Keep reading to learn what distinguishes each of these models from the rest — and determine which one will work best for you.

What are the latest iPhone models?

You have no shortage of options with the new Apple iPhone launch, and all four versions all come in various sizes and colors.

• iPhone 12 mini
  • 5.4-inch display
  • Available in Blue, Green, Red, White, and Black
• iPhone 12
  • 6.1-inch display
  • Available in Blue, Green, Red, White, and Black
• iPhone 12 Pro
  • 6.1-inch display
  • Available in Pacific Blue, Gold, Graphite, and Silver
• iPhone 12 Pro Max
  • 6.7-inch display
  • Available in Pacific Blue, Gold, Graphite, and Silver

iPhone 12 release date and prices

To help keep up with demand, Apple is staggering its new iPhone release dates. In other words, not only does each model start at a different price point, but they also have different releases dates. 

When is the new iPhone coming out?

Here’s a quick rundown of release dates of the next iPhones:

• iPhone 12: October 23, 2020
• iPhone 12 Mini: November 13, 2020
• iPhone 12 Pro: October 23, 2020
• iPhone 12 Pro Max: November 13, 2020

How much are the iPhone 12 models?

The iPhone 12 lineup isn’t much different than previous models when it comes to price. Each model has a different starting price, which may increase depending on which storage capacity you choose. Here are the starting prices for each of the 2020 iPhones:

• iPhone 12: $799
• iPhone 12 Mini: $699
• iPhone 12 Pro: $999
• iPhone 12 Pro Max: $1,099

The best iPhone 12 features for photography and video

Apple has always found a way to continue to improve its cameras with each new iPhone model. iPhone 12 is no different, somehow loaded with an even more impressive camera than its predecessor. In addition to the camera, the following are some of the best iPhone 12 features to help you decide which model is for you.

Camera upgrades

On paper, the cameras for these models look very similar to their predecessors, but there are some noticeable improvements.

iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Mini both come with a dual-camera system, which includes Wide and Ultra-wide lenses. But the Wide-angle camera has an upgraded ƒ/1.6 aperture, allowing it to take better pictures in even lower light than iPhone 11.

The Pro models have all three lenses (Wide, Ultra-wide, and Telephoto), but iPhone 12 Pro and iPhone 12 Pro Max have slightly different Telephoto lenses. While iPhone 12 Pro has an upgraded 52mm ƒ/2.0 Telephoto, iPhone 12 Pro Max switches it up with a tighter 65mm ƒ/2.4 lens. This means iPhone 12 Pro’s Telephoto lens works better in lower light, but iPhone 12 Pro Max will give you a closer, more zoomed-in, image.

Of course, what’s a new iPhone lineup without a couple of video improvements as well? All of the 2020 models will be able to shoot in 4K Dolby Vision. iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Mini will be able to shoot in Dolby Vision up to 30 frames-per-second (or fps), while iPhone 12 Pro and iPhone Pro Max can shoot up to 60 fps. That said, most people only watch videos at 30 fps or below, so in reality, you’d only need iPhone Pro or iPhone Pro Max’s 60 fps if you wanted to slow a video down when you’re editing it.

Night mode on both cameras

There’s no denying that Night mode was a game-changer when it was introduced with iPhone 11. With the new A14 Bionic chip in the iPhone 12 lineup, Night mode has been drastically improved and now works on both cameras. Yes, even the front camera, too!

Bigger screen sizes

Previously, only iPhone Pro models had Super Retina XDR displays, but all iPhone 12 models come with this super-sharp and vibrant display. And not only are your pictures brighter, but they’re bigger on iPhone 12, too. Except for iPhone 12 Mini, all of these models received a screen upgrade. iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro have a 6.1-inch display, and iPhone 12 Pro Max has a 6.7-inch display.

More storage

iPhone 11 Pro’s capacity started at 64 GB, but iPhone 12 Pro and iPhone Pro Max start at 128 GB, with the added option to go all the way up to 512 GB. This is great news if you like to keep your pictures and videos saved on your iPhone, as you now have more space to hold even more of the content you’ve captured.

Apple ProRAW

An exciting new feature that Apple announced — available only for iPhone 12 Pro and iPhone Pro Max — is Apple ProRAW. Admittedly, this feature is geared toward more serious iPhone photographers, but everyone will be able to enjoy the benefits of this new uncompressed format.

Shooting a picture in Apple’s RAW format means you’re capturing an uncompressed picture. Although this creates a larger file size, it’s better for manipulating or editing your image. In the past, if you wanted to take a photo using a feature like Portrait mode or Night mode, you wouldn’t be able to capture it RAW. But now, with Apple ProRAW, you can. When this feature is released, you’ll be able to edit RAW pictures in Lightroom and Photoshop that you took in Portrait and Night mode.

There are a ton of great new features on each of the latest iPhone 12 models. But which model should you get? Do you want the portability and ease of iPhone 12 Mini, or do you want to be able to take advantage of Apple ProRAW when it’s made available for iPhone 12 Pro? Hopefully, this article has helped you determine what you want from your next iPhone’s camera.

The post The new iPhone 12: What’s in it for photographers? appeared first on Backlight.

Keep reading, as this article will answer those questions. Plus, we’ll reveal even more tricks that make it as easy to delete many photos from your iPhone as it is to delete one.

How to delete photos from your iPhone

If you’re trying to clean up your photo library on your iPhone, it’s going to take you a long time to go through and delete individual pictures one at a time. Here are some tips for cleaning up the photo library on your iPhone.

How to delete all photos from your iPhone at once

Although there’s no native way to delete all of your photos at one time, that doesn’t mean it’s impossible. While our very own app, Gemini Photos, is primarily used to find duplicate pictures, it has a hidden feature that will help you out.

Here’s how to delete all photos from your iPhone or iPad using Gemini Photos:

1. Download Gemini Photos from the App Store.
2. Open the app and tap the Menu button in the top right.
3. Tap Delete Photo Library at the very bottom.
4. Tap Delete to confirm.
5. In the Photos app, scroll down to Recently Deleted.
6. Tap Select > Delete All.

How to delete duplicates and other redundant pictures from iPhone

Maybe you’re just looking for a way to quickly clean up your photos by deleting the duplicates and similar-looking pictures on your phone. If so, you can download Gemini Photos from the App Store and follow these steps:

1. Open Gemini Photos and let it scan.
2. Tap Duplicates.
3. Go through each grouping to select the pics you want to delete.
4. When you’re done, tap the Delete Duplicates button at the bottom.
5. Tap Your Library to go through other categories like Similar, Blurred, Notes, etc.

How to mass-remove thousands of photos from your iPhone

While deleting photos in bulk isn’t impossible, it may take some time — especially if you want to be selective about which pictures you remove. But you can follow these steps to help speed up your batch-deleting:

1. Open the Photos app.
2. Tap Library > All Photos.
3. Tap the ellipses > Zoom Out.
4. Tap Select.
5. Instead of tapping each picture, touch the first picture and drag your finger to the top of the screen. This will select all of the photos along the way.
6. After you’re done selecting all the pictures, tap the trash can icon in the bottom-right corner.

If there are specific pictures you want to deselect, just tap those photos to uncheck them.

How to delete photos from your iPhone but not from iCloud

Before you start deleting your pictures en masse, it’s important to keep in mind that in some cases, anything you delete from your iPhone will also be deleted from iCloud. So, if you want to free up space on your phone without losing those pics forever, follow these steps:

1. Open the Settings app.
2. Scroll down and tap Photos.
3. Turn iCloud Photos off.

Once iCloud Photos is turned off, deleting a picture will only remove it from your iPhone.

How to permanently delete pictures from your iPhone

A common misconception is that when you delete photos, they’re gone from your iPhone forever. However, that’s not true — at least, not for 30 days. Anytime you delete a picture, it remains on your phone in the Recently Deleted album for a 30-day period. So, to permanently delete pictures from your iPhone, follow these steps:

1. Open the Photos app.
2. Tap Albums > Recently Deleted > Select All.
3. At the bottom, tap Delete All.

Why can’t I delete photos on my iPhone?

In some cases, you may try to delete photos, only to discover that your iPhone won’t let you. Here are three of the common reasons why this can happen.

1. You synced the photos from your computer

If you add pictures to your iPhone by connecting it to your computer, you can’t delete them on your iPhone. Instead, you have to choose to not sync that particular photo the next time you sync your devices.

2. The pictures are in a Shared Album

One of the downsides to Shared Albums is that if you’re not the creator of an album, you can only delete the pictures you add to it. If you try to delete a photo you didn’t add, the trash can icon is grayed out.

3. Photo Stream is turned on

Perhaps you deleted a picture on your iPhone, but it’s still showing up in your Photos app. That could be because you have Photo Stream turned on. Even after you delete a picture from your Camera Roll, you’ll still need to go into your Photo Stream and remove it from there, too.

How to delete photos from iCloud

If you’re signed in to iCloud when you add or remove a photo on your iPhone, Apple will automatically add or remove it on iCloud, too. But you might find yourself in a situation where you want to delete a picture only from iCloud or simply locate a picture that’s still on iCloud but no longer on your phone. Here are a couple of tricks for managing your photos on iCloud.

Where to find deleted photos on iCloud

If you deleted a photo from iCloud but have since changed your mind about it, you may still be able to recover the photo from the Recently Deleted album. To find deleted photos on iCloud:

1. Open Safari and go to iCloud.com.
2. Log in with your iCloud account.
3. Tap Photos > Albums > Recently Deleted.
4. Find the photo you accidentally removed.
5. Tap Recover.

How to permanently delete photos from iCloud

Like the Photos app on your iPhone, when you delete a picture from iCloud, it doesn’t immediately disappear. Rather, it survives in your Recently Deleted album for up to 30 days. You can, however, follow these steps to permanently delete a photo without the wait:

1. In Safari, go to iCloud.com.
2. Log in with your iCloud account.
3. Tap Photos > Albums > Recently Deleted.
4. At the top, tap Select > Select All > Delete.

How to delete pictures from iCloud but not from your iPhone

Deleting pictures from iCloud without removing them from your phone requires two steps: turning off iCloud Photos and deleting the images. Follow these instructions to turn off iCloud Photos:

1. Open the Settings app.
2. Scroll down and tap Photos.
3. Toggle iCloud Photos off.

If you have the option set to Optimize iPhone Storage, it’s likely that not all of your pictures are currently downloaded to your iPhone. In any case, make sure you have the Download and Keep Originals option selected. That way, your entire photo library will remain on your phone even after you turn off iCloud Photos.

Next, follow these steps to remove a picture from iCloud.

1. In Safari, go to iCloud.com.
2. Log in with your iCloud account.
3. Tap Photos and select the picture you want to delete.
4. Tap the trash can icon.

Whether you’re trying to purge your photo library or just want to free up a little space, batch-deleting pictures is a great solution. Trying to remove photos one by one is going to take a lot longer than it’s worth. Hopefully, this article has provided you with some tips to help you feel confident when deleting pictures from your iPhone and iCloud.

The post How to delete photos from iPhone, iPad, and iCloud: Tricks you didn’t know appeared first on Backlight.

Duplicates and similar-looking photos can waste a lot of space in your photo library if you’re not careful. This article goes over how to locate and dispose of duplicate photos. Plus, we’ll share some other tips and tricks on how to keep your library clutter-free.

How to find and delete duplicate photos on iPhone

While manually searching for duplicate and similar photos is one way to clean up your library, it isn’t the only way. Below, we’ll share how to clean up your duplicates manually, how to purge similar photos in Google Photos and iCloud, and — the easiest option — how to delete duplicates using the app Gemini Photos.

How to remove duplicate iPhone photos using Gemini Photos

Gemini Photos not only scans your iPhone for duplicate photos but also identifies things like similar images, blurry photos, and even screenshots. Here’s how to use Gemini Photos to clean up your photo clutter:

1. Download Gemini Photos from the App Store.
2. Open the app and let it scan.
3. Tap on one of the categories, such as Duplicates.
4. Select a group of pictures to review, then decide which individual photos you want to delete.
5. After you’re done selecting, tap Delete Duplicates at the bottom of the screen.
6. Tap Delete to confirm. 

It’s important to remember that even after you delete your pictures with Gemini Photos, they’re still on your phone. To permanently delete them:

1. Open the Photos app.
2. Tap Albums > Recently Deleted.
3. Tap Select > Delete All.

How to delete duplicate photos manually in Photos

Of course, you can always manually search for duplicates on your iPhone. This process is self-explanatory, but there are a couple of tricks you can use in the Photos app to help you find them:

• View by date: In the Photos app, tap Library > All Photos at the bottom to view your pictures in chronological order, which will help you spot the similar photos and duplicates as you scroll through.
• Sort by location: You can also sort your pictures by geographic location. At the bottom, tap Search and scroll down to Places.

To remove the duplicates when you find them:

1. Tap Select.
2. Choose the pictures you want to delete.
3. Tap the trash can icon in the bottom-right corner and select Delete Photo.

How to remove duplicate photos from iCloud

Maybe you have some duplicate pictures on iCloud. The good news is you can use Gemini Photos to help you clean those up, too. The same instructions apply, but you’ll need to ensure that you have iCloud Photos turned on, on your iPhone. Here’s how you turn on iCloud Photos:

1. Open the Settings app.
2. Tap Photos.
3. Toggle the slider to turn on iCloud Photos.

How to delete duplicates in Google Photos

If you’re using Google Photos, you can search through your photos manually, or you can use the Search feature to help you find specific groups of pictures. To search for duplicates in Google Photos, just follow these steps:

1. In Google Photos, tap Search.
2. In the Search bar at the top, type a keyword to identify the pics you’re looking for (e.g., zebra).
3. Tap and hold the pictures you want to delete.
4. After you’ve selected all the images, tap the trash can icon at the top.
5. Tap Move to Trash > Delete.

How to prevent duplicate photos on your iPhone

Now that you have all the duplicates and clutter removed from your photo library, you may be wondering how you can prevent more duplicates in the future. Here are some helpful tips to keep in mind.

Tip 1. Sync photos using only one method

There are a couple of ways to sync your photos across all your devices. For example, you can use iCloud Photos or connect your phone to your computer with a USB cable. Whatever your preferred method for syncing your iPhone, sync it that way — and only that way. Syncing from both your computer and your cloud accounts can mean you upload the same photos multiple times.

Tip 2. Turn off auto-downloads in third-party apps like WhatsApp

Some third-party apps like WhatsApp will automatically download pictures and videos to your phone. So if you manually save an image you’ve been sent, you will end up with multiple copies of it in the Photos app. To turn off auto-downloads, just follow these steps:

1. Open WhatsApp.
2. Tap Settings > Data and Storage Usage > Photos.
3. Choose Never.

Tip 3. Transfer all photos from your DSLR camera at the same time

Newer DSLR cameras allow you to transfer pictures to your phone over Wi-Fi or Bluetooth. If you only import a couple of photos at a time, you leave room for a mistake the next time you transfer pictures. You might accidentally sync the same photos twice, creating copies of your pictures on your iPhone.

The cleanest way to transfer pictures from a DSLR camera is to import all of the photos to your iPhone and then wipe the card. This way, you can’t accidentally import the same images a second time.

Tip 4. Don’t use AirDrop with iCloud Photos turned on

If you have multiple Apple devices with iCloud Photos turned on, don’t transfer pictures between devices using AirDrop. It’s tempting to use AirDrop when your photos aren’t syncing quickly enough, but the result will be duplicates of the same photos. A little patience here will save you some headaches later. 

Tip 5. Use Shared Albums

When you go to an event with friends or family, everyone typically shares the pictures they took. Instead of emailing photos or texting them to each other, it’s best to keep a Shared album. That way, all your shared photos live in the Photos app. And you don’t have to worry about going back to find them or saving them again, accidentally creating duplicates. 

Does iCloud recognize duplicate photos?

If you have multiple devices trying to sync the same picture, iCloud will recognize it as a duplicate. But if you have copies saved on your iPhone, then iCloud will upload both versions of the photo. 

Duplicates happen to everyone. Especially if you’re using your iPhone as your primary camera. The more you practice your iPhone photography, the more likely you are to fill up your library with similar-looking photos and duplicates. But if you apply some of these tricks and regularly scan for duplicates with Gemini Photos, you can prevent your photo library from filling up with clutter, optimizing your iPhone’s storage space.

The post How to delete and prevent duplicate photos on your iPhone appeared first on Backlight.

What is the HEIC format, and why does iPhone take HEIC photos?

HEIC is Apple’s proprietary version of the HEIF or High-Efficiency Image File format. This newer file format is intended to be a better way to save your pictures, making your images smaller in terms of data while retaining high quality.

Is HEIC better than JPG?

Yes, HEIC is better than JPG in many ways — specifically, in its ability to compress pictures into a small file size without losing image quality. The sticking point is the issue of what apps and devices also support HEIC. While more developers are adopting HEIC every day, it’s still not as commonly accepted as the tried-and-true standard, JPG.

How to set your iPhone to stop taking HEIC photos

Thankfully, if dealing with HEIC photos becomes too much of a hassle, you can have your iPhone camera stop taking HEIC pics by following these steps:

1. Go to Settings.
2. Tap Camera > Formats.
3. Select Most Compatible.

How to send photos from your iPhone as JPG, not HEIC

Another option you have is to keep shooting pictures as HEIC but to share them as JPGs. Here’s how to automatically convert a HEIC file to JPG when you share it from your iPhone:

1. Open the Settings app.
2. Tap Photos.
3. Scroll down to the Transfer to Mac or PC section.
4. Choose Automatic. 

How to convert HEIC to JPG or PNG on a Mac

If you’ve transferred some pictures from your iPhone and now have a handful of HEIC photos on your Mac, don’t worry. Before you delete those pics and transfer them from your phone again, check out a few of the apps that can open HEIC files. And if the app you want to use doesn’t support HEIC, there are a couple of easy ways to convert those files to JPG format.

What apps can open an HEIC file?

Naturally, any app created and supported by Apple will open HEIC files. This includes apps like Preview, Photos, and iMovie, etc. Other apps like Adobe Photoshop will open HEIC files on Mac only, while Adobe Lightroom will let you import a HEIC, although it will automatically convert the file to a JPG.

How to convert HEIC to JPG or PNG using Preview

One of the easiest ways to convert an HEIC to a JPG on Mac is to use the Preview app:

1. Open the HEIC file in Preview.
2. Click File > Export.
3. From the Format drop-down menu, select either JPG or PNG.
4. Click Save.

How to change HEIC to JPG or PNG using Photos

Another straightforward way to convert your picture from HEIC to JPEG or PNG is with your Mac’s Photos app. Just follow these steps to convert your picture:

1. Open the Photos app and find the file you want to convert.
2. Select the file.
3. Click File > Export > Export Photo.
4. Choose JPG or PNG from the Photo Kind drop-down menu.
5. Click Export.
6. Select the location where you want to save your picture and click Export.

How to convert HEIC to JPG on a Windows computer

Opening and viewing a HEIC file on a Windows computer is a bit trickier. For now, the options are limited. (As time goes on, more apps will allow you to open those pictures or, at the very least, help you convert them to JPG files.)

What software can open HEIC on Windows?

Microsoft has released a codec called HEIF Image Extensions, which will allow you to view and open HEIC files. Once you have it installed, your computer will see HEIC photos just like any other image file. But the codec is only available for Windows 10, so if you’re running an older operating system, then you’ll need to use one of the apps below to convert your pictures.

How to convert iPhone HEIC to JPG using CopyTrans HEIC for Windows

When you install CopyTrans HEIC for Windows on your computer, it also installs an extension that will allow you to not only open HEIC files but convert them to JPG as well. After you have it installed, just follow these steps:

1. Find the HEIC photo you want to convert on your computer.
2. Right-click and select Convert to JPEG with CopyTrans.

The JPG copy of your picture will appear in the same folder. That’s all there is to it! 

How to change the HEIC format to JPG using iMazing HEIC Converter

Another easy-to-use app is iMazing HEIC Converter. There’s a bit more of an interface to this one, and you gain additional control over your conversion settings. When you have iMazing HEIC Converter downloaded and installed, this is how you convert your HEIC files:

1. Open iMazing HEIC Converter.
2. Drag and drop your pictures into the app.
3. Choose whether you want to convert to JPG or PNG.
4. Drag to set the Quality slider.
5. Click Convert.
6. Select where you want to save the JPG on your computer.
7. Click Ok.

While dealing with HEIC files may be annoying, remember they do serve a purpose. They optimize the size of your pictures while retaining image quality. So, if you can bring yourself to leave your photos as HEIC, it will be in your best interest — especially in the long term. But the good news is, there are a handful of ways to quickly and easily convert your pictures to JPG format.

The post What is HEIC, and how do you convert iPhone photos from HEIC to JPG? appeared first on Backlight.

Step 1. Declutter iPhone photos before you organize them

Every photo library is filled with clutter, so before you spend a ton of time wading through that mess, you should get rid of the junk you don’t want. And the good news is that you can use Gemini Photos to scan your pictures and quickly get rid of that clutter. The app looks for things like duplicates, screenshots, notes, blurry pictures, and even similar-looking photos.

Download Gemini Photos from the App Store, open it on your iPhone, and follow these steps to clean up your library.

Similar-looking pictures

1. Tap Similar. Your pictures will be grouped by Date or Event.
2. Click on a grouping. Gemini will auto-select the best pictures.
3. Review the selection and tap Move to Trash for each set.
4. When you’re done, tap Empty Trash and then tap Delete to confirm.

Duplicates

1. Tap Duplicates. Gemini Photos will locate all the duplicates in your Camera Roll.
2. Tap each set of duplicates to review them.
3. After you’ve gone through them all, tap Delete Duplicates at the bottom of the screen.
4. Tap Delete to confirm.

Videos

1. Tap Videos. Gemini Photos will show you all of the videos in your library with how much space they’re taking up.
2. Swipe up on a video to keep it, or swipe down on it to delete it.
3. Tap Empty Trash at the bottom.

Screenshots

1. Tap Screenshots. Gemini Photos will auto-select all of your screenshot photos.
2. Tap to uncheck the ones you want to keep.
3. At the bottom of the screen, tap Delete All and then Delete.

Notes

1. Tap Notes. The app will scan your photos for pictures of whiteboards or notebooks and group them together.
2. Tap to check the pics you want to get rid of.
3. Tt the bottom, tap Delete All when you’re finished.

Blurred

1. Tap Blurred to review all of the pics Gemini Photos found that are blurry.
2. Select the pictures you don’t want to keep.
3. Tap Delete All and then tap Delete to confirm.

Other

1. Tap Other to review the pictures that don’t fit into the above categories. Your pictures will be grouped by date.
2. Tap on one of the months.
3. Swipe up on a picture to keep it, or swipe down on it to delete the photo.
4. After you’ve gone through all of these images, tap Empty Trash at the bottom.

When you’re finished cleaning out your library, don’t forget to open your Photos app and tap Albums > Recently Deleted > Select > Delete All to remove those pictures from your iPhone. Otherwise, they’ll remain on your device, taking up space for the next 30 days.

Step 2. Delete iPhone photo albums you don’t need

When you go into the Album tab in the Photos app on your iPhone, you may notice some old albums you don’t want anymore or even some albums created by other apps (like Whatsapp or Snapchat). If you’re not using these albums, it’s best to get rid of them so that they’re not cluttering up your phone and making it harder to find the albums you want to use.

How to delete an album on iPhone

Deleting an album is simple to do directly on your iPhone. Just follow these steps:

1. Open the Photos app and tap Albums at the bottom.
2. At the top, next to My Albums, tap See All.
3. Tap Edit.
4. Tap the red minus button next to the album(s) you want to delete.
5. When you’re finished, tap Done.

How do I delete the Favorites album?

Unfortunately, there is no way to delete your Favorites album. This is one of the stock albums that is automatically created by the Photos app, and like the Recents album, Favorites can’t be moved, renamed, or deleted.

Does deleting a photo album delete the photos in it?

The quick answer is no. Deleting an album only deletes the album, not the pictures inside of it. If you want to delete the pictures as well, you can follow these steps:

1. In Photos, open the album.
2. Tap Select > Select All.
3. Tap the trash can icon in the bottom-right corner.

Now, you can delete the album following the steps mentioned in the section above.

Step 3. Put photos in a hidden album on iPhone (optional)

If you have sensitive or private photos you want to keep but don’t necessarily want them in your Camera Roll, one option is to hide the pictures. You can also create a hidden album where all of your hidden photos will live.

How to create a Hidden album on iPhone

Your Hidden album will only appear if you have opted to hide a picture. This is how you’d hide a photo:

1. In the Photos app, find the image you want to hide and tap it.
2. Tap the Share icon in the bottom right.
3. Scroll down and tap Hide.

How to add new photos to the Hidden album

After you hide one photo, a Hidden album will be created, and you can add more pictures to it. Just follow these steps to add new images to your album.

1. Tap the Library tab at the bottom of the Photos app.
2. Tap Select and tap each picture you want to add.
3. Hit the Share icon in the bottom right corner and then tap Hide.

Where to find the Hidden album

With iOS 14, Apple has made the Hidden album a little more — hidden. Before you can find the Hidden album under the Albums tab, you have to enable it first.

1. Open the Settings app.
2. Tap Photos.
3. Toggle to Enable Hidden.

Now, you can go back to the Photos app and tap Albums > Hidden to view all of your sensitive pictures.

Step 4. Organize your photos into relevant albums

If you have thousands of photos in your library, scrolling through your Camera Roll might not be the most efficient way to find your pictures. Organizing them into albums helps you find the photos you’re looking for a lot more quickly.

How to add photos to the Favorites album

Here’s how you add a photo your Favorites album:

1. Find the picture you want to add in the Photos app.
2. At the bottom of the screen, tap the heart icon so that it’s filled in.

And that’s all there is to mark a picture as one of your favorites.

How to create photo albums categorized by location

The Photos app also makes it really easy to create an album based on the geographic location where the photo was taken. Follow these steps:

1. Tap the Search tab at the bottom of the Photos app.
2. In the Search bar, type a location.
3. Tap See All > Select.
4. Tap to select all the pictures you want to add to an album.
5. Tap the Share icon > Add to Album > New Album.
6. Name your album and hit Save.

If you want to add more pictures to an album based on their location, you can repeat steps 1 through 5, but instead of tapping New Album, tap on the existing album.

How to create iPhone photo albums categorized by theme

The search feature in Photos also works for themes, so you can organize all your beach trips or all the pictures you’ve taken of cool classic cars. Here’s how to create an album based on the theme of your pictures:

1. At the bottom of the Photos app, tap Search.
2. In the Search bar, type a theme like “beach.”
3. Tap See All > Select.
4. Select all the pictures you want to put in an album.
5. In the bottom, tap the Share icon > Add to Album > New Album.
6. Give the album a name and then hit Save.

How to create photo albums categorized by people

One of the Photos app’s more impressive features is facial recognition. It scans your pictures and tries to identify all of the people in your photos. So, if you wanted to create an album based on a specific person, here’s how you’d do that:

1. Tap the Albums tab at the bottom of the Photos app.
2. Scroll down to the People & Places section and tap People. Then select a person.
3. Tap Select and then choose all the pictures you want to add to your album.
4. Tap the Share icon > Add to Album > New Album…
5. Name your Album and tap Save.

If you only want to tag a person that Photos has detected in your pictures, just do the following:

1. In Photos, tap Albums
2. Scroll to People & Places and tap People.
3. Select the person you want to tag.
4. At the top, tap Add Name.
5. Type the person’s name and tap Next.
6. Photos will show you other images with that person in them. Select all that are accurate and tap Done.

The more photos you review and tag that person in, the better the Photos app will be at tagging them in the future.

How to rename a photo album on iPhone

Maybe you’ve created an album, but now the name doesn’t make sense anymore. Or perhaps you just realized there’s a typo in your album name. Don’t worry. You can always rename your albums by following these steps:

1. In the Photos app, tap the Albums tab.
2. Tap to open the album you want to rename.
3. Tap the ellipses icon and select Rename Album.
4. Type in your new Album name and hit Save.

The Photos app for iOS is a great tool for managing pictures and can be incredibly useful when your library is organized. With features like the Search tool and facial recognition, there’s no reason you shouldn’t be able to find the specific picture you’re looking for in a matter of seconds. Hopefully, this article has eased some of the anxiety that might have kept you from diving in to clean up and organize your photo library.

The post How to organize thousands of photos on your iPhone appeared first on Backlight.

How to use the iOS Shortcuts app

The Shortcuts app is a powerful and often underutilized tool. Here, you can download pre-configured shortcuts from the Gallery and from around the internet, or even create your own. But for the sake of this article, we’re focusing on the shortcuts available in the app’s Gallery.

How to add a new iPhone shortcut

You can add a new shortcut directly from the Shortcuts Gallery just by following these steps:

1. Open the Shortcuts app.
2. Tap Gallery.
3. Either use the search bar to look for a specific shortcut or browse through the categories.
4. Tap on the shortcut and choose Add Shortcut.

You’ll see and be able to use your new shortcut when you tap My Shortcuts at the bottom of the screen.

How to use an iOS shortcut

Using a shortcut couldn’t be any easier. You can trigger it with the press of a button or just by asking Siri to run it. There are three ways you can use a shortcut:

• Open the Shortcuts app and then tap the shortcut.
• Ask Siri to “Run [shortcut name].”
• Add the Shortcut widget the Today view. (From your Home screen, swipe all the way to the left, where you’ll be able to tap on your shortcuts.)

How to add iOS shortcuts to your Home screen

If you find yourself frequently using one or two shortcuts, you can always add them directly to your Home screen by following these steps:

1. Open the Shortcuts app and tap My Shortcuts.
2. Tap the ellipses next to the shortcut you want to add to your Home screen.
3. Tap Add to Home Screen > Add.

iPhone shortcuts you’ll love as a photographer

While shortcuts can help you use your iPhone more efficiently in general, the following are shortcuts that every iPhone photographer will love.

1. Share a Portrait Photo

You can take absolutely stunning pictures with Portrait mode on your iPhone, and this shortcut does exactly what its name promises. It shows you only your Portrait photos so you can quickly share them with other people.

2. Post Live Photo to Instagram

This shortcut converts your latest Live Photo to a video and automatically imports it to Instagram. So, all you have to do is write a caption and hit Post.

3. Convert Burst to GIF

If you’ve ever taken a photo burst with your iPhone camera and wished you could stitch it together into a GIF, then this is one shortcut you need to use. When you run it, you can choose from all of your photo bursts and then save the resulting GIF to your Camera Roll or share it.

4. Time Machine

The name of this shortcut is a little misleading. While it might sound like it’s related to Apple’s backup tool, this one actually shows you pictures from your past, making it a proverbial time machine. Anytime you run this shortcut, it will bring up all the pictures you took exactly one year prior.

5. Text Last Image

This shortcut may self-explanatory, but don’t underestimate its usefulness. When you run it, it adds the last picture you took to a text message, and all you need to do is address the text to someone. While it isn’t one of the flashier shortcuts — like converting photos to GIFs or posting to Instagram — remember that shortcuts are all about being smarter with how you use your iPhone. So, instead of going into your Photos app to share the pic, you can just say, “Siri, text last image.” Or, if you have this shortcut added to your Home screen, just tap the icon.

6. Upload Last Photo

If you don’t want to text your most recent picture but, rather, to share it online, you can use this shortcut to upload your photo to Dropbox and copy the link. You’re then free to email the Dropbox link or send it in a message on an app like Facebook Messenger or Whatsapp. (This shortcut does require that you have the Dropbox app downloaded on your phone.)

You can already do so much with your iPhone’s camera and the Photos app. But you can do even more when you pair them with the Shortcuts app. Hopefully, this article has given you a better understanding of iOS shortcuts and inspired you to try a few of your own.

The post The 6 best iOS shortcuts for iPhone photography and videography appeared first on Backlight.

But what happens if you want to save a video to your iPhone? Well, if you keep reading, this article will walk you through how to do just that.

Before you save any Snapchat videos

Even though you’re ready to start saving videos from Snapchat, there are a couple of things you should do before downloading anything.

Make room for the videos on your iPhone

Videos can take up a lot of storage space on your iPhone, so before you go overboard downloading and saving videos from Snapchat, you should go through your phone and get rid of videos that are taking up the most space.

One of the quickest ways to go through all of your videos is with Gemini Photos. In addition to scanning for duplicate or blurry pictures, Gemini Photos identifies the videos that are taking up the most space and helps you quickly delete them.

Download Gemini Photos from the App Store and follow these steps to delete your old, unwanted videos:

1. Open Gemini Photos and let it scan your library.
2. Tap Videos.
3. Select one of the videos, and Gemini Photos will let your preview it.
4. Swipe up on the video to keep it. Swipe down on the video to delete it.
5. Gemini Photos will then bring up the next video.
6. When you finish going through your videos, tap Empty Trash.
7. Confirm your decision to delete the videos by tapping Delete.
8. Open the Photos app on your iPhone.
9. Tap Albums > Recently Deleted > Select > Delete All.

Get the author’s permission

Before you download a video that was sent to you on Snapchat, you should always reach out to the creator and ask for their permission. Snapchat doesn’t allow you to download another user’s content natively within the app because saving a video without the owner’s consent isn’t ethical. So, it’s best to make sure the person who made and sent the video approves of you saving it.

How to download your own Snapchat videos

There are a couple of ways you can go about saving your Snapchat videos, depending on whether you’ve posted them already or not.

If you’ve just recorded your video and haven’t shared it yet, you can follow these steps to save it to your Camera Roll:

1. After you film your video, tap the Save button (which looks like a downward-facing arrow at the bottom of your screen). A pop-up will appear.
2. Tap Memories & Camera Roll.
3. Tap Save.
4. You’ll then find your video in the Photos app on your iPhone.

If you’ve already shared your video with friends but forgot to save it beforehand, don’t worry. You can still go back and keep it using these steps:

1. With Snapchat open, swipe up to view your Memories.
2. Tap the video you want to save.
3. Tap the three dots in the top-right corner.
4. Tap Export Snap > Save Video.

How to save a Snapchat video from someone else

As you read earlier, it is possible to download someone else’s video on Snapchat, but because the app doesn’t allow you to do it, it’s not as straightforward as downloading your own content.

Can you save other people’s Snap videos?

It’s important to keep in mind that saving and then sharing another person’s video from Snapchat is a copyright infringement. And technically, it’s a direct violation of Snapchat’s terms of service. So if you decide to download or save someone’s video, make sure it’s for personal use only.

How to record a Snapchat video

Because Snapchat doesn’t have a feature that allows you to download other people’s videos, you’ll need to rely on your iPhone‘s screen recording feature. If you don’t already have screen recording enabled, her’s how to do that:

1. Go into the Settings app.
2. Tap Control Center > Customize Controls.
3. Tap the green + button next to Screen Recording.

Now that you have Screen Recording added to your Control Center, just follow these steps to record a Snapchat video:

1. Open Snapchat.
2. Swipe down from the top-right corner to bring down the Control Center.
3. Tap the Screen Record button and wait for it to start.
4. Swipe up on the Control Center to go back to Snapchat.
5. Tap on the video you want to save and let it play.
6. When the video is finished, tap the red bar over the clock in the top-left corner.
7. Tap Stop.

When you’ve finished your screen recording, your video will appear in the Photos app.

Does someone know if you screen-record their Snapchat story?

When you use the screen recording feature on your iPhone, Snapchat does send a notification to the other person to let them know that you’ve recorded their video. So, it’s best to just ask the author of the video for permission before you record it. They’re going to find out anyway.

How to edit a Snapchat video you’ve downloaded

After you’ve recorded a Snapchat video, you might notice that you want to trim some of it down or crop it. Fortunately, you can do all of that using only the Photos app.

To trim your Snapchat screen recording:

1. Open the Photos app.
2. Tap on the screen recording.
3. In the top right, tap Edit.
4. Drag the box around your video from either the left or right side to trim the beginning or end, respectively.
5. Tap Done.

If you want to crop the screen recording from Snapchat:

1. Open the Photos app and choose your screen recording.
2. Tap Edit in the top right.
3. Tap the Crop button (it’s the fourth icon on the bottom).
4. Drag the box to the area of the video you want to crop in your recording.
5. Tap Done. 

Even though posts shared on Snapchat are meant to be temporary, you still might enjoy saving your memories from time to time. Thankfully, there are ways you can save and relive the moments you shared with your Snapchat friends. And hopefully, this article has helped you figure out how to save and maybe even edit the videos you’ve saved.

The post How to save Snapchat videos to your Camera Roll appeared first on Backlight.

In this article, you’ll read about what it takes to create a YouTube video from scratch. And you’ll learn some additional tips to help take your videos up a notch and ensure that you won’t lose any quality just because you’re using your phone.

How to create a YouTube video in 4 steps

Although it’s possible to simply record a video using the Camera app and upload it directly using the YouTube app, you probably shouldn’t do this. Your video won’t look its best, which means you might not get the performance or results out of it that you’d like. So follow these steps to help keep your content looking professional, even if you’re only using your iPhone:

1. Plan your video.
2. Shoot your video.
3. Edit the video on your iPhone.
4. Put your video on YouTube.

Step 1. Plan your video

While it’s tempting to run out and start filming videos with your iPhone right away, the better you plan for a video, the better the outcome will be. The first thing you should ask yourself is who your video is for. Because once you have that figured out, you’ll be able to research ideas, search for inspiration, and write an outline for your video.

Research similar videos

After you know who your audience is, you can do a quick search on YouTube to see what people are searching for and what videos are already out there. When you know what sort of videos other people have already made, you can figure out what will make your video special or unique. 

Write a script or outline

Sometimes when you’re recording videos, you get lucky and film something genuinely amazing. But the problem with luck is that it’s tough to recreate. Writing a complete script might sound a little intimidating, but having at least an outline will help you figure out a structure and overall flow for your videos. And it can save you time because you already know exactly what you need to record, and you’re not guessing what else you should film.

What equipment do you need to make a YouTube video?

Equipment can be a bit of a slippery slope. If you’re anything like us, you’ll be tempted to buy every gadget available. The best thing to do is to make a couple of videos and see where they could use some improvement.

The following are some basic pieces of equipment you may want to consider picking up:

• Joby Tripod: The great thing about this tripod is that you’re not limited to only flat surfaces. You can also wrap it around things like a tree branch or the back of a chair. Plus, it’s lightweight and portable, which makes it great for travel.
• Rode Microphone: If you want to record videos that include audio, a directional microphone like this one will help you get better sound.
• GLOUE Selfie Light: Lighting can make a huge difference in your video. A portable ring light like this can clip to the top of your iPhone and help brighten things up.

Step 2. Shoot your video

Once you’ve figured out what your video will be about, it’s time to shoot it. To make sure your videos look the best they possibly can, you want to keep your iPhone as stable as you can and check that everything’s in focus. When it comes to lighting, you don’t always have control over your filming environment. So, even though you can’t change the actual light, there are some things you can do with your iPhone to help you make your videos look more professional.

Keep an eye on your lighting and exposure

You can adjust your video’s exposure by tapping on a darker or lighter area of your screen. But in certain situations, it can be hard to find the right balance.

For instance, if you’re shooting outdoors, try to film in shaded areas. That way, the lighting is more evenly balanced. Or if you’re filming inside, try to avoid shooting windows, as the light from outside may be too bright, making it difficult — if not impossible — for your iPhone to adjust the exposure.

Try a different camera app

The default Camera app is great in iOS, but the more you shoot, the more you may find that you want an increased level of control over your visuals. For this, you can try an app like Filmic Pro, which will give you easy access to options like adjusting your aperture and white balance. And for more advanced users, it will provide you with exposure warnings and focus peaking.

Step 3. Edit your video on iPhone

After you’ve filmed your video, it’s time to edit it before you upload it to YouTube. If you only want to trim or crop your videos, you can do so in the Photos app that’s native to iOS. But if you want to do a little more with your videos, you can download Apple’s video-editing app, iMovie, for your iPhone.

How to trim and crop your YouTube video

Cutting down the beginning or end of a video is really simple with the Photos app. Just follow these steps:

1. Open the Photos app on your iPhone.
2. Select the video you want to trim.
3. Tap Edit in the top-right corner.
4. Drag either the left or right arrow to where you want your video to begin and end. A yellow box will appear around the new duration of your video.
5. When you’re happy with your selection, tap Done.
6. Tap Save Video (or Save Video as New Clip if you want to keep both versions).

If you want to crop a video’s image size or reframe your video, use these steps in the Photos app:

1. Select the video to crop.
2. Tap Edit at the top.
3. Tap the Crop icon at the bottom right.
4. Drag any of the corners to crop.
5. Tap Done and choose either Save Video or Save Video as New Clip. 

How to add music and voiceover

Maybe you want to add music or record a voiceover for your video. You can do all of that on your iPhone, thanks to iMovie.

Here’s how to add music to your video:

1. Open iMovie.
2. Tap Create Project > Movie.
3. Select your video.
4. Tap +.
5. If you want to choose a song from your Music app, tap Audio > My Music. To use a stock song from iMovie, tap Audio > Soundtracks. Or you can add a song from your Files app if you tap Files.
6. The song will appear as a green bar under your video.

Maybe you need to add some narration or a voiceover to your video. To do so, just follow these steps:

1. Open iMovie.
2. Tap Create Project > Movie.
3. Select your video.
4. Tap + > Voiceover. Recording controls will appear above your timeline.
5. Press Record to start.
6. When you’re finished, tap Stop. Then tap Review, Accept, or Retake.

Step 4. Put your video on YouTube!

You’ve planned out your video. You’ve shot it. You’ve edited it. Now it’s finally time for the world to see it. This step may seem intimidating, but trust us — uploading your video to YouTube is probably the easiest part of the whole process.

How to publish your video on YouTube

Before you publish your video on YouTube, you need to make sure you have the app downloaded from the App Store. Then you can follow these steps:

1. Open the YouTube app.
2. Tap the Camera icon at the top.
3. Select your video.
4. Tap Next.
5. Title your video and give it a short description.
6. Tap Next.
7. Choose your audience settings and then tap Upload.

Best YouTube publishing tips to follow

When it comes to actually publishing your video on YouTube, there are a couple of tips you should try that can significantly impact the performance of your video:

• Create a click-worthy title. Make sure the title of your video is intriguing and engaging. If you’ve done your research on what your audience is looking for, then it shouldn’t be hard.
• Use keywords. Include keywords or phrases that people search for in your title and description.
• Self-promote your videos to your audience. The first 48 hours are crucial to your video. The more people who watch it, the more likely YouTube is to suggest it to other users. So, go ahead! Shamelessly promote your videos to all your friends and followers.

Creating great content for YouTube can be a lot of work, but it can also be very rewarding. While there’s a lot to keep in mind when making videos, from start to finish, the most important things are to have fun and not be afraid to experiment. Because just like anything else, the more you do it, the better you’ll get at creating videos. 

The post How to make a YouTube video on the go using your iPhone appeared first on Backlight.

While you might be thinking that this sounds too good to be true, well, there are a couple of limitations you should keep in mind before you jump in headfirst and upload your entire photo library. Keep reading to learn about the specifics of using Google Photos on your iPhone.

Is Google Photos storage really unlimited?

Yes. Google Photos really does offer unlimited storage for your pictures and videos, and it’s the only cloud service to provide this much storage. But if you’re thinking to yourself that this sounds too good to be true, you’re right. There is a catch to Google’s free storage.

The catch with free storage on Google Photos

To get unlimited storage with Google Photos, you have to agree to upload compressed pictures and videos. Thankfully, you can still save your library at a reasonably high quality. Google caps pictures at 16 MP and videos at 1080p. Is it full quality? No. But if you’re just looking for a free backup of your entire photo library, it’s a pretty good deal.

Google Photos storage limits for original photos and videos

Of course, compressing your pics and videos isn’t your only option with Google Photos. You can opt to save them at full quality, but they will count towards your Google One storage quota. At the time of writing, Google One’s storage plans are:

• 15 GB for free
• 100 GB for $1.99/month
• 200 GB for $2.99/month
• 2 TB for $9.99/month

How to get unlimited storage on Google Photos

Maybe you’re ready to jump into Google’s unlimited storage headfirst, or perhaps you just want to dip your toe in. Either way, here’s how to set up Google Photos:

1. Download Google Photos from the App Store.
2. Open the app and sign in to your Google account.
3. Choose High quality.
4. Tap Confirm.

That’s all you need to do! Depending on how big your photo library is, it might take some time for the initial upload. But for the fastest performance, it’s best to connect your phone to Wi-Fi and make sure you leave the Google Photos app open.

How to upgrade your Google Photos storage plan

If you end up running out of space on Google Photos, you can follow these steps to upgrade your storage plan:

1. Open Safari and go to the Google Storage page.
2. Sign in to your Google account.
3. Tap Get more storage.
4. Select a storage plan.
5. Follow the prompts to complete your purchase.

How to squeeze more into your Google Photos storage

Even if you’re using the unlimited storage on Google Photos and you aren’t worried about running out of space, it’s still a good idea to try to keep your photo library cleaned up. The more you have stored in it, the slower it can become over time, so here are a few things you can do to make sure you’re getting the most out of your Google storage.

1. Declutter photos before you upload them

Before you upload your pictures to Google Photos, you should declutter your photo library to ensure that you’re not backing up pictures you don’t actually want. You can use an app like Gemini Photos to scan your library to quickly get rid of duplicates, similar-looking images, notes, and more.

After you download Gemini Photos from the App Store, follow the steps below to clean up your library:

1. Open Gemini Photos and let it scan.
2. Tap Similar and choose a month. Your similar pics will be grouped together.
3. Go through each grouping and de-select the ones you want to keep. Then tap Move to Trash.
4. When you’re finished going through a month, tap Empty Trash.
5. Open your Photos app.
6. Tap Albums > Recently Deleted > Select > Delete All.

You can repeat these steps to go through each subsequent month or different categories like Screenshots, Blurred, Notes, etc.

2. Use a dedicated account for Google Photos

If you are saving your original pictures and videos, Google Photos counts toward your shared Google One storage, which means that Google Photos shares space with other services like Google Drive and Gmail.

One way to help ensure that you have enough storage is to create a dedicated Google account just for your photos. That way, you’re not having to split or share your storage. 

3. Clean up your Gmail account

Because Gmail shares storage space with Google Photos, you might want to consider cleaning out your inbox. While emails themselves don’t take up a lot of space, the attachments in your emails do, so it’s wise to get into the habit of periodically purging your account of messages and attachments you don’t need anymore.

The easiest way to clear out large attachments in your email is in a desktop browser on your computer:

1. Open your Gmail mailbox.
2. In the search field at the top, type “has:attachment larger:10M”
3. Select the emails you want to delete.
4. Click the trash can icon.

4. Compress original-quality photos

If you had been uploading your pictures at original or full quality but you’ve decided to switch to the unlimited storage, you can compress the images you’ve already uploaded. You will have to do this from a browser, either on your phone or computer:

1. Go to the Google Photos Settings page.
2. Click Recover storage.
3. Click Compress.

While there may be a minor catch, Google Photos does deliver on what it advertises: free, unlimited storage for all of your pictures and videos. And there’s so much more to the Google Photos app than just storing and viewing. You can also edit your pictures. In fact, the app uses AI to create short videos using your library. They even offer printing options if you decide you want to have any of your pictures printed later. And the fact that it’s free allows you to painlessly check it out before making the commitment to use a new photo service.

The post Google Photos storage limit: Is the free storage really unlimited? appeared first on Backlight.

Add music to iMovie on iPhone

Music helps set the tone for any video. Thankfully, there are a couple of different ways you can add music in iMovie. You can choose from one of the app’s built-in themes, or you can add a song that you already have on your iPhone.

How to put music on iMovie with Themes

When you’re working on a project in iMovie, you can use one of the app’s built-in Themes to quickly add transitions and music to your videos. This is one of the easiest ways to put together a professional-looking video. Each theme is designed to help give your video an exciting look and feel, so you may want to experiment with different ones to determine which will work the best for your project.

To add one of these preconfigured Themes to your video:

1. Start a new project or open one you’re currently working on. 
2. Tap the gear icon at the bottom.
3. Choose one of the Themes.
4. Toggle the Theme Soundtrack on.
5. Tap Done.

If you only want to add the music from a specific theme and don’t want any of the visuals, such as text overlays or transitions, you can now do that with the latest version of iMovie:

1. With your project open, tap +.
2. Tap Audio > Soundtracks.
3. Tap on any of the songs to preview them.
4. When you find one you like, tap + to add it to your project.

How to add a song from your iPhone to iMovie

Fortunately, your soundtrack isn’t limited to the stock music that iMovie offers. You can also add a song that you already have on your iPhone. 

To access songs in your Music app, follow these steps to add them to your iMovie video:

1. Open your project in iMovie and tap +.
2. Tap Audio > My Music.
3. Find the song and tap +.

If you’ve added a song that you purchased from the iTunes Store but it isn’t playing, that probably means it is DRM-protected. In other words, you cannot add it to your video due to copyright reasons.

Maybe the song you want to use is in your iCloud Drive but isn’t in the Music app. If that’s the case, you’ll want to follow these steps to add it to your video:

1. From your iMovie project, tap +.
2. Tap Files > Browse.
3. Tap Browse in the top-left corner and choose iCloud Drive.
4. Find and select the song you want to add.

Music tracks are automatically adjusted to match the length of your video. But if you tap on the green line in your video’s timeline, you can make adjustments to the track.

Where do I get music for iMovie?

If nothing in your current music library is feeling right for your video, you might want to check out the following websites, which offer royalty-free music for free (or cheap) to use in your iMovie videos:

• YouTube Audio Library
• Audio Jungle
• Incompetech
• DigCCMixter

Add more audio to iMovie

Once you start editing your video, you might find that you want to add some other types of sounds that aren’t music. Fortunately, you can record a voiceover directly in iMovie or add sound effects from the app’s library.

How to add a voiceover

Maybe a bit of narration is just what your video needs. And with iMovie, you can record your voice without using another app to do it.

To record voiceovers in iMovie:

1. Open your project.
2. Scroll through your timeline so that the playhead (the vertical white line) is where you want your voiceover to start.
3. Tap + > Voiceover. Recording controls will appear above your timeline.
4. Press Record to start.
5. When you’re finished, tap Stop.
6. Choose and tap Review, Accept, or Retake.

How to add sound effects in iMovie

Adding sound effects to a video can really take your movie to the next level by spicing things up for your viewers. Here’s how you can add sound effects in iMovie:

1. Open your project in iMovie.
2. Scroll through the timeline and position the playhead at the point where you want to add a sound effect.
3. Tap + > Audio > Sound Effects.
4. Tap on a sound effect to preview it. 
5. Tap + to add it to your movie. 

The sound effect will appear in your video’s timeline as a light blue line underneath your video. If the sound effect isn’t precisely where you want it, you can press and hold on it in the timeline and drag it to the perfect spot.

Even though you’re creating a video, it’s the audio that can really elevate your project’s quality. iMovie makes it easy to add and experiment with music, voiceovers, and sound effects. So don’t be afraid to get in there and try something fun or crazy with your videos. You never know what you might create — perhaps by accident!

The post How to add music, voiceover, and sound effects to iMovie on iPhone appeared first on Backlight.

Can you edit videos on YouTube?

When you think of the YouTube app, watching videos is probably what comes to mind. But you can actually do a lot more within the app, including editing and uploading movies. YouTube’s iPhone also app lets you:

• Trim videos: This allows you to clean up your videos if there’s any extra footage at the beginning or end.
• Add filters: YouTube has preset filters, each of which can give your videos a different look or aesthetic.

YouTube video editor walkthrough

Even if you’ve never edited videos on your iPhone before, you’ll find the YouTube editor easy-to-use and relatively straightforward. And if you’ve used other video-editing apps before, then great — you’ll feel right at home cleaning up your videos before you publish them online for the world to see.

How to trim your YouTube video

The first thing you’ll want to do is download the YouTube app from the App Store. Once you’re logged into your account:

1. Tap the Camera icon at the top.
2. Choose a video from your Photo Library.
3. Tap the Scissors icon at the bottom of the screen.
4. Drag the blue box from the left or right side of your video to trim the beginning or end.
5. Tap Next.
6. Give your video a title, then select your privacy and location settings.
7. Tap Upload.

And that’s all it takes to trim and upload a video using the YouTube app on your iPhone.

How to add a filter to a YouTube video on iPhone

Now, maybe you want the colors in your videos to really pop or to make your video feel like a dream. That’s where filters come in.

YouTube has a collection of filters to add to your videos, similar to those found within the Photos app or on Instagram. To add a filter to your videos:

1. Open the YouTube app.
2. Tap the Camera icon at the top.
3. Select the video you want to upload.
4. Tap the Wand icon at the bottom.
5. Scroll through all of the available filters. Tapping on a filter will allow you to preview it on your video before you select it.
6. Tap Next.
7. Add a title to your video and set your privacy and location settings.
8. Tap Upload.

Can you edit a YouTube video that’s already been posted?

You can edit a video that’s already on YouTube, but it has to be a video that you personally uploaded; you can’t edit someone else’s video. The other caveat is that you can’t edit a video using the YouTube app on your iPhone. Instead, you’ll have to log in to YouTube through a web browser on your computer.

That said, you can still easily edit the title, the description, and any of the privacy settings for your video through the YouTube app. Just follow these steps to make those edits:

1. Tap your profile photo in the top right.
2. Tap Your channel > Your videos.
3. Tap the three dots next to the video you want to edit.
4. Tap Edit.
5. Make your changes and then tap Save to finish.

How to edit your YouTube videos before uploading

Even if all those features sound nice, perhaps you need to make some more substantial edits to your videos, like cropping them or adding music to the background. Thankfully, you can do all that on your iPhone before you upload your videos to YouTube.

How to crop a YouTube video

When you’re watching your videos back, you might realize that there’s an unwanted object in the corner of the frame that you didn’t notice. But don’t worry — you can fix this by cropping your video, a process that’s quite similar to cropping a photo. 

Here’s how you can crop your videos on iPhone:

1. Open the Photos app.
2. Select the video you want to crop.
3. Tap Edit, in the top-right.
4. Tap the Crop icon (it’s the fourth button at the bottom).
5. Drag any of the corners to adjust your frame.
6. Tap Done.

How to add music to a YouTube video

If your movie would benefit from a bit of background music, this is relatively easy to achieve by using iMovie. You can download iMovie from the App Store for free if it’s not already on your iPhone. Once it’s installed, follow these steps to add music:

1. Open iMovie on your iPhone.
2. Tap Create Project > Movie.
3. Scroll through your library and select the video you want to use.
4. Tap +. 
   • To use the stock music that comes with iMovie, tap Audio > Soundtracks.
   • To use a song from your Music app, tap Audio > My Music.
   • If you have a song file on one of your cloud drives, tap Files.
5. Choose the song you want to use. It will appear on your project’s timeline as a green bar under the video.

So, before you upload your next YouTube video from your iPhone, give some of these features a try. Even if you’re already using the editing tools that come built into the YouTube app, these tips and tricks will help elevate your cinematography game. Hopefully this article has inspired you to try some new things and experiment with your YouTube videos.

The post How to edit YouTube videos on iPhone with the YouTube editor appeared first on Backlight.

What is the best iPhone to buy in 2020?

It’s no secret that iPhones have incredible cameras that take both gorgeous pictures and videos. So, to help you figure out which model will work best for you in 2020, the iPhones you’ll read about in this article include:

• iPhone 11 Pro
• iPhone 11 Pro Max
• iPhone 11
• iPhone SE (2nd Generation)

The ultimate iPhone for photos: iPhone 11 Pro

There’s no denying that the best model to step up your iPhone photography in 2020 is iPhone 11 Pro. With three cameras, iPhone 11 Pro lets you seamlessly switch between the Ultra Wide, Wide, and Telephoto lens to capture the perfect image. The 12-megapixel camera is equipped with improved features like Smart HDR and new ones like Night mode to take stunning pictures even in low-light conditions.

The best iPhone for video in 2020: iPhone 11 Pro Max

As far as recording incredible videos, the best iPhone in 2020 is iPhone 11 Pro Max. Just like iPhone 11 Pro, it has a 12-megapixel camera with three lenses, but the Pro Max model has a massive 6.5-inch screen. Not only does that help you see your videos better, but it also makes it easier to adjust or edit your videos directly on your phone.

The cheapest new iPhone for photography: iPhone SE (2020)

If you’re looking for the cheapest option to upgrade your iPhone but still want to make sure you’re getting a great camera, look no further than iPhone SE. While it only has the one wide-angle camera, the second-generation iPhone SE is still a considerable upgrade. It has improved features like Smart HDR and is capable of both Portrait mode and Portrait Lighting. If your primary concern is finding a budget-friendly option, then iPhone SE — at almost half the price of iPhone 11 — is the clear winner.

The best iPhone for the money: iPhone 11 

Maybe you don’t mind spending a little more to get a great iPhone but don’t feel the need to splurge for iPhone 11 Pro Max. If that’s the case, then the best phone for your money is iPhone 11. It’s a step up from iPhone SE and has two lenses: Ultra Wide and Wide. And even though it doesn’t have the Telephoto lens, it actually has a bigger screen than iPhone 11 Pro and all the same great features, including Portrait mode, Portrait Lighting, Smart HDR, and Night mode.

The iPhone with the best battery life: iPhone 11 Pro

If you like to travel or hike, or you simply find yourself outside of the house for long periods of time, then you’re going to want the iPhone with the best battery life. There’s nothing worse than trying to take pictures or record videos, only for your phone to die because you ran out of battery. The iPhone with the best battery performance is iPhone 11 Pro, partly because it has a smaller 5.8-inch screen and also because it has a slightly bigger battery than iPhone 11, allowing it to hold a longer charge.

What’s the best time to buy an iPhone?

In the past, Apple has announced its slate of new iPhones in September, aiming for release in October or early November. So, if you want to maximize the time you have with a new iPhone before Apple decides to release a new one, it’s best to purchase your phone toward the end of the year. 

There’s no shortage of great iPhone cameras, and with Apple improving them every year, they’re only getting better and better. When it comes to choosing the right model, it depends on what you’re looking for in both a phone and a camera. Hopefully, this article will help you figure out which iPhone will be the best for you to upgrade to, and help you kick your iPhone photography up a notch.

The post Which iPhone should I get? Best iPhones for photography in 2020 appeared first on Backlight.

Thankfully, there are a couple of ways you can hide photos and videos on your iPhone. You can even go as far as to lock them with a password if you’d like. Keep reading to see what options you have for hiding your pictures.

1. Hide pictures and videos in iPhone Photos

The default Photos app will actually let you hide pictures and videos directly in the app. It basically moves whichever photo or video you select into a hidden album. This is great for the pics you want to keep but don’t want to see every time you open your Camera Roll.

You should also keep in mind that this hidden album is in the same place for everyone. That means anyone you allow to use your iPhone could see those hidden photos in just a few taps.

How to create a hidden album

When you first hide a picture or video in the Photos app, it automatically creates a hidden album. To hide your pictures:

1. Open the Photos app.
2. Find the picture or video you want to hide.
3. Tap the Share button > Hide.
4. Confirm that you want to hide the picture.

How to unhide a photo or video

If you accidentally hid a picture or now want to move it back in your Camera Roll, you can unhide it when you:

1. Open the Photos app.
2. Tap Albums > Hidden.
3. Select the picture you want to unhide.
4. Tap the Share button > Unhide.

2. Lock photos on iPhone using Notes

Maybe you were hoping for a way to password-protect specific pictures. Even though you can’t do that in Photos, there is a workaround using the Notes app that will let you do that. You can move a photo into a new note and then add a password to the note. Unfortunately, this only works for still images because you can’t save Live photos or videos in a note.

How to lock and password-protect photos in Notes

Before you can lock your photos in the Notes app, make sure you have the lock feature enabled. To turn on password protection for your notes:

1. Open the Settings app.
2. Tap Notes > Password.
3. Set and Verify the password you want to use for all notes.

When you have this feature turned on, you can start adding pictures to a password-protected note. To lock a photo with a password:

1. Open the Photos app and find the picture you want to lock.
2. Tap Share > Notes.
3. Select to save it to a new note or an existing note.
4. Tap Save.
5. In the Notes app, open the note with the picture.
6. Tap Share > Lock Note.
7. Type your password.
8. Go back to the Photos app and delete the picture from your Camera Roll.

That last step is important because just copying your pictures to a password-protected note still leaves it in your photo library. So, it’s not truly locked until you delete it from the Photos app.

How to access and save the photos you locked in Notes

After you password-protect your pictures, it’s just as easy to view them or even save them back to your Camera Roll. To access and save your locked photos in the Notes app:

1. Open the note where you saved your picture.
2. Tap View Note.
3. Type in your password to see all of the pictures you have in that note.
4. To move them back to your Camera Roll, tap and hold an image.
5. Tap Share > Save Image.

3. Hide iPhone pictures in Google Photos

If you’re using Google Photos on your iPhone, you’ll be happy to learn you can also hide your pics directly in this app. You can use the Archive feature to move a photo or video out of your library, similar to the Hide feature in Photos.

How to hide a photo or video in Google Photos

You can follow these steps to hide and archive a picture in Google Photo:

1. Open the app and tap on the Photos tab.
2. Tap on the picture you want to archive.
3. Then tap the ellipses in the upper right corner.
4. Finally, tap Archive.

How to unhide pictures and videos in Google Photos

After hiding a pic or video in Google Photos, if you want to move it back to your library, it’s just as easy to bring it back over. To unarchive a picture:

1. Open Google Photos.
2. Tap the three lines at the top > Archive.
3. Select the picture or video you want to unarchive.
4. Tap the ellipses > Unarchive.

Hiding pictures and videos on your iPhone is almost as simple as taking them in the first place. And depending on how much security you need for your most sensitive pictures, there are ways to hide them natively, as well as workarounds to make sure they stay password-protected. Hopefully, this article has helped you figure out the best way to protect your photos.

The post 3 ways to hide private photos and videos on iPhone appeared first on Backlight.

Can you legally download videos to your iPhone?

Before you download videos from anywhere on the internet, you should keep in mind that it might not be ethical or legal. If you download a video that you personally uploaded to a site like YouTube or Facebook, then you won’t be violating any copyright laws. But if you download someone else’s video, you should first reach out to the original uploader and get permission.

How to download a video from Safari to your iPhone

Fortunately, iOS 13 lets you download files directly in Safari. So, if a video is uploaded directly to a site, you can go through the steps below to save the video using only Safari.

1. Tap and hold the link to the video.
2. In the pop-up menu, tap Download Linked File.

But if the video is embedded on a website through a resource like Vimeo or YouTube, which is the case on most websites, then you’ll need the help of a third-party site like DownVids.net. 

Follow these steps to download an embedded video from Safari:

1. Copy the URL of the video.
2. In Safari, go to DownVids.net.
3. Paste the URL in the box.
4. Set the file type to .mp4 and video quality to Full HD (1080p).
5. Tap Download.
6. Tap Download this Video > Download.

That’s all you have to do! You should see the download icon appear in the top right with a progress bar underneath it.

Where do you find the downloaded video?

Everything you download in Safari will be saved in the Files app. By default, the app will store files in either the Downloads folder on your iCloud Drive or directly on your iPhone. You can choose a different folder within the Files app to save your downloads by going to Settings > Safari > Download.

How to download a Facebook video to your iPhone

There’s no way to download videos directly in the Facebook app. So if you want to save a video from Facebook, you’ll need the help of DownVids.net to save videos to your phone. Start downloading Facebook videos by following these steps:

1. Find the video you want to download in the Facebook app.
2. Tap Share > Copy Link.
3. Open Safari and go to DownVids.net.
4. Paste the URL.
5. Set the file type to .mp4 and quality to Full HD (1080p).
6. Tap Download.
7. Tap Download this Video.
8. A new page will open. Tap Download again.

Where does the downloaded video go?

Because you’re using Safari to do the downloading, you’ll find the video in the Files app, in the default folder you have set.

How to save a YouTube video to your iPhone

If there’s a video on YouTube that you want to save, follow these steps to quickly download it on your iPhone.

1. In the YouTube app, find the video you want to save.
2. Tap the three vertical dots next to the video name.
3. Tap Share > Copy link.
4. Switch to Safari and go to DownVids.net.
5. Double-tap in the box to paste the URL.
6. Make sure to set the file type to .mp4 and the quality to 1080p.
7. Tap Download. 
8. Then tap Download this Video.
9. A new window will open. Tap Download to finish.

Where to find the downloaded video

You’ll be able to find the video you just downloaded wherever you set Safari to store files. Typically, it’s in the Files app, but if you’re not sure where that is, you can:

1. Tap the download icon at the top right of the Safari window
2. Hit the magnifying glass next to the video name

How to save videos from Instagram

Since Instagram doesn’t have a feature for you to download videos directly in the app, you’ll need to use Safari and the website DownVids.net. Follow these steps to download your Instagram video:

1. Find the video you want to save in the Instagram app.
2. Tap the ellipsis directly above the video.
3. Tap Copy Link.
4. In Safari, go to DownVids.net.
5. Paste the Instagram link into the box.
6. From the drop-down menus, set the file type to .mp4 and quality to Full HD (1080p).
7. Tap Download > Download this Video.
8. A new window will open, and you’ll be prompted to tap Download.

Where is the video saved?

In the top-right corner of the Safari window, you’ll see the download icon. You can tap that button and then tap on the magnifying glass next to the file name to find where the video is saved.

After you download a video from any of these websites and apps, you’ll see just how easy it is. And the good news is you’ll never have to be without your videos again. Go ahead and upload your videos to Instagram and YouTube, because now you’re able to download them again whenever you need them.

The post How to download videos on iPhone from YouTube, Safari, and more appeared first on Backlight.

Fortunately, it’s also easier than ever to print photos directly from your iPhone. Whether you want to print a couple of pictures to hang up around your place or have framed to give as gifts, you can do it all directly from your iPhone.

In this article, you’ll read about how to print photos from iPhone:

• Wirelessly with AirPrint
• Wirelessly without AirPrint
• Using a mini-printer
• With a third-party app

Before you start printing your iPhone photos

It doesn’t take long for the photo library on your iPhone to fill up with duplicates and similar-looking pictures, which makes it harder to find the exact picture you might want to print. Before you start printing the pics on your iPhone, use an app like Gemini Photos to quickly clean things up.

After you download Gemini Photos from the App Store, you can follow these steps to get rid of the pictures you don’t want:

1. Open the app on your iPhone and let it scan.
2. Tap on one of the categories (for example, Similar).
3. Your pictures will be organized by month. Tap on any of them.
4. Similar photos will be grouped together. Simply select the ones you want to delete and tap Move to Trash.
5. After you’ve moved all the pictures to the trash, tap Empty Trash.
6. Tap Delete.
7. Open the Photos App.
8. Tap Albums > Recently Deleted > Select > Delete All.

After you’ve deleted your similar pics, you can go back to Gemini Photos and scan through other categories like Duplicates, Screenshots, Notes, Blurred, and Videos.

1. Print from iPhone using your home printer

Most newer printers come with Wi-Fi connectivity, meaning you’re able to print wirelessly. In fact, there are two ways you can print wirelessly. If your printer supports Apple’s AirPrint, then you’re ready to go. Otherwise, it’s likely that your printer has an app you can download to print your photos.

How to print pictures from your iPhone using AirPrint

AirPrint is a feature that allows all Macs, iPhones, and iPads to connect to a printer and print wirelessly. But not every printer comes with AirPrint support enabled. If yours does, then all you have to do is follow these steps:

1. Open the Photos app.
2. Select the photo you want to print and tap the share icon.
3. Scroll down and select Print.
4. Tap Select Printer.
5. Select your printer from the list.
6. Change the paper size, if needed, under Options.
7. Tap Print.

Why is my iPhone not connecting to my printer?

There are a couple of reasons why your iPhone may not be finding or connecting to your printer. Here are some of the common causes and how to fix them:

• Different Wi-Fi networks, or Wi-Fi is turned off. Verify that both devices are on the same wireless network and have Wi-Fi turned on.
• The printer is too far away. Try moving your printer closer to your Wi-Fi router.
• Your devices need a reboot. Restart your devices one at a time, starting with your Wi-Fi router, your printer, and then your iPhone.

How to print from iPhone without AirPrint

If your printer isn’t AirPrint-enabled but still has Wi-Fi connectivity, it likely has its own app you can use to print photos:

1. Download the printer’s app from the App Store.
2. Follow the on-screen steps to connect to your printer.
3. In the app, you should be able to view and select the photos you want to print.

Can I print from my iPhone with a USB cable?

Unfortunately, there’s no way to connect your iPhone to a printer with a USB cable. And that’s because connecting to your printer with a USB cable requires installing additional drivers or support software, which isn’t something iOS can do.

Of course, if your home printer only has a USB port, another option is to email the pictures to yourself and print them using your computer.

2. Print photos using a mini printer for iPhone

Mini-printers are perfect for printing iPhone photos because they’re small and portable enough that you can always have a photo printer with you. For the sake of this article, we’ll show you how to use the Canon Ivy Mobile Mini Photo Printer:

1. Download Canon Mini Print from the App Store.
2. Launch the app and follow the on-screen instructions to set up your printer.
3. Open the Settings app and tap Bluetooth to ensure that Bluetooth is turned on.
4. Tap Canon Mini Printer.
5. When your iPhone is connected to the Canon Mini Printer, go back to the Canon Mini Print app.
6. Tap the Printer icon on the main screen.
7. On the Choose Printer screen, tap Canon Mini Printer.
8. The printer icon will show up in the top-right corner once it’s connected.
9. Use the app to view and print pictures in your photo library.

3. Print pictures from your iPhone using a third-party app

If you don’t have a home or mini printer, don’t worry — affordable printing services are available at the tap of a button. Just download an app, and you can order prints of your pictures to be shipped directly to your home.

How to print pictures using FreePrints

FreePrints is an iPhone app that lets you print up to 85 4-by-6-inch pictures every month for free. There are no subscription plans. The only thing you have to pay for is shipping, which can be as cheap as $1.99. Download the FreePrints app, then follow these steps to order your prints:

1. Open the FreePrints app.
2. Select the pictures you want to be printed.
3. Tap Next > Continue.
4. Log in or create your FreePrints account.
5. After that, follow the on-screen instructions to finish your order.

How to print your iPhone photos with Shutterfly

Another popular service that’s similar to FreePrints is Shutterfly. One of the great things about Shutterfly is that you can also order products like large-format prints, canvas prints, and even photo books in addition to standard photo sizes. Download Shutterfly from the App Store to get started:

1. Launch the Shutterfly app and sign in or create a Shutterfly account.
2. Tap Photos.
3. Allow access to your photo library.
4. Select the pictures you want to print. 
5. Tap Order Products.
6. Choose your print sizes and finish your order.

While your iPhone has a stunning display that can make all your photos look incredible, there are times when you may want to have them printed out. And, depending on your printer, you might already have everything you need to print your photos.

The post How to print your best photos from iPhone appeared first on Backlight.

Three ways to transfer photos from a Windows PC to an iPhone

There are a couple of different options for transferring your photo library from your Windows computer to your iPhone. In this article, you’ll learn how to use iCloud, iTunes, and AnyTrans.

1. How to copy photos from a PC to an iPhone using iCloud 

You can actually transfer your photos wirelessly from your computer to an iPhone by using iCloud. By setting up both devices to sync with the same iCloud account, your pictures will automatically transfer back and forth.

Follow these steps to transfer your photos from your PC to your iPhone using iCloud:

1. On your PC, download iCloud for Windows.
2. With iCloud for Windows open, log in to your account.
3. Select the checkbox next to Photos.
4. Click Apply.
5. Open a File Explorer window.
6. Under Favorites in the left sidebar, click iCloud Photos.
7. Copy the photos into the Uploads folder.

Once you’ve set up iCloud on your computer, you’ll need to turn on iCloud Photos on your iPhone:

1. On your iPhone, go to the Settings app.
2. Tap [your name] > iCloud > Photos.
3. Toggle on iCloud Photos.

The process of uploading your pictures to iCloud and then to your iPhone may take a few minutes. When the sync completes, you’ll be able to find your pics in the Photos app on your iPhone.

2. How to transfer photos from a PC to an iPhone with iTunes

If you don’t have an iCloud account, you can still transfer pictures by connecting your iPhone to your PC using a USB cable. Once you have your devices connected:

1. Open iTunes.
2. Click on the iPhone button in the top-left of the iTunes window.
3. In the sidebar, click Photos.
4. Check the box to Sync Photos.
5. Choose either Pictures or Choose Folder in the drop-down menu.
6. Select the option to sync all or only selected folders.
7. Click Apply in the bottom-right corner.

Keep in mind that when you sync your photos this way, it overwrites the saved photo library on your iPhone. If this is the only computer you plan on using to sync photos with your phone, then it won’t cause any issues. It becomes a bigger problem, however, when you have pictures on multiple computers that you want to transfer to your iPhone.

3. How to transfer pictures from a computer to an iPhone using AnyTrans 

If you only have a couple of photos you want to transfer from your PC and don’t want to sync the entire photo library on that computer, you’ll want to use an app like AnyTrans. AnyTrans lets you move over select files and won’t erase the existing pictures on your iPhone.

When you have AnyTrans downloaded and installed on your computer:

1. Connect your iPhone to your PC using a USB cable.
2. Open AnyTrans.
3. Click Device Manager in the sidebar.
4. In the middle of the window, click the iPhone screen.
5. Navigate to the photos on your computer.
6. Select the pictures you want to transfer.
7. Click Open.

After the transfer is finished, you’ll be able to unlock your iPhone and find your pictures in the Photos app.

Five ways to transfer photos from a Mac to an iPhone 

As you might imagine, there’s no shortage of ways to transfer pictures from your Mac to your iPhone. In this section, you’ll learn how to move your photos using:

• iTunes
• Finder
• iCloud
• AirDrop
• AnyTrans

1. How to sync photos from a Mac to an iPhone using iTunes

Since the launch of the original iPhone, iTunes has been the primary way to sync your phone with your computer. But recently, Apple has been moving away from iTunes altogether and has even stopped including it in their macOS. That being said, if your Mac runs a macOS version older than Catalina, you can still use iTunes to sync your pictures.

Follow these steps to transfer pictures from your Mac:

1. Connect your iPhone to your Mac using a USB cable.
2. Open iTunes.
3. Click the iPhone button near the top-left of the iTunes window.
4. In the sidebar, click Photos.
5. Check the box next to Sync Photos.
6. From the drop-down menu, choose Photos, iPhoto, or Aperture to sync with your iPhone.
7. Click Apply.

2. How to transfer photos from a Mac to an iPhone without iTunes

You can sync your pictures using the Finder if your computer is running macOS Catalina and doesn’t have iTunes anymore. After you plug your iPhone into your Mac:

1. Click on the Finder icon to open a new window.
2. In the sidebar, click on your iPhone’s name.
3. Select Photos on the button bar. Note: If you have iCloud Photos turned on, you won’t see a Photos button.
4. Check the box to Sync Photos to your device.
5. From the drop-down menu, choose either the Photos app or select a folder.
6. Click Apply.

3. How to sync photos from a Mac to an iPhone with iCloud

You can also sync your photos from your Mac to your iPhone wirelessly using iCloud. To start syncing pictures using iCloud:

1. On your iPhone, go to Settings > [your name] > iCloud > Photos.
2. Verify that iCloud Photos is turned on.
3. On your Mac, open the Photos app.
4. Click Photos > Preferences.
5. Select the iCloud tab.
6. If your Mac isn’t signed in to iCloud, click Continue to open System Preferences and log in.
7. Check the box next to iCloud Photos.

The pictures from your Mac will start uploading to iCloud, and you’ll see them in the Photos app on your iPhone. 

If your pictures aren’t showing up on your iPhone, go to Settings > [your name] > iCloud > Photos to make sure you’re logged in to the same iCloud account and verify that photo syncing is turned on.

4. How to AirDrop photos from a Mac to an iPhone

If you only want to transfer a couple of pictures from your Mac, you can use AirDrop to quickly send them to your phone. Once you’ve found and selected your photos in Finder, you can move them to your iPhone by following these steps:

1. Click the Share button at the top of the window.
2. Select AirDrop.
3. Click on your iPhone in the pop-up.
4. Then click Done to finish.

When they’ve been successfully sent to your iPhone, you’ll be able to view them in the Photos app.

5. How to import photos from a Mac to an iPhone with AnyTrans

In the event that you have a lot of pictures you want to transfer to your iPhone, an easy solution is to use the app AnyTrans. It’s a quick way to transfer data from your Mac that doesn’t require iTunes. 

Connect your phone to your computer using the USB cable after you’ve downloaded and installed AnyTrans:

1. Open AnyTrans on your Mac.
2. In the sidebar, click Device Manager.
3. Click the iPhone screen in the middle window.
4. A Finder window will open. Find and select the photos you want to move from your computer.
5. Click Open.
6. Make sure the box next to Photos is checked and click Next.

Once the sync has completed, the photos will show up on your iPhone in the Photos app. (Note that they will be in an album called From AnyTrans and will not appear in Recents.)

After you transfer photos from your computer to your iPhone 

Once you’ve moved your pictures from your computer to your iPhone, you may notice some duplicates or similar-looking images in your photo library. You can quickly clean these up with the Gemini Photos iPhone app. Here’s how you can start decluttering your photo library:

1. On your iPhone, download Gemini Photos from the App Store.
2. Open Gemini Photos and let it scan your library.
3. Tap Similar.
4. Tap on a month or event to sort your pictures.
5. Similar photos will be grouped together, allowing you to select the photos you want to delete in each set.
6. Tap Move to Trash.
7. Repeat this process for each group of similar photos.
8. When you’ve finished going through all your similar photos, tap Empty Trash.
9. Tap Your Library to go back through the other categories like Duplicates, Screenshots, and Notes.
10. When you’re finished, go to the Photos app on your iPhone. 
11. Tap Recently Deleted > Select > Delete All to remove all the pictures from your iPhone.

Transferring your pictures to your iPhone from your computer, whether it’s a Mac or a Windows PC, couldn’t be easier. Hopefully, this article has helped you determine which method will work best for you.

The post How to transfer photos from your Mac or Windows PC to your iPhone appeared first on Backlight.

How to view iCloud photos on your iPhone

Setting up your iPhone to sync your iCloud photos is a great way to make sure all the pictures you take are automatically backed up with the rest of your photo library. But that’s not the only way you can view your pictures and videos from iCloud. Below are instructions for syncing your pictures and viewing them in the Photos app, as well as how to browse through your iCloud photos if you don’t want them saved on your phone.

Option 1. Access your iCloud photos in the Photos app

The most straightforward way to view your photos from iCloud on your iPhone is by turning on iCloud Photos in the Settings app so that all of your pictures and videos sync with your device. Follow these steps to turn on iCloud Photos:

1. Open Settings.
2. Tap [your name] > iCloud > Photos.
3. Turn the slider for iCloud Photos on.

Once you have that turned on, you’ll be able to view all of your pictures and videos in the Photos app.

Option 2. View the photos in your browser

If you’re using a shared iCloud account — or want to view a different photo library — you can view pictures from iCloud using your web browser. Follow the steps below to access your iCloud photos without all of them syncing to your device:

1. Open Safari and go to iCloud.com.
2. Sign in to your iCloud account.
3. Tap Photos.

Why don’t I see my iCloud photos on iPhone?

If you don’t see your iCloud photos on your iPhone, there are a few possible reasons. Here are some common problems and things you can do to resolve them:

• iCloud Photos is not allowed on cellular data. Syncing pictures and videos can use up a lot of data, so there’s a feature that will restrict your phone to updating only when connected to a Wi-Fi network. To allow or restrict updates using cellular data, go to Settings > Photos > Cellular Data.
• You’re signed in to a different iCloud account. If you have multiple Apple IDs, it could be that you’re logged in to two different accounts on your iPhone and on your computer. You can check which Apple ID you’re signed in with on your iPhone by going to Settings > [your name].
• iCloud Photos isn’t turned on. It’s possible to be logged in to iCloud without iCloud Photos being turned on. To check, you can go to Settings > [your name] > iCloud > Photos.

How to access iCloud Photos on a Windows PC

One of the great things about iCloud is that you can access your pictures on any device. Yes, even on a Windows computer. While iCloud may not be as seamless on a PC as it is on a Mac, Apple has gone to great lengths to make it as user-friendly as possible.

Option 1. Use iCloud for Windows

If you want to keep your photo library in sync with your iPhone and Windows computer, you’ll have to download iCloud for Windows. After you have that downloaded and installed, you can turn on iCloud Photos to start syncing:

1. Open the iCloud for Windows app.
2. Sign in with your Apple ID.
3. Check the box next to Photos to turn it on.
4. Click Apply.

After you’ve turned on iCloud Photos, how you view your photos will depend on which operating system you’re using.

For Windows 10:

1. In the notification area, click the up arrow in the bottom-right corner of your screen. 
2. Click the iCloud icon. 
3. Click Download Photos.

For Windows 8:

1. Click Start.
   Note: On Windows 8.1, you’ll also need to click the down arrow in the lower-left corner.
2. Open the iCloud Photos app.

Option 2. Log in to iCloud in your browser

If you just want to view your pictures without iCloud syncing them to the computer you’re using, you can access your iCloud photos through your web browser:

1. Open your browser of choice and go to iCloud.com.
2. Sign in with your Apple ID.
3. Click Photos.

How to access iCloud Photos on Mac

Thankfully, using iCloud with a Mac couldn’t be any easier. You can set it up so that your iCloud photos are syncing with the Photos app. Or if you don’t want your pictures to automatically save to the computer you’re using, you can simply view your photo library using Safari.

Option 1. See your iCloud photos in the Photos app

If you want to make sure that your most recent pictures and videos are always on your Mac, you’ll want to turn on iCloud Photos in System Preferences. iCloud will make sure the Photos app on your Mac is automatically updated with your pictures from other devices, like your iPhone or iPad. Follow these steps to start syncing your Mac with iCloud photos:

1. Click the Apple icon at the top-left of your screen.
2. Click System Preferences > iCloud.
3. Sign in with your Apple ID.
4. Check the box next to Photos to turn it on.
5. Open the Photos app.

Option 2. Access iCloud in your browser

If you’re using a friend’s computer or a shared Mac, you probably won’t want to sync your photo library with that computer. But don’t worry. You can still view your iCloud pictures by following these steps:

1. Open Safari and go to iCloud.com.
2. Log in with your Apple ID.
3. Click Photos.

Why can’t I see my iCloud photos on a Mac?

If some of your iCloud photos aren’t showing up on your Mac, here are a couple of common issues and what you can do to fix them:

• Your software needs to be updated. Either your MacOS or the Photos app could be out of date, causing syncing issues. Check for updates by clicking the Apple icon > App Store > Updates.
• You’re signed in to a different iCloud account. Verify that you’re logged in to the correct iCloud account by clicking the Apple icon > System Preferences > iCloud.
• iCloud is out of storage. If your iCloud account is out of free space, it won’t be able to update with your photos. You can check how much storage you have available by going to the Apple icon > System Preferences > iCloud. Or, if you’re in Safari, go to iCloud.com > Account Settings > Storage.

iCloud Photos is a great way to back up your photo library and make sure that your devices automatically contain your most recent pictures. And it also keeps your videos and pics online, so whether you’re using your personal computer or that of a friend, you’ll always be able to view your photos.

The post How to access your iCloud photos on an iPhone, PC, or Mac appeared first on Backlight.

If the thought of backing up your photos is a bit intimidating, don’t worry. Keep reading, and you’ll learn just how simple it is to keep your pictures and videos backed up — both with and without iCloud.

Before you do an iPhone photo backup

Before we jump headfirst into backups, let’s take a moment to address an ever-present issue: Your photo library can take up a lot of space. No matter how you decide to back up your pictures, you should only keep the photos you want. Otherwise, you’re just wasting space. And in some cases, as is the case with iCloud, that could end up costing you money.

Thankfully, an app like Gemini Photos will scan your photo library and quickly sort your pictures into categories like Similar, Duplicates, Screenshots, Notes, and more. To start cleaning up your library, download Gemini Photos from the App Store and follow these steps:

1. Open Gemini Photos on your iPhone.
2. Let it scan your library.
3. Tap on the Duplicates category.
4. Tap on a group of photos.
5. Select the pictures you want to get rid of.
6. After you go through all of the duplicates, tap the Delete Duplicates button at the bottom.
7. Tap Delete on the pop-up.
8. Tap Your Library to go back and select another category like Screenshots, Blurred, or etc.
9. When you’re finished cleaning up your library, open the Photos App on your iPhone.
10. Tap Albums > Recently Deleted > Select > Delete All.

Back up your iPhone photos to the cloud

If you’re looking for a way to keep your pictures automatically backed up, then the cloud is definitely the answer for you. And fortunately, that doesn’t mean your options are limited to iCloud. There are other services like Google Photos and Amazon Photos for you to choose from.

How to back up photos to iCloud

If you’re already deep into the Apple ecosystem, iCloud is probably your best bet. Since it’s built into iOS, all of the setup and functionality is native to your iPhone. Follow the steps below to back up the pictures on your iPhone to iCloud:

1. On your iPhone, open the Settings app.
2. Tap [your name] > iCloud > Photos.
3. Toggle iCloud Photos on.

Yes, it really is that simple. The pictures and videos in your Photos app will then start backing up to iCloud. Something to keep in mind is that, by default, every Apple ID gets 5 GB of storage for free with their iCloud account. But when you start backing up your photo library, those 5 GB can fill up fast. If this happens to you, you may need to pay for upgraded storage.

How to back up photos from iPhone to Google Photos

One of the nice things about backing up your pictures to Google Photos is that it offers unlimited photo and video storage — for free! But, there is a catch. It does slightly compress everything you upload.

If you’re specifically looking for a free backup, then this is a great option. You also have the option to upload at full quality, but this will count toward your Google One storage (meaning it will share space with your Gmail account, Google Drive, etc.). But, like iCloud, you can pay to upgrade your total storage if you run out.

To start backing up your pictures with Google Photos:

1. Download Google Photos on your iPhone.
2. Open the app and sign in with your Google account.
3. Choose High quality or Original.
4. Tap Confirm.

How to back up your pictures with Amazon Photos

Another cloud service you can use to back up your photos is Amazon Photos. You can store an unlimited number of photos — at full quality — for free if you’re an Amazon Prime customer. If you want to back up your videos, you’ll get 5 GB of storage for free but will have to pay an annual fee to upgrade if you find yourself needing more space.

After you download Amazon Photos onto your iPhone, you can follow these steps to set it up.

1. Open the app and sign in to your Prime account.
2. Tap Allow to let Amazon access your Photos app.
3. Choose to turn on Auto-Save and Cellular Data.
4. Tap Done.

Back up iPhone photos to your computer

Maybe you don’t like the idea of your entire photo library being in the cloud somewhere. You can always back up your pictures directly to your computer. Your backups obviously won’t be automatic or as frequent as they would be if you were to use a cloud service. Still, this does allow you to have a little more control over which pictures you’re saving.

How to back up iPhone pictures to a Mac with Photos

One of the easiest ways to back up your iPhone’s pictures is with the Photos app on your Mac. After connecting your iPhone to a Mac using the Lightning-to-USB cable, follow these steps:

1. On your Mac, open the Photos app.
2. If needed, unlock your iPhone and tap Trust This Device to continue.
3. If the import window doesn’t automatically appear, click on your iPhone in the Photos app’s sidebar.
4. Either select the pictures you want to import or click Import All New Items in the top right-hand corner.

How to make a photo backup on Mac using Finder

Starting with macOS Catalina (10.15) or later, you can sync your iPhone with a Mac using Finder. Connect your iPhone to your Mac using a USB cable and follow the following steps to sync your pictures:

1. On the Mac, open a new Finder window.
2. In the sidebar, under your Devices, click on your iPhone.
3. Click Photos at the top of the window.
4. Check Sync Photos.
5. Choose the app or folder you want to sync to.
6. Choose to sync all photos and albums or just selected albums. 
7. Click Apply.

How to back up your iPhone photos to a PC using Windows Photos

You can also back up your iPhone photos to a computer running Windows 10 by using the default app Windows Photos. Using a USB cable, connect your iPhone to the computer and unlock your phone:

1. If prompted on your iPhone, tap Trust This Device.
2. Open Windows Photos.
3. In the top-right corner, click Import.
4. A pop-up will appear. Select the pictures you want to backup.
5. Click Continue and follow the instructions.

How to back up pictures to your Windows PC with File Explorer

Another way you can back up your iPhone pictures is by using File Explorer on your Windows computer. Plug your iPhone into your computer using a Lightning-to-USB cable, then follow the steps below:

1. Unlock your iPhone and tap Trust This Device when prompted.
2. Open a File Explorer window. Your iPhone should appear in the sidebar as a new device under This PC (in Windows 10) or Computer (in Windows 7).
3. Right-click on it and select Import pictures and videos.
4. Follow the instructions in the Import wizard.

There are plenty of options when it comes to backing up pictures and videos from your iPhone. In fact, there are so many that there’s no excuse for not making sure the memories you’ve captured are safely saved. Hopefully, one of the methods mentioned in this article will work for you, and you’ll be able to maintain a consistent iPhone photo backup.

The post How to back up photos on iPhone, with or without iCloud appeared first on Backlight.

This article will go over the three major photo storage services — Amazon Photos, Google Photos, and iCloud — and share everything you need to know to help you decide which service is best for you.

Amazon Photos vs. Google Photos vs. iCloud: The pricing

Even comparing the pricing options of the three major photo storage services can be confusing because they all offer something different. For instance, Amazon bases its pricing on a yearly rate, while Google and iCloud will charge you every month. Each of them also offers a free tier with different perks and limitations. But if you want to upgrade to more storage, here’s a breakdown across each service:

Amazon Photos

• 100 GB for $19.99/year
• 1 TB for $59.99/year

Google Photos

• 100 GB for $1.99/month
• 200 GB for $2.99/month
• 2 TB for $9.99/month

iCloud

• 50 GB for $0.99/month
• 200 GB for $2.99/month
• 2 TB for $9.99/month

How much cloud storage do I get for free?

As we mentioned earlier, each service offers a free tier with different features. Here’s a comparison of what you can expect from these free options before you have to upgrade and start paying for storage.

Amazon Photos

To say that Amazon Photos has a free service is a bit misleading. They do offer free unlimited photo storage, but to Amazon Prime customers only. And that’s only for pictures. You only get 5 GB to store your videos for free. To back up more videos, you’ll have to upgrade your storage.

If you want to use Amazon Photos without being a Prime member, there is no free option. You’ll have to subscribe to one of their paid storage tiers. 

Google Photos

The good news about Google Photos is that you get unlimited pics and video storage for free. Yes, you read that right — free unlimited storage for your photo library. The catch, however, is that you can only save compressed versions of your pictures and videos. 

If file compression isn’t a big deal to you, then Google Photos is a steal. But if you want to save your photo library at full quality, you can upload 15 GB free before you have to upgrade to a paid storage option.

iCloud

Of these three services, iCloud is probably the most straightforward when it comes to pricing. The free tier gives you 5 GB of storage but not without a catch. That 5 GB of storage is shared with everything else on iCloud. 

If your iPhone is connected to an iCloud account, it means you’re splitting that 5 GB of free storage between your photos, notes, text messages, contacts, and iPhone backup file. As you can imagine, that 5 GB doesn’t go far when you take all of those things into consideration.

Is Amazon Photos, Google Photos, or iCloud more convenient?

There’s a lot to take into account when you’re comparing these services, especially when trying to determine which service is going to be the most convenient for you. For example, if you’re using an iPhone, then iCloud, right off the bat, is the most native because so many features of iOS depend on having an iCloud account. But here’s a closer look at how these services hold up when pitted against each other.

Amazon Photos vs. Google Photos

If you’re just looking for free online photo storage, these two are definitely the ones you want to dig into. The immediate downside to either of these is that they both require a second app. So, while you take pictures using the Camera app, everything you capture still ends up in the Photos app first. 

Thankfully, both services allow you to automatically upload your pictures as you take them on your phone. This is great if you’re using it to backup your photo library. But if you want to clear space on your device, Google Photos gives you an easy “Free up space” button that will delete pictures from your phone after uploading them. 

It’s features like this that give Google Photos a slight advantage over Amazon Photos. That being said, if you’re already an Amazon Prime member and want to save your pictures at full quality, then Amazon Photos might make a little more sense for you.

iCloud vs. Google Photos

Deciding between these two services isn’t as easy, since they offer a lot of the same functionality. The great thing about Google Photos is that it’s platform-agnostic, meaning it works on Android devices just as well as it works on iOS. That means you’ll never have to worry about your photo library because it lives in Google Photos and can be downloaded to almost any type of device.

That said, the fact that iCloud is native only to iOS is actually a good thing and makes it more convenient to use than Google Photos. All you have to do is turn iCloud Photos on, and everything in your Photos app will sync with the cloud. That’s it.  There’s no second app you have to use to manage your photo library. You don’t have to worry about remembering to free up space. Everything works with iCloud and the Photos app as it should, without any additional effort from you.

Amazon Photos vs. iCloud

Amazon Photos offers a lot of features similar to iCloud and Google Photos. Features like facial recognition, organizing photos by locations, and even auto-creating memories from your pictures. And if you’re solely looking for a backup for all of your photos, then you can’t beat the free unlimited storage Amazon Photos offers to Prime members. 

When Amazon Photos might not work for you is if you have a lot of videos you want to backup or if you’re not already a Prime member. There’s also the inherent benefit of iCloud being part of iOS; it’s not an additional app that you have to worry about, like with Amazon Photos.

So what’s the best photo storage app, all things considered?

Taking everything into consideration, the best photo storage option is iCloud. Because all of its features are native on your iPhone, iCloud is the most convenient option and will be the easiest to use in the long run. Especially if you’re trying to keep multiple devices like a phone, computer, and tablet in sync. 

What’s the best free photo storage app?

If you’re looking purely for the best free option, you can’t go wrong with Google’s unlimited photo storage. While it does slightly compress your pictures and videos, it doesn’t compress them all that much. In fact, the loss of quality is so minimal that you’ll probably have to look at photos side-by-side to even notice any degradation.

Whether you want to back up your photo library or you’re just trying to free up space on your phone, there are some great cloud-based storage options. If you’re not entirely sure what to look for when you’re signing up, it can seem a little confusing at first. Hopefully, this article has helped you understand the differences and determine which photo storage app will work best for you when choosing between Amazon Photos, Google Photos, and iCloud. 

The post Amazon Photos, Google Photos, or iCloud? Photo storage apps compared appeared first on Backlight.

In this article, we’ll do a deep dive on iPhone X’s front and rear cameras. You’ll see how it stacks up to some of its successors and if it’s still worth the price today.

The back camera on iPhone X

On paper, the specs of iPhone X’s back camera are very similar to the newer iPhone XS’s camera. It includes two lenses: a wide and a telephoto lens. In addition to the dual-camera system, iPhone X also came standard with features like Portrait mode, Portrait Lighting, and Auto HDR. All of which have only seen minor improvement in newer models.

Why does iPhone X have two cameras?

While phones with only one lens can still zoom in and out, they’re only able to do so with the help of a digital zoom. So rather than truly zooming in, your pictures are just scaled up to look like you zoomed in. But thanks to iPhone X’s dual-camera system, you have two focal points, meaning you can get a truly zoomed-in picture that is cleaner and crisper.

That being said, you don’t only have those two focal points on iPhone X. You can zoom in to any distance between the wide and telephoto lenses and even extend beyond using the iPhone’s digital zoom to get an image 10x closer from your wide-angle camera.

The iPhone X back camera: Megapixels and other specs

As mentioned earlier, the iPhone X camera shares a lot of the same specs with its successor, iPhone XS. Both models have the same 12-megapixel camera and the same aperture capabilities. iPhone X does reasonably well with photos taken in low light, despite not being capable of Night mode. And with Auto HDR, you typically get a well-balanced picture that isn’t overly saturated.

Here’s a list of specs and features for the rear camera:

• Dual 12MP Wide and Telephoto cameras
• Wide: ƒ/1.8 aperture
• Telephoto: ƒ/2.4 aperture
• Dual optical image stabilization
• 2x optical zoom in
• Digital zoom up to 10x
• True Tone flash with Slow Sync
• Portrait mode
• Portrait lighting
• Auto HDR for photos
• 4K video recording at 24 fps, 30 fps, or 60 fps
• Slo-mo video for 1080p at 240 fps
• Time-lapse video with stabilization

The front camera on iPhone X

Prior iPhone models had what was called a FaceTime HD camera, but on iPhone X, the front camera was replaced with the new True Depth camera that is still used in current models. And since iPhone X was the first iPhone to introduce Face ID, a more powerful front-facing camera was a necessity. But the upgrades also brought features like Portrait mode for your selfies and the cartoony and fun Animoji and Memoji.

How many megapixels is the iPhone X front camera?

Like the rear camera, on paper, the front camera looks very similar to other iPhone models. It’s a 7-megapixel camera with a ƒ/2.2 aperture. Check out a full list of the specs and features that are available on iPhone X’s front camera:

• 7MP photos
• ƒ/2.2 aperture
• Retina Flash
• Auto HDR for photos
• Portrait mode
• Portrait lighting
• 1080p HD at 30 fps
• Animoji and Memoji

Is the iPhone X camera quality enough in 2020?

Looking at iPhone X, even by today’s standards, it’s still a great camera, especially if you’re upgrading from anything older than an iPhone 8. In fact, if you compare the cameras on both iPhone X and iPhone XS, you’ll only see very minor improvements between the two models. 

Where you see the biggest difference is comparing pictures from iPhone X to the current iPhone 11 Pro lineup. But that’s mostly due to the new model having a third lens on the rear camera. So, if you’re looking for an amazing camera at a great value, there’s no reason not to consider iPhone X, even in 2020.

Despite Apple only carrying the most current models of iPhone, opting to upgrade to an older model is a great way to still get an amazing phone at an even better price. This is especially true if you’re the type of person who just wants to shoot incredible pictures and doesn’t necessarily worry about having all the latest bells and whistles.

The post Does the iPhone X camera still make the cut? appeared first on Backlight.

Transfer photos from iPhone to Android

If you’re transferring pictures from your iPhone to an Android, the process is relatively straightforward. Again, if you only want to move a couple of pictures, then email or text may be the way to go. But if you want to transfer an album or two, or even your entire library, you’ll want to keep reading for instructions.

Before you move your photos from iPhone

The saying is true: “Garbage in, garbage out.” And that’s especially true when it comes to the data on your phone. So before you just dump your entire photo library onto your new Android device, quickly clean it up using the app Gemini Photos. Download Gemini Photos from the App Store and follow these steps to start cleaning your photo library:

1. Open Gemini Photos and let it scan your library.
2. Tap on a category like Similar.
3. Tap a date range or event.
4. Select the picture you want to delete and tap Move to Trash.
5. After you’ve gone through all of your similar pictures, tap Empty Trash.
6. Tap Your Library to go back and choose another category like Duplicates, Blurred, Notes, and Screenshots.

How to send a few pictures from iPhone to Android

Transferring a few pictures from your iPhone to Android is pretty simple. The only catch is that you’ll need to use an app called Send Anywhere, which we used in the previous section. Like before, you can wirelessly transfer your pictures as long as you have both phones in the same room.

1. Open the Send Anywhere app on both of the phones.
2. On your iPhone, tap Send.
3. Select the picture you want to transfer.
4. Tap Send.
5. On your Android, tap Receive.
6. Either type in the 6-digit code on your Android’s screen or scan the QR-code.

Can I AirDrop iPhone photos to an Android phone?

AirDrop is a feature made by Apple solely for their devices. That means it isn’t possible to simply AirDrop pictures and videos to an Android phone. But there are other apps and websites, like Snapdrop, that offer similar functionality.

How to bulk-transfer photos from iPhone to Android

Similarly to transferring your entire library from an Android to an iPhone, you can transfer your whole library from iPhone to Android — all without plugging into a computer — thanks to Google Photos. To transfer your entire photo library:

1. Download Google Photos from the App Store.
2. Open Google Photos and sign in to your Google account.
3. Tap Get Started.
4. Tap OK when asked to allow Google Photos to access your photos.
5. Tap Continue.
6. Select High quality and then tap Continue.
7. Tap No thanks to finish the setup and start uploading your pictures.
8. While your library is uploading, download Google Photos on your Android.
9. On your Android, open Google Photos.
10. Sign in to your Google account.
11. Choose High quality and then tap Confirm.
12. Wait for your photos and videos to download.

Transfer photos from Android to iPhone

Transferring your photos from Android to iPhone doesn’t have to be a long and tedious process; it all depends on how many pictures you want to copy over. Of course, if you only want to transfer a handful of photos, you can always email or text them to yourself, but we wouldn’t recommend doing this for more than about ten pictures. To transfer more photos than that, you’ll need to use a computer or a cloud service as the go-between for both phones.

How to transfer a few pictures from Android to iPhone

If you don’t want to transfer your entire photo library from an Android to your iPhone, you can use the app Send Anywhere to quickly transfer select pictures. If two phones are in the same room, you can use the app to move the photos wirelessly from one phone to the other. 

Once you have Send Anywhere downloaded from the Google Play Store and the App Store, you can start transferring your pics:

1. Open the Send Anywhere app on both phones.
2. On your Android, tap Send at the bottom and select the pictures you want to transfer.
3. Tap Send.
4. On your iPhone, tap Receive at the bottom.
5. Either type in the 6-digit code on your Android’s screen or scan the QR-code.

When you get to Step 3, you also have the option to send your pictures using a link if your phones aren’t close to each other or the wireless transfer isn’t working for some reason.

How to mass-transfer photos from Android to iPhone

Manually selecting each photo won’t really work if you’re upgrading from an Android to an iPhone and want your entire photo library to come over with you. Thankfully, if you were using a cloud service like Google Photos to back up your photo library, it’s easy to transfer to your new iPhone. 

Even if you weren’t already using Google Photos, you can still download it to your Android from the Google Play Store and quickly set it up to start transferring all of your photos. To transfer your photo library using Google Photos:

1. Open Google Photos on your Android.
2. Sign in with your Google account.
3. Tap Backup.
4. Choose either High quality or Original.
5. Tap Confirm.
6. While your Android is uploading the pictures, you can download Google Photos on your iPhone and open it. 
7. Tap Get started.
8. A prompt will appear asking to grant Google Photos access to your photos.
9. Tap Continue.
10. Tap No thanks to finish the setup, and the photos from your Android will start downloading to your iPhone. Any pictures you’ve taken with your iPhone will start uploading to Google Photos.

Something to keep in mind during Steps 4 and 10 is that Google offers free unlimited storage using the High-quality setting, which compresses pictures to save them. However, if you choose Original for those steps, photos will be saved at full-quality and will count toward your Google One storage limit.

After you move your photos to iPhone

When you’re setting up your new iPhone, it’s a good time to start fresh, especially when it comes to your photo library. It’s surprising how quickly your library can fill up with duplicate photos, similar-looking images, or even unnecessary screenshots. 

Thankfully, the iOS app Gemini Photos can help you quickly clean up your library, so you’re not wasting any storage space on your new iPhone. To start cleaning up your photo library:

1. On your iPhone, download Gemini Photos from the App Store.
2. Open it and let it scan your photo library.
3. Tap a category like Duplicates.
4. Tap a group of photos.
5. Select the pictures you want to delete.
6. After you’ve gone through all of them, tap Delete Duplicates.
7. You can then tap Your Library at the top to go back through the other categories of pictures and videos.

Gemini Photos only scans pictures saved in iCloud or stored on your phone, so if you have pictures and videos in Google Photos, you’ll have to download them to your phone before you can clean up your library and reduce the clutter.

Whether you’re going from Android to iPhone or iPhone to Android, there are a couple of ways you can get your pictures onto your new device. Whichever method you choose, it’s important to have a bit of patience. It can take some extra time to transfer everything depending on how much you’re trying to move at one time. 

The post How to transfer your photos between Android and iPhone appeared first on Backlight.

Keep reading to see what external drives you can use and decide which one will work best for you.

The best external storage options for your iPhone photos

When you run out of space on your iPhone, it’s understandable that you would want to make sure your pictures and videos are backed up so you don’t lose them. And sure, you could save your photo library online, but there’s something nice about having them on a physical drive that you can hold in your hand. Here are a couple of the best external storage options to use with your iPhone.

HooToo iPhone Flash Drive: Best flash drive for iPhone

The HooToo Flash Drive is small and lightweight, making it conveniently portable. It also has a lightning connector on one end and a standard USB connector on the other, so you can plug it directly into your iPhone and computer to transfer your photo library.

HooToo iPhone Flash Drive on Amazon

Qarfee Drive: 4-in-1 iPhone USB drive

The great thing about the Qarfee USB drive is its versatility and 4-in-1 functionality. It not only has lightning and standard USB connectors,  but it also has a Micro USB connector and a USB-C adapter. With this USB drive, you’re prepared for whatever device you need to connect it to so you can back up your photo library. 

Qarfee 4-in-1 iPhone Drive  on Amazon

Sandisk iXpand: Flash drive for iPhone

One of the best things about the Sandisk iXpand flash drive is the iOS app you can use with the drive. It automatically transfers over your photo library, so all you have to do is open the app and plug in the drive. 

Sandisk iXpand on Amazon

EATOP iPhone Memory Stick: The most storage for the lowest price

Like other drives on this list, the EATOP iPhone memory stick has multiple connectors so you can connect it directly to your iPhone and your computer. But where it really sets itself apart is how much space you get for the price. On Amazon, you can get 128 GB for under $24.

EATOP iPhone Memory Stick on Amazon

Leef iBridge 3: Thumb drive for iPhone

The Leef iBridge 3 is probably the most traditional thumb drive on this list. It’s designed so that when you plug it into your phone, you don’t have a massive dongle sticking out like you would with a lot of other drives. Instead, this thumb drive wraps around to the back, making it more convenient to continue using your phone while connected. This is great because you can use Leef’s iOS app to take pictures and videos while saving them directly to the USB storage, so you don’t have to worry about transferring them later to free up storage space.

Leef iBridge 3 on Amazon

iDiskk: iPhone photo stick

If you’re looking for a drive that you can take with you everywhere you take your iPhone, then iDiskk Photo Stick is the drive you need. It’s made with an aluminum casing that helps protect it from falls without adding any unnecessary weight. This makes it an easy and convenient drive to go wherever you go.

iDiskk Photo Stick on Amazon

LIY7: Pendrive for iPhone

Just as its name implies, the LIY7 is not only a convenient flash drive that you can use with your iPhone, but it’s also a pen you can write with. Its versatility makes it easy to slip into your bag or even your pocket to carry with you. And that way, you always have a pen with you, as well as extra storage for your iPhone when you need it most.

LIY7 iPhone Pendrive  on Amazon

LaCie Rugged Mini: External hard drive for iPhone

Maybe you were hoping for something with a little more storage to store your entire photo library. In that case, you’re going to want an external hard drive like the LaCie Rugged. Rugged Mini hard drives start at 1 TB and are currently available up to 5 TB, which should satiate even the largest of libraries.

LaCie Rugged Mini Drive on Amazon

As you can see, there are a ton of options when you’re looking for external storage for your iPhone. It all just depends on your specific needs and how you want to use that storage. Hopefully, reading this article has helped you figure out which options will work best for you.

The post The best external iPhone storage drives for photo hoarders appeared first on Backlight.

What is Night mode?

Night mode is an automatic feature that uses the larger sensor on the iPhone’s new cameras to capture more light when you take pictures.  And because this requires a larger sensor, Night mode is only available on iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro, and iPhone 11 Pro Max.

How Night mode works

Using Night mode actually requires quite a bit of power from your iPhone. It combines the larger sensor with machine learning algorithms and the new A13 processor present in the iPhone 11 lineup. 

When you take a picture with Night mode, it captures a series of images over a certain period of time ranging from 1 to 9 seconds, depending on how dark the environment is. The iPhone camera analyzes how much light is required and captures frames at various exposures. Longer exposures let more light in and make the picture bright, while shorter exposures are darker.

Most DSLR cameras have a long exposure feature that captures brighter pictures. The iPhone camera could have simply done just that, but instead, the real magic of the iPhone camera is due to its machine learning. Because it takes a series of frames at different exposures, it can stitch the best parts of each frame together, like an HDR pic, to create a perfectly lit image that still feels like it was taken at night.

Using Night mode on iPhone

One important thing to keep in mind about Night mode is that it’s an automatic setting that’s enabled when the iPhone camera decides it needs help with the lighting. So unlike other camera modes like portrait or pano, you can’t go into Night mode whenever you want. 

Where is Night mode in the Camera settings?

You’ll only see the option for Night mode when it’s enabled in the camera app. It’ll show up as a gray/yellow button with a moon in the top-left corner of your screen.

How to adjust and turn off Night mode 

If the Night mode button is yellow, that means it’s enabled and turned on. But if you take a photo and it’s too bright for your liking, you can adjust the exposure for your pictures or turn it off altogether. This is how you adjust and turn off Night mode:

1. Tap the moon icon.
2. Adjust the slider.
3. Tap the shutter to take your picture.

How to shoot great night photos on iPhone

While Night mode might feel a bit like magic, it’s not entirely point-and-shoot. The following are some tips and techniques you can utilize to ensure that you’re taking the best picture possible.

Tip 1: Hold still

Because Night mode takes a series of photos and stitches them together, you’ll want to hold your iPhone as steady as possible. To help reduce the risk of blurry images, the iPhone camera has an optical stabilization tool and will even discard frames if they’re too blurry to use in a Night mode picture. But for best results, use your iPhone on a tripod or balance it on a flat surface to reduce any movement.

Tip 2: Keep your subject stationary

While it’s important that the camera remains still during a low-light photo, you’ll also want the subject of your photo to be as still as possible. Kids or pets running around outside or a car driving through the frame will make for a very blurry Night mode picture.

Tip 3: Use a bit of light

At first, this might seem counterintuitive to Night mode’s intended use, but a small amount of light can go a long way. The darker your photo, the more your iPhone will have to brighten it, which can make your picture look more grainy. If you have even a little bit of light, then your iPhone won’t have to brighten the photo as much, meaning the picture won’t have as much grain in it.

Tip 4: Experiment with exposure times

The default exposure time in Night mode will usually take the best picture. But, like other camera settings, the default might not get the result you want for your photo. Don’t be afraid to adjust the exposure time if you want your picture to look darker or brighter.

Night mode on iPhone 11 is truly an incredible feature. It’s never been easier to take great pictures without much light. And like most things on your iPhone, the more you use it and become familiar with it, the better the pictures you’ll be able to take. Hopefully, you now have a better understanding of how Night mode works and can start taking your own amazing night photos.

The post The ultimate guide to Night mode on iPhone appeared first on Backlight.

The best screen recorder apps for iPhone

Obviously, one way to record your screen is with the built-in iOS screen recorder, but some apps can take your recordings to the next level. To help you sift through all of the available apps, here are the best apps you can download to record your iPhone screen:

1. TechSmith Capture
2. Record It!
3. Web Recorder
4. Screen Recorder – Livestream
5. AirScr Screen Recorder
6. Reaction Cam
7. Screen Recorder – RecPro
8. DU Recorder
9. Screen Recorder +
10. Screen Recorder Pro

1. TechSmith Capture: Best screen recorder app

If you do any screen recording on your computer, you may recognize TechSmith from its Camtasia suite of apps. With TechSmith Capture, not only can you record your screen, but like other apps, it will record your microphone so you can add narration or voice-overs to your videos. 

After you finish your recordings, they’re all kept in a well-organized library in the app where you can review, delete, and share them.  If you’re using Camtasia on your computer, you can also share your videos directly from your device to your computer without ever leaving the app.

TechSmith Capture on the App Store

2. Record It!: Screen recorder with facecam

Not only does Record It! let you record your screen and audio at the same time like the native screen recorder in iOS, but it also lets you record using your front camera to capture your reactions to the screen. This can be helpful if you’re creating videos for YouTube or other social media sites like Instagram because it will allow your viewers to see your face while you’re talking, and see your screen simultaneously.

Record It! also allows you to import old recordings from your Camera Roll and add video reactions, audio narrations, and other annotations to them.

Record It! on the App Store

3. Web Recorder: Capture your iOS browser

If you want to record things in your browser, then Web Recorder might be the app you’re looking for. It acts as its own web browser and only records what’s happening on the web page itself. So you don’t have to worry about notifications popping up or cropping it later to get rid of things like the time or your data connection.

After you’ve finished recording, you can also save and share the video directly from within the app.

Web Recorder on the App Store

4. Screen Recorder – Livestream: One of the best screen recorders for iPhone

Screen Recorder – Livestream might be the app that can do it all. It can record or broadcast your screen to various platforms, and it has a powerful video editor that allows you to trim, crop, or merge your recordings. You can also create a custom watermark if you want to put one on your videos. Plus, it has a whiteboard feature, which is great for annotating or showcasing your drawing and painting skills.

Screen Recorder – Livestream  on the App Store

5. AirScr Screen Recorder: A recorder and editor app

While you can capture your screen and audio with AirScr, where this app really shines is with its editing features. After you’ve finished your recording, you can edit it down, combine it with other recordings, add a reaction using the facecam, and even record voice-overs for your videos. This app gives you a lot of control over your recordings that other apps would require you to download an additional video editor to achieve.

AirScr on the App Store

6. Reaction Cam: Best iOS screen and face recorder

Reaction Cam is a little different than the other screen recording apps on this list because it’s more about recording you than your screen.  This is great if you’re recording a reaction video. Just as its name suggests, it records your screen while playing back various videos from around the internet, and it films you as you react to watching them.

Similar to the app Web Recorder, it not only records videos from YouTube or Instagram but will also let you record other webpages and will film your reaction as you navigate to those sites. This could be useful if you’re creating videos that respond to news or announcements in things like video games or movies. 

Reaction Cam on the App Store

7. Screen Recorder – RecPro: Record and stream your screen

If you’re looking for an app that can do live streams and can record your screen, then look no further than Screen Recorder – RecPro.  In addition to being able to stream to various platforms like Twitch and Facebook, you also get total control over your screen recordings. You can adjust the resolution and framerate before you record, and while editing, you can add filters, adjust the speed, or even record a video commentary. So, if you were hoping to find an app that would record and stream your iPhone screen, then give this app a try.

Screen Recorder – RecPro on the App Store

8. DU Recorder: Record, edit, and stream your screen

If you’re only using DU Recorder to record your iPhone’s screen, you might not notice anything special about it. It’s all of the other things that the app can do that makes it so powerful. It comes with a suite of editing tools and video filters, but it also allows you to live-stream your iPhone’s screen directly to YouTube, Facebook, or even Twitch. It is free to download but will stamp a watermark on all of your videos. You can get rid of the watermark by upgrading it with an in-app purchase.

DU Recorder on the App Store

9. Screen Recorder +: Do more with your recordings

Screen Recorder + will really step up your screen recording game. It’s one of the few apps that supports 2K and 4K resolutions for a cleaner and more crisp video. It also offers a full timeline editor, so after you finish recording, you can trim or crop your video, film a reaction, or even record narration. And when you’re down with the video, you can start your upload to YouTube from the app, so you’re doing everything, from creation to upload, all within Screen Recorder +.

Screen Recorder + on the App Store

10. Screen Recorder Pro: Elevate your videos

With Screen Recorder Pro as the name suggests, you can record your screen like a pro, but you can also capture audio, edit your videos and record yourself talking to the camera. One of the great features of Screen Recorder Pro, though, is it’s annotation tools. Not only can you drop stickers to help draw attention to a particular area of the screen, but you can also draw with the brush tool, similar to how you’d use this feature in Instagram or Snapchat.

Screen Recorder Pro on the App Store

While it might be easier to just stick to the native screen recording tool in iOS, there’s so much more you can do with your videos. It all depends on what exactly you want to do with them. Hopefully, this list has helped give you some ideas and inspired you to try new screen recorder apps and their features. 

The post 10 screen recorder apps with facecam and other neat features appeared first on Backlight.

iPhone camera shows a black screen 

Most of the time, the focus on the iPhone’s camera is its hardware capabilities. However, there’s actually a lot of software that goes into making the camera as great as it is. When you open up your Camera app and see a black screen, here are a couple of software-related quick tips you can try to get it working again.

Tip 1: Switch to the front or rear camera

Sometimes, simply switching from the rear camera to the front camera, or vice versa, can fix a black screen. You can change cameras by following these steps:

1. Open the Camera app.
2. Tap the flip camera icon at the bottom right.
3. Wait a moment and then tap the icon again to switch it back.

Tip 2: Close the Camera app

If flipping the cameras doesn’t fix your black screen issue, you can try force-quitting the Camera app altogether. Here’s how you can close the Camera app:

1. Swipe up and hold your finger in the middle of the screen until you see all your open apps.

Note: If your iPhone has a Home button, double-tap the Home button instead.

2. Swipe up on the Camera app until it disappears.
3. From your home screen, tap to open the Camera app again.

Tip 3: Turn off the VoiceOver feature

This one is a little surprising, but there’s an issue with the VoiceOver feature on iPhone that causes the camera to have a black screen. Thankfully, you can turn VoiceOver off pretty quickly when you:

1. Open the Settings app.
2. Tap Accessibility > VoiceOver.
3. Switch VoiceOver off.
4. Go back to the home screen and tap to open the Camera app again.

iPhone Camera app is frozen or laggy

It can be so frustrating when you try to take a picture with your iPhone camera, but everything is laggy and slow to the point where you miss the moment entirely. Or maybe you’ve opened the Camera app only to find that it’s completely frozen, and you can’t do anything.

Well, the next time either of those problems happens to you, here are a couple of tricks you can try to fix it.

Tip 1: Close the Camera app

Like all apps on your iPhone, sometimes the Camera app just freezes and needs to be quit and restarted again. To close the Camera app, you can:

1. Swipe up to the middle of your screen until all of your open apps appear.

Note: If you have a Home button on your iPhone, double-tap the Home button instead.

1. Find your Camera app and swipe up so that it disappears.
2. Tap on your home screen and then open the Camera app.

Tip 2: Restart your iPhone

While it may take a little longer, sometimes restarting your iPhone will help fix issues with your camera. There are a couple of different ways you can turn your iPhone off and on again. 

To restart your iPhone using only the hardware buttons:

1. Press and hold the side button and either of the volume buttons.

Note: If your phone has a Sleep/Wake button on top, press and hold only that button.

2. Slide to power off.
3. When your phone is completely off, hold the side button until you see the Apple logo.

If one of your buttons isn’t working, you can turn your iPhone off in Settings:

1. Open the Settings app.
2. Tap General > Shut Down.
3. Slide to power your phone off.
4. To turn your iPhone back on, you will need to press and hold the side button.

Tip 3: Check for an iOS update

From time to time, old or outdated software can cause the Camera app to freeze or be laggy. To fix this, you can check if an iOS update is available and then update your phone. To check if there’s an available iOS update:

1. From your home screen, open the Settings app.
2. Tap General > Software Update.
3. If an update is available, tap Download and Install.
4. Follow the prompts until your iPhone completely restarts.

The flash on iPhone camera is not working

There are instances when you need the flash on your iPhone because it’s simply too dark to take a picture. And in those circumstances, your flash not working will ruin the entire picture. Next time that happens, here are a couple of fixes you can try to resolve it.

Tip 1: Make sure the flash is turned on

We know this may sound a bit obvious, but if your surroundings are bright enough, then the iPhone flash might not go off if it’s set to automatic. To guarantee that your flash will go off, make sure it is turned on. To turn on your flash:

1. Open the Camera app.
2. Tap the flash icon in the top left until it turns yellow.

Tip 2: Turn the LED flashlight on/off

If the flash is turned on but still isn’t going off when you take a picture, toggling the LED flashlight feature on your iPhone can sometimes help fix it. To turn the flashlight on/off:

1. Swipe down from the top-right corner to bring down the Control Center menu.
2. Tap the flashlight icon to turn it on.
3. Wait for a second, then tap it again to turn it off.
4. Go back to the Camera app and take another picture.

Tip 3: Reset all settings

Odd quirks in an app’s settings — including those of the Camera app — can be fixed by resetting all of your iPhone settings. The good news is that doing this doesn’t erase any of your data. Instead, it just resets the way you have some apps set up. To reset your settings:

1. Open the Settings app.
2. Tap General > Reset.
3. Tap Reset All Settings.
4. Follow the prompts until your iPhone restarts.

One of the best features of your iPhone is the camera. And there’s nothing more annoying than iPhone camera not working when you want to take a picture. Hopefully, some of these tips will help you the next time it happens to you, and you’ll be back to taking photos with your iPhone in no time.

The post iPhone camera not working? Here’s why, and how to fix it appeared first on Backlight.

The best private photo sharing sites

Some of the pictures you take are a little more private than others. Maybe you don’t want to share pictures of your kids all over the internet or to publicly post those embarrassing albeit funny pictures of your family trying to pose together. However, you might want to share them with select friends and family members. The following are the best sites to privately share or transfer your pics.

1. Google Photos: Best free photo sharing site

Although it was initially marked as a backup solution for your entire photo library, Google Photos has some pretty impressive sharing functionalities. All of your pics are private when you upload them, but you can share them with friends and family at any time so that they can download or add them to their photo library. And, perhaps best of all, Google offers a free tier that allows you to store an unlimited number of photos. How can you go wrong with that?

Check out Google Photos

2. iCloud Photos: Private photo sharing and backup

If you’re an iPhone or Mac user, then there’s a good chance you’re already familiar with iCloud in some form or another. But if you have iCloud Photos turned on on your iPhone, your pictures are already being automatically uploaded as you take them. You can share your pictures and videos at any time or even create collaborative albums so you and your friends can privately share photos.

3. Amazon Photos: Best way to share photos for Prime members

Offering many features similar to those of Google Photos and iCloud Photos, Amazon may be a better option for sharing your photos with friends and family. It’s free to all Amazon Prime members and is fully integrated with other Amazon products. That means you can view your library on any Fire TV or Alexa-enabled device with a screen. 

Check out Amazon Photos

4. Dropbox: Best way to share photos and more

While Dropbox might not be your typical photo library manager, it is a quick and user-friendly way to share your files. So after you upload your pictures and videos, you’ll be able to view them online and share them with anybody. And you can create a shared folder so other users can send their pictures from a trip or event to you. 

Check out Dropbox

5. WeTransfer: Quickly send your pictures

If you have a folder or group of pictures you want to share, the quickest and easiest way to send them to friends is with WeTransfer. It lets you send files of all types without requiring you to create an account first. Just like sending an email, all you have to do is type in your email address, type in the email addresses you’re sending to, and attach the pictures you want to share. 

Now, that being said, you can create an account with WeTransfer and pay to upgrade so that you can access more features like raising the transfer limit from 2 GB to 20 GB and password-protecting what you share.

Check out WeTransfer

Photo websites to share photos online

Sharing your pictures with family and friends can be a lot of fun, but maybe you’ve taken some pictures that you want to share beyond your social circle. There are plenty of websites that will host your photos for you; it just depends on what specific features you’re hoping to get out of those sites. Here are the five best sites to share your pictures online.

6. Flickr: Best of the photo sharing sites

Flickr is probably one of the most popular sites for hosting pictures on the internet. In addition to hosting, Flickr offers a suite of editing and organizing tools, as well as a handful of social networking features.  You can like or comment on pictures or have other people do the same for your pics. And because of its popularity, a lot of other apps integrate with Flickr, automatically uploading or syncing your pictures.

Check out Flickr

7. SmugMug: Quality photo sharing website 

SmugMug has some great features and sleek layout templates to help you showcase and share your pictures. You can also organize your library into albums, so it’s a little easier to navigate through all of your pictures. And you can always update your theme to change the layout of how your images are being displayed. 

While it’s a little light on social networking tools, you can connect your other accounts on platforms like Facebook and Twitter to share with your friends.

Check out SmugMug

8. Photobucket: Host your pictures for backup or to share publicly

Something that sets Photobucket apart from the other sites on this list is how well it lets you walk the line of sharing pictures online and backing up your library. With organizational features like captions and titles for your pictures, Photobucket will also let you sort them into public and private albums so that only your public photos appear when other people search for them. 

One of the downsides to Photobucket is that not all of their tools are available, depending on which subscription tier you choose. So, before you sign up and start uploading your entire photo library to Photobucket, make sure you’ll be able to use the features you want or need the most.

Check out Photobucket

9. 500px: Showcase and license your pictures

While anyone can upload their pictures to 500px, where the site really excels is with professional and aspiring photographers. 500px focuses on displaying and showcasing your work, as well as networking with other photographers. In fact, they claim that their search algorithm works to highlight the work of new members so that more experienced users can offer feedback and help. 

Membership is free, but you can only upload 20 photos per week. You can upgrade to a Pro membership for only $25 per year, which will unlock more features and give you access to unlimited uploads.

Check out 500px

10. PhotoBlog: Blog and share your photos online

If you’re looking for more of a blogging platform to share your photos on, you should turn to the aptly named PhotoBlog. With an emphasis on layouts and designs, PhotoBlog gives you greater control of how your photos are displayed. You can organize your pictures into galleries and not only give them titles and captions but also write entire blog posts to go along with your images. And like some of the other websites on the list, PhotoBlog will act as a social network, letting you like and comment on other photographers’ pictures while letting them do the same on your photos.

Check out PhotoBlog

The best free photo sharing sites

When it comes to sharing your pictures online, maybe you’re just looking for something easy-to-use for one photo or just a handful of images. And, more importantly, you may just want something that will host your pictures for free. The following are the top five free places to upload your photos.

11. Imgur: Easiest way to share images online

If you don’t want to worry about storage limits, then Imgur might be the site for you. It’s mostly used to host images for websites like Reddit or other social media sites, so you probably don’t want to store family pictures or vacation photos here. 

But, that being said, you can upload as many images as you want without even creating an account, but if you do create a free account, you gain access to features like albums and captions to help organize your pictures.

Check out Imgur

12. Behance: Share and find inspiration on this photo website

More of a social network for all creative professionals, Adobe’s Behance is perfect for photographers uploading their pictures. It’s free to use, and there’s no limit to how many projects you can have on there or how many images you upload. It’s not meant for uploading your entire photo library, however, but individual projects or collections of photos. And if you’re already using any apps from the Adobe suite, then uploading to Behance from those apps will be a breeze.

Check out Behance

13. ImageShack: A well-designed and free photo sharing site

Even though ImageShack doesn’t give you unlimited storage for your pictures, it does give you 10 GB per month for free. If you’re only occasionally uploading a group of pictures, then spacing your 10 GB out shouldn’t be too difficult. You can tag pictures, organize your photos into albums, and share them with friends.

Check out ImageShack

14. PostImage: Upload your photos online

Uploading your pictures is fast and super easy using PostImage. You can upload and resize your photos without even creating an account. If you do create an account, you’ll have access to more features, such as organizing your photos into galleries and generating links to make sharing even easier. The only caveat to using PostImage is that your pictures have to be under 8 MB each to upload them.

Check out PostImage

15. imgbox: Quick photo sharing site

Another fast, simple-to-use, and completely free photo site is imgbox. Like PostImage, you don’t need an account to get started, but if you do create one, you’ll gain access to more tools. You’ll be able to upload pictures, create galleries, and save your upload settings as presets for next time. 

With imgbox, you get unlimited storage for JPG, GIF, and PNG files. The only limitation is that each file must be under 10 MB when you upload it.

Check out imgbox

The best photo sharing apps for iPhone

You’re probably taking most of your pictures with your iPhone. With every iPhone model, the camera keeps getting better, and it’s always with you in your pocket. It makes sense that you’d want to find an app that makes sharing the photos on your iPhone easier. 

Many of the sites listed in this article offer an iOS app with most of the same sharing features. But maybe you’ve tried those apps and just don’t like the way they work on your iPhone. If that’s the case, here are five top-notch iPhone apps to make sharing your photos easier.

16. PhotoCircle: Share your photos with a private group 

The best way to think about PhotoCircle is as a massive shared photo album. So every time you create a new album, it’s private, and only you can see the pictures you add until you invite other people to be a part of that album. And once other people join your album, you can give them permission to add their own pictures. The best part is that there’s no limit to how many people you can invite or how many photos you can upload. 

PhotoCircle on the App Store

17. VSCO: Edit pictures and share them online

While VSCO is an app that’s primarily thought of for its powerful photo editing features, it also has robust sharing features. After you import your pictures, you can publish and organize them into collections or share them outside of the VSCO network. VSCO is free to download and use, but you can unlock more features if you upgrade with a paid subscription of $20 per year.

VSCO on the App Store

18. Ever: An app to back up and share pictures

Ever does much more than share your photos with your friends and family; it will actually back up your entire photo library for free with unlimited storage. 

The downside with the free tier is that it compresses your pictures, but if you want to save your images at full resolution, you can upgrade to the Ever Plus subscription. You can put your pictures into shared albums to send to your close family and friends, or you can connect your other social media accounts to share directly to those platforms.

Ever on the App Store

19. Cluster: Private app for sharing photos

With Cluster, you can privately share all of your photos with friends and family. Where Cluster differs from some of the other apps on this list is that instead of creating a shared album to share with friends, you actually create private groups for everyone to continuously share pics and videos with each other. Within each group, you can even organize your photos into different albums and collections.

Cluster on the App Store

20. FamilyAlbum: Best app to share photos with family

As you’d probably guess from the app’s name, FamilyAlbum is meant for sharing pictures among family members. It’s designed mostly for parents who want to keep their family members updated with pictures of their kids without annoying all of their other friends on social media. And since you’re already uploading pics of your family, FamilyAlbum also offers excellent tools to design and print a physical photo book.

FamilyAlbum on the App Store

There are a ton of ways to share your pictures, whether you’re looking for a quick way to securely transfer photos, showcase your best photography skills, or share photos from your iPhone. Hopefully, this article has helped you figure out the best way for you to share all of your photos online.

The post The 20 best photo sharing sites and apps in 2020 appeared first on Backlight.

Keep reading to learn how you can share your pics with iCloud Photos and to see everything else you can do with this feature.

How to share photos on iCloud with friends and family

Starting with the release of iOS 12, Apple rebranded this feature as simply Shared Albums. So depending on what iOS you’re using, you may see Shared Albums or iCloud Photo Sharing. But that aside, sharing photos couldn’t be any easier. The only thing you need to do is make sure everyone you want to share with has this feature enabled on their devices.

How to set up iCloud Photo Sharing

Follow these simple steps to start sharing with iCloud Photos:

1. On your iPhone, open the Settings app.
2. Tap Photos.
3. Turn on Shared Albums. Note: In iOS 11 or older, turn on iCloud Photo Sharing.

How to share an existing photo album on iPhone 

If you’ve already created a photo album but now want to share it, you’ll have to copy the photos to a new Shared Album. This might sound a little tedious at first, but I promise, it’s pretty easy. Just follow these steps to share your existing photo albums:

1. Open the Photos app.
2. Tap the album you want to share.
3. Tap Select > Select All.
4. Hit the Share icon in the bottom left.
5. In the popup menu, tap Add to Shared Album.
6. Tap Shared Album > New Shared Album. Note: You can also add pictures to an existing Shared Album instead of creating a new album.
7. Title your Shared Album and tap Next.
8. Add people you want to share the album with.

How to create a shared album on iPhone

To create a new Shared Album directly on your iPhone, just follow these steps:

1. Open the Photos app.
2. Tap Albums > + > New Shared Album.
3. Give your new album a name and hit Next.
4. Add the friends and family members you want to share the album with, then tap Create.

How to accept a shared album invite

If someone else wants to share an album with you, you’ll have to accept the invitation before you start seeing their pictures and videos. To accept an invite:

1. Go to your Photos app.
2. Tap the For You tab. The invite should appear at the top of the list. 
3. Tap Accept.

How to access a shared album on iPhone

Like iCloud Photos, Shared Albums are integrated directly into the Photos app on your iPhone. To access Shared Albums, you just need to:

1. Open the Photos app.
2. Tap the Albums tab.
3. Scroll to the Shared Albums section.

Why can’t I share an album? 

If you’re running into a problem while sharing an album with iCloud, here are a couple of other common issues and what you can do to fix them.

• It’s a private album. You may have inadvertently created a private album instead of a shared one. You can follow the instructions from earlier to share the album with friends.
• Shared Albums aren’t enabled. Follow the instructions above to make sure Shared Albums are turned on.
• Check your Wi-Fi network. If your iPhone doesn’t have a great Wi-Fi connection, it won’t be able to upload or share pictures with iCloud. Try changing networks or switching to cellular data.
• Make sure iCloud Photos is working. You can check Apple’s System Status page to see if iCloud is up.

Why can’t I see the photos in a shared album? 

If you’re having trouble viewing pictures in a Shared Album, here are some things that could be causing that issue.

• Your iPhone doesn’t meet system requirements. Shared Albums require at least iOS 7 or higher.
• Cellular data is blocked for Photos. Allow Photos to use cellular data by going to Settings > Cellular and turning on Photos.
• iCloud Photos is down. Use Apple’s System Status page to make sure iCloud Photos is up.
• The Wi-Fi connection is poor. Try connecting your iPhone to a different Wi-Fi network or using your cellular data.

How to share photos between your devices with My Photo Stream

If you’re looking to share your photo library between all of your own personal devices, rather than sharing with friends and family, then you might want to consider My Photo Stream. It automatically and wirelessly syncs your recent pictures across all of your devices.

What is My Photo Stream, and how does it work?

The great thing about My Photo Stream is that it doesn’t use any of your iCloud storage, so you don’t have to worry about space when you’re using it. The downside is that it only syncs your last 1,000 pictures for up to 30 days. So while your recent pictures will automatically show up on all your devices, if you want to save them on a particular device, you’ll have to manually save the photos.

How to share photos using My Photo Stream

The first step to sharing photos across your devices is to make sure you have My Photo Stream enabled on all of them. To turn My Photo Stream on:

1. Open the Settings app.
2. Tap Photos.
3. Turn on Upload to My Photo Stream.

My Photo Stream will then appear in your Photos app as its own album. When you want to save a picture, simply find it in the My Photo Stream album and tap the Share icon > Save Image.

Sharing photos with friends and family or even across your own devices is super simple thanks to all the great features of iCloud Photos and My Photo Stream. And when you’re using those features on your iPhone, they’re all conveniently integrated into the Photos app. Now you can share your pictures privately without worrying about them being all over your social media accounts for everyone to see.

The post iCloud Photo Sharing: How to share iPhone photos on iCloud appeared first on Backlight.

If you’ve ever tried to take a video selfie, you know it’s hard to make it feel as natural as your selfie pics. But now, thanks to Slofies, you can easily add some subtle motion. Read on for everything you need to know about Slofies. 

What are Slofies on iPhone? 

As mentioned earlier, Slofies are simply slow-motion selfie videos. But if you’re looking for “Slofie” on your iPhone, no one could fault you for overlooking it. In fact, in the Camera app, it’s just called “Slow-Mo.” 

iPhones that have the Slofie feature

Slofies were first introduced by Apple with the iPhone 11 lineup. Currently, the only phones that can create Slofies are:

• iPhone 11
• iPhone 11 Pro
• iPhone 11 Pro Max

How to take a Slo-Mo selfie

Taking a Slo-Mo selfie is just as easy as taking a regular selfie. Just follow these steps to get started:

1. Open the Camera app.
2. Tap the Switch Camera icon in the bottom right.
3. Slide to change the mode to Slo-Mo.

How to take better slow-motion selfies 

The biggest temptation with Slofies is for everyone to create the exact same video. You know the video — the one where you shake your hair and watch your gorgeous locks flowing in Slo-Mo. Here are some things you can do to make your Slofies stand out.

Tip 1: Add more motion

The reality is that these are just slow-motion videos using your front-facing camera. And if you’ve shot Slo-Mo videos using your rear camera, you know that the more movement or motion you capture, the better. The same goes for the Slofie. 

Try recording while jumping on a trampoline, or move the camera from side-to-side as you record. If you’re really adventurous, you could try taking a Slofie while snowboarding or riding a bike (obviously, you should exercise extreme caution if you try this).

Tip 2: Get friends (or pets!) involved

We know they’re slow-motion selfies, but who are we kidding? We take group-selfies all the time, so why not include a friend or a pet in the Slo-Mo fun? Have your dog jump in and out of frame when you record, or have a friend do a crazy dance in the background. After all, everything is funnier in slow motion.

Tip 3: Have enough light

Just like regular slow-motion videos, Slofies are filmed at a higher frame-per-second rate, which means they require more light than a regular video. So before you film a Slofie, just make sure you have a ton of light so your video doesn’t come out dark and grainy.

How to edit a Slofie on iPhone 

Because Slofies are treated just like any other video, it means you can edit them directly on your iPhone. And thankfully, you can do a lot of editing using the native iOS Photos app.

How to trim a slow-motion selfie

As with standard slow-motion videos on your iPhone, the beginning and end of a Slofie will be at normal speed. But you can edit those portions out by trimming your slow-motion selfie if you follow these steps:

1. Open the Photos app.
2. Tap your Slofie, then Edit.
3. Drag the arrows on either side of your video to the point(s) where you want the video to start or stop.
4. Finally, tap Done.

How to adjust the speed of your Slofie

By following these steps, you can also change the speed of your Slofie to make the playback faster or slower.

1. In the Photos app, tap your Slofie.
2. Tap Edit.
3. There’s a speed timeline toward the bottom. Adjust the sliders to speed up or slow down your video.

How to crop and straighten a Slofie

If you recorded your Slofie at a weird angle, don’t worry. You can straighten it by rotating your video:

1. Find your Slofie in the Photos app.
2. Then tap Edit. Then select the Crop icon at the bottom.
3. Adjust the slider to change the angle of the video.
4. Tap Done.

You can also crop your video to remove something out of the frame:

1. Open your Slofie in the Photos app.
2. Tap Edit. Then select the Crop icon.
3. Drag the corners to adjust the box around your video.
4. Finally, tap Done.

How to apply a filter to a Slo-Mo selfie

Just like your regular videos, you can apply the available preset filters from the Photos app to Slo-Mo selfies. Once you have the video open in your Photos app, here’s how you can apply the filter:

1. Tap Edit. Then select the Filters button at the bottom.
2. Select the filter you want to use.
3. Adjust the slider below to change the intensity of the filter.
4. Tap Done.

How to adjust brightness, contrast, and more

You can also adjust things like brightness and contrast like you can with your other videos. To edit the brightness on your Slofies:

1. Tap on the Slofie in the Photos app.
2. Tap Edit. Then select the Adjust button at the bottom.
3. Tab through the various adjustments (highlights, contrast, saturation, etc.).
4. Adjust the slider for each button until you get a look you’re happy with.
5. Tap Done.

At first glance, it’s easy to write off Slofies as a silly and gimmicky new feature. But when done right, they can be really interesting and a lot of fun. Hopefully, you found this article helpful and it inspired you to create your own Slofies. We can’t wait to see what you come up with!

The post How to take a fun slow-motion selfie, aka Slofie, on iPhone appeared first on Backlight.

Thankfully, Apple has a cloud-based photo service, My Photo Stream, that’s designed to help keep your most recent photos in sync across all of your devices. Keep reading for a deep dive into My Photo Stream and see what separates it from Apple’s more robust photo service, iCloud Photos.

Understanding My Photo Stream

If you have My Photo Stream turned on, it gets rid of all of the headaches and hassles that come with transferring your pictures back and forth across your devices. Still, it’s not without flaws and may not be suited for all of your needs. Let’s take a closer look at how My Photo Stream works and what it works for. 

What is Photo Stream on iPhone?

My Photo Stream looks like any other photo album in the Photos app. It allows you to view all of your most recent pictures and videos, no matter what device you took them with. For example, if you take a picture using your iPhone, My Photo Stream will automatically sync it across all your Apple devices so that the next time you pick up your iPad, you’ll see that picture in your Photo Stream.

There are some limitations to My Photo Stream. It only saves your last 1,000 pictures for 30 days. So, while My Photo Stream doesn’t save your photo library in its entirety, it does guarantee that regardless of which device you’re using, you’ll always have your most recent pictures saved.

How My Photo Stream can help you

One of the most significant ways My Photo Stream can help is with improving your photo editing workflow. Shortly after you take a picture on your iPhone, you’ll see it in your Photo Stream on your computer without ever physically connecting the two. From there, you can make any edits or just organize it in the library on your computer. 

This is obviously a much simpler way to sync pictures between devices, but it’s also a huge time-saver — provided you’re on a reliable Wi-Fi network.

What’s the difference between iCloud Photos and My Photo Stream?

If you’re familiar with using iCloud Photos and think that My Photo Stream sounds very similar, you’re not wrong. The best way to differentiate the two is to think of Photo Stream as a way of syncing your latest pictures between all of your devices, while iCloud Photos is more about syncing and backing up your entire photo library.  

Because iCloud Photos syncs everything in your library, it doesn’t have the same limitations as Photo Stream. It can sync pictures older than 30 days and supports Live Photos and videos. But you only get 5 GB of storage space for free. If you need more space, you can pay for an upgrade.

My Photo Stream is free and doesn’t have any storage space limitations. So while it doesn’t support Live Photos or videos, it also doesn’t cost you anything to wireless sync your newest pictures between your devices.

Does My Photo Stream use iCloud storage?

My Photo Stream doesn’t utilize any of your iCloud storage, but it does use space locally on each device. That means the same picture is using space on your iPhone, iPad, computer, and wherever else you have My Photo Stream turned on.

Using iPhone’s Photo Stream

The best thing about Photo Stream is that all you have to do is turn it on on all of your devices, and that’s it. My Photo Stream automatically uploads your pictures as you take them or as soon as you have an active internet connection, so you don’t have to give it a second thought.

Before you upload your photos

The number of photos you see in My Photo Stream is limited, so you don’t want to waste that on 15 photos of the exact same thing every time or the screenshots you took and forgot to delete. So before you sync 1,000 of your most recent photos to My Photo Stream, do a quick cleanup with Gemini Photos. 

Here’s how to declutter your iPhone photos before uploading them:

1. Download Gemini Photos on your iPhone.
2. Launch it and grant it access to your photo library.
3. Tap similar > current month.
4. Go through groups of similar photos, mark the ones you don’t want, and tap Move to Trash.
5. Then tap Your Library and go to Screenshots, Notes or Blurred.
6. All the screenshots, photos of text, and blurry photos will be pre-selected. Review them and tap Delete All.

You can also go through your videos in the Videos module and delete the ones you don’t want, as well as head to Other and swipe through all of your photos to get rid of those you don’t like.

How to access My Photo Stream

On your iPhone, you’ll be able to access My Photo Stream directly in the Photos app. 

1. Open the Photos app.
2. Tap Albums.
3. Tap My Photo Stream.

If you don’t see an album called My Photo Stream, make sure you don’t have iCloud Photos and My Photo Stream both turned on. If you have both enabled, your pictures will appear in the Recents album instead.

How to turn on and turn off My Photo Stream

Fortunately, the process is the same for iPhone and iPad. Just follow these steps to turn My Photo Stream on or off on an iOS device.

1. On your device, open Settings.
2. Tap on your Apple ID account.
3. Tap iCloud > Photos.
4.  Switch Upload to My Photo Stream on or off.

If you want to turn My Photo Stream on and off on your Mac:

1. Open the Photos app.
2. Click Photos > Preferences > iCloud.
3. Check the box next to My Photo Stream.

And finally, if you want to turn My Photo Stream on or off with your Windows PC:

1. Open the iCloud for Windows app.
2. Sign in to your iCloud account if you’re not already signed in.
3. Next to Photos, click Options.
4. Select the checkbox next to My Photo Stream.
5. Click Done. 

Troubleshooting My Photo Stream

If you don’t see your most recent pics from your other devices when you open your Photo Stream, there could be a couple of different issues at play. Below are some common problems and what you can do to fix them.

If you’re looking for a specific picture, remember that My Photo Stream only keeps your last 1,000 pictures for 30 days. 

How do I get My Photo Stream to update?

Here are some of the more common issues and fixes you can try to get your Photo Stream updated:

• Use the same Apple ID. My Photo Stream only syncs with the Apple ID it’s connected to; ensure that you’re logged into the same Apple ID on all of your devices.
• Turn on My Photo Stream on all devices. Even though your iPhone might have My Photo Stream enabled, your other devices might not.
• Connect your iPhone to Wi-Fi. Keep your iPhone connected to a Wi-Fi network. My Photo Stream won’t update using cellular data.
• Plug your iPhone into power. My Photo Stream can’t sync if the device’s battery is below 20%.

Why did My Photo Stream disappear?

If you’ve been using My Photo Stream but suddenly notice that the album has disappeared, here are a couple of possible reasons:

• You turned on iCloud Photos. If you have both My Photo Stream and iCloud Photos turned on at the same time, then all of your pics will appear in the Recents album.
• You signed in with a different Apple ID. As mentioned earlier, if you change the Apple ID you’re using, then your Photo Stream will disappear.
• You accidentally turned off My Photo Stream. You can turn My Photo Stream back on by going to Settings > [your name] > iCloud > Photos and tap the Upload to My Photo Stream switch.

My Photo Stream is a great feature that allows you to keep all of your most recent pictures in sync across all of your devices. It saves you time transferring pictures back and forth, especially if you like to use your iPhone camera to take pics and then edit them on your computer. And hopefully, you’ll be able to use My Photo Stream to make your process easier and faster.

The post How to access your recent photos anywhere with My Photo Stream appeared first on Backlight.

So, how much better is the iPhone XR camera? Is it any better at all? Keep reading to find the answer to those questions, to learn the specific differences between the two phones, and to discover which one takes better pictures.

iPhone X vs. iPhone XR: The differences that matter

In terms of photography, the camera itself is certainly important, but there are other specs you’ll want to consider as well. For instance, how many videos and pictures will your phone be able to store? How long will the battery last while you’re taking pictures? Here are a couple of areas where iPhone X and XR differ:

• iPhone X has a telephoto camera.
• iPhone X has a smaller but higher-quality display.
• iPhone X has a larger storage capacity.
• iPhone XR’s battery lasts longer.

The camera in both iPhones

The most noticeable difference between the cameras on both models is the extra lens on iPhone X. It has both a wide-angle and a telephoto lens on the rear camera, whereas iPhone XR only has a single wide-angle lens. Here are some more technical specifications:

• Both have a 12-megapixel camera.
• Both wide-angle lenses have a ƒ/1.8 aperture.
• iPhone X’s telephoto lens has a ƒ/2.4 aperture.

Although iPhone XR doesn’t have the second lens, it includes plenty of software upgrades to make up for it, so you won’t miss out on many features. Some differences in settings between iPhone X and XR include:

• Digital Zoom: iPhone X has a 10x zoom, whereas iPhone XR only has 5x.
• Portrait Lighting: iPhone X has two more effects than iPhone XR.
• HDR: iPhone X has an AutoHDR while iPhone XR has the newer SmartHDR.
• Depth Control: This iPhone XR feature gives you even more control over the blur in Portrait Mode. 

iPhone X vs. iPhone XR: The display

Something that’s nearly as important as the camera is the screen you’re viewing and taking your pictures on. You want to ensure that the display can live up to the camera. And, believe it or not, the screen is probably where these two models differ the most.

The following are some more detailed specs to help break down those differences.

iPhone X display specifications

• 5.8 inches
• Super HD Retina OLED display
• 2436-by-1125-pixel resolution at 458 PPI

iPhone XR display specifications

• 6.1 inches
• Liquid Retina LCD display
• 1792-by-828-pixel resolution at 326 PPI

So, while iPhone XR has a larger screen, iPhone X has a sharper and more vibrant display overall.

Storage options for both iPhones

When considering your options for a new phone to take pictures with, you’ll want to make sure that your new device has plenty of storage space. Keep in mind that the storage capacity is also going to dictate the price of your phone, so you might want to consider a phone with less storage to help keep your cost down.

iPhone X comes in:

• 64 GB
• 256 GB

iPhone XR comes in:

• 64 GB
• 128 GB

It’s also important to note that Apple did offer a 256 GB iPhone XR in the past, so if you’re buying secondhand, it should be possible to find one for sale.

iPhone XR vs. iPhone X: Our choice for photo and video 

When it comes to these two phones, iPhone X is the best choice for mobile photography. Not only does it have a better camera with two lenses, but it also edges out iPhone XR in every other way. Plus, that screen is stunning. Seeing your photos on such a crisp and vibrant display will make you appreciate the camera even more.

iPhone X and iPhone XR are both great devices and have truly impressive cameras in their own right. Hopefully, this article has helped you see the bigger picture and think about the factors that go into your mobile photography. 

The post iPhone X vs. XR: Which is better for photography? appeared first on Backlight.

How to screen-record on iPhone

Similar to taking a screenshot of your iPhone, you can actually record a video of everything happening on your screen. Before you start recording your screen, you’ll need to add Screen Recording to your Control Center. To do that:

1. Go to Settings > Control Center > Customize Controls.
2. Tap the green plus icon next to Screen Recording.

How to start recording your screen

After you’ve added the Screen Recording button Control Center, you can record from any screen. To start recording your screen:

1. Open Control Center by swiping down from the upper-right corner. 

Note: If you’re on an iPhone 8 or older, swipe up from the bottom edge of the screen.

2. Tap the Record icon, then wait for the countdown to finish.

How to turn off the iOS screen recorder

When you want to finish recording your screen, there are two ways to stop it. You can stop recording by:

1. Opening Control Center by swiping down from the upper-right corner
2. Tapping the Record icon so that it turns gray again

Or you can:

1. From the home screen, tap the red bar at the top-left corner of your screen
2. Confirm finishing the screen record

How to record your screen with sound

If you’ve followed the instructions above, the first thing you’ll probably notice about your screen recording is that it doesn’t have any sound. Fortunately, you can turn the microphone on so you can record your screen with audio. Assuming you’ve already added the Screen Recording button to Control Center, you can record with sound by following these steps:

1. Open Control Center by swiping down from the top-right corner of the screen.
2. Press and hold the Record icon.
3. Tap Microphone to switch the microphone on.
4. Tap Start Recording, then wait for the countdown.
5. To Stop Recording, open Control Center and tap the Record icon.

How long can you screen-record on iPhone?

There is no known time limit for screen recording. It appears that you’re able to record your screen until you use all of your storage. That said, some people online have reported issues with their screen recordings just randomly stopping while taking longer videos.

Editing a video screen capture on iPhone

After you stop capturing your screen, you’ll notice that your recordings are stored in the Photos app. This means you can use all of the built-in iOS video editing features to help make your screen-records that much better.

How to trim your screen recording

There’s a good chance that your recordings will have some extra content at either the beginning or the end of the video. You probably don’t want to include that shot of Control Center going away or the part where you’re trying to turn off the screen recording. Thankfully, you can trim those parts out directly in the Photos app.

1. Open Photos.
2. Tap the recording.
3. Tap Edit.
4. At the bottom of the screen, drag the arrows to trim the beginning or end.
5. Tap Done.

How to crop a video screen capture on iPhone

If you’re watching your screen record and want to focus on only a certain section of the screen, you can crop your videos just like cropping your pictures. To crop your screen capture videos:

1. Open Photos.
2. Tap the recording.
3. Next, tap Edit.
4. Tap the Crop icon at the bottom.
5. Resize the box around your video.
6. Finally, tap Done.

How to add arrows and captions to an iPhone screen recording

Maybe you’re hoping to add a little more to your recordings like captions or stickers. For that, you’ll need to use a third-party app like Screen Recorder+. Once you download it from the App Store, follow the steps below to get started:

1. Open Screen Recorder+.
2. Tap Start Recording > Start Broadcast.
3. When you’re done recording your screen, tap the Recording button > Stop Broadcast.
4. Next, tap your recording.
5. Then tap Edit.
6. Tap to add text or stickers. 
7. Finally, tap Done.

Troubleshooting screen capture on iPhone

Even though Apple has done a great job at making screen recordings simple, that doesn’t mean you won’t have an issue from time to time. Below are some of the common problems people run into when trying to record their iPhone screens and what will fix them quickly.

Why is my screen recording not working? 

Here are a couple of common issues you might experience when recording your iPhone screen and what you can do to fix it.

• Running low on storage. If your iPhone is running out of storage space, you won’t be able to save a recording when you finish. 
• An app might not allow it. Because some apps have copyrighted material like music or videos, apps may prevent you from capturing the screen.
• iPhone software is freezing. Whether the screen-record itself is freezing or another app is causing it to freeze, restarting your iPhone can help resolve any weird bugs.

Why can’t I screen-record with sound? 

If you’re watching a screen recording but can’t hear any of the sound you recorded with it, here are some things you can try to fix it:

• Turn your mic on. Sometimes the mic is turned off by default for screen recordings. Follow the instructions above to ensure that it’s turned on.
• Restart your iPhone. It’s possible that another app running in the background is trying to use your iPhone’s mic at the same time. Restarting your iPhone gives it a chance to turn off all other processes.
• Reset iPhone settings. There may be an issue with your iPhone’s mic settings. You can reset all your settings by going to Settings > General > Reset and tapping Reset All Settings.

Sometimes it’s easier to explain things with a video. So whether you’re trying to create an app demo or an iPhone tutorial, it’s never been easier to record your iPhone’s screen. And thanks to iPhone’s built-in iOS features, you can edit your videos directly in the Photos app.

The post How to record your iPhone’s screen for video tutorials appeared first on Backlight.

Thankfully, iPhone is just as friendly with Windows computers as it is with Macs. Read on to see how you can transfer your pictures via your USB cable or by using a cloud service like iCloud.

Before you transfer photos from your iPhone

If you have a massive photo library, it can take a lot of time to transfer it in full, or to find those several photos you actually wanted to move. So before you start, clean up your photo library with Gemini Photos. This app will find similar shots, duplicates, blurry photos, and other clutter, so you can trim a few gigabytes off your photo collection before transferring it.

To clear all the unneeded photos, download Gemini Photos and follow these steps:

1. Launch Gemini Photos and grant it access to your photos.
2. As the app finds the first few photos, tap Similar.
3. Tap on a month and review group of photos, selecting those you want to delete.
4. Tap Move to Trash.
5. When you’re done, tap Empty Trash.
6. Now tap Your Library at the top to go through other categories like Duplicates, Screenshots, Notes, Videos, and Blurred.

How to transfer photos from an iPhone to a computer with iTunes

Even though you won’t be opening iTunes to transfer pictures from your iPhone to your computer, you’ll still need to have it installed in order for your iPhone to be properly recognized when you plug it in.

If your computer already has iTunes installed, you can follow the steps below. Otherwise, you’ll need to download iTunes and install it beforehand.

1. Connect your iPhone to your PC.
2. Unlock your iPhone and tap Trust This Computer.
3. In Windows 7, go to My Computer, or in Windows 10, go to This PC.
4. Your iPhone should appear under either Portable Device or Devices.
5. Click iPhone > DCIM.
6. Select the pictures and videos you want, then drag and drop them into the folder where you want to save them.

While you certainly can use this method to transfer your entire photo library from your iPhone, you might find it more convenient if you only want to transfer select pictures or videos.

How to copy photos from an iPhone to a PC without iTunes

Fortunately, iTunes isn’t the only way to transfer your iPhone pictures to your computer. If your computer has Windows 10 installed, you can use the Windows Photos app that comes with the operating system. Or you can wirelessly transfer all of your pictures and videos using your iCloud account.

How to import photos from an iPhone to a PC with Windows Photos

Similar to transferring pictures with File Explorer, Windows Photos requires you to connect your iPhone to your PC physically. But Windows Photos makes it a little easier to move new pics and videos, and it will help manage your entire photo library on your computer.

To get started, plug your iPhone into your computer with your USB cable and follow the steps below:

1. On your PC, open Windows Photos.
2. In the top-right corner, click Import > From a USB device.
3. Your photos should be ready to be imported.
4. Select or deselect photos, depending on what you want to import.
5. Click Continue.

And that’s it! Just let the transfer finish and don’t unplug your iPhone until it has completed. 

How to sync iPhone photos to a PC using iCloud

If you have an iCloud account, you can sync all of the pictures you take with your iPhone to your computer without ever having to plug it in. First, you need to make sure iCloud Photo is enabled on your iPhone.

1. Go to Settings.
2. Tap on your name > iCloud > Photos.
3. Switch on iCloud Photos.

Now you need to get iCloud set up on your PC.

1. Download and install iCloud for Windows.
2. Restart your PC.
3. Open iCloud for Windows.
4. Sign in to iCloud with your Apple ID.
5. Check the box next to Photos.
6. Click Apply.

Depending on how large your photo library is, this process can take some time. The good news is that the first time will be the longest because it’s syncing your entire library. As long as you keep these settings turned on, your PC will automatically update your library as you take new pictures with your iPhone.

Transferring pictures from your iPhone to your computer couldn’t be easier — even if you’re using a Windows computer. And like most things iPhone-related, there are several ways you can go about it. Hopefully, you found the method above helpful and you’re now keeping your photo library on both your computer and your iPhone entirely in sync.

The post How to transfer photos from your iPhone to your Windows PC appeared first on Backlight.

If you’re starting to run out of space on iCloud, the obvious answer may seem like paying to upgrade your account. Keep reading to see what other steps you can take first to free up space and to learn about what else is stored in your iCloud — and what might be taking up a lot of storage without you realizing it.

Why is my iCloud storage full?

If you’re not familiar with iCloud, you might not realize what’s taking up all your storage space. Because iCloud is used for iPhone or iPad backups, as well as to store your entire photo library, the 5GB you get with a free iCloud account may not be enough. 

Some of the data that you can sync to iCloud includes:

• Photos
• Videos
• iPhone/iPad Backups
• Contacts
• Calendars
• Files
• Photos
• Notes
• Safari data (bookmarks, reading lists, and passwords)

How to see what’s in your iCloud storage

Thankfully, it’s easy to manage your iCloud storage directly on your iPhone (no computer required). To check what’s taking up so much space on your iCloud account:

1. On your iPhone, open Settings.
2. Tap [your name] > iCloud > Manage Storage.

At the top of the screen, you’ll see what’s taking up space on your iCloud account based on categories. And then, further down on this screen, you’ll see how much storage space each app specifically is using.

How to clear iCloud storage

Just because you’re starting to run out of space on iCloud doesn’t mean your only option is to pay to upgrade your account. There are actually quite a few steps you can take to clean and free up some of your iCloud storage.

• Clean up your photo library.
• Delete old backups.
• Remove old files.
• Clean up text messages.
• Delete unused app data.
• Empty your trash.

Step 1. Clean up your photo library

When you have iCloud Photos turned on, every picture and video you take automatically gets synced. But the same is true for all those other photos you took where the angle was bad or it came out blurry. And actually, the same is true for every screenshot you’ve taken; it all gets automatically synced to iCloud.

Fortunately, you can use our very own app, Gemini Photos, to scan your photo library and quickly remove the pictures you don’t want anymore. Before you start cleaning up your library, it’s important to double-check that iCloud Photos is turned on on your phone by going to Settings > [your name] > iCloud > Photos. Then start cleaning up your photo library using Gemini Photos.

1. Download Gemini Photos from the App Store.
2. Open the app and let it scan your library.
3. Tap Similar.
4. Your similar photos will be grouped together by month. Tap on a month, then tap on a group of pictures to start with.
5. Select which ones to get rid of.
6. Tap Move to Trash.
7. Once you’ve gone through the similar pictures, tap Similar > Your Library.
8. Now you can clean up other categories like Duplicates, Screenshots, Blurry, and more.

Why is my iCloud storage full after deleting photos?

As a safety feature, iCloud will hold onto your photos for 30 days in case you delete a picture by accident. So after you’ve used Gemini Photos to clean up, you’ll need to also remove them from your Recently Deleted section in Photos.

1. On your iPhone, open Photos.
2. Tap Albums > Recently Deleted.
3. Tap Select > Delete All.
4. Confirm Delete All.

Step 2. Delete outdated backups  

If you have both an iPhone and iPad using the same iCloud account or you regularly upgrade your device each year, then you probably have multiple backup files taking up space on iCloud. You can check what backups you have saved on your iCloud account directly from your phone.

1. Open the Settings app.
2. Tap [your name] > iCloud > Manage Storage >Backups.
3.  Tap on the old device backup > Delete Backup.
4. Confirm Delete Backup.

Step 3. Remove old files

One of the great features of iCloud is iCloud Drive. Not only does it keep all of your content in sync across your devices, but it also acts as a cloud service like Google Drive or Dropbox. But again, the biggest you’re likely to run into is the 5 GB of free storage. 

You can view what’s taking up space in your iCloud Drive using the Files app.

1. Open the Files app on your iPhone.
2. Tap Browse > iCloud Drive.
3. Tap Select and choose the files you want to delete.
4. Tap the trash can icon at the bottom. 

Step 4. Clean up text messages 

If you send a lot of texts in Messages — or, more specifically, if you send a lot of pictures and GIFs — then you could be using up a lot of storage on iCloud without even realizing it. Here’s a quick way to see how much space your individual conversations are taking up:

1. Open Settings.
2. Tap [your name] > iCloud > Manage Storage > Messages > Top Conversations.
3. You can delete entire conversations by tapping Edit.
4. Select all of the conversations you want to delete, then tap the trash can icon.

Step 5. Delete unused app data

Other third-party apps that you download from the App Store can also use iCloud to help sync your data across all of your devices. So, if you have an app you don’t use much anymore, you might want to remove that from your iCloud account to save space.

1. Open the Settings app.
2. Tap [your name] > iCloud > Manage Storage.
3. Scroll down and tap on the app.
4. Tap Delete Data. 

Step 6. Take out the trash  

When you’re cleaning up, you usually spend so much time sifting through your data that it’s easy to forget that, in most cases, you still have to empty the trash in various apps. But, like pictures in the Photos app, if it’s sitting in the trash and was on your iCloud account, then it’s still eating up storage on iCloud for the time being. Here are a couple of other places you can go back and check.

The Files app on your iPhone:

1. Open the app.
2. Tap Browse > Recently Deleted > Select > Delete All.

If you’re using an @icloud.com account in the Mail app on your iPhone:

1. Open the app.
2. Tap Trash.
3. Tap Edit and then Delete All.

Getting more iCloud storage

If you’ve gotten rid of everything you can from your iCloud account but it’s still not enough, don’t worry. As you read earlier, you can easily upgrade your storage as long as you don’t mind paying a bit for it.

How to buy more iCloud storage

You can buy more iCloud storage directly on your iPhone using your Apple ID.

1. Open the Settings app.
2. Tap [your name] > iCloud > Manage Storage > Change Storage Plan.
3. Choose the storage plan you’d like.
4. Follow the prompts to complete the purchase.

How much does it cost to upgrade iCloud storage?

Apple currently offers three storage tiers. The great thing is that if you’re on a family account, you can choose to share the storage with the other accounts.

• 50 GB for $0.99/month
• 200 GB for $2.99/month
• 2 TB for $9.99/month

Can I get more iCloud storage for free?

The only iCloud storage that you can get for free is the default 5 GB. There is no way to get more iCloud storage for free.

If you’ve been seeing that iCloud Storage Full message, it’s time to clean things up. Hopefully, one of the tips above will help you free up enough space to keep using your free iCloud account. But if that’s not enough for your pictures and videos, you can always upgrade to get more storage.

The post iCloud Storage Full: How to free up space in iCloud for your photos appeared first on Backlight.

Is storing and sharing with Google Photos safe? 

There’s an obvious concern any time you upload your pictures to a service on the internet, and you should exercise that same level of concern when you upload to Google Photos. Even though Google goes to great lengths to secure their services, there’s always a chance of vulnerability and the risk that someone could get access to your pictures and videos. 

All this is to say that you should be cautious and use common sense with sensitive pics or videos before you upload them to Google Photos.

Are Google Photos private?

The simple answer is yes; by default, Google Photos is private. Everything you upload can only be seen by you. And thankfully, the only way to change one of your photos’ permissions is to log in to your account and share your photos with another user.

Can someone get access to my photos?

The only way someone can access your photos in Google Photos is if you choose to share them with that person. But keep in mind that when you share a picture with someone, Google Photos sends them a link. While it is unlikely that someone else will gain access to that link, if they do, they will also have access to your picture.

Can Google access my photos?

Yes, Google can and does access your photos. But that doesn’t mean that they’re going to use your pictures in ads for Google Photos or populate Google Image searches. According to some reports on the internet, what this access means is that Google can scan your photos for metadata to target you with advertising. 

Protecting your privacy in Google Photos

Even though you might only be uploading personal pictures or family videos to Google Photos, there are some extra steps you can take to help ensure that your photo library stays private.

How to create a private album in Google Photos

The great thing about Google Photos is that by default, your entire photo library is private. Follow these steps to create an album that only you can see:

1. On your iPhone, open the Google Photos app.
2. Tap Album > New Album.
3. Type a title for the album.
4. Tap Select photos.
5. Add the picture(s) or video(s) you want to that album.
6. Tap Add.

You don’t need to worry about getting all of the pictures you want into that album right now. You can always add more at any time.

How to hide photos in Google Photos

While Google Photos doesn’t have a “hide” feature, you can archive pictures, which will move them from your main library into an archive. Follow these step to archive a picture on Google Photos:

1. Select the photo(s) you want to archive.
2. In the upper-right corner, tap the ellipses.
3. Tap Archive.

How to create a shared album  

In addition to creating private albums, Google Photos also lets you create shared albums with other users. In Google Photos, you can actually turn any album into a shared album:

1. Open the album you want to share.
2. Tap the ellipses in the top-right corner.
3. Tap Options.
4. Turn on Share Album.

After you turn on the option to share an album, you’ll be able to invite people and decide whether or not they can add their own pictures, like your pictures, or even leave comments.

Privacy tips for Google Photos 

If you’re new to using Google Photos, all this might sound a little daunting, but as you use the app, there are a couple of privacy tips you can mind.

• Only share pictures with people you know.
• Check the Sharing settings on each album you create.
• Don’t upload pictures to Shared Albums from people you don’t know.
• Turn on Remove Geo-Location in Items Shared by Link.
• Turn off Google Location History in the Google Photos Settings.
• Occasionally check the Sharing settings on your account to keep things private.

Google Photos is a great service for your entire photo library. It’s easy to use and has some of the best tools for keeping your library organized. But like any other cloud service, you should be careful about what you sync and make sure you’re doing everything you can to keep your pictures and videos safe. That said, hopefully this article gave you some things to think about and helped give you the information you need to use Google Photos securely and confidently.

The post Google Photos and privacy: How to keep your photos safe appeared first on Backlight.

Don’t worry; if you keep reading, you’ll learn how to quickly share a couple of photos with friends, transfer your entire photo library to a new iPhone, or even keep your library in sync across all of your devices.

Before you start syncing photos

Depending on the size of your photo library, it can take a decent amount of time to transfer all of your pictures. So before you start syncing all of your photos and videos to another device, it might be a good idea to clean up some of the clutter. Use an app like Gemini Photos to scan the pictures on your iPhone and help you quickly sort through duplicates, blurry images, similar-looking photos, and more.

After you download Gemini Photos from the App Store, you can start cleaning up your pictures:

1. Open Gemini Photos and let it scan.
2. Tap on a category like Duplicates.
3. Tap on a group of photos and select the pictures you want to delete.
4. After you’ve gone through all of the photos, tap Delete Duplicates.
5. Tap Your Library at the top to go through other categories like Similar, Screenshots, Notes, and Blurred.

Four ways to transfer photos from iPhone to iPhone or iPad

There are a few different ways you can go about moving pictures from your iPhone to another device. The best method for you will depend mostly on how many photos and videos you want to transfer. Here are your options:

1. AirDrop from iPhone to iPhone
2. Sync photos from iPhone to iPad using iCloud
3. Transfer pictures from iPhone to iPhone using Shared Albums in iCloud
4. Transfer photos from iPhone to iPhone using iTunes

1. How to AirDrop photos from iPhone to iPhone

If you only want to transfer a couple of pictures from one iPhone to another, then the quickest and easiest way to do that is with AirDrop. When you have both iPhones in the same room, you can start sending your pictures and videos by:

1. Opening the Photos app
2. Tapping Select and choosing the pics you want to share
3. Tapping Share > AirDrop
4. Selecting the other iPhone

If you don’t see the other iPhone as an available option, make sure it’s set as discoverable over AirDrop. Go to Settings > General > AirDrop and select Everyone.

2. How to sync photos from iPhone to iPad using iCloud Photos

Maybe you’ve started using an iPad in addition to your iPhone and want to keep everything in sync, including your pictures. Thankfully, you can use iCloud to keep everything in sync wirelessly. 

To start using iCloud Photos, follow these steps on both your iPhone and then your iPad:

1. Open the Settings app.
2. Tap your name > iCloud > Photos.
3. Turn iCloud Photos on.

It’s important to make sure that you’re signed in to the same iCloud account on both devices. Otherwise, you’ll be syncing your pictures to different iCloud accounts.

3. How to sync pictures with iCloud Shared Albums

You can also use iCloud to share photos from your iPhone to a friend’s iPhone with Shared Albums. Unlike AirDrop, the two iPhones don’t need to be in the same room. As long as both phones have an internet connection, the shared album will update with new pictures and videos. 

Creating a shared album on iCloud is simple and can be done directly in the Photos app on either iPhone.

1. Open the Photos app.
2. Tap +.
3. Tap New Shared Album.
4. Type in a name for the album and hit Next.
5. Add the person or people you want to access the shared album and tap Create.
6. Tap the Shared Album and hit + to select pictures and videos.
7. Tap Done to finish.

4. How to sync photos from iPhone to iPhone without iCloud 

Of course, if you want to move your photos from one iPhone to another without using iCloud, you can always import them to your computer and sync the new iPhone via iTunes.

If you’re using a Mac:

1. Connect your iPhone to your computer using the USB cable.
2. Unlock your iPhone and tap Trust This Computer.
3. On your Mac, open the Photos app.
4. The Import screen should automatically appear with all the photos and videos from your iPhone. If it doesn’t, click on the iPhone in the Photos sidebar.
5. Click Import All New Photos or select the pictures you want and click Import Selected.

If you want to import your pictures using a Windows PC:

1. Connect your iPhone to your PC.
2. Unlock your phone and tap Trust This Computer.
3. In Windows 7, click on My Computer. If you’re using Windows 10, click on This PC.
4. Your iPhone should appear under either Portable Device or Devices.
5. Click on your iPhone’s name > DCIM.
6. Select the pictures and videos you want, then drag and drop them into the folder where you want to save them.

After you’ve imported your pictures, you can disconnect the old iPhone. Connect the new iPhone and follow these steps:

1. Open iTunes.
2. Click on the iPhone icon at the top.
3. Click on Photos in the sidebar.
4. Check Sync Photos.
5. Select where you want to sync your photos from. (This will vary depending on your computer’s operating system.)
6. Choose to either sync all or only selected folders.
7. Click Apply in the bottom-right corner.

iPhone has made taking great-looking pictures a breeze, and sharing them is just as easy. Whether you’re sharing them with a friend, transferring them to a new phone, or just keeping your devices in sync, there are a handful of ways you can go about moving your photos around. Hopefully, this article has helped you determine which method is the best for you.

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