There are so many features on your iPhone, it could take a degree to learn them all. Here are eight secret tricks that only iPhone professors would know.
1. Quick access from lock screen
Even when your phone is locked you can access your flashlight, clock, calculator and camera, by swiping up from the bottom of your screen. From here you can also turn your phone onto Flight Mode, turn on/off Bluetooth, wifi, Night Mode or your screen orientation lock, as well as access your AirPlay settings.
2. Keep Voicemail messages
If you’re a Telstra, Optus or Vodafone customer, you can save or share a voicemail to an app, such as Dropbox, or share with another device via iMessage. Simply open your phone app, hit the Voicemail tab at the bottom and tap the Share Sheet icon at the top right; then select the app or method of sharing that interests you.
3. Create special contacts
If you only want to be contacted by special people, go to ‘Settings’> ‘Do Not Disturb’. Then find your favourite people, or VIPs, by selecting them in your ‘Contacts’ app. Scroll down and tap ‘Ringtone’ and ‘Text Tone’ and select ‘Emergency Bypass’. They will now be able to get through to you no matter what.
4. Share Notes with friends
In iOS 10, you can open a text file in Notes that can be shared and edited in real time with other people. Say you’re out shopping: open Notes, create a new note and hit the ‘Add People’ icon at the top of the app. Then select the way you’d like to share the note, such as via iMessage, Mail or Messenger.
5. Personalise vibrations
You can create a custom vibration instead of using the preset vibe tones. Go to ‘Sounds’> ‘Vibration’ and scroll down to ‘Custom’> ‘Create New Vibration’. Now, tap your preferred beat, play it to make sure it’s what you’re after and hit save. You can use this as your default vibration, or you can make different ones for different contacts.
6. Use Siri as a DJ
To make Siri your personal DJ, hold the home button until you hear a short chime, then tell Siri the name of the song you’d like to hear. You can also ask Siri to shuffle the music from an entire album (so long as it’s on your phone) by saying “Shuffle the album Revolver” or the music from a single artist, or band, by saying “Shuffle The Beatles”. You can even ask Siri to shuffle music from a playlist by saying, “Shuffle (insert playlist name here) playlist” or music from a genre by saying “Shuffle Disco”.
7. Do maths in Spotlight
Don’t bother opening your calculator to solve maths equations. Simply swipe right on your screen (even if it’s locked) and type it into Spotlight – it will work it out for you!
8. Make your phone run faster
You can make your phone run faster by clearing your RAM. Just hold down the power button until you see “Slide to power off”. Then let go of the power button and press your home button until your home screen reappears. You can also clear the cache in several Apple apps, such as App Store, Podcasts, Music, Game Centre and Phone apps, by opening the app and quickly tapping 10 times on any of the icons at the bottom of the screen.
Do you know of any other secret iPhone tricks?
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How your iPhone could save your life
Five iPhone tips you need to know
Five more iPhone tips you need to know
