From photos to personalization, these helpful hidden features make any iPhone even better
We love our iPhone and we really like iOS, but one of the things we find a bit frustrating is that it’s not always obvious where some of the most useful features are to be found. You may be completely unaware of some of the most useful things your iPhone can do.
So we’re sharing with you some of our favorite things that aren’t always obvious on your iPhone.
1. TURN THE APPLE LOGO INTO A TOUCHABLE SHORTCUT
Go to Settings > Accessibility > Touch, then look for Touch Again. You can set what will happen when you double or triple tap the back of your phone. There are tons of options here, like launch the camera, take a screenshot, replace the “shake to undo” gesture with this Touch, or even start something you’ve done in the Apple Shortcuts app, which means you can do actually anything.
2. TOUCH THE TOP
To quickly return to the top of an app or website page, tap the top of the screen. And once you’re at the top, in Safari and many third-party apps, pull the screen down and release to refresh the current page or screen.
3. RECORD A SOUNDTRACK WHEN RECORDING A VIDEO
You can’t use this to upload videos to YouTube, you don’t have the copyright to use other people’s music, but if you want a music soundtrack for your video, you can play a song in your music app and then swipe the Camera app shutter on the right. This keeps the music playing while you record a video so that the microphone records it as well.
4. CLOSE ALL TABS IN SAFARI
If, like us, your Safari ends up with tons of tabs, simply tap the tab view icon (at the bottom right) and then press and hold the X button that appears on the current tab.
5. REOPEN CLOSED TABS
In the same tab view, press and hold the + button at the bottom left of the screen. This opens your recently closed tabs; just touch the one you want to bring back.
6. USE A LONG PRESS FOR QUICK ACCESS
Long-press the Camera app icon and you’ll see quick links to take a portrait selfie, take a portrait, record a video, or take a selfie. And when you’re in the app, you can use the volume control buttons as a shutter button.
7. QUICKLY CLEAN THE CALCULATOR
Did you make a mistake in the Calculator app? Swipe left on the number screen, for example, if you swipe over 1234, it becomes 123, then 12, then 1.
8. USE THE SECRET TRACKPAD TO MOVE
We use this one all the time: press and hold the space bar whenever you see the on-screen keyboard and it turns into a trackpad that you can use for precise cursor control, making it easy to edit text.
9. MAKE SIRI SHINE
Here’s a fun one: Say “Hey Siri, play a sound on my phone” or “Hey Siri, turn on my flashlight” to locate your device when you can’t remember where you put it. As long as you have “Hey Siri” turned on and your smartphone can hear you, it will respond.
10. EDIT PORTRAITS AFTER YOU TAKE THEM
Your iPhone stores your portrait shots and distance data too, and that means it can change the lighting after the event, so if you were shooting with natural light enabled, you can switch it to studio lighting or remove the background in favor solid white or black.