Lifestyle

MUO is your guide to modern tech. Learn how to make use of the tech and gadgets around you, and discover cool stuff on the internet.

If your Android feels like it’s wading through wet cement, this launcher can save it.

Android phones always feel snappy and responsive when they're new. Then, somewhere along the way, they start slowing down. The home screen becomes a mess of app icons, widgets, and folders. Even opening the app drawer can feel like going through a digital storage unit, depending on how many apps you have.

Your keyboard layout is holding you back.

You use your keyboard every day, but I bet you've rarely thought about why your keys are where they are. In the 1870s, typewriter manufacturers arranged the keys to prevent mechanical jams. Over a century later, we're still using the same layout designed to slow us down.

It’s always a good idea to buy a screen protector for your new iPhone. The one to buy might be a surprise, however.

Smartphones keep getting tougher with each new generation, whether it's Samsung and its Galaxy S series or Apple’s iPhone. That’s good news, and honestly, it’s what you should expect when spending a premium on new tech. Despite this, no matter how advanced the hardware gets, one simple drop can still crack the display and lead to an expensive repair.

Here is a fast, distraction-free music experience that makes Spotify feel overwhelming

A lot of people can't do without Spotify, and it's understandable. Its cross-device control, vast library, and new-music discovery make it hard to beat.

Instead of upgrading my iPhone this year, I'm doing these things to make it feel new.

Apple drops a new iPhone every September, and like clockwork, I start thinking about upgrading. This year, though, I ran the numbers. Trade-in values are never great, and the latest Pro Max would run me north of $1,200. For what exactly? A camera that's a bit sharper and a processor that's incrementally faster.

Vital internet infrastructure going offline has huge consequences.

It's happened again: one of the internet's backbone providers, Cloudflare, has gone offline, taking swathes of important websites with it. It's similar to the Amazon Web Services outage in October 2025 that took down what felt like half of the internet, stopping internet users from accessing Snapchat, Disney+, Venmo, and Canva, among scores of other sites.

I can navigate my Android phone twice as fast thanks to this one app. 

Like most people, I rely on third-party apps to fill in the gaps and limitations of my Android phone. Over the years, I’ve collected a handful of apps that make my life easier, so installing them is the first thing I do as soon as I’m done setting up my phone. Among them, Activity Launcher is one of those essentials I honestly cannot imagine using my phone without.

There's been a big, eerie question mark hanging over the Star Wars franchise for a while now, and I'm not sure Disney has an answer for it.

The last Star Wars movie to play in theaters was The Rise of Skywalker, six years ago. That may not seem like a long time in the long arc of the series—well over a decade passed between Return of the Jedi and The Phantom Menace, after all—but ever since Disney bought Lucasfilm in 2012, they've wanted to flood the zone. We got five Star Wars movies between 2015 and 2019, plus a lot of TV shows after that. So, the absence of another proper Star Wars movie has been notable.

Added layers of security for nothing.

Protecting my personal data is hugely important to me, but it's not always an easy task. Everywhere you move online, you're being tracked, and websites are constantly attempting to gather your data. It's tiring, and doesn't always feel like there is an easy solution.

I didn’t expect a calendar app to wow me, but this one genuinely transformed my workflow.

If you use Gmail, you probably also use Google Calendar. It's free, available on your phone and the web, and does the basics right. But if you do anything more than keep tabs on expiry dates and bill payments, Google's offering is, again, very basic.