How to Move Notes from “On My iPhone” to iCloud

Apple’s Notes app lets you save your notes locally on your device, or synced with iCloud. When you enable iCloud, though, all your previous notes remain on your device. Here’s how to move them to your iCloud account.

For example, maybe you got an iPad at one point and it was your only iOS device at the time. Maybe you thought you don’t need to enable iCloud because you have no other Apple devices to sync with. Then, you got an iPhone and eventually a Mac. Now, you want to sync your Notes among all your Apple devices. We’ll show you how you can easily move your existing locally-stored notes to your iCloud account so they will be available on your iPhone, iPad, and Mac, and even on a Windows PC.

First, if you don’t see a section for iCloud in your Notes app, you’ll need to enable Notes in your iCloud account. To do this, from your Home screen, go to Settings > iCloud and make sure Notes is enabled (the slider button should be green).

Then, open the “Notes” app on the home screen, where we’ll do the actual moving.

Any notes listed under “On My iPhone” (or “On My iPad”) are stored locally on your device. To move any of these notes to iCloud, tap on “Notes”, or on another folder under “On My iPhone” containing notes you want to move.

Once you’re in one of the folders under “On My iPhone”, click “Edit” in the upper-right corner of the screen.

A selection bubble displays before each of the notes. Tap the selection bubbles for the notes you want to move to iCloud.

Then, tap “Move To” in the lower-left corner of the screen.

NOTE: If you’re only moving one note, you can quickly move the note by swiping left on it and tapping “Move”. You can also quickly delete a note this way.

Once you’ve selected the note to move, the Folders screen displays. Select the folder under iCloud into which you want to move the selected note.

The note is moved out of the local folder…

…and into the iCloud folder. Note that the number of notes in the iCloud folder is increased by the number of notes you moved. However, the number of notes in the original folder under “On My iPhone” may not immediately decrease. This is a minor bug that has an easy workaround.

Double press the Home button on your phone and swipe up on the Notes app preview. This forces the app to close.

Now, open the Notes app again. The number of notes in the folder under “On My iPhone” should now be correct.

You can use the same procedure to move notes from any folder under the On My iPhone account or your iCloud account to any other folder under those two accounts. Read more about using Notes on iOS and Mac to organize your thoughts.

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How to Enable Night Shift On Your iPhone for Easy Nighttime Reading

Bright blue-white light blasting in your face at night isn’t so great for your sleep or general health, but don’t worry: iOS now supports color shifting so you can warm up the light of your iPhone for easy nighttime reading.


There is a growing body of research that exposure to artificial light late into the evening, especially blue light like the crisp blue-white glow of our beloved gadgets, is a serious issue that effects our sleep cycles and general health.
We dug extensively into this topic in our recent article on how artificial light is wrecking your sleep but the short of it is this: bright blue-white light is very similar to noonday sun, and it over stimulates our brains. When we’re exposed to blue light in the evening it messes with our sleep and causes a host of other problems. You can, however, minimize the effect of late-night light exposure by shifting the color to warmer tones. One of the tricks we highlighted in the aforementioned article is using software to shift the color temperature of the display on your computer and gadgets.
Fortunately, a recent iOS update makes it dead simple to adjust the display of your iPhone and other iOS devices–no jailbreaking or extra software required. The new “Night Shift” mode adjusts the color temperature of your iPhone’s screen so that instead of the crisp blue-white light we’re all familiar with, the screen has a more candle-lit tint that’s less stimulating to our brains. It’s almost exactly like f.lux, a popular app available for PC and iOS, but it doesn’t require jailbreaking.
The lead image of this article shows two iPhone 6 units side-by-side with no Night Shift mode filter applied (at left) and the warmest Night Shift mode filter applied (at right). When viewed side-by-side the different is stark but we assure you when using a device with Night Shift mode on it feels very natural and comfortable on your eyes.
It’s dead simple to toggle on and off, you can set it to a time-based schedule, and you can even configure it to turn on automatically at sunset and off again at sunrise. Let’s take a look at what you need and how to set it up.

How to Enable Night Shift Mode

To take advantage of the new “Night Shift” feature all you need is an iOS device capable of updating to iOS 9.3 and it must have one of the newer 64-bit processors introduced in Apple’s 2013 product line. This means older devices that are eligible for the update (like the iPhone 4s) can’t take advantage of the feature.
Night Shift won’t work on the following older 9.3 eligible hardware:

• iPad 2, iPad 3rd/4th Gen, as well as the iPad Mini.
• iPhone 4s, 5, and 5c.
• iPod Touch 5G.

Night Shift will work on the following newer 9.3 eligible hardware:

• iPad Air and above, iPad Mini 2 and above, and iPad Pro.
• iPhone 5s and above.
• iPod Touch 6G.

When it doubt look up the hardware specs for your device; any iOS device with an A7 processor and above is capable of running Night Shift.
If your device is not already on iOS 9.3 navigate on your device to Settings > General > Software Update to update to the most current version.
In iOS 9.3, there are two ways to use Night Shift mode. You can toggle it on demand via the iOS control center, or you can set schedules so the screen gradually fades to Night Shift mode as the sun sets.
To toggle Night Shift mode, simply swipe up from the bottom of the screen to open the control center and tap on the new Night Shift icon in the center of shortcut row, as seen in the screenshot below.

A box will pop up with a quick summary of Night Shift mode and two buttons: “Turn On Until 7 AM” and “Schedule Settings…”; you can tape on the “Turn On” entry to immediately see what Night Shift looks like, or you can select “Schedule Settings” to jump into the Night Shift settings.

You can also access the Night Shift settings by opening the Settings app and navigating to Display & Brightness > Night Shift, but given how easy it is to open the control center and tap right into it, we’ll just hop there now. Select “Schedule Settings” to continue.
Here you can select “Scheduled” to pick your schedule or “Manually Enabled” to turn it on manually whenever you want. Like the “Turn On Until…” button we just saw, toggling the “Manually Enabled” option will turn it on for the rest of the day and then turn it off the next morning.  Since that’s self explanatory, let’s look at the scheduling feature. Tap on “Scheduled”.

A pre-populated schedule will pop out. Tap on it to make changes.

Here you can set Night Shift to automatically turn on when the sun sets, and turn off when the sun rises. If that doesn’t work for you, you can set your own schedule based on the time of day.
When you’re done, tap the blue “Night Shift” link in the upper left corner to return the main settings menu.

One final trick to highlight before we’re done. You can adjust the warmth of the screen by using the slider at the bottom of the Night Shift menu. “Less Warm” means you’ll get less of a red tint when Night Shift is on, while “More Warm” means the screen will look redder. If you tap on the Night Shift slider, it will show you what that level of warmth will look like when Night Shift turns on.

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While we really should just be putting our gadgets down and getting a goodnight’s sleep when we don’t (and we never do) features like Apple’s Night Shift are just the ticket for minimizing the impact of late night gadget benders.

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How to Create a Folder with No Name on Your iPhone or iPad

When organizing your Home screens on your iPhone or iPad, you’ve probably noticed that a default name is given to each folder when you create it. iOS won’t let you delete the name and leave it blank, but there is a trick to getting around this problem.

When you create a folder on your iPhone or iPad, iOS gives the folder a default name based on the type of apps in the folder. However, sometimes you may not want to assign a name to a folder. For example, I want to put all the items on the Home page that I don’t use much into a folder on a secondary Home screen without a label. I just want to get these apps out of the way.

To do this, you need an app from the “Food & Drink” category in the App Store. If you already have an app on your phone from this category, you’re set and you can skip this part. We’re going to use the “OpenTable” app as an example.

Now, create a folder using the “OpenTable” app. To do this, tap and hold on the “OpenTable” icon…

…until a round “x” button displays on the upper-left corner of the app icon. Keep holding your finger down lightly on the app icon and drag the “Food & Drink” app icon over another app icon. In my example, I’m dragging the “OpenTable” icon over the “Game Center” icon.

Make sure to drag the app icon from the “Food & Drink” category over the other app icon, and not the other way around. If you do it the other way around, the name of the folder will default to the category of the other app.

NOTE: If you’re using an iPhone 6S or 6S Plus, don’t press too hard on the app icon. If you do, it will activate the 3D Touch feature, which is not what you want. Just tap and hold your finger down lightly.

A folder will be created with no name. Tap on the Home screen anywhere outside of the new folder to close it. Now you can drag more app icons into the folder. You can remove your Food & Drink app from the folder if you want, or uninstall it completely. However, if you’re going to create more folders with no names, it might be useful to keep the “Food & Drink” app installed.

This trick can be used on devices running iOS 6 and later.

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How to Make Your iPhone Flash Its LED When You Get a Notification

Have you ever wanted to make your iPhone completely silent but still alert your when someone calls, or when you receive a text? It is possible to silence the ringing and the vibrations, but still receive notifications by flashing the LED light on the back.

This trick is very simple and will only take a few seconds to perform, but it may very well save you a great bit of hassle if you mute your phone for an important meeting or conversation, and then forget to unmute it. At least now you’ll have some indication that someone is trying to get a hold of you.

To start, open the Settings and then tap on the “General” option.

Next, scroll toward the bottom and tap on “Accessibility”.

Finally, turn on the option “LED Flash for Alerts”. Now, your iPhone will flash when someone is calling you, you receive a text, or some other notification that alerts you. For example, if you use Facebook Messenger, then your phone will flash once when you receive a new message.

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Everything You Can Do on Your Apple Watch Without Your iPhone

Your Apple Watch relies on your iPhone to get notifications, view data, and even send messages and make calls. However, your Apple Watch is not completely useless without your iPhone. Here some things you can do on your watch when your phone is out of range.

View Text Messages, Emails, and Recent Calls

When your Apple Watch is not connected to your iPhone, you won’t get new text messages or emails, nor will you get notified of calls coming in. However, your watch does store some recent text messages and emails, as well as a log of recent calls. This allows you to browse through text messages and emails you already received, as well as look through any recent calls you’ve made or received, even if your watch is not connected to your phone. You can also see your list of contacts. However, you won’t be able to reply to emails or text messages or send new messages.

Track Your Daily Activity

Your Apple Watch does a decent job of tracking your daily fitness activities, and this feature works whether the watch is connected to your phone or not. So, feel free to leave your iPhone at home when you go out for a walk or run. Your watch will still track your movement, exercise, and standing time, as well as the total calories burned, total steps taken, and distance covered in the Activity app or glance.

Track an Individual Workout

Similarly, if you want to track information for a specific workout, like your heart rate, mileage, average pace, or calories burned, it can be cumbersome to carry your iPhone with you. Thankfully, these sensors work independently of your phone, so you can launch the Workout app on your Apple Watch and leave your iPhone at home.
Note, however, that if you want to track your GPS location while working out, you will need your iPhone, since your watch does not have a built-in GPS.

Play Music

If you enjoy listening to music during your workout, you can do that with just your watch as well–as long as you’re using Bluetooth headphones. The Apple Watch allows you to store up to 2GB of music files on the watch itself in a single playlist. Once you transfer music to your watch using your phone, you can listen to the music with your watch even when it isn’t connected to your phone. Simply use the force touch feature to select the watch as the source of music. Then, you can play music from the playlist on the watch and even shuffle the songs (also using force touch).

Pay for Stuff and Use Your Rewards Cards, Movie Tickets, and More

One of the Apple Watch’s best features is the ability to use Apple Pay through the Wallet app. You can store credit and debit cards, rewards cards, movie tickets, boarding passes, and more all in one place. Best of all, you don’ t need your phone to use this feature–you just need to set up Apple Pay for your watch using your iPhone first. Then, you can stop somewhere for a bite to eat or a drink on your way back from a run and still leave your phone at home. Note that you need to have a passcode set up on your watch to use Apple Pay.

View Photos

In addition to reserving space for music, the Apple Watch also provides some space to store up to 500 photos locally on the watch. By default, it’ll sync your Favorites album, but you can choose a different album in the Watch app on your phone. Simply add photos to the synced album using your phone and then you can view those photos on your watch even if it’s not connected to your phone. Photos on your watch can also be used to create a custom watch face from a single photo or from the entire photo album.

Set Alarms, Timers, and Use the Stopwatch

Before smartwatches, there were multi-function watches from companies such as Casio and Timex. They not only told the time, but also allowed you to set alarms and timers and use a stopwatch. Just like these older watches your Apple Watch can perform these functions without your phone connected. You can set multiple alarms, turn them on and off, and time things using the timer or stopwatch. As of WatchOS 2, your watch can also be used as an alarm clock at your bedside with the new Nightstand mode.

View Glances

Glances provide a quick way to view information on your watch for apps that support the feature (not all apps do). Simply swipe up from the bottom of the watch and then swipe left and right to view the various glances.
How well glances work depends on the app they’re connected to. If an app doesn’t require talking to your phone, you can view its glances in full without your phone connected.

Many glances, however, depend on your phone for data. Some will display the most recent data it received, though, and indicate at the bottom of the screen when it was last updated.

Some glances will display a message when your watch is not connected to your phone, though. You cannot view these glances if your phone is not connected.

Tell the Time

Okay, this one was a bit obvious, but let’s not forget that your Apple Watch is, first and foremost, a watch. So it’s a good thing it keeps telling you the time even when it’s not connected to your phone. Apple promises that the Apple Watch keeps time within 50 milliseconds of the global standard. So, if all you need is a simple watch, feel free to leave your phone at home. You can even extend the time your watch tells you the time when your battery is running low using the Power Reserve feature.
You can also customize, add, and delete watch faces on your apple watch without a connection to your iPhone.

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Your Apple Watch may not be as useful when it’s not connected to your iPhone, but at least you won’t be an expensive wrist weight when your phone is not around. Depending on what you’re doing, you can often get by until your watch is reunited with your iPhone.

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How to Add Custom Characters to the Apple Watch’s Monogram

You can personalize your Apple Watch with different watch faces and “complications”, but if you really want to add a personal touch, the “Color” watch face has a cool Monogram complication, which allows you to display up to four characters on the watch face. The Monogram complication is more customizable than people realize, though.

Here’s how to customize the Monogram complication and how to access more options for characters, such as the Apple logo.

If your watch face is not currently the Color watch face, first make sure the watch face is active. If it’s not, press the digital crown until you are returned to the watch face. Then, force touch on the watch face.

The watch face selector will pop up. Swipe left or right to find the Color watch face, depending on which watch face was active.

Once you find the Color watch face, tap “Customize”.

The first customization screen for the Color watch face allows you to choose the color. If you want to change the color, use the digital crown to select a different color. Then, swipe left to go to the second customization screen.

This screen allows you to change which complications display on the watch face. Tap on the center complication. The only options for this spot are “None” or “Monogram”. Make sure “Monogram” is selected.

Press the digital crown until you return to the watch face. Notice the monogram at the top of the watch face.

Now that we have the Color watch face selected and the monogram complication on, you can customize the monogram using your phone. Tap the “Watch” app on the Home screen.

Make sure the “My Watch” screen is active. If not, tap the “My Watch” icon at the bottom of the screen.

On the “My Watch” screen, tap “Clock”.

Tap “Monogram” on the “Clock” screen.

The cursor is automatically placed at the end of the current monogram. Delete the current character(s) and type letters, numbers, or symbols from the standard keyboard. Tap “< Clock” at the top of the “Monogram” screen to return to the previous screen.

The character(s) you typed display to the right of the “Monogram” option on the “Clock” screen.

Your new monogram displays on the Color watch face.

Here’s where things get interesting. You can also add other characters as long as you can copy them from other sources. The UniChar Picker app is a great source. Search for it in the App Store and install it. Then, tap the “UniChar” icon on the Home screen to open the app.

You can use any character from UniChar’s collection as part of your monogram. For this example, we’ll use the Apple logo. Scroll down to the “Pictographs” section and tap on the Apple logo.

The Apple Logo will show up in the “Recently Used” section. To copy the Apple Logo symbol, tap and hold on the Apple Logo…

…until you see “Copied” display on the screen.

Go back to the “Monogram” screen in the “Watch” app, as described earlier. Delete the current monogram and then tap and hold in that spot until you see the “Paste” popup and tap on that popup.

The Apple Logo is inserted on the “Monogram” screen. Again, tap “Clock” at the top of the screen to accept the change and return to the Clock screen.

The Apple Logo will show up to the right of “Monogram” on the “Clock” screen.

The Apple Logo now displays on the Color watch face.

Some characters may not look good on the Color watch face because the character becomes very small. Try out different characters and see what you like–there’s a lot of cool stuff you can do.

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