iOS apps

I know I'm not the only one who wants to get rid of the unread email count badge on my phone that taunts me loudly in BRIGHT. RED. NUMBERS. Every so often, a friend on social media gleefully (like a Mr. Burns kind of gleeful if you ask m…

I'm always on a quest for the best digital planner for the school year, because I have developed a very bad habit: Every year I get tempted by the beautiful, fun, old-fashioned paper planners I discover on Etsy or in our local stationery…

Lately I've heard some mixed opinions about the Focus feature on the latest iOS 15. If you haven't updated your iPhone yet, Focus mode is similar to the Sleep mode introduced with iOS 14 with even more detail and more ways to customize y…

It's been a while since we shared our favorite apps to help you get better sleep. So long, that our last post about favorite sleep apps seems to include apps all recently acquired by mattress companies. Hm. I did recently write about my …

As a former homeschooling parent, I am a huge fan of math apps for middle school -- and for tweens and teens whatever their grade level. I used to say that I was okay teaching math until around 3rd or 4th grade, and then I needed some he…

We recently got a question in our Out Tech Your Kids group asking about apps that read texts out loud while you drive, which got me started thinking about some tips and apps to help minimize distracted driving for teens. As parents, we n…

Each time there's a live streaming Apple Event to announce the new products and updates, we watch diligently to see what's new for parents and families, or which advances and improvements will actually make our lives a little easier, mor…

Over the past year, I have been so grateful for the sleep stories on Calm and some of the Apple Music playlists to help me fall asleep. The one issue: I was sometimes waking up in the middle of the night, my AirPods still in my ears...my…

This week in our Out Tech Your Kids Facebook group , we were asked how to prevent a Facebook hack, and specifically, if were any security measures to take that might help. And yes, yes there are! Here, a few really simple tips to help pr…

Do you have a struggling speller? As a homeschool mom , I know first-hand how hard it can be to try to explain spelling rules to a kid who doesn't quite get it, which is why I had to share the Wordcraft app that my kids have been playing…

Who else is thinking about gardening this spring? Along with our own Liz and Kristen who recently hosted the We Time Project and took a food gardening course (yay!), it seems like everyone is ready to put down the sourdough starter and g…

We've been having some lively discussions over in the Out Tech Your Kids Facebook group about lots of topics this past week, from screen time to video gaming, but the one we decided to chat about this week was our favorite apps, inspired…

Since the new year started, I've been digging into the Apple Health app to try to do a better job of managing my health. What's cool is that it gathers data from multiple apps to give you a comprehensive picture of your health in one pla…

Every year I swear , this is the year I get organized! This is the year I find the best ever to-do list app and put everything on it and finally check things off my list instead of losing them forever and make more time for the things I …

This is a sponsored message from Duolingo ABC You probably already know Duolingo as the most popular language-learning app around the world. But you may not have tried the brand new Duolingo ABC , which was designed to help all kids lear…

If you haven't heard by now, the customization features on the new iOS home screen are alllll kinds of extra (i.e. you can turn your home screen into a Harry Potter tribute , Microsoft Paint throw-back , or neon color study). It's pretty…

Apple's all set to release the new iOS 14 sometime this fall. And since an operating system update is the only way I'm marking time these quarantine days (Kidding! Mostly.) I was pretty stoked to explore the new features in their preview…

When you think "voracious reader of the classics" you don't generally think at the same time "..and big game, toor!" And yet, that's how I feel every time I open up Dear Reader. Free with Apple Arcade , this fun, quippy, clever, and fair…

If you've got a kid on an iPhone or an iPad, this week's iOS 13.3 update (as well as iPad OS 13.3 )has some serious parental controls that we think you'll be happy to know about. Introducing Communication Limits Starting his week, there'…

Last week, my daughter Sage and I had a great time talking with the crew from News12 (NYC, Long Island, Westchester) about our favorite fun, educational apps for grade schoolers that help your kids make the most out of screen time. I'm g…

School will be starting up soon, and that means my kids' tech will be focused more on education than Fortnite in a few weeks. Sorry, kids. I'm going to start by downloading these free audiobook apps that let you borrow them (along with b…

If you've got kids in summer camp, you may know that each day they don't get a letter from home is another reason they grow up to resent you. Kidding. But they do like to get lots of letters -- and I admit, I am not the best daily letter…

Our social media feeds are blowing up photos from the FaceApp, thanks to the new FaceApp Challenge, but is it safe? If you'e missed the buzz, this hilarious (ish) app lets you upload a photo to the app, then edits it using AI filters so …

If you've got a Harry Potter fan in your house, or you are one yourself, then you've probably already downloaded the new Harry Potter: Wizards Unite app on your phone and are ready to play. The game, which was announced back in 2017, is …