Technology
Three iPhone settings that you should NEVER change – check yours now
YOU’VE likely heard endless advice about the settings to fiddle with to get more from your iPhone – but what about the ones you shouldn’t touch?
Tweaking your mobile’s setup can in some cases stop it from connecting to the internet and damage your display. Here are three settings to avoid.
Getty – ContributorAvoid tweaking these crucial iPhone settings if you can[/caption]
1) Display auto-brightness
Auto-brightness is activated on your iPhone by default and does what it says on the tin, adjusting brightness levels based on the light conditions around you.
An ambient light sensor near the selfie camera lowers brightness in darker locations and raises brightness in lighter locations.
Turing the feature off – particularly to set your display so it’s at maximum brightness all the time – can reduce your battery life and damage your device.
That’s because your iPhone uses up far more power when displaying at full brightness than at low brightness.
Switching off auto-brightness can also be bad for your eyesight.
Trying to squint at a dark screen in bright sunlight, or looking at a bright screen in a dark location, strains your eyes, leaving them feeling tired and irritated.
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You can turn auto-brightness on or off in Settings > Accessibility > Display & Text Size.
To reset the auto-brightness settings, turn off auto-brightness and then turn it back on.
2) Date and time
Altering the date and time on your iPhone might feel like a cheap way to time travel, but it can cause serious problems.
A common reason for doing this is to accelerate time in a game on iOS that requires a real-world time-lapse for progression.
However, altering the date and time on your iPhone can cause problems when trying to connect to some websites.
I can also mess with apps and features such as Screen Time, which tracks the amount you use your iPhone over time.
To make sure your iPhone time and date is correct at all times, turn on Set Automatically in Settings > General > Date & Time.
3) MMS and SMS messaging
Every message you send that’s not an iMessage is either an MMS (Multimedia Messaging Service) or SMS (Short Message Service).
An MMS has a file such as a picture or video attached while an SMS contains just plain old text.
You can turn SMS and MMS messaging off in your settings – but we wouldn’t advise it.
Doing so will mean you can’t send SMS or MMS messages to friends of yours who don’t have iPhones.
You’ll still be able to use iMessage, but texts sent to Android smartphones won’t get through to their recipients.
You can swap around your MMS and SMS settings by heading to Settings > Messages > SMS/MMS.
In other news, Apple has announced that it will let customers fix their own iPhones for the first time starting next year.
The UK is fighting an epidemic of hack attacks targeting consumers and businesses, according to officials.
NASA has slammed Russia after a missile it fired into one of its own satellites forced the space station to perform an emergency swerve.
And, a 75-year-old Brit has told of his anger after scammers on WhatsApp fooled him into sending them hundreds of pounds.
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