Tips & Tricks Guide to iPhone and iPad Outsells Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

LONDON, February 27, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --

Don't Panic! 14.8m downloads of iPhone tips overtakes 14m sales of classic novel

Tips & Tricks apps - iPhone and iPad Secrets has now outsold Douglas Adams' classic paperback Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by achieving over 14.8 million downloads worldwide compared to 14 million sold of the classic sci-fi comedy novel. As a new smartphone generation grows up it seems the guide people are really after is less interested in Babefish gun's and the answer to life the universe and everything, and more interested in how to add smilies to text messages and how to hide inappropriate texts.

Tip & Tricks: iPhone secrets is the ultimate iOS user guides and have been featured by Apple as one of the top paid apps for 2012. The app boasts 140 pages and 20 chapters of over 150 tips, which include how to extend battery life, master Siri, type faster, and create photo albums. iPhone and iPad users can then share their favourite tips over Facebook and Twitter and enlighten friends to their newly-learnt secrets.

Mark Errett, Head Researcher and Writer of Tips & Tricks, explains: "Douglas Adams effectively predicted that in the future we would all carry portable devices full of helpful information it would take you years to absorb."

"We're amazed than in just four years our app on simple iPhone tips has overtaken a guide to the entire Galaxy. I've always been a fan of Douglas Adams, so it is humbling to think that a classic such as Hitchhiker's Guide took 5 years to sell a million copies. We think sales of our guides really put into context how phenomenal interest in iOS has been."

In order to mark the head-to-head between the apps and Adams' novel, experts behind Tips & Tricks have decided to reveal a few of their secrets to see how their top 5 iPhone tips compare against the top 5 Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy tips:

When travelling… 

Tips & Tricks: Take Onavo. Download Onavo from the app store to minimize data costs. To prevent roaming charges altogether when abroad go to Settings, General, Cellular (Mobile or Network in some countries) and set Data Roaming to Off.

Hitchhiker's: Take a towel. A towel is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have. Partly it has great practical value - you can wrap it around you for warmth as you bound across the cold moons of Jaglan Beta.

What to do if you want to get a lift from a Vogon:

Tips & Tricks: Share your location using Maps. Tap on any pin, then the blue arrow, then Share Location. The kind Vogon can then open your location in Maps and come and collect you.

Hitchhiker's: Forget it.

What to do if you find yourself stuck in a crack in the ground underneath a giant boulder you can't move:

Tips & Tricks: Read Chapter 3, Battery Life. It provides the best tips on how to keep your battery alive for longer whilst you wait to be rescued.

Hitchhiker's: Consider how lucky you are that life has been good to you so far.

If looking for information about sex:

Tips & Tricks: Just look at the text messages on someone's phone. One of our most frequently asked questions comes from married men asking how to delete incriminating text messages. To delete a text tap edit, tap the incriminating text message and then delete. Ideally, enable a passcode to avoid unwanted access - open Settings, Passcode Lock, tap Turn Passcode On and enter a memorable four-digit passcode.

Hitchhiker's: Read chapters seven, nine, ten, eleven, fourteen, sixteen, seventeen, nineteen, twenty-one to eighty-four inclusive, and in fact most of the rest of the Guide.

What do you do if you lose your phone:

Tips & Tricks: To avoid losing your phone open Settings, iCloud, and turn on Find My Phone. If you lose it you can then go to http://www.icloud.com where you can have your iPhone emit an audible alert, check its battery life and remotely wipe your data (requires iOS 5).

Hitchhiker's: Don't panic.

Douglas Adams may find it an honor to see Apple guides outsell his Tips & Tricks apps. He was himself the first person to buy a Mac in Europe (Stephen Fry was the second). Apple have sold a staggering total of over 500 million iOS devices, but users often fail to use these devices to their fullest potential.

For more information about Tips & Tricks - iPhone Secrets and Tips & Tricks - iPad Secrets, please visit http://www.intelligenti.com

Notes to editors

Images, logos and screenshots can be found here

The apps cost £0.69p and can be downloaded for iPhone here and for iPad here. The apps are also available in a free 'lite' version.

About Intelligenti - developers of Tips & Tricks Apps

Intelligenti launched its guide in May 2009 in response to the growing number of requests from friends and family who needed help with their iPhones and iPads. The company has now grown to a team of six, and is run by Jonathan Bonnick and Mark White who were both previously Microsoft engineers before moving into the world of Apple when the iPhone app store was introduced.

The Intelligenti team is constantly scouring the internet, manuals, guides and magazines to bring the most up-to-date iOS information. To date the team has spent the equivalent of 4.5 man-years researching content to distill into its succinct guides.

Did you know? The Artist icon on the Apple music app is actually a silhouette of Bono, lead singer of U2 (there's no accounting for taste).