The Ridiculously Simple Guide To iPhone 12, iPhone Pro, and iPhone Pro Max: A Practical Guide To Getting Started With the Next Generation of iPhone and iOS 14

Introduction

Getting an iPhone can be thrilling and intimidating all at once! On the one hand, it’s like getting a new toy—and one of the best phones money can buy. One the other hand, being arguably the best phone means it comes packed with lots of features—lots and lots of features! How do you use all of them?

This guide is formatted in a way to help you use your phone (and all its powerful features) as quickly as possible. Nobody likes to spend hours with a manual! They want to use their new toy!

I purposely have written this guide to be a little more casual and fun than what you expect from most iPhone manuals. The iPhone is a fun gadget, and any guide should be an equally fun read.

Some of the included topics:

What's new to iOS 14

Using an iPhone that doesn't have a Home button

Using Face ID

How to use Picture in Picture for movies and TV shows

How to add widgets to your Home screen

Organizing apps with the App Library

Buying, removing, rearranging, updating apps

MagSafe

Taking, editing, organizing and sharing photos

Apple Services (Apple Music, Apple TV+, Apple Card, iCloud, and Fitness+)

Using Siri

Using pre-installed apps like Notes, Calendar, Reminders, and more

Making phone calls and sending messages

Creating Animoji's

Must have apps

And much, much more!

Are you ready to start enjoying your new iPhone? Then let's get started!

Note: This book is not endorsed by Apple, Inc and should be considered unofficial.

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iOS Overview

It was an eventful year for the iPhone. While the actual phones arrived later in the year than usual, they also came in lots of shapes, sizes, and prices. This year, iPhone released a brand new model: the iPhone 12 Mini—an affordable solution for those who want 5G and are willing to sacrifice some features for a lesser price. I’ll break down the differences below.

All new phones come with 5G and the new A14 processor.

What’s the Big Difference?

So with all these new phones, the question a lot of people want to know is what’s the difference. Let’s take a look.

Price

Pricing for the phones starts as follows: iPhone 12 mini: $699; iPhone 12: $799; iPhone 12 Pro: $999; iPhone 12 Pro Max: $1099. The price increases depending on the size of the internal hard drive. But it should be noted that many wireless carriers offer discounts on the new model. Apple also offers installment plan payments.

Size & Design

Size is the obvious difference on the phones. iPhone 12 mini is 5.4 inches; iPhone 12 is 6.1 inches; iPhone 12 Pro is 6.1 inches; and iPhone 12 Pro Max is 6.7 inches. The Pro models are slightly larger than last year's models, but not enough that you will notice a difference. 

The design of the phones return to the flatter, more squared off edges of previous generations. It gives the phones a more precision cut look that some people prefer and believe is easier to hold.

The base iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 mini start at 64GB in size and go up to 256GB; the iPhone Pro Max starts at 128GB, and goes to 512GB.

All the phones have a Ceramic Shield front; the iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 mini are made with aluminum; the Pro models are made with stainless steel. All models are water resistant to a depth of six meters and up to 30 minutes. All phones are compatible with MagSafe accessories and wireless chargers.

Camera

The camera on the iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 mini has two lenses (Ultra Wide and Wide) with an optical zoom of 2x, and can record in Dolby Vision HDR (30 FPS); the iPhone 12 Pro (Max) has three lenses (Ultra Wide, Wide, Telephoto) with an optical zoom of 5x, and can record in Dolby Vision HDR (60 FPS); the Pro models also have a LiDAR Scanner that can help take superior night mode / low light photos. The Pro models will also be able to shoot in Raw format later this year. You can also take front-facing night mode portrait photos on the Pro model.

The Pro models also come with sensor-shift optical image stabilization, which helps capture crisper photos with sharper details.

While the Pro models have the best cameras, it should be noted that all the phones offer some of the best cameras on the market; regardless of what phone you get, you will be impressed by the photos you get.

iPhone 11 vs iPhone 12

If you are unsure if you should upgrade from the 11 to the 12, the question you are probably asking is what’s the difference. On paper they seem similar. 

Whether you should upgrade really depends on what you want out of the phone and how you use it. The iPhone 12 is faster and stronger than the 11, but for a casual user, this won’t matter greatly.

The biggest reason many people will upgrade will be because they want 5G. Again, however, for many users, this isn’t really a game-changer. 5G is available in larger cities, but if you live somewhere more rural, you may not have 5G in your area yet. It’s best to check your carrier’s coverage map to make sure you aren’t buying into a feature you can’t even use.

The camera is also very similar to last year's models. If you're a professional photographer, you’ll love the richer details in the photos, but more than that, you’ll love that you can finally shoot in Raw format. Raw isn’t a big deal for a lot of people, but it is for people comfortable with editing photos using photography software.

The screens are also brighter on the new phones, which is a nice add-on, but not exactly a reason to switch over.

The new MagSafe cases will probably turn out to be one of the biggest incentives to the new iPhones. There are only a few accessories now, but one can only imagine how many there will be months from now. 

Compatibility

For those of you who are still considering if they should upgrade, remember that most iPhone’s will get a free software update that adds many of the features that the newest iPhones are getting.

iOS 14 is the latest operating system available for Apple iPhone (and the latest iPod Touch). While iOS is free, it is not available to all devices; if you have an older iPhone, then it may be time to upgrade to get all the best new features. The following devices are compatible, as of this writing:

iPhone 11

iPhone 11 Pro

iPhone 11 Pro Max

iPhone XS

iPhone XS Max

iPhone XR

iPhone X

iPhone 8

iPhone 8 Plus

iPhone 7

iPhone 7 Plus

iPhone 6s

iPhone 6s Plus

iPhone SE (1st generation)

iPhone SE (2nd generation)

iPod touch (7th generation)

It should also be noted that not all features are available on older models. So if you hear someone talking about a great new feature on their phone and you don’t see it, then it’s probably because you have an older iPhone.

If you aren’t sure what model number you have, go to the Settings app, then tap the General option, and tap About.  This will tell you your model name (i.e. iPhone 11 Pro Max) and the model number and serial number. The model number will indicate things like how large the hard drive is; the serial number is likely only something you would need if you are getting your phone repaired.

How to Update Your Phone?

If you have auto updates on, then there’s nothing you need to do. It will download on its own (usually while you sleep). If you want to do it manually, or see if auto updates are on, go to Settings > General > Software Updates.

The update is quite large, so make sure you download it over Wi-Fi and not data. Once it’s downloaded, it will take several minutes to install and you won’t be able to use your phone for some of this time, so make sure you aren’t expecting any calls.

What’s New in iOS 14

In terms of the overall look of iOS, there are two big changes: Widgets on your Home screen and a new view called App Library. Both will be covered in greater scope later in this book.

In terms of new features, the biggest ones you should be aware of are below:

Widgets - If you have ever used Android, you might already know a thing or two about widgets; they’ve been available to some degree on the iPhone for a while, but iOS 14 is the first time you can put them right on your Home screen. What are they? Think of them like tiny versions of your app to give you insights without having to open the app—to see the weather, for example, or what calendar events you have coming up.

App Library - App Library is a new view meant to keep you even more productive and organized. It puts all of your apps in one place and makes it easier to find the apps you commonly use, or search for the ones that you don’t. You no longer have to have all of your apps on Home screens; you can hide them in the App Library while keeping them on your phone.

Translate - Translate is a new Apple app that lets you translate a conversation in real-time; it’s great for traveling to other countries. Just say in English what you need to ask and pick the language—or have the person speak into your phone and it auto detects the language that they are speaking.

Maps - Maps gets a minor update with iOS 14; in addition to all the different types of directions that you can get (like walking, driving and transit), you can now get cycling directions. The app can also give you electric vehicle routing to help you find the best directions that include charging locations.

Picture in Picture - This mode has been on new iPads for a while, but it now comes to iOS; it lets you see videos playing in the background as you do other things—like surf the Internet or even play games.

Redesigned Messages - Message comes with several new features; the best: pinning conversations, so you can keep the people you talk to most up high; the reply to mention someone in a group reply, and reply directly to specific messages within a text exchange.

New Memoji Styles - Memoji works the same as always, but there are more options to dress your avatar up.

Password Monitoring - Password monitoring alerts you when there’s a data breach somewhere that you have a password stored, so you can change it right away and prevent identity theft.

App Clips - App Clips are like mini apps; they let you use the most basic features of an app without having to download the app.

Compact Calls - One of the best features in iOS 14 is not so much what it does, but how it does it; you’ll notice that things like Siri and incoming phone calls are now much more compacted—so you can keep doing what you're doing, and not be pulled away from the app to decline the call.

I’ll talk about each of these features later in this book, so don’t worry if you don’t quite understand them.

The Fast Truth About 5G

5G is obviously one of the standout features of the new iPhone's—the reason some people are deciding to get it. But is it really all it's cracked up to be? Yes and no.

One of the biggest buts of 5G is it's not available everywhere. The United States lags behind a lot of countries when it comes to having a super-fast wireless network. While big