If you're like the millions
of iPhone users in this world,
you might think you're using your phone
to its fullest potential.
But there are so many hidden features
that you may not know about.
Here are 23 of the most useful iPhone tricks
to make your life easier.
Let's start with the iPhone's hidden dark-mode feature.
Sure, you can dim your screen from the Control Center,
but there's a hidden feature
to make your screen even darker.
Go to Settings, General, Accessibility, enable Zoom.
Now, triple tap the screen with three fingers.
Select Choose Filter. Click Low Light.
If you wanna disable it,
just triple tap the screen with three fingers again,
and select None.
While in the Settings,
you can also customize your Control Center.
So go to Settings, Control Center, Customize Controls.
Add, remove, and rearrange various controls.
While you're customizing the Control Center,
you can add the Screen Recording function,
which will easily enable you to record your screen.
Then, you can bring up the Control Center
and tap the record button.
The phone will record the screen without audio.
Tap "record" when finished.
The video is saved with your photos.
You can't record audio coming from the phone,
but you can use the phone's mic to record your own audio.
Now, go back to the main Settings screen
and tap your name.
Go to iCloud, Photos, and switch iCloud Photos to "on."
This will automatically
upload all your photos and videos to iCloud.
You can also set other backups
for things like Mail, Messages, and other individual apps.
Or scroll down to iCloud Backup
and click Back Up Now
to back up things like app data, settings, and photos.
If you wanna organize your notifications,
select Notifications on the main Settings screen.
Notifications are grouped by app,
but you can change that with each app.
For example, you can choose to have your messages
all show up individually.
Go to Notifications. Select an app,
and choose how you want to organize the notifications.
You can also disable Notification previews
for specific apps.
Select an app and change Show Previews to Never.
And speaking of notifications,
you can create custom alerts for your calls and texts
that can be assigned to your contacts.
This can help you know
exactly who is trying to reach you
without looking at your phone.
From the main Settings, select Sounds & Haptics,
Ringtone, Vibration, Create New Vibration,
tap out a pattern, and save it.
Next step, to assign it to a specific contact,
go to your address book, choose the contact,
tap Edit, select the tone or vibration you want to assign,
then press Done.
If you wanna sound super smart in your texts,
just use the...
Go to General in the main Settings
and select Dictionary.
Click here, and add the one you wanna use.
And if you have a word or a phrase that you use a lot
that the iPhone keeps autocorrecting,
just add it to the Dictionary.
Select Text Replacement in the General menu under Settings.
Tap the plus sign
and enter the word you want it
to remember in both fields.
If you're ever in trouble,
the iPhone can be set to send an emergency call.
Scroll down to Emergency SOS,
enable Auto Call, and Call with Side Button.
Pressing the power button five times,
or pressing and holding power
and volume up or down
will make an emergency call.
A little below the Emergency SOS setting
is iTunes & App Store.
From here, you can disable
all those annoying requests to rate apps.
Just select disable In-App Ratings & Reviews.
Scrolling down even further
in the Settings menu is the Camera.
Go in here, and turn on the Grid setting.
This will help you to take perfect overhead shots.
When you hold the phone over something to take a photo,
two crosshairs will appear.
Your phone is perfectly level when they line up.
Going back all the way up in the Settings menu
is the Personal Hotspot,
which will let you use your iPhone
as a personal router.
Just enable your iPhone's hotspot setting,
and its data signal will be shared.
Go to Settings, Personal Hotspot, set a password,
switch the Hotspot to "on."
Your iPhone will appear under available WiFi networks.
Connect by entering the password.
Be aware, this will rely on your phone's data,
so don't download any extremely large files.
Those are all the settings to adjust and change.
But if you're ever in another app
and you wanna quickly get to Settings,
all you have to do is say,
"Hey Siri, go to Settings,"
and she will bring you right there.
You can also get quick access
to things like passwords and your flashlight.
All you gotta do is ask.
"Hey Siri, turn on a flashlight."
- It's on.
- Ever type in the wrong number in your calculator?
Just swipe, and it will delete the last-entered digit.
And speaking of numbers,
the iPhone has a built-in tape measure,
perfect for all those times you don't have one handy.
The Measure app uses augmented reality
to measure everyday objects.
It's not as accurate as a tape measure,
but it does give you some pretty close approximations.
You can also turn your keyboard into a mouse trackpad.
Start typing text in any app,
force press on the keyboard,
the letters will disappear,
and it will let you move your cursor
around a block of text.
If you ever need to sign a document,
you can do it straight from your phone.
Preview the attachment in the Mail app.
Tap the toolbox icon
and then tap the Signature button
in the Markup preview.
Sign the document using your finger on the touch screen,
and then tap Done again.
Place the signature where it belongs in the document,
and then tap Done again.
Finally, you can mark up any screenshot
to add text, highlights, or just draw on it.
What was your favorite trick?
Let us know in the comments.