Phone Screen Replacements Tips

Have a Meta Quest sitting around? You can now experience a rough estimation of what using visionOS on an actual headset will be like. No need to spend $3,500 on Vision Pro or whatever the going rate for a time machine to next year costs these days.

After years of progress and anticipation, Apple unveiled Vision Pro one month ago ahead of its US launch in early 2024. Developers preparing apps for the mixed reality headset can run a two-dimensional simulation of visionOS on the Mac. Apple will also be holding special sessions around the world so developers can try their apps on actual hardware before the product reaches customers.

If you’re not one of these developers or Chance Miller, the folks at Supernova Technologies have created a basement bargain discount version of “visionOS” that runs on the virtual reality headsets.

Aside from doing this for science, Supernova is showing off its Nova user interface framework for Unity developers and designers. David Heanley at UploadVR has the story:

The demo places the app grid seen in the Vision Pro introduction video in front of you with Quest Pro’s color passthrough as the background, and replicates Apple’s gaze and pinch based interaction system.

The demo leverages Quest Pro’s eye tracking to let you select apps or the menu items on the left, and its controller-free hand tracking to let you pinch to “click”.

The knockoff version of visionOS won’t run on the cheaper Quest 2 or pre-announced Quest 3, however, because it relies on Meta’s eye tracking feature, which is only available on Quest Pro hardware.

If you don’t already have a Quest Pro handy, we wouldn’t recommend running out and buying the thousand-dollar headset just for this demo. It sounds like an interesting way to see and control something that looks like visionOS, but the use of controllers to replicate air gestures for selection will break any illusion.

Whether it’s something recurring in your daily life or an unexpected event, we all experience stress and anxiety. You may not have thought about it, but if you have an Apple Watch, there’s a useful tool on your wrist to help find some peace and calm. Follow along for 4 ways to reduce stress and relax with Apple Watch.

A lot of the spotlight for Apple Watch as a health-focused device lands on features like the heart rate sensor, ECG app, heart rate notifications, and activity tracking. But Apple Watch is a handy resource to relax in a variety of ways.

Let’s dive into some native options as well as some third-party apps to relax with Apple Watch, even when you’re right in the middle of a stressful situation.

4 ways to relax with Apple Watch

Mindfulness app

Built into watchOS is the Mindfulness app. Formerly called the Breathe app, the Mindfulness app includes two options: Reflect and Breath. It’s a simple yet really well-done app that uses a proven technique to reduce stress and help you relax.

The Breathe sessions use nice haptics to signal when to inhale and exhale, and it also records your heart rate. And Reflect sessions use a question to help you focus your energy along with a nice visualizer.

Here’s the science behind focused breathing to relax from Headspace:

By shifting our breathing rate and pattern, we can stimulate the body’s parasympathetic nervous system, and trigger a calming response, which decreases our heart rate, blood pressure, and muscle tension.

The Mindfulness app on Apple Watch has a light blue overlapping circle icon. Tap it to get started.

To customize the app, head to the Watch app on your iPhone to set up alerts, haptic feedback preferences, and more. You can also adjust the session length by tapping the three-dot icon in the right corner of the Mindfulness app.

Meditate with Apple Watch

Going further with mindfulness, there are some great meditation apps for Apple Watch. Two of the most polished and robust are Headspace and Calm.

They both feature some limited free content with subscriptions to unlock everything.

A really neat feature in the Headspace Apple Watch app is an SOS three-minute “Feeling Overwhelmed” meditation that you can quickly pull up anytime you need it.

Headspace and Calm are free downloads from the App Store.

Yoga or exercise

If you’d like to incorporate some full-body movement to find some calm (and don’t have anything memorized), you can access yoga right on your wrist. Daily Yoga is a nice option that offers both free and paid plans.

Music, background sounds, comedy

If none of the above sounds like the right fit at any given moment, don’t forget about the power of music or background sounds.

Use your Apple Watch to play a song or album you love. It’s amazing how listening to a track you associate with positive feelings can quickly line you up with them and melt away your stress.

If music doesn’t feel right, perhaps listen to one of your favorite comedians or a background soundscape to shift how you’re feeling.

Do you have another way you like to deal with stress? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

Believe it or not, iOS 17 is coming in just a few months. This represents Apple’s biggest software update for iPhone users, and it’s usually packed full of new features and changes. Read on as we round up what the rumors currently say about iOS 17 new features and more.

When will Apple announce iOS 17?

Apple will announce iOS 17 at WWDC in June. WWDC is Apple’s annual developer conference where it unveils the newest versions of its operating systems for iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV, and Apple Watch. Apple has officially announced that WWDC 2023 will kick off on June 5 with a special keynote address focused on its newest announcements.

After Apple announces iOS 17 at WWDC in June, it will immediately release a beta version of the update to developers. Sometime in July, it will release a public beta that all iPhone users can try out. Then, Apple will release iOS 17 to everyone sometime in September, likely alongside the new iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro lineups.

New features in iOS 17: New Control Center?

Whereas Apple hardware products leak months – or even years – ahead of time, software leaks are less common. This is because most hardware leaks come from Apple’s massive supply chain, rather than from inside Apple itself. The company is able to keep software leaks to a minimum because only a small number of people inside Apple actually have knowledge of the company’s plans.

With that being said, the “big picture” of iOS 17 this year appears to be that it will be a relatively modest update in terms of new features, but there’s a focus on “nice to have” changes.

Bloomberg has reported that iOS 17 (and Apple’s other software platforms) is taking a backseat as the company focuses on the development of its AR/VR headset. The headset could also be announced at WWDC and marks Apple’s first major new hardware and software platform since the Apple Watch.

Apple is believed to be pulling hardware and software engineering resources from throughout the company to focus on headset development.

iOS 17 is reportedly codenamed “Dawn” and is in continuous development and testing inside Apple ahead of WWDC. Bloomberg says the update “may have fewer major changes than originally planned” due to the focus on the Reality Pro headset “along with iOS 16 snags.”

With that in mind, however, Bloomberg also reports that iOS 17 will have “nice to have” features that are intended to address some of the most-requested features from users. The specifics here are unclear, but at least one rumor suggests one of Apple’s focuses in iOS 17 will be on Control Center.

As we’ve explained, Control Center on iOS hasn’t received any notable changes since iOS 11 and the launch of the iPhone X. This rumor claims that Apple is prepping “major changes” to the iPhone’s Control Center in iOS 17.

Currently, Control Center is currently accessible by swiping down from the top right of the iPhone’s display. It features quick access to settings for things like Wi-Fi and airplane mode as well as the “Now Playing” interface. You can also customize the tiles at the bottom to include your most used settings.

iOS 17 supported devices

There are two conflicting rumors on which devices will support iOS 17, and both rumors come from sources that have previously been accurate.

The first rumor suggested that iOS 17 will drop support for the following devices:

• iPhone 8
• iPhone 8 Plus
• iPhone X
• iPad (5th generation)
• 9.7-inch iPad Pro (1st generation)
• 12.9-inch iPad Pro (1st generation)

Shortly after that rumor was published, another source came out of the woodwork to say that all devices that supported iOS 16 will also support iOS 17. This source cited an anonymous person on Apple’s iOS development team.

Wrap-up

As we approach WWDC in June, it’s possible that new leaks and rumors will shed additional light on what’s to come with iOS 17 this year. In general, however, Apple is able to keep a lot of things under wraps until WWDC itself.

What are you hoping to see in iOS 17 this year? Are there any particular features at the top of your wishlist? Let us know in the comments.

Starting in March, Apple raised prices for iPhone battery replacements. Whether you’re just curious how your battery health is holding up or you’re having issues with battery life or unexpected shutdowns, it’s easy to check the status in iOS Settings. Below we’ll cover how to see iPhone battery health, tips on when it’s time to get a replacement, charge cycle expectations, and more.

The iPhone 14 lineup launched with a higher cost for out-of-warranty battery replacements of $99. However, the change as of March 1 saw Apple bump battery replacements for all of its older iPhone models by $20. That pushed iPhone 13 through iPhone X up to $89 and iPhone SE, iPhone 8, and earlier to $69.

If you upgrade your iPhone every year or two, you hopefully shouldn’t have an issue with a degraded battery, unless you end up with a defective one. But for those who have iPhones that are two years old or older, low battery health ends up being an inevitability at some point due to chemical aging along with how many charge cycles they’ve gone through.

How to see iPhone battery health

1. Open the Settings app on your iPhone
2. Swipe down and tap Battery
3. Now choose Battery Health & Charging
4. Your current battery capacity is shown at the top

When should you replace an iPhone battery?

• TL;DR: When your battery has dropped below 80% of its original capacity you may want to consider a replacement. Same if you see a warning about your battery being degraded or if it won’t hold a charge.
  • Under the “Battery Health & Charging” section shown above, you should see a warning if your battery health is degraded and if it’s causing issues like unexpected shutdowns and/or unable to sustain peak performance.

• Apple says iPhone batteries are “designed to retain up to 80% of its original capacity at 500 complete charge cycles when operating under normal conditions.”

If you’re in the US, replacements are covered under the one-year included warranty or with AppleCare. However, if you’re out of warranty coverage, Apple charges a $69-99 fee for the iPhone battery replacement service.

When an iPhone battery drops below 80% of its original capacity, a feature called “performance management” may be automatically applied. This works to help prevent unexpected shutdowns.

However, it is possible to turn the performance throttling off. Looks for the small “Disable” button at the end of the text below “Peak Performance Capability.”

If you see a message that says battery health degraded or unknown, head to an Apple Store, reach out to Apple Support, or an Apple Authorized Service Provider if you want to get a certified Apple battery replacement.

You can read more specifics about iPhone battery and performance in Apple’s full support document. Thanks for reading our guide on how to see iPhone battery health!