Use your keyboard as a trackpad
Want to use your iPhone as a trackpad? Here’s how: Start typing in an email or text message and then press and hold your finger on the space bar on your keyboard. When you do this, the other keys will turn gray, which makes them inactive. You can then use the area as a trackpad.
Track your steps
The Health app on your iPhone automatically tracks your activity, just like a fitness tracker. It can tell you how many steps you’ve taken each day. If you have an Apple Watch or iPad, the app will send this data to those connected devices too. Smartphones are great for saving money because they do so much more than people think.
Answer calls automatically
To ensure you don’t miss important calls when your hands are full or you have no pockets, you can set your iPhone to automatically pick up. To quickly answer a call without pressing the Answer button, go to Settings, open the Accessibility option, then select Touch. Next, select Call Audio Routing and turn Auto-Answer Calls on.
Use your phone as a tape measure
You can use your iPhone as a tape measure. Go to the Measure app, and a circle will appear with a dot in the middle. Tap the ‘Add a point’ (plus symbol) button. Slowly move your iPhone until the dot within the circle is over the point where you want your measurement to end. Tap the plus symbol once again. Your measurement should now appear.
Track your cycle
Want to track your menstrual cycle and symptoms? Your iPhone can help you track basal body temperature, spotting, and more. To log your period, open the Health app, click on Browse and select Cycle Tracking. Swipe the correct day for when your last period started, log the date, then tap Add More Info to enter any additional details.
Scan documents
It’s handy to have a scanner when you want to sign a document or send a personally signed note. The Notes app can be used as a scanner. Tap the Notes app, then tap the Camera icon at the bottom of the screen. Tap Scan Documents, then place your document in front of your camera. If your device is on Auto mode, it will automatically scan the document.
Track your car
When you’re lost in a big parking lot, you can use your iPhone to find your car. To do this, make sure that the Maps app is installed on your phone and that you’re connected to CarPlay or Bluetooth while driving. Go to the Settings menu, scroll down to the Maps app, and select Show Parked Location. A green toggle button will confirm that it’s on.
Hide your photos
Your iPhone makes it easy to hide your private photos from prying eyes. In the Photos app, select your pictures and screenshots and choose Share. From the list that appears, select Hide. The images will be moved to a Hidden folder in your Photo Library. To find the Hidden folder in your Photos app, click on the Albums tab and scroll to the bottom.
Charge your phone faster
This is a great tip for extending your iPhone’s battery life. If you don’t need to be connected to the internet, switch your phone to Airplane Mode. Along with turning off your phone, another thing you can do to charge your phone faster is set it to Airplane Mode.
Take videos and photos simultaneously
To take a photo while recording a video on your iPhone, just press the shutter icon next to the record button. However, the downside is that you won’t get as high-quality of an image as you would with other types of photos.
Sign documents
If you ever find yourself in a hurry and need to sign something, this trick provides an easy way to do so digitally on your iPhone. To sign a document, take a screenshot of it and tap the thumbnail on the bottom left to open it in an editing window. Underneath the image, tap the plus sign and choose ‘signature’.
Tag contacts in iMessage
In a group chat, you can get someone’s attention by typing their name preceded by an @ symbol. When you mention someone in a message, the recipient will receive a notification. This makes your message stand out from the rest of the conversation and ensures they don’t miss it.
Caption your photos
You can add captions to any photo or video you take. Just swipe up on an image or video, type your caption, then tap Done. The caption will automatically save to your iCloud Photos. To find an image quickly in your iPhone’s photo library, type the caption or keyword into the Search window.
Hide irrelevant apps
While iPhones are packed full of apps to make our lives easier, we don’t use most of them regularly. iOS 14 now lets you move apps to a hidden folder called ‘App Library’ on your home screen. Just tap Remove App from the app’s quick actions, then select Move to App Library.
Increase your storage capacity
To free up space on your iPhone, hold down the Power button and wait until you see the option to slide and turn off your phone. Then, hold down the Home button. This clears RAM, which reduces the amount of storage space that apps take up on your device.
Take a hands-free photo
You don’t need to be holding your phone in order to take a picture. Just turn on the Voice Control feature under Accessibility in Settings. You can capture your memories with your iPhone’s camera by first asking Siri to open the Camera app, then to turn down the volume.
Shake your phone to erase
You may be wondering if a text message is worth it if it takes more than one paragraph to get your point across. To quickly erase what you just typed, give your phone a shake and tap Undo Typing. If you want the text to reappear, just shake your phone again and select Redo Typing.
Automatically close old tabs
If you have a lot of Safari tabs open, it’s easy to get confused about where you are and what you’re looking at. To keep things organized and simple, tap Settings in the Settings app and then tap Safari. In the Tabs section, tap Close Tabs. You can choose to let your iPhone automatically close old tabs after one day, one week or one month.
Change your default browser app
Safari is the default browser on your iPhone, but if you prefer to use a different browser, such as Chrome or Firefox, you can set those up on your device. Since iOS 14, you can easily change the default browser on your iPhone. Tap Settings and then Safari. Tap Default Browser App and choose whichever installed browser app you prefer.
Customize your notifications
You can set up unique ring tones for your favorite contacts, so you know who is calling or texting without having to look at your phone. To set a distinctive ringtone for a contact, tap the contact’s name in the Contacts app, tap Edit, and then tap Ringtone. Choose the sound you want to hear when they call you. Repeat this process to set a text tone as well.
Shrink your keyboard
Did you know that you can move the keyboard to the left or right, depending on which hand you use to type? To use the right or left aligned keyboard, tap and hold the globe or emoji icon until a pop-up menu appears. In the menu, tap the arrow to the left or right of the keyboard.
Find out what your phone knows about you
Your iPhone is always gathering data on you, even when it doesn’t appear to be doing anything. It knows which apps you use most often, how much data you’re using and even where you are. To see where you’ve been, head to Settings > Privacy > Location Services > System Services > Frequent Locations.
Close multiple apps simultaneously
You can use multi-finger gestures not just to navigate images and web pages, but also to clear up your iPhone. If you need to close multiple applications in a hurry, you can use three fingers to swipe up on the multitasking menu. This will make it easier to close the apps quickly, which makes your phone run more smoothly.
Set your music on a timer
If you enjoy listening to music as you drift off to sleep, you might want to set your music to turn off on a timer. To silence the music when your timer ends, open the Clock app and slide to Timer. Under When Time Ends, tap Play Sound and select Stop Playing.
Find out which spots have the best signal
If you’re having trouble with your iPhone’s reception, don’t hang out of a window trying to find the best spot. Just type *3001#12345#* into your phone and then hit call – this will open up a hidden menu that displays signal strength as numbers rather than a bar chart. Want to stream HD video? Then make sure your phone has a signal strength of at least -50.
Create custom responses for missed calls
If you’re unable to answer a phone call, iOS lets you send a predefined text message with just one tap. It’s also possible to create your own custom response by going to Settings > Phone > Respond With Text.
Try out dark mode
The iOS dark mode is a great feature to use in low-light situations or at night. It changes the background of your phone’s menus from white to gray/black, which reduces strain on your eyes. Dark mode also helps people with color blindness. You can turn it on manually or set it to automatically turn on at a specific time each day, such as sunset and sunrise.
Use Siri to cast spells
You can cast spells, but only in the form of spoken words to Siri. When you say a spell, your iPhone will carry out the corresponding action. For example, saying “lumos” will turn on your flashlight, and saying “nox” will turn off your flashlight. Apple has programmed three spells into iOS, but you can add your own using the Shortcuts app.
Use your phone as a magnifying glass
To keep zooming in on a photo after the digital zoom has reached its limit, open the Magnifier app. The magnifier function used to be available only from the Control Center, but now it has its own app that lets you double your digital zoom and edit images so they’re easier to see.
Enhance the quality of your voice memos
In the settings for Voice Memos, you’ll find an option called Enhance Recording. When turned on, this feature will cut out background noise and boost speech while it attempts to improve the quality of your recordings. If you frequently use Voice Memos to capture your thoughts, you may want to enable this setting.
Edit and undo sent iMessages
When you send an iMessage, you have 15 minutes to edit it. You can make small corrections by editing the message, but be aware that any edits you make are visible in an edit history available under an Edited tag. If you want to delete a message entirely, there’s a two-minute window for you to do so. Of course, your friends also have that option.
Identify the world around you
Give your iPhone photos a boost with Visual Lookup, a feature that can identify the subject of your photo. You can find out what breed your dog is, what landmark you’re standing in front of, or what plant is growing in your garden.
Add captions to FaceTime
You can now transcribe your FaceTime calls! Just go to Settings > Accessibility > Live Captions (Beta) and turn it on. Then, go to FaceTime and enable Live Captions in FaceTime. When you’re on a call with someone else who has the feature enabled, a transcript will automatically appear above your video stream.
Use your phone as a webcam
It’s easy to use your iPhone as a webcam. With the right combination of OS and iOS, all you need to do is bring your iPhone close to your Mac and it will start streaming video from its front-facing camera. The Continuity Camera feature can also be used to take a picture and send it straight to your computer.
Chat secretly through Notes
The Notes app is one of the most underused features on your iPhone. If you have a group of people you need to communicate with discreetly, use Notes. You can share notes with other people and set a passcode to protect your privacy.
Filter your messages
Don’t let the Messages app get overrun with spam. Go to Settings > Messages and enable Filter Unknown Senders to access filters for the Messages app. Choose from four options: Show all messages, show messages from known senders only, show unread messages only, or show deleted messages only.
Use your phone as an ID
If you’re traveling in Arizona, Maryland, or Colorado, and you forget your ID at home, you might be able to use your iPhone as an alternative form of identification at the airport. This feature is only available in those three states at this time, but ten more are working on adding it to their airports by the end of 2023.
Translate with your camera
As technology advances, language barriers are being broken down. You don’t need a translator to understand text in a foreign language; you can simply point your smartphone camera at the text and let the app do the rest. Point your iPhone’s camera at text that you want to translate, then tap the Live Text icon that appears.
Mirror your phone to your computer
To display your iPhone screen on a computer or laptop, use the Mirror to PC or Mac app. The app works with any computer that has access to Google Chrome. Setting up the app is easy. Download the free Mirror for PC or Mac app from the App Store: Open the app, follow the instructions on-screen, and you’re done!
Use your phone as a remote
Apple TV is a streaming device that comes with a large number of apps and functions, but it also comes with a remote control which tends to get lost easily. Luckily, you can use your iPhone as a remote for an Apple TV. Swipe up from the bottom of your iPhone screen, click the remote icon in the menu and then select Connect Remote to Apple TV Device.
