In the early days of the iPhone, users reported these problems most frequently with the Safari web browser, the iPod program, and email. Now that most iPhones are stocked with apps from the App Store, crashes are as likely to occur with third-party apps as the built-in ones (though Apple is improving stability regularly).

If you’re running into frequent iPhone program crashes, here are some tips for getting better stability.

Update Firmware
Apple’s firmware updates for the iPhone improve stability and add features. Making sure you’re using the latest version should help reduce iPhone program crashes. Learn how to check for new iPhone firmware.

Restart iPhone
Just like your desktop computer, to work better, sometimes your iPhone just needs to be restarted. Learn how to restart your iPhone.

Update App
If it’s a third-party program that’s crashing, rather than one built into the iPhone, you have a few options. First, check iTunes or the App Store to see if there’s a new version of the app. If so, install it. This will often solve problems. In rarer occasions, apps may conflict with each other and cause crashes. In this instance, either install or uninstall apps one at a time until you discover the conflict and then remove the offending app.

Wait for Updates
If these options don’t fix your problem, you’re probably stuck. The stability of the programs on the iPhone has more to do with the programs themselves than with how you use your iPhone. If your firmware is up to date and a restart doesn’t help, you’re probably going to have to wait for Apple and the third-party to release new software. Of course, you can always report the bugs to the developer through their website to let them know there’s a problem and that you’re anxious for a solution.

If your crashes become very frequent or more severe, contact an Apple Store or call Apple for support.

Reset the iPhone by holding the sleep/wake button at the top right of the device and the home button at the bottom center of the face at the same time. Hold them both until you see the screen go black and the white Apple logo appear. When this happens, you can let go – the iPhone is rebooting.

Resetting the iPhone should not remove or delete any data or settings.

(Resetting the iPhone is also the term used sometimes to mean deleting all content from the iPhone and restoring from a backup.)

The reset process is the same on the iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS.

For most cell phone users, a long battery life is an important concern. With the iPhone, the battery life is better than most, considering the gorgeous, large touchscreen display. The new iPhone 3G S has better battery life for most functions, but there are always ways to improve the amount of work and fun you have on a single charge.

Bluetooth

WiFi

Email

To do either, start by holding down the sleep/wake button at the top right-hand corner of the iPhone for a few seconds.

This will bring up a screen asking you to run the slider across the screen to turn the phone off. If you don’t want to do this, just hit the cancel button at the bottom of the screen.

When you slide the slider to the right, a progress wheel will appear and in a second or two, the iPhone will be off.

To turn it back on again, just hold down the sleep/wake button again until the Apple icon appears on the screen and then wait for the phone to start up.

Restarting the iPhone 3GS is essentially the same process.

Here’s How:

1. Make Sure You Have a Compatible Device – The iTunes WiFi Music Store works on the iPhone and iPod touch with firmware version 1.1.1. Anything else won’t work.

1. Connect to a WiFi Network – You can only access the WiFi Music Store when connected to a WiFi network, so find one and start buying.
2. Access the Store and Find Content – To access the store, just tap the purple arrow icon in the bottom right corner of the iPhone or iPod touch’s home screen. At the store, you’ll be shown some featured music and given the chance to browse the store. You can look at various Top Ten lists or search the store by tapping the icons at the bottom of the screen.
3. Previewing and Buying Music – Once you’ve found the song or album you want, you can preview songs just like at the regular iTunes Store. Tap the name of a song to hear a preview. Tap it again to stop the preview.

   To buy a song or album, tap the price next to it. A button that reads “Buy Now” will appear. To dismiss the button, tap anywhere on the screen other than on the button. To make the purchase, tap that button.

   If this is your first purchase from the WiFi Music Store, you’ll need to enter your iTunes Store password, but won’t have to do that again.

4. Wait for Download – You won’t wait long. Most songs download in under 10 seconds. You can watch the progress of your download in the Downloads section, accessed through the button on the bottom right of the screen.
5. Listen to Your Music – Once the download is complete, a “Purchased” button will appear in the top-right corner of the Downloads screen. Tap that to go to your list of music purchased from the iTunes WiFi Music Store. The music is in that playlist and on your iPod, so listen away.
6. Sync for Device – When you sync your iPhone or iPod touch with your iTunes library, the songs you bought will be automatically added to your library. Enjoy!

Double Tap
In Safari, if you want to zoom in on a particular section of a web page, simple double tap it with your finger. This will enlarge that section of the page. The same double tap will zoom out again.

Multitouch
If you want more control over what you’re zooming in on or how much zooming you do, use the multitouch feature.

To use this, put your index finger together with your thumb and place them on the part of the iPhone’s screen that you want to zoom in on. Then, drag your fingers apart, sending each one towards the opposite edge of the screen. This will zoom in on page. The text and images will appear blurry for a moment and then the iPhone will make them crisp and clear again.

To zoom out of the page, put your fingers at opposite ends of the screen and drag them towards each other, meeting in the center of the screen.

Though you can click past this and still use the accessory, sometimes you’ll hear interference in the speakers. This is coming from the iPhone and has to do with the phone and data network reception.

Luckily, there’s a way to get around this — turn off the phone feature.

The iPhone offers something called “Airplane Mode.” This mode is designed to let you use the iPhone on a plane, where you’re not allowed to use a cell phone, but can use an iPod. Setting the iPhone to Airplane Mode will let it work smoothly with many iPod speaker accessories that use the dock connector.

Here’s how to turn Airplane Mode on:

From the home screen, tap Settings.

The first option you’ll see it Airplane Mode. Move the slider from off to on.

Now, when you dock the iPhone to a speaker, it should work fine. This won’t be the case with every accessory, but more often than not, it should work. Be advised, though, when Airplane Mode is on, you can’t make or receive calls.

The iPhone tops out at just 8 GB of storage for all your data – including music. Most people have iTunes music and video libraries of much more than 8 GB. So, you’re forced to choose just part of your iTunes library to include on the iPhone. This can take time and a lot of sorting.

But, iTunes can automatically create an iPhone-optimized playlist that you’ll be sure to love using Smart Playlists.

Smart Playlists are a feature of iTunes in which iTunes can create customized playlists for you from your library based on criteria you enter. For instance, you can create a smart playlist that automatically includes every song from a given year. Or, for our purposes here, every song with a certain rating. We’re going to use Smart Playlists to automatically make a collection of your favorite songs from your iPhone.

To do this, you need to have rated the songs in your iTunes library – not all of them, but enough so that a decent percentage have ratings.

Create a New Smart Playlist

To begin copying songs from your CDs to iTunes and your iPod (a process called ripping), open iTunes. Be sure that your computer is connected to the Internet.

Then insert the CD you want to import into your computer’s CD/DVD drive.

Your computer will think for a few moments, and then will show you this screen. If you are properly connected to the Internet, the CD name, artist name, and song titles will all display in this window.

If they don’t display, double check that you are connected to the Internet, and then eject and re-insert the CD.

NOTE: Some CDs use a form of digital rights management that makes it difficult to add songs to iTunes. This is a controversial practice by record companies and may or may not be maintained. This tutorial does not cover importing songs from these CDs.

Click the “Import” Button

In the bottom right-hand corner of the iTunes window, you will see a button that reads “import.” Click this to import the CD into your iTunes.

Wait for Songs to Import

The songs will now import into iTunes. The progress of the import is displayed in the box at the top of the iTunes window. Songs that have been imported have green checkmarks next to them. One that are currently being imported have an orange wavy line next to them.

Wait for All Songs to Import

Wait until all songs from your CD have imported. You will know the process is complete when your computer makes a chime sound and all songs have the green checkmark next to them.

Check Your iTunes Library

Navigate through your iTunes library to find the CD you just imported. If it’s there, you’re all set!

Add the Songs to Your iPod

The next time you sync your iPod with your computer, the new songs you’ve added will be placed on your iPod!

Once you’ve activated your iPhone, you’ll be forwarded to the sync management page, which looks juts like the page used to manage iPod syncing and content.

As soon as you get there, the iPhone automatically begins syncing your phone with the contacts, calendars, web bookmarks, and email accounts it finds on your computer. You can choose to accept whatever it finds or you can customize what gets synced.

To change your syncing options, just click the on the tabs at the top of the window.

Syncing Calendars, Contacts, and Email to iPhone

You control the calendars, contacts, email accounts, and other information that is synced to your iPhone in the Info tab. To see what is synced or to change it, just click that tab.

There, you will find listings for all the items iTunes found on your computer, what is being synced, and options.

Just click the checkboxes that correspond to the settings you want – syncing all items or just selected items within a section.

When you have made your changes, click the “Apply” button in the bottom-right corner.

Syncing Music to iPhone

Because the iPhone has a smaller storage capacity than fifth-generation iPods and many people’s iTunes libraries, you may not want to sync all your music to the phone. In order to control what music is synced to the iPhone, click the Music tab.

Here you can choose to sync no music, all music, or just selected playlists.

Music syncing does not happen automatically the first time you connect the iPhone to iTunes. As such, you have to specify what you want to sync and then resync before music is downloaded.

When you have made your changes, click the “Apply” button in the bottom-right corner.

Syncing Photos to iPhone

The iPhone can sync its photos with your iPhoto library. Choose what photo libraries, if any, to sync with iPhone in the Photos tab.

Syncing Podcasts to iPhone

Podcasts have the same syncing options on an iPhone as they do in iTunes. You can choose to sync none or all of your podcasts, as well as those fitting certain criteria. If you wish to sync some podcasts, but not others, choose “selected podcasts” and then click the ones you prefer.

Like music, podcasts do not automatically sync to iPhone when it is first connected. You must choose your settings and resync.

Syncing Video to iPhone

As with other items, you can choose to sync none, some, or all of the TV shows and movies in your iTunes library to the iPhone. Just click the items you want synced and click the “apply” button at the bottom right.

Resync to Update Content

When you’re done chosing all your settings, click the sync button at the bottom right to resync the iPhone with iTunes and all your content will be in place.