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Home How-To Operating Systems iOS

Hidden iPhone Tips and

Tricks to Make You an
iOS Pro
Apple's iOS is a very user-friendly mobile
operating system, but there's plenty of
hidden power under the hood. These
expert tips will help you unlock your
iPhone's full potential.

By Eric Griffith
Updated June 2, 2023

(Image: Shutterstock)

Screenshots

Apple iPhones arrived in 2007 running an

unnamed operating system. A year later, it
received this boring sobriquet: iPhone OS 1. By
2010, marketing got its act together and came
up with "iOS," just in time for the debut of
version 4.

We're now up to iOS 16, and in the previous

decade and a half, iOS has undergone a slew of
changes—from embracing dedicated apps (in
version 2) and dropping skeuomorphism for
flat images (iOS 7) to finally embracing
widgets.

Apple's iOS is so full of features that no single

review or story can cover it all. So we compiled
our favorite tips, tricks, and secrets for iOS and
the iPhone. They'll make your day—and your
life—more productive and put you on the path
to becoming an iPhone expert.

Input

(Credit: Apple, PCMag)

Shift Your Keyboard Left or Right

Trying to type with one thumb? The default iOS
keyboard offers a left- or right-leaning option.
Hold your finger on the globe or emoji icon at
the bottom of the keyboard (if you have three
or more keyboards installed, it'll display the
globe), and in the pop-up, you'll see an option
for a left and right keyboard. Tap your
preference. Tap the arrow pointing opposite
your preference to go back to full screen. (This
only works in Portrait Mode).

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Hold the Space Bar to Make a

Trackpad

Entering Touchpad Mo…

You're typing along and want to move the

cursor up and change something you wrote.
You could tap the screen, but your thumbs are
already flying. Keep them on the virtual
keyboard by holding down on the spacebar.
You'll see the keys go blank; now, drag your
thumb tip around to move the cursor. Drop the
cursor where you want it, and delete or type as
needed.

Create Text Replacements

(Credit: Apple, PCMag)

Are there phrases you find yourself typing over

and over, like "On the way home" or "Love you
more than the sun and moon!"? Go into
Settings > General > Keyboard > Text
Replacement. Click the plus (+) icon at the top
to enter a phrase and then a shortcut. Then,
any time you type the shortcut (such as "otw"),
the full phrase (say, "I'm on the way home,
leave me alone!") springs to life on the
keyboard's text preview. You can even use this
trick to type a letter combo that brings up a
specific series of emoji.

Swipe Type to QuickPath

Many third-party iOS keyboards have had the
ability to swipe-type—that is, to move your
finger or thumb around the keys without lifting
it to type words. As of iOS 13, this feature is also
part of the default keyboard; Apple calls it
QuickPath.

Screenshots

(Credit: Apple, PCMag)

Screenshot an Entire Lengthy Web

Page
When you're taking a screenshot on your
iPhone, a thumbnail appears on the bottom-
left for annotation. Tap to take it full-screen. If
you took the shot while using the Safari
browser, and the web page you're on extends
past the size of the screen, glance at the top for
a tab that reads "Full page." Tap it, and a slider
appears on the right displaying the full page,
even if you didn't scroll through it all originally.
You can crop to just the area you want or click
Done to save it as a PDF, copy it, or delete it.

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Sign Documents

(Credit: Apple, PCMag)

We don't all have scanners and printers in our

homes these days, but Apple offers an easy
way to sign a document digitally. Take a
screenshot of the doc, and tap the thumbnail.
On the lower-right, click the Plus sign. One of
the options is Signature. Sign directly on the
screen (or use a stored signature). Hit Done,
and then drag it to the document in the
screenshot. Place the signature, resize it, and
save it to send.

Snag Text from Photos and Video

(Credit: Apple, PCMag)

Live Text is iOS's ability to pull editable text out

of a photo or even a video. All you have to do is
view the image or pause the video. Click the
small Live Text icon, and it highlights all the
text you can copy (tap and hold to copy it).
Depending on what the phone can read, you'll
get action buttons. For example, you can
translate foreign languages on the fly. If it sees
a phone number, it can call the number; if it
sees a URL, it will can take you to the website.
Turn the phone to get a three-dot ellipsis
menu, and you'll see other options, such as the
text appearing in an editable window.

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Safari

(Credit: Apple, PCMag)

Customize Settings per Website

Some websites look great with default settings,
and others don't. You can create settings that
are specific to one website—so, for example,
so it displays a larger font than others. Simply
click on the AA font icon in the address bar
when visiting a site. You can set the font size, as
well as click on Website Settings to specify
whether you always want to see the desktop
version; jump right into the Safari Reader
(which makes pages easier to read by
stripping out extraneous stuff); or turn off all
your content and advertising blockers.

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Recording

(Credit: Apple, PCMag)

Turn Off Your Microphone on

Screen Recordings
To screen-record on your iPhone and iPad,
navigate to Settings > Control Center, and
make sure Screen Recording is listed under
Included Controls (if not, tap the green Plus
button below). A screen-record button then
appears in Control Center. When recording,
you may notice that it's also recording audio,
so you can record a voiceover. If you'll be
adding voice later or don't need a voiceover,
long-press on the button in Control Center.
Below, you'll see either Microphone Off or
Microphone On—set your preference.

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Broadcast Your Screen

(Credit: Apple, PCMag)

Holding down the Screen Recording button in

Control Center also produces another option:
You can pick an app into which your recording
can be saved (say, Photos) or do a direct
broadcast. The apps that support broadcast
include chats apps such as Facebook
Messenger; video-meeting tools such as Zoom,
Google Meet, and Skype; or even sharing
services including TikTok and Twitch.

Enhance Your Voice

(Credit: Apple, PCMag)

In Voice Memos, you can use Enhanced

Recording to reduce background noise. Make
a recording, click the equalizer menu, and
under Options, turn on Enhance Recording to
make it sound better. You can also use this
screen to adjust playback speed or to skip the
silences in the recording.

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App Store

(Credit: Apple, PCMag)

Force App Updates

Do you worry that the app you're using may not
be the most up-to-date version? Make sure the
App Store is set to auto-update your apps. Go
to Settings > App Store and in Automatic
Downloads, turn on App Updates.

If you don't want to wait, open the App Store

app, tap your picture, swipe down to update,
and tap Update All, if it appears. (Bonus: If you
see an app in that list that you don't use
anymore, just swipe left to delete it.)

(Credit: Apple, PCMag)

Offload Apps
Have you filled your phone with apps that you
never use? While you're in Settings > App
Store, turn on Offload Unused Apps. Apps
then disappear from your phone when you
don't use them after a few weeks. Any data or
docs related to the app remain, though, so if
you reinstall, it'll still be of use. This is a great
trick to use when you're a heavy gamer, since
games can take up a lot of space. Free some up
space for new fun.

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Phone

(Credit: Apple, PCMag)

Silence Unknown Callers

Inundated by robocalls? Visit Settings >
Phone > Silence Unknown Callers. When
that's turned on, any number that's not in your
contacts, Siri suggestions, or recently called
list goes directly to voicemail. A silent
notification tells you that a call has been
silenced; you can view the number in your
Recents list.

To keep your line open to unknown callers, you

can use a secondary number via a second SIM
card or VoIP burner account.

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Hang Up via Airplane

Hanging up on people, even when you really
want to, is impolite. But when you're on a call
and switch on Airplane mode, the call is cut off,
as if it had failed. Then you don't look
responsible. (Thanks to @kaansanity on TikTok
for this idea.)

Make Calls Over Wi-Fi

(Credit: Apple, PCMag)

When cellular service is iffy, Wi-Fi Calling can

tap into a Wi-Fi network to place calls. You'll
need a wireless carrier that supports it. Go to
Settings > Phone > Wi-Fi Calling to turn it on.
Be sure to set up an Emergency Address; 911
centers can't pinpoint your location for VoIP