- Let's talk about 25 iOS 16 settings
(soft electronic music) you need to turn off now.
- From the battery saving, to the privacy protecting,
and even those sneaky settings
that Apple really wants you to leave on,
we'll cover them all.
- We'll start with one new setting you need to turn off
to turn on a pretty handy feature.
iOS 16 adds an unnecessary spotlight search button
to the home screen,
and if you wanna get rid of that button,
(whoosh) open Settings,
scroll down,
tap Home Screen,
and then turn off the switch next to Show on Home Screen.
- It's not just that the button itself is useless,
to open spotlight, you can just swipe down anywhere
in the middle of the screen,
when you turn off the button,
you get this awesome home screen slide.
- Yeah, and for those of you with a lot of home screens --
- [David Payette] Like me.
- [David] You can swipe back and forth nice and easily
to get to your other home screens.
- Let's talk about some of the most overlooked
iPhone settings.
Apple buries them because they really don't want you
to turn them off.
- Open up the Settings app, (whoosh)
tap back to the main page of Settings,
and scroll up to your name at the top of the screen,
tap on that. (whoosh)
Then tap Name, Phone Numbers, Email,
and then scroll down to this subscriptions section.
By turning these switches off,
you won't receive any Apple marketing communications.
- AKA spam.
- [David] Turn those off.
- There's another setting buried in here.
(whoosh)
Tap Back, upper left hand corner of the screen,
then tap Media & Purchases.
Tap View Account,
and turn off the switch next to Personalized Recommendations
to help cut down on the data
Apple is collecting about you to sell you stuff.
- We're gonna talk about more ways
that Apple collects your data in a minute,
but first, (bloop)
let's take a look and see how secure your iPhone really is.
- Let's tap Done, upper right hand corner of the screen,
back to the main page of Settings,
scroll down, and tap on Privacy & Security.
Here, you'll see a list of your apps and features,
which apps do you want having access to things
like your camera, your photos, your contacts,
here's where you get to decide.
Let's tap on Photos,
and look at this list of apps,
does Facebook need access to your photos?
- Probably not all of them.
- So we tap on Facebook, maybe Selected Photos,
you get to pick and choose which photos Facebook needs
instead of giving them access to all of your photos.
Let's tap Back, upper left hand corner of the screen,
back to the main Privacy & Security page.
Microphone, which apps need access to your microphone.
TikTok?
Maybe not, especially if you're just watching videos.
Let's tap Back, upper left hand corner of the screen,
and then tap on Camera.
- You see where we're going with this?
We recommend taking this section one by one,
and turning off permissions for apps that don't need them.
Let's tap Back to the main Privacy & Security page,
one more we wanna talk about,
Research Sensor & Usage Data,
turn that switch off.
- Let's talk about another way (bloop)
Apple collects information about you.
- Let's tap Back, upper left hand corner of the screen,
scroll down and tap on Analytics & Improvements.
Turn all of these switches off.
Easier way to do that,
just tap that switch at the top of the screen,
turns most of them off,
turn off Share iCloud Analytics,
turn off Improve Siri & Dictation.
To see just how much data Apple is collecting,
you can tap on Analytics Data,
and you've got this very long list.
- As a bonus, turning these switches off saves battery life,
and some cellular data too.
- But wait, (bloop)
there's another way Apple is collecting data about you.
Tap Back, upper left hand corner of the screen,
back again,
one below Analytics & Improvements is Apple Advertising.
- Like most big tech companies,
Apple collects information about you
to show you targeted ads.
You can see the information they actually have about you
by tapping View Ad Targeting Information.
- [David] We recommend turning off personalized ads.
- We promise you won't see low quality ads now,
because Apple won't let low quality advertisers
into their ad network.
All that being said,
Apple is very good about maintaining your privacy.
The same can't be said about a lot of other tech companies.
- Let's tap Back, upper left hand corner of the screen,
scroll to the top of the page,
and tap on Tracking.
These apps, wanna track you across other apps and websites.
If the switch is on next to an app,
that app has permission to track you.
Now, you can pick and choose.
- Maybe you have a soft spot for Mark Zuckerberg.
- Or you can turn off the switch
next to Allow Apps to Request to Track
at the top of the screen,
Ask Apps to Stop Tracking turns off all the switches.
And now in the future,
apps can't even request to attract you.
- We promised you battery tips, so let's get into those,
and we don't even have to go far.
- Tap Back to Privacy & Security
in the upper left hand corner of the screen,
then tap Location Services.
You'll see a list of your apps,
and when they're allowed to access your location.
The real danger here is the word "Always."
That means an app can access your location all the time,
even when you're not using it.
- Using GPS on your phone uses more battery
than almost anything else.
I like to ask myself,
"Do I want to allow this app to drain my battery?"
- If you see an app with the word "Always,"
tap on that app in the list,
and choose something else,
While Using the App, or Ask Next Time,
usually pretty safe bets.
Also watch out for Precise Location.
How precise does that location really need to be
for an app like Snapchat?
Not that precise.
- And the more precisely your iPhone tracks your movements,
the more battery it uses.
- Credit where credit is due,
Apple is getting better at letting you know
when apps are constantly using your location
in the background.
I had one time where DraftKings used my location
32 times in the background over three days.
Next, let's tap Back to Location Services,
upper left hand corner of the screen,
and then scroll all the way down to the bottom of the list
until you see System Services.
Tap on that.
We're gonna turn off pretty much everything in here,
and even if you've turned off some of these switches before,
don't be surprised that they got turned back on
after you updated your iPhone.
- Turn off everything,
except Emergency Calls and SOS, Find My iPhone,
and unless you want to know which direction you're walking,
Motion Calibration & Distance.
- I was recently in Washington, DC,
not familiar with the area at all,
having Motion Calibration & Distance on was super helpful,
but most of the time, I just turn it off.
- Share My Location, if it's a feature you use,
and System Customization,
if you turn this off,
Apple says that optimized battery charging won't work.
- Optimized battery charging isn't as useful as it sounds,
and I think you're better off turning off this setting
and the next one we're going to talk about,
which is Significant Locations.
So, let's tap on Significant Locations.
Here you'll see a list of the places you visit most often.
It's a little creepy.
- Creepy.
- Creepy, uses a little bit of battery life,
we recommend turning the switch off.
At the top of the screen,
tap Turn Off.
Let's tap Back, upper left hand corner of the screen,
we have three product improvement switches.
- iPhone Analytics,
didn't we already turn that off?
- I thought so, but apparently not,
tap that switch, turn it off.
- [David Payette] Routing & Traffic?
- [David] Off.
- [David Payette] And Apple Maps?
- Turn that off.
Fun fact, if you uninstall Maps on your iPhone,
which I have done,
this switch goes away.
- Let's talk about a new iOS 16 setting
that's very important for your privacy.
- Let's tap Back, upper left hand corner of the screen,
back again,
back one more time,
reach the main page of Settings,
scroll up and tap on Notifications.
Then tap on Screen Sharing,
Allow Notifications while screen sharing,
turn that off.
When the switch is off,
your messages won't appear when you're sharing your screen,
there could be something you don't want other people to see.
- There's one more iOS 16 setting
that you need to know about,
but before we get to that,
we need to talk about the most important setting
for people with a 5G iPhone,
and those of you who are thinking about getting
the iPhone 14.
- Let's tap Back, upper left hand corner of the screen,
back to the main page of Settings,
and scroll up,
and tap on your name at the top of the screen,
then tap iCloud,
and then tap iCloud Backup.
Back Up Over Cellular,
turn that switch off.
- Just one backup over cellular
could use your entire cellular data plan.
Even unlimited data plans have high speed data caps.
- While you're in here,
tap on your iPhone underneath all the device backups,
and see if there's anything
you don't need to have backed up to iCloud,
it's a great way to save money on iCloud storage space.
So, TikTok for instance, don't need that.
- And for you 5G iPhone users out there,
there's another setting you need to turn off.
- Let's tap Back to back up,
upper left hand corner of the screen,
Back again,
Back,
just go back to the main page of Settings,
then tap on Cellular.
Tap Cellular Data Options,
and then tap Voice & Data.
- Choose 5G Auto or LTE.
If there's no 5G where you live, definitely choose LTE.
- Let's tap Back, upper left hand corner of the screen,
and then tap on Data Mode.
- Allow More Data on 5G is the dangerous one here,
because it means that your iPhone
might use your cellular data instead of wifi.
You'll also save a lot of battery life.
LTE uses less battery than 5G.
- Standard or low data mode is the way to go.
But wait there's a one more cellular setting
that we need to turn off.
Let's tap Back, upper left hand corner of the screen,
back to the main cellular page,
scroll down
until you see iCloud Drive,
turn that switch off.
- This is another setting,
that even for you unlimited plan users out there,
can burn through your entire high speed data cap
really fast. (gentle music)
- Next, we have two mail settings,
one of which we've never talked about before
on this channel.
- We realize we go through these settings kind of fast,
if you join our channel, you can download a PDF
with all of the settings we tell you to turn off
in this video.
- Click the join button below
(click) to find out how.
Back to those mail settings.
(bloop)
tap Back to Settings, upper left hand corner of the screen,
scroll down, and tap on Mail.
First, let's tap Accounts,
and then Fetch New Data.
Turn off Push at the top of the screen.
- When Push is on,
your iPhone maintains a connection to the email server,
and it's constantly asking,
"Is there mail, is there mail, is there mail?"
Fetch lets you decide how often to check for new mail.
- Here underneath Fetch,
we have every 30 minutes, every hour, every 15 minutes.
30 minutes, safe bet for most people,
and you can always fetch new mail
anytime you open the mail app.
- That alone will save you a lot of battery life.
But what about that mail setting
that we've never talked about before?
(upbeat electronic music)
- Tap Back to the main Mail page,
scroll down and tap Blocked Sender Options.
You blocked them for a reason, right?
- Yep.
- Do you really want their messages
to show up in your inbox?
- Nope.
- Let's tap Move to Trash.
- Next, let's talk about messages you send.
- Let's tap Back to the main page of Settings,
scroll up, and tap on Siri & Search,
then tap on Automatically Send Messages,
and turn off the Automatically Send Messages switch.
It's a good idea to review your messages
before you send them.
- It's going to be a while before I trust Siri that much.
- You're right not to trust Siri.
(bloop)
You also shouldn't trust random personal hotspots.
Let's tap Back, upper left hand corner of the screen,
back to the main page of settings, scroll up,
and tap Wi-Fi.
Then scroll down to Auto Join Hotspot
and select Never.
- You don't want your iPhone going around
and asking to join personal hotspots
that don't belong to you.
- The person who owns the hotspot
might collect all sorts of information about you.
- And it's just plain rude.
- The next setting is one we don't agree on,
except when kids are involved.
Let's tap back to the main page of Settings,
then tap Sounds & Haptics,
tap Headphone Safety,
and here we have Reduce Loud Sounds.
Now, I believe you're an adult,
unless you're not,
and you can choose how loud your music gets on your own.
I don't want my iPhone automatically lowering my volume
for me.
- And as an adult,
I don't want to accidentally blow up my eardrums.
- Well fortunately for me,
anytime I connect my Beats Fit Pro to my iPhone,
it lowers them to the volume they were at last,
which is always a responsible volume.
- What do you want, a parade? (fwip)
- No, I want a subscribe.
Please subscribe to this channel.
- Whoa.
(clack)
- Here's something we can agree on,
it's annoying how app developers
are always asking me for five star reviews.
- Let's tap back to the main page of Settings,
scroll down, and tap on App Store.
Here we have In-App Ratings & Reviews,
turn that switch off.
While we're here,
let's talk about Automatic App Downloads,
we recommend turning that switch off.
It's pretty annoying if you have an iPad,
and all your iPhone apps get installed on your iPad.
- I've been there,
and there's another way to stop your iPhone
from downloading information it doesn't need to.
- Let's tap back to the main page of Settings,
scroll down, and tap on Safari.
Preload Top Hit, turn that switch off.
- This setting exists
because Apple is so sure you're going to click
on the first Google results
that they load the page in the background
so it opens faster when you tap on it.
- But if you don't choose that top hit,
your iPhone just downloaded something unnecessarily,
used a little bit of cellular data and battery life.
- The next setting is one that sounds good,
but it really isn't,
we actually think Apple makes it confusing
because they don't want you to turn it off.
In your Safari settings,
scroll down to Privacy Preserving Ad Measurement.
- This setting should just be called "ad measurement."
When you turn off the switch,
it doesn't mean that your privacy isn't preserved,
it just means that there isn't any ad measurement,
even the "privacy preserving" kind.
- Turn that switch off.
This next setting is especially frustrating
for those of us who like sending high quality pictures
to our family and friends.
Let's tap back to Settings,
in the upper left hand corner of the screen,
then tap Messages.
Scroll down to Low Quality Image Mode.
"When this is on, images will be sent in lower quality."
Turn that switch off.
- Low quality images are annoying, but on the flip side,
ProRes and ProRAW, also kind of annoying.
- Let's tap Back to Settings,
upper left hand corner of the screen,
scroll down and tap on Camera,
then tap Formats.
- ProRes is not necessary on an iPhone.
I don't care how big the file gets,
ProRes on an iPhone is not the same
as ProRes on a high quality camera.
All it does is fill up your storage space
so you end up buying more iCloud storage.
(David exhales sharply) - We just turned off a lot
of iPhone settings,
but did you know there are a ton of settings
you need to turn on?
To watch that video next,
it is appearing on the screen now.