Things You Didn’t Know Your IPhone Can Do

#1. It can charge much faster if you turn it on airplane mode while charging.

#2. If you make a mistake while writing an email, editing a photo, or texting, simply shake your phone and this will show up and allow you to edit easily.

#3. When you need to start a new sentence, just double-tap the spacebar and it will add a period and a space for you.

#4. Find out what airplanes are flying above you. Just say “what flights are overhead.”

#5. Take a screen shot.


This is useful taking photos of websites, texts, or a funny moment you want to keep. Just hold the home button down and the on/off button at the top right corner at the same time. The screen shot will be saved in your camera roll. Works on an Ipad too.

#6. Teach Siri how to pronounce words.


Whenever Siri mispronounces a word, just say, “That’s not how you pronounce “_____” and she’ll offer you alternatives. You can select the proper one.

#7. If you want to listen to music or audiobooks before you go to sleep, set a timer so it turns off.


Launch your Clock app with a tap, and then tap on the Timer button in the lower right. Once there, set the timer for however long you want your media to play. Next, tap “When Timer Ends,” and scroll down to the bottom. Tap on “Stop Playing.” Now, when your music will stop playing when the timer runs out.

#8. You can control the scrubbing rate of video and audio by moving your finger down the screen as your scrub through it.


When you navigate in a video you drag the playhead horizontally to the right or the left to go forward or backward. While doing this you will see a message that will allow you to adjust the scrubbing rate.

#9. Use the volume up or volume down buttons to take a photo, as long as the camera app is open.

#10. Rapid photo shots


By holding down the capture button, the iPhone will automatically go into burst mode and take a series of shots, ensuring that you capture the perfect shot.

#11. Use your iPhone as a level. Just swipe left in the Compass app and voilà!

#12. Use Speak Selection on iPhone and Ipad, so it reads texts out loud.


Begin by opening the Settings app. Scroll down, choose General, tap Accessibility, then turn on Speak Selection. For voice, you can choose from a wide range of voices from the Speak Selection Menu. These include Australian, British, Spanish accents and much more. To speak words out loud, highlight any text (by double-tapping or tapping and holding on it), then tap the Speak button in the pop-up menu. If you can’t see the Speak button, tap the small right arrow on the pop-up menu, then choose Speak.

#13. Create a passcode with letters instead of numbers.

Change the default setting. Go to Settings > General > Passcode Lock and turn off “Simple Passcode.” You will be prompted to change your passcode, and a full keyboard will appear instead of the number pad. And this keyboard will pop up when you need to unlock your phone.

#14. Add web suffixes easily.

Just by holding down the “.” at the bottom of your keyboard, and a menu will pop up with a list of web suffixes to choose from such as.com,.org,.net,.edu.

#15. View a more detailed calendar.

When using the calendar app, just turn you phone sideways and a more detailed schedule will appear.

#16. Access your email drafts easily by holding down the Compose icon in the lower right corner and it will quickly take you to a list of your drafts.

#17. See the timestamps of text messages by sliding the texts over.

#18. Lock autofocus and exposure while you are taking photos.

You can lock the focus and exposure by pressing and holding your finger on the screen until the yellow square appears and blinks twice. A yellow icon and “AE/AF Lock” will appear at the bottom of the screen confirming that you’ve locked in the exposure and focus. It will stay that way until you’re done taking the photo.

#19. Create shortcuts.

Go to Settings > General > Keyboard > Shortcuts > Add New Shortcut. Enter a word or phrase that you use often and the shortcut you’d like to use for it. Every time you type that shortcut, the whole word or phrase will appear.

#20. Set your phone to emit light for lights instead of noise.

Instead of having your phone vibrate or ring when you get a call or a text, you can have it emit an LED flash. Go to Settings > General > Accessibility, then scroll down and turn on “LED Flash for Alerts.”

#21. Customize your vibrations.

Change the vibration pattern for notifications. Go to Settings > Sounds > Ringtone > Vibration > Create New Vibration.You’ll be able to tell who’s calling or texting you just by the vibration.

(Note: Most of these next features are available in iOS 8 and higher, while some are available in iOS 9 and higher.)

Respond to texts without unlocking your phone.

You can respond to texts directly from your lock screen by pulling down on the notification drawer and swiping over to the left on the text notification. You'll see a "Reply" option, and tapping it will let you type a response without having to unlock your iPhone.

Respond to texts while you're in an app.

If you're in an app, you can swipe down from the top and access the notification drawer to answer a text the same way you would on the lock screen. 

See which apps drain the most battery.

Want to know why your iPhone battery is draining faster than usual? Head over toSettings >General >Usage>Battery Usage. This will tell you which apps are occupying the most battery power.




















View every photo someone has texted you, and vice versa

There's an easy way to view every photo and video you've sent someone. Just open the messaging thread in the "Messages" app and press the "Details" button in the upper right corner.

Send audio and video messages that self-destruct.

You can send audio snippets and video messages that expire after two minutes. If you head

to Settings>Messages and scroll to the bottom, you'll notice a section for audio and video messages. You can choose to let them expire after two minutes or never. 

Share your current location with a friend.

If you don't feel like explaining where you are, you can simply send your location to another person via text message. Just tap the "Details" button in the upper right corner of your message thread and select "Send My Location."

Let your friends track where you go.

If you want your friends or a family member to be able to track you as you move, you can complete the same steps mentioned in the previous slide and choose the "Share My Location" instead of "Send My Location." You can choose to share your location for one hour, until the end of the day, or indefinitely.

Mute text messages.

You can mute text message notifications for individual contacts and conversations. Just head over to your messaging thread and switch the "Do Not Disturb.

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Leave a group conversation.

Group texts can be effective for reaching many people at once, but also annoying. If you want to leave a group conversation, simply tap the "Details" button in the upper right corner of the group conversation and select "Leave Conversation."

Name a group conversation.

If you frequently chat with the same group or are talking with multiple people about a particular topic, naming a group conversation can be helpful. To do this, head over to "Details" in the message thread and fill in the "Group Name" field with an appropriate title.

Multitask within emails.

If you're in the middle of an email, you don't need to trash it to return to your inbox and browse other messages. As you're composing an email, simply tap the top of the message where it says either "New Message" or the subject and drag it down to the bottom of the screen. This will push the message to the bottom so you can look at other emails. When you want to return, simply tap the email to keep editing it.

Forward text messages to other contacts.

You can forward text messages to other contacts the same way you would an email. Just double tap the message you want to forward, press the "More" option that appears next to the text, and that specific sentence, word, or phrase will appear copy and pasted into a new message. Fill in the"To" field at the top to forward that message to someone else.

Use Siri hands-free.

You don't always have to hold down the home button to launch Siri. If you have the new iPhone 6S, just say the phrase "Hey Siri"to launch Apple's virtual assistant (any phones older than the iPhone 6S must be plugged in to a power outlet for this feature to work). Just head over to Settings>General>Siri and turn on Enable Hey Siri first.

Have Siri read anything.

You can enable Siri to read articles on websites, books, text messages, and more thanks to one of the iPhone's lesser-known accessibility features. Head over to Settings > General > Accessibility > Speech. Then turn on Speak Screen and Speak Selection. Now, when you swipe down from from the top of the screen with two fingers, Siri will dictate the content of whatever is on the screen.

Tell Siri how to pronounce names.

You can also teach Siri how to pronounce names. First, launch Siri and ask her to say the name in question (i.e. if it's your name, ask "What's my name?"). When she answers, tell her that she's not pronouncing it correctly. Make sure you use her pronunciation so that she knows which word you're talking about. Siri should then ask you how to correctly pronounce the name. Once you do, she will present three ways to pronounce the name. Choose the correct one, and Siri will remember it.

Control your iPhone by simply moving your head.

This is another feature buried in the Accessibility section. Navigate to Settings>General>Accessibility and then scroll down to the Interaction subhead and tap "Switch Control." Tap "Switches" and "Add New Switch." Select "Camera" and choose "Left Head Movement" or "Right Head Movement." Then pick an action under the "System" menu, which essentially tells you what task your head movement will trigger. I chose Siri, so each time I tilt my head to the left it automatically launches Siri. 

See everywhere you've been.

You're iPhone tracks each place you've been, and there's a way to find it by digging into your phone's settings. Press the Settings icon and head to Privacy>Location Services>System Services. Then, scroll to the bottom and select "Frequent Locations" and look at the Historysection.

Save battery by putting your phone in grayscale mode.

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If you're running low on juice and just need basic functionality from your iPhone, try switching it to grayscale mode to save power. Just head to Settings>General>Accessibility and tap"Grayscale."

Tap the home button twice to move app icons and other content toward the bottom of the screen (iPhone 6 Plus only).

If you're using the iPhone 6 or iPhone 6 Plus with one hand, you can double tap the home button to schootch content down toward the bottom of the screen. Apple calls this "Reachability Mode." Remember to tapthe home button, don't press it or else it'll launch the app switcher.

Access emergency medical information directly from the lock screen.

If you set up a Medical ID in the Health app that comes with iOS 8, you can access medical information without having to unlock your iPhone. Tap the "Emergency"button that appears with the keypad for entering your passcode and you'll see the Medical ID button on the lower left corner. 

See your iPhone's actual signal strength.

There's a clever trick that shows the actual signal strength on your iPhone rather than just the dots or bars you usually see in the upper left corner of the screen. Business Insider's Steven Tweedie explained it to us.

First, you'll need to access a hidden app on your phone called Field Test Mode. To do this, you'll need to open up your Phone app and dial the following number, *3001#12345#* , including the asterisks and hashtag, and tap "Call."

This opens up Field Test Mode, which is mostly filled with menus of cell signal jargon that you don't need to worry about. What you're interested in is the tiny number in the upper left-hand corner of your iPhone, which should have replaced those cell signal dots. While that number can vary anywhere from -40 to -130, it will always be negative, and the closer that number is to zero, the better your cell signal. The best signal you can get would be -40, and no signal at all would be -130.

See who's calling you even if a phone number isn't in your contacts.

With iOS 9, Apple added a new feature that displays the possible name of an unknown caller. If you're receiving a phone call from someone you've emailed, and that person's email address is associated with his or her phone number, it'll pop up as a suggestion when he or she calls you.

Use Siri to skip filter photos on your iPhone by date or location.

You can now ask Siri to show you photos from a certain time period or location. For instance, if you wanted to view photos taken two years ago on vacation, you could say something like, "Show me photos from 2013 taken in Jamaica." It saves a lot of time since you no longer have to scroll through your whole photo library to find older images. This only works if your iPhone is updated to iOS 9.

Have Siri remind you to read a text message or email at a later time.

If you just received a text or email but can't take the time to read it right now, you can ask Siri to remind you later on. When you receive the notification, just ask Siri to remind you to read it later. This works with Messages, Mail, Notes, and Safari as long as your iPhone is running iOS 9.

Launch a music app just by plugging in your earbuds.

If you listen to music at the same time every morning, your iPhone will automatically know that it should launch the music app as soon as you plug your headphones in. This is another feature that’s new with iOS 9.

Use Low Power Mode to make your phone last longer.

Low Power Mode, which is also a new addition with iOS 9, tells your iPhone to cut down on certain features to lengthen its battery life. This means it’ll stop refreshing apps in the background, pushing email, and other tiny things in order to keep your battery going.

Search for anything in the Settings menu.

It can work without a power button.



Go to settings, general, accessibility, and turn on “AssistiveTouch” if your power button ever breaks. It’ll project a small icon onto the screen that’ll allow you to lock your phone without the need of a physical button! You can also turn your phone off using this as well. Don’t worry, even without a power button your phone will automatically turn on when you plug it in.

You can set your phone to perform certain actions when triple clicking the home button.

Within the aforementioned accessibility settings, there’s an option at the very bottom of the page called “Accessibility Shortcut.” From there, you can program your home button to activate zoom, assisted touch, voice over controls, and other features with a triple click.