Top 5 Best Free to Download and Install Messenger Apps for Android and iOS

Instant messaging is with no doubt the trending way of keeping in touch with friends and relatives from all over the world.

What makes it a top option is due to the fact that it is very easy to use than making a phone call or maybe trying to find someone physically, which can be very expensive.

Despite the fact that 2015 is here, there are still some cell plans that don’t come with unlimited messaging subscriptions. Furthermore, there are numerous cases where the users want to continue a conversation they started on a phone, on a PC. These, among many other reasons, have been at the center of the growth and development of the messaging or messenger applications. In this regard, here is a list of the top 5 best free to download and install messenger apps for the Android smartphones and iPhones that will make your communication life extremely free and incredibly easy.

Google Hangouts

Just like any other Google product, Google Hangouts is a very easy to use app. If you are a member of the Gmail family, you will have a very easy time adapting to Hangouts as it comes with lots of similarities with the chat service of this email client.

Simply download the app on your phone and you will notice lots of similarities with the desktop client. You can add as many contacts as you want, as long as they have a Gmail account. You can start a conversation when on your way to work using your phone and continue it from the PC at your office desk. It is still possible to pick up the conversation from where you left when having lunch, using your phone or tablet. However, there is no support for Google Voice and navigation can get a little tricky if you are not that tech savvy.

Skype

Skype is another great way of keeping in touch with your relatives from all over the world. There is no fee required for signing up for an account on Skype. After signing up, you will be able to make free voice and video calls to any other Skype user as well as make affordable calls to the non-users of the app using SkypeOut. Skype allows the users to attach photos, videos and other media files to messages and share them with friends, whether they are online or not.

As you may have noticed, Skype offers calls to the non-users of the app on landlines and mobile phones, which is one thing that makes it a standout among others in this list.

Viber

Viber makes instant messaging in the 21st century a very simple thing. You can send a text message, voice note, video or even a photo to a friend using the app. Unlike the above mentioned apps which require an email address to sign you up for an account, Viber will ask for your phone number only. This then becomes your identifier as your friends will use it to identify you on the platform.

Viber allows its users to make free voice and video calls as well. Furthermore, it follows in the footsteps of Skype by allowing the users to make affordable calls to the non-users of the app, using the ViberOut feature. The app also includes games, public chats as well as a detailed collection of stickers. It can be used on mobile phones, tablets and PCs and it exhibits one of the best syncing capabilities across all supported devices.

WhatsApp

You can send your friends voice, text, video and photo messages using WhatsApp. The app is free to download and it can be installed on nearly all mobile platforms. Just like Viber, WhatsApp will ask for your phone number to create you an account. The app automatically pulls a list of contacts based on the numbers stored in your phonebook, thus saving you time you’d have wasted on searching for new friends.

WhatsApp recently added a voice calling feature, but there is no news of video calling facility. Unlike all the other apps listed here, WhatsApp will start charging a fee of $0.99 per year after using it for free for the first one year.

LINE

LINE can be termed as a combination of instant messaging and social networking services in a single messenger. You can share videos, photos, sticker as well as texts with any other user of the app. These entire updates can posted to a personal timeline where friends can also comment, share as well as like; just like with the case of the social networking sites Twitter and Facebook.

LINE allows its users to chat in groups as well as make voice and video calls to others. LINE comes with a collection of games that the users can play against one another. Furthermore, the app allows the transfer of funds using LINE Pay. It is also one of the first apps to make its way to the Apple Watch and Android Wear. LINE is free to download and install and it can be used on all major mobile platforms.

-   ordoh

Google Hangouts 5 Tips And Tricks for Windows Phone, Android and iOS

In the race for being the top application to provide access to internet communication for free, Google has not been left behind.

It has jumped on to the bandwagon with the launch of Google Hangouts.

Google hangouts was preceded by Google talk. Although the services provided were same as those of Google hangouts, hangouts has a lot of new features that qualifies it as a good VoIP app – so much so that the application is now also used widely as a business communication tool among professionals.

If you have not had much experience with the application, you can follow the tips and tricks in order to use the application better.

The application can be used more conveniently with the help of keyboard shortcuts. Pressing the question mark can help you activate or deactivate the microphone at your convenience. Keyboard shortcuts make browsing the web easier and older chat messages are more easily accessed.

Google hangouts can be used to send messages and these can be sent with the help of commands. Typing “/to” before the name of the individual can help you send messages across.

Instead of sticking to the laptop microphone and speakers while you are on a voice or video call, the audio output would be much clearer if a user opts for the usage of headphones.

Corporates draw the most benefits from Google Hangout’s screen sharing feature. The application mirrors this feature from the Skype.

Simply by clicking on the share screen offer, you can share the screen with your friend or colleague and make work easier. Choice can be made between choosing either specific windows or the whole screen.

Google Hangouts can also be a very cost effective means of using VoIP by managing the amount of data you use. This can be done by toggling between normal quality voice calls and HD quality voice calls, which generally trend to consume more data.

-   therem

Fixing WhatsApp Sending Photos Issues On iPhone

Sending photos is one of the most used features on WhatsApp. However, there are some issues that sometimes stop us from sending pictures, and one of them is the bad internet connection.

If you are trying to send a photo on WhatsApp when you have a poor internet connection, it will take a long time and in most of the situations, you will fail to send the photo. However, sometimes, you can encounter problems when sending photos, even if you have a good internet connection.

Today we’re going to give you some tricks that will help you send photos on WhatsApp without facing any issues.

Fixing WhatsApp sending photos issues on iPhone

Clearing WhatsApp Chat history

We recommend you to clean up the application from time to time. Even if you don’t have any memory issues on your iPhone, you should clear the WhatsApp chat history frequently, especially if you use a lot this application. In case you don’t want to lose the chat history, make a backup of the chat and restore it later. When the WhatsApp chat history has been cleaned, try sending photos and see if it works.

Resetting the Network Settings

The internet connectivity issues can usually be solved by resetting the network settings. To do this, go to the Settings of your iPhone and tap on General->Reset->Reset Network Settings. The iPhone will reset the network settings and, after that, it will reboot. As soon as the reboot is finished, try connecting back to the internet and see if you can now send photos on WhatsApp.

Rebooting the iPhone

Usually most of the issues that we have on iPhones can be fixed with a simple reboot of the device. So, try to reboot your iPhone by holding the sleep/wake button for a few seconds until you notice a “slide to power off” button. After the device is turned off, hold the sleep/wake button until you notice that the device is starting up.

Fast Solution

First of all, you will need to turn off the Wi-Fi or Mobile data on your iPhone (the one that you currently use to connect to the internet). After turning off the internet connection, turn on the Airplane mode from the Control Center. After a few seconds, turn off the AirPlane mode and turn back the internet connection data (Wi-Fi or Mobile data). After a while, turn off the Airplane Mode, then turn on the Wi-Fi or Cellular Data.

-  ordoh

Secret Features Of iOS You Should Know About

iOS has evolved over time, starting off a software with basic features, and receiving more and more features, becoming “mature” and full of options. The problem is that not all users are curious to explore its “depths” and they’ll never know about those hidden useful features. In this article, we’ll make a list of important hidden features or commands which will make your life more exciting.

Believe it or not, but Siri (personal assistant) can read everything that’s in front of her, and to turn on Speech Selection, you will have to go to Settings>General>Accessibility>Speech. Besides, you can ask Siri to take you a selfie by telling her “Take a selfie”. She will launch the Camera app and you will take that photo. And there are more things that Siri can do. She will tell you which planes are flying above you” when you ask her “What planes are above me right now?” Also, you can teach her to pronounce names properly and to no longer mangle contacts. Siri recognizes songs in iOS 8 and she will display a list of songs you’ve asked her to identify.

As you know, you can change the ringtone and set different sounds for your alarm or messages. You can use the device’s own sounds or download from the internet, select a different song for each person from your phonebook, to be able to recognize who is calling. But, in addition, you can enter silent mode and when someone is calling you, you will hear a vibration. The good news is that you can customize vibrations by going to

Settings>Sounds>Ringtone>Vibration>Create New Vibration.

Other things you can do in iOS: capture photos and videos in secret; swipe on the digits in the iOS Calculator app and delete them without even pressing a button; turn on Grayscale Mode in Settings>General>Accessibility to pretend you’re watching a classic movie’ hide photos in the Photos App by tapping and holding on a photo until you’ll see the Hide option; hide your Caller ID; filter messages; hide applications from the home screen or create a black home screen; create nested folders to get rid of the multiple folders for the same type of app; find out how good is your cellular signal strength by getting numbers, not bar; capture photos while you’re recording a video; find your phone even if the battery died in the meantime; hide your App Store purchases and control when you want the store to ask for your password etc.

-   ordoh

A Little Trick on How to Cancel Sending Message on Your iPhone

There are times when we regret a message that we have just typed and pressed send, and in the next second we feel the need to change something out of it, or when we have mistakenly tapped Send. There is genuinely no apparent way outlined to cancel a message that you have sent a while ago but there is a trick that you can follow to cancel a message that has already moved to Sending mode. This trick is also workable when there is a text stuck at sending due to congested network condition or due to irresponsiveness of your OS.

Like I said earlier, it is not an official way to cancel a message but just a trick that will do the purpose. To cancel a message there are certain conditions that must be met if you expect this trick to work. For instance, the message has to be in Sending mode i.e. sending is in progress under your Contacts chat thread. You can also see a blue bar at the top displaying the status of message being sent. This is when you can use this trick to cancel the progress. This trick can work on only iOS devices or iPads.

Step 1:  Open the Message app and then open the thread from which you want to cancel a message. If you have sent a group message or sending different messages to multiple users at a same time then this trick will cancel sending messages to all of them altogether

Step 2:  Once there is a blue bar on display at the top, this is when you have to strike. Flip open the menu from the bottom of your screen to open Control Center

Step 3:  Tap the airplane icon on the flip down menu which represents Airplane mode. This will enable the Airplane mode and will seize all the connectivity of your phone in terms of cellular, Wi-Fi, or Radio. Halting the cellular connectivity will also stop your message from sending

Step 4:  Wait for a minute or two, and then disable the Airplane mode by tapping the airplane icon again. Wait until your phone maintains connectivity and open the Messages app. If you see a red warning text saying “Not Delivered” with a warning exclamation mark then congratulations, your message had been canceled by Airplane mode.

If the text message says “Delivered” then this means that you lagged a bit and message has been sent already before you enable the Airplane mode. Lagging is not always the reason; sometimes the data size of a message is too small that it takes a while to send it on air before you even open the flip menu. You need to move swiftly between your Messages app and Control Center to excel this trick.

-   ordoh

Apple iOS 9 Release Date and Features Detailed, Lots of Bug Fixes Incoming

Apple iOS 9 is coming soon and some rumors suggest that the company could be launching it as early as in the WWDC 2015 set to take place in June.

The developers have already launched multiple patch updates for iOS 8 with 8.1 and 8.2. While it is good to develop on the existing platform, the need for iOS 9 is real high at the moment. Sometimes, operating systems don’t hit the mark on launch because when drastic changes occur, they end up being plagued by so many bugs that the developers have to put up with. If rumors are to be believed, the upcoming launch will have a lot of performance improvements and bug fixes like never before.

Expected Features

Optimizing Installation Sizes – The problem that smartphones are facing at the moment has to do with huge file sizes, which require a lot of space in the phone memory. The issue is found even on Android phones that doesn’t come with a micro SD card slot for expansion. The iPhones always rely on the space available within which makes it even difficult to install files without uninstalling those that are already running. The iOS 9 will have a strong focus on this aspect, by reducing the installation size of files so that they could run without demanding too much disk space.

Better Performance – Obviously, better performance is a primary goal for the developers when they launch the next operating system. They have managed to make the iOS much faster by using flat design and getting rid of excessive animation. The operating system now resembles the Windows OS from Microsoft but tends to be different in its own way. While it may not be officially launched in the upcoming June conference, rumors suggest they will show its features and will opt for a full launch in the month of September 2015.

Getting Rid of Bugs – Almost every user who eagerly upgraded their phone to the iOS 8 had to face so many bugs that they were literally annoyed to the core. Despite so many patches that have been rolled out, it continues to be a bug filled operating system that people don’t like to rely upon. The iOS 9 is expected to be the savior that should launch with literally no bugs and even if there are a few, the developers have to fix them real quick so that the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus delivers to the user, the experience as promised.

-   culturemob

Siri in iOS 9 Expected to be Bit Same Like Siri in Apple Watch

It has been predicted that the upcoming iOS 9’s  Siri will be bit same like Apple Watch’s Siri, which is very colorful and attractive to use and it has been assumed that people are enjoying using that colorful personal digital assistant. A person who has used Siri on an Apple Watch agrees that it is the best iPhone app as a personal digital assistant living on the wrist so far. Whether the improved microphone or the user friendly settings, Siri performs best at Apple Watch rather than other Apples devices, assumed after the week with the Apple Watch. Siri is at its peak!

Now that the release date of iOS 9 is closing in, as the unveiling will be done on WWDC 2015 event that will be conducted in San Francisco, it is said that upcoming OS is going to take several ideas from the recently launched Apple Watch that is so far very successful. One of the major changes that this brand new OS is going to adapt is probably going to be the colorful and highly interactive Siri.

On the other hand, Apple is also expected to increase the functionality and compatibility of Siri by adding new features in commensuration with Cortana of Microsoft and Google Now of Google. These two virtual assistants are quite efficient in providing information based on a users’ location as compared to Siri and this is what is awaited from iOS 9 to overcome.

-   ordoh

All Latest Rumors you need to know about Upcoming iOS 9

As expected by the mid of 2015, Apple is expected to launch iOS 9 continuing their trend of launching new version every year. Launch of iOS 9 will put an end to most controversial OS of Apple so far i.e. iOS 8. You can find ton of information available regarding upcoming features of iOS 9 what is going to bring and what else is going to be change. We have gathered some information that may interest you.

Rumored Features of iOS 9

There are many areas that are under limelight of improvement with the launch of iOS 9. Mainly it is talked about Siri that could become a colorful affiliation to Apple Watch. More focus is said to be on stability and eradicating bugs to put a hold on continuous bugs’ report of previous versions. It is also reported that extensive work is going on to reduce firmware’s footprint on device storage.

iOS 9 will further integrate with Apple’s latest Music service that was initially introduced in iOS 8.4. Existence of iOS 9 came into light when a website stated they got few hints from devices running iOS 9 Firmware and then a screenshot detailing iOS 8 and iOS 9’s benchmark. Although these features are not legit and could be part of propaganda but this is normal during launch of every Apple OS.

Apple is going to unveil iOS 9 at WWDC 2015 that is happening on June 8th and will be released by the end of event. It is also expected that Apple will also unveil latest version of Apple TV firmware and Apple Watch OS during WWDC 2015.

iOS Public Beta Program

Through some rumors it is also heard that Apple will initially launch the Beta version of iOS 9 to gather feedback about possible bugs and finding out their solution before making it publicly available. Public beta is expected to arrive after first beta is set for member of iOS Dev Center Program. It is also not known yet which Apple devices from iPhone, iPad or iPod will drop support for this latest version of OS. It is expected that iPhone 4s will not be supporting  iOS 9.

-   ordoh

30 iPhone and iPad tips and tricks to make you faster and more efficient

There's little doubt that the king and queen of the post-PC era are the iPad and the iPhone, and while these devices both started out life as content consumption devices, they've grown over several hardware and software iterations into formidable content creation devices.

But as with any device, there are tips and tricks and shortcuts that can help you get more from your iDevice investment. Here, in no particular order, I'm going to rattle through a list of tip and tricks that will help you be more productive when using your iPad and iPhone, whether you use it for work or play.

1. When ending a sentence, instead of typing a period and then a space, just tap the space bar twice, which does the same thing and is faster.
   
   
2. Find yourself typing a lot of text and numbers? Do you find switching back and forth to the numeric keypad time consuming? Press and hold the "123" button and slide up to the character you want to input then, when you let go, the standard keyboard will return.
   
   
3. Want to TYPE WITH CAPS LOCK ON? Just double-tap the on-screen shift key. Tap again to return to lower-case.
   
   
4. In Safari (and Chrome), press and hold down the period key to bring up a listing of top-level domains such as .com, .net and so on (what you get is region specific so will vary).
   
   
5. Spend a lot of time looking at your iOS device in low-light? Invert the screen colors for more comfortable viewing. To do this click Settings > General > Accessibility and turn on Invert Colors.
   
   
6. There are a whole bunch of things you can do if you have earphones that have the remote control, from controlling the camera to rejecting calls.
   
   
7. iPad only: You can add as many as six icons to the bottom dock (the default is four) and you can also add folders. Just press and hold any icon until they jiggle and start rearranging. Press the Home button when you are done.
   
   
8. Don't want to be hassled by calls or notifications? Click Settings >Do Not Disturb and turn onManual.
   
   
9. Make text larger (in supported apps) by tapping on Settings > General > Text Size and adjusting it using the slider.
   
   
10. Want to still be able to receive some calls while in Do Not Disturb mode? Use the Allow Calls Fromsetting to control which of your contacts can get in touch.
    
    
11. What about those urgent calls from people not in your contacts? You can use the Repeated Call feature to allow a call through if it is the second one made within three minutes.
    
    
12. You can quickly get to the Camera app from the lock screen by swiping up the camera icon in the bottom-right corner of the screen.
    
    
13. You can quickly scroll to the top in most apps by tapping the status bar at the top of the screen.
    
    
14. Spotlight search has been revamped. Instead of swiping to the left in iOS6 and earlier, you now swipe down from any home screen for quick access.
    
    
15. You can now block a caller. To block someone, go to Contacts then select a contact and hit Block this Caller. Users on the blocked list will not be able to call, text or FaceTime you.
    
    
16. Got a lot of typing to do? Pair any Bluetooth keyboard to your iPhone or iPad to make the job faster.
    
    
17. iPad only: Put the keyboard into 'thumb mode" by pressing and holding the press the "dock and merge" button in the bottom right-hand corner and dragging up. Drag down to return the keyboard to its normal state.
    
    
18. Want to fast-charge a device? Pop it into Airplane Mode (tap Settings turn on Airplane Mode). It will charge much faster.
    
    
19. Want to cache maps for offline use in the Google Maps app? Zoom in to the area you want and typeOK maps into the search bar and hit Search and the map tile will be saved.
    
    
20. Did you accidentally archive an email? Shake your phone to bring up the Undo Archive dialogue.
    
    
21. Remove digits you've typed into the Calc app by swiping left to right across the digits to remove them one by one.
    
    
22. Starting with iOS 7 there's no longer a limit on the number of apps you can put into a folder, so there's no more need for duplicate folders.
    
    
23. Swamped by emails? If you tap Edit when in the Mail app you can select from a range of filters including VIP, Flagged, Unread, and so on.
    
    
24. Worried about young ones racking up huge in-app purchase bills? Tap Settings > General >Restrictions and scroll down to disable In-App Purchases.
    
    
25. AirDrop is a great way to share files with other iPhone and iPad (not all devices are compatible) users using Wi-Fi and Bluetooth (both need to be enabled for it to work). Swipe up from the bottom of the screen to bring up Control Center and tap on AirDrop. Here you can choose to make your device discoverable for Contacts Only or Everyone or turn it off completely in here. When you choose someone to share with, or they choose you, there’s a notification giving you a preview of the file and the option to deny or accept the transfer.
    
    
26. You can make audio-only FaceTime calls by tapping the phone icon instead of the video icon in the FaceTime app. If you're paying for wi-fi or cellular by the megabyte, this will save you money.
    
    
27. You can use Siri to do all sorts of things, from switching on wi-fi to taking a photo. Tap on the tap the '?' symbol in the bottom left of the Siri screen.
    
    
28. Instead of tapping on back buttons, you can now use a gesture to return to a previous view by swiping right from the left edge of the screen.
    
    
29. In iOS 7, you can view the sent/received times for each message (text and iMessage) by swiping left from anywhere within the chat history.
    
    
30. Siri can read out your email for you. Hold down on the Home key then say "Read my emails" to get the name of the sender, time and date sent, and subject of the email. Follow-up by saying "Yes" when asked if you want the text read out to you.

-   zdnet

iOS 8.3 tips and tricks: See what your iPhone and iPad can do now

Apple has released iOS 8.3, it's biggest update yet to iOS 8 that was first launched alongside the iPhone 6 or iPhone 6 Plus in September 2014.  

The new OS from Apple brings a host of new features, tips and tricks. We've worked our way through the phone operating system to try and bring you as many of the features as possible to allow you to get as much out of the latest software on your phone without having to upgrade to the iPhone 6 or iPhone 6 Plus.

Most of these tips are new to iOS 8, but we've also included some gems from iOS 7 that you might not have found yet. We'll be keeping an eye on things as new updates roll out and if you've got any tips of your own that we've not covered please feel free to add them to the comments below.

Mail for iOS tricks

Mark as Read: In your inbox swipe from left to right to reveal a "Mark As Read" icon. If it's a conversation you will have to do this for as any time as there are unread messages.

More, Flag, Trash: Swiping from right to left reveals quick actions to let you do a number of things. More brings up a secondary menu to let you reply, forward, flag, mark as unread, move to junk, or notify you of future messages in this conversation while Flag and Trash let you do just that.

Quick delete (Trash): If you do a continual swipe from right to left on an email in the inbox it will delete it without you having to swipe and then tap delete (Trash).

Changing the swipe options: You can also change what happens when you swipe left or right in Settings. Go Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars > Swipe Options and then set your Swipe Left command and your Swipe Right command. Options are limited, but it is something.

Minimise email you are working on: If you are mid composing or replying you can now drag that email to the bottom of the screen so you can still access the rest of your inbox. To do this press ad hold on the title of the email at the top and drag towards the bottom. To get it back, just tap on the parked email.

Reply notifications: If you are waiting for a specific response from an email and don't want to have to keep checking your phone every two minutes you can opt for iOS 8 to notify you. In any message you've received tap on the Flag icon at the bottom left of the screen and then select Notify Me. Confirm your decision and when they reply you'll know about it. To send an email with a notification alert already one it, select the bell icon in the subject line.

Time Zone override: The Time Zone Override when on will let you always show event data and times in the selected time zone. When off, events will display according to the time zone of your current location. If that sounds like something you want go to Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendar > Time Zone Override and toggle away.

Build out your contacts book: When you get get a mail from someone and they've got a signature, Apple now reads that information and asks you whether you want to add it to a contact. If you don't you can choose to ignore, but if you do, press on the Add to Contacts button at the top of the screen.

Unread emails: Finally you can now see how many unread emails you've got. Go to Mail > Mailboxes > Edit and select Unread.

VIP, Flagged, All Sent, To or CC, Attachments, All Drafts: You can also do the same for a host of other folders to for the first time. Go Mail > Mailboxes > Edit and select which ones you want.

Change Flag style: Yep you can change the Flag Style from flags to circles if that gets you excited. Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars > Flag Style.

Search: Drag down in your inbox to reveal a search box. You can now search your entire inbox for a keyword rather than just To, From, Subject. You can also limit your search to All mailboxes or the current mailbox you are in. Furthermore you can also limit it to conversation threads.

Mark all as read: You can now mark all as read in Mail. Yay. In a mailbox, or the combined inbox, you just tap "Edit" at the upper right, then tap "Mark All" at the lower left. Then choose "Mark As Read" from the pop-up menu and all your messages should be marked as read.

General iOS 8 tips

Find battery guzzling apps: Apple doesn't specifically tell you which apps are using the most memory, but it does allow you to check which apps have used the most battery over the last 24 hours or 6 days. Go to Settings > General > Usage > Battery Usage. Here you'll be able to see if a certain app has been used more than others. That might help change how you use that app. 

Standard or Zoomed: On the iPhone 6 and iPhone you can change the display setting from Standard or Zoomed. To switch between the two if you've changed your mind after setup go to Settings > Display > Display Zoom and select Standard or Zoomed.

Set the brightness: It's now moved from Wallpapers & Brightness to Display and Brightness.

Text Size and Bold Text: To change the default text size and whether you want all fonts to be bold to make the easier to read go to Display & Brightness > Bold Text.

Favourite and recent people: Double tap on the home button to reveal the app tray. Above your apps you'll see circles of the people you've recently talked or messaged with. Swipe to the left to reveal your Favourites. Pressing on their face (or icon) reveals shortcuts to call, message, FaceTime, and FaceTime Audio them.

Disable Favourites and contacts showing in App Switcher: Go to Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendar scroll down and toggle "Show in App Switcher". When you go back to the App Switcher mode they will have gone.

10-day forecast in weather: Go to weather, and on any city swipe up. You now get to see the 10 day forecast as well as additional information like a mini weatherforecast for the day, sunrise and sunset times and the chance of rain.

Hey Siri: To get siri working by just shouting at it rather than pressing a button go to Settings > General > Siri > Allow "Hey Siri". A word of note you will need to have it connected to a power source for it to work.

Choose a new wallpaper: New wallpapers to be had in the Settings > Wallpaper.

Setting up Do Not Disturb: If you travel a lot to different time zones it's probably a good idea to schedule your iPhone to go into to Do Not Disturb mode. Go to Settings > Do Not Disturb and then schedule in a time. We've set ours from midnight to 6am. During that time all calls and alerts will be silenced. If you are worried that you might miss an important call you can set the phone to allow calls from Favourites or repeated calls if someone is calling more than once in a three-minute window. You can now in iOS 7 set it so the Do Not Disturb works only when you've got the phone locked or all the time regardless of what you are doing. Handy if you are in the middle of a presentation.

Creating nested folders: It's a glitch, but it does work if you are timely. Create a Nested folder by dragging one app icon on to another one. Then quickly drag that folder into an existing folder. If you are not timely enough, keep trying and you should achieve a nested folder.

Enable Wi-Fi calling on EE: If you are a EE customer in the UK you can enable Wi-Fi calling. To do so go to Settings > Phone > Wi-Fi Calls. 

More from Safari in iOS 8 

DuckDuckGo: If you want to set DuckDuckGo as your default search engine over Google, Yahoo, or Bing, go to Settings > Safari > Search Engine and select the private friendly search engine as the default.

Auto suggesting websites: Like Safari on the desktop you can have the iPhone oriPad Safari recommend suggested search results as you type. It's on as default but if you don't want it, go to Settings > Safari > Search Engine Suggestions and toggle the feature off.

Auto suggesting apps: Likewise as you type in popular app names into the Safari search url box Apple will try and match that with apps you either have or might want. It's on as default, but if you want to turn if off go to Settings > Safari > Spotlight Suggestions.

Getting the website link quickly: Settings > Safari > Quick Search will determine whether Safari offers up website matches or not for you.

Making websites load faster or saving your data: Safari in iOS 8 preloads the first hit of the search result to make loading your choice seem quicker. The downside is that this could use up data. If you want to turn it off go to Settings > Safari > Preload Top Hit and turn it off.

Searching on page: If you are looking for a specific word on a page, simply start typing that word into the URL bar at the top of the page. The results will show you the google search results first but if you scroll down it will show you "On This Page" and let you jump through the mentions of that page.

Scan your credit card: Rather than having to type all your details you can now use the camera to scan your credit card. When it comes to entering the credit card details either press to auto fill if you are already using that feature with Keychain, or press it and then select Use Camera on the next menu you get. 

Swipe forwards and backwards: Swiping from off the screen on to the screen from the left of the screen goes back through your browsing history while swiping from the right of Safari goes forward through your browsing history. 

Getting Handoff and Continuity to work

Enabling Handoff between iOS 8 devices: Go to General > Handoff & Suggested Apps and then toggle the box.

Accessing Handoff apps: On the Lock Screen press the app icon in the bottom left corner or if you are using the phone already, double tap the Home button and swipe left to reveal the app page to the left of the home screen.

Stopping your iPad ring when someone calls your iPhone: One of the new features of iOS allows you to take calls on all your devices regardless. To stop you feeling like you are in the last scene of lawnmower man where all the phones ring at once go to Settings > Face time and turn iPhone cellular calls ring.

Allowing SMS messages on your Mac: To do this you need to enable the feature on your iPhone. Make sure you are running iOS 8.1 and then go to Settings > Messages > Text Message Forwarding. Find your Mac or iPad you want to allow access and pair the two devices with a security code. You’ll now be able to see and send Text messages via the desktop.

HealthKit

No thank you to certain apps: If you don't want apps requesting access to the Health app, turn them off by going to Settings > Privacy > Health

See which apps are giving data to Health: Go into the app and click on the Sources icon at the bottom

iOS 8 Keyboard tricks

Adding Emoji keyboard: Go to Settings > General > Keyboards > Keyboards > Add New Keyboard. Scroll down and select the Emoji keyboard (it's after the Dutchkeyboard) - :)

Picking your Emoji colour: In iOS 8.3 Apple has added a load of new emoji and in particular emoji that has skin tones. To access them go to the emoji keyboard in any app and long press on the one you want to use. If it as alternative options they will show. Apple then lets you set the colour you want to use so you don't have to make a choice every time. 

Adding third party keyboards: Install the app and follow the instructions in the app. At some point it will ask you to go to Settings > General > Keyboard > Keyboards and add the third-party keyboard.

Accessing additional keyboards beyond Emoji: If you have more than threekeyboards installed the keyboard will show a globe icon next to the spacebar. In any app that has a keyboard tap on that globe icon and then again to reveal the nextkeyboard you've got installed.

Hiding or showing auto suggestions on QuickType keyboard: The new Applekeyboard shows word suggestions on what you type. If you don't use this you can hide it to give you more space on the screen. gently press and hold at the top of the auto-suggest bar and drag it towards the top row of keys. You can bring it back by dragging up from the top of the keyboard if you change your mind.

iOS 8 Messages tips

What time?: See when a message was sent by dragging the message bubble to the left.

More: Pressing and holding on a message will bring up a Copy and More menu. Select more and you can delete messages you don't want to show. Sadly it doesn't delete it at the receivers end though.

Quick photo: If you are talking on iMessage you can press and hold the camera icon to reveal a new menu. Swipe up to take a picture or left to record a video.

Quick Voice message: If you press on the new mic button on the right of the text box you can start recording a verbal message. Lift your finger to stop to reveal a playback button. Once happy either swipe up or tap the arrow to send it or swipe left or tap the x button to cancel.

Details: To see more information about the sender press the word Details at the top right of the screen. It will allow you to send your current location or your constant location.

Mute someone: If someone is constantly badgering you, go into a message from them, press Details, then toggle on the Do Not Disturb button. This works for SMS as well as iMessages.

See attachments: Go into a message from them > Details > and scroll down to reveal all the attachments you've sent them via iMessage.

Delete messages: As before swiping from right to left in the Messages hub and you can quickly delete a conversation.

Delete older messages automatically: Settings > Messages and then scroll down to Message history. Here you can Opt to keep Messages forever, 1 year, or 30 days.

Automatically deleting audio or video messages: Apple by default sets it so once you've sent an audio message it will delete from your iPhone or iPad after two minutes. If you want to keep the message go to Settings > Messages and scroll down to Audio Messages or Video Messages sections and toggle the Expire setting.

Raise to listen to audio messages: It's on by default but you can turn off the ability to listen and reply to incoming audio messages by raising your phone. To turn it off go to Settings > Messages and toggle Raise to Listen.

Blue vs green: Blue is for iMessages, green is for SMS messages

Send iMessage as SMS: If you are having trouble sending your iMessages (over data) you can opt to have iOS 8 revert to sending the message as a SMS instead. Go to Settings > Messages and tick the relevant box.

iOS 8 iCloud tips

Turn on iCloud Drive: Go to Settings > iCloud > iCloud Drive. Here you can control which apps have access to your iCloud drive and whether or not they can use Cellular / Mobile Data.

Manage your Storage: Settings > iCloud > Storage. From here you can see how much storage you have, how much you have left, and whether you want to buy any more.

Family Sharing: Rather than have your iTunes account on all your family's iPhones and iPads you can now set up Family Sharing for up to 5 people. Go to Settings > iCloud > and follow the set up procedure.

Secure iCloud Keychain Access: Go to Settings > iCloud > Keychain and select the Approve with Security Code to add an extra layer of protection to your passwords.

Send last location so you can find it even when the phone is dead: Apple's added a cool hidden feature that will automatically send the last know location to Apple when your battery is critically low. Even if the battery dies as you've lost the phone behind the back of the sofa you can still at least have some idea where it got to. 

iOS 8 Notifications tricks

Quick Reply: When a notification comes in depending on whether its enabled by the developer you can reply there and then without having to open the specific app. To do this pull down the notification to reveal the actions you can take. iMessages for example let you reply there and then.

Delete notifications from the Lock screen: If it's a notification from an app simply swipe from right to left and then press the x button.

Delete or Mark as read: Without even opening your phone you can also delete or mark as read emails. Swipe from right to left to reveal both options.

iOS 8 Photos tips

Time-Lapse something: A new setting in the camera app for iOS 8 is the ability to create a time-lapse video with little to no effort. To do this swipe sideways in the camera app to reveal the Time-Lapse mode. Once you've worked out what you are going to film press the red record button. Don't for get it speeds everything up so you should film for at least 30 seconds to see the effects.

Slow-Mo at 240 fps or 120 fps: The iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus allow to now record at 240 fps in Slow-Mo mode. If that's too slow you can revert back to the 120 fps first introduced in iOS 7. Do to this tap on the 240 fps icon when in Slow-Mo mode.

Record video at 60 fps: If you've got the new iPhone 6 or iPhone 6 Plus Apple offers you the chance to record 1080p at 60fps but turns it off by default. To turn it on go to Settings > Photos & Camera > Record Video at 60 FPS and turn it on. To switch between 30 fps and 60 fps click on the icon in video mode when you go to record. 

AE/AF Lock: To change the exposure or the focus of your shot, tap anywhere on the screen and it will change instantly. To lock that exposure or focus (great for dramatic panoramas) press and hold on the screen until the square box "locks in".

Changing exposure on the fly: Once you've found your focus point (the big yellow square) in the Camera app press on the small sun icon and swipe up or down to change the exposure setting. Up to make it brighter, down to make it darker.

Activating Timer mode: In the Camera app there is no a small stop watching looking icon next to the button that lets you switch cameras from front to rear. press it and then select whether you want it on, 3s or 10s. Once on when you take a picture you will get a count down on screen so you can see when its about to snap the shot. 

Burst Mode: Users can snap photos in Burst mode by either holding their finger on the shutter or on the volume key to take a burst of photos as the action happens. Once you've taken a Burst of photos you can then choose your favourite one, although iOS 7 will try to do this for you. To select the one you want, press Favourites, and then select the one you want to use. The one Apple has chosen is represented by a grey circle underneath. To delete a photo Burst go to Photos select the photo Burst (it will look like it has two further images stacked behind it) and press on the delete key. It will ask you whether you want to delete all photos from this Burst, click on the red words "Delete Photos".

Photo tips for iOS 8

Editing photos: Find the photo you want and press the Edit button. Here you can press on the wand (as before) to auto enhance your photo or press on the icon that looks like a volume knob with dots around it. The later will bring up three new sub menus: Light, Color, B&W with various granular settings within them. If you select Light you can then gesture left or right to make the picture lighter or darker.

Straightening your photos: You can now quickly and easily straighten your photos. To do so select the cropping tool in Photos > Edit and then move the dial that appears on screen.

Search Photo albums: Go to the Photos app and press on the magnifying glass. Immediate suggestions include narrowing your image results by Nearby, One Year Ago, and Favourites however you can type in lots of different searches like places or months. All the shots I've taken in March in London please.

Upload Photo Bursts: Settings > iCloud > Photos > Upload Burst Photos. Doing this will back up all the photos in the burst rather than just the favourite one.

Favourite your favourite photos: If you've got photos that you want to mark to show others quickly later rather than searching or scrolling for them you can favourite them instead. To do this simply find the image you want to favourite and press the heart button. To find them quickly to into the Photos app and press on the Albums icon at the bottom right in the Moments view. Then select Favourites.

Better viewing Shared activity: Turn the phone or iPad sideways. It looks nicer.

Quickly finding a photo in Years: To quickly scan the hundreds of images you've taken over a year simply press and hold your finger on the screen and run it over the images you've got. Like scanning through a YouTube video, moving your finger will reveal a quick thumbnail of the pictures you've taken.

See where you took a photo: In the Moments page in Photos tap on the location of where the collection of photos was taken and you'll be able to see on a map where in the world you were when you took it.

Hide a photo: Find the photo you want to hide from Moments, Collections and Years, and do a long press on the photo itself. When the option comes up to hide, select that option and then confirm your choice. The phone is still available by Albums. 

Turn on iCloud Photo Library: To turn on the new iCloud Photo Library feature that will mean all your photos are automatically uploaded and backed up to the iCloud go to Settings > Photos & Camera and then toggle the iCloud Photo Library option. To get more info on what it does and how to take advantage of it read our Apple iCloud Photo Library explained: What is it and how does it work? feature. 

Apple Watch companion tips

You can't delete it: Don't panic, you aren't going mad, you actually can't delete the new Apple Watch Companion app even if you aren't planning on buying the Applesmartwatch. 

Watch Apple Watch videos: At the moment the Apple Watch app doesn't do much because the watch isn't available, but you can watch a series of promotional videos about the new watch from within the app so you can see what it is all about. Everything from short videos about the materials used to how it works is detailed. 

Apple Watch App store: When the Apple Watch App store does go live you'll be able to search for all the apps that will work with your watch. 

Hiding the Watch App: As we've said, you can't delete it but you can hide it alongside other non-deleteable apps like Stocks. Simple put them all in the same folder and then forget about them 

Your tips

Have you found any tips we've missed. Share them in the comments below:

-   pocket lint