If you’re an iPhone enthusiast, you probably keep up with the latest apps, updates and accessories, but you might be missing some of your phone’s most practical features, ones that can save you time, confusion and potential embarrassment. Here are some tricks that will help you get the most out of your device:
1. Home screen shortcuts
Do you have a few websites you visit multiple times a day? Add them to your home screen to save time. Simply open one of your favorite pages in Safari, tap on the “export” icon at the bottom of the browser and select “Add to Home Screen.” You’ll be given the option to name the shortcut, which will then be added to your home screen with an icon that looks just like any other app.
2. Burst photo shoot
Are you trying to capture the perfect moment, but you have a wiggle worm on your hands? When using your iPhone’s built-in camera app, hold down the “capture” button and let your device do the work for you by taking a series of pictures, increasing your chances of capturing the moment you want.
3. Turbo charge
Need to charge your iPhone in a hurry? Just plug it into the charger for your iPad or the high-power USB port of a newer model Mac, and it’ll charge much faster than if you use the standard kit charger.
4. Conceal photos
Isn’t it annoying when you hand your phone to someone so they can view a particular photo, and they continue browsing through your gallery? Well, now you can conceal those images by holding your finger on them and then tapping “Hide.” (Note: Any hidden photos can be accessed later from your albums.)
5. Return to the top
If you’ve reached the bottom of a page in your browser and wish to return to the beginning, just tap the top navigation bar.
6. Hide banner notifications
If you’re sitting at dinner with your mother and an inappropriate text message or some other strange notification pops up, don’t panic. Simply touch your finger to the panel and swipe from right to left to make it disappear. If you’d like to avoid these kinds of pop-ups entirely, just go to Settings > Notifications > Messages and turn off the Show Previews option. You’ll still get alerts when you get a text message, you just won’t be able to read any of the message on your home or lock screen.
7. Extend battery life
Running low on juice with no charger in sight? Simply switch to Grayscale or Airplane mode to hold you over until you can recharge. You can also try turning off Bluetooth and Wi-Fi and quitting any apps you’re not using, all of which drain your battery faster.
8. Complete a sentence
Tap the space bar twice, and the sentence will automatically complete itself by adding a period and inserting a space.
9. Reply to text messages from the home screen
When a text message appears on your home screen, just drag down and a “reply” line will appear.
10. Undo text messages, emails or photo edits
When you have one of the applicable apps open, just shake your device and a box will appear prompting you to undo what you’ve done or cancel the command. (Note: Unfortunately, this trick doesn’t let you unsend a text message or email.)
11. Revive lost tabs
The next time you accidentally exit out of a browser tab, quickly retrieve it by holding down the “+” icon in Safari. A list of recently closed tabs will appear. Simply tap the one you want and it will create a new tab and open the page.
12. Capture a screen
Hold down the power and home button simultaneously to take a screenshot, which will be added to your Camera Roll.
13. Confirm transmission of a text message
Wondering if that text message went through successfully? Slide the message to the left to view the time stamp.
Which of these tricks do you find most useful? Got tips of your own? Let us know in the comments below or on our Facebook page. And be sure to share this article on your Facebook page.
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