Chapter 12. The Built-In Apps

Your iPhone comes already loaded with the icons of about 25 programs. Eventually, of course, you’ll fill it up with apps you install yourself, but Apple starts you off with the essentials. They include gateways to the Internet (Safari), communications tools (Phone, Messages, Mail, Contacts), visual records of your life (Photos, Camera), shopping centers (iTunes Store, App Store), omnipresent storage (iCloud Drive), and entertainment (Music, TV, Podcasts).

Those core apps get special treatment in the other chapters. This chapter covers the secondary programs, in alphabetical order: Calculator, Calendar, Clock, Compass, Health, Home, iBooks, Maps, News, Notes, Podcasts, Reminders, Stocks, Tips, TV, Voice Memos, Wallet, Watch, and Weather.

Tip

You can open any of these apps by hunting it down and tapping its icon. But it’s usually much faster to tell Siri to do it. Say, “Open the calculator,” for example.

Calculator

The iPhone wouldn’t be much of a computer without a calculator, now, would it? And here it is, your everyday calculator—with a secret twist.

In Calculator’s basic four-function mode, you can tap out equations (like 15.4 × 300 =) to see the answer at the top. (You can paste things you’ve copied into here, too; just hold your finger down until the Paste button appears.) There’s no memory function in the basic calculator, but you do get a +/– button; its function is to change the currently displayed number from positive to negative, or vice versa.

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