Not only will the ever-loyal Siri—you know, Apple’s voice-activated digital assistant for iPhone and iPad—cheerfully read your email, set alarms, deliver weather reports and generally be at your beck and call, she’ll even change the sound of her voice if you ask her to. In addition to changing the gender of Siri’s voice, you can also give her a different accent, teach her a new language or even ask her to keep quiet unless you’re using a headset.

The first step: tap Settings, Siri & Search. You can also ask Siri to “change the sound of your voice”; when you do, she’ll give you a shortcut to her voice settings.

1. Change the gender of Siri’s voice

Want to change the sound of Siri’s voice from female to male, or back to female again? Tap the Siri Voice setting (Settings, Siri & Search, Siri Voice), then pick “Male” or “Female” under the Gender heading.

2. Give Siri a new accent

You’ll probably find the Accent setting just above the Gender heading; I say “probably” because not all of Siri’s known languages offer different accents. In English, for example, you can choose between American, Australian, and British accents. If Siri’s speaking French, though, there won’t be any alternate accents to choose from.

Related: 5 tasks that Siri does better than your fingertips can

3. Ask Siri to speak a different language

Speaking of languages, Siri is fluent in everything from Arabic and Chinese to Russian and Turkish. Just back up to the main Siri screen (under Settings, Siri& Search), tap Language, and pick one.

4. Decide how much Siri gets to speak

By default, Siri will speak aloud at all times, even when your device is switched to silent mode. Want to make a change? Easy.

Just tap Voice Feedback from the main Siri settings screen, You’ve got three settings to choose from: Always, meaning Siri will speak aloud whenever you talk to her; Control with Ring Switch, which will keep Siri quiet whenever the ring switch is set to “silent”; and Hands-Free Only, which means you’ll only hear Siri’s voice when you’re using a headset. If you want Siri to keep quiet most of the time, go for the Hands-Free Only option.

Is your family having trouble sharing your iTunes and App Store purchases while also keeping your iMessages and other iCloud data separate? One of our readers shares his story, and I’ve got some Apple Family Sharing tips that’ll help sort everything out.

Here’s a recent e-mail I received from Jan:

Hello Ben,

I just read some of your notes on using Apple IDs. This is a recurring source of headaches, irritation and disputes between me and my wife.

We share an iCloud Apple ID to share the Photo Library, Photo Stream, Contacts and Calendars, like you describe in one of your posts. We also use a shared iTunes Store Apple ID for music, apps, books, videos and another one for shopping in the U.S. stores. (Since we live in The Netherlands; some items are not sold in our local iTunes, etc.) All this similar to the setup you describe in another one of your articles.

So far, so good.

The pain is in a number of apps that store and/or use info that implicitly gets connected to the iCloud ID (I think), leading to all sorts of mix-ups. The most annoying in our experience:

iMessage: Messages link to phone numbers, iOS connects both our mobile numbers to the shared iCloud ID, effectively merging our message streams. This doesn’t work for us.)

Phone: Merging the logs of successful and missed calls—less annoying, but still confusing at times.

Health: All of our iDevices merge on the “sources” list [for Health-connected apps and devices] and cannot be separated out.

There may be more, but these three are sources for much discussion between my wife and myself.

Any suggestions on how to save this otherwise satisfactory marriage?

I feel Jan’s pain. Luckily, Apple’s Family Sharing for iOS feature makes it much easier than it used to be for families to share their calendars, photos, music and apps.

Here’s the easiest way to get started.

Activate the Apple Family Sharing feature

To access Family Sharing, tap Settings, then tap your name on the top of the screen to visit your Apple ID settings page.

First, make sure you’re logged into the right accounts. For starters, there’s your main iCloud account, but if you’re a longtime iPhone user, you may also have a separate iTunes & App Store account under a different e-mail address. Nowadays, there’s no need to have separate accounts for iCloud and iTunes, but those of us who’ve been using iPhones since the beginning had to create iTunes accounts before iCloud arrived on the scene. And no, there’s no easy way to combine an iCloud account with an old iTunes account.

Now, scroll down a bit, tap Set Up Family Sharing, follow the prompts, then tap Add Family Member. You can add up to six people under the Apple Family Sharing feature.

In my case, my wife and I used to share a single account for iCloud. When we set up Apple Family Sharing in our home, my wife created her own iCloud account. I then went ahead and added her as a family member.

Start sharing iCloud, iTunes and App Store data & purchases with your family

Once you’re done adding family members, you’ll need to choose which iOS, iTunes and iCloud features you’d like to share.

For example, tap Purchase Sharing to add a credit card that all your family members can use to pay for App Store and iTunes purchases. You can also tap Apple Music to share your Apple Music subscription (if you have one—I don’t). Meanwhile, iCloud storage lets you pool your online iCloud storage (particularly handy when it comes to storing photos in iCloud Photo Library). Last but not least, Location Sharing keeps track of where you all are via iOS’s Location Services feature (not to be confused with iOS’s Find my iPhone feature).

Setting up Apple Family Sharing will also automatically set up a shared Family album in the Photos app (look under the Shared tab), and you’ll also get a shared Family calendar in the Calendar app, too.

Any apps that you purchased under a shared Apple ID or iTunes account should be downloadable for any members under your Family Sharing umbrella.

Start sharing your contacts

OK, but what about all those contacts your were sharing in your single iCloud account? Don’t worry, you can still share contacts even with separate iCloud accounts.

Note: The method I’m about to describe involves sharing your iCloud password with someone else—ideally, a trusted partner, spouse or family member with whom you may have already been sharing a single iCloud account. I do not recommend sharing an iCloud password (or any password, actually) with anyone besides a close family member.

For example, my wife and I used to store all our contacts under my own iCloud account. Once we switched to iOS Family Sharing, she accessed our pool of shared iCloud contacts by tapping Settings, Accounts & Passwords, Add Account. She then signed into my iCloud account, checked the Contacts option, and left everything else unchecked.

Meanwhile, I went ahead and did essentially the same thing; I logged into her iCloud account and checked Contacts only. (Of course, we could also have shared Mail accounts, Reminders and Calendars, too; we simply chose not to do it.)

Now, whenever one of us searches for a contact on our respective iPhones, we’re searching the contacts in both of our iCloud accounts. That essentially means we have a shared pool of contacts again.

Sorting out the pain points

In his e-mail message, Jan noted a series of pain points when it comes to sharing a single iCloud account. For example, messages through iMessages were jumbled, phone logs were messed up, and data in the Health app is scrambled together.

The good news is that setting up Apple Family Sharing should sort out those iMessage, phone history and Health problems. Just check your iMessage and Health settings and make sure they’re both signed in using your own iCloud account.

For iMessages, you’ll also want to double-check that you’re not getting any messages from the wrong phone number or Apple ID. Tap Settings, Messages, Send & Receive, then uncheck any numbers or email addresses that shouldn’t be there.

Still need help?

Have other Family Sharing questions I didn’t quite answer? Just post a comment or drop me a line. You can also check out Apple’s support page or check out this article.

No need to dig through the junk drawer to find a flashlight or a tape measure. In just a few taps, you can turn your iPhone into a variety of everyday household tools, from a ruler or a level to a magnifying glass or even a compass.

How to turn your iPhone into a magnifying glass

Having trouble reading the tiny text on, say, a medicine bottle or a cereal box? I know the feeling. Luckily, there’s a handy iPhone feature that’ll give your squinting eyes a break.

Tap Settings, General, Accessibility, Magnifier, then flip on the Magnifier switch. Now, just triple-click the Home button, aim your iPhone’s camera lens, and behold the the magnified image on the screen. Use the slider control to boost or reduce the magnification, tap the flash button for some extra light, or tap the shutter release to take a snapshot. All done? Press the Home button to exit.

How to turn your iPhone into a compass

Go west—or north, or east, or south, all with the help of a nifty iOS app that’s already sitting on your iPhone.

All you have to do is open the Compass app (if you can’t find it, keep swiping from left to right on your home screen until the search bar appears). When you do, a digital compass will appear on the screen, complete with your current bearing (based on whatever direction the top of your iPhone is pointing in), as well as your elevation, latitude and longitude.

How to turn your iPhone into a level

Want to make sure that shelf you just installed is perfectly flat? If you’d rather not dig a level out of your toolbox, your iPhone can do the job.

Head back to the Compass app, swipe the screen from right to left to reveal the level screen, then set the edge of your iPhone on a flat surface. If the surface is level, the bottom half of the screen should turn green, and the angle measurement in the middle should read zero degrees. You can also set your iPhone down flat on its back to see a surface is level in all directions.

How to turn your iPhone into a flashlight

Whether you’re trying to find your car keys at night or trying to read the menu in a dimly lit restaurant, your iPhone’s camera flash makes for a convenient flashlight.

Flick up from the bottom of the screen to open the iOS Control Center, then tap the Flashlight button to light your iPhone’s camera flash. To make the flashlight brighter or dimmer, press and hold the Flashlight button, then drag the slider up or down with your fingertip.

How to turn your iPhone into a tape measure

Need to measure your desk but no tape measure handy? Believe it or not, there’s an easy way to turn your iPhone into a virtual tape measure.

While there isn’t a native Apple app that’ll take measurements, there are dozens of third-party ruler and tape measure apps on the iOS App Store. Personally, I’m a fan of SizeUp ($1.99, but there’s a free 30-day trial), an app that lets you measure rugs, tables, floors, and more by sliding your iPhone from one edge of the object to another.

Ready to take charge of the Home button on your iPhone or iPad? Learn how to make it easier to double-click the iPhone Home button, change what happens when you hold the Home button, try some nifty triple-click tricks, and more.

Note: The following tips don’t apply to the all-new iPhone X, which lacks a physical Home button.

1. Change the iPhone Home button double-click speed

For those of us who no longer have the split-second reflexes, double-clicking the iPhone Home key (or the iPad Home key, for that matter) to switch apps can be harder than it sounds. Indeed, if you don’t click fast enough, you’ll simply wind up back on the home screen. Luckily, there’s an easy way to change the speed with which you need to double-click the Home key.

Tap Settings, General, Accessibility, Home Button, then pick a double-click speed: Default (the standard setting), Slow, or Slowest.

When you tap a new option, your iPhone will “buzz” three times to give you an idea of how quickly (or slowly) you need to double-click.

Related: 3 nifty iPad gestures you need to try

2. Skip pressing Home when unlocking your iPhone

Got a Touch ID-enabled iPhone? If so, you may have noticed that when you wake your handset by clicking the Power button and rest your finger on the Home button to unlock your iPhone, you still have to press Home again to get past the iOS lock screen. (Thanks, iOS 11.)

Want to skip that final Home button press? Click Settings, General, Accessibility, Home Button, then scroll all the way down and flip on the “Rest Finger to Open” setting.

Now, if you click the Power button and simply rest your fingertip (one you’ve registered with Touch ID, of course) on the Home button, your phone will unlock itself immediately, no additional button presses needed.

3. Keep Siri from beeping when you press and hold Home

By default, you’ll enable Siri—you know, Apple’s tireless, voice-activated digital assistant—when you press and hold the Home button. All well and good, but if I had a nickel for every time I activated Siri by mistake, well…you get the drift.

If you’re tired of turning on Siri by accident whenever you hold the Home button down for too long, there’s a way to turn the shortcut off.

Tap Settings, General, Accessibility, Home Button, go down to the Press and Hold to Speak section, then pick a setting: Siri, Voice Control, or Off.

If you pick Voice Control, pressing and holding the Home button will turn on iOS’s old Voice Control feature, which lets you do basic things like dial a number of play music via voice command. If you ask Voice Control a more complex question—like “Should I bring my umbrella today?”—you’ll get little more than a confused beep.

If you don’t want anything at all to happen when you press and hold Home, pick the “Off” button. Doing so will disable Siri altogether, unless you dig into your Siri settings (Settings, Siri & Search) and turn on the “Listen for ‘Hey Siri'” option.

4. Turn on the Home button’s triple-click shortcut

You probably already know that double-clicking the iPhone Home button lets you quickly switch between apps. What you may not know, however, is that you can triple-click the home button, too, and you can set the triple-click gesture to do some nifty tricks.

For example, you can triple-click your way to a “smart” invert colors feature that acts as a de-facto dark mode, perfect for reading on your iPhone or iPad at night in a dim room.

There’s also a zoom feature that lets you pinch to zoom your iPhone or iPad’s screen, a “color filters” mode that switches your screen to black and white, and a “voiceover” feature that reads aloud any text on the screen.

To start triple-clicking the home button, tap Settings, General, Accessibility, scroll all the way down to the Accessibility Shortcut setting, then pick a feature. If you choose only one, it’ll switch on automatically when you triple-click the home button. If you pick more than one, triple-clicking Home will let you choose which of your selected Accessibility options you’d like to use.

Is your iPhone’s battery gauge typically buried in the red before dinnertime? Join the club. So what’s going on? Is there a power-draining bug in iOS or something?

Well, I’m guessing some of the blame for low iPhone battery life lies with iOS’s niftiest and most power-hungry features, from those groovy animated wallpapers to apps that can refresh themselves in the background.

Also, never underestimate the strain that the iPhone’s LTE antenna can put on its battery. In my experience, Wi-Fi data doesn’t demand nearly as much battery power as cellular data does.

Read on for 10 easy ways to boost your iPhone battery life, starting with…

1. Prioritize your background app refresh settings

Thanks to iOS’s so-called Background App Refresh feature, many of the apps on your iPhone—like Dropbox, Gmail, Facebook, Twitter, and the like—have the ability to refresh their data in the background, even when you’re not using them.

While the Background App Refresh feature means you’re never far from your latest tweets or Gmail messages, it can be hard on your iPhone battery life, particularly if your iPhone is struggling to refresh app data in a spotty cellular area.

You can make life easier on your battery by paring down the number of iOS apps that take advantage of background refreshing.

Tap Settings, General, Background App Refresh, then scroll down the list of apps. See any apps refreshing themselves that aren’t a high priority to you? If so, switch their switches to the “Off” position.

You can also set iOS’s Background App Refresh setting to only work when your iPhone is on Wi-Fi. Or you can even turn this feature off completely. Your call. Just tap Background App Refresh at the top of the main “Background App Refresh” setting screen, then pick an option: Off, Wi-Fi, or Wi-Fi & Cellular Data.

Related: 8 easy ways to lock down your iPhone or iPad

2. Keep an eye out for battery-hogging apps

Few things will drain your iPhone battery life as quickly as a misbehaving app. Luckily, there’s an easy way to spot them.

First, check your iPhone’s Battery Usage meter. Tap Settings, Battery, scroll down to the Battery Usage heading, then check out the list of apps. You can see an app’s battery usage in the past 24 hours and the past week.

Now, some apps may be at the top of the Battery Usage list because you simply use them a lot, like Mail or Facebook. But if you see any surprises on the list—say, a rarely used app that’s gobbled up 25 percent of your battery life over the past week—you might want to think about uninstalling it.

3. Turn off cellular usage for data- & power-hungry apps

Wondering why your favorite iOS app is such a battery hog? Maybe it’s gobbling up too much cellular data—and as we know, heavy cellular use puts a strain on an iPhone’s precious battery life.

Tap Settings, Cellular, then scroll down until you see the list of apps under the “Cellular Data” heading.

Check out the list and look for any apps that are using an inordinate amount of cellular data—more than, say, 100 MB (megabytes).

Did you find one? If so, is it an app that doesn’t really matter to you when you’re away from Wi-Fi range? If so, go ahead and flip its switch to the “off” position.

Doing so won’t delete the app, nor will it permanently prevent it from accessing the Internet. Instead, all you’re doing is keeping the app from chewing up big bites of cellular data, while draining your iPhone’s battery in the process.

Related: What does the iOS “Enable LTE” setting do?

4. Turn off cellular data for automatic iTunes & App Store downloads

By default, iOS automatically downloads updates for all your installed apps. Also, if you install a new app, buy an iBook, or purchase some iTunes music on your iPad, iOS will download your iTunes and App Store wares to your iPhone, too.

Here’s the thing: unless you’re careful, your iPhone may try downloading app updates and purchases from the App Store or iTunes using battery-draining cellular data when you’re out of Wi-Fi range, and that could put a serious dent in your iPhone battery life.

Do yourself a favor and tap Settings, iTunes & App Store, then switch the Use Cellular Data setting to “off.”

From now on, your iPhone will wait to download app updates (as well as “automatic” app, music, and iBooks downloads from iTunes purchases made on your other iDevices) until you’re back in Wi-Fi range. Not only will you save yourself from data overages, you’ll also preserve your iPhone battery life.

5. Turn off cellular data for iCloud Photo Library

Are you using iCloud Photo Library to store all your iPhone snapshots and videos in iCloud?

If so, don’t be surprised if snapping pictures or shooting video while you’re out of Wi-Fi range chews through a big chunk of your iPhone’s remaining battery life.

Why, you ask? Because by default, iOS tries to upload your latest photos and videos to iCloud, even over a cellular connection, and that makes for a huge battery drain. You may also feel your iPhone getting red-hot.

If you’re an iCloud Photo Library user, change this setting, pronto: tap Settings, Photos, Cellular Data, then turn off the Cellular Data setting.

Related: 6 iOS 11 tricks that even an older iPhone or iPad can do

6. Fetch new email, calendar events, and other account data less often

Do you really need to know the moment you get a new mail message or a calendar invite? If you can handle the idea of checking your email or getting calendar and contact updates less frequently, you’ll regain some precious iPhone battery life.

Tap Settings, Accounts, then scroll all the way down and tap Fetch New Data. Scroll down to the Fetch section, then pick an option—and remember, the longer the frequency, the more data you’ll save.

Pick “Manually” if you only watch new mail, calendar, and other updates fetched when you specifically open, say, the Mail or Calendar app, or choose “Automatically” to only check for data updates over Wi-Fi or when your iPhone is plugged into a power source.

Now, your iPhone’s “Fetch” settings only apply to accounts (like Gmail and Yahoo!) that don’t support iCloud’s “Push” feature, which automatically “pushes” data updates to your iPhone. To save even more iPhone battery life, toggle off the “Push” switch at the top of the “Fetch New Data” settings screen. Once you do that, you’ll still get mail, calendar and other data updates from iCloud, but only according to the “Fetch” schedule you just chose.

7. Turn down screen brightness

The backlighting on your iPhone’s eye-popping display also happens to be one of the biggest drains on its battery.

Flick up from the bottom of the screen to activate the Control Center, then dim the brightness control a bit. If I were you, I’d keep the slider somewhere a little lower than halfway.

No, you probably won’t see a major improvement in battery life just from dimming the display, but hey—every little bit helps.

8. Turn off motion effects

Ever notice how the app icons on your iPhone seems to float above your wallpaper, especially when you tilt your iPhone this way and that?

That illusion comes courtesy of a clever combination of software and motion-sensing technology that essentially fools your eyes into seeing depth on a flat touchscreen.

Pretty neat, right? Unfortunately, all the visual trickery (which needs the assistance of your handset’s motion sensors and cameras) takes a small but definite toll on your iPhone’s battery.

If you’re willing to live without iOS’s motion (or “parallax”) effects, tap Settings, General, Accessibility, Reduce Motion, then flip the switch to the “on” position.

9. Use static wallpaper

Another nice piece of iOS eye candy is its support for animated, “dynamic” wallpaper. Indeed, iOS lets you choose between a variety of groovy wallpapers with soft, ethereal bubbles that gently float across the screen.

While I love how iOS’s dynamic wallpapers look, they demand extra work on your iPhone’s part, and your battery life will suffer for it.

If you want to optimize your iPhone’s battery life as much as possible, tap Settings, Wallpaper, Choose a New Wallpaper, and pick a “still” wallpaper instead of a dynamic one.

10. Turn on Low Power Mode

If all else fails and your iPhone’s battery is about to die, engage iOS’s “Low Power Mode” as a last resort.

Low Power Mode disables such iOS features as flashy visual effects, background app refresh, automatic email fetching. It’ll also dim the screen and pare down other iOS non-essentials.

You can turn on Low Power Mode by tapping Settings, Battery, then flipping on the Low Power Mode setting. There’s also a Lower Power Mode available for iOS’s flick-up Control Center.

Low Power Mode will turn itself off once your iPhone’s battery is charged up to 80 percent or more. Unfortunately, there’s no way to set Low Power Mode to automatically turn itself on once your iPhone’s battery life falls below a certain percentage.

Bonus tip: Replacing your iPhone’s battery

Over time, your iPhone battery life will slowly begin to dwindle. According to Apple, your battery will keep about 80 percent of its capacity through about 500 complete charging cycles. After that, it’s all downhill, and you may even see a message on the Battery settings screen warning that it might be time for a new battery.

If your iPhone is out of warranty, Apple will replace the battery for $79, although you may find third-party iPhone repair shops that’ll give you a better deal.

If you’ve ever grown weary of squinting at the tiny text on a web article, you’ll love a one-tap Safari feature that makes cluttered web pages easier on the eyes. Safari for iPhone and iPad also boasts tools that let you pin favorite websites to your home screen, mark up and share web pages, juggle your saved web passwords, look up obscure words, and more.

Make web articles easier to read

If you stumble across a web-based article that hasn’t been optimized for mobile devices, you’ll probably have to squint to make out the tiny text. Luckily, Safari for iPhone and iPad boasts a built-in “reader” mode that makes the desktop version of web articles much easier to read.

Just tap the little four-line button on the left side of the Safari web address bar. Safari will automatically reformat the article, boosting the font size of the text and stripping out extraneous sidebars and other elements.

To change the font style and background color in Safari’s reader mode, tap the “aA” button on the right side of the Safari address bar, then tap to pick a new font face, font size, or background.

Mark up a web page

Ever wish you could take a Sharpie to a web page and show your markups to a friend? It’s actually pretty easy, and it takes just a few taps to get started.

On the page you want to mark up, tap the Action button (the square one on the bottom of the screen with the upward arrow), then tap the Create PDF button (in the second row of buttons). Next, tap the blue Markup button (the circular one with the tip of a pen in the middle), then start drawing with your fingertip—or, if you’re the lucky owner of a new iPad, with an Apple Pencil.

Tap at the bottom of the screen to choose from a selection of pen or pencil tips, pick a new color, or use the lasso to drag your doodles around. You can also tap the “+” button to add captions, paste in your signature, add a magnifying glass, or draw arrows, squares, thought bubbles, and other shapes. Last but not least, tap the Action button (again, the square one with the up-arrow) to save your marked-up page or share it with a pal.

Note: You’ll need to update your iPhone or iPad to iOS 11 if you want to start marking up web pages. 

Review (or delete) your saved passwords

If you’ve ever wondered what happened to all those website passwords that Safari has offered to save, there’s an easy way to find out.

Tap Settings, Accounts & Passwords, App & Website Passwords to see a list of saved Safari passwords on your iPhone or iPad. Just tap a password entry to view the saved username and password info or make any changes.

To delete a password, go back to the App & Website Passwords screen, tap the Edit button in the top-right corner of the screen, select the passwords you want to delete, then tap Delete.

Mark a web site as a “favorite”

There’s an easier way to save the web address of a oft-visited web site than fiddling with Safari’s Bookmarks menu.

Just browse to a favorite site, tap the Action button (the square one with the upward arrow) on the bottom of the screen, then tap the Add to Favorites button.

Now, tap the address bar; when you do, you should see the website’s icon sitting in your grid of “Favorites.” Tap and hold a Favorite to edit it or delete it, or drag it to reorder your Favorite buttons.

Add a site to the home screen

If you’d rather pin a favorite website on your iOS home screen than keep it hidden away in Safari’s Favorites panel, you can do so in just a few taps.

First, surf to the site you want to pin, tap the Action button (again, it’s the square one at the bottom of the screen with the up-arrow), then tap Add to Home Screen.

When you do, a preview of your soon-to-be home screen icon will appear; go ahead and rename the icon if you like, then tap Add.

Close an open Safari tab on another iOS device

When you tap Safari’s Tabs button (the one in the corner that looks like one square on top of another), you can see a list of all the Safari tabs you have open on your other iCloud-connected devices.

That you may already have known; what you may not know, though, is that in addition to viewing your open Safari tabs remotely, you can close them remotely, too.

Just swipe on a tab from right to left; when you do, you’ll reveal a red “Close” button. Tap it, and the tab you selected will close within a minute or so.

Look up a word in the dictionary

Find an obscure word during a Safari session? No need to copy and paste it into a new tab as a Google search; instead, simply look it up directly within your existing tab.

Just tap and hold the word to select it, then tap “Look Up” in the black bubble that appears.

A slide-up window will appear with the definition at the very top, along with more search results “suggested” by Siri.