iOS 8 Tips

With iOS 8, Apple has finally given third party developers access to some iOS core features like the keyboard, camera and Safari among others. This has been done through a feature called "Extensions," which allows iOS apps to interact with third party apps. This means that you can download a photo editing app from the App Store and access it directly from Photos, rather than leaving photos, opening up the app and then opening the photo you want to edit, which makes things a whole lot simpler.

Here's how you add extensions to your Photos app:

1. Open your Photos app and choose a photo to edit. Tap edit in the top right corner.

2. If you have any relevant apps on your iPhone/iPad, you will see a "More" icon in the top left corner that looks like three dots. Tap on that.

With the amount of emails and spam received these days, it's tempting to just turn off notifications and deal with them later, en masse, rather than listen to your iPhone buzz or chime every two minutes. That's not really an option though, if you are waiting for an important email. A handy new feature in iOS 8 Mail allows you to set a notification for specific email threads, so while the unimportant stuff comes in quietly, you'll be notified when that email from your spouse, boss, Nobel Committee, etc. arrives. Here's how to set it up:

1. First off, this is all for nothing if you don't change your notification settings - there's no point if you have your email accounts' alerts set to the same thing as your thread notifications' alerts. So head to Settings -> Notifications -> Mail.

2. You want to allow notifications, so keep that on. Tap on your individual email accounts to change their notifications. You can change the notification sound, turn off badges, allow on lock screen and more. The important thing is just to have it different from your Thread Notifications settings. I have mine set to only badges.

If you don't want your iPhone incessantly beeping and buzzing all day long from unsolicited or unimportant emails, you may consider turning off Mail notifications. But then you will miss the ones that might be important from, say, your significant other, kids, parents, boss, etc. iOS 8 allows you to assign VIP status to your contacts, which lets you set notifications just for them. Here's how to do it:

1. To designate a contact as a VIP, go to your Mail app and tap on the VIP mail box.

2. Select "Add VIP," which will allow you to choose from your contacts (Note: their contact info must contain an email address).

Screenshots of your iOS device can come in handy, and not just for those of us that write about such devices. They are useful for demonstrations and obviously for advertising, just look up any app on the App Store and you'll see plenty of screenshots. Screenshot videos are even more useful, allowing developers to give virtual tutorials of their apps. They are especially popular with the gaming community for showing tips and tricks, how to beat levels, et cetera, and just to show off their prowess.

You used to need a third party app to record screen capture video of your iPhone, but with iOS 8 and Yosemite it is fairly simple to do. Here's how:

1. Connect your iPhone to your Mac with the lightning cable.

2. Launch QuickTime Player

3. From the QuickTime File menu, select "New Movie Recording."

Many people like to read their iPhones and iPads at night, in bed, with the lights out. Likely as many people find the lowest brightness setting to be borderline unbearable. And if you've ever used the jailbreak tweak f.lux, which not only adjust brightness, but color temperature as well, the standard display lighting on the iPhone is a downright reprehensible assault on the eyes.

When Apple will address this issue is anyone's guess, but in the meantime, by tapping into your Accessibility options, there is a way to make your display even dimmer than your brightness setting allows.

Here's how:

1. Got to Settings -> General -> Accessibility -> Zoom.