tips and tricks

I love a hilarious pet video as much as the next person, but when my Facebook and Twitter start overflowing with video recipes, news clips, and ads that play automatically, it gets a little draining. For me and my cell phone data plan. B…

As much as we love the Internet, and the helpful information it makes available to us, there are definitely some downsides, like the Family Tree Now site which aggregates all your personal info, including addresses, relatives, possible a…

Online privacy is becoming harder and harder to wrangle. Remember Spokeo ? Well, recently there's been a ton of buzz about a newish site called Family Tree Now . It's been around for a couple years, but within the last 24 hours I have he…

You might have heard about the little girl who used the Amazon Echo to buy herself a dollhouse and some cookies . Then just yesterday, a friend of ours discovered that her two-year old simply told Alexa "my friend cake" and a couple of d…

As a divorced parent, I've definitely found that tech can help make life a whole lot easier. Not only when it comes to communication, but even more, the transition between homes much smoother for your kids. And considering for me, it's a…

You're probably familiar with the emergency call feature on the iPhone , which you might have seen if you temporarily forgot your passcode or had a child attempt to do it incorrectly multiple times. But you might not know that you can ad…

Here's a cool trick that you can use on your iPhone to turn any book into an audio book, with a simple swipe using the handy Speak Screen feature. To enable Speak Screen, go to Settings > General > Accessibility > Speech > Sp…

If you're getting inundated with Facebook Live notifications like we are, here's how to turn them off, or set them so you're only getting the ones you might actually want to watch. This way, your phone isn't buzzing constantly. (People r…

We have been longtime fans of the Tile smart tracker , because we're fans anything that helps keep track of stuff we've misplaced. Well, they just launched Tile Mate , which features a handy little hole, making it perfect for keychains, …

As a mom of a tween who blasts music through her earbuds on a daily basis, you can bet a new article about earbuds and hearing loss caught my eye. Reportedly, there's been a 30% increase in hearing loss in adolescents (one out of every f…

Ever since downloading iOS 10 , I have swiped-to-unlock my phone about 75 times. Talk about being a creature of habit. It has taken a bit to get used to "press home to unlock," especially because now I seem to hold the home button too lo…

Have you been wondering how to hide hashtags on Instagram? If you're like us, you love using them, but you don't necessarily want to force everyone to read all of them, so here's how to hide them so no one can see them on your post (but …

We love finding the best organizational apps for parents each year because honestly? We need them ourselves! If you're anything like me, all household organization seems to disappear over the summer as we fully embrace our laid-back, cas…

Even though I downloaded iOS 10 last week, like many of you, it's taking me awhile to get used to all the changes and new iOS 10 features. Oof, there are a ton. And while I have to admit that I'm liking most of them, there's definitely a…

If you've ever read a comment thread online, then you know that in many cases, it can be a pretty awful place. So, we're pleased to hear that Instagram took a huge step in changing that, at least on their app, anyway. Related: How to man…

If you're getting more than your fair share of calls from that dreaded caller "Unknown" and want to know how to get rid of unknown calls, we've got your back. After all, 'tis the season for telemarketing, campaign donation requests, and …

I'm the first one to admit that I do not utilize Siri on my iPhone as much as I should. But after discovering Hey Siri website that lists out literally every single command (and variation on those commands) that Siri can do, let's just s…

I won't pull punches here; I am horrified, it not entirely shocked by the vast number of women in particular who have confessed how traumatic this election season has been for them, thanks in no small part to abuse on social media from t…

As someone who has a bad habit of laying in bed at night and checking her iPhone, the Night Shift feature in iOS 9.3 is a lifesaver. Or really, a sleep saver. Yes, those bright LCD screens aren't great for helping you fall asleep. So, if…

Unless you've been living under a rock, you've probably heard something about Pokemon Go , the new, free app that's blowing up the Internet. In fact, it's about to take over Twitter in user activity. Seriously. We've been getting lots of…

This morning as I was flipping through my emails on my phone, I discovered an email with a subject "Your Prime membership includes a free Kindle book," which I clicked right away because who doesn't love free? And to my total surprise, I…

If you want to charge your iPhone 6 or 6S faster, you don't necessarily need a fancy cable or charging block. It's as easy as grabbing your iPad Air charger and using that instead of the white block that you got included with your iPhone…

I've recently started using the Apple Reminders feature, which is free and included in your iOS device, and I've wondered why I haven't been using it it more this whole time. With end-of-the-year/beginning-of-summer madness, my mind has …

With kids out of school and summer officially here, I'm pretty sure most parents are struggling to figure out how to manage their kids' screen time. We've featured lots of screen time management ideas here on Cool Mom Tech, as well as sm…