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Everyone has a handful of go-to apps he or she uses all the time and you can’t imagine life without any of them. But what about all the other apps that are still great but not really for everyday use? We all have some awesome apps on our phones that other people might not even know about, and in this post, I’ll cover 10 iPhone apps you might not know about that are all incredibly useful.

Due

In my humble opinion, Apple’s iOS Reminders app stinks. I definitely prefer Due, which is wonderfully simple and yet still quite versatile. It’s easy to create one-time reminders and recurring reminders for things you need to do repeatedly. And just as important as all the functionality in the app is the fact that it is very actively supported, with new features and fixes that pop up all the time.

Download Due

SonosControls

If you have a Sonos system in your home, you definitely need to check out SonosControls. This great app adds configurable widgets to your Today page that let you control one or all of your speakers. You don’t even need to unlock your phone to adjust things like volume, play/pause, and so on.

Download SonosControls

Hobi

Once upon a time, keeping track of all the TV shows you watch and ensuring you didn’t miss anything was simple. Just set up a show to be recorded by your DVR and viola, you were done. Today, that’s not how things work anymore. What about shows on Netflix? What about shows on Amazon Prime Video? What about should on Hulu, Disney+, HBO Max, Apple TV+, and all the other popular streaming platforms out there? Hobi is a terrific app with a gorgeous interface that lets you track all the series you watch, record which episodes you’ve seen and where you left off, and see when new episodes are going to air on TV or be released on your favorite streaming service.

Download Hobi

Nexx Home

Nexx Home is an app I use all the time, and it ties into a piece of hardware that I love. It’s called the Nexx NXG-200 smart garage door opener, and it does exactly what you think it does. This nifty little device lets you control any or all of your garage doors with your smartphone or your voice thanks to integration with platforms like Alexa. It’s easy to install, easy to use, and so much better than dealing with those annoying keypads that only register every third button press.

Download Nexx Home

Wunderfind

Wunderfind is a very cool app and it’s a must-have for anyone prone to misplacing things. Open the app and you’ll immediately see a list of all the Bluetooth devices around you that are within range. Did you lose one? Tap on it and move around, and the app will show you as you get closer or farther away from it.

Download Wunderfind

TuyaSmart

Like the Nexx app, TuyaSmart is an app that’s tied to a hardware device. The main difference is that this app can control a very wide range of smart gadgets. I use it to control an IR smart control hub in my living room, and I have a widget set up that lets me perform all sorts of functions with a single tap. This way when I want to switch TV inputs from my Dish Hopper DVR to my Apple TV, I can do it with a quick tap. It also features voice assistant integration so you don’t even have to pick up your phone if you don’t want to.

Download TuyaSmart

Atom Finance

Apple’s Stocks app is terrible, but I can’t really blame Apple. Why no? Because almost all stock apps are terrible. Atom Finance is by far the best one I’ve found. It has a fantastic interface, which is extremely rare among finance apps, and it’s got tons of great features. It’s also totally free.

Download Atom Finance

Meater

If you’ve never heard of a MEATER, prepare to be wowed. It’s a wireless meat thermometer that you stick into whatever you’re cooking and leave inserted while it cooks on the grill, in the oven, in a pan, or anywhere else. It connects wirelessly to an app on your smartphone, which tracks internal temperature in real-time. Cooking a steak? You can set it up in the app and then get an alert on your phone as soon as it reaches a perfect medium-rare. It’s fantastic and I’ll never cook without it.

Download Meater

Drizly

In the age of the coronavirus, I try never to leave my home unless I have to. Thanks to the Drizly app, running low on booze doesn’t necessarily mean I have to leave my house. It’s a terrific service that lets you have alcohol shipped right to your door. Also of note, the company works with local liquor stores and distributors, so you’re supporting local businesses by using it.

Download Drizly

Phone Pattern Blocker

Last but certainly not least, Phone Pattern Blocker is a must-have app that makes it so easy to cut down on spam calls. You know how you always get robocalls from spam numbers that start with the same area code and first three digits as your own cell phone number? Well, now you can kiss them goodbye.

According to a report from Bloomberg, Tan this week said that the company is adjusting its quarterly revenue forecasts due to a “major product cycle delay” from one of its “large North American mobile phone” clients.

“This year, we do not expect to see this uptick in revenue until our fourth fiscal quarter,” Tan said. “So accordingly, we expect, our wireless revenue in Q3 will be down sequentially.”

Though Apple rarely misses launch windows for new iPhone releases, the coronavirus pandemic this year effectively delayed important aspects of the iPhone design and testing process. As a quick example, the stringent travel restrictions involving China prevented Apple engineers from traveling to the country and inspecting iPhone 12 prototypes. Previous reports have indicated that the entire iPhone 12 development process was pushed back by a full month as a result.

Looking ahead, it stands to reason that Apple will unveil its iPhone 12 lineup in September ahead of a planned launch in October. As we covered earlier in the week, iPhone 12 production is expected to begin in July.

Apple’s iPhone 12 lineup this year will be particularly ambitious with the company expected to release four distinct iPhone models, all with OLED displays and support for 5G connectivity. What’s more, A recent iPhone 12 leak from a few days back provides us with a good approximation for what Apple’s four iPhone 12 models will look like:

Per usual, Apple’s latest and greatest camera technologies — such as a LiDAR sensor and improved optical zoom — will likely be exclusive to the company’s pair of iPhone 12 Pro models.  Still, all four of Apple’s new iPhone 12 models will likely see huge improvements in camera performance across the board, including better low-light performance. One unconfirmed rumor suggests that the iPhone 12 may allow users to take video in portrait mode.

Cameras aside, Apple’s 6.1-inch and 6.7-inch iPhone 12 Pro models will reportedly boast a 120Hz ProMotion display. Originally introduced on the iPad Pro, the display technology will allow for improved responsiveness and more fluid scrolling. Apple’s non-pro iPhone 12 models, meanwhile, will retain 60Hz displays.

Additional iPhone 12 features to look forward to include a smaller notch, increased battery capacity, and improved Face ID technology that will allow for a wider angle of use.

Lastly, we can look forward to an iPhone 12 design that looks and feels markedly different than recent iPhone models. While the iPhone design language hasn’t changed much at all since the release of the iPhone 6, the iPhone 12 design will reportedly be reminiscent of the iPhone 4 design.

Broadcom CEO Hock Tan warned investors that his company’s 2020 revenue would be impacted by what he described as a major product cycle delay at “a large North American mobile phone customer,’ which is apparently how he has referred to Apple in the past.

Of course, we don’t know he’s discussing Apple, but it seems pretty likely, as most other North American mobile phone firms make relatively inconsequential quantities of devices.

He warned:

“In Q3, we will normally expect to see a double-digit sequential uplift in revenue from the ramp of next-generation phone at our large North American mobile phone customer.”

He now doesn’t expect to see this revenue until the following quarter.

Apple traditionally introduces new iPhone models at a major launch event in late September, with the device usually being made available for pre-orders a few days later and shipment beginning the week after that.

Current speculation suggests the ship date may now slip into November:

• The Wall Street Journal has previously flagged the possibility of a month’s delay in iPhone 12 production.
• Nikkei has speculated the launch may be delayed by “months”.
• Digitimes has made similar claims, adding that Apple may begin production of one of the upcoming models of the iPhone 12 a little earlier.

This suggests the “entry-level” iPhone 12 may be available initially with the company drip-feeding other models across subsequent weeks, staggering the launch while maintaining revenue, I suppose.

This also makes it possible that the highest-end models may not be available until just before Christmas, or even early 2021.

Not a huge surprise

This isn’t particularly surprising. Just like everyone, Apple’s teams have been struggling with supply chain and manufacturing challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic, and development has been impacted because it has not been possible for key staff to travel. This extends to production line management.

In a sense, it’s not such a big deal: COVID-19 has not disappeared, and while things are limping into some form of new normal there is no guarantee the line will hold. We are one outbreak away from a return to lockdown.

It is also true to say that while 5G deployment activity continues, many network operators have been investing in QoS protection and working to maintain SLAs with their larger clients. That means the deployment of the next-gen tech has slowed slightly, and not just because staff have been unavailable.

With 5G likely intended to be one of the big selling points of the new family of iPhones, a delayed introduction may do no harm, as the services and networks needed for those smartphones don’t yet exist in significant quantity in most of Apple’s markets.

This will change in the next year, making the iPhone 13 a more attractive proposition for 5G support, particularly as Apple will likely tie this in with new breeds of service and supporting services bundles. TV+ content, for example, will likely boast a far bigger content catalog.

Of course, 5G isn’t just about consumer-facing services. The pandemic shows us the need for robust high-bandwidth mobile networks and enterprises are investing in cloud-based infrastructure, Wi-Fi6/5G and high-end services designed to maintain major Industry 4.0 IoT deployments. iPhones will be part of this tapestry.

What to expect in the next iPhone?

With 5G set for the high-end iPhone 12 and iOS 14 set to raise interest with new features and backwards compatibility, what else can we expect from the new models?

Previous reports have predicted multiple models of the device, with 5.4-in., 6.1-in. and 6.7-in. OLED display models available. They will boast a smaller FaceID system, more built-in RAM, a LiDAR sensor, and a U1 chip as launched in iPhone 11. High-end models are expected to hold larger batteries, 120Hz ProMotion displays, and to offer 3X optical zoom. They will run on a 5nm A-series Apple-designed processor, which promises better battery life with maximal performance.

Apple’s plans may change, and some of what it introduces may exceed these predictions; we won’t know until it introduces these devices whenever it is able to do so. However, with WWDC an online event this year, likely to have more people watching than ever before, there will be lots of interest in what Apple’s developer-focused announcements suggest is coming, and what (if anything) Apple will tell us about the ongoing impact of the pandemic on its plans.

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Modern smartphones are incredibly complex, with the ability to display a huge range of content and to navigate a complex set of color gamuts, file formats, and media types. Occasionally, however, some of those capabilities interact with each other in unanticipated ways, and you get a problem like this.

As first spotted by Twitter account Ice Universe, using the wrong wallpaper on an Android phone can send the device into a soft brick. While it isn’t technically dead, the phone will endlessly boot-loop due to Android’s inability to handle the color space used for the following photo. Note: Viewing the photo won’t damage your Android device — just don’t set it as your wallpaper.

WARNING！！！
Never set this picture as wallpaper, especially for Samsung mobile phone users!
It will cause your phone to crash!
Don’t try it!
If someone sends you this picture, please ignore it. pic.twitter.com/rVbozJdhkL

— Ice universe (@UniverseIce) May 31, 2020

Here’s an example of what the actual soft boot looks like.

Update: Samsung has received feedback on this type of bug in mid-May, and has resolved this issue. Just wait for the subsequent firmware update and do not take the risk. pic.twitter.com/oa7rxnkSkb

— Ice universe (@UniverseIce) June 1, 2020

Device behavior seems to vary slightly depending on the model and manufacturer. Sometimes people have been able to change their wallpaper before the device crashes or use the TWRP recovery tool, but this appears to be more the exception than the rule. Most of the time, affected users have no choice but to perform a factory reset. Samsung is reportedly working on a fix in UEFI, and Android 11 should also resolve the problem. In the meantime, don’t use this image for wallpaper.

According to developer Davide Bianco, the problem is caused by a lack of support for non-sRGB images in the Android SystemUI itself. This is why you can view the image just fine in-browser, but setting it as a wallpaper will temporarily brick your phone. When SystemUI attempts to map color values, the values in the image above exceed the array size and crash the phone.

In theory, these sorts of images can be used as a booby-trap. Send someone a gorgeous wallpaper, they install it, and boom — their device is now boot-looped. Android 11 will fix the problem by supporting non-SRGB wallpapers without this kind of problem.

Weirdly, not every single Android device is vulnerable to this problem. A Huawei Mate 20 Pro didn’t crash when tested by 9to5Google and OnePlus devices are also rumored to be immune. Products from Samsung, on the other hand, very much aren’t. It’s possible that the specific restrictions or software changes on the Huawei and OnePlus devices allow them to handle this kind of content differently.

Either way, best not to source wallpaper from random people until this problem is resolved, unless you’ve recently backed your phone up. Apple, of course, has had similar problems — on two separate occasions, sending the wrong character to an iPhone has been demonstrated to cause it to crash.

This fall, Apple is expected to launch four new iPhone models. Dozens of leaks and reports have suggested that all four iPhone 12 models will feature OLED displays, 5G support, and a faster processor. We might also see a number of rather notable design changes, from a smaller notch at the top of the display to a metal frame similar to that of the iPhone 4. That said, Apple is expected to save any major design overhauls for the 2021 iPhone line, and despite the fact that it’s still June of 2020, a new leak purports to reveal the design of the iPhone 13.

Japanese blog Mac Otakara shared images and a video this week of a 3D-printed mockup of what it claims to be a 5.5-inch iPhone coming out next year. The site says that the mockup is from “Alibaba sources,” but it doesn’t go into detail. According to the leak, the model in the video below is a successor to the 5.4-inch iPhone 12 launching this fall, so we can assume this is one of the lower-end iPhone 13 models (providing it’s real, of course).

The most obvious difference between this mockup and the leaked iPhone 12 designs we’ve seen up to this point is the missing sensor housing at the top of the display. There’s no notch on the purported iPhone 13, which implies that Apple will place the TrueDepth camera and sensors underneath the screen. Mac Otakara also says that Apple might be testing a camera at the bottom of the screen, but doesn’t explain how that would work.

Although the screen size is slightly larger, the dimensions of the 5.5-inch iPhone 13 are supposedly in line with those of the 5.4-inch iPhone 12. The bezels surrounding the screen are even smaller than the ones found on the iPhone 11, and Mac Otakara suggests Apple might be upgrading the Super Retina XDR display to achieve this.

On the back of the mockup, five dots can be seen where the camera module should be, which Mac Otakara says can be used “for testing various camera modules.” Some earlier rumors have claimed that Apple may find a way to fit up to four cameras on the back of the iPhone 13, as well as a LiDAR Scanner.

Finally, what appears to be a USB-C port has replaced the Lightning connector at the bottom of the iPhone 13. We have seen rumors lately suggesting Apple’s iPhone models beyond 2020 might be completely portless. Needless to say, we’re going to take this leak with a grain of salt. Mac Otakara says that this is just one of the prototypes currently in the works, so even if it really did come from Apple, there’s a chance it will never see the light of day. Nevertheless, the prospect of a truly all-screen iPhone is sure to get fans excited.