with it? Here are a few suggestions, some of which you may have thought of, and some of which may give you some good ideas:

Trade-in or sell your iPhone

This makes sense if you want to recoup some of the cost of your new iPhone, and if you didn’t do a trade-in at the time of purchase, there are many people out there who will give you a fair price to buy your used iPhone. These include many members of the iTechnician network, and you can trust them to treat you fairly, so get yourself a quote for a cash deal. The older the iPhone model, the lower the price you will get for it generally, so move quickly if you want to maximise the price. By the way, the very earliest iPhone models will eventually become collector’s items, so if you bought your iPhone early in the 2000s, it may be worth more money some day, and therefore be worth keeping.

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Did you know that there are more ways than one of getting your smartphone repaired? Members of the iTechnician network are specialists in the repair and upgrade of all sorts of Apple products, from iPhones through iPods, iPads, MacBooks and Apple Mac computers. However, not every mobile phone is an iPhone, which is where our sister site, PhoneMend, comes into its own.

Like iTechnician, PhoneMend is a UK-wide network of independent mobile phone repair experts. Highly skilled, versatile and committed to customer care, they can repair practically any mobile phone problem, and they cover all the major manufacturers. PhoneMend members tell us that their most frequently requested services involve iPhone and Samsung Galaxy screens, and other general repairs, but their skills don’t end there. PhoneMend members diagnose and repair faults on a huge variety of different types of smartphone devices.

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Apple devices have a reputation for being power-hungry, and a daily charge is routine for most users. It’s really useful to have a spare charger available at home, at the office or anywhere else you spend time, and you may have been tempted to take advantage of some bargain offers that are available through online shopping sites. Be warned, however, that many of these chargers are fakes, and what’s more, they are dangerous fakes. Trading Standards have investigated these ‘bargain’ chargers following complaints from Apple that the market was being flooded with Apple-branded counterfeit items. Out of 400 so-called Apple chargers that they purchased online, in various parts of the world, only 3 were found to be capable of passing basic safety tests.

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According to recent research, over two-thirds of the UK population now own a smartphone, and they are taking over the role previously fulfilled by laptops and tablets – emails and surfing the net. We can’t be certain exactly how many of the smartphones are actually iPhones, but I recently read some figures which estimated that there may be about 12 million iPhones owners here. However, how many of the iPhones are actually used to make voice calls? Well, it appears that since 2013, when around 95% of smartphone users made at least one voice call a week, this has now dropped to 75% and is continuing to drop. On the face of it, it seems odd that one quarter of the people who own a smartphone don’t actually use it to make phone calls.

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We don’t all have the time or inclination to learn a new language, so what if you want to go abroad for a holiday, and you don’t understand the language of your chosen country? You can play it safe, and go to a resort where everyone is likely to be able to understand each other, avoiding the need for special language preparations before you go. This works for lots of people, but the problem is that you end up spending most of your time in the company of other UK residents, in a restricted environment. You certainly don’t get to experience very much of the real flavour of the country, or get know the local people and their customs. You are totally in the hands of the resort reps and their choice of entertainment. If you want to get out and about and see the real country, you will need help with translation. In the past, the only real answer was a phrase book, which can’t possibly cover all eventualities, so thank goodness for iPhone translator apps. Continue reading →

After much discussion and many rumours, the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus were finally launched, and all the early adopters were queueing up to get their hands on this latest and greatest iPhone. As usual, when Apple launch a new product, the previous version drops a little in price. Since the iPhone 7 looks very similar to the iPhone 6s, which is still for sale, and is now available at a lower price, many people are asking if it’s worthwhile to buy the new model, or settle for the older one and avoid spending an extra £100.

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Gaming is absorbing and fun, and research has shown that playing electronic games on a computer or an iPhone can sharpen your reflexes and increase your brain activity – that’s got to be good hasn’t it? Well, yes and no – mobile gaming is so absorbing, that people are getting injured because they are paying too much attention to their smartphones while they’re out and about, and they don’t notice where they are walking. They can unexpectedly step off pavements into the road, collide with fellow pedestrians, walk into cyclists and even under car wheels, and people have been seriously injured in collisions. This is nothing new – people have been ‘mobile walking’ as the phenomenon has been called, ever since mobile phones were invented, but the situation has got worse since probably the most absorbing mobile game of all – Pokémon Go – came to the UK. Continue reading →

There are very many reasons why you might want to block a caller on your iPhone, and an equally large number of reasons why someone else might want to block you. You may have had a slight disagreement, in which case the block may only be temporary, or one of you might have more serious grounds for breaking off communications. Putting aside the reasons for the block, what do you do if you need to contact someone in an emergency, and they have blocked your phone number on their iPhone? Well, there are a few ways, but please understand, this really is for emergency use only, and not an excuse to make nuisance calls or to harass someone who has reasons for not wanting to talk to you.

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Did you know that Apple was originally a three-person collaboration? The company was formed by a partnership of Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, but there was a third person involved right at the beginning – his name is Ronald G Wayne. At the time of Apple’s formation, Ronald Wayne was aged 41, and was working with Steve Jobs at Atari. Wayne helped and advised the younger Jobs on all manner of subjects, both in his work and his personal life. Now aged 81, Wayne lives in a place called Pahrump, which is in the Nevada desert, an hour from Las Vegas, but he by no means lives the millionaire lifestyle. Continue reading →

There are many reasons why you may need to get rid of some (or all) of the music stored on your iPhone. The usual reason is that you want to free up some storage space for either more music, or maybe you’re keen to make room for something new like Pokémon GO. On the other hand, it may be that you have taken on a second-hand iPhone and the previous owner had lousy musical taste, or you’ve decided you really don’t want your 80s music collection any more. Whatever the reason, there are a couple of easy ways to clear your music stash down to a sensible size.

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Do you know what types of content your children are accessing when they go online? Protecting children from the unsuitable content freely available on the internet must surely be any parent’s priority, but not everyone uses the available parental controls. Admittedly, these controls are not 100% effective, but they do go some way to preventing children from seeing things that they shouldn’t see. No parent has the time to sit by their child while they are using a computer to see what they are doing, and some parents only discover that their child is viewing adult content when raunchy pop up adverts start to appear. These adverts are usually generated by a search engine and are based on search results, so if you see this type of ad, clearly someone in the house has been accessing content that is unsuitable for children. Continue reading →

Believe it or not, it is over a year since Apple Watch was first released onto the wrists of an eager public, and as Apple’s first wearable device, it was certainly a departure from anything they had produced before. Rumoured since 2014, it was widely assumed that the new device would be named iWatch to fit in with the rest of the range of iDevices, but this was not to be. At launch, people were astonished to find that there were three distinct models available at very different prices, and with very different looks, and this appears to have been an astute piece of design by Apple. One of the principle uses of Apple Watch (apart from being a timepiece and alerting you to emails, messages and calls) has been as a fitness tracker. People who have owned Apple Watch for some time are now reporting back on its successes (and weaknesses). Continue reading →

Any new model of iPhone is eagerly anticipated, and the rumour mill is always coming up with ever more extravagant theories as to the potential appearance and features of any new family member. The next model of iPhone, widely dubbed the iPhone 7, has been no exception. Even though we are barely half way through 2016, the anticipated 2017 launch is a major subject of online articles and conversations whenever Apple fans are gathered together. One rumour which the experts are now claiming is both true and verified, is that the iPhone 7 will do away with the aluminium part of the phone case, and will instead have glass both front and back. Apparently the switch from aluminium to all-glass was confirmed during an annual shareholder’s meeting by the chairman of the Taiwan company (Catcher Technology) that currently supplies the aluminium cases.

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I am an iPad user, and the other day, I went to check my emails because I was expecting an important message. Instead of that email, I saw an error message which read ‘this message has not been downloaded from the server’. I refreshed the mailbox several times, but I still couldn’t get that particular email to arrive properly so that I could read it. How very frustrating. I had to resort to my laptop to read the message, and then I did a little investigating to see what the problem was with the inbox on the iPad. Apparently this is a very common occurrence both on iPad and iPhone, and the chances are that it has been caused by some sort of disruption during the downloading of the email from the server. An erratic connection to the server is the most common problem, and as I live in a rural location with very poor internet and mobile phone strength and coverage, this is probably the cause of most of my failures to receive emails on my iPad. If this is not the cause of your own email download issues, there are a few more things that you can check if the problem keeps happening.

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I have a nephew in his twenties, and he has two lovely children; a toddler boy and a baby girl. The other day we were at a family gathering, and to keep the children amused while the adults got on with grown-up stuff, he gave the small boy his iPhone and the smaller girl his car keys to play with. In no time at all, children being children, they had put the corner of the iPhone and the key fob into their mouths and were enthusiastically sucking and chewing on them. Now, I don’t claim to be an expert on small children, but I do know something about the way electronic equipment is manufactured. Under normal conditions of use, there is a very little risk to an end user, but some of the materials used to make key fobs and iPhones can be pretty nasty. Using them as teething aids is not really recommended, not to mention the risk of damage to the devices themselves from moisture and being dropped. Anyway, this event got me thinking in broader terms about how safe it is for electronic devices such as iPhones and iPads to be used by young children.

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Packed full of features and great to use, we all love our iPhones, iPads, MacBooks and other Apple devices. They may be a little more expensive to buy than other makes of electronic gadgets, but we think they’re worth it. Unfortunately, so do thieves, scammers and phishers. iPhones are not only the most frequently stolen mobile device (they are often ‘stolen to order’ by gangs targeting specific models), but because Apple devices cost a little more, the users are assumed to be better off and are also regarded as a source of rich pickings by scammers and phishers.

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We all have our little secrets, and not all of them are connected to our tax affairs, or indeed connected to anything underhand. I do lots of shopping online, and I share an iPad with someone in the same house. There are times when I don’t want to let anyone else see what I’ve bought, or even where I have been browsing, and I’m sure many people are in the same situation. Birthdays, anniversaries, Christmas presents, engagement gifts, wedding presents, the list of innocent (and maybe in some cases not so innocent) site visits that you want to keep private goes on and on. If you have secrets that you’d rather keep that way, you need to take action and adjust your Safari settings before you start. Continue reading →

If you are one of the many Apple fans who just didn’t fancy owning one of the larger iPhones, such as the iPhone 6s, you are probably keeping hold of your iPhone 5 or earlier model. Rumours have abounded for some time that a new iPhone, the iPhone 7, was shortly to be announced, and fans of the smaller iPhones were hoping that it would be similar to the much-loved design of the iPhone 5. With Apple officially suspending the manufacture of the latest iPhone 5s, the good news is that they haven’t released an iPhone 7, they have released the iPhone SE. This new iPhone looks very similar to the iPhone 5s, has the same sized screen; four inches – in fact both iPhones use exactly the same display, and the casing is cosmetically very similar. However, the workings of the iPhone SE are much improved. Continue reading →

Buying a second-hand Apple device is a great way to get access to many of the latest features without laying out vast amounts of money. Beware – you may think you’re saving money, but there are a lot of fakes out there and there is always someone waiting to take your money and run. So, how can you be sure that the Apple Watch, iPhone or iPod is the genuine article and not a fake worth less than one tenth of the asking price? There are a number of things you can do to avoid being caught by a fake or a fraudster.

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You may have read in the news recently that Apple have been in dispute with the FBI in the States over an order to unlock an iPhone belonging to a deceased gunman called Syed Rizwan Farook. Along with his wife, Farook was responsible for the death of 14 individuals in San Bernadino, California in December 2014. Police shot and killed them both at the time of the terror attack. Continue reading →

For more than 2 years, Apple have been offering to buy back your unwanted iPhone or iPad, and if you have an eligible iDevice, you will be given credit towards purchasing a new one. It’s called the Apple Reuse and Recycle program, and provided you have an iPhone 4, an iPad 2 or any later models, you can use the service. Sadly, they won’t give credit on iPhone 3G, 3GS or earlier, or the original iPad (iPad 1). Continue reading →

An Apple Watch is a highly desirable item, and whether you’ve saved up for one yourself, or have been given one as a gift (lucky you), no doubt you wear it every day and once you’re used to the functionality, you’ve probably come to rely on it as much as your iPhone. The problem is that anything you wear on your wrist is vulnerable to damage from scratches, knocks and spilled liquids. The parts of the Apple Watch that are most susceptible to damage (just like any other type of watch) are the crystal and the band.

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Since the launch of the highly versatile original iPad (also known popularly as the iPad 1) in 2010, there have been a total of 11 models, each with some subtle (and some not so subtle) differences from previous models. Apple don’t tend to refer to iPads by model number in the same way as they do with iPhones, where if you have an iPhone 6S Plus, you can be pretty sure which features it has. With iPads, they tend to call them less precise names such as ‘iPad with Retina Display’ or iPad Air. Continue reading →

Do you know which of the many available models and variants of iPhone you actually own? It may seem a silly question, but in fact there are so many out there, it can be tricky to identify which one you are actually using. With other makes of smartphones, you can usually look into the equivalent of the settings menu to find the information, but iOS doesn’t display this information for Apple iPhones. If you bought your iPhone brand new from a reputable store in the original packaging, it should be pretty clear which version you have. However, if your iPhone was a gift or you bought it second hand, it can be a bit tricky to visually identify precisely which iPhone you own. Continue reading →