Read me: On a Kindle, it’s a pain to get to the home screen. With a book open, tap the top of the screen > back arrow > Home. From the Kindle store, hit the X icon > Home. FYI, if your Kindle is old, look for a house icon (top left of the screen) or even a physical home button.
Are your apps spying on you? Check your phone's privacy report
There’s an easy-to-miss tool built right into your phone that shows you which apps access your microphone, camera, location data and everything else.
Don’t like what you see? Adjust the app’s permissions (I’ll show you how) or delete the app entirely. Let’s take a close look at Apple’s iPhone Privacy Report and the Android Privacy Dashboard.
Privacy, please
In the Apple-sphere? Your iPhone’s Privacy Report shows the network and web activity of each app on your smartphone. It looks at how often an app has accessed your phone’s sensors, camera and microphone, along with where it sends all your data back to.
You have to turn it on and let it gather data before you’ll see any of these insights. If you turn off the Privacy Report, it’ll clear out everything.
- Go to Settings > Privacy & Security.
- Turn on App Privacy Report.
Make sure your iPhone is running iOS 15.2 or later. If not, go to Settings > General > Software Update.
After about a week, hop in and see what the Privacy Report has collected:
- Open Settings > Privacy & Security > App Privacy Report.
Here, you’ll see all the apps that gather your data. Tap an app’s name for more info. If you spot one that’s way too nosy:
- Go to Settings > Privacy & Security.
- Tap on an individual permission, like Health or Camera. To revoke an app’s access, toggle off the switch.
Use an Android?
Because we all want to hear, ‘Wow, you look great’
I do my best to eat enough protein, get in my veggies and drink lots of water. I’m all about high-quality supplements, too, for things that are hard to get through good habits alone. I’ve been taking collagen for years, and it’s scientifically proven to improve not just how you look but also how you feel.
Apple just dropped the update to test your hearing: You’ll need a pair of AirPods Pro 2 and an iPhone running iOS 18.1. Go to Settings > AirPods Pro > Take a Hearing Test. If hearing loss is detected, turn on hearing aid features under Settings > AirPods Pro > Hearing Assistance. FYI: The test takes about 10 minutes, and you’ll need to remain in a quiet room; otherwise, you’ll have to start over. Spoiler: This only works if you have mild to moderate hearing loss.
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13% risk reduction
Of cognitive decline by just exercising once a week. Even a 30-minute walk positively impacts your brain. If you can’t make it outside, take your calls or watch a show on a walking pad. You can do this!
We may receive a commission when you buy through our links, but our reporting and recommendations are always independent and objective.
My top password manager pick has an A+ security feature built in
But there’s a smarter way to protect your online accounts — using a trusted password manager like NordPass.
Remembering complex, unique passwords for every single account is practically impossible. If you’re like most people, you probably end up reusing passwords or writing them down somewhere, which isn’t your best bet if you value security.
Reader question: 'What can I use instead of QuickBooks?'
If you’re a business owner, you don’t need us to tell you that running a business is tough. Don’t let QuickBooks and spreadsheets slow you down, making things more complicated than necessary. It’s time to upgrade to our sponsor NetSuite.
⏩ Mac pro user tip: If you’re a link hoarder, try this Safari trick. Open Settings > Advanced > Press Tab to highlight each item on a webpage. Now you can sail through the links on whatever page you’re on. To do it, hit Tab on your keyboard to highlight a link and Enter to open it. Cmd + Enter opens the link in a new tab. Maybe this will make Christmas shopping less painful … maybe.
Who asked for this? If you don’t like how Microsoft put the Start menu for Windows 11 in the middle of the screen, move it back to its original home on the left. Head to Settings > Personalization > Taskbar > Taskbar behaviors. Crisis averted!
🖊️ Butt out: Writing Tools is Apple’s new AI that cleans up text in any app. If that creeps you out or it’s just annoying, switch it off. Open Settings > Screen Time > Content & Privacy Restrictions. Turn on Content & Privacy Restrictions. Now tap Intelligence & Siri > Writing Tools > Don’t Allow. Heads-up, this only applies to iPhone 16 models, the iPhone 15 Pro and the iPhone 15 Pro Max.
📂 Mac quick tip: Here’s a shortcut to open folders. From your desktop, hit ⌘ (Cmd) then the down arrow. To go the other way, hold ⌘ and press the up arrow.
Page rage: You’re on a Windows PC and someone sends you an Apple Pages doc. Yep, you can open it. The easiest way is through iCloud for Windows. Steps here to set that up. If you don’t want to download anything, try a free online document file converter like Zamzar to turn the file into a Word doc.
New to Google Chrome: The memory-hogger just got an efficiency update. Click the three dots (upper right) > Settings > Performance. You’ll see Memory Saver, which pauses tabs you’re not using. Your options are Moderate, Balanced or Maximum, so start with Balanced.
💪 Swole is the goal: Young men are flooding social media with the perks of testosterone replacement therapy, aka steroids. Are better endurance, bigger muscles, less fat and more dates too good to be true? Yes. Side effects include hair loss, acne, blood clots and, yup, things not working downstairs. Still, prescriptions are up 20% in the last three years.
A scam in time for the holidays: “Card declined” messages are all over scammy retail sites. It’s a trick to get you to pay twice so they can steal twice the card details. Before you check out, make sure the URL starts with “https” (don’t skip the -s).
🩻 I hope it can’t see me naked: Amazon’s Prime Video X-Ray tool is in beta testing. AI creates spoiler-free summaries of a TV episode or season you’ve missed or need a refresher on. For now, it’s only on Fire TV devices. Where was this when I was watching “Succession”?
🧹 Refresh your iPad without losing your stuff: Go to Settings > General > Transfer or Reset iPad > Reset, then pick Reset All Settings. This will return your network, keyboard dictionary, location and privacy settings to their factory defaults. Choose one or go for a full reset. DO NOT tap Erase All Content and Settings unless you’re ready to lose everything.
Netflix and bookmark: Now you can send a scene that made you LOL to someone right from your phone. On the Netflix app, tap the new Moments button at the bottom, and the scene will be saved in your My Netflix tab. Share them with your friends through text, email or social media.
Don't want your ISP or Big Tech seeing what you look up? Do this
Doing online searches without a VPN is asking your internet service provider, Google or your search engine of choice to snoop on what you do. All that information — the products you look up, medical conditions you search for, people you Google — is compiled into the dossier about you.
$1,000,000 prize
Through the Microsoft Rewards sweepstakes program. Use their products, like Bing, Edge (a sacrifice, I know) and Xbox Game Pass for points. You can earn up to 200 entries. Sign up here for five. Bing is like store-brand cereal; it barely does the job, and you never want it again.