Every time an emergency agency pops up on the news suggesting households keep a 72-hour emergency kit on hand, I do the same thing: nod knowingly, assume they’re talking to someone far less organized than me, and scroll on.

In my head, I’m a reasonably capable adult. The fridge is full, there are batteries rattling around in a drawer somewhere, and I have a phone flashlight. Surely that counts as disaster preparedness.

Curiosity finally won out, so I decided to run an honest, room-by-room audit of what would actually happen if our power lines went dark for three straight days. The verdict was... humbling.

It turns out my master survival plan was heavily reliant on an active Wi-Fi connection, an electric stovetop, and blind optimism. Here's five glaring blind spots I completely overlooked, and what you should do so you don't make the same mistakes.

More from Tom's Guide

• 3 warning signs your home needs attention before a small fix becomes a big bill
• The 4 emergency phone tweaks that keep your battery alive in a power outage
• Winter storms are coming — drain your sprinkler system now before it freezes and cracks

Mattress mold is a problem that sneaks up on you. A slightly whiffy bed and small stains can quickly turn to itching, sneezing and watery eyes. And right now is primetime for moldy conditions.

A combination of cold, wet weather outside and warm heating inside increases moisture in the air. Your mattress soaks it up like a sponge and, trapped inside your warm bed, that damp helps mold spores to multiply.

Mattress mold doesn't have to spell the end of your bed, but you need to catch it early. We spoke to Dr Gareth Nye, Biomedical Sciences lecturer at the University of Salford working exclusively with M&S, about how to identify early signs of mold — and get rid of it.

3 signs of mold in your mattress

Mold can completely ruin a mattress, but before you rush off to browse our best mattress guide for a replacement bed, look out for these early indicators of mold.

1. A bad smell

You won't necessarily see early signs of mold in your mattress, but you might be able to smell the problem has taken hold.

Dr. Nye describes the smell of mold as "a persistent musty, damp, or earthy odor" and notes that it can linger "even after the bedding has been washed."

If this new smell is accompanied by an uptick in allergy symptoms when you go to bed (itching, sneezing or watery eyes, for example) mold is the likely culprit. Noticed a sweeter musty smell? It might be bed bugs.

2. Pinpoint stains

Big, dark stains are often a sign that your mattress is past saving. But before you get to that point, Dr. Nye recommends looking for "tiny, clustered pinpoint stains."

These small marks are the signs of an early mold infestation and they can be treated (we'll explore how below). And don't just look on the top surface of the mattress for stains. The underside of the bed as well as the sides can house mold as well.

3. Mold around the bed

Signs of mold aren't always visible on the mattress itself. Look in the surrounding area for indicators your bedroom is growing mold.

Dr. Nye describes "spaces up against a wall or behind units" as 'mold magnets' because they prevent airflow. So if your bed frame is pushed against the wall, move it forward when you clean and check for mold.

He also advices looking in any common sites for condensation, including anything pressed to the "external environment" (like radiators against a window).

"The space under the bed is also a prime spot for mold," says Dr. Nye. And if the mold is under the bed, it might not take long for it to move into the bed.

Why mattress mold is a health risk

Mold is more than just an unwanted stain. Left to grow, mold in your mattress can have serious negative repercussions on your health.

"Mold reproduces by releasing microscopic spores and mycotoxins into the air, which are easily inhaled during the 7 to 8 hours you spend asleep," explains Dr. Nye. "This triggers an immune response, leading to allergic rhinitis (sneezing, congestion, runny nose, and itchy eyes) and significantly exacerbating symptoms for those with asthma."

And the longer the problem is allowed to grow, the worse the impact it can have on your health.

"Prolonged exposure can result in chronic illnesses," says Dr. Nye. "Mold spores can also severely worsen conditions like eczema and trigger contact dermatitis."

How to get rid of mattress mold

We previously asked the experts how to get rid of mattress mold. They advised spot treating any stains with ingredients you probably have in your kitchen: white vinegar and baking soda.

Begin by mixing equal parts white vinegar and water. Spray the solution lightly on the stain and leave for 20 minutes. Blot dry, then apply a thin layer of baking soda. Leave to sit for several hours and then vacuum thoroughly.

Dr. Nye also has advice on preventing mattress mold from becoming a problem in the first place. He recommends:

• "Avoid making your bed straight away, allow the air flow and condensation to lift."
• "Avoid bed frames with solid bases, opt for slatted beds to improve air flow."
• "Protect mattresses with covers to stop body secretions entering the material."
• "Improve humidity in the bedrooms" — a dehumidifier is a good place to start.

Few things spoil a manicured garden faster than stray grass sneaking across the boundary line. You can spend hours mowing, edging, and weeding your lawn, only to look down and find vigorous runners from next door pushing beneath the panels and invading your borders. It looks messy, creates double the maintenance work, and pulling it out by hand only delays the inevitable.

The issue comes down to plant biology rather than poor gardening habits next door. Grass doesn’t care about boundary lines — it sends creeping roots sideways just beneath the soil, while wind easily blows seeds right under the fence panels. If you want a clean dividing line that lasts, you have to cut off their underground route.

1. Install an underground root barrier

One of the most effective ways to halt creeping grass is to block its roots below the soil line while simultaneously stopping its surface runners above ground. Flexible garden edging made from heavy-duty plastic, metal sheeting, or slim concrete strips creates a physical wall that aggressive roots and runners struggle to penetrate.

To set one up properly, carve out a narrow trench directly along your boundary or fence line, aiming for a depth of roughly four to six inches. Slot your edging material vertically into the channel so that it sits an inch or two above the soil line —this small lip is crucial for stopping surface runners from jumping over.

Then backfill the soil firmly on both sides to pack out any air pockets, keeping the barrier secure and low-profile while it blocks creeping roots from crossing the gap.

2. Build a gravel or mulch buffer zone

If digging deep trenches along an entire boundary feels like too much work, creating an inhospitable barrier zone above ground works almost as well.

Clear out any existing green shoots directly beneath the fence line, unroll a durable layer of breathable landscape fabric along the strip, and pin it flat with ground pegs. Then simply top it with a three to four inch layer of decorative gravel, crushed stone, or dense bark mulch.

The gravel stops water from collecting, making the ground far too dry for shallow surface roots to settle, while bark naturally blocks sunlight from feeding new growth. As an added bonus, if any rogue weeds manage to sprout in the loose stones, you can pluck them out in seconds.

3. Lay down a hard-wearing mow strip

For anyone looking for a permanent, fuss-free boundary, laying a solid mowing strip right under the fence provides the neatest finish.

Sinking concrete slabs, stone pavers, or bricks flat into the ground does double duty: it completely blocks the soil under the fence panels, while giving your lawnmower wheel a flat track to run along.

While it takes a bit of measuring and levelling to put in, it saves you from having to awkwardly strim against wooden fence posts every weekend. If the occasional stubborn blade manages to poke through the cracks between pavers, pouring boiling water straight over it will destroy the roots, without needing to spray harsh weed killers near your plants.

More from Tom's Guide

• Before your lawn goes dormant, do this 15-minute job for thicker grass next spring
• How long does grass seed take to sprout? The exact timeline and 3 ways to speed it up
• Stop spring lawn weeds before they sprout with a simple fall pre-emergent barrier — applying it now saves you hours of yard work

The wait is officially over for the biggest fixture on the seasonal coffee calendar. While Starbucks kicks off the festive period on November 5 with the return of its holiday drinks, from the classic Peppermint Mocha to new seasonal syrups, seasoned regulars know that is only the opening act.

The main event has now been confirmed: Red Cup Day 2026 lands on Tuesday, November 17.

What started years ago as a simple seasonal giveaway has evolved into a full-blown annual craze. On this single morning, Starbucks hands out a complimentary, limited-edition reusable red cup with eligible holiday drink orders. Here's how to claim one before branches run out.

How to claim your free cup

Securing one comes down to a single purchase, but timing is everything given how quickly branches chew through their allocation.

Any seasonal drink on the menu qualifies — whether you prefer a hot latte, an iced cold brew, or a blended Frappuccino in whatever size works for you.

The trick to use — mobile pickup

You don't have to walk into a café to participate. Drive-thrus, mobile pickups, and standard third-party couriers like DoorDash or Uber Eats all count toward the giveaway.

As an added incentive, tucking the cup into your bag for future coffee runs cuts 10¢ off orders down the line.

Expect heavy foot traffic and server strain on the morning itself. If you want to dodge gridlocked car queues or counter crowds, scheduling a mobile pickup well before you head out the door gives you the best odds of walking away with one before the morning rush clears the shelves.

More from Tom's Guide

• There's one detail on coffee bags that tells you if it's worth buying — and most shoppers miss it
• How to store ground coffee — 5 clever tips for keeping it fresh
• I blind taste-tested a homemade PSL vs Starbucks PSL — and the winner didn't surprise me at all

Easy runs, otherwise known as zone 2 training, are having a moment. I mean, it has always existed, but as more and more people take on serious training plans ahead of half marathons, marathons, or even ultramarathons, preparation is key. And as any running coach will tell you, easy runs should feel easy.

If you're guilty of negative splits (your pace getting quicker as your run progresses), you could run the risk of overtraining and getting injured before you reach the start line.

Zone 2 refers to around 60-70% of your maximum heart rate, where you tap into fat for fuel. Training in this zone helps your body to become more efficient and producing energy without generating heaps of lactic acid. In short, you won't need days of recovery after these types of runs.

But if you're wearing a Coros Pace 4 and you're not sure how to tell whether you're in the correct heart rate zone, this quick how-to will help you set yours up.

On a scale of 1-10, Zone 2 should feel like a 3/4 out of 10. You should be able to maintain the pace for hours, or easily hold a conversation. This is known in fitness as your rate of perceived exertion, or RPE.

Yet if you’re running alone, this is where your smartwatch comes in. Keeping an eye on your heart rate zone ensures you’re not working too hard. So, let's get to it.

As you get fitter and stronger, your heart rate zones will change as your resting heart rate drops. You may need to re-test your thresholds as you go.

Note that Coros also uses % Threshold HR, or Lactate Threshold Zones. Zone 2 sits under Aerobic Endurance (typically around 80–90% of your threshold heart rate).

More from Tom's Guide

• Can the $99 Fitbit Air beat the $799 Apple Watch Ultra 3 at fitness tracking? I manually counted 4,500 steps to find out
• I walked 4,000 steps with the Apple Watch Ultra 3 vs Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 — and the winning margin was razor-thin
• Oura vs Whoop vs Fitbit Air — 5 questions to ask yourself before buying a screen-free fitness tracker

I'll be honest, despite living with a plumber, there's still plenty of things I do wrong when it comes to the pipes in my home. And while my husband's more than happy to tell me why I need to stop clogging the bathtub drain with my hair, there are some things we never discuss.

When someone recently asked me whether it was safe to pour boiling water down the sink, I didn't know what to say. So, I turned to my husband, just as I did when I wanted to know how often you should actually clean your shower head?

It turns out when it comes to pouring boiling water down your drains, most of the time it's no problem at all. In fact, sometimes it can actually be helpful. But, there's still some instances when you need to be more careful. Here's my plumber husband's top tips.

Is it safe to pour boiling water down your sink?

My plumber husband's first response was to simply say: "Yes, it's not a problem." With most home pipes, exposure to boiling water won't cause any issues. But, when I poked him for some extra advice, he added: "It's not going to damage anything and it could potentially clear minor blockages.

"It's actually probably something you want to start with if you think you've got a blockage, before you move onto using chemicals or anything more potent," he explains.

But, there are still some instances, he warned, that can cause your pipes to suffer from long-term exposure to boiling water.

When is it not safe to pour boiling water down your sink?

While a lot of households have metal pipes, there are still a proportion that don't (especially newer builds). "If you have plastic or PVC pipes, you should be more cautious. There's potential for the hot water to melt or misshape your pipes with excessive exposure," he reveals.

Though, he was quick to add that excessive exposure means doing it a heck of a lot, which he doesn't believe anyone would be doing. Simply pouring away the remains of a kettle or draining your pasta water won't have devastating effects to your pipes, but if you're inclined to do it regularly than you may be causing an issue.

Does running cold water at the same time help?

You might have heard of a 'hack' that some people suggest where you run cold water from your tap at the same time as pouring the boiling water down the sink to lower the temperature.

And while my husband plumber suggests it would cool it down, he adds: "It'd just be like running the hot water tap, only you do run a small risk of thermal shock. I'm not sure what would be the benefit. All you're doing is cooling down the water, but it wouldn't be causing an issue in the first place."

He suggests that if you're looking to protect your pipes, you shouldn't be wary of boiling water. Instead, you should be focusing on not washing down any grease, fats or food waste into your sink as that could cause blockages that are a lot harder to solve.

More from Tom's Guide

• This TikTok hack claims vinegar will clean your shower head — I asked my plumber husband if it actually works
• You asked: Can dish soap fix your clogged drain? A plumber explains the facts
• Households urged not to pour boiling water down drains this winter — I asked a plumber what to do instead

As the threat of extreme weather grows, bringing heavy storms, high winds and flooding, gardening and outdoor enthusiasts should prepare and secure their outdoor spaces. High winds can tip over furniture, lift lightweight planters, and damage decorative lighting, while heavy rain can cause flooding if it has nowhere to go.

So, to help protect your yard from a storm and reduce the impact of extreme weather damage, I asked the experts for a plan of action, and it's based on a three-prong approach.

1. Secure fixtures, lighting and furniture

Ahead of bad weather, Jon Saeed, managing director at Lighting Legends, says it’s worth checking your yard and thinking about what strong winds could affect. “Things like garden furniture, plant pots and decorative ornaments can easily be blown over, while outdoor lights and their fixings may be put under extra strain when the weather turns,” he says.

Outdoor furniture
Garden chairs and tables can shift or topple over in strong winds, particularly if they are lightweight. He suggests storing smaller pieces in a shed or garage, and securing heavier furniture so it is less likely to move.

Cushions and decorative outdoor rugs will also get a beating if left out in a storm, so bring them inside, or store them in a waterproof container to keep them dry.

Outdoor lighting
Lights can be particularly vulnerable to strong winds and wet weather. Saeed suggests checking the hooks and supports on permanent fixings and making sure cables aren’t hanging loosely.

He also advises, “Unplug any lights, and if strong winds are expected, take down string lights to prevent bulbs from shattering.”

Top tip
It’s also worth checking your lighting for an IP65 rating, which means it can withstand wet and windy conditions.

Containers and decor
Lightweight plant pots and empty containers will be blown across your yard in strong winds. To avoid the damage and mess, Saeed recommends moving small pots into a shed or sheltered spot, and grouping heavier pots together.

Outbuildings and fencing
Don’t forget to check your outbuildings and fencing before a storm arrives. “Look for unstable loose panels and fixings, or shed doors that could swing open in strong winds,” says Saeed.

When the weather is fine, get outside and make those repairs to avoid unnecessary damage.

2. Manage your plants and soil

While a good soak can benefit our gardens, Mark Dwelly, Head Gardener at Audley Stanbridge Earls, says, “Constant downpours can lead to waterlogged soil, hinder weed control, and even damage delicate plants.”

So, what do we need to do to manage our soil during heavy rain?

Lawncare
Dwelly advises holding off on mowing your lawn and says, “Mowing wet grass compacts the soil and can lead to patchy growth. Allow the lawn to dry out completely before attempting a mow.”

Stake plants
Check your garden for any plants that will be vulnerable in a storm. Dwelly recommends staking or caging vulnerable plants, such as tomatoes or peppers, to keep them from toppling over in heavy rain.

Cover tender plants
Heavy rain can also damage delicate flowers, so to keep them protected. "If possible, move container plants to a covered area or use temporary shelters like row covers," he advises.

Check for fungal disease
Prolonged moisture can encourage fungal growth, so Dwelly recommends you keep an eye on your plants and treat any outbreaks promptly with organic fungicide.

Get weeding
Step out into your garden in between showers and pull up some weeds. According to Dwelly, weeds are easier to remove when the soil is moist. You could also make use of the time and clean up your garden tools, and sharpen your pruning shears.

3. Flood proof your yard

Securing your yard against wind damage is not the only part of the action plan. Chris Bonnet, a garden expert at Gardening Express, explains why you need to prepare for flooding in advance. “Floodproofing your garden is crucial for its longevity and can reduce maintenance costs in the future.”

But what does floodproofing your yard entail? Bonnett says it’s about creating space for water to flow and collect, ensuring your garden has healthy, high-quality soil year-round.

Rain garden
One way to limit flooding is to create a rain garden. Bonnet explains that they are shallow dug out basins filled with plants, which can withstand up to 48 hours of waterlogging. “They help water to drain into the surrounding soil, absorbing up to 30% more water than lawn.”

He says, once they are established, they require minimal maintenance, making them perfect long-term solutions for managing the excess water in your garden.

Flood-tolerant plants
While I’ve been thinking of planting more drought-tolerant plants to handle the extreme heat my garden struggled through this summer, Bonnett suggests considering flood-tolerant plants to help your garden withstand heavy rain.

He says carex, acorus, daylilies, marsh marigold, lady’s smock and New England aster, all of which favor wet conditions.

Water-loving trees
Beyond plants that thrive in wet soil, trees can help manage excess water in your yard through canopy interception, high water absorption and by improving soil infiltration. What exactly is canopy interception? Bonnett explains that water gets caught in the leaves and then evaporates, so it doesn’t pool in your yard.

Trees also absorb large amounts of moisture from the soil through their roots and release it back into the atmosphere through transpiration; their extensive root systems also let rainwater soak deep into the soil rather than pool on the surface.

If you’re thinking of planting more trees in your yard and have the space, Bonnett recommends willow trees, river birch and red maple as great choices for flood-prone gardens, as they thrive in wet conditions.

Hard landscaping
As well as adding flood-tolerant plants and trees to your yard, your choice of hard landscaping can also reduce the risk of flooding. I have a gravel area in my own yard, which lets rainwater pass through to the soil below. However, if you have a large paved area, consider adding drain grates to prevent water from pooling.

More from Tom's Guide

• The 5-minute fall flood check every homeowner needs right now
• 3 expert-approved tasks you must do in October to get your yard ready for fall
• 5 ways to protect your lawn from flooding — tips from garden experts

Between testing whether our iPhones really listen to us for targeted ads and writing guides on shutting down smart TV snooping, I’m pretty used to investigating microphone privacy. But seeing @cybersecuritygirl's reel about a hidden Apple feature logging transcripts made me stop and take a closer look.

I dug straight into my iPhone's setting to investigate what was going on. The culprit being called out is a built-in feature called Live Listen — and while it may seem like covert spyware on the surface, the reality of its purpose is actually quite different.

What Live Listen actually is (and why it exists)

In iOS, Live Listen is an accessibility tool rather than spyware or an automated snooping algorithm. Apple introduced it to help people who are deaf or hard of hearing by turning the iPhone into a remote microphone that beams clear audio straight to AirPods, Beats, or compatible hearing aids.

It is meant for tuning in to someone across a noisy cafe or lecture hall, not for logging conversations or creating secret transcripts. The only genuine privacy issue is physical: because Bluetooth reaches 10 to 15 metres, someone can leave an active phone on a desk and listen in from the next room.

More from Tom's Guide

• After spending three months testing iOS 27, these 5 features are my absolute favorite
• In the era of the iPhone Duo and endless feeds, Apple's iPod easter egg hits differently
• iOS 27 has a hidden anti-scam setting — here’s why every iPhone user should turn it on

Once you’ve settled your navigation, whether you stick with Google Maps or switch your default to Waze, Android Auto’s job usually feels done. But leaving your dashboard on cruise control with just turn-by-turn directions and a music feed misses the platform’s best utility.

You don't need a center console cluttered with dozen of icons, but these three third-party apps solve real-world driving headaches that standard navigation can't touch.

More from Tom's Guide

• Android Auto has a hidden setting that lets you create custom shortcuts that you can use while driving — here's how to set them up
• 3 Google Maps features that solve the biggest travel headaches
• This hidden setting changed the way I use Android Auto — and I'm never going back

A stubborn ring circling the waterline of a toilet bowl is one of the most frustrating fixtures in any home. You scrub it down to pristine porcelain, only for a dull, chalky, or discolored halo to creep back within days.

The natural instinct is to reach for a stronger disinfectant or scrub with more muscle, yet in almost every case, a recurring ring has very little to do with surface dirt and everything to do with water chemistry, silent mechanical leaks, or microscopic glaze damage.

Solving the problem permanently comes down to reading the stain, matching the chemistry, and eliminating the invisible habits that keep feeding it.

More from Tom's Guide

• Hydrogen peroxide is the secret to a sparkling, odor-free bathroom
• I sprinkled baking soda around the base of my toilet — here's why you should too
• 3 warning signs your home needs attention before a small fix becomes a big bill

Just as you start to enjoy the fall colors of the leaves turning to charming shades of oranges, reds and yellows, they start dropping. And unfortunately, if you live near any trees, it's likely that those leaves are landing on your lawn.

Mine has become swamped in what feels like a matter of days and every year, I find myself with a rake and a dream hoping I can get the job done as quickly as possible.

But this year looks like it might go differently. I recently came across the 'tarp burrito', a hack that suggests that you can get your leaves cleaned up fast. So, I had to give it a try – and I have to say I was very surprised with the results.

How does it work?

On TikTok, @theblowmaster shares 'landscape industry secrets' to his over 40k followers. But it's his 'tarp burrito' method that caught my eye. While I've followed the 7 tips and tricks to raking leaves the easy way, one of which is using a tarp to load up your leaves, I never thought to try this.

It's simple. Once you've laid your tarp out, you need to tie up the one end in a knot to securely hold your leaves. He explains: "That way, when you carry it, it folds up like a burrito." He then demonstrates dragging it along the lawn, exclaiming: "You see? It's not going anywhere."

Here's what happened when I tried it

Thankfully, I already had a tarp ready to use (after a good shake of spiders from the garage). But, if you don't have one already, it'll only cost you around $10 to pick one up.

Firstly, I laid the tarp out flat on my lawn so that I could rake all the leaves onto it. And as I started to collect leaves, I realized the wind was working against me. So, I weighed down two corners and decided to tie up my 'tarp burrito' straight away so that I'd stop losing the leaves out the back.

It actually worked surprisingly well, keeping the leaves secure as I moved between the waste and compost bin. I also have side access to my house, so I was able to pull the 'tarp burrito' all the way round to the front of my house to gather more leaves on the front yard.

While I was concerned that tying up the ends would be difficult with the stiffness of the tarp, if anything it worked better. Sure, I still lost some leaves because it was a windy day, but I figure I'd have lost a lot more if I hadn't tried out this hack.

I'd recommend attaching a peg or two or tying up the knot with a rubber band to fully secure it if you're going to be moving the tarp around a lot. But, for a simple leaf clear up on my lawn, it certainly does the job. I'll be using it again every year.

More from Tom's Guide

• How to remove leaf stains from concrete — no vinegar required
• Don’t clear those fallen leaves: The free fall hack that stops weeds in their tracks
• I used four different tools to get rid of leaves in my yard, and this is the one I recommend

Variable aperture is easily the standout feature on the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max. Powered by a mechanical iris of sorts and made up of six individual laser-cut blades, this system lets users control how much light actually enters the main camera lens. The idea being that taking that control lets you employ different effects and techniques to get your desired shot.

The problem is Apple doesn't make it very clear how to control the aperture. You're just handed a phone with a camera app, and left to try and figure it out for yourself. Which is hardly ideal when this is one of the major selling points of the latest flagship iPhones.

Here's how to use the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max's variable aperture camera system, as well as the kind of things you can actually do when you take control of the light hitting your lens.

How to control aperture on iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max

How to Add Lens Aperture to quick settings

If you plan on using variable aperture frequently, you might want to make it a little easier to access. You can do this by adding the setting to the Camera app's quick settings menu at the very top of the page. Here's how to do it.

What controlling the aperture can offer you

F-stop values can be somewhat intimidating for those of you that aren't well versed in camera lore, and you may be confused as to what the benefits of tinkering with the aperture might offer. We have a full breakdown on the benefits of variable aperture, but here's a quick rundown on what to expect from each aperture level.

f/1.48 is a wider aperture that enables a natural bokeh effect, without all the algorithms that power dedicated features like Portrait Mode.

This aperture also helps aid quality in darker conditions, helping the camera capture as much light as possible — and in turn helps reduce the exposure times utilized by traditional low light camera modes. That extra light also means you can minimize shutter speed, and photograph moving subjects without suffering as much motion blur.

f/4.0 does the total opposite of f/1.8, expanding the depth of field to ensure sharpness across the entire photo. This is perfect for photos of groups or scenery where all the details are important — not just the ones in the foreground.

Pairing f/4.0 with longer shutter speeds also helps create intentional motion blur. This means stationary targets are captured in ultra clarity, while everything else is blurred in a stylized way.

More from Tom's Guide

• I put the iPhone Duo vs. iPhone 18 Pro Max through a 10-round camera face-off — here’s what you're giving up
• First iPhone 18e specs leak point towards a disappointing upgrade for Apple's next low-cost iPhone
• Cancel your iPhone Duo pre-order: Here's why I think the iPad mini 8 and iPhone 18 Pro combo is cheaper and better

No matter how often you vacuum the floor or wipe down your nightstand, bedrooms gather a frustrating layer of dust, seemingly overnight. While surface cleaning catches the obvious spots, dust doesn't actually start on your bedside table — it starts in your mattress, curtains, and carpets, drifting through the air until it finds a flat surface to settle on.

These fabric fibers, dead skin cells, and tracked-in allergens get kicked up every time you walk across the room or make the bed. If you want to cut down on dust and keep your space feeling fresh, here are five hidden dust magnets in your bedroom, and the simple ways to tackle them.

More from Tom's Guide

• Get rid of dust in the bedroom by removing one piece of decor from your space
• I stopped dry dusting: here is the simple wiping technique that actually traps dust
• I tried this genius dryer sheet trick on my baseboards, and it got rid of all the dust in 30 seconds

To mark the 25th anniversary of Steve Jobs unveiling the first iPod on October 23, 2001, Apple slipped a brilliant, nostalgic easter egg onto its website.

Instead of serving a generic "Page Not Found" screen, the web version of Apple Music now hosts a fully interactive, functional replica of the original 2001 monochrome breakthrough, complete with its iconic mechanical scroll wheel.

It makes for a fun slice of early-noughties nostalgia, but it also highlights just how far hardware has drifted from doing one thing beautifully.

How to find Apple’s iPod easter egg

Accessing it is simple: open a desktop browser and head to music.apple.com/tomsguide.

Sitting on the screen is a functioning monochrome model from 2001.

Doubling as a digital time capsule, you can click around the mechanical scroll wheel, the physical menu buttons, and spin through nostalgic staples from Gorillaz to The Ting Tings and Daft Punk, with 90-second audio previews playing right in your browser.

It is a clever tribute, and it was hard not to lose time absent-mindedly clicking through the virtual iPod. But the novelty also serves as a revealing mirror for how consumer technology has evolved over the past quarter of a century.

The case for single-purpose hardware

Today, we live squarely in an era of bottomless hardware complexity. Between multi-screen designs like the iPhone Duo and annual iOS updates (like iOS 27) that pile on new feature after feature, today's devices exist to capture every spare second of human attention.

Every device is an omni-tool designed to blur boundaries: work, streaming, social media, messaging, and finance all collapse onto a single pane of glass. The iPod came from a radically different school of design, one that mastered a single purpose rather than chasing every conceivable distraction.

Syncing an iPod was about curating a finite collection rather than scrolling a bottomless stream. It carried no notifications, nudges, or background tracking — it played your music and left you alone. That is, I think, what I miss about hardware from that era.

There is obviously a place for the mini-computers in our pockets, and most of us couldn't get through a day without them. But there is also a genuine appetite for hardware that isn't engineered to keep your thumb moving.

Stumbling across its virtual ghost on an Apple 404 page is a reminder that the iPod's real magic was doing one job so well it never needed your attention for anything else.

More from Tom's Guide

• I disabled these iOS 27 features and my iPhone finally feels responsive again
• After spending three months testing iOS 27, these 5 features are my absolute favorite
• iOS 27 has a hidden Mac Easter egg — here's how to trigger it

I've been having a battle with fruit flies. In my home, we eat a lot of bananas and I also like to make sure some of them ripen fully so I can bake up a loaf of banana bread (or two).

But with bananas on the countertop, I've also had an influx of fruit fly visitors that are not welcome in my home.

There are plenty of reasons fruit flies can turn up in your home, including buildup in your drains, unwashed trash in your bins, and crumbs and food scraps you might not have noticed.

Whatever it is, I'm on a mission to find a way to get rid of fruit flies, and social media has brought me an answer.

While I've tried 3 different DIY fruit fly traps with varying results, I recently came across a hack I'd never seen before that I just had to try. It also helped that I had all the ingredients already in my home.

Spoiler alert: I've been very surprised by the results.

How does it work?

TikTok pair, @jeffandlaurenshow, share wildly varied from food hacks to home organization to their 2 million followers. But, they're also really great at sharing DIY pest control hacks that require minimum effort.

And for their DIY fruit fly trap, all you need is a lidded mason jar, apple cider vinegar and some dish soap. To save on costs, you can also easily recycle any old food jar you have, rather than buying a new one.

To follow this hack, carry out these five simple steps:

• Poke several holes in the lid of the mason jar
• Add around a cup of apple cider vinegar
• Add a couple of squirts of dish soap
• Swirl the mixture around in the jar
• Place the jar wherever you notice the fruit flies

It's important to note that you should be very careful when poking the holes in your mason jar lid (as I quickly learned).

While you can use a hammer and nail, screwdriver or power drill, you also need to be careful of the sharp edges that remain on the lid. I opted for the power drill as it tends to leave the cleanest holes.

It's also worth noting that fruit flies are a lot smaller than regular flies, so if you're worried that the holes are too small, don't be.

Here's what happened when I tried it

To complete this hack, I picked up a bottle of apple cider vinegar, fairly cheap at my local grocery store. I already had an old jam jar to clean out and dish soap at home, so it only cost me around $5 to put this DIY fruit fly trap together.

After a failed attempt with a screwdriver to make the holes, I recruited my husband and his power drill to make them for me neatly instead.

Then, all I had to do was simply add about a cup of apple cider vinegar, as well as a couple of generous squirts of dish soap.

After replacing the lid and agitating the mixture, I placed the DIY fruit fly trap onto my windowsill directly above where I keep the bananas. I'll be honest, my expectations were low for this one as I've already had several failed attempts at getting rid of the fruit flies in my kitchen. But, I was happy to give it a go since it took me less than a minute to do and cost me very little.

I left it overnight and returned in the morning to find that the mixture had caught not one, not two, but what appeared to be three fruit flies. At first, I thought it had failed as the mixture was pretty cloudy, but after a swirl around it uncovered the truth – it had worked!

I feel like I don't get to say that a lot about DIY hacks, but with it's safe to say with this one I've been pleasantly surprised.

More from Tom's Guide

• This 2-ingredient dish soap spray kills fruit flies instantly
• How to banish fruit flies with apple cider vinegar — and prevent them from coming back
• I've got a fly infestation — here's the hack I found to tackle the problem for good

Yes, even your TV is spying on you. The terms of service on a smart TV change like the wind, and every time you’re asked to accept a litany of new agreements that go beyond what is necessary for the TV to function, you’re likely volunteering to be spied on by your own smart TV, if it hasn’t already been enabled by default. The mole in your house is called Automated Content Recognition (ACR).

ACR is a technology that identifies what it is you’re watching on your TV. This applies to both visual and audio sources. This not only works for built-in apps but also anything connected through HDMI ports, like an Amazon Fire Stick or game consoles. You could be completely offline, connecting an old school DVD drive to your TV, and manufacturers can still steal that data.

Companies use ACR to learn what you like and don’t like and then use that information to hit you with ads or suggest content. But of course, it’s not just about suggesting things that you may like to watch. Manufacturers turn around and sell this data to companies to then use predatory tactics against you. It’s like a stalker in league with other stalkers — they learn all about you and then lure you in with the tantalizing appeal of consumerism.

If you think that’s bad, Gamers Nexus published a video back in September investigating a serious privacy issue that LG Smart TVs have — the microphone is on and actively listening, even when the screen is turned off. It also stores the recorded data when the TV is completely disconnected from the internet. Terrifying.

If you’d rather not have all of your personal information stolen from something as simple as a display, then you need to disable ACR immediately. Here’s how.

How to stop smart TVs from stealing your data

Unfortunately, some manufacturers turned to cleverly calling ACR something else entirely, and often hide the setting deep within a series of menus. I’m going to go over a few of them so you generally know what to look for. However, my overall advice is to do a thorough sweep of your TV settings. Typically, there are explanations next to each setting, and if not, look them up to see what they’re really about.

LG TVs

Let’s start with the spooky one first. LG likes to call its ACR technology Live Plus, and you can dig that setting out by going to Settings > General > System > Advanced Settings. I’d disable Live Plus as well as Live Promotion. Depending on the model you have, there’s also Content Recommendations, Screen Saver Promotion, and Limit Ad Tracking settings that you can disable too.

Amazon Fire TVs

At the very least, Amazon’s Fire TV has the decency to call the setting what it is — Automated Content Recognition, although most people might not know what that even means.

To disable it, you’ll want to go to Settings > Preferences > Privacy Settings. There you can turn off not only ACR but also Device Usage Data, Collect App and Over-The-Air Data, and Interest-based Ads. Or literally anything else that seems like it wants to spy on you.

Samsung TVs

For Samsung, you’ll want to go to Settings > All Settings > General & Privacy > Terms & Privacy. There you should disable Viewing Information Services and Interest-Based Advertising. If you have an older Samsung, you might find this setting in the Support > Terms & Policies section.

Sony TVs

Sony decided to call its ACR Samba Interactive TV, another fancy name for effectively the same spying device. You’ll find it in Settings > Initial Setup or All Settings.

Roku TVs

For Roku devices, navigate to Settings > Privacy > Smart TV Experience and then disable ACR or Use Info from TV Inputs. In the Privacy section, you also might find Advertising and Microphone settings, and I highly recommend disabling anything in those sub menus.

Vizio TVs

Vizio hid this setting behind the Reset & Admin section. You’ll find it by going through Menu > System > Reset & Admin, where you can then disable Highlight Viewing Data.

More from Tom's Guide

• 5 fast steps to take immediately after a company leaks your personal data
• 7 warning signs your Android phone or iPhone has malware
• Does antivirus software still slow down your PC in 2026? We tested the top security software to find out

Every home has its quirks: a toilet that runs a few seconds too long, a light that flickers when you flip the switch, a thin line of caulk pulling away from the tub. None of them feel urgent, so they slide to the bottom of the weekend to-do list.

That’s exactly what makes them expensive. Many costly home repairs don’t start with a burst pipe or a storm. They start as small problems that cost a few dollars to fix, then quietly cause damage behind walls, under floors and inside electrical boxes until the bill runs into the thousands.

Here are three minor home issues you shouldn’t ignore, what they’re really telling you, and how to fix them before they become major repairs.

More from Tom's Guide

• My toilet seat kept sliding around — here’s the quick fix that locked it in place
• Scraping pumpkin pulp down the sink? Here's why it will ruin your garbage disposal
• Why there’s a sheet of ice in your freezer — and how to fix it in 5 minutes

As the mowing season winds down and temperatures start to plunge, packing away your lawnmower is usually the final task on the fall yard work checklist. However, simply wheeling your mower into the shed or garage with a half-full tank of gasoline is a costly mistake.

Stagnant, untreated gas is the single biggest cause of small-engine failure, leading to gummed-up carburetors, rusted fuel lines, and an expensive repair bill — or a completely dead engine when spring rolls around.

Before you store your equipment for the cold months ahead, here is why untreated fuel ruins your mower during seasonal storage, and the simple one-step solution that keeps your engine protected.

1. Why gas goes bad

Most gasoline purchased at the pump contains up to 10 percent ethanol, which works fine when you are burning through a tank every week. The problem arises when that ethanol-blended fuel sits idle in a lawn mower tank for more than 30 days.

Ethanol is hygroscopic, aggressively drawing moisture from the air into the fuel, a process accelerated by temperature fluctuations that cause tank condensation.

Over a few weeks, this trapped water triggers "phase separation," causing a heavy, acidic water-ethanol mixture to sink to the tank's bottom where the carburetor line feeds.

This slurry corrodes metal, destroys rubber seals, and leaves a gummy varnish that clogs the carburetor's microscopic jets. Because of this, next spring the engine will refuse to combust, even with a perfect spark, or it will stall immediately.

2. Stabilize or drain the gas tank

To keep your mower's fuel system pristine over the off-season, you have two choices: treat a full tank with a high-quality fuel stabilizer, or drain the fuel system completely.

If you choose to store it empty, remove any remaining or stale gas from your lawn mower's tank. The safest and cleanest way to do this is by using a manual hand pump. These inexpensive siphons come in various hose lengths and diameters to suit your setup, allowing you to easily transfer fuel into a safe storage container.

If you aren't comfortable siphoning fuel lines or draining the system, adding a fuel stabilizer is the easiest, most reliable method. Fuel stabilizer contains antioxidants and anti-corrosive additives that bond with gasoline molecules, preventing phase separation and stopping fuel oxidation.

To do it correctly, pour the recommended dose of stabilizer into a fresh can of gas, or directly into your mower's tank, and top it off so the tank is roughly 95 percent full.

Leaving a full tank leaves minimal airspace for condensation to form inside the walls.

Once added, run the mower engine for five to ten minutes. This step is critical: running the engine ensures the treated fuel circulates through the entire system, filling the carburetor bowl and fuel lines with stabilized gas.

3. Maintenance steps to finish your mower prep

Once the fuel system is stabilized and protected, spend five extra minutes completing two final winterization steps to ensure your mower starts on the very first pull next spring.

First, disconnect the spark plug wire to prevent any accidental starting, tilt the mower up with the air filter pointing upward, and scrape away all caked-on grass clippings and mud from the underside of the deck.

Damp, trapped grass holds moisture against the metal deck all winter long, causing heavy rust and structural corrosion.

Then remove the mower blade and sharpen or balance it now so it is ready for the first spring cut, or simply wipe down the blade with a thin coat of WD-40 or mineral oil to ward off surface rust while stored in a damp shed or garage.

More from Tom's Guide

• 7 essential lawnmower tips to help keep it running like new
• Before your lawn goes dormant, do this 15-minute job for thicker grass next spring
• How to sharpen a lawnmower blade in 5 simple steps (and save your grass)

As fall leaves begin to carpet the lawn, tackling your gutters early seems like a proactive way to check a major chore off your seasonal home maintenance list. However, clearing your downspouts too soon in the season could be a costly waste of time that almost guarantees you will have to haul out the ladder a second time before winter sets in.

Timing your fall gutter prep requires a delicate balance between letting the canopy clear and protecting your home's foundation from heavy rains. Here is why jumping the gun on gutter cleaning backfires — and the exact window to do it right.

Why cleaning your gutters too early in fall backfires

The temptation to clear gutters during the first crisp weekend of fall is understandable, but sweeping them while trees are still shedding is an exercise in futility.

When you scoop out leaves while the surrounding canopy is only partially bare, the very next fall breeze or rainstorm will dump a fresh layer of dry foliage, twigs, and oak tassels straight into your clean troughs. Within a week, those newly cleared channels fill right back up.

Worse still, early fall leaves are often dry and lightweight. Rather than packing tightly at the bottom of the trough, they float freely into the top of downspouts, creating quick, stubborn jams at the elbows that trap subsequent rainfall.

Wait too long, however, and wet, freezing leaves turn into a heavy, sludge-like paste that weighs down your fascia boards and pulls the gutters away from your roofline.

The golden rule for timing your fall gutter clean

To avoid climbing the ladder twice, follow the 80 percent rule: wait until roughly 80% of the surrounding trees have shed their leaves before doing your primary fall clear-out.

Unless your gutters are already overflowing and causing immediate drainage issues, the ideal window for most regions lands between late October and mid-November — right after the first hard freeze forces deciduous trees like maples, oaks, and birches to drop their remaining foliage.

If you live in an area surrounded predominantly by pine or oak trees, your timeline shifts slightly:

• Deciduous trees (Maples, Elms, Ashes): Wait until late fall after a hard frost when the branches are mostly bare.
• Late-dropping oaks: Oak trees retain their leaves much longer into the season, often dropping them in late November or early December. Wait for the final canopy drop so you aren't caught off guard.
• Pine and needle trees: Pines shed needles continuously in early fall; sweep them right before the first anticipated snowfall to prevent frozen ice dams

How to check for hidden downspout blockages before winter

Once you hit the right fall window, a quick scoop of the main troughs isn't enough to safeguard your home against winter water damage. A single hidden clog in the downspout can cause freezing water to back up under your shingles, leading to costly roof leaks and damaged foundations.

To ensure your system is completely clear, follow this simple 3-step inspection.

After removing loose debris from the horizontal troughs, place a running garden hose directly into the top of each downspout. Watch the bottom outlet to confirm water flows out freely at full pressure.

If water backs up at the top, the clog is trapped in the curved elbow. Tap the side of the metal downspout gently with a rubber mallet to dislodge packed debris, or feed a plumber's snake down the pipe to break up the blockage.

Make sure your downspout extensions funnel water at least 3 to 5 feet away from your home's foundation to prevent pooling and basement seepage during winter thaws.

More from Tom's Guide

• How long does grass seed take to sprout? The exact timeline and 3 ways to speed it up
• Stop buying filler seed: What chickadees actually need to survive a cold snap
• When should you winterize your sprinklers — and how to do it right

For millions of households, the Roku remote is a fixture on the coffee table. But most of us stick to the directional pad, volume, and app shortcut buttons without paying much attention to the rest.

The star button is easy to overlook, but it opens an options menu that changes depending on what you’re doing. Press it during a show and you can adjust captions and sound settings, press it on the home screen and you can manage your apps.

If you want to get more out of your Roku player or Roku TV, here are a few ways you can put the star button to use.

Do you have any Roku tips or tricks? Share them in the comments below!

More from Tom's Guide

• Can't find your Roku remote? You'll never lose it again after you learn this simple trick
• Don't replace your slow Roku yet — try this 10-second fix first
• 5 Roku tips to instantly improve your TV experience

The Apple Watch finally has a dynamic Readiness Score. Based on a scale from zero to ten, the score takes into account your recent sleep quality, physical activity, and vital trends.

Unlocking your dynamic Readiness Score on Apple Watch is fairly straightforward, though you will need to wear the device for seven nights to see your first one.

Apple's Readiness Score is just one of the cool, new features found in the best Apple Watch models in 2026. Others include support for a vastly improved AI-powered Siri, real-time dynamic step count data, an impressively comprehensive at-home wellness assessment, and Live Rewind, an AI tool that transcribes live audio around you.

Of course, I've already covered all of the above at length; here's how to unlock Apple's new dynamic Readiness Score on your Apple Watch in four easy steps.

How to unlock the Readiness Score on your Apple Watch

1. Make sure you have a compatible Apple Watch model
2. Enter your height, weight, and age in the Apple Fitness app
3. Wear your Apple Watch to bed for seven consecutive nights; ensure you get at least four hours of sleep per night
4. After seven nights logged, open the Readiness app on your Apple Watch to see your dynamic score

Read on to see full illustrated instructions for each step.

Readiness Scores break down into four categories: "Recover" (0-1), "Pace Yourself" (2-4), "Ready" (5-7), and "Go for it" (8-10).

Keep in mind, after your initial Readiness Score is generated, it will dynamically update throughout the day as you go about your business. Workouts, movement, naps, and heart rate can all have an impact on your real-time score.

And for easy viewing, there's even a Readiness Score widget you can add to your watch's home screen, right alongside the new Siri AI and dynamic step count widgets.

More from Tom's Guide

• I walked 5,000 steps with the Apple Watch 12 vs Garmin Forerunner 170 — here's the winner
• I tested the Apple Watch 12’s heart rate accuracy vs a chest strap for running, cycling, HIIT and strength workouts — here's my verdict
• Apple Watch Series 12 vs Apple Watch Ultra 4: Which new Apple Watch should you buy?

As fall kitchen prep hits full swing, many homeowners unwittingly make a costly plumbing mistake. While your garbage disposal might feel like an all-powerful catch-all for kitchen scraps, feeding it the remains of your seasonal cooking and jack-o'-lantern carving is a fast track to a jammed motor and an emergency repair bill.

Before you dump your kitchen waste down the sink, here is why pumpkin guts, grease, and peels turn to glue inside your drain — and how to keep your disposal safe all season long.

Why pumpkin guts and stringy pulp destroy your disposal

If you've ever carved a jack-o'-lantern or prepped a fresh squash for roasting, you know how clingy and tough that inner pulp can be.

Scraping those stringy guts directly into the sink seems like the easiest way to clean up the mess, but those inner fibers, sticky starches, and woody seeds are uniquely engineered to ruin your plumbing.

Unlike crisp vegetables that shred easily under spinning blades, the long, fibrous strands of pumpkin flesh act like heavy-duty twine, wrapping tightly around the disposal's impellers until they bind the mechanism and burn out the motor entirely.

To make matters worse, when ground up with water, pumpkin pulp breaks down into a thick, paste-like starch that travels down your waste line and acts like wet concrete — setting inside the dark bends of your pipes and trapping every other piece of food debris that follows until your entire sink backs up.

Even the seeds cause severe issues: they are far too hard and slippery for standard disposal blades to pulverize, passing into the drain intact and settling directly in the P-trap to create an impenetrable dam alongside the sticky pulp.

More from Tom's Guide

• Remove odors in your garbage disposal with this common household ingredient — here's how
• 5 clever alternatives for disposing of yard waste at home
• Knowing how to use a kitchen sponge seems idiot-proof, but most of us are still doing it wrong

You do it without thinking: swipe up, then flick, flick, flick until every app card is gone. It feels productive, like wiping down a counter, and you’re sure your battery will thank you.

It won’t. Force-closing your apps doesn’t save power. Done constantly, it makes your iPhone work harder and can drain your battery faster. I’ll admit I did this for years. But the habit millions of us swear by is based on a misunderstanding of how iOS actually works.

Here’s what’s really happening when you swipe an app away, and what to do instead if you want your battery to last.

What really happens when you leave an app

It’s easy to picture your open apps like programs on a laptop: all running at once, all eating power. That’s not how an iPhone works.

When you go home or switch to another app, iOS gives the app a few seconds to finish what it was doing, then suspends it. The app stays in memory, paused where you left it, but it isn’t using the processor. That’s why it reopens instantly.

You don’t need to clear any of this yourself. When your phone needs more memory, iOS closes suspended apps on its own. The App Switcher is really just a list of apps you’ve used recently.

There are exceptions. Apps playing music, giving directions, handling a call or finishing an upload can keep running in the background. Some apps can also wake briefly to refresh their content, which you can switch off — more on that below.

Why swiping them away backfires

When you swipe an app away, you remove it from memory entirely. The next time you tap it, your iPhone has to start it from scratch: load it from storage, rebuild its screens and fetch fresh content.

That fresh start, called a cold launch, takes more work than resuming a suspended app. Once, you’d never notice. But, if you operate like how I used to and clear out Messages, Safari and Mail several times a day, your phone repeats that work over and over for no benefit.

Apple’s own advice is to force-close an app only if it has stopped responding.

When you should swipe an app away

Force-closing is useful for troubleshooting. If an app freezes or stops loading, swiping it away and reopening it gives it a clean restart.

The rest of the time, leave the App Switcher alone. If you want to cut background battery use, these steps help more.

• Turn off Background App Refresh for apps that don’t need it. Go to Settings, General, Background App Refresh and switch this off completely, or any apps you don’t need updating in the background.
• Check which apps use your location. In Settings, Privacy & Security, and Location Services, set apps to "While Using the App" unless they need your location all the time.
• See what’s actually using your battery. Head to Settings and Battery, then "View All Battery Usage" to see which apps are consuming the most power.

Tethered to a charger by 2 PM? If you voted no, drop your iPhone model in the comments and tell us which app is eating through your battery the fastest.

More from Tom's Guide

• I turned off this hidden iOS 27 setting and instantly fixed my iPhone’s battery drain
• The 4 emergency phone tweaks that keep your battery alive in a power outage
• iOS 27 has a hidden anti-scam setting — here’s why every iPhone user should turn it on

As the weather drops, we all start asking ourselves: "Is it time to put the heating on?" And after months of not needing it, it's also when you might realize that your heating isn't doing as efficient a job as it was the year before.

I should know, my husband's a heating engineer and it's around the same time each year that his phone doesn't stop ringing with people wanting to know why their house isn't warming up like it used to.

But, before you call in a professional, there's a few things you can do around your home to make sure your property isn't losing heat – and they're pretty simple to do and fairly inexpensive. Add in the fact that you could also be saving yourself money on heating bills in the long term and this should become part of your fall/winter routine.

1. Use a sheet of paper to identify gaps

As Kaitlin Wood, Senior Category Manager for Bathrooms, Plumbing, Heating and Renewables at Travis Perkins says: "Homeowners often focus on their boiler or thermostat when preparing for winter, but heat can also escape through small gaps and poorly insulated areas around the property."

And one really important place to check is your windows. Fortunately, you can do so with just a simple strip of paper. All you have to do is place it between an open window and its frame before closing the window and locking it. If you can remove the paper once it's closed with little resistance, there's clearly an issue with the seal around the window.

You should check this in several places around the window to ensure where the problem is, and once you've identified the problem, you can use draught-proofing strips around the windows to fix it.

Though it's important to identify what the issue actually is, too. Whether it's a worn seal, a misaligned window, damaged hinges or a gap around the outer frame. "A joiner or window fitter can establish whether the window needs a replacement seal, an adjustment, or a more substantial repair, helping homeowners avoid applying a product that is unsuitable for the window," advises Rob Haddock, Senior Group Commercial Category Manager at Travis Perkins.

2. Check your attic

If your attic is anything like mine, it's a place where I store the things I don't need all year round, from seasonal clothing and decorations to suitcases and memorabilia. But storing all this up in the attic might actually be causing a problem for your heating.

All these storage boxes and/or boards might be impacting the effectiveness of your attic's insulation by compressing it or pushing it to the sides. So, head into your attic with a tape measure and check the depth in areas of high storage against empty spots to assess. You'll need to check the climate zone, but it'll range between 10 and 24 inches.

Haddock says: "Adding more insulation will not necessarily solve the problem if it is then compressed beneath boxes or loft boards. Raising boarding can provide storage space while allowing the insulation underneath to retain its intended depth."

He advises: "Damp Insulation, insulation damaged by pests, or covering electrical equipment should not simply be topped up. An experienced installer can assess its condition, ventilation and coverages before recommending the correct improvement."

And it's also worth checking your attic door while you're up there for any visible signs of gaps, whether that's a noticeable draft, movement, or light shining through.

3. Assess your radiators

You don't have to be a heating engineer to run a quick check on your radiators to see if the heat is being distributed evenly. Instead, do it yourself and then you can identify whether you need to call in an expert.

Place your hands gently on the radiator (being careful of heat). If you're feeling coolness at the top of a radiator, but heat at the bottom, coolness throughout, or a radiator that heats very slowly compared to others, than you might have a bigger problem.

Wood explains: "Uneven heat is a symptom rather than a full diagnosis. Turning up the thermostat could make other rooms unnecessarily warm without resolving the original problem. A heating engineer can determine whether the radiator contains trapped air or whether there is a problem elsewhere in the system."

5. Insulate exposed pipes

It's worth checking throughout your home and especially in unheated spaces like your loft and garage for pipes that may be exposed as they could be susceptible to freezing or condensation during the colder months.

Once you've identified these pipes, it's possible to buy pipe insulation and slip over straight pipe runs with self-sealing adhesive, but you may want to call in a plumber to help you identify and treat the pipes, as well as ensuring that valves, controls and components are still exposed for access.

It's also worth noting that if you identify heating or hot water pipes that these need to be switched off and cooled fully before handling.

5. Do a full draft check

While checking your windows is the most obvious place for drafts in a property, there's a few other spots you should also be paying attention to. These include floorboards, baseboards, around pipework and fireplaces.

Small gaps can be treated with the appropriate filler, with research and expert guidance, but if you identify any larger gaps or openings you think shouldn't be there, it's time to call in an expert. Spotting them could be just what you need to reduce those heating bills in the long run.

More from Tom's Guide

• 5 ways to winterize your home and save money on your energy bills
• Winter brings 3 types of damp — here's how to spot and treat them before they spread
• 7 ways to winterize your pipes and stop them from bursting

Depending on what region you live in, the risk of floods may be a real problem for you, especially in the colder months. Heavy rain can feel like its come out of nowhere, so it's best to be prepared.

While you can track rain patterns on weather apps and from regional news, it's a much better idea to get ahead of the weather entirely.

Instead, you should be doing any prep work before you're faced with flood warnings and predictions of heavy rain.

Fortunately, I've put together a 5-minute fall flood checklist that will help you prepare your home for a flood, hopefully preventing damage that'll take a lot longer to resolve.

After all, it's better to be ready even if the rain doesn't arrive than be caught out with a flood striking and creating hazards across your home.

1. Clear gutters and downspouts

Fall is the perfect season for your gutters and downspouts to get clogged up. Why? Well, with falling leaves and extra rain, it can concoct the ultimate mulch that will easily block the area. It's also a great breeding ground for moss to gather, too.

Grab a sturdy ladder with someone spotting you or a stabilizer at the bottom, then using a bucket and gloves, remove all the packed debris, leaves and moss that's blocking up your gutters. You should do this once or twice during the fall, especially around November and December as that's when most trees lose their leaves.

2. Trim down nearby trees and shrubs

Around your home, you may have nearby trees and shrubs that are your responsibility to trim down to prevent excessive foliage falling to the ground – and, as already discussed, into your gutters. This can also cause a problem for any exterior drains you have.

So, you should prune back trees and shrubs to minimize the amounts of leaves and loose branches that pose a risk to your home. If you let everything fall to the ground or into your gutters, you're increasing the chances that rain won't drain properly away from your property.

3. Survey for cracks and gaps

It won't take you long at all to do a perimeter walk of your home to check for any cracks or gaps in the exterior walls, so make sure you do. If you spot any, grab some waterproof sealants or fillers to close up any gaps and cracks to prevent any water getting through.

You may need to widen any small gaps to ensure the sealants or fillers hold or call in a professional if you find anything especially bad. Hairline cracks that are less than 1/16 of an inch though are generally considered cosmetic, so you can leave these alone. But, it's important to note down where they are and keep an eye on them incase they get any worse.

4. Test your sump pump

Not all homes have sump pumps, but if you have one in your basement, you should incorporate testing it into your 5-minute fall flood home check. Simply pour water (around one or two 5-gallon buckets worth, or run a hose) into the pit to test that the float switch is working and that the pump then activates and drains the water out of the basin.

Then, confirm that the water level has fully dropped back down to the bottom and that the sump pump has turned off. You'll most likely be able to listen for this as the motor will stop running.

With your sump pump in order, basement flooding risk can be greatly reduced, and the need for a dehumidifier.

5. Move belongings to a higher place

Even after all your home checks, you may still want to protect your valuables from any risk of floods and to do that, you can quickly move anything of value to the highest floor of your home or even the attic.

Of course, you don't need to live with your valuables up high at all times, but if you receive a warning from the National Weather Service or hear of any extreme weather, you should at least have a plan in place about what you choose to move.

You might also be interested in the gardener’s guide to surviving heavy storms and waterlogged lawns.

More from Tom's Guide

• 3 expert-approved tasks you must do in October to get your yard ready for fall
• 5 ways to protect your lawn from flooding — tips from garden experts
• 7 security steps to prepare your home before you leave your for the holidays

For as long as I can remember, I treated the standard dual-layer kitchen sponge like a one-size-fits-all scrubbing block.

My routine was simple: squirt soap onto the soft side, give it a quick squeeze to foam up, and then use whichever side felt right for the job. If a dish had stuck-on food, I flipped straight to the abrasive scouring side and scrubbed.

It wasn't until I noticed the dark coating flaking off my favorite frying pan that I looked into how these everyday sponges are actually constructed. It turns out that two-tone design isn't just cosmetic, and mixing up the sides is a fast track to ruining your kitchenware.

What the two layers are actually made of

While the classic yellow-and-green sponge is the most common, dual-layer sponges come in various color combinations. That two-tone construction consists of two completely different cleaning tools bonded together, each engineered for specific materials and tasks.

The soft base layer, typically made from synthetic polyurethane foam or natural cellulose wood pulp, is a porous material designed for maximum absorption and foam creation. It holds soap and water efficiently while remaining soft, flexible, and completely non-abrasive against delicate surfaces.

Bonded to it is the abrasive top layer, or scouring pad. Made from dense synthetic fibers, such as nylon or polyester, often infused with abrasive mineral particles, this side is engineered strictly for heavy-duty scraping to break down stubborn, burnt-on food residue.

The mistake everyone makes

I've always relied on the rough scouring side as my shortcut for stubborn grease, using it on almost every dish in the sink. It wasn't until I noticed the flaking coating on my non-stick pans that I realized the synthetic fibers in heavy-duty scouring pads act like micro-sandpaper, slicing through Teflon and ceramic coatings until food begins sticking permanently.

That abrasive friction does subtle damage elsewhere, too. On stainless steel, plastic containers, and glassware, it leaves fine scratch patterns that dull the finish and create micro-grooves where bacteria can hide.

Plus, scrubbing directly with the scouring side is a huge waste of money. Because those dense fibers can't trap air or hold water like the porous cellulose base, soap drains right through without lathering, forcing you to use twice as much dish soap for every load.

How to use each side correctly

To protect my kitchenware and make my sponges last twice as long, I started following a strict rule of surface matching.

Now, I reserve the soft layer exclusively for items that scratch easily — including non-stick and ceramic-coated pans, glassware, plastic Tupperware, seasoned cast iron skillets, and wiping down smooth countertops or stainless appliances.

I save the scouring side strictly for uncoated, durable surfaces that need real muscle, like uncoated stainless steel pots, baked-on casserole dishes, oven grates, and outdoor grill burners.

More from Tom's Guide

• How to clean glass windows with vinegar — without leaving streaks or lint behind
• I had no idea clothespins had a hidden feature — here's what the two holes are actually for
• Why your stainless steel appliances still look smudged — and the technique that fixes it

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, and with the new ChatGPT Images 2.5 model, that certainly rings true. Rather than spending ages crafting long, complex text prompts to describe what you want, you can draw a rough outline directly in ChatGPT to set the scene, then refine the details as you go.

You can use this feature with a free account, and your sketches can be as basic or as elaborate as you wish. While some outputs might carry that AI polish, the results are impressively accurate.

Most importantly, the process gives you far greater control over the end result because you can make tiny adjustments to any element of the image.

More from Tom's Guide

• 5 tips to get the most out of ChatGPT from someone who uses it every day
• You can reverse image search using ChatGPT — here's how
• How to remotely log out of your ChatGPT account on all your devices

Fall is officially here, and with it comes a host of seasonal outdoor tasks like raking up leaves, washing down patio furniture, and taking care of general yard maintenance.

Concrete stains are notoriously hard to get rid of — not to mention unsightly. And if fall leaves have left dark stains on your concrete patio or driveway, you might be wondering how to remove them without damaging the stone. What’s more, the longer you leave them to pile up, the harder the stains will be to clean.

If, like me, you tend to rely on natural cleaning solutions for tough spots, I’ve recently learned that white vinegar is a no-no and should never be used on concrete.

So with that in mind, I asked the experts how to remove leaf stains on concrete without scratching it — and needing expensive repairs.

Why do leaves leave stains on concrete?

First of all, why do leaf stains appear on concrete? Since leaves are organic matter, once they sit on surfaces, they leave natural tannins or dyes.

Wet conditions during fall can cause these pigments to seep into the porous surface and bind to the concrete, leaving unsightly brown or dark discoloration.

What can I use to clean leaf stains on concrete?

So what’s the best way to tackle leaf stains without using harsh chemicals? Or if you don't own a pressure washer?

Concrete is porous so you’ll need to avoid highly acidic products such as white vinegar, which can penetrate the surface, causing long-term damage.

Fortunately, light surface stains can easily be removed with a specialized concrete cleaner or a mild neutral solution of dish soap and water.

“I would remove any leaves, organic matter, and debris before washing with a mild and concrete-compatible detergent and a soft nylon brush,” advises Isabella Flores, Cleaning Expert at Sparkly Maid San Diego. “Rinse well and repeat as needed.”

Another solution to deal with stubborn leaf stains is using hydrogen peroxide. Similar to bleach, hydrogen peroxide is known to easily tackle tough stains effectively. Perhaps the key difference is it’s non-toxic and fragrance-free.

“For leaf stains, use Hydrogen peroxide, 3-5% concentration. Spray or pour on the surface, let sit for 15 minutes, scrub with a stiff-bristled brush, and rinse with plenty of clean water,” adds Alex Varela, cleaning expert with Oakville Maids.

Be sure to test your cleaning solution on a small, hidden spot first to prevent surface damage or even making the stain worse. And always follow the product instructions, giving it the right time to work rather than frantically scrubbing harder.

As with all cleaning tasks, avoid mixing different types of products, as well as chemicals and other items around the home. And if in doubt, it’s best to contact a concrete specialist.

“Since concrete is porous, certain stains may seep below the surface and resist attempts to make an area blend in with the rest of a driveway, walkway, patio, or other concrete project,” advises Flores.

“In those cases, a concrete restoration professional may have other ideas for cleaning, resurfacing, or refinishing an area.”

Of course, keeping on top of clearing away leaves with a sturdy rake or a powerful leaf blower will help to minimize the risk of unsightly stains this fall — leaving you with less scrubbing work to do!

More from Tom's Guide

• I'm cleaning my patio furniture with this non-toxic ingredient — and it also works wonders on your grill
• Forget power washing: 5 budget-friendly hacks to get your backyard sparkling this spring
• 5 tips to keep your deck looking great

If you rely on Apple Home to manage your smart home, iOS 27 is packing five key features into the app, led by two major upgrades that tackle long-standing user complaints: enhanced security camera intelligence and smarter notification management.

Powered largely by Apple Intelligence, these updates simplify how you monitor video footage and keep your lock screen clutter-free.

More from Tom's Guide

• You don’t need the $300 Apple TV 4K to get its best feature — just buy the new Siri remote
• I turned off this hidden iOS 27 setting and instantly fixed my iPhone’s battery drain
• iOS 27 has a hidden anti-scam setting — here’s why every iPhone user should turn it on

An unseasonably warm fall creates the ideal breeding ground for fruit flies, leaving many kitchens suddenly overrun long after pest season usually winds down. While classic apple cider vinegar traps tend to be the standard recommendation, they are frustratingly slow, taking days to lure flies in while dozens continue to buzz around your fresh produce and countertops.

If you want to clear your kitchen immediately rather than waiting for flies to drown in a cup, a simple two-ingredient spray wipes them out on contact. Here is how to mix it and stop an infestation in its tracks.

The DIY spray that kills fruit flies on contact

Fruit flies rely on a thin, water-repellent coating on their bodies that allows them to glide through standard water sprays. Liquid dish soap breaks down this surface tension instantly, suffocating the flies the second the mist hits them.

To make the spray, fill a standard spray bottle with warm water, add two tablespoons of liquid dish soap, and shake the bottle gently to mix.

If your bottle permits, set the nozzle to the mist setting, though it doesn't really matter if you don't have one, and spray any fruit flies directly whenever you see them hovering over counters, trash cans, or sinks. They will drop immediately.

How to stop fruit flies from coming back

More from Tom's Guide

• I tested 3 different DIY fruit fly traps — this 3-ingredient build worked best
• How to tell the difference between fruit flies and drain flies
• Why cockroaches suddenly appear in clean homes (and how to stop them for good)

If you’ve ever put on a pair of high-end noise-canceling headphones and felt like the sound just wasn't blowing you away, you’re definitely not alone. I had that exact same reaction with my own pair.

Your hardware is likely fine, it’s just being held back. In most cases, a quick adjustment to your device settings, factory EQ, and background processing features is all it takes to unlock their full potential.

More from Tom's Guide

• My $300 noise-canceling headphones started making a strange pop on every step — the fix was surprisingly simple
• I just discovered these 5 hidden AirPods features — and they're game-changers
• Your earbuds are damaging your hearing — 3 warning signs you're ignoring

There is nothing quite like clean glass to flood a room with natural light, but achieving a spotless finish without annoying streaks can be difficult.

You don't need expensive commercial sprays loaded with harsh chemicals to get high-end results. A simple, non-toxic bottle of white distilled vinegar from your kitchen cabinet breaks down stubborn film and grime effortlessly without damaging the glass.

The trick to a truly professional finish comes down to timing your cleaning session correctly, prepping the glass surface, and choosing the right wiping tools. Here's the best method for a streak-free shine.

Prepping, the solution, and cleaning your windows

More form Tom's Guide

• Why your stainless steel appliances still look smudged — and the technique that fixes it
• Think your home is safe from mold? These routine fall habits could be inviting it inside
• 'I can't remember the last time I cleaned this' — 5 hidden dirt zones in your house and how to clean them

While most people view YouTube purely as an entertainment app, it is also one of Google's biggest engines for collecting user data and building detailed interest profiles. By default, every search you type, every video you click, and every interaction is logged and used to tailor targeted ads across your Google account.

If you prefer to keep your viewing habits private and limit unnecessary data collection, adjusting three built-in settings ensures your account remains secure.

More from Tom's Guide

• 3 YouTube settings to change now if you want to escape the algorithm and take control of your feed
• I've been watching YouTube wrong — this hidden mobile feature is a game changer
• YouTube now lets you hide Shorts completely — here's how to turn them off

Planted grass seed and waiting for those first green shoots to show up can feel like watching paint dry. While most lawn seed takes between 7 and 14 days to germinate, full establishment takes several weeks, and certain stubborn varieties can sit in the soil for up to a month before popping up.

If you want to shorten that waiting window and avoid ending up with patchy, uneven soil, the key is managing soil prep, moisture, and ground warmth right from day one.

The germination rule of thumb: how long will you wait?

Your waiting time depends almost entirely on whether you are planting a fast-sprouting cool-season blend or a slower warm-season grass.

The fast sprouters (5 to 10 days): Perennial Ryegrass is the sprinter of lawn care. If you need rapid coverage for bare patches or high-traffic areas, this is your best option.

The steady performers (7 to 14 days): Tall Fescue and Bermudagrass generally show green shoots within a week to ten days under warm, moist conditions.

The medium growers (14 to 21 days): Zoysia and Centipede grasses take two to three weeks to get going.

The slow-and-steady varieties (14 to 30 days): Kentucky Bluegrass and Buffalograss require some patience. They spend weeks building underground root systems before sending up visible blades.

Which grass seed should you sow in fall?

As we move through fall soil temperatures are dropping, making this the best season to sow cool-season grasses. Varieties like Perennial Ryegrass, Tall Fescue, and Kentucky Bluegrass thrive in cooler weather. They germinate best in soil temperatures between 50°F and 65°F (10°C to 18°C).

Sowing them in autumn gives their roots two full seasons of cool, moist weather to establish deep anchor systems before the heat of next summer hits. Just remember to plant them 4 to 6 weeks before your region's first expected hard frost.

Steer completely clear of warm-season seeds like Bermuda grass during fall. Bermuda grass requires warm soil temperatures between 65°F and 90°F (18°C to 32°C) to germinate and grow. Planting Bermuda grass in fall means the ground will turn too cold before the shoots can establish strong roots, causing the seeds to fail or die off during winter frosts.

3 ways to make grass seed sprout faster

If you want to cut down germination time and ensure every seed takes root, follow this 3-step routine.

More from Tom's Guide

• Before your lawn goes dormant, do this 15-minute job for thicker grass next spring
• 3 essential fall jobs to protect young trees before the first cold snap
• Stop spring lawn weeds before they sprout with a simple fall pre-emergent barrier — applying it now saves you hours of yard work next year

When power goes out suddenly, your smartphone becomes a vital lifeline for news, weather updates, and reaching loved ones. However, standard background tasks and continuous radio searches rapidly drain limited battery reserves. By executing a few targeted setting changes as soon as the lights go out, you can dramatically extend your device's operational life.

"Many people panic when the power fails, but a few simple changes to your phone settings can make a huge difference," says Marcus Clarke, founder of The Prepared Household. "These aren't just about saving battery; they're about ensuring you can reach emergency services or loved ones when it truly matters."

More from Tom's Guide

• 7 smartphone features hiding in plain sight — and how to actually use them
• This iPhone and Android setting might be leaking your home address
• I used my iPhone to photograph the stars — here are the subtle tweaks that produced stunning results

macOS is packed with helpful productivity tools, but because there are so many features buried inside the operating system, some of the most useful ones get completely overlooked.

When you're sent a document that requires a quick signature, the default reaction is often to hunt for third-party software. The fastest, safest way to sign a document is using Preview — the built-in app you likely open every single day.

While most people only use Preview to view images or skim through PDFs, it packs a surprisingly robust set of tools hidden right under the hood.

The easy way to sign PDFs on your Mac

Signing any PDF on your Mac takes just a few clicks once you know where to look.

Click once on your PDF in Finder or on your desktop then press the spacebar to launch Quick Look. From here, click the small pen icon in the top toolbar, followed by the Signature icon (it looks like a small scribbled line).

Now you can draw a new signature using your trackpad, an iPhone/iPad screen, or by holding a signed piece of paper up to your Mac's camera.

Once your signature is captured, click Done to save it to your dropdown list. Simply click your saved signature to drop it onto the page, drag it into place, and resize it as needed. Save the document, and you're done.

If you ever want to remove a saved signature later, open the signature menu again and click the small X next to it.

More from Tom's Guide

• I've been using Macs for years — here are 3 power user tweaks that changed everything
• 5 free ways to speed up your slow Mac
• You can schedule your Mac to turn off and on — here's how

I'm a constant declutterer, yet I'm also a person with too much clutter. That doesn't sound like it makes any sense – and you're right.

But while I'm particular about what I have around my home, it's almost inevitable that it still becomes cluttered.

I have a busy household; there are kids running around, renovations currently happening, and the general day-to-day chaos of life. All of a sudden, despite my best efforts, there's clutter on my countertops and lining my entryway, on side tables, just everywhere.

So, I'm always on the lookout for decluttering techniques that'll help me (and others) to sort it out. Last year, I embraced the Japanese art of 'Danshari' and now I'm trying to embrace something entirely new – 'inyo-onyo'.

Here's how this Japanese method has totally transformed my home and stopped the clutter.

How 'inyo-onyo' works

You've likely heard of 'inyo-onyo' even if you don't know it because translated in Japanese it simply means 'yin and yang'. And yin and yang is a well-known ancient concept in China that describes the balance of opposing forces.

So, how does that translate into decluttering? Well, for inyo-onyo, it's about balancing out opposites when it comes to your home, empty and filled spaces, or negative and positive spaces. What 'inyo-onyo' wants you to do is embrace a focus on the open spaces you are creating, rather than focusing on exactly what you are getting rid of.

Instead of applying a negative connotation to any empty surface or space within your home, it's about embracing the openness and looking at it differently. You don't have to fill spaces for them to be impactful in your home and you also don't have to be strict about what you keep or don't keep.

As long as you look positively about creating more of these vacant spaces and displaying your items with intention, rather than feeling a need to fill it, you can harness the lifestyle choice of 'inyo-onyo'.

What happened when I tried it

It's a balance I've always struggled with, especially growing up in a home where my mom believed having things dotted all over the house was a clear sign of wealth and abundance. And I do still relate to that. Leaving empty space does sometimes feel like you're lacking something or missing something.

But, I'm also always telling myself I want to own less. So, to reframe my mind, I decided not to overwhelm myself with this new way of living and instead focused on harnessing 'inyo-onyo' just one room at a time. For this, I started with a less communal part of my home – the bedroom.

And while I thought I'd be approaching this method the same way as I have other decluttering techniques, like the '90/90 rule' and 'chaos decluttering'. it turned out I wasn't going to turn it into a full-throttle declutter mode.

Instead, I decided to turn my focus to surfaces and the 'clutter' that's on show. If you're trying out this technique though, you can apply it to a full declutter, if you wish. I looked at my side tables where old mail lay, some loose change, discarded hairbands and books before considering how it made me feel.

Surprisingly, I realized that the cluttered space was negatively impacting my mood far more than if I let it become an emptier space. I decided that I'd let myself have just one book and my lamp. Ultimately, that's all I'd ever want access to from this space and the rest could be tided away.

Carrying this 'inyo-onyo' ethos through my entire room, I did struggle at times to leave such little amounts of things to be seen. I also worried I was just filling up cupboards and drawers instead, so sorting through my items was also a must. But, ultimately, I know that it made me feel better once it was done.

It's definitely something I'm going to embrace throughout my home and I already know I'm going to care about the things I keep in a more intentional way.

More from Tom's Guide

• I just discovered 'Danshari' — this Japanese cleaning philosophy could help me finally break up with clutter
• My mom makes keeping a clean kitchen look easy — here's what she said when I asked how she does it
• Say goodbye to clutter — the 'House Purse' organization trick is all you need

You don’t need an expensive digital camera and heavy lenses to capture the night sky. With modern low-light processing, the iPhone in your pocket is fully capable of taking detailed photos of stars, constellations, and even the faint glow of the Milky Way.

While these tips work across most recent Apple models with Night Mode, dialing in a few specific camera settings before heading outside makes the difference between a grainy blur and a sharp nightscape.

Here is how to set up your iPhone for night sky photography.

Why these simple tweaks work (and the results to prove it)

My camera roll is already full of shots of the sun setting over the hills and the moon hanging clear in the sky, but pinpointing actual stars on an iPhone had always been surprisingly elusive.

That finally changed on a recent camping trip I took. The night sky was completely clear, a pitch-black canvas filled with constellations and even the occasional shooting star. It felt like the absolute best time to put my phone to the test. My very first attempt, however, turned out to be a total disappointment: you could only make out one or two stars, faintly illuminated against an expanse of black.

It wasn't until I changed my techniques and eliminated the physical tap on the screen that everything snapped into focus. You can see the results below.

Once the micro-vibrations were gone, the sensor finally captured the rich depth of the night sky — revealing dense star clusters, subtle nebular glow, and tight, needle-sharp points of light with zero motion blur.

There is something immensely satisfying about capturing a photo that actually matches the awe of standing under a dark, star-filled sky in person. Here are the exact camera adjustments you need to make to get the same results on your next clear night.

How to do this on Samsung or Google Pixel phones

If you or a friend are shooting on Android, the same core principles apply using native tools. Google Pixel users can switch to Night Sight and secure the phone on a tripod to automatically trigger Astrophotography mode, which shoots a 4-minute exposure sequence.

Samsung Galaxy users can opt for a similar automated experience using Astrophoto Mode inside Samsung's Expert RAW app, which stacks exposures over 4 to 10 minutes and even includes an on-screen constellation guide.

Alternatively, you can use manual controls by swiping to Pro Mode in the Camera app: set your shutter speed to 10 to 15 seconds to capture the starlight, and dial your ISO to 800–1600 to keep the image sharp.

More from Tom's Guide

• Start using these 3 iPhone camera features — you'll wonder how you lived without them
• iOS 27 Photos features that transform your pictures — here's how to use them
• How to use every iPhone camera mode to take better photos

It is almost unbelievable that a bird weighing less than a single AA battery can survive sub-zero nights, but black-capped chickadees are absolute winter tough guys.

To make it to morning, these tiny songbirds intentionally drop their own body temperature by up to 15 degrees overnight just to save energy. But that survival mode comes at a steep price. A chickadee can burn through up to 10% of its entire body weight in a single freezing night just keeping its heart beating. By sunrise, their engine is running completely on empty.

When a cold snap hits and natural seed sources get locked under a layer of ice, their margin for survival drops to zero. Giving them a fighting chance to rebuild those critical fat reserves before sunset comes down to one simple, high-impact yard addition.

More from Tom's Guide

• The real reason hummingbirds fight at your feeder (and how to bring peace to your yard)
• How to keep your birdbath clean and algae-free — 5 simple tips
• When should you winterize your sprinklers — and how to do it right

Battery drain complaints are almost guaranteed after a major iPhone update, with background indexing usually taking a few days to settle. But when my battery kept draining rapidly well past the update period, I suspected Connectivity Assist, rebranded for iOS 27, was the hidden culprit.

It turns out I am far from alone. A growing group of frustrated users on the r/iPhone have reported similar battery hits, with several pointing directly to this setting as the root cause. Designed to prevent slow loading times when your wireless signal drops, the way Connectivity Assist operates under the hood might be putting strain on your power reserves.

Here is why Connectivity Assist drains power so quickly, and how to turn it off.

How Connectivity Assist actually works

In previous iOS versions, Wi-Fi Assist automatically supplemented a poor Wi-Fi network by routing traffic over cellular data in the background. Connectivity Assist in iOS 27 takes a significantly more aggressive approach, actively utilizing cellular data in addition to Wi-Fi to blend connection speeds.

Keeping both wireless radios actively working simultaneously can prevent stuttering, but running both receivers concurrently consumes noticeably more power and can lead to faster battery drain.

More from Tom's Guide

• iOS 27 finally fixed my biggest pet peeve when texting Android users
• 4 new iOS 27 features that turn Apple Notes into a productivity powerhouse
• You're using your iPhone Action Button wrong — how iOS 27 unlocks three features at once

When it comes to natural cleaning solutions for tough stains, white vinegar is a popular, non-toxic choice. In fact, white vinegar has now become my staple household cleaner that I simply cannot live without.

Beyond cutting through limescale, lifting surface stains, and clearing clogged drains, white vinegar can also be put to good use outdoors to clean mildew off patios.

But if you assume that vinegar can clean stains off your concrete patio or driveway, you might want to think again. Especially if you don’t want to risk damaging the surface — and needing expensive repairs.

I asked the experts if I can use vinegar on concrete, the best way to use it, and safer alternatives. Here’s what they say.

Can I use vinegar to clean concrete?

Generally, no — avoid cleaning sealed concrete with vinegar. Since white vinegar is highly acidic, applying it to porous concrete can eat away at the protective seal — leaving the surface rough, uneven, and prone to discoloration over time.

“That acidity can react with the concrete’s surface, gradually dissolving or weakening some of the cement paste that holds the aggregate together,” advises Sofia Martinez, cleaning expert and owner at Sparkly Maid Austin.

In addition to causing corrosion, vinegar can damage concrete in other ways and harm surrounding surfaces it touches.

“Vinegar can etch some concrete. Etched areas become porous and absorb stains more easily in the future,” adds Martinez.

“Aggressive cleaning can remove aggregate or roughen previously smooth floors. Runoff could damage plants, natural stone, or other surfaces it may come in contact with.”

More importantly, using vinegar can lead to expensive repairs if it damages aggregates, patching compounds, grout, or penetrates cracks in the surface.

So don’t even think about using it when cleaning your beautiful patios or driveways.

What are safer alternatives to clean concrete?

If I can’t rely on my trusted white vinegar, what is the best way to clean concrete and remove surface stains? Experts recommend using safer alternative methods, noting that investing in a good pressure washer is the most effective way to tackle tough marks and grime.

“As an alternative, oxygen bleach (sodium percarbonate) is excellent and can brighten and lift tough stains,” suggests Sara Aparacio, cleaning expert at Homeaglow.

“For oil spills, you can use something like cat litter or even baking soda to help catch fresh spills. For general cleaning or as part of a routine clean, use dish soap.”

If you’re just dealing with certain light stains such as grease and oil, these may require degreasers.

“Dish soap is great at cutting through grease and lifting dirt and grime, and because it's generally alkaline, it doesn’t react with concrete surfaces," Aparacio says. “It only costs a cent to add a few drops into a bucket of water, and from there you can use a nylon brush to help work it into the surface. I usually rinse the area soon after to remove any suds and wash out anything that dislodged from the soap solution, but I didn’t fully remove it the first time.”

Additionally, avoid scrubbing too vigorously—especially with harsh tools, which can easily scratch the surface.

It’s also worth noting that since concrete types vary, experts recommend testing any cleaning method on a small, inconspicuous area first to ensure it won’t cause damage.

So if you don’t want to ruin your concrete patio or driveway for good, put away your vinegar (this time).

More from Tom's Guide

• I'm cleaning my patio furniture with this non-toxic ingredient — and it also works wonders on your grill
• Forget power washing: 5 budget-friendly hacks to get your backyard sparkling this spring
• 5 tips to keep your deck looking great

Apple Wallet has been a fantastic tool for storing virtual copies of all the credit cards, tickets and passes you'd normally have to keep in a physical wallet. But sadly, it's only been useful so long as there's official support for the pass or ticket.

Thankfully, the recent release of iOS 27 has fixed that flaw, and brought Apple Wallet back up to parity with Google Wallet. You see, Android devices have been able to create their own custom passes for the past two years, which can be incredibly useful in a lot of situations.

I know the pain of heading to Costco, only to realize that I left my wallet (with my membership card) on the counter. Had I been able to load a backup into Apple Wallet, I wouldn't have had to abandon my quest to stock up on cheap batteries and replace my worn-out jeans.

The same goes for forgetting my loyalty card at the movie theater, and having to cling to my receipt to ensure I can claim my 10% cash back. It's a surprisingly good deal, and if I'm going to get ripped off by going to the movies then I'm going to scrape back as much as I can whenever I can.

Now, thanks to iOS 27, it doesn't matter whether I leave the house with my wallet or not. I can simply open up Apple Wallet and access virtual copies of everything I've left behind.

How to make custom passes in Apple Wallet

That's all there is to it. Once your custom pass is created, you can summon it from your wallet whenever you like. It will sit in your collection of cards, and is available at the tap of your screen. Whether that's a gym membership card, a parking pass, or something else entirely.

You can probably even add entry keys that rely on QR or barcode scanners, but like virtual passports or using other digital IDs with the TSA, this should be something that you have in addition to your physical pass. Because there's a good chance that a custom virtual option is not going to be considered valid if you end up in a situation that requires proper identification.

Still, that's not an Apple problem, it's a society and legal one. Until that gets sorted out at various levels of power, this is probably the best we can hope for in terms of emptying your wallet into your phone for the time being.

More from Tom's Guide

• I tested the iPhone 18 Pro Max vs. iPhone 15 Pro Max side-by-side: Is it time to upgrade?
• Don't rush into a new phone plan without checking their service first — these phone carriers offer free trials
• iOS 27 finally fixed my biggest pet peeve when texting Android users

You wipe down your refrigerator, step back to admire the shine, and immediately spot a new cluster of smudges glowing under the kitchen lights. Bummer.

Stainless steel looks sleek in showroom displays, but in a real kitchen, it acts like a magnet for fingerprints, water spots, and cloudy streaks that only seem to spread when you try to clean them.

Getting that flawless, factory-fresh shine doesn't require cabinets full of speciality polished sprays — it comes down to working with the grain of the metal instead of fighting it. Here's how to get your stainless steel appliances streak-free and keep them looking fresh with minimal effort.

Always wipe with the grain of the steel

Before applying any cleaner, take a close look at the surface of your appliance to identify the direction of the metal grain.

Just like wood, stainless steel features faint brush lines running either horizontally or vertically across the surface. Wiping against or across these micro-grooves traps dirt, moisture, and cleaning residue inside the steel's texture, which creates those frustrating hazy streaks.

Wiping strictly in the direction of the grain ensures your cloth lifts grime out of the microscopic ridges rather than spreading it around.

How to get your stainless steel streak-free

More from Tom's Guide

• Think your home is safe from mold? These routine fall habits could be inviting it inside
• How to clean old baking sheets to look brand new — without hours of scrubbing
• Why bleach fails on bathroom grout — and what to use instead for a sparkling finish

Watch FREE Il Lombardia live streams to see who will win the final cycling monument of 2026. With Tadej Pogačar, the champion for the past five years absent through injury, it promises to be a wide-open race up and down the hills of Lombardy, northern Italy.

For the past five years Pogačar has made Il Lombardia his own by winning five on the trot with apparent ease. With the Slovenian still sidelined after his Vuelta a España crash, the playing field, as it was at the World Championships, is wide open so expect edge-of-the-seat non-stop attacking action from start to finish.

The opportunity this presents the rest of the peloton is one which cannot be passed up because once you-know-who is fit again his domination is likely to continue where it left off.

Leading the pack of riders looking to add the race of the falling leaves to their CVs are the recently crowned world road race and time trial champions Brandon McNulty and Remco Evenpoel, then hot on their heals will come Paul Siexas, Matteo Jorgenson Davide Piganzoli and Tom Pidcock.

You can watch Il Lombardia 2026 live streams from anywhere with a VPN, and potentially for FREE.

Watch Il Lombardia 2026 live streams for free

FREE streams of Il Lombardia 2026 are available in multiple countries:

Abroad? If you're based in any of these countries but aren't at home during the race, don't worry — you can unblock your usual local stream with a VPN. We'll show you how to do that below.

Watch Il Lombardia 2026 streams from abroad

Away from home at the moment and blocked from watching the cycling on your usual subscription service?

You can still watch Il Lombardia 2026 live streams thanks to the wonders of a VPN (Virtual Private Network). The software enables your devices to appear to be back in your home country regardless of where in the world you are. So, it's ideal for sports fans away on vacation or on business. Our favorite is NordVPN. It's the best in the field:

Using a VPN is incredibly simple.

1. Install the VPN of your choice. As we've said, NordVPN is our favorite.

2. Choose the location you wish to connect to in the VPN app. For instance if you're in the U.S. and want to view an Australian service, you'd select Australia from the list.

3. Sit back and enjoy the action. Head to SBS On Demand or another streaming service and watch the action.

How to watch Il Lombardia 2026 live streams in the U.S.

Cycling fans in the U.S. can watch Il Lombardia 2026 on FloBikes. A subscription will set you back US$155.88 for the year or US$39.99 on a monthly basis.

If you're out of the US but still want to watch Il Lombardia 2026 then don't forget to explore the VPN route set out above, which will help you access your subscriptions from anywhere.

How to watch Il Lombardia 2026 live streams in the U.K.

Il Lombardia 2026 is streaming on TNT Sports in the UK.

TNT coverage in the UK is on the HBO Max platform. It costs £30.99 per month, though there is a better value £25.99 "saver plan" available if you sign up for a 12-month term.

If you're currently traveling overseas, don't worry, as you can use NordVPN to watch your usual service from abroad.

How to watch Il Lombardia 2026 live streams in Canada

Fans in Canada can watch Il Lombardia 2026 on FloBikes.

A subscription to Flobikes, which has pretty much every race you could wish to want for those in Canada, costs CA$49.99 a month or CA$215.88 for the year.

Not at home right now? Use NordVPN or another VPN service to trick your device into thinking you're still in Canada.

How to watch Il Lombardia 2026 live streams in Australia

Cycling fans in the Australia can watch Il Lombardia 2026 for FREE on SBS On Demand.

Outside Oz? Use NordVPN or another VPN service to trick your device into thinking you're still in Australia.

Il Lombardia 2026 Preview

This year’s course covers 239 Kilometres between the towns of Bergamo and Como via a plethora of vicious little climbs. Heading east to west via Selvino, Valpiana and Bellagio on the shores of Lake Como there are in total nine punishing summits to cross.

On the route this year will be classics such as the Madonna del Ghisallo which peaks with 61 kilometres to go but the real action lies on the two laps of the 22km finishing circuit, featuring a double ascent of the 7.2% San Fermo della Battaglia and single climb of the 9.7% Civiglio.

Il Lombardia 2026 route

More from Tom's Guide

• How to watch cycling free online in 2026
• How to watch F1 live streams online
• Tom's Guide to the Premier League 2026/27

We test and review VPN services in the context of legal recreational uses. For example:1. Accessing a service from another country (subject to the terms and conditions of that service).2. Protecting your online security and strengthening your online privacy when abroad.We do not support or condone the illegal or malicious use of VPN services. Consuming pirated content that is paid-for is neither endorsed nor approved by Future Publishing.

The humble clothespin (or clothes peg, if you live outside the US) has remained virtually unchanged for nearly two centuries. It is such a familiar fixture of daily life that most of us use it on complete autopilot. We squeeze the ends together, clamp the jaws directly over a shirt onto the line, and call it a day.

However, if you take a closer look at the inner profile, you’ll notice a deliberate little engineering trick hiding in plain sight: two distinct circular cutouts running along the gripping jaws.

Far from being a decorative choice, these separate openings actually serve a specific purpose.

The secret anatomy of a standard clothespin

If you inspect the inside jaws of a clothespin, you will notice one opening positioned closer to the metal spring and a second cutout set near the tip. The smaller cutout nearest the spring is designed to wrap around the clothesline itself.

The second, larger opening is contoured to hold fabric underneath or across the line. When you clamp the entire pin directly over heavy fabric and a thick wire at the same time, you force the jaws wide open, which concentrates all the spring's clamping force into two sharp pressure points.

3 ways to use clothespin holes to save your clothes

More from Tom's Guide

• The safe way to bleach white towels and linens — without ruining the fabric
• Your lost socks are hiding in this washing machine spot — here's where to look
• I tried this genius dryer sheet trick on my baseboards, and it got rid of all the dust in 30 seconds

It's a great time of year to roll out your lawn aerator and get to work. Bringing air into the lawn soil will not only help relieve any pressure and compaction that's happened over the year, but it'll also improve airflow, water absorption and your lawn's overall ability to access nutrients to help it grow.

It's not something you need to do too often, but it's a step you don't really want to miss if your lawn is heavily compacted or struggling to drain water (especially with all the rain).

Only after you put in all that effort to push your lawn aerator across your lawn, you might be left wondering if you've done a good enough job. It's certainly something I've contemplated as I stare at my own lawn, unsure whether I've made any real difference.

I've asked the experts for their professional advice on how often you should aerate your lawn, how many passes are enough, and other tips and tricks to get the best results.

When to aerate your lawn

Soil compaction is the ultimate telltale sign that your lawn needs aerating, but how exactly do you figure out if that's what's going on beneath the soil?

Allison Koenig, a lawn and garden expert at Tractor Supply, says: "Homeowners should consider aeration if they're seeing standing water after rain, hard-packed soil, thinning grass, or areas that get a lot of traffic.

"A good rule of thumb is the screwdriver test: if it's hard to push a screwdriver into the soil, compaction is probably preventing healthy root growth."

And once you've figured out that your lawn needs aerating, you also have to consider if it's a good time to do it.

"Timing is everything when it comes to aeration. The best time to aerate your lawn depends on the grass type you have," explains Chris Ramos, PR & Events Coordinator at Blain's Farm & Fleet

When it comes to cool-season grasses like Fescue and Bluegrass, early fall or spring are ideal times, as these grasses grow most vigorously during colder months.

And if you've got warm-season grasses like Bermuda or Zoysia, then late spring to early summer is optimal, coinciding with their peak growing season.

Though Koenig adds: "However, once the ground freezes or the grass has gone fully dormant, it's best to hold off on aggressive projects like aerating, heavy raking, or major repairs."

Once you've figured out the best time though, Ramos reveals you only really need to aerate your lawn once a year.

How many passes should you make with your lawn aerator

So, you're planning to aerate your lawn, but how many passes should you be making to get the best results?

According to Ramos, one or two passes should relieve soil compaction. In addition, choosing the right tool in the first place will have a major impact on how effective your lawn aeration is.

"There are two types of aerators. Spike Aerators: These tools create holes by pushing spikes into the soil," adds Ramos. "They're simple to use but might not be as effective on highly compacted soil.

"Plug Aerators: These remove small plugs of soil from your lawn, providing more lasting benefits by reducing compaction more effectively. They're generally the preferred option for most lawns."

Additional top tips

Lawn aeration alone isn't all you should be doing. As Brian Feldman, Senior Director of Technical Operations and Agronomy at TruGreen explains: "One of the biggest misconceptions in the industry is viewing aeration as a standalone service.

"The greatest results occur when aeration is intergrated into a comprehensive turf management program that includes proper mowing, fertilization, irrigation, and overseeding practices."

In fact, he suggests that if you're really looking for best practice when aerating your lawn, you should be "overseeding and fertilizing immediately after aerating to maximize growth.

It's also important to leave the soil cores on your lawn after aerating, as they will naturally break down and help recycle nutrients and other beneficial microorganisms."

So, while you can do an excellent job with your lawn aeration, timing it right and carrying out one or two passes until you're satisfied that you've relieved compaction, it's important to take the opportunity to do more for your lawn when it's at its most receptive.

More from Tom's Guide

• How to aerate a lawn and when to do it
• I asked gardening experts the secret to a greener lawn — here's what they want you to do
• 9 signs your lawn needs aerating

Protecting your personal data usually means tweaking phone settings and managing passwords, but keeping nosy eyes off your doorstep requires a different kind of cleanup. Apple Maps makes it surprisingly easy for anyone to scout out your neighborhood and view your home down to the window frames.

Leaving high-resolution imagery of your property online gives potential burglars, nosey neighbors, and strangers a clear view of your entry points, security setup, and personal belongings.

Provided Apple's Look Around feature covers your area, scrubbing your residence off the map in Apple Maps is pretty straightforward. Here's how to check if your location is eligible and blur your home, plus what to do if you need an alternative method.

How to request a blur via email

You can also request a property blur directly by emailing mapsimagecollection@apple.com. Be sure to include your full name, the exact address, and a description or screenshot of your property from Apple Maps.

This email route is a handy alternative if the in-app reporting feature isn't working for you or if you are submitting the request from a non-Apple device.

More from Tom's Guide

• How to remove your home address from the internet — 6 ways to protect your privacy
• Check your iPhone right now: 3 privacy settings you need to change immediately
• iOS 27 has a hidden anti-scam setting — here’s why every iPhone user should turn it on

I’ve been seeing advice online recently telling people to spray WD-40 to get rid of carpenter bees. While it might sound like a quick, clever hack, it doesn't solve the problem long-term — and worse, it can stain your wood and harm beneficial garden pollinators.

Unlike honeybees or bumblebees that live in social colonies, carpenter bees are solitary insects with a destructive habit: boring perfectly round holes into exposed outdoor wood to nest. While they don't eat wood like termites do, their tunneling in decks, fascia boards, and porch railings can weaken structural timber over time and leave unsightly yellow stains along entry points.

If you prefer a gentler approach that won't harm pets, children, or local wildlife, a peppermint-based spray is the best natural deterrent. Carpenter bees have highly sensitive scent receptors and despise these strong, localized odors.

Here's exactly why that viral WD-40 trick fails, how to make the DIY spray, and the best way to apply it for maximum protection.

Why WD-40 doesn't work

Spraying WD-40 into carpenter bee holes is one of the most common internet myths circulating today. While the solvent might temporarily kill a bee on direct contact, it fails entirely as a long-term deterrent.

WD-40 dries quickly, leaving behind a slick residue that fails to repel future bees. Worse, spraying petroleum-based lubricants onto raw, weathered wood can stain your deck, break down protective wood sealants, and leach toxic chemicals into nearby soil and garden beds. Relying on WD-40 leaves your home exposed while risking unnecessary environmental harm.

Pro tips for maximum prevention

No spray is 100% permanent on its own. To secure your home against future infestations, pair your natural spray with these physical barriers.

Before applying your spray, pack old or active nest holes with steel wool or copper mesh, then seal over them with exterior wood putty or caulk. Carpenter bees are naturally drawn back to the scent of old nests year after year— losing entry points breaks the cycle.

Carpenter bees strongly prefer bare, weathered softwoods. Applying a fresh coat of exterior latex paint or a thick polyurethane varnish creates a synthetic outer shell that bees rarely attempt to bore through.

More from Tom's Guide

• The hidden ways carpet beetles get inside your home — and how to spot them
• I stopped spiders from taking over my porch — without squishing them or using harsh chemicals
• The 2-herb combo that creates a "no-fly zone" for wasps (and exactly where to plant it)

Prime Day is officially here, and while the homepage is flooded with discounts, the Blink Mini 2K+ is on sale for $27, down from $69, and it has caught my attention. Saving $42 (a massive 60% discount) on a brand-new two-pack means you are getting sharp, multi-room security for under $14 per camera.

In our testing, Blink’s compact plug-in line has consistently earned top marks for hitting the sweet spot between low cost and reliable performance, making this steep Prime Day price cut an absolute no-brainer if you want to cover your home without spending a fortune.

When evaluating budget home security, you might have to settle for blurry footage, tinny speakers, or clunky interfaces. What makes the new Blink Mini 2K+ worth talking about is how it tackles those exact pain points without bumping up the price tag.

The biggest upgrade is video clarity. Bumping the sensor up to 2K resolution gives you much cleaner detail and up to 4x digital zoom, making it far easier to read text on packages or identify faces across a room, even in tricky lighting. The Mini 2K+ also adds noise cancellation to two-way talk so conversations actually sound clear and natural.

On the software side, the upgraded internal chip processes computer vision directly on the device. That means you get accurate person and vehicle detection to filter out false motion triggers like passing cars or blowing curtains. It even integrates directly with Alexa displays and can double as a real-time chime if you own a Blink Video Doorbell.

It is also no longer strictly an indoor device. With an optional weather-resistant power adapter, you can mount these under an eave or on a patio to watch entryways. Setup takes roughly two minutes: simply plug it into a wall socket, scan the QR code in the app, and you are live.

Getting a single 2K camera for $27 would be a steal, but getting a two-pack of the Blink Mini 2K works out to under $14 per unit. If you want a low-cost way to keep an eye on multiple rooms or front doors, this is easily one of the smartest budget picks on sale right now.

More from Tom's Guide

• Blink Mini 2 security camera review: Mini but mighty
• My favorite streaming stick just hit $15 for Prime Day — plus 4 more Amazon device deals worth grabbing
• Amazon Fire TV devices explained: Which streaming stick (or Cube) is right for you?

Securing the iPhone Duo on pre-order day is going to be a battle. Between massive global interest in Apple’s first foldable and notoriously tight initial stock, opening inventory could disappear in seconds.

Pre-orders open strictly at 5:00 a.m. PT on Friday, October 16, ahead of the official October 23 launch across major international markets (with a secondary rollout starting October 30). If you want to bypass long backorder delays and ensure your foldable lands on your doorstep on day one, here's the game plan to follow.

How to guarantee your iPhone Duo before pre-order day

1. Lock in "Get Ready" on Oct 12

Don't wait for pre-order day. Four days before the drop, Apple opens its pre-order portal. Head into the Apple Store app on October 12 to pick your color, storage capacity, carrier status, and payment method ahead of time — allowing you to complete the entire purchase with a single tap the moment the clock strikes 5:00 a.m.

2. Audit your Apple Account details today

A single wrong digit will knock you out of the queue. Verify that your credit card hasn't expired, your billing address matches your bank records, and your shipping address is up to date.

3. Secure your trade-in quote early

Navigating trade-in questions during checkout adds unnecessary screens to your purchase. Get your valuation sorted in advance to bypass those extra steps on drop morning. The 14-day clock to return your old phone only starts once your iPhone Duo is physically delivered.

4. Confirm your financing options

Apple retired its legacy Upgrade Program in mid-2026. If you financed your last device, check your account status now to see if you qualify for Apple Card Installments, carrier options, or a direct purchase.

5. Load the app on multiple devices

The Apple Store app usually goes live faster than the desktop website. Have the app open and ready on your phone, but keep a desktop browser open on Apple’s site as a secondary backup just in case.

6. Stick strictly to your saved setup

Once pre-orders open, load your saved configuration and hit pay. Avoid changing your color choice or storage size at the last second — altering your basket re-queries Apple’s live inventory systems and risks pushing back your shipping date.

7. Pivot to in-store pickup

If shipping dates start sliding into November during checkout, select local Apple Store pickup instead. Retail stores receive dedicated inventory allocations completely separate from warehouse delivery stocks, making it the ultimate safety net for launch-day possession.

8. Check launch-morning store stock

If you miss iPhone Duo pre-orders entirely, physical Apple Stores routinely save dedicated stock for launch day walk-ins on October 23. Check Apple's online store tracker early on launch morning to grab unallocated local store stock.

Once you've prepped your iPhone Duo pre-order, check out Amazon's lineup of iPhone Duo cases and accessories so your foldable is protected and ready to go on day one.

More from Tom's Guide

• iOS 27 has a hidden anti-scam setting — here’s why every iPhone user should turn it on
• There's a new shortcut in iOS 27 I’m using every single day — here's where to find it
• 4 new iOS 27 features that turn Apple Notes into a productivity powerhouse