Apple apps for everyday life
Apple apps for everyday life
What's coming up?
In this activity you'll learn about the built-in apps on your iPhone that help with everyday life. These include:
- Using your phone to pay for things in shops
- Making shopping online more secure
- Keeping your calendar up to date
- Notifying you of upcoming events
- Checking the local weather
- Taking notes.
Some built-in apps are useful for everyday life
An iPhone comes with a suite of apps already installed and ready to use. These are called the built-in apps and are published and kept up to date by Apple.
This activity explores the built-in apps that you are likely to use every day as you go about your routine. They include:
- Apple Wallet
- Calendar
- Weather
- Notes
- Safari (Apple's web browser).
Apple Wallet is for payments and more
The Apple Wallet app lets you use the Apple Pay service in stores that accept this kind of payment. To pay, you'll first need to set up your bank's credit or debit card in the Apple Wallet app.
Setting up Apple Wallet
When you first use Apple Wallet, the app will ask you to set up a card to use for payment. You can enter your card details, including the three-digit security number on the back, and Apple Wallet will ask your bank for permission to use your card.
Depending on your bank, you may need to visit a website to authorise the card with Apple Wallet, or you may see a screen in Apple Wallet that asks you to enter certain banking details.
eSafety tip
It's safe to enter banking details into Apple Wallet. This app has been designed to be very secure, and your banking details aren't shared with Apple or any other third party.
What happens when you pay using Apple Wallet
When you have a card set up in Apple Wallet, you can use your iPhone to pay at the register in shops that offer Apple Pay as an option. When the cashier rings up your purchase:
- Unlock your iPhone
- Open the Apple Wallet app
- Hold your iPhone next to the EFTPOS machine, the same way as using tap-to-pay with a plastic credit card.
Your iPhone provides the EFTPOS machine with enough credentials for it to authorise a payment from your bank.
eSafety tip
When you use Apple Wallet to pay for something in a shop, there's no communication between the shop and Apple, only between the shop and your bank. It's the same as using your plastic credit card.
Depending on your phone's security measures, Apple Wallet may still need to confirm facial or fingerprint recognition, or you may be asked to enter your phone's PIN to confirm the payment.
You can load more than one card into Apple Wallet
If you use different credit or debit cards, you can add them all to Apple Wallet. This saves you from having to dig in your purse or wallet for your other card. Instead, you just swipe the screen to select the card you want to use. You'll see a small picture of the card on the Apple Wallet app, so you always know which account you are using to pay.
What happens once you've paid with Apple Wallet?
After your payment goes through, Apple Wallet will send a notification about the payment. You can also explore the Apple Wallet screen and menu options to see a record of your recent payments.
Apple Wallet does more than just pay
As well as letting you authorise cards to pay in shops, Apple Wallet is also useful as a secure way to store important documents. You can also register loyalty cards, and many airlines support sending a digital boarding pass to Apple Wallet.
Depending on the airport you're at, you can bring this up on the screen to pass through security and board your flight, instead of having to keep track of a piece of paper.
Other Apple Wallet features
There are other useful ways to use Apple Wallet, including as a hotel key, your car keys, and for movie, entertainment, and sporting tickets.
You can register your Opal or Myki travel card with Apple Wallet and use your iPhone to tap on and off when you use a bus, train, or ferry in Sydney or Melbourne.
Keeping track of appointments and more with Calendar
With the Calendar app, you can enter important events, appointments, and reminders, and your iPhone will send a notification when the event is getting close. You can choose how often to be reminded about an event, and how long before it's due that you get reminded.
If you have an iCloud account set up with your iPhone and other Apple devices, your Calendar will sync across all devices via the cloud. To learn more, visit our Apple iCloud apps course.
The Apple Weather app
Your iPhone also comes with a Weather app built in. This provides forecasts and weather reports, and you can choose the source of the weather data, such as weather.com or the Bureau of Meteorology.
The app will use your phone's location to provide a local weather update. If you go on holiday somewhere, this will update automatically to where you are, so you'll get a weather report for there, instead of at home.
eSafety tip
It's safe to let the Weather app access your iPhone's location, because this is not shared with anyone else. The app uses the location to choose which weather report it will display; it doesn't send your location over the internet to Apple or a third party.
Taking notes on your device
Apple devices have a built-in Notes app that lets you quickly jot down a note such as a shopping list, number or address you need to remember, or just random thoughts!
The app is simple to use, and notes save as you write them so it's faster and easier than a word processing app.
Safari is the iPhone's default browser
The iPhone's built-in Safari web browser app lets you view websites and search the internet. It works like the web browser on a computer but allows a mobile version of many websites to display, so they are easier to read on the smaller display.
Also, when you tap on a link in any other app, such as the Mail or Messages app, the link will open in Safari and load the website it points to.
eSafety tip
Because Safari lets you open any link on your iPhone with just a single tap, it's important to only open links that you trust. You should never open a link from a text message as these are often used by scammers. Only tap links in emails from people and businesses you trust, when you are sure the email is legitimate.
Well done!
This is the end of the Apple apps for everyday life activity. You've learned how some of the built-in apps can be used to make secure payments, keep your calendar, check the weather and more.
Up next is the Apple apps that make communication easier activity, where you can learn about the built-in apps that let you make free video calls, send messages, and sync your email with the cloud.
