texting Archives | Cool Mom Tech

How to report spam texts and phishing. Because sorry, Amazon is not giving you $130 in freebies out of blue.

by Liz Gumbinner | Internet Safety, Tips and Tricks

“You’ll get $130 freebies to do a survey ELIZA,” the totally American English-sounding text reads. Every day, sometimes twice a day. They don’t even bothering masking the phishing link that doesn’t start with an Amazon URL. (Let alone...

iPhone trick: How to mute text threads (but still get notifications for your other texts)

by Caroline Siegrist | Tips and Tricks

Lately I discovered how to mute text threads on my iPhone, and let me tell you, it’s been a productivity game changer. Because as much as I love a raucous group chat once in a while, I don’t accomplish much when I have notifications popping up on my phone...

Web coolness: How to use Alexa to donate to charity, the latest Twitter war, and how to customize your phone’s app icons

by Cool Mom Staff | Link Roundups

Here are some of our favorite tech links from around the web. We hope you enjoy them as much as we did. A fun look at past video conferencing concepts. You’ve heard of red light cameras, now prepare for cameras that capture drivers using their cellphones. A very cool...

A cool time-saving emoji keyboard trick for iPhone (courtesy of my 10 year old)

by Liz Gumbinner | Tips and Tricks

Leave it to the kids to figure out cool iPhone tricks before we do, especially where emoji are concerned. Turns out, there’s a fun way to insert emoji into your texts without toggling back and forth between keyboards — something that can be a bit of a...

Web coolness: A colorful Millennium Falcon, fitness tracker security risks, making fun of teen’s texting, and more!

by Cool Mom Staff | Link Roundups

Here are some of our favorite tech links from around the web. We hope you enjoy them as much as we did. Forget pre-made LEGO sets: this fan built an epic Millennium Falcon out of colorful LEGO bricks. And we love this remixed version of Last Jedi‘s lightsaber...

How to fix the iPhone bug that’s putting weird symbols in your texts.

by Kristen Chase | Tips and Tricks

There’s a glitch in the matrix! Okay, not really, just that there’s a bug in iOS 11 that for many people turns their letter “i” to a weird symbol. Thankfully, there’s a quick fix until they come up with a fix in the next iOS version,...

iPhone trick: How to use Text Replacement to make your texting life a whole lot easier.

by Kristen Chase | Tips and Tricks

You’ve probably seen the stories about how kids have pranked their parents using the Text Replacement feature on the iPhone. You know, they set it so that when their parents text the word “No,” it gets replaced with the word “Yes.” Oh...

Web Coolness: Instagram Stories tips, restaurants with no cell connection, and the best make-up tutorial we’ve seen

by Cool Mom Staff | Link Roundups

Here are some of our favorite tech links from around the web this week. We hope you enjoy them too. Star Wars socks for back to school. So cool! 11 Instagram Stories tips you might not know. Cool tongue-in-cheek posters imagine quirky Olympic game ideas. 10 funny...

Make a splash with these 6 must-see geeky-cool pool floats and rafts

by Christina Refford | Tech Toys and Random Fun

When it’s time to unplug the devices and hit the pool, lake, or ocean to cool off, I know my kids love stretching out and relaxing on a comfy pool float or raft while they talk to their friends. And, whoa, they would go nuts for any of these totally cool options...

Web Coolness: Star Wars (duh!), magical Netflix socks, and more

by Cool Mom Staff | Link Roundups

Here are some of our favorite links from around the web this week. We hope you enjoy them as much as we did. It’s Force Awakens Day! Here’s an ultimate guide to everything Star Wars, with recipes, printables, crafts, and gifts, like the framed Han and...

Hi! We’re Kristen + Liz

Kristen Chase + Liz Gumbinner of Cool Mom Picks

We started Cool Mom Tech in 2010 to help make our increasingly digital lives easier, more organized, more meaningful, and more fun, however old your kids may be.

We love that it's grown to become the go-to source for millions of parents who want commonsense info about tech delivered with a smile.

We even have the privilege of sharing our tips + tricks with The TODAY Show, CNN, HLN, GMA, Nightline, newspapers and magazines around the country, and our favorite -- regular parents who stop us at PTA meetings and ask us how old kids need to be to get a smartphone, and whether they really need to panic about Snapchat.

(Answer: It's complicated.)

We're so glad you're here! And we hope we can help you too.