10 iPhone Tips and Tricks

Even though I’ve had an iPhone for over four years now, every so often I come across something new and think, “Huh, I’m almost embarrassed I didn’t know that.” But I rest in the comfort of knowing that I’m not alone! Here are 10 tips for making your iPhone experience that much better:

Turn off your phone. This is so obvious. But it’s the most important. How many times have you missed a text or not seen a photo show up and pretty much blamed everything but yourself? Here’s the solution: Turn off your phone. I don’t know anyone who does this on a regular basis. But the phone is like a mini computer and needs to be treated as such. From time to time, shut it down. Even better, go off the grid for an afternoon! Or make a habit of turning it off at night while you’re sleeping.
Use the volume button on your iPhone’s headset to take a picture. This opens up a whole new world of photography. Better selfies! A tripod! Steadier photos! Simply use the up or down volume button on the cord to snap a photo.
If you’re using your phone as the morning alarm next to your bed, turn on Airplane mode at night for minimal radiation effect. While studies are still ongoing about the effects of radiation from your phone, better safe than sorry as they say. If you can’t keep it in another room, at the very least place it a few feet away from your bed.
Swipe right to left to hide a banner notification. You never know when you’re on a date, for example, and your ex decides this is the moment to reach out to you. Rather than panic and spastically reach for your phone to hide it, keep calm and swipe left!
Tap the top to scroll up. Don’t you hate it when you’re reading down a list of emails and you have to keep swiping up to get to the top? Well you don’t actually have to do that. Just tap. At the top.
This one is my favorite, perhaps because it reminds me of something my 8 year old would do naturally. To undo your typing, shake your phone. It will select all and ask if you want to delete. It’s actually fun and you can feel like a kid again.
When complaining to the world that it’s 2 degrees below zero come winter, to get the degree symbol in your post hold 0 (zero) and you’ll see a degree icon. The flipside of that post is of course showing how grateful you are for a beautiful 80 degree summer day.
You can change your alert to an LED flash so there isn’t any noise. To activate this feature, go to Settings > General, > Accessibility and toggle “LED Flash for Alerts” to ON. You will also need to turn your ringer on the side of your phone to "OFF." I can see how this would be especially helpful if everyone in the room has an iPhone with the same standard alert. At the risk getting nicknamed "Flash," you could differentiate yourself from the group.
To automatically turn off your music, set the timer on your clock. To do this tap on Settings > Clock > Timer > When Timer Ends. Scroll down and tap "Stop Playing." Good for falling asleep to music. And it works in Airplane mode too if your phone is next to your bed.
I don’t usually tell people this because I like to know when my texts are read, but you can turn off the “Read Receipts” when texting. As for me, in an effort to stay in the present moment and let things be as they are, I’m working to accept that life goes on whether someone has read my text or not. If you’d rather not be monitored on your texting habits go to Settings > Messages > Read Receipts and toggle to OFF. Don’t forget to do this on your desktop too.