Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with iPhone

Jumping ship to Android (Google's S4) and need a Mailbox equivalent

0bvious — Sat, 18 May 2013 09:25:26 -0800

I think the time has come for me to jump the iPhone ship. The announcement of the Google version of the Galaxy S4 at I/O was the clincher. But I am not 100% sold on the idea, mainly because the S4 is an ugly brute, but also because I fear for the apps and innovation I will miss. Help me out, specifically in finding a worthy replacement for my beloved Mailbox app. I waited. I pondered. I looked longingly at the horizon. Now it's time to go.

I am a concerned jumper for a few reasons:

1. I use an ipad extensively, and don't see this changing anytime soon. Iphone/Ipad integration is pretty solid.
2. My girlfriend and close friends will be sticking with Apple and iMessage will be missed
3. I recently started using Mailbox app and it has revolutionised the way I use email. I don't think I can go back to the old cluttered inbox, BUT, Mailbox's plans to make an app for Android look vague at best.
4. Related to this, it seems that the Apple app store is still the top of the list for developers, even though there are now more Android devices out there than Apple. I like innovation. Will I have to wait around a lot?

I am jumping because I am sick of having to jailbreak my phone to have it do what I want. I am a heavy HEAVY mobile internet user, I use a lot of apps for a variety of things. I reckon most can be replaced, and fed into Dropbox or something to take the place of iCloud, BUT, I'm not sure, and I am worried that once I jump I'll be stranded.

I really wanted Google to announce a new Nexus at I/O this week, but they failed. The current Nexus 4 looks lovely, but the lack of 4G put me off. The HTC One also is a sweet looking device, but with only 4MP of camera to play with it would've felt like a downgrade. Google announced a new partnership with the S4 at I/O, so I am hoping to get one now, and root it when the Google rich version gets released in June.

My contract has been up for renewal since February, so I have already lingered long enough. The battery in my trusty iPhone 4 is pretty crap these days. Time to move on. Please help me out here.

How can I switch from music to my audio book quickly on my iphone

photoexplorer — Thu, 16 May 2013 13:16:24 -0800

I listen to a lot of audio books on my iphone while driving and working. I also like listening to music in between for short periods, but still need to keep my place in the book. Right now I am using the bookmark app to keep track of the audio book, which seems to be the best app that I have tried so far. But the problem is that whenever I want to switch back to my playlist of music, the iphone music app defaults to the audio book that was last played. Is there any better way of switching back and forth so that the music app can remember that it is supposed to play a playlist and the audio book app remembers to start where I left off in the book? For some reason no matter what combination of apps I use this happens. Even in other music apps, if I open it after playing a book, or press play on my headphones, the book starts playing. It takes a few seconds for me to navigate back to the playlist I want, then pick shuffle all, like I always do several times a day. Then later I go back to the audio book app, and it has no problem remembering what book I was on, but why can't any music app seem to do this? I have tried a few others, such as "Groove" but the same problem exists, and I haven't found one I really like better than the original apple music app anyway.
I can't be the only one with this minor annoyance. Suggestions?

Help me save/extract text messages from an iPhone

QuantumMeruit — Tue, 14 May 2013 12:01:39 -0800

What is the "best" consumer-accessible solution to extract a text message (SMS/MMS) (or series of text messages) from an iPhone? I am looking for options to manage "traditional" text messages sent and received on company-owned iPhones. Free or cheap solutions that don't rely on cloud-based storage solutions would be ideal.

(Also ideal would be a solution that extracts as much of the information as would be recovered in a forensic-acquisition / device-seizure situation, without the associated cost and logistic difficulties.)

(The "don't conduct business via text message" train has long left the station.)

Previously (sort of, in 2010). (Not much update in 2011, either.)

No, really, kid, I don't know you!

sarcasticah — Mon, 13 May 2013 12:38:49 -0800

Is there any way to block the incessant iMessages and Facetime requests from a particular person? For the past few months, I've been getting near-daily iMessages and Facetime requests from someone I don't know. It's pretty clearly a kid, and I can't get them to believe that they are sending the messages to the wrong person -- if I reply and tell them that, they either won't believe me, or they respond by asking me over and over what my name is and what school I go to, and do I know so-and-so's cousin, etc., etc.. It's maddening. I finally gave up and turned Facetime off on my phone, but that's not an ideal solution; I would like to be able to use it with family and friends. Ignoring the messages doesn't help, because they just keep sending the same message over and over. Telling them off doesn't help. Verizon can't block them, because the messages are coming through iMessage, and aren't plain old text messages.

I've tried to find out who owns the email address the messages are coming from, but no luck -- it looks like a Gmail address for a business. My husband suggested I change my Apple ID, but I don't see how that would do any good. Hope me, hive mind -- is there anything I can do to get the messages to stop? They are driving me insane.

Best options for using an unlocked iPhone 4 in France & Italy?

saltykmurks — Sat, 11 May 2013 08:12:25 -0800

I'm going to France & Italy for about 3 weeks with my freshly-unlocked iPhone 4. I'm looking to pick up a SIM while I'm there and use it on a pre-paid plan, but the French carrier websites aren't being super helpful; none of them indicate whether their pre-paid SIMs will work on iPhone. Any advice, including best carrier/plan?

Replacement for Lockinfo?

aeighty — Fri, 10 May 2013 10:10:22 -0800

I recently lost the jailbreak on my iPhone and with that I lost LockInfo. Is there a replacement/workaround? If you've never used it essentially looks like this. The fact that I see my calendar/appointments & weather and various other pieces of information everytime I lock & unlock my phone was highly useful to keep me organized.

I know I can't run LockInfo on non jailbroken devices but I'm desperate for a work around. Maybe an email every day that would show me upcoming appointments? Is there anything out there like this?

Accurate running pace?

smackfu — Thu, 09 May 2013 06:39:40 -0800

I've recently taken up jogging again, this time with an iPhone and the Nike+ app to track my runs. It seems to be pretty sloppy at tracking pace, compared to my old Nike shoe sensor. It's very smoothed out, so doing intervals, for instance, looks like a sine wave instead of a square wave. Are there any solutions that are better at this?

Why can I no longer receive iMessages on my iPhone?

krunk — Wed, 08 May 2013 17:57:06 -0800

As of yesterday I no longer receive iMessages on my iPhone. I get them on my ipad and Mac, however. I didn't change anything on the phone, but I did use the ipad for the first time in a few months and it required me to set up iMessage again for some reason. I've tried rebooting the phone, logging out of iMessage and signing back in, but nothing works. I can send messages too.

I've even tried logging out on the ipad in case it was consuming the messages for some reason. My wife sent me a message during this time and it eventually arrived on the phone as a text message.

Any ideas?

Psssst! What's the word on the street?

jbenben — Tue, 07 May 2013 16:40:23 -0800

Does anyone know when the Apple iPhone 5GS will be available? Thanks.

What should I use to dial phone numbers on my computer?

amanda — Wed, 01 May 2013 17:50:46 -0800

I've got a Mac and an iPhone. I have a huge list of phone numbers to call in a spreadsheet. I'd like to copy/paste from the spreadsheet into a dialer which then dials my phone. Any suggestions? This is an "odd job" I'm doing for a few days and then hopefully will never need this again. So, hoping to find an app solution for very little money.

Why won't the volume work on my iPhone Vine app?

jitterbug perfume — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 13:37:00 -0800

How do I get my Vine app to have volume? I have tried deleting and reinstalling multiple times, I have tried closing and opening the app, I have waiting through two updates with bug fixes, there is still no volume (except occasionally for unidentifiable reasons). Not on my videos or the videos of others. The volume works on the videos once they are saved to my telephone. Any ideas? Anyone else experiencing this problem with this app?

iPhone App Satellite GPS view

bright77blue — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 10:19:29 -0800

Hi Everyone I would like to see a list of all the GPS and Glosnass that my iPhone 5 is receiving with their signal strength. I have searched but cannot find. (This is similar to a app on the Garmin GPS) Thanks BB

I've been given an old iPhone. Now what?

suburbanbeatnik — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 20:47:33 -0800

A friend gave me her old iPhone 3 after she upgraded to 4. Her old SIM card is still in it. I'm wondering what to do next. I've been a Sprint customer since 2000, and I currently have a Kyocera Brio (which is basically a Blackberry knockoff). I have a pretty cheap unlimited texts-and-minutes plan which I like, and I want to keep my costs low in this regard. I found some sites which suggested "jailbreaking" the phone and using it as an iPod Touch, which sounds appealing, but these sites are all from several years ago and I don't know how realistic an option this is now.

Anyway, help! I'm a Mac person but pretty iPhone dumb. Any suggestions or helpful tips, guys?

How to create speech bubbles that look like they came from an iPhone?

sevensnowflakes — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 20:22:33 -0800

So I'm looking for a tool that will allow me to create text bubbles that look like they came from an iPhone. However, I don't want something like Fake iPhone Text, as that creates a picture of the entire phone background plus the text bubbles. I only want the text bubbles, disembodied. Does this exist? I'm sure if I had Photoshop I could probably create something, but I don't, and I'm not willing to shell out that much cash. Plus, I don't have any experience in image creation (and I'm not digi-artsy), so I'd greatly prefer using a tool that does the hard part for me. That said, I'd be willing to play around with some kind of free or low-cost image creation software if I absolutely had to.

How should I spend $50 at the iTunes store?

gladly — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 10:50:55 -0800

I've been given a $50 gift card to the iTunes store, and I'd like some help spending it. I will probably end up buying some music, but movies/TV or books are out, because I don't enjoy watching or reading for long periods on my phone. I have an iPhone 4S. I'd really like advice on buying apps that will:

- Help me shoot better video. I really enjoy shooting video on the iPhone, and I'm learning to edit in iMovie.
- Menu preparation and grocery shopping. I buy and cook the same things all the time, and I want to plan more interesting meals.
- Tower defense games. I discovered Kingdom Rush from an FPP, and I love PvZ.

I'd love to hear about apps that you love and depend on, even if they don't fit into any of the above categories.

Good Media Catalog App for Iphone

yankeefog — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 08:21:11 -0800

When I finish a book or a movie, I like to write down my thoughts about it, and I'm looking for an iPhone app to organize my reading and watching notes. My particular picky bookworm/filmgeek requirements inside. In particular, I'm looking for an app that:

1. Works offline. (It's fine if it needs to be online sometimes to download info, and in fact it's a bonus if my notes are kept synced between my phone and my desktop--but I do want to be able to use it in places where I don't have signal. So, it can't be purely web-based.)

2. My thoughts should be kept private, not posted on Facebook or any other website. (This rules out Goodreads, as far as I can tell.)

3. I should be able to export my notes in some widely readable format.

Ideally, I'd find a single app for both books and movies, but I'm open to having separate apps for both.

Any suggestions?

PS: I've read this thread from 2009 but I'm hoping there have been some new possibilities since then.

Can I send email using my gmail on my iphone with a different address?

jModug — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 17:07:11 -0800

ex: iphone mail app using gmail account and sends email to be from my @outlook.com account This may be a bit confusing, but here is my current setup

I have 3 email addresses: school, outlook, a gmail for personal use.

I recently started using the Mailbox app on my iphone and I loved it so much that I set up all my email addresses to my personal gmail.

Here's my problem... For school I need to be able to respond to emails with my .edu address. This isn't a problem for when I'm on the laptop, because I was able to set up gmail to send email from my .edu address.

What I can't seem to be able to get done is sending email from my .edu address using gmail on my iphone.

I'm open to solutions that don't include the mailbox app, so please feel free to suggest anything that could make this work.

Calendar that talks?

DisreputableDog — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 19:05:27 -0800

I use an iPhone 4S with the latest iO6 update. I'm looking for a calendar app that will give me options for alerts including actually talking to me. The iPhone's included calendar limits me as to when I can set reminders, how many reminders I can set (no "a week earlier") and doesn't have an option (as far as I know) for Siri to speak up and say "Hey Dog, you have gym class in 2 hours." Siri is also a half-deaf idiot, so while I don't mind hand editing my schedule, I kinda wish it was more intuitive to talk to.

I'm also hoping this mysterious app could be visually appealing. Have color options for events and maybe alerts, etc. Easy enough to edit.

Can you help me?

T-Mobile: Stay or Go?/iPhone or No?

Xalf — Sun, 14 Apr 2013 08:33:13 -0800

I have had a reasonably happy relationship with my T-Mobile G2 (aka HTC Desire Z) these past two years, but my contract is up, and I have long coveted the iPhone, mostly based on its picture taking and video chatting capabilities. Should I just get one and take advantage of T-Mobile's new pricing? Or should I jump to a new carrier? An attempt to make this less open-ended is inside. I have been a T-Mo customer nearly as long as I've had a cell phone, and I really do like their service and pricing, especially the new scheme. I rarely make calls, but quality is normally fine. My impression is that my data service is slower than other carriers, but I don't really know how to judge what difference a new carrier and a new phone would make. I spend most of my time in Washington, DC and always have pretty good reception. So here is the main question:

How can I tell how much faster things would be if I switched to AT&T or Verizon?

Bonus overthinking about whether iPhone is right for me: I am happy with Android, but I don't consider it a member of my family. Also, I'm pissed at Google over killing Reader (which I do consider to be a family member). I mostly use the phone for web browsing, email, Facebook, NYT, and podcasts (using doggcatcher). It is rarely convenient for me to sync the phone with a desktop - would that impact my iPhone experience? I am willing to consider hot new Android phones, but I am not crazy about how enormous they are. And I like the idea of being able to use FaceTime with friends and family who also have iPhones.

Timelapse app for iPhone

gwint — Sat, 13 Apr 2013 08:14:47 -0800

I'm looking for a timelapse app for the iPhone with some special requirements. I would like to capture the progress of some of the flora growing around my house this Spring. What that means is going around with my iPhone every couple of days to various spots and lining up the shot in exactly the same position as the previous day. So I basically just need main two features:

- Some sort of "onion skinning" feature to help line up each shot using the previous photo
- The ability to have multiple "queues" of timelapses, since I want to track the progress of maybe a dozen different plants/trees

There are a ton of timelapse apps out there, and even a few with onion skinning, but I haven't found any that allow for the type of workflow described above.

How do I record a phone interview on an outgoing call?

ablazingsaddle — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 17:10:02 -0800

I'm doing some freelance journalism-y things, and I sometimes need to interview people over the phone whilst plugging away at my "day job." How do I record these calls? I have an iphone 4, if that makes a difference. Every iphone app that I've tried thus far has crapped out on me - Call Log Pro was promising, but didn't actually record anything. And made my phone freeze.

I have google voice, but it only records incoming calls, and a lot of the time I have to fight to get someone on the phone. (I.e., they're not going to call me).

When I am able to interview someone in the evening or over the weekend, I put them on speaker and record the call using my computer. I can't do this at work - it might work, but I don't think it will be quiet enough anywhere in the building for me to get away with it.

I am willing to pay for this magical, phone-call recording app. But what is it?

Update apps on jailbroken iPhone 3GS

hollypolly — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 05:18:11 -0800

I have a jailbroken iPhone 3GS and the FB, Twitter and Instagram apps either keep crashing or malfunction. Cannot seem to update. Is there a way to revert to an older version of these apps compatible with this old model? I have a jailbroken iPhone 3GS and have been able to install the Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram apps with success, and have been using them for the better part of a year. In the past month or so they all seem to crash upon opening, or in Instagram's case, simply will not allow me to post pictures. I have tried updating, to no avail. Is it that my phone does not support the latest versions of these apps, or does this have to do with its 'jailbroken' status? Is there a way to revert to an older version of these apps compatible with this old model?

Any and all tips greatly appreciated!

Choose my phone!

elizamina — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 20:40:52 -0800

I'm tired of my cheap, app-less phone. It's time to upgrade to something nice. I'm looking at either an iPhone or a Samsung. Which should it be? And why? Sell me on the best phone!

Should my tablet match my phone or my laptop ecosystem?

midmarch snowman — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 07:18:11 -0800

I am getting a Tablet for work, either a Nexus 10 or an iPad. I'm pretty well versed on the features and drawbacks for both, and I feel like if my other devices were either all Apple or all Google/Windows I'd make the choice based on matching my current device operating system ecosystem. BUT right now, each device I use has a different OS, so is there a better device to match my tablet operating system with? An android phone will be my next smartphone. I used to have an old iPhone 3G and liked iOS, but decided not to stay with iPhones because money.

I still have an old MacBook as a home computer, and I am pretty committed to OSX operating system for that purpose.

Also, at work I will be using windows, naturally.

The work I'm doing on the tablet will almost entirely be reading and annotating PDFs and Google Docs. Although I like holding the nexus better, it sounds like people prefer the PDF apps for the iPad better.

Since most other feature comparisons are similarly a wash, I wonder if there is any benefit of having both my mobile devices in the same ecosystem? Or is there a benefit from having my tablet be in the same ecosystem as my laptop? Or does it even matter?

Stay put once you're out of my pocket!

sio42 — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 06:25:56 -0800

iphone case filter: My friend has an iphone 4s. He likes that the rubbery silcon case means it doesn't slide around if he puts it down somewhere. (For example - the little wooden ledge to hold your drinks in the dart room at the pub.) However, he does not like that when he pulls it out of his pocket, it pulls everything with it. Is there a case that might meet the grippy requirements when placed on a surface yet slide out of the pants pocket more easily?