iPhone® X For Dummies®
Published by: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774, www.wiley.com
Copyright © 2018 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey
Published simultaneously in Canada
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise, except as permitted under Sections 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without the prior written permission of the Publisher. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, (201) 748-6011, fax (201) 748-6008, or online at http://www.wiley.com/go/permissions.
Trademarks: Wiley, For Dummies, the Dummies Man logo, Dummies.com, Making Everything Easier, and related trade dress are trademarks or registered trademarks of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and may not be used without written permission. iPhone is a registered trademark of Apple, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book. iPhone® X For Dummies® is an independent publication and has not been authorized, sponsored, or otherwise approved by Apple, Inc.
LIMIT OF LIABILITY/DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY: THE PUBLISHER AND THE AUTHOR MAKE NO REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES WITH RESPECT TO THE ACCURACY OR COMPLETENESS OF THE CONTENTS OF THIS WORK AND SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION WARRANTIES OF FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. NO WARRANTY MAY BE CREATED OR EXTENDED BY SALES OR PROMOTIONAL MATERIALS. THE ADVICE AND STRATEGIES CONTAINED HEREIN MAY NOT BE SUITABLE FOR EVERY SITUATION. THIS WORK IS SOLD WITH THE UNDERSTANDING THAT THE PUBLISHER IS NOT ENGAGED IN RENDERING LEGAL, ACCOUNTING, OR OTHER PROFESSIONAL SERVICES. IF PROFESSIONAL ASSISTANCE IS REQUIRED, THE SERVICES OF A COMPETENT PROFESSIONAL PERSON SHOULD BE SOUGHT. NEITHER THE PUBLISHER NOR THE AUTHOR SHALL BE LIABLE FOR DAMAGES ARISING HEREFROM. THE FACT THAT AN ORGANIZATION OR WEBSITE IS REFERRED TO IN THIS WORK AS A CITATION AND/OR A POTENTIAL SOURCE OF FURTHER INFORMATION DOES NOT MEAN THAT THE AUTHOR OR THE PUBLISHER ENDORSES THE INFORMATION THE ORGANIZATION OR WEBSITE MAY PROVIDE OR RECOMMENDATIONS IT MAY MAKE. FURTHER, READERS SHOULD BE AWARE THAT INTERNET WEBSITES LISTED IN THIS WORK MAY HAVE CHANGED OR DISAPPEARED BETWEEN WHEN THIS WORK WAS WRITTEN AND WHEN IT IS READ.
For general information on our other products and services, please contact our Customer Care Department within the U.S. at 877-762-2974, outside the U.S. at 317-572-3993, or fax 317-572-4002. For technical support, please visit https://hub.wiley.com/community/support/dummies.
Wiley publishes in a variety of print and electronic formats and by print-on-demand. Some material included with standard print versions of this book may not be included in e-books or in print-on-demand. If this book refers to media such as a CD or DVD that is not included in the version you purchased, you may download this material at http://booksupport.wiley.com. For more information about Wiley products, visit www.wiley.com.
Library of Congress Control Number: 2017961520
ISBN 978-1-119-48166-9 (pbk); ISBN 978-1-119-48159-1 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-119-48157-7 (ebk)
Precious few products ever come close to generating the kind of buzz seen with the iPhone X. Its messianic arrival received front-page treatment in newspapers and top billing on network and cable TV shows. People lined up days in advance just to ensure landing one of the first units. Years from now, people will still insist, “I got mine on day one.”
But we trust you didn’t pick up this book to read yet another account about how the iPhone X launch was an epochal event. We trust you did buy the book to find out how to get the very most out of your remarkable device. Our goal is to deliver that information in an informed but light and breezy fashion. We expect you to have fun using your iPhone X, and we hope you have fun spending time with us.
Let’s get one thing out of the way right from the get-go. We think you’re pretty darn smart for buying a For Dummies book. That says to us that you have the confidence and intelligence to know what you don’t know. The For Dummies franchise is built around the core notion that all of us feel insecure about certain topics when tackling them for the first time, especially when those topics have to do with technology.
As with most Apple products, the iPhone X is beautifully designed and intuitive to use. And though our editors may not want us to reveal this dirty little secret (especially on the first page, for goodness' sake), the truth is you’ll get pretty far just by exploring the iPhone X’s many functions and features on your own, without the help of this (or any other) book.
Okay, now that we spilled the beans, we’ll tell you why you shouldn’t run back to the bookstore and request a refund: This book is chock-full of useful tips, advice, and other nuggets that will make your iPhone experience all the more pleasurable. So keep this book nearby and consult it often.
But before you do that, let us tell you a bit about how we go about our business. iPhone X For Dummies makes generous use of numbered steps, bullet lists, and pictures. Web addresses look like this: www.boblevitus.com. For those reading the e-book version, links are live so you can tap them.
We also include sidebars with information that is not required reading (not that any of this book is) but that we hope will provide a richer understanding of certain subjects. Overall, we aim to keep technical jargon to a minimum, under the guiding principle that with rare exceptions you need not know what any of it really means.
Although we know what happens when you make assumptions, we’ve made a few anyway. First, we assume that you, gentle reader, know nothing about using an iPhone or iOS — beyond knowing what an iPhone is, that you want to use iOS, that you want to understand your iPhone and its operating system without digesting an incomprehensible technical manual, and that you made the right choice by selecting this particular book.
And so, we do our best to explain each new concept in full and loving detail. Perhaps that’s foolish, but … oh, well.
One last thing: We also assume that you can read. If you can’t, please ignore this paragraph.
Little round pictures (icons) appear in the left margin throughout this book. Consider these icons miniature road signs, telling you something extra about the topic at hand or hammering a point home.
Here’s what the five icons used in this book look like and mean.
This text contains the juicy morsels, shortcuts, and recommendations that might make the task at hand faster or easier.
This icon emphasizes the stuff we think you ought to retain. You may even jot down a note to yourself in the iPhone’s Reminders app.
Put on your propeller beanie hat and pocket protector; this text includes truly geeky stuff. You can safely ignore this material, but we wouldn’t have bothered to write it if it weren’t interesting or informative.
You wouldn’t intentionally run a stop sign, would you? In the same fashion, ignoring warnings may be hazardous to your iPhone and (by extension) your wallet. There, you now know how these warning icons work, for you have just received your very first warning!
Denotes a feature that’s new in iOS 11, new in iTunes 12.7, or new in the iPhone X. What do we mean by new? Mostly that it wasn’t available in iOS 10, iTunes 12.0, or on previous iPhone models.
For details about significant updates or changes that occur between editions of this book, go to www.dummies.com, search for iPhone X For Dummies, and open the Download tab on this book’s dedicated page.
In addition, the cheat sheet for this book has tips for mastering multitouch; a list of things you can do during a phone call; managing contacts; and where to find additional help if your iPhone is acting contrary. To get to the cheat sheet, go to www.dummies.com, and then type iPhone X For Dummies cheat sheet in the Search box.
And here’s one last thing for you beyond the book: An online bonus chapter called “Ten Apps Worth Paying For,” in which we tell you about our ten favorite free apps in the iPhone App Store, including apps that turn your iPhone into a scanner, help you avoid traffic (and traffic citations), and help you identify the name of a song. To view the bonus chapter, go to www.dummies.com/go/iphonexfd.
Where to turn to next? Why straight to Chapter 1, of course (without passing Go).
In all seriousness, we wrote this book for you, so please let us know what you think. If we screwed up, confused you, left something out, or — heaven forbid — made you angry, drop us a note. And if we hit you with one pun too many, it helps to know that as well.
Because writers are people too (believe it or not), we also encourage positive feedback if you think it’s warranted. So kindly send email to Ed at baigdummies@gmail.com and to Bob at iPhoneLeVitus@boblevitus.com. We’ll do our best to respond to reasonably polite email in a timely fashion.
Most of all, we want to thank you for buying our book. Please enjoy it along with your new iPhone.
Part 1
IN THIS PART …
Get a big-picture overview of the iPhone X and a quick tour of its hardware and software.
Activate the phone, turn it on and off, unlock and lock it, and master its multitouch interface.
Synchronize your data — contacts, appointments, movies, songs, podcasts, and such — between your computer, your iPhone, iCloud, and other iDevices.
Make and receive calls on the iPhone — even video calls — use visual voicemail, select a ringtone, and ignore, juggle, and merge calls.
Chapter 1
IN THIS CHAPTER
Looking at the big picture
Touring the outside of the iPhone
Checking out the iPhone’s apps
Congratulations. You’ve selected one of the most incredible handheld devices we’ve ever seen. Of course, the iPhone is one heck of a wireless telephone, but it’s actually four handheld devices in one. At least it’s four devices right out of the box. Add some iPhone apps, and your iPhone becomes a PDA, an e-book reader, a handheld gaming device, a memory jogger, an exercise assistant, and ever so much more. We discuss optional apps — how to obtain, install, and delete them — throughout the book and particularly in Chapters 15, 17, and 18.
For now, we focus on the four awesome handheld devices your iPhone is the day you take it out of the box. In addition to being a decent cellular telephone, the iPhone is a gorgeous widescreen video player, a fantastic 8- or 12-megapixel camera/camcorder, as well as a tiny-yet-powerful Internet communications device.
In this chapter, we offer a gentle introduction to all four devices that make up your iPhone, plus overviews of its revolutionary hardware and software features.
The iPhone X has many best-of-class features, but perhaps its most unusual feature is the lack of a physical keyboard or stylus. Instead, it has the highest resolution touchscreen of any iPhone yet (an astonishing 458 pixels per inch) that you operate using a pointing device you’re already intimately familiar with: your finger.
And what a display it is. We venture that you’ve never seen a more beautiful screen on a handheld device in your life.
The iPhone’s built-in sensors also still knock our socks off. An accelerometer detects when you rotate the device from portrait to landscape mode and adjusts what’s on the display accordingly. A proximity sensor detects when the iPhone gets near your face, so it can turn off the display to save power and prevent accidental touches by your cheek. A light sensor adjusts the display’s brightness in response to the current ambient lighting situation. The iPhone even has a gyroscope for advanced motion sensing and GPS sensors so your phone can determine where in the world you are. Our favorite example of motion sensing is that our iPhones rarely ask if we want to join a Wi-Fi network when we’re in a moving car. That’s a smart smartphone.
In this section, we take a brief look at some of the iPhone’s features, broken down by product category.
On the phone side, the iPhone synchronizes with the contacts and calendars on your Mac or PC, as well as contacts and events on iCloud, Google, Yahoo!, Outlook.com, and Exchange servers. It includes a full-featured QWERTY soft, or virtual, keyboard, which makes typing text easier than ever before — for some folks. Granted, the virtual keyboard takes a bit of time to get used to. But we think that many of you eventually will be whizzing along at a much faster pace than you thought possible on a mobile keyboard of this type.
The 12-megapixel camera is paired with iOS 11’s improved Camera and Photos apps, so taking and managing digital photos and videos on your iPhone is a pleasure rather than the nightmare it can be on other phones. Plus, you can automatically synchronize iPhone photos and videos with the digital photo library on your Mac or PC.
The iPhone X cameras are the best ever, with all the features of the iPhone 8 Plus cameras, including autofocus with focus pixels to help prevent out-of-focus pictures. It also offers optical image stabilization, which uses data from the processor, gyroscope, and motion coprocessor to determine camera motion when you’re shooting. It then provides precise lens movement to compensate for your shaky hands or low light. The iPhone X, which has two lenses and true optical zoom, shoots the best pictures and videos we’ve seen from any smartphone.
Don’t miss the new Portrait Lighting feature that uses its dual lenses and facial landmarking to create studio-like lighting effects.
Another of our favorite phone accouterments is visual voicemail. (Try saying that three times fast.) This feature lets you see a list of voicemail messages and choose which ones to listen to or delete without being forced to deal with every message in your voice mailbox in sequential order. Now, that’s handy!
Finally, your iPhone X includes Siri, an intelligent voice-controlled assistant that understands what you tell him or her (most of the time). We say “him or her” because you can choose the optional man’s voice for Siri (see Chapter 5). Regardless of which gender you choose, Siri is even more useful and natural in iOS 11. Siri can figure out what you mean and determine which (if any) iPhone app should be used to find the right answer. And, like a real personal assistant, Siri replies in a natural sounding human voice. Furthermore, he or she has become even smarter in iOS 11 with proactive assistance, which provides the most relevant information and suggestions at a particular moment and on-device learning, which helps Siri deliver a more personalized experience based on your usage of Safari, News, Mail, Messages, and other apps.
One last thing: Both flavors of Siri — male and female — take dictation!
If you’ve tried voice control before, forget everything you’ve learned and give Siri a try. We think you’ll be as impressed as we are (as long as you have a good Internet connection when you try it — Siri can be close to useless if your connection is slow) — and are in a relatively quiet environment or are using a headset.
We’ve mentioned just the highlights of the iPhone’s superb set of features. But because we still have the entire book ahead of us, we’ll put the extended coverage on hold for now (phone pun intended).
We agree with the late Steve Jobs on this one: The iPhone is a better iPod than any iPod Apple has ever made. (Okay, we can quibble about the iPod touch and the iPad, as well as wanting more storage, but you know what we mean.) You can enjoy all your existing iPod media content — music, audiobooks, audio and video podcasts, iTunes U courses, music videos, television shows, and movies — on the iPhone’s gorgeous high-resolution color display, which is bigger, brighter, and richer than any iPod display before it.
Bottom line: If you can get the content — be it video, audio, or whatever — into iTunes on your Mac or PC, you can synchronize it and watch or listen to it on your iPhone.
But wait — there’s more! Not only is the iPhone a great phone and a stellar media player, but it’s also a full-featured Internet communications device with — we’re about to drop a bit of industry jargon on you — a rich HTML email client that’s compatible with most POP and IMAP mail services, with support for Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync. (For more on this topic, see Chapter 12.) Also on board is Safari, a world-class web browser that, unlike on most other phones, makes web surfing fun and easy.
Another cool Internet feature is Maps. By using GPS, Maps can determine your location, let you view maps and satellite imagery, and obtain driving directions and traffic information for much of the United States. You can also find businesses, such as gas stations, pizza joints, hospitals, and Apple Stores, with just a few taps. Plus, you can get information on public transit for more cities than ever and indoor maps of some large spaces such as airports and convention facilities.
Finally, the Compass app not only displays your current GPS coordinates but also orients Maps to show the direction you’re facing.
You might also enjoy using Stocks, an included app that delivers near real-time stock quotes and charts any time and any place, or Weather, another included app that obtains and displays the weather forecast for as many cities as you like.
The Internet experience on an iPhone is far superior to the Internet experience on any other handheld device we’ve seen, except the iPad. (Technically, we’d call a full-sized iPad a “two-hands-held device” because it’s difficult to hold in one hand for more than a few minutes. But we digress.)
One last thing before we proceed. Here’s a list of everything you need before you can actually use your iPhone:
If you decide to introduce your iPhone to your computer, here’s what’s required for syncing with iTunes:
www.itunes.com/download)www.itunes.com/download)The iPhone is a harmonious combination of hardware and software. In this section, we take a brief look at what’s on the outside. In the next section, we peek at the software.
The top edge of the iPhone X is as smooth as a baby’s bottom, as shown in Figure 1-1. The SIM card tray is on one side; the ring/silent switch and volume buttons are on the other. We describe these elements more fully in the following list:
FIGURE 1-1: The buttons and gizmos on the sides of the iPhone X.
SIM card tray: The SIM card tray is where you remove or replace the SIM card inside your iPhone.
A SIM (Subscriber Identity Module) card is a removable smart card used to identify mobile phones. Users can change phones by moving the SIM card from one phone to another — kind of. The iPhone uses a nano-SIM.
Ring/silent switch: This switch, which is on the left side of your iPhone, lets you quickly swap ring mode and silent mode. When the switch is set to ring mode — the up position, with no orange showing on the switch — your iPhone plays all sounds through the speaker on the bottom. When the switch is set to silent mode — the down position, with orange visible on the switch — your iPhone doesn’t make a sound when you receive a call or when an alert pops up on the screen.
Silent mode is overridden, however, by alarms you set in the built-in Clock app, music, audiobooks, and other purposeful audio, and selecting sounds such as ringtones and alert sounds in the Settings app.
If your phone is set to ring mode and you want to silence it quickly, press the side button or press one of the volume buttons.
On the bottom of your iPhone X, you find a microphone, the Lightning connector, and two of your four speakers, as shown in Figure 1-2:
Microphones: The microphone lets callers hear your voice when you’re not using a headset.
The iPhone sports three microphones (top front, top back, and bottom). The top ones are used for FaceTime calls and also work with the main mic (located on the bottom) to suppress unwanted and distracting background sounds on phone calls using dual-mic noise suppression or beam-forming technology.
Lightning connector: You can use the Lightning connector to
Little-known fact: The EarPods with Lightning connector that come with your iPhone work with any iOS device with a Lightning connector.
FIGURE 1-2: The bottom of the iPhone X.
On the front of your iPhone X, you find the following (labeled in Figure 1-3):
Receiver: The receiver is the speaker that the iPhone uses for telephone calls. It naturally sits close to your ear whenever you hold your iPhone in the “talking on the phone” position.
You should be the only one who hears sound coming from the receiver. If you have the volume set above about 50 percent and you’re in a location with little or no background noise, someone standing nearby may be able to hear the sound, too. So be careful.
If you require privacy during phone calls, use the included Apple headset (or any compatible third-party wired or wireless headset — as discussed in Chapter 14).
Photo courtesy of Apple, Inc.
FIGURE 1-3: The iPhone X is a study in elegant simplicity.
On the back of your iPhone X, near the top-left corner, are two camera lenses, with the quad-LED True Tone flash between them.
The flash is used for still photos, as a floodlight for videos, and as a flashlight. (You can turn it on and off in Control Center.) For more on using the camera and shooting videos, see Chapters 9 and 10, respectively; for more on the flashlight and Control Center, see Chapter 5.
Finally, your iPhone has a third microphone on the back.
The status bar, which is at the top of every Home screen and displayed by many (if not most) apps, displays tiny icons that provide a variety of information about the current state of your iPhone:
Cell signal: The strength of the cellular signal. The cell signal icon tells you whether you’re within range of your wireless telephone carrier’s cellular network and therefore can make and receive calls. The more filled circles you see (five is the highest), the stronger the cellular signal. If you’re out of range, the circles are replaced with the words No Service. And if your iPhone is looking for a cellular signal, the circles are replaced with Searching.
If your screen shows only one or two filled circles, try moving around a little bit. Even walking a few feet can sometimes mean the difference between no service and three or four filled circles.
Airplane mode: All wireless features of your iPhone — the cellular, 4G, 3G, GPRS (General Packet Radio Service), and EDGE networks, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth — are turned off. You’re allowed to use your iPod on a plane after the captain gives the word. But you can’t use your cellphone except when the plane is in the gate area before takeoff or after landing. Fortunately, your iPhone offers an airplane mode, which turns off all wireless features of your iPhone and makes it possible to enjoy music or video during your flight.
Some flights now offer on-board Wi-Fi. If you’re on such a flight, you can turn on Wi-Fi even when airplane mode is enabled. Just don’t turn it on until the captain says it’s okay.
LTE: Your wireless carrier’s high-speed LTE network is available.
4G: Your wireless carrier’s high-speed UMTS network is available.
3G: Your wireless carrier’s 3G UTMS or EV-DO data network is available and your iPhone can connect to the Internet via 3G.
EDGE: Your wireless carrier’s slower EDGE (Enhanced Datarate for GSM Evolution) network is available and you can use it to connect to the Internet.
GPRS/1xRTT: Your wireless carrier’s slower GPRS data network is available and your iPhone can use it to connect to the Internet.
Wi-Fi: Your iPhone is connected to the Internet over a Wi-Fi network. The more semicircular lines you see (up to three), the stronger the Wi-Fi signal. If your screen displays only one or two semicircles of Wi-Fi strength, try moving around a bit. If you don’t see the Wi-Fi icon in the status bar, Internet access is not currently available.
Wireless (that is, cellular) carriers may offer one of four data networks. The fastest are the so-called 4th generation networks such as LTE and 4G UMTS; the next fastest is 3G; and the slowest are EDGE and GPRS. The device looks for the fastest available network. If it can’t find one, it looks for a slower network.
Wi-Fi networks, however, are even faster than any cellular data network. So all iPhones will connect to a Wi-Fi network if one is available, even if a 4G, 3G, GPRS, or EDGE network is also available.
Last but not least, if you don’t see one of these icons — LTE, 4G, 3G, GPRS, EDGE, or Wi-Fi — you don’t currently have Internet access.
Wi-Fi call: Your iPhone is making a call over Wi-Fi.
Do Not Disturb: The Do Not Disturb feature (see Chapter 4) is enabled.
Personal Hotspot: The iPhone is providing a personal hotspot connection to another iPhone or another device.
Syncing: Your iPhone is syncing with iTunes.
Network activity: Some network activity is occurring, such as over-the-air synchronization, sending or receiving email, or loading a web page. Some third-party apps use this icon to indicate network or other activity.
Call forwarding: Call forwarding is enabled on your iPhone.
VPN: Your iPhone is currently connected to a virtual private network (VPN).
TTY: Your iPhone is set up to work with a teletype (TTY) machine, which is used by those who are hearing or speech impaired. You need an optional Apple iPhone TTY adapter (suggested retail price $19) to connect your iPhone to a TTY machine.
Portrait orientation lock: The iPhone screen is locked in portrait orientation. Swipe up from the bottom of the screen to reveal Control Center and then tap the portrait orientation lock icon to lock your screen in portrait orientation.
Alarm: You’ve set one or more alarms in the Clock app.
Location Services: An application is using Location Services, a topic we discuss in Chapter 13.
Bluetooth: The icon displays the current state of your iPhone’s Bluetooth connection. If the icon is blue, Bluetooth is on and a device (such as a wireless headset or car kit) is connected. If the icon is gray, Bluetooth is turned on but no device is connected. If you don’t see a Bluetooth icon, Bluetooth is turned off. Chapter 14 goes into more detail about Bluetooth.
Bluetooth battery: A tiny battery icon next to the Bluetooth icon displays the battery level of some Bluetooth devices.
Battery: This battery icon displays the level of your battery’s charge. The icon is completely filled with green or white when your battery is fully charged and then empties as your battery becomes depleted. You see a lightning bolt next to the icon when your iPhone is recharging.The first page of your Home screen offers a bevy of icons, each representing a different bundled app or function. Because the rest of the book covers each and every one of these babies in full and loving detail, we merely provide brief descriptions here.
To get to the first Home screen, tap the screen to awaken your iPhone if necessary, and then gaze lovingly at your iPhone to unlock it as you swipe up from the bottom edge. Once unlocked, you’ll see whichever page of icons was on the screen when it went to sleep. If that screen happens to have been the first Home screen, you’re golden. If it wasn’t, merely swipe up from the bottom edge again to summon your iPhone’s first (main) Home screen.
Three steps let you rearrange icons on your iPhone:
If you haven’t rearranged your icons, you should see the following apps on your first Home screen, starting at the top left:
You probably won’t find the icons we’re about to describe on your Home screen — at least not on the first (main) one. These apps usually appear on the second Home screen (which you find out about in Chapter 2). If you just can’t wait to see them, swipe your finger across the screen from right to left and they’ll appear like magic.
In the Extras folder you find these icons:
In addition to the Extras folder, you find several additional icons on the second Home screen:
Files: This new app displays documents saved on your iPhone or saved in the cloud to iCloud, Dropbox, or several other cloud-based storage services.
Finally, four icons at the bottom of the Home screen are in a special area known as the dock. When you switch Home screens (see Chapter 2), all the icons above the dock change. The four items on the dock, which follow, remain available on all Home screens:
Messages: The Messages app lets you exchange text messages (SMS) and multimedia messages (MMS) with almost any other cellphone user. The app also lets you exchange Apple-exclusive iMessages with anyone using any Apple device with iOS 5 or higher (iDevice) or a Mac running Mountain Lion (OS X 10.8) or higher, as described in Chapter 6. We’ve used a lot of mobile phones in our day, and this app is as good as it gets.
And the exclusive-to-iPhone-X animojis (animated emojis_) make using the Messages app even more fun. (See Chapter 6 for more.)
If the four apps on the dock aren’t the ones that you use most, move different apps to the dock, as described in Chapter 2.
Last, but certainly not least, you can delete most preinstalled apps. See Chapter 15 for details.
Okay, then. Now that you and your iPhone have been properly introduced, it’s time to turn it on and actually use it. Onward!
Chapter 2
IN THIS CHAPTER
Mastering multitouch
Unlocking Face ID
Multitasking with your iPhone
Spotlighting Search
Keeping alert through notifications
If you were caught up in the initial iPhone frenzy of 2007, you may have plotted for months about how to land one. After all, the iPhone quickly emerged as the ultimate fashion phone. And the chic device hosted a bevy of cool features.
Owning the hippest and most-hyped handset on the planet came at a premium cost compared with rival devices. To snag the very first version, you may have saved your pennies or said, “The budget be damned.”
That’s ancient history now. More than a decade later, you have to fork over some serious cash for the iPhone X, the first iPhone model to crack $1,000.
Pricing for the wireless industry, and accordingly the iPhone, has been in a state of flux. You used to be able to buy an iPhone for a subsidized and relatively low upfront price that was tied to a two-year contract with your carrier. Such contracts are no longer the norm. Instead, wireless companies are pushing installment pricing options, in which you can choose to put little or no money down but are then obligated to pay for the device over typically a two-year term. Of course, you can buy the iPhone X outright as well.
Along the way, you’re still on the hook for cellular and data coverage, provided by a wireless carrier.
For existing iPhone customers trading up to the X, the upgrade price for the new model may depend on how far you’re into your current contract, how prompt you are at paying your bill, and other factors. And as they say in the fine print, taxes and fees are extra.
You may also get a nice trade-in deal on your existing phone, from Apple or other retailers.