family | At Home with Tech

January 19, 2025

How to Catch Urgent Calls when your iPhone is on Mute

Occasionally, you’ll simply miss a call, because you’ve misplaced your iPhone. Otherwise, here’s how I silence calls I don’t want while also allowing the important calls in my life to get through.

I sometimes feel like the Grinch. “All the noise, noise, noise… noise!” With all the unwanted phone calls and emails, I want to scream, “Stop! Go away!” It’s disruptive, increasingly overwhelming, and I want none of it. (Sound familiar?)

The biggest source of disruption was my trusty iPhone which interrupted me throughout the day with calls from unknown numbers and people (or robocalls) I instinctively knew I didn’t want to speak with. (Sure, my iPhone is forever in vibrate-only mode, but too much of that silent-but-buzzy haptic sensation can make you twitchy.)

Contacts Only
So, I shut it down. No, not the phone. But I restricted the list of numbers that could get through to just my contacts. (If you are anyone else, you’re welcome to leave a message.)

Yes, it a was draconian step, but necessary.
Here how to set up this communication limit on your iPhone:

Go to ‘Settings.’
Tap ‘Screen Time.’
Tap ‘Communication Limits.’
Tap ‘During Screen Time.’
Tap ‘Contacts Only.’
Then ‘During Downtime’ can be restricted further if you want.

The result created more serenity in my life, and I was grateful. But there was still another problem waiting for me at the other end of the equation…

You Can Still Miss a Haptics Call
I realized that it was sometimes difficult for my family members to reach me on my iPhone. Of course, their calls and texts got through via haptics mode, but it was still easy for me to miss those important moments.

The fix would be if I could set up a ringtone bypass that would allow my wife and son’s calls/texts to gain back their audio oomph.

Well, as it turns out, Apple gives your iPhone that exact capability!

Ring and Text Tone Emergency Bypass
In your Contacts app, you can set up individual contacts to be able to reach you with the power of full audio ringing or pinging, regardless of how your iPhone is otherwise muted.

Here’s how to do that:

Tap ‘Edit’ for a specific contact.
Tap on ‘Ringtone,’ which is set to ‘Default.’
Then on the next page, tap on ‘Emergency Bypass’ to turn it on.
Repeat these steps for ‘Text Tone.’

That’s it.

Your Updated Communications Plan
When you’ve finished tweaking these iPhone settings, you will have more effectively tuned out what you don’t want while enabling the important people in your life to better connect with you.

Sanity restored.

January 5, 2025

Why iPhone’s Camera Burst Mode is Better than Live Photos

If you think you’ll miss the moment when snapping an iPhone photo, using Burst mode instead of Live Photo mode can save the day. Here’s why.

If you like the Live Photo feature on your iPhone so you can later choose a better ‘Key Photo’, you might want to reconsider your preference. Why? Well, it houses a huge limitation that can really ruin your shot.

Sure, it all seems so magical that you can take your 3-second mini-movie that’s behind a Live Photo and then, after the fact, scrub through all of video frames to select a better still frame. It’s a wonderful technique to use when shooting a group pic when someone’s eyes are inevitably mid blink. The ability to later choose a better freeze a fraction earlier (or later) can make all the difference between the perfect photo and one that goes in the digital trash.

I’ve been shooting Live Photos this way for a long time. But when choosing a different Key Photo, I’ve sometimes not been satisfied with the final results. Here’s the problem…

Choosing a New Key Photo will Crop It!
The ‘prime’ image your iPhone snaps is higher quality than other frames from a Live Photo. And as soon as you choose an alternate frame, the entire picture frustratingly crops in a bit (not a lot… but enough).

That can be a deal breaker if you’ve taken a group shot and someone is close to the edge of your framing. After choosing a different Key Photo, that person will likely get cropped out, and there’s nothing you can do about it.

This picture-killing crop just happened to me at a family gathering, and the cropped-out person was me! (Yes, thankfully, the group allowed me to take another shot.)

Even if you overlook that limitation and tell yourself you’ll give your shots enough ‘safe space,’ it’s also hard to ignore the overall quality difference. The new Key Photo doesn’t look as crisp.

Under well-lit and well-framed circumstances, this isn’t an issue. And to be fair, it took me a while to discover these drawbacks.

And while a Live Photo with a different Key Photo can be better than nothing at all, there’s a more effective way to capture additional visual frames around a particular photo moment.

10 Burst Photos are Better than 1 Live Photo
iPhones offer Burst mode, which captures 10 photos a second. (That’s likely going to get you what you need!) Instead of tapping the shutter button on your iPhone, you simply slide it to the left and hold it there until you’re done ‘bursting.’ (Then release.)

For a more tactile experience, you can also squeeze your ‘Volume Up’ button.
To activate that feature, go to:

Settings
Camera
Turn on “Use Volume Up for Burst”

While primarily designed for action moments like sports photography, it’s also ideal for posed group shots when you’re trying to get everyone’s eyes open at the same time.

Each of these high-speed photos will be the same quality. No compromises.

Burst Mode with Countdown
You can also use Burst mode for your iPhone shots using a countdown timer. It’s a perfect way to set up a group shot that you also want to be in.

Pro tip:
If you’re wearing an Apple Watch, use its Camera Remote app to control your iPhone. (Just be sure to first turn off Live Photo mode. Otherwise, you’ll snap a Live Photo instead of the 10 standard burst shots.)

I like to prop my iPhone on a window ledge and have the group face the window. Not only does the window ledge double as a tripod surface (be careful), but the light from the window will nicely illuminate your subjects.

Delete your Unwanted Bursts
You do need to do a bit more work afterwords with your Burst photos to manage the 20 or 30 shots you’ve generated from a particular moment (instead of 2 or 3 Live Photos).

Just review your Bursts and select the images you want to keep. The rest are deleted. (If you don’t follow this organizational task, you could quickly get overwhelmed with too many photos on your iPhone.)

Not Mutually Exclusive
Too much work? Well, you can leave it to the automated but limited structure of Live Photos. That’s a set-it-and-forget it solution. It’s easy, but it won’t always give you best-quality pictures. On the other hand, Burst mode will.

Can you use both? Absolutely (though not simultaneously).

Burst Away
Moving forward, I’ll think of a Live Photo as a backup plan. But if I’m really being planful in framing the moment, then using Burst mode is the way to go.

December 15, 2024

How to Create a Holiday Card with a Photo Collage at the Last Minute

If stores are closed, and you need to buy a holiday card before the party, why not print out one of your own? And if you add in a few of your own pictures, you’ve got the makings of a great card. Here are three ways I do it.

When I was a kid, my mother would spend hours shopping in different stores for the perfect holiday or birthday card for me. I think she equated all that effort to demonstrating her love (or she just enjoyed shopping for cards). For a time, I followed in my mom’s footsteps, but that eventually changed.

I stopped shopping for ‘greeting cards’ at pharmacies years ago. It’s so analog. Those generic cards are expensive, and the professionally written sentiments are hardly delightful. Sure, they’re adequate and serve a purpose, but there’s a better way…

Make your Cards Yourself
I’ve been generating my own holiday and birthday cards on my computer. Plus, I typically do it using my family pictures.

It just takes:

a home printer
some photo paper
and access to a card-design program

What Design Program Should You Use?
The key for me is to use a card-design program or app that allows you to quickly pop in your pictures and type your message into a photo template. Speed is everything, because I’m often creating the cards (cough) at the last minute. (And if you realize you need a card after the stores are closed, a digital DIY solution is really all you’ve got.)

I usually prefer to use a photo-collage template. The multiple pictures help to represent a body of time that I’m celebrating.

The bespoke nature of these cards makes them more personal, and I find them more impactful than choosing the generic-card-from-a-store route.

My recipients really like them! But believe it or not, there aren’t that many online options out there that will do the card-creation trick for you quickly and free.

That said, here are three options I’ve tried that are relatively easy to use.

Shutterfly
Like many websites, Shutterfly wants to sell you physical cards. The design piece is there to help complete your purchase. But before I click to ‘buy’ the designed card, I simply capture a screenshot of the card and use that file for my printer. Yes, it’s a MacGyver move, but it works. (You don’t need a high-res file for a 5″ x 7″ card housing a photo collage.)

The templates are easy to use, and yes, I do occasionally buy something from them.

Adobe Express
This Adobe software has a free version you can use, though many templates are unavailable. Still, it’s a good choice to consider. Even though this is a simplified ‘express’ solution, it requires a little more Adobe design/interface knowledge.

Its ‘Collage Maker’ has a 9-photo limit. Once you import your pictures, you then click through some preset layout options, which often don’t fit the photos. So, you’ve got some work to do. But then I found its photo-resizing function was surprisingly glitchy. Happily, with a little more effort, the interface eventually behaved.

And with practice, I’m sure Adobe Express would be easier to work with. (You’re using an Adobe product. So, I’d say that’s a good investment of your time.)

Canva
I’ve been using Canva for years. Its interface is easy to navigate, and its photo-grid templates are quite flexible and intuitive to move around.

Just like Adobe, the free Canva version shuts you out from many designs, but there are still plenty of options.

I must repeat that Canva is super simple to use, and it gives you solid results.

One more time… Easy.

It’s Never too Late
No, printing out a photo-collage card onto photo stock is nothing new. But it’s always a good reminder to occasionally flex the skills needed to spit one of these out.

Yes, there are any number of other solutions online to do this kind of creative work, but I prefer going with a brand or website I know and already have a relationship with.

Just set aside a little time (especially to compose a few heartfelt words), and I bet you’ll quickly create a beautiful card that will totally impress your recipient.

Category: family

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