The built-in AI in the iPhone is now so good that you can use it to quickly identify plants, flowers, and many birds. Take a photo of your target, open it in Photos, and swipe it up. At the top of the meta information will be the species or common name. If it doesn’t know it, it gives you one button to “look up” that will usually give you an answer. It’s just about as accurate as the dedicated Seek app I was using before. — KK

I’ve been a serious photographer for more than 50 years. The best camera I have ever owned is a new iPhone 15 Pro. It is now the only camera I carry. But I had to learn and unlearn some tricks to use a phone as a camera well. Scott Kelby, a veteran pro photographer, made a fabulously helpful 45-minute video explaining his favorite 20 tips on using an iPhone for a serious travel camera. Most of the tips in Kelby’s Using Your iPhone for Travel Photography tutorial were new to me, and right on. Would probably be useful for any current smartphone. — KK

I use the Libby smart phone app to read Kindle versions of books and listen to audio books. You just need a library card from your local library to activate your free account. If you have trouble finding a particular book, use the deep search function listed under “Filters” in the app. Here’s a video that explains it. (Note the not all libraries offer deep search.) — MF

This wireless charging station is a space-saver on my bedside table. It allows me to charge my iPhone, AirPods, and Apple Watch all at once, eliminating the need for multiple cords. I can charge my phone in landscape modes, which turns it into a StandBy mode clock. — MF

I got a Stouchi Continuity Camera Mount to use my iPhone as a webcam for my desktop monitor, which lacks a built-in webcam. This mount is compatible with iPhone models ranging from 12 to 15 and adapts to most external monitors. Constructed from aluminum, it has a strong magnetic attachment that ensures my phone remains securely in place. — MF

I bought these gloves for a relative who lives in New England. The forefinger and thumb have touchscreen-sensitive pads on them, so you can use your phone or tablet without removing the gloves. They look nice and are inexpensive. — MF

I have two lunar calendars and I use them both. MOON is on Apple only ($11/yr) and I love it because it displays a huge moon widget on my home screen. The moon is animated to depict its illumination percentage and the stars will play music for you if you shake and tap them. It’s fun. My other app and the one I can wholeheartedly recommend because it’s free is My Moon Phase (available on iOS and Android). It’s one of few apps I have set to allow notifications and it provides more specific information about the moon like its distance from Earth and moonrise and moonset times. Sadly, no widget. — CD

When you hear some music you want to identify, instead of opening an app on your phone, just ask Siri. Shazam, the premier music-identifying app is built right into Siri now, and it will identify the song and save the reference. “Siri, what’s this song?” — KK

This is something my daughter told me about. On Android and Apple phones, you can take a picture by pressing the volume up key. It’s more convenient than touching the software button on the phone’s display. I find it especially useful for taking street photography. — MF

The Mobile Phone Museum is designed to preserve the heritage of mobile technology and it is nostalgia-inducing. The museum currently has more than 2600 mobile phones from the past that were donated and you can search by type, brand, year and curated collections like Ugliest and James Bond phones. — CD

I met someone who was surprised to hear that Skype was still going. Yes, it was bought by Microsoft, and for me Skype is the main way I make international phone calls. They aren’t free but they are extremely cheap compared to other telephone channels. Zoom, Facetime, WhatsApp are all essentially free, but many companies are only reachable with a phone number. To call a phone number via Skype open the Skype app on either your laptop or phone, and select the keyboard icon, then dial the phone number. (You need a few dollars credit in your Skye account.) — KK

I recently discovered that my iPhone has built-in background sounds like rain, ocean, or stream to mask unwanted noise. This feature came in handy on a recent flight while my phone was in airplane mode. You can also play ambient noise while you play other media like music or podcasts to further drown out environmental sounds. I found it under Settings > Accessibility > Audio Visual > Background Sounds. Thanks to Recomendo reader Pedro Nobre for the heads up on this. — CD

Most newer phones allow you to install an eSIM, which is like a SIM card without the physical card. I buy cheap eSIMs from Airalo to give my phone fast internet data when I travel to foreign countries. I can top up my eSIM when it runs out of data. — MF

Since I deactivated background app refreshing on my iPhone (Settings > General > Background App Refresh), the battery charge has lasted much longer. My apps will no longer run int the background, but I haven’t noticed any difference in the way the phone works. — MF

I use Google Maps (and Apple Maps) a lot when I’m walking around in an unfamiliar place. Instead of holding the phone in one hand and dragging and pinching-to-zoom with the other hand, I learned I can do everything with one hand. I hold the phone in my left hand and use my thumb to drag. And if I want to zoom in or out, I tap twice with my thumb, leaving my thumb on the display after the second tap, and then slide my thumb up or down to zoom. — MF

I recently realized my updated iOS has a scanner hidden within my Notes app. It works just as good as the paid subscription app I previously recommended. All you have to do is create a new note in your Notes app and above the keyboard you will find a row of icons, one of which is a camera icon. Select the camera icon and you’ll find the option to “Scan Documents.” Further instructions here. — CD

Here’s a happy blog post: What Every Heart Emoji Really Means. Just happy stats about which heart emoji is the most popular, what meanings have been attributed to the different colored hearts, and what the heart emojis translate to on different devices. This is just a personal plea for more use of the heart emoji all around. Also, I just discovered “heart exclamation"❣️ — CD

The easiest way I found to share our wifi with visitors to my office or our home is with a large QR code printed on heavy paper, and posted wherever. Visitors aim their phone at the glyph and are then logged in. Easy-peasy. You can generate the Wifi QR code at this free website: Pure JS Wifi Code Generator. SSID is the name of your wifi, and “key” is the password. — KK

Right now the prettiest thing on my screen is an image I found on Visuals of Earth, which has a trove of dreamy and magical wallpapers that are free to download for your phone. The @visualsofearth Instagram also reposts and shares lovely images by digital artists. — CD  

Something cool I just learned is if you have a supported smartphone, you can search for an animal on Google and view them in 3D! Here’s instruction on how to do it and a list of all the animals currently available at this time. — CD