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Everybody knows how to use an iPhone, but not everyone knows all of its hidden functions. This article has 20 great iPhone Tricks to make using your iPhone even easier.
1. Creating Custom Shortcuts
Long-press and hold an app icon on your home screen and select “Add to Widget” > Shortcuts. A new window will appear with all of the customizable titles you can choose from for this shortcut. Tap on one to make it your own!
2. Using QuickType
Navigate to Settings > General > Keyboard > Enable QuickType. Turn on Notifications if you’d like a small bubble notification to appear when suggestions are available as you type.
3. Changing Siri’s Language Preferences
Launch Siri and tap on the gear icon in the upper right corner of the screen that appears first. Now, go to General and select Siri > Language. Then, select a language that you’d like the personal assistant to learn about and use when you speak to her. This will improve how much she understands you–something that’s important if you’re bilingual.
You can also change Siri’s voice from a female to a male or vice versa by going into General > Siri > Voice Gender. If this feature is available in your country, make sure to try it out! It’ll be fun for sure!
4. Customizing Name Display
If your phone shows “Caller ID” information when receiving phone calls from specific contacts, you can choose what name they show up as on the screen here. Go to Phone > Recents or Favorites tab > select contact > Edit (below picture) > scroll to bottom and tap on “Show as” > select Caller ID or Custom.
You can also choose to show their name or number in the Messages app if that’s what you’d prefer!
5. Changing Default Apps
If you’re looking for a specific app but Siri suggests another, don’t worry! You can change your default apps by navigating to Settings > General > Default Apps. This menu will allow you to pick which apps open certain types of links, media files, or other items.
For example, you might want Chrome always open when you click on an HTTP link rather than Safari. The possibilities are endless with this one!
6. Auto-Playing Videos
If you’d like to automatically play videos in the browser, go to Settings > Safari and toggle “Auto-Play” on. This isn’t enabled by default because it can be quite annoying when your phone is in your pocket! However, for long videos or other media files that are integral to your use of this feature, it’s handy to have it turned on.
7. Private Browsing
Private browsing prevents websites from tracking your use and keeps them from being stored in history. To turn it on, go to Settings > Safari and tap on “Private Browsing.” When this function is enabled, a dark overlay will appear over the top of web pages indicating that you’re using a private session.
8. Shortcuts for Safari
Safari has a lot of amazing shortcuts built right in, but most people aren’t aware of them! To use some simple ones, like “pinch to go back” or “pull-down to refresh,” navigate to Settings > Safari and turn on “Shortcuts.” Then, you can drag the buttons from the bottom toolbar onto your home screen.
You can also enable VoiceOver (speak what’s under your finger) by navigating to Settings > General > Accessibility >VoiceOver and turning it on. This will make browsing much easier for users with visual impairments–another awesome feature!
9. Editing The Dictionary
If you frequently end up in the Dictionary view in Safari, you can make it easier to switch between words or delete them altogether. Go to Settings > Safari > AutoFill and Edit (below the iCloud Keychain option).
This allows you to automatically remove words that Safari suggests when they’re not relevant by tapping on the minus button next to each one after selecting it. You can also add new terms with different spellings or language settings for people who speak another language.
Finally, try enabling “Search Engine Suggestions” if you haven’t already. When enabled, this will show search suggestions as you type your query into the URL bar using Google or Yahoo! Make sure to do a quick Google search of your own before leaving this page so that you have a better idea of all the possibilities.
10. Screen Capture
Safari has a built-in screen capture function that allows you to take pictures of your web pages. To enable it, all you have to do is press Command + Shift + 3! This shortcut will save an image of whatever is currently on your screen to your camera roll with no editing or alterations whatsoever.
If you plan on using this feature often, make sure to change the keyboard command in Settings > General > Keyboard > Shortcuts! Instead of having to hold these buttons down every time, you can set it up so that tapping them consecutively takes a picture.
See also: 27 Easy iPhone Tips And Tricks To Make Your Experience Better.
11. Scrolling Back-Up
If you’re trying to scroll down a webpage that’s a particularly long one, you may end up scrolling down a little too far to reach what you’re looking for. If this happens, all you have to do is press the title of your webpage at the very top of the browser and it will drop back down.
This is a great iPhone trick for when reading articles or doing research to make sure you find exactly what you were looking for.
12. Turn Off Autocorrect
Did you know that there is an option to turn off autocorrect? Navigate to Settings > General > Keyboard and tap on “Text Replacement.” Scroll down until you see a section called Shortcuts that has a list of phrases autocorrect has been automatically substituted for.
You can delete these phrases and replace them with whatever you’d like by tapping on the phrase and selecting “Delete.” Then simply tap on your new phrase, followed by entering the text that should be autocorrected into the blank box below it. Tap Done at the top of the screen and voila! No more embarrassing autocorrect mishaps.
13. Long Non-Literal Words
If you find yourself typing a lot of non-literal words, such as contractions or vulgarities, Safari has a great shortcut for you to use instead of going back to correct each one individually.
Simply double-tap the space bar after typing your word and Safari will automatically substitute in an appropriate short word! This is a great time saver for when you’re in a hurry.
14. Button Shapes
Sometimes when browsing the web on an iPhone, the buttons and text can blend together and make it hard to tell what’s clickable and what isn’t. If this happens, simply navigate to Settings > General > Accessibility >Button Shape and turn it on.
You can choose from “Rounded,” which will add a beveled border around all of your buttons, “Square,” which adds lines radiating out from each corner, or “None,” which leaves your buttons as they were before with no borders at all.
15. Auto-Forward
If you find yourself constantly clicking through multiple pages on a website because you missed something on the previous page, Safari has a great option for you to speed up your browsing. Under Settings > General > Auto-Load, make sure to select “Forward” and not “Reload”.
This will cause Safari to automatically load the next webpage in line when you finish reading it instead of sending you back to the top each time!
16. Reloading
Did you know that there are multiple choices for reloading a webpage? If you’re trying to get rid of all those annoying ads that seem to populate every corner of the internet these days, navigate to Settings > Safari.
Here you’ll have several options including reloading with or without images, which is perfect if they annoyingly take a while to load. You can also choose to reload with JavaScript enabled or disabled, which is helpful if a website has buggy javascript that won’t work correctly otherwise.
17. Unlock With iPhone
Did you ever have to enter your password into a different device because it couldn’t connect to your phone? If so, there’s a great feature built-in for you! Go to Settings > iCloud and make sure everything is turned on. Then go back and navigate to Settings > iTunes & App Store and turn “Password Sharing” on.
Once this is activated, anyone who has access to both devices can unlock one simply by entering their Apple ID and password on the other!
18. Translation
Need to translate something quickly? Instead of fumbling through several different apps, simply hold down on any word or phrase for a second until it starts to wiggle. Then tap on the arrow that pops up.
You can then select “Define” or “Translate.” This is incredibly helpful if you ever need help learning the proper pronunciation of difficult foreign languages.
19. QR Codes
Did you know that your iPhone is capable of scanning QR codes? Start by downloading the free app Scan from the App Store. Once you have it installed, tap on “Scan” in the bottom right corner when viewing a QR code to start scanning!
See also: Best Ways Of Heating A Garage Gym In 2022
20. Switching To White
If your iPhone’s display is starting to get old and discolored, you can trick it into thinking there’s no problem by switching everything to white! Just navigate to Settings > General > Accessibility and turn on “Smart Invert.
“This will make all of your screen images appear inverted, but they’ll also be crystal clear. You don’t need to worry about accidentally draining your battery because this setting only affects what’s displayed on your phone.
With these tricks, everything is a little bit easier with your iPhone! Enjoy them and make use of all the hidden functions on your phone. You’ll be glad that you did.
