Top 10 Tips and Tricks Every iPhone Owner Should Know
Just because you use your iPhone a bazillion times a day, that doesn’t mean there aren’t new things you can do to save you time. Or maybe you just want to get louder audio (without a speaker) or the ability to stay connected even when that LTE signal starts to fade. We’ve gathered these 10 handy tips and tricks to help you get the most out of your iPhone
1. Use Spotlight search instead of folders
Call me lazy, but I don’t see the need to create folders to organize my apps around themes like games, social or productivity. Not when you can easily find what you’re looking for with a couple of screen taps. For any app I don’t deem important enough to have on the first or second screen, I just use Apple’s Spotlight Search.
Start by swiping down from the top of the display while on the home screen. From there start typing and iOS will guess what you’re looking for and narrow your search immediately.
2. Switch off LTE when you’re having trouble getting online
Today’s 4G LTE networks are supposed to be blazing fast, but sometimes you can’t connect when you really need to–whether it’s sending that important email or loading a webpage that you need to forward now. It’s not a foolproof solution, but many times we’ve found that switching LTE off (which will drop you back to HSPA on AT&T and T-Mobile or 3G CDMA on Sprint and Verizon) can help you stay online or get back online.
Just tap Settings, then Cellular, then toggle the switch that says Enable LTE.
3. Swipe to get stuff done faster
You probably already know how to close apps with a swipe in iOS 7 (if you don’t, double tap the home button, then swipe up on the thumbnail.) But there are other cool things you can do with a simple gesture. For example, within the mail app, swiping from left to right from the very edge of your iPhone’s screen can take you from a specific inbox to your list of all inboxes. The same gesture works for going back to a previous page and forward to the next page in the Safari browser, which is a great way to return to a search results page.
4. Cut and paste right into the dialpad
iOS is usually pretty good about automatically detecting phone numbers, whether it’s in a Web page or a note or an email. But sometimes the software gets tripped up. That’s when I take off my thinking cap—who can remember seven digits anymore?—and put the clipboard to work.
Just long press on the screen around the number you want to dial, then hit Select. Drag the posts to select the number, then open the Phone app. Now long press toward the screen once more and tap Paste. You’re all set!
5. Use walls to get louder sound.
The speaker on the iPhone 5s is fairly powerful given the handset’s small size, but there’s an easy way to get more audio oomph. I use this trick whenever I’m listening to music while doing the dishes or taking a shower. Just point the iPhone so that the bottom-mounted speaker is facing the wall, so that the audio reverberates. You’ll notice a fairly dramatic volume boost. Sure, a Bluetooth speaker will give you more volume, but this “hack” works in a pinch.
6. Get emoji on your keyboard
Sometimes a simple smiley face isn’t enough to tell someone how you’re feeling. That’s when you should turn to the (somewhat) hidden emoji layout on your iPhone. Go to Settings, then tap General and then Keyboard. Next, select Keyboards and Add New
7. Keyboard. Finally, scroll down and select Emoji.
Now when you’re composing messages you’ll be able to add everything from a smiley face with hearts for eyes to a wineglass or a koala bear head. Just don’t go overboard, OK?
8. Make Siri more personal
There’s something odd about saying my brother’s full name to Siri each and every time I want to text her with my voice. Why isn’t Apple’s personal assistant smart enough to know who’s in my family? Actually, you can teach her.
Start by long pressing the home button, then say “[Insert name here] is my brother” or whatever the relationship is. From now on, you’ll be able to text, call or set reminders with a more personal touch.
9. Use this draft mail shortcut
I’ve never understood why you needed to hit Cancel on an email in order to save it as a draft. At least it’s easy to access those drafts. Instead of backing out to your list of inboxes, selecting the inbox you want and then hitting Drafts, you can access those not-quite-ready messages with a single action. Simply long press the Compose button in the bottom right corner of the screen when viewing your list of messages. Boom, all your drafts for that account will appear.
10. Close multiple apps at once
When iOS 7 launched, lots of folks were confused about how to close apps. By now you probably know the drill. Double tap the Home button, then swipe the app you want to banish toward the top of the screen. But did you know you could zap three apps at once? All you need to do is place three digits on the screen and swipe up in a fluid motion. It’s so easy but easy to miss.
Bonus: Make iOS easier on your peepers
Some day Apple will get around to offering a larger display, but in the meantime those with less-than-perfect eyesight may be left squinting at uncomfortably small text. Take action by bumping up the size of text in apps. Tap Settings, then General and then Accessibility. Toward the middle of the screen select Larger Text, then use the slider to adjust the text size. Voila!
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