Check out our latest iPhone tips and tricks video where we reveal hidden or obscure iOS features, so hopefully you’ll learn something new.
iPhone can IT?
So, you think you’re familiar with all the cool little features, tricks, and hidden gems of iOS, the operating system that runs your iPhone? This may very well be true, but it’s always good to keep your mind open to learning something new. That’s what our video for today is about!
How many times have you shown an iOS feature to a friend and they’re like, “Wow, the iPhone can do that?”Sometimes it’s a feature that you’ve been using for ages that none of your friends seem to know about. Other times, they can rock your world by showing you things on your iPhone that you never even dreamed of.
To help more people discover what their iPhone is capable of, we asked our videographer Michael Billig (@michael_billig) to put together a hands-on video walkthrough of 10 iPhone tricks we think might blow your mind. All of the tips below are for iOS 15 and earlier, but they should also work on iOS 16. So grab your iPhone and follow along without our seven-minute video to learn something new.
1. Censorship of confidential information on images
If you want to censor sensitive information in a screenshot (or any image for that matter), such as banking information or your home address, you can do so either with the iOS screenshot tool or the markup feature. When taking a screenshot, simply tap the + icon in the bottom right corner, then select blocks or circles.
Then you want to select a fill option and set the color to black. Now use your fingers to drag the black box on top of any sensitive information you wish to hide with this method. Read: 3 Ways to Censor Sensitive Parts of an iPhone Photo
2. Quick screenshot sharing
When you take a screenshot, don’t click on the thumbnail in the top left corner. Instead, press and hold on a thumbnail to open the sharing menu. So you can instantly share a screenshot without saving it or entering the editing interface. Read: How to share screenshots on iOS even faster
3. Quick access to additional keys
A lot of people don’t pay attention to this cool label. When typing on the iPhone keyboard, you don’t want to add any punctuation or possibly other characters, you should switch to the secondary keyboard. You usually do this by pressing the special “123”key on your iOS keyboard.
Instead, you can press and hold the “123”key, then swipe to the desired character on the secondary keyboard and release. This greatly speeds up typing on an additional keyboard. Read: How to switch between dialog box buttons on Mac
4. Move to the latest/oldest photo
When viewing in the Photos app, tap All Photos at the bottom to instantly scroll to the most recent photo. Conversely, tap the area at the top of the screen, just above the date and select buttons, to quickly jump to the oldest photo. The up gesture also works in other apps like Safari and Messages. Read: How to edit image metadata on iOS and macOS
5. Level in the “Measurement”application
The Measure app is quite useful. It allows you to make accurate measurements of physical objects in augmented reality. But did you know that the Measure app has an alignment feature? This used to be in the Compass app in older versions of iOS, but now you just tap Level at the bottom of the Measure app to use the feature.
Your iPhone will use its precise sensors to detect motion in all three axes. So there you have it, now you can easily do things like make sure the picture on your wall is aligned. You can get to the level function even faster: touch and hold the Measurement app icon on the home screen and select this option directly from the context menu. Read: How to Measure Distance Between Locations in Apple Maps
6. Get updates from the App Store
Over the years, Apple has changed the way you access app updates in the App Store. There used to be a dedicated Updates tab so everyone knew exactly where updates were waiting for them. But over time, Apple has moved things to the App Store and iOS now automatically downloads app updates by default so you don’t have to.
If you still need to get to the list of pending updates, there’s no need to tap your App Store profile picture and scroll down. Instead, touch and hold the App Store icon on the home screen and select Updates to instantly go there. Read: How to stop receiving App Store notifications for special offers and more
If you’re using a large-screen iPhone like the iPhone 13 Pro or iPhone 13 Pro Max, you’re probably frustrated that you can’t easily access the controls at the top of the interface. This is especially true if you hold the iPhone with one hand. So all you have to do is swipe up on the camera interface (or tap on the chevron at the top) to reveal a hidden row of options at the bottom.
This makes it easy to access shooting modes and functions such as flash control, aspect ratio, night mode, live photos, self-timer, etc. with one hand. Read: 5 Tips for Taking Great Photos on iPhone
8. Audio Routing in the Control Center
Most people know that tapping and holding the Now Playing plate in the iPhone Control Center brings up advanced playback controls with album art and more. But there is another cool shortcut. See that little AirPlay icon in the top left corner of the Now Playing panel?
Tap it and you’ll get a list of connected speakers, TVs, and other devices like AirPods or HomePods. This makes it easy to route audio from iPhone to the device selected in this menu. Read: How to AirPlay to Mac from Your iPhone, iPad, or Other Mac
9. Quickly Get to the Notes Document Scanner
Go to Settings → Control Center and add Notes to the list of active widgets. You can now tap the Notes icon in the Control Center to quickly open the Notes app. But it gets even better because you can tap and hold on the widget to open the option to launch the Notes Document Scanner, just like that.
In the same menu, you can also select New Note, New Photo, and New Checklist. And, of course, those same shortcuts are available by long-pressing the Notes icon on the home screen. Read: How to save photos, videos and scans taken in Notes in the Photos app
10. Adjust flashlight intensity
You can turn your iPhone’s flashlight on or off by tapping the flashlight icon on the lock screen or Control Center. If you want to adjust the brightness of your iPhone’s flashlight, press and hold the icon, then swipe and release. You can choose between four different flashlight levels.
By default, the flashlight is set to 100 percent brightness. This can be too much when using the flashlight feature in pitch darkness, so don’t be afraid to dim your flashlight with this neat trick so it doesn’t blind you. Read: How to Add a Huge Flashlight Button to Your iPhone Home Screen
Think you can do better than this? Prove it!
If you are a power user who knows all this, we apologize because we didn’t mean to offend your intelligence. The ten tips we’ve compiled here deal with features that iDB team members have identified as underrepresented or less known among Apple fans.
We want to help you get the most out of your devices. If you know of other little-known features or hidden gems of iOS, share them with readers in the comments. Or just tell us which of our ten tips you liked the most.