Technologies

10 ways Apple’s iPhone changed everything

The world is a different place 15 years after Apple introduced its popular smartphone — in both good and bad ways.

Editors’ note: This story was originally published on Jan. 7, 2017.

In 2007, Nokia was the world’s largest phone maker. Microsoft was gearing up to launch Windows Vista. And the best new products at CES included a wireless TV and an MP3 player that streamed internet radio.

Then, on Jan. 9, 2007, Apple CEO Steve Jobs unveiled a device that went on to change the world: a $499 iPhone that came with 4GB of storage. It was a mobile phone, a music player and an Internet device. It went on sale about six months later, on June 29, 2007.

«iPhone is a revolutionary and magical product that is literally five years ahead of any other mobile phone,» Jobs said at the time.

Since then, Apple has sold more than 1.2 billion iPhones and has become the most profitable public company in the world. Copycat phones from companies like Samsung, HTC, Motorola and Xiaomi proliferated across the globe, and now even people in places without steady electricity have smartphones.

«It’s difficult to understate [the iPhone’s] impact,» Reticle Research analyst Ross Rubin said. «The ripples it has created affect wide swaths of our lives.»

Here are some ways the iPhone has changed the way we live:

1. We’re always on

It used to be you’d fire up your computer, wait for your Wi-Fi to connect (or your dialup connection, if we’re going wayyy back) and open Internet Explorer, Safari or some other web browser. Now you’re connected to the internet all the time. If you’re not on Wi-Fi, you’re linked through your cellular network.

It’s not just inescapable connectivity that the iPhone helped bring about. It’s also how we actually access the internet. The iPhone made mobile web browsing useful for the first time. Every other mobile web browser before that was painful, in the words of CNET’s Kent German. Soon came a flood of apps, which removed the need to open a web browser at all.

2. Tablets, watches and headphones, oh my

Multiple devices are either tied to the iPhone or exist because the phone was created. There’s the iPad, essentially a larger iPhone you use at home. And there’s the Apple Watch, which is tethered to the iPhone.

Then there are all the accessories spurred by the popularity of the iPhone, like phone cases; Bluetooth speakers and headphones; and charging docks. ABI Research estimates that revenue in the global mobile accessories market will top $110 billion in 2021.

«Given users’ attachment to their smartphones and their wants and needs to personalize and protect them, the aftermarket mobile accessories market is showing no signs of slowing down,» ABI analyst Marina Lu said.

3. The key to appiness

You may not remember this now, but Apple’s first iPhone didn’t have such a thing as third-party apps or the App Store. That changed in July 2008, when Apple introduced the iPhone 3G and its iPhone 2.0 software.

The App Store is what made the iPhone a must-have device. There are now more than 2 million apps in the App Store, with essentially every company making one or more apps. And the iPhone and App Store have spawned industries that couldn’t exist without smartphones. There’d be no Uber or Lyft to shuttle us from place to place, for instance, or Instagram or Snapchat for sharing our photos.

4. Everyone’s a shutterbug

Sure, we had cameras on our phones before the iPhone. But the Apple gadget’s combination of easy internet access and apps like Instagram inspired people’s inner photographer.

As a result, lugging around an actual camera became redundant.

«We as a species take more pictures than we ever had in the past by an order of magnitude,» Current Analysis analyst Avi Greengart said.

5. Livin’ live

The phone’s camera also means you have a portable camcorder (remember those?) at your fingertips. And on top of that, the phone’s connection lets you broadcast video immediately. That could mean talking to your family members on the other side of the country or shooting a cat video for YouTube. Or, thanks to services like Facebook Live and similar features on other social networks, the technology can be used for filming police brutality or instantly reporting something you’ve seen.

On the flip side, having these smart devices on us at all times lets law enforcement and corporations (like the makers of those apps on your phone) track us. Apple has taken a strong stance on privacy, but security remains a big concern for users.

6. Putting the digits in digital

Touchscreens once were rare. Now babies are swiping at TVs and wondering why the screen doesn’t change. Interactive screens are in virtually everything, even refrigerators. When Jobs introduced the iPhone, he said, «We are all born with the ultimate pointing device — our fingers — and iPhone uses them to create the most revolutionary user interface since the mouse.»

He was more right than he could imagine. The appeal of a touchscreen phone forced Microsoft to embrace touch in its software and get its hardware partners to make touchscreen phones, tablets and computers.

It’s almost surprising to see a device today without a touchscreen (though Apple maintains it won’t be putting touchscreens in its Mac computers).

7. You are here

The introduction of mapping on the iPhone meant you no longer had to feel like an embarrassed tourist in a new city, clutching a giant paper map on the street corner. Google Maps and Apple Maps are two of the most-used apps on the iPhone, and they’ve steadily added features over the years, like public transit and biking directions.

8. Gaming goes to the next level

The iPhone reinvented the idea of mobile gaming. Apps like Angry Birds, that anyone could play using their fingers on the touchscreen, became hugely popular, and payment models changed. Many games are now free to play — instead of charging a sales price, developers came up with the idea of in-app purchases, which let you pay for new levels and features as you go.

Mobile-oriented gaming subscriptions have also gained steam, with Apple’s Arcade service and Google’s Play Pass both highlighting access to ad-free games on iOS and Android, respectively. Even more companies plan to use cloud services to stream games to mobile, with growing efforts from Microsoft’s Xbox Game Pass, Nvidia’s GeForce Now and Google’s Stadia.

9. Cash ain’t king

Apple wasn’t the first company to talk about mobile payments, but it did make even your grandma aware of the technology, which lets you use your phone to purchase things. Goodbye, cash. Hello, iPhone. The iPhone’s Wallet app also can store retail coupons, reward cards, and passes for flights and movies, all in one place. Even your driver’s license is getting ready to be in Apple’s Wallet if you want it to be.

Cash isn’t dead yet — there still are many places that don’t take mobile payments — but using your phone at the checkout stand is more common than ever.

10. But wait — there’s more

There’s no way to sum up in just 10 points all that the iPhone did. So here’s a grab bag of additional stuff.

Apple basically killed Adobe Flash on mobile devices and made endless scrolling a very good thing. You never have to carry a calculator or flashlight anymore, and visual voicemail lets you easily skip forward in a meandering message. Podcasts mean you don’t have to listen to the radio in real time — and have become a competitive space where Spotify, Stitcher and more wrangle exclusive deals for popular shows.

Social media has also shifted heavily to mobile devices from desktop computers, letting people feel connected to friends at all times.

At the same time, the iPhone has been linked to the rise in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and short attention spans in kids. Governments use mobile devices to spy on their citizens, and consumers give up a lot of personal information in exchange for services like Uber rides.

But even with the negatives, don’t try to take someone’s iPhone away.

Please leave some of your thoughts in the comments section on how the iPhone has changed the way you live.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections: Sports Edition Hints and Answers for April 4, #193

Three of the four categories are especially tough today. Here are hints and the answers, for the NYT Connections: Sports Edition puzzle, No. 193, for April 4.

Looking for the most recent regular Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle and Strands puzzles.

I only solved one of the four categories for today’s Connections: Sports Edition on my own, so if you need help, you’re not alone.

The yellow category was pretty simple, but after that I couldn’t make any connections. It might help if you know a lot about a certain NBA player’s resume. Read on for hints and the answers.

Connections: Sports Edition is out of beta now, making its debut on Super Bowl Sunday, Feb. 9. That’s a sign that the game has earned enough loyal players that The Athletic, the subscription-based sports journalism site owned by the Times, will continue to publish it. It doesn’t show up in the NYT Games app but now appears in The Athletic’s own app. Or you can continue to play it free online.

Read more: NYT Connections: Sports Edition Puzzle Comes Out of Beta

Hints for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections: Sports Edition puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.

Yellow group hint: Do better.

Green group hint: March Madness.

Blue group hint: Six-time all-star.

Purple group hint: Think Wimbledon.

Answers for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Yellow group: Not meeting expectations.

Green group: Teams in the Women’s Final Four.

Blue group: Teams Kawhi Leonard has played for.

Purple group: Ends in a piece of tennis equipment.

Read more: Wordle Cheat Sheet: Here Are the Most Popular Letters Used in English Words

What are today’s Connections: Sports Edition answers?

The yellow words in today’s Connections

The theme is not meeting expectations. The four answers are bust, disappointment, dud and failure.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is teams in the Women’s Final Four. The four answers are Bruins, Gamecocks, Huskies and Longhorns.

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is teams Kawhi Leonard has played for. The four answers are Aztecs, Clippers, Raptors and Spurs.

The purple words in today’s Connections

The theme is ends in a piece of tennis equipment. The four answers are bracket, eyeball, horseshoes and internet.

Quick tips for Connections: Sports Edition

#1: Don’t grab for the easiest group. For each word, think about other sports categories it might fit in – is this a word that can be used in football, or to describe scoring options?

#2: Second meanings are important. The puzzle loves to use last names and even college names that mean other things, to fool you into thinking they are words, not names.

#3: And the opposite is also true. Words like HURTS might seem like a regular word, but it’s also the last name of at least one pro athlete.

Technologies

Skip Your iPhone’s Lockscreen: Here’s the Hidden Flashlight Trick You Need to Know

A couple of taps can really make a difference on your iPhone.

Not long ago, your iPhone’s lockscreen would only allow two app shortcuts that you couldn’t change: camera controls and a flashlight toggle. However, iOS 18.2 allows you to customize these shortcuts to almost anything you might want. This small but impactful change is one of many ways iOS 18 supercharges customization for iPhone and iPad users. But what if you still want an easy-to-access way to toggle your flashlight without unlocking your phone?

Apple introduced an accessibility feature in iOS 14 that, once enabled, allows you to perform actions by just tapping on the back of your phone. The feature is called Tap Back and it remains a sleeper feature that’s sneakily hidden away in your settings menu. Enabling Tap Back essentially allows you to create a button on the back of your iPhone to perform an action without needing to take up any space.

Once you have Tap Back enabled, it doesn’t take long to see how much of a game-changer it can be with its added convenience. Below, we’ll show you how to set it up so a couple of taps on the back of your iPhone will let you launch just about anything you want.

For more, check out what’s in the latest iOS 18.4 release.

How to set up Back Tap on iPhone

Whether you want to link Back Tap with your flashlight, camera or launch a different iPhone app, the path through your iPhone settings begins the same way.

On your compatible iPhone (iPhone 8 or later), launch the Settings application and go to Accessibility > Touch > Back Tap. Now you have the option to launch your action (in this case, your flashlight) with either two or three taps. Although two taps is obviously faster, I would suggest three taps because if you fidget with your phone, it’s easy to accidentally trigger the accessibility feature.

Once you choose a tap option, select the Flashlight option — or a different action if you prefer. You’ll see over 30 options to choose from, including system options like Siri or taking a screenshot, to accessibility-specific functions like opening a magnifier or turning on real-time live captions. You can also set up Back Tap to open the Control Center, go back home, mute your audio, turn the volume up and down and run any shortcuts you’ve downloaded or created.

You’ll know you’ve successfully selected your choice when a blue checkmark appears to the right of the action. You could actually set up two shortcuts this way — one that’s triggered by two taps and one that’s triggered by three taps to the iPhone’s back cover.

Once you exit the Settings application, you can try out the newly enabled Back Tap feature by tapping the back of your iPhone — in my case, to turn on the flashlight. To turn off the flashlight, you can tap on the back of your iPhone as well, but you can also just turn it off from your lock screen if that’s easier.

For more great iPhone tips, here’s how to keep your iPhone screen from dimming all the time and canceling all those subscriptions you don’t want or need.

Technologies

All the Nintendo Games You Can Update to Switch 2 for Free

Bad news: Mario Kart World will cost $80. Good news: These classic games will get free revamped versions for Switch 2.

Nintendo’s Switch 2 launch event on Wednesday has upset some fans for one key reason: pricing. The new console will be released on June 5 at a starting price of $450, and it will have new games, like Mario Kart World, Kirby Air Riders and Donkey Kong Bananza. But those games could cost as much as $80 (and that’s before factoring in possible tariffs).

Fortunately, Nintendo has also announced that some Nintendo Switch games will get free updates to improve playability on the upcoming console.

«By connecting your Nintendo Switch 2 to the internet, you can download free updates that may improve performance or add support for features such as GameShare in select games,» the company posted.

Here are all the Nintendo Switch games that can get a free update for the Switch 2.

Nintendo also announced that other Switch games will have upgraded versions of the base game, called Switch 2 Editions. These games, which include The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom, may offer improved graphics, unique ways to play the game with the Switch 2 hardware, and other features.

You can buy a digital or physical copy of these games if you’re purchasing them for the first time. But Switch 2 Edition games are not free if you already own the Switch version of one of these games, so you’ll have to buy an upgrade pack to play the updated version.

It’s unclear how much Switch 2 Editions of games and upgrade packs will cost, and it’s also unclear how upgrade packs will work with physical versions of Switch games.

The Nintendo Switch 2 will also be backward compatible with certain games. While we don’t know all the Switch games that will be playable on the Switch 2, we know some Switch games have startup (PDF) or in-game (PDF) compatibility issues with the upcoming console.

For more on the Nintendo Switch 2 Direct, here’s what we know about the upcoming console and what to know about games like Mario Kart World and Duskbloods.