Customize your new iPhone

September 16, 2022

If you're getting a new iPhone today (or this weekend), one of the first things you should do is customize your Lock Screen.

New in iOS 16 is the ability to add all kinds of goodies to the Lock Screen -- which, on the iPhone 14 Pro models, is now Always-On.

I've been playing with the iOS beta for a few weeks and have set my Lock Screen to display various photos from my library.

The system doesn't show everything; its built-in AI chooses whatever pictures look best, and it does a stellar job.

When I pick up my iPhone, I love seeing pictures of my loved ones and places I've visited.

It frequently makes me smile when I pick it up, and I often linger a second or two to look at the picture. It's genius, really. The simple act of using my iPhone makes me smile.

Steve Jobs would be proud.

-- Leander Kahney, EIC.

OS 16 brings the most radical change to the iPhone Lock Screen yet. In the new operating system, you can customize and totally transform the look and feel of your phone. If you liked the themed custom Home Screens people were putting together using Shortcuts and Widgetsmith, you’ll love the level of creativity you can express with customized Lock Screens in iOS 16. Read on to see all the features of the new iOS 16 Lock Screen.

Anyone having activation problems with their iPhone 14 or iPhone 14 Pro series model should install iOS 16.0.1 ASAP. Apple specifically created the update to deal with an issue in setting up its latest handset. It also takes care of other bugs in the iPhone 14 series.

The first set of iPhone 14, iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max preorders began arriving for customers around the world Friday morning.

iPhone 14 models sold in the United States require eSIM rather than physical SIM cards. The activation process will be new to many iPhone users, but Apple's video explains what to do.

CDKeylord serves up fantastic deals on crucial Microsoft software. And Cult of Mac readers save even more with promo code CULT at CDKeylord.com.

Time to get a screen protector to safeguard your new iPhone's display and camera lenses. The Cult of Mac Store has the goods you need: six screen protectors and one lens protector from two of our favorite brands, all at great prices.

In a support document, Apple details the particular situations when the iPhone 14 Pro’s Always-On display will go dark to save battery life.

Logitech's new Brio 500 webcam series and Zone Vibe headphones for hybrid workers “bring quality, style, affordability, and sustainability to today’s workers for ultramodern collaboration experiences.”

Be Your Own Model brings the in-store experience to online shoppers. Customers scan in a photo, AI will analyze it, then the software can show what the user would look like wearing more than 270,000 items.

On September 16, 1985, Steve Jobs left Apple after a boardroom disaster. And then -- 12 years later -- he returned to the company he co-founded.

Some well-developed computer setups go for quantity in their displays, with three or more, but others stick with a solo screen and go for quality. And no, with today’s featured setup we’re not talking about a $5,000 Pro Display XDR. We’re talking about a massive, $1,500 OLED display.

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One more thing ...

"People talk a lot about brands. To me, brands are one simple thing, and that is trust. Your customers trust you. We don't spend a lot of time talking about 'the brand.' We spend a lot of time talking about how do we make the best products in the world." -- Steve Jobs, 2006

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