15. Working with Other Useful iPhone Apps and Features

In previous chapters, you learned about many of the iPhone’s most useful apps, such as Phone, Mail, Messages, Photos, Safari, and Calendar. In this chapter, you learn about three more: Music to listen to your favorite tunes wherever you are, Maps to find and navigate your way to locations near and far, and Wallet that helps you manage and use various kinds of information such as boarding passes, reward cards, and so on.

In this chapter, you also learn how you can connect your iPhone to other devices in several ways. You can use Bluetooth to connect to speakers, headphones, fitness trackers, keyboards, and more. You can connect to other iPhones, iPads, and Macs using AirDrop, so you can quickly and easily share files across those devices.

You find out how Apple Pay enables you to safely and easily pay for purchases in online stores or in the “real world.” You can store credit or debit cards in the Wallet app and then use them to pay for purchases with a wave of your phone or tap of a button.

The iOS Handoff feature makes it easy to work on the same tasks on Macs, iPhones, and iPads. For example, you create an email on a Mac, and see the same version on an iPad and your iPhone, too. When a phone call comes in to your iPhone, you can choose to answer it on your Mac, iPad, or Apple Watch.

Before getting into those details, take a tour of some of the other great iPhone apps you might want to explore on your own.

Other Cool iPhone Apps

Icon	App	Description
	Calculator	In portrait orientation, the Calculator is the equivalent of one you would get at the local dollar store. Rotate the iPhone to access scientific calculator options. Access the Calculator quickly by swiping up from the bottom of the screen to open the Control Center; then, tap the Calculator icon. You can also tap the Calculator icon on a Home screen to launch the app.
	Clock	Get the current time in multiple locations around the world, set alarms, set a consistent time to sleep every day, use a stopwatch, or count down time with a timer. Quickly access the Clock app by swiping up from the bottom of the screen to open the Control Center. Tap the Clock icon to open the Clock app. Or, tap the Clock icon on a Home screen.
	Compass (Extras folder)	Transform your iPhone into a compass. Using this app, you can see your current location on the analog-looking compass and with your exact position shown in latitude and longitude. If you swipe to the left, you transform your iPhone into a level that measures on the horizontal planes along with angles. Swipe to the right to get back to the compass.
	Files	When you enable the iCloud Drive under your iCloud account, use the Files app to access the documents stored there. (See Chapter 3, “Setting Up and Using an Apple ID, iCloud, and Other Online Accounts,” for information on configuring your iCloud account.)
	Find Friends (Extras folder)	See the current location of “friends” who are part of your Family Sharing group or who you add to the app manually. You can also share your location with others.
	Find iPhone (Extras folder)	Use this app to locate other iPhones, iPads, or Macs that have enabled Find My iPhone using the same iCloud account. (Learn about Find My iPhone in Chapter 16, “Maintaining and Protecting Your iPhone and Solving Problems.”)
	Flashlight (Control Center)	Use your iPhone’s flash as a flashlight. Open the Control Center and tap the Flashlight icon to turn the light on; tap it again to turn it off. Press and hold on the icon to pop up the brightness slider; drag the slider up to increase the brightness or down to decrease it. This is a very simple app, but also happens to be extremely useful.
	Health	Track and manage health-related information from multiple sources, such as other apps and devices, in one location. You can see your information on dashboards, or you can drill down into the details. You can configure the information you see by selecting the sources and types of information you want to track. You can also store your vital information in the Medical ID so that emergency workers can access it from your Lock screen in order to help you.
	Home	After you configure it to work with your home automation devices, use the Home app to control those devices.
	iBooks	Access and organize books and PDFs so that you always have something to read. The app enables you to change how the books appear on the screen, such as making the font larger or smaller. iBooks syncs across your devices so that you can read something on your iPhone and then pick it up later at the same spot on an iPad.
	iTunes Store	The iTunes Store enables you to browse or search for music, TV shows, movies, and other content. When you find something you want to listen to or watch, you can easily download it to your iPhone. You access the iTunes Store using your Apple ID; any purchases you make are completed using the purchase information associated with that account. Content you download to your iPhone is available in the associated app; for example, when you download music, you listen to that music using the Music app. This app works very similarly to the App Store app, which is covered in Chapter 4, “Customizing How Your iPhone Works.”
	News	Read news from a variety of sources. You can search news and save items of interest to you. You can also choose your favorite news sources so that you can focus more on what you care about and avoid what you don’t have any interest in.
	Notes	Capture different kinds of information, including text notes, lists, photos, maps, and more. You can also draw in the app and attach different types of objects to notes, and then use the Attachment Manager to view them. Using online accounts with the Notes app, such as iCloud, means that your notes are available on all your devices. If you want to share a note, tap the Share icon and choose how you want to share it.
	Podcasts	This app enables you to subscribe to and then listen to podcasts on a wide variety of topics. Episodes of podcasts to which you are subscribed download to your iPhone automatically. You can configure how many episodes are saved on your phone globally and for individual podcasts. There are podcasts on any topic you can imagine so it’s very likely you can find podcasts that are of interest to you. You can search for specific podcasts or browse for them based on category and topic.
	Reminders	Create reminders for just about anything you can imagine, such as to-do lists, items you need to purchase, etc. You can configure alarms for reminders that trigger notifications based on date and time or by location. You can set up repeating reminders, too. If that isn’t enough, you can also create multiple lists of reminders, such as one for work and one for personal items. Like other apps, you can store your reminders on the cloud so that you can access them from multiple devices.
	Stocks	Use this app to track stocks in which you are interested. You can add any index, stock, or mutual fund as long as you know the symbol for it, and you can even use the application to find a symbol if you don’t know it. You can see current performance and view historical performance for various time periods. Rotate the iPhone to see a more in-depth view when you are examining a specific stock. You can see the current “ticker” for the items you are tracking by opening the Widget screen and swiping up or down until you see the Stocks widget.
	Tips (Extras folder)	Use this app to get a few pointers about working with your iPhone. Of course, because you have this book, you are way ahead of the game.
	TV	Use this app to watch TV shows and movies. You can sign in to a cable provider to watch TV content and you can subscribe to video services, such as HBO Now. Movies or TV shows you purchase or rent using the iTunes Store app are added to this app so you can watch them.
	Voice Memos (Extras folder)	Record audio notes using the Voice Memos app. Play them back, and, through syncing, move them onto your computer, or share them by tapping the Share icon. You can record through the iPhone’s microphone or via the mic on the earbud headset.
	Watch	Use this app to pair and configure your iPhone with an Apple Watch. Once paired with your iPhone, you can configure how your Apple Watch accesses content from your iPhone’s apps such as Mail, Calendar, Messages, Phone, Contacts, Photos, Music, Reminders, and more.
	Weather	See current weather conditions and a high-level forecast for any number of locations. You can use the default locations, and if you tap the List icon in the lower-right corner of the screen, you can add, remove, and organize the locations you want to track. Swipe through the screens to see each location’s forecast.

There are different sources of music to which you can listen. These include the following sources:

• Music you own—You can purchase music using the iTunes Store app; this music immediately becomes available in the Music app. You can buy individual songs or collections of songs. Once purchased, you can download this music onto any of your devices using the same Apple ID as was used for the purchase.

You can also add music you own on audio CDs or in a digital format by first adding that music to the iTunes app and then syncing that music onto your iPhone. If you already own music like this, there is no additional cost to add it to your iPhone, but it does require some time and effort along with the use of the iTunes app on a computer.

• Apple Music—This subscription service from Apple enables you to access its huge music library. You use Apple Music to stream music onto your phone. You can also download it to the phone so that you can listen to it when your phone isn’t connected to the Internet or if you want to avoid using cellular data to stream music.

The benefit of Apple Music is that the amount of music available to you is both enormous and extremely diverse. Unless you have very niche musical tastes, you are likely to find any music you want to listen to in Apple Music. You can also access Apple Music on any of your compatible devices, such as an iPad or a Mac, at no additional charge.

The downside of Apple Music is that it requires a monthly subscription fee. And you are only “renting” the music. If you let your Apple Music membership expire, you lose access to all of its music.

• iTunes Radio—This source, which is free to use, consists of streamed music organized in “stations.” You can listen to existing stations or you can create your own stations based on songs or playlists that you like. You must have your phone connected to the Internet to be able to listen to iTunes Radio.

Of course, you can mix and match these sources. For example, you may already own music and also use Apple Music and iTunes Radio to expand the music available to you. Understanding which type of music you are working with is important because the source can change what you can do with that music. For example, you have to download Apple Music onto your phone to be able to listen to it when you aren’t connected to the Internet.

There are lots of ways to use the Music app; the following tasks show you how to find and listen to music in your library and Apple Music. Working with iTunes Radio is similar.

Apple Music provides suggestions to you for music you might enjoy based on the music you listen to, or search for, and based on music you indicate that you like by tapping the heart icon while you view or listen to it. Over time, these suggestions get more specific to your musical tastes so that Apple Music’s recommendations should help you discover and enjoy new music.

Apple Music is accessible on your iPhone, other iOS devices (such as an iPad), and any computer with the iTunes software on it. (Note that with a single membership, you can play Apple Music on only one device at a time.)

To access Apple Music, you must subscribe to the service.

While the Miniplayer appears, you can use the upper part of the Music app’s screen to find other music to listen to, to download more music, and so on. The Miniplayer remains on the screen as long as music plays so you can control what is playing while you are doing other things with the app.

To have more control over the music and to see other options, tap the Miniplayer. The Now Playing screen opens.

• Timeline—Just below the art, you see the timeline. The elapsed time is on the left side, and the remaining time is on the right. The Playhead shows you where you are in the song. You can drag this to the left to move back in the song or to the right to move ahead.

• Song information—Below the timeline is the song’s name (in larger, bold font). Under that is the artist and album title. If any of this information is too large to fit on the screen, it scrolls across the screen to display it all.

• Previous/Rewind—If the current song has been playing for more than a second or two, tap this icon once to move to the beginning of the current song. If you are at the beginning of the current song, tap it to move to the previous song in the current source (album, artist, and so on). Tap and hold to rewind in the current song.

• Pause/Play—Tap Pause to pause the song. Tap Play to play it again.

• Next/Fast-Forward—Tap once to move to the next song on the list (or the next randomly selected song, if you are shuffling). Tap and hold to fast-forward in the current song.

• Volume—Drag the slider to the left to lower the volume or to the right to increase it.

• Output device—Tap this icon to change where music is playing. When you tap this, a menu showing all the options appears. For example, if you have Bluetooth speakers paired with your iPhone, you can tap them to play the music there. If you have devices connected via AirPlay, such as an Apple TV, you can tap them to use them to listen to music. If you have EarPods connected to your iPhone, you can choose to play music over them. To return playback to the iPhone’s speakers, tap iPhone.

• Ellipsis—Whenever you see the ellipsis icon (…), you can tap it to open a menu of commands as described in the following text and figure.

When you open an item’s menu by tapping the ellipsis (…) icon, you see a menu of commands for that item. The commands you see depend on the item you are viewing at the time. For example, you see a different set of commands for an album than you do for an iTunes radio station. Also, the status of the item affects the commands you see. If you are viewing Apple Music that has been added to your library, you see the Remove command, which enables you to remove the music; if you are viewing music that hasn’t been added, you see the Add to Library command instead.

Following is an example of this menu for an album that is part of my library.

To collapse the Now Playing screen, swipe down from the top of the Now Playing screen. You return to the Miniplayer.

Press the Side or Touch ID/Home button or lift the phone (with Raise to Wake enabled). Your iPhone wakes up and you see the Lock screen, which displays information about and controls for the music currently playing. Use the controls you see; these work like they do in the Music app.

When you’re done controlling the tunes, press the Side button again to prevent the controls from being on the screen (so that they don’t accidentally get activated if you put your iPhone back in your pocket, for example).

If your phone is unlocked, you can open the same tool by swiping down from the top of the screen. You see the same music controls as on the Lock screen. The Notification Center is under those controls; you can swipe up and down the list of notifications to review them. Swipe up from the bottom of the screen to return to the previous screen.

When you press on the Music app’s icon, you see the Quick Actions menu. At the bottom of this menu, you see the Music widget displaying music you have played recently; tap an album cover or playlist art to play its music. You can tap Play Beats 1 to play that music or tap Search to jump to the search screen.

When you are browsing music, press on music in which you are interested to perform a Peek on it. In the Peek window, you view the music on which you pressed and you see a menu of commands. Tap a command to perform it. For example, tap the Play icon to play the music you are viewing.

To connect Bluetooth devices together, you pair them. In Bluetooth, pairing enables two Bluetooth devices to communicate with each other. The one constant requirement is that the devices can communicate with each other via Bluetooth. For devices to find and identify each other so they can communicate, one or both must be discoverable, which means they broadcast a Bluetooth signal other devices can detect and connect to.

There is also a “sometimes” requirement, which is a pairing code, passkey, or PIN. All those terms refer to the same thing, which is a series of numbers, letters, or both, entered on one or both devices being paired. Sometimes you enter this code on both devices, whereas for other devices you enter the first device’s code on the second device. Some devices, such as headphones or speakers, don’t require a pairing code at all.

When you have to pair devices, you’re prompted to do so, and you have to complete the actions required by the prompts to communicate via Bluetooth. This might be just tapping Connect, or you might have to enter a passcode on one or both devices to connect them.

If the app you want to use communicates over a Wi-Fi network, such as a network you use to access the Internet, all the devices with which you want to communicate must be on that same network. If the application uses Bluetooth, you must enable Bluetooth on each device and pair them (as described in the previous task) so they can communicate with one another.

The specific steps you use to connect to other iOS devices using a collaborative app depend on the specific app you are using. The general steps are typically as follows:

1. Ensure the devices can communicate with each other. If the app uses Wi-Fi, each device must be on the same Wi-Fi network. If the app uses Bluetooth, the devices must be paired.

2. Each person opens the app on his device.

3. Use the app’s controls to select the devices with which you’ll be collaborating. Usually, this involves a confirmation process in which one person selects another person’s device and that person confirms that the connection should be allowed.

4. Use the app’s features to collaborate. For example, if the app is a game, each person can interact with the group members. Or, you can directly collaborate on a document with all parties providing input into the document.

AirDrop can use Wi-Fi or Bluetooth to share, but the nice thing about AirDrop is that it manages the details for you. You simply open the Share menu—which is available in most apps—tap AirDrop, and tap the people with whom you want to share.

When you activate AirDrop, you can select Everyone, which means you see anyone who has a Mac running OS X Yosemite or later, or an iOS device running version iOS 7 or newer and is on the same Wi-Fi network as you (or has a paired Bluetooth device); those people can see you, too. (You can decline any request to share with you via AirDrop so even if you choose Everyone, you can still decide which content is moved onto your iPhone.) Or, you can select Contacts Only, which means only people who are in your Contacts app are able to use AirDrop to communicate with you. In most cases, you should choose the Contacts Only option so you have more control over who uses AirDrop with you.

You use the Wallet app to access your Apple Pay information to make payments when you are in a physical location, such as a store or hotel (Apple Pay is covered in detail in “Working with Apple Pay” later in this chapter). You can also use Apple Pay when you make purchases online using some apps on your iPhone.

To open your wallet, tap the Wallet icon on a Home screen or first open the Control Center and then tap the Wallet icon. The Wallet app opens. At the top, you see the Apple Pay section that shows the cards you’ve enabled for Apple Pay. In the Passes section, you see other cards, such as boarding passes and loyalty cards.

As you add cards and boarding passes to your Wallet, they “stack up” at the bottom of the screen. Tap the stack to see the list of items available in your Wallet. The cards expand so that you can see at least the top of each card; if you have a lot of cards installed, swipe up or down on the screen to view all of them.

To use a card in your Wallet, tap it. It becomes the active card and you can access its information. For example, you can quickly access a boarding pass by opening the Wallet app and tapping it. To board the plane, you scan the code on the boarding pass. Even better, boarding passes start appearing on the Lock screen a few hours before the take-off time. Press (3D Touch) or swipe to the right (non-3D Touch) on the boarding pass on the Lock screen and you jump directly to the boarding pass in the Wallet app (you don’t even need to unlock your phone).

Some passes enable you to share them or information about them by tapping the Share icon and using the standard sharing tools that appear.

Others are connected to an app; you can tap the icon on the pass or card to move into the associated app.

When you tap a card’s info icon (i), you can use the controls on a card’s Configure screen to adjust certain aspects of how the card works. If you set the Suggest on Lock Screen switch to on (green), for a card that works based on a location, such as your favorite stores, the card automatically appears on your Lock screen at the appropriate times. And, some cards can be automatically refilled from your bank account or credit/debit card so that they always have a positive balance.

To delete a card from your Wallet (such as a boarding pass when the flight is finished), tap its Info icon, tap Delete or Remove Pass, and then confirm that you want to delete or remove it. The pass or card is removed from your Wallet.

When you’re done configuring a card, tap Done. The Configure screen closes and you return to the card you were configuring.

There a couple of ways to add cards to your Wallet. The most frequent way to add a card is by using the Add to Wallet command in the app associated with the card. In some cases, you might be able to scan the code on a card to add it.

Apple Pay also simplifies purchases made in online stores. When you use an app or a website that supports Apple Pay, you can tap the Buy with Apple Pay icon to complete the purchase.

Apple Pay is actually more secure than using a credit or debit card because your card information is not passed to the device; instead, a unique code is passed that ties back to your card, but that can’t be used again. And, you never present your card so the number is not visible to anyone, either visually or digitally.

• Tap a card to configure it, such as to determine if notifications related to it are sent. You also see a list of recent transactions for the card.

• Add a new credit or debit card.

• Use the Double-Click Home Button switch to determine whether you can access the cards in your Wallet by pressing the Touch ID/Home button twice when the phone is locked. This makes using your Wallet even easier because you press the Home button twice and your cards appear; tap a card to use it or touch the Touch ID/Home button to pay for something with Apple Pay.

• Set the Allow Payments on Mac switch to on (green) if you use a Mac computer and want to be able to use Apple Pay for online transactions.

• Set your default Apple Pay card. The default card is used automatically; you have to manually select other cards in the Wallet app to use one of them instead.

• Update your shipping address, email addresses, and phone numbers.

You should also make sure Apple Pay is set to use Touch ID because this makes it much easier and faster. Open the Settings app, tap Touch ID & Passcode, and then enter your passcode. Ensure that the Apple Pay switch is on (green). This enables you to complete Apple Pay transactions by touching the Touch ID/Home button. (See Chapter 4 for the steps to help you configure Touch ID.)

You can also take phone calls on iPads or Macs.

Ensure that Handoff is enabled on all the devices with which you want to use it. On iOS devices, enable Handoff by opening the Settings app, tapping General, and then tapping Handoff. Set the Handoff switch to on (green).

To enable handoff on a Mac running OS X Yosemite or later, open the System Preferences app, and then open the General pane. Ensure that the Allow Handoff between this Mac and your iCloud devices check box is checked.

If you want to be able to take phone calls on other devices, open the Phone settings and tap Calls on Other Devices. Set the Allow Calls on Other Devices switch to on (green). Set the switch to on (green) for each device on which you want to be able to take calls.