Do you have an iPhone for the first time or have you used one for years? You may not be familiar with these hidden iPhone functions yet.
10 hidden iPhone features
Apple is known for its intuitive interfaces, but not everything within iOS is self-explanatory. Your iPhone has some useful hidden features that you probably only find out if someone tells you about them. That is why we have listed ten of these functions for you. Who knows, you might learn something new!
1. Use a cursor while typing
When typing, it can be difficult to place the cursor exactly between two letters to correct a mistake. If you use the standard keyboard of iOS, that fiddling is not necessary. Hold down the space to bring up a pointer, which you move like a mouse by sliding your thumb across the keyboard.
2. Lower the screen to reach the top
Are you holding an iPhone with one hand, but still want to tap something at the top of the screen? That is difficult with those large screens of the modern iPhones. Fortunately, you can easily take the image down.
- With home button: Tapping twice quickly (do not press) on the home button will lower the screen.
- Without home button: Swipe down from the gray navigation button at the bottom of the screen, pulling the image down.
You may need to enable this feature first. To do this, you go through the following steps.
- Open the Settings app;
- Go to ‘General> Accessibility’;
- Under the heading ‘interaction’, switch the switch at ‘Accessibility’.
3. The hidden functions of the control panel
If you swipe up from the bottom on an older iPhone, or down from the top right corner on an iPhone without a home button, the control panel will appear. You may think this one looks the same on everyone, but that’s not true. Complete the following steps to customize the control panel:
- Open the Settings app;
- Choose ‘Control panel’;
- Choose ‘Adjust controls’ and place extra shortcuts at the bottom of the panel.
The control panel can also do more than you think. Press harder on the different parts for more options. For example, you can switch on the mode for one hour at ‘do not disturb’, you can start a recording immediately with a dictaphone and set the brightness with your flashlight.
4. Quickly go to the top of an app
Are you scrolling in Twitter, Instagram or another app and do you want to go all the way back to the top quickly? Then all you have to do is tap the bar at the top of the screen. The app then shoots all the way to the top again.
5. Redial the last number
There is no button to retry the last number dialed on the dial pad screen. You can go to the Recent tab for that, but it is not necessary. Press the green call button and the last number will be entered directly for you. Press the call button again to make a call.
6. Delete one digit in the calculator
You know it: you type a number in the calculator incorrectly, do not know exactly how to fix it and start all over again with your calculation. It’s not necessary! Swipe left on the part of the calculator where the numbers will be, and the last digit you pressed will disappear.
7. Take a photo without unlocking
Do you want to take a quick photo? Then you do not have to unlock your device first. Swipe left on the lock screen to open the camera.
8. Take lots of pictures quickly
Do you want to take a photo, but are you worried that you will not have the perfect shot? Then press and hold the capture button to take a whole series of photos. These photos are stored bundled so that you can choose the best one later.
9. Create shortcuts for commonly used words and phrases
There is no need to retype frequently used, long words over and over again. You don’t have to type out entire sentences that you repeat often. For this you use the text replacement function on your iPhone. This way you can automatically have single letters replaced by complete sentences.
- Open the Settings app;
- Go to ‘General> Keyboard> Text Replacement’;
- Tap the plus sign;
- Enter a word or phrase at ‘Sentence’ and an abbreviation at ‘Keyword’.
10. View desktop version of websites in Safari
If you surf in Safari, you will automatically be sent to mobile versions of websites. Sometimes, however, you prefer the desktop version, because you have more options there or find what you are looking for faster. You can easily request the desktop version by holding down the refresh button and then tapping on ‘Ask for desktop site’.
Are you familiar with these accessibility features?
In the Settings app of iOS you can also find a lot of functions for people with disabilities. These functions can greatly facilitate the use of the iPhone. iPhone put all these possibilities in different guides:
- Using iPhone with a visual impairment
- Using iPhone with a hearing impairment
- Using iPhone with a physical disability