18 Essential iPhone Tips and Tricks

The iPhone is full of little features that are less known and that, once mastered, allow you to save precious minutes and increase its capabilities tenfold.

In this article, we share 18 iPhone tricks and tips that every iPhone user should know. Memorizing these tips and tricks are very much important as it helps you to unleash the full potential of your iPhone.

Apple iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max

Credit: Apple unveils iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max

1 Shoot Live Photos with Your iPhone.

Live Photos is a feature that allows you to take animated photos of a few seconds with sound. Some may find this a fun feature, but they take up a lot of space on the smartphone.

How to Capture a Live Photo.

Open your phone’s Camera App and make sure the Live Photo feature is properly enabled.
The dedicated button, displayed at the top of the interface, should appear in yellow.
Position your iPhone to take the picture and make sure you don’t move.
Then capture your picture by pressing the shutter button as you normally do.

2 Measure with your iPhone.

Evaluating the dimensions of a real-world object using the Measure application is a very simple process. Before you start, make sure the object you want to measure is in a well-lit area.

Start by Clicking on the Measure icon.

When you launch the application for the first time, you will be asked to calibrate your iPhone.

Move your device by following the instructions on the screen.
Once the phone is calibrated, you will see a white dot in a circle on the screen. Your iPhone is now ready to take measurements.
Point your iPhone device at the object to be measured
Align the white dot with a corner of the object.

A vibration will alert you when the application has found the best location to start measuring.

Press the white button with the + sign; Then, slowly move your phone to the other edge of the object. A yellow dotted line will appear on the screen.
Click the + button again to get the measurement for that line.

In case of an error, click on the Cancel button at the top of the screen.

3 View a website without going there.

One of the flagship features of the iPhone is Peek and Pop. It allows you to preview all sorts of info.

For example, you can preview a website with 3D Touch.

Press and hold your finger on a website link in an app that supports 3D Touch.
A small window will give you a preview of the website.

You won’t have to go through Safari first to see if the site interests you or not.

4 Use Google Maps without an internet connection.

If you want to travel to a new location, you can use Google Maps as a free GPS without an Internet connection.

Before you leave, when you still have a connection, just go to the map you are interested in and type in the search bar “ok maps.”
Now, this map is available even without a connection.

5 Change Songs Easily with The Headphones: Previous, Pause, Next.

Your iPhone’s earphones feature a remote control that is very useful (Switch to music without touching the phone).

Press the middle button of the earphone once to play music or pause a song.
Press twice to skip to the next song.
And Press 3 times to return to the previous music track.

6 Use Your Phone as A Level.

The Measure app doesn’t just calculate dimensions, volumes, and areas of objects around you. It also has a feature that turns your iPhone into a level. Follow the steps below to use your phone as a level:

Open the Measure application;
Click on the Level icon at the bottom of the window;
Place your iPhone on the surface you wish to level;
The application will automatically display the inclination and the angular position of the surface (in degree).

You can tilt your object in order to get your desired Angle.

7 Save time with keyboard shortcuts.

Keyboard shortcuts are great ways to save time when you are typing messages or emails. It’s handy for:

Avoiding retyping your email every time;
Adding an emoticon, you use often;
Typing long words;
Or typing Locations names (street, place).

To do this:

go to Settings;
General;
Keyboard;
Shortcuts. Here, you can add the shortcut you want.

8 Use your iPhone as a magnifying glass.

It’s very useful when you’re trying to inspect a document that contains small unreadable characters. The magnifier on the iPhone and iPad will obviously appeal to those with presbyopia.

Of course, it’s perfectly possible to take a picture with your camera and zoom in on it. However, the Magnifier function allows you to zoom in more precisely and apply filters that will make reading easier.

Steps to activate the magnifying glass on your iPhone:

From your iPhone, go to the settings;
Then choose Accessibility;
Go to Magnifier;
Activate the “Magnifier” switch.

How to quickly launch the magnifier on your iPhone

Once the magnifier is enabled in the settings, there are two ways to launch it:

iPhones with a home button: Press the home button three times.
iPhones without a home button: Press the side button three times.

Once you launch the magnifier, you’ll see a screen that looks a lot like Apple’s Camera app. The magnifier uses your iPhone’s built-in camera hardware to display whatever you point at on the screen.

9 Share music on Instagram Stories via Apple Music.

The music function of Instagram stories is not new. However, until now, it was not possible to add a song from Apple Music to a story.

Beware, the song will not be launched automatically when you open the story. However, by clicking on the album cover, your friends will be able to discover the song on the Apple Music application of their iPhone.

Now we’ll take a look at how to make your Instagram posts highly entertaining with your iPhone.

Open the Apple Music app on your iPhone;
Select the music track you want to add to your story;
Play music;
Press the 3 dots and select the share option;
Click on the Instagram icon;
Once the operation is completed, the Instagram Story Editor will appear on your iPhone screen;
Start creating your story (background colors, stickers, etc.) as you usually do,
Click on the send button.

10 Connect two (or many) pairs of Airpods to one iPhone.

If you want to connect another Airpods to your iPhone, just follow the steps below.

Go to the home screen of your iPhone or iPad.
Take your AirPods out of their Smart Case
Hold them close to your Apple device for around 60 seconds.
A configuration animation is displayed.
Press “Connect.”
Read the screens and follow the instructions; and Press Done.

You can see both AirPods in the Bluetooth settings on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch.

11 Take pictures with your Apple Headset.

To take a selfie easily, just press the + button on the headset central button.

12 Take a screenshot with the home button.

Follow the simple steps below if you want to take screenshots with your phone’s home button.

Press the home button and the button to turn on the iPhone simultaneously (1 second is enough);
A preview of our capture appears in the bottom left corner;
By pressing Ok in the upper left corner, you can save or delete the capture.

Here are the buttons to press for a screenshot on an iPhone or iPad with a home button.

13 Take a screenshot with the iPhone’s Face ID.

To take a screenshot on your iPhone with Face ID, all you have to do is:

Press the home button and the volume up button simultaneously for around 1 second;
A preview of your capture will appear in the bottom left corner
You can press the preview to edit the picture.
You can save or delete the capture by pressing Ok in the upper left corner of the screen.

14 Find your deleted photos.

In a situation where you delete a photo or video by mistake, here’s where you can find and recover them easily:

Open the Photos app;
Click on Albums;
Scroll down and select the option: Recently deleted
Press on the photos and videos you want to recover, And click recover.

15 Turn on dark mode to change the look of Your iPhone.

Dark mode helps reduce eye strain and also helps save the battery life of your phone. To enable dark mode, simply:

Go to Settings;
Display & Brightness;
Go to appearance;
And select the dark theme.

16 Set a timer for music

It is very common to fall asleep while listening to your favorite playlist. Set a timer in order to save the battery life of your device.

Here are the steps to follow:

Start playing your music;
Open the Clock app;
Enter Ringtone, scroll through all the options, and select Stop Music.
Confirm by tapping choose;
Enter the time you want the music to stop.
Finally, Start the timer by pressing Start.

17 Bring up the smart calculator.

It’s the most kept secret, but it’s possible to have a smart calculator on your iPhone. By turning your iPhone horizontally, your smart calculator will appear.

18 Keep your geolocation to yourself.

While some applications need to know your location in order to offer custom products and services, others abuse this right of access to collect commercial data. It was already possible to disable geolocation when an application was not active; the concept of privacy protection is pushed further on this new operating system. Follow the steps below to hide your location.

Go to Settings;
Privacy;
Location service.

From this, you will see the Apps that track your activities. Most of the time, they are free video games, Photo editing software, in short, free apps.