and the Dock is a line of dots (one of which is white, the others are gray). These represent the number of Home screens you have. The white dot tells you which of the Home screens you’re on. In Figure 2-3, you see the first dot is white followed by three gray dots, which means this is Home screen one of four. Flick the current Home screen to the left, and the screen moves one screen to the left; flick the Home screen to the right, and the screen moves one screen to the right. Touch the dots toward the left, and the screen moves one screen to the left; touch the dots to the right, and the screen moves one screen to the right.
Tap any of the app icons on the Home screen, and the associated app opens. If you tap a folder, it opens. Then you tap the app inside the folder that you want to launch. Double-click the Home button and the apps that are open appear in the App Switcher and contact icons for your favorite folks or those with whom you’ve recently exchanged a phone call or message appear at the top.
iPhone 6 Plus lets you view the Home screen in landscape (horizontal) mode.
Staying informed with Status bar icons
The Status bar runs across the very top of your iPhone in either portrait or landscape view, in apps that support landscape view. Its icons give you information about your cellular and/or wireless network connection, battery life, and auxiliary functions you may have turned on, such as Do Not Disturb and the alarm clock. Here is an explanation of each one. Remember, you won’t see them all at once on your iPhone, and some you may never see:
✔
Airplane Mode: You see this icon if you’ve turned Airplane mode on in Settings. See Book I, Chapter
4 for more details on Airplane Mode.
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Alarm: Appears if you set an alarm using the Clock app; we explore the Clock app in Book III, Chapter
2.
✔
Battery: The filled amount indicates approximately how much charge remains on the battery. A more accurate percentage appears next to the icon if you turn on Battery Percentage in the Settings app by tapping General and then tapping Usage. A lightning bolt next to the battery tells you it’s being charged. Refer to the earlier section, “
Charging Your iPhone Battery” to read more about battery usage.
✔
Bluetooth: Shows that Bluetooth is turned on. When it’s black or white, you’re connected to another Bluetooth device such as a headset. When it’s gray, Bluetooth is on but no device is connected. Some Bluetooth-enabled headsets add their own battery charge indicator to the Status bar, so you know when you need to charge your headset.
✔
Call Forwarding: On GSM models (an unlocked Apple iPhone or an AT&T iPhone, refer to the “
Considering iPhone Carriers and Configurations” section in Book I, Chapter
1), appears when you’ve forwarded your calls to another phone number. The call forwarding settings are explained in Book II, Chapter
1.
✔
Cell Signal: Indicates the strength of the cellular signal your iPhone is connected to. If you have no filled-in circles or just one, the signal is weak – more solid circles, stronger signal.
No Service appears when iPhone is unable to pick up a signal from your cellular provider. If Airplane Mode is turned on, you see the airplane icon instead of the cell signal circles. If your carrier offers Wi-Fi calling, you’ve activated it as an option with your carrier, and you turn it on in the Phone section of the Settings app, you see
carrier name Wi-Fi.
✔
Do Not Disturb: Reminds you that you’ve activated the Do Not Disturb feature.
✔
EDGE (E): Appears when iPhone is connected to your cellular provider’s EDGE data network for accessing the Internet. GSM models support EDGE networks. Read more about Internet access later in this chapter.
✔
GPRS/1xRTT: GSM models use the GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) network and CDMA models use the 1xRTT (1x Radio Transmission Technology) network to access the Internet when those networks are available. Read more about Internet access in the “
Making Connections” section, later in this chapter.
✔
Location Services: When you see this icon, an app, such as Maps or Reminders, is tracking your current location coordinates in order to provide you with nearby information or other services.
✔
LTE: Lets you know you have an LTE cellular connection; this icon may be 4G, depending on your carrier.
✔
Network Activity: Spins when iPhone is accessing a cellular or Wi-Fi network for any app that uses the Internet, such as Safari or the App Store. It also appears when iPhone is syncing iCloud information over the air, or sometimes when an app is performing other data-related activities.
✔
Personal Hotspot: This icon is active when you’ve connected to another iPhone or a 3G/4G iPad that is providing a Personal Hotspot.
✔
Orientation Lock: This reminds you that you’ve turned off the landscape view feature. You can turn your iPhone every which way, but the screen remains in portrait position – unless you open an app that only works in landscape position, such as some games or videos.
✔
Syncing: Indicates that your iPhone is syncing with iTunes or iCloud.
✔
TTY: Indicates your iPhone is configured to work with a Teletype (TTY) machine.
✔
UMTS/EV-DO (3G): Indicates when GSM models are connected to the UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System) network, or CDMA models are connected to the EV-DO (Evolution-Data Optimized) network to access the Internet when those networks are available. Read more about Internet access in the “
Making Connections” section later in this chapter.
✔
VPN: Indicates iPhone is connected to a VPN (Virtual Private Network).
✔
Wi-Fi: Indicates iPhone is connected to a Wi-Fi network. The more bars, the merrier – er, we mean, the more stable – the connection. Read more about wireless connections in the “
Making Connections” section of this chapter.
Understanding Status bar colors
The
