18 iOS features you should know

November 17, 2023, 4:52 p.m. |
Reading time: 9 minutes

One-handed mode for the keyboard, screen recording or even faster scrolling – there are lots of practical functions hidden in iOS.

Hidden iOS features in Control Center

In the so-called control center there is quick access to important settings – with a swipe from the top right down (or from bottom up on iPhones with a home button). From here you can switch Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, adjust brightness and control playback.

You can access the Control Center by swiping down from the top right on iPhones with Face ID or from the bottom edge up on iPhones with Touch ID.

Flashlight, timer and co.

Even the timer and flashlight can be accessed directly here. If you hold down the individual functions for a longer period of time, additional options often appear – just try them out.

WiFi and Bluetooth

The buttons for WLAN and Bluetooth represent a special case. Since iOS 11, these no longer switch off the respective function directly, but only interrupt the current connection to the WLAN network or a Bluetooth device until the next day. The radio modules in the iPhone remain active!

But there are hidden menus here too. If you hold down the WLAN or Bluetooth symbol, an overview will appear in which AirDrop and hotspot options also appear. If you now press and hold one of the two symbols again, another window will appear in which you can select from a list of WiFi networks or Bluetooth devices. A button will also appear to access the WLAN or Bluetooth settings. Click on it to go to the iOS settings and there you can completely deactivate WiFi or Bluetooth.

Screen recording in iOS

Since iOS 11, it has been possible to easily take a video recording of the iPhone screen. All you have to do is add the corresponding button to the control center, which is above Settings and control center functions. Under the point Customize controls you can then use the option Screen recording choose.

If you then want to start a recording, simply open the control center and tap the newly appeared button. After a three-second timer, a recording starts. After you finish recording, the video ends up in the photo app.

Shortcuts on the lock screen

If you missed a notification, you can check what’s been going on on your iPhone recently directly from the lock screen: all you have to do is swipe up from the middle of the lock screen and you’ll see what you missed.

Music recognition

You can add Shazam music recognition to the Control Center via the settings and access it at any time. Of course, this also works via Siri – whichever you prefer.

Advanced calculator

If you open the calculator on the iPhone, it initially looks like a normal office calculator. However, the app has a trick up its sleeve: If you rotate the iPhone 90 degrees, the keypad moves to the right and a new field appears with numerous additional functions. With the calculator app you can not only set parentheses, but also calculate roots, exponentiation and trigonometric functions and factorials.

Another practical trick: Although there is no button to delete individual numbers or characters, a simple swipe to the left or right across the display field performs exactly this function.

Enable one-handed keyboard in iOS

If you want to type a message and only have one hand free, there is an option in iOS that makes one-handed typing easier.

To activate one-handed mode, you have to press and hold the globe or emoji symbol on the keyboard. Depending on whether you use multiple keyboards, the symbol on the key next to the 123button may be different. A small menu now opens in which you can select which side of the display the keyboard should move to.

Scan QR code

If you do come across a QR code, you don’t need an extra app to scan it with an iPhone – the iPhone’s camera app is enough. If you point it at a QR code, a suggestion will automatically appear at the top of the screen to retrieve the stored information.

Outsource apps

Storage space is a scarce commodity. That’s why Apple gives you the opportunity to move less-used apps to the cloud and thus save storage space. Documents and data that you have entered into the app remain secured. So swapping out apps is not the same as deleting an app.

To activate this function, go to “Settings” and then to “General” and “iPhone storage”. Here you can tap on “Activate” under “Outsource apps”. However, you have to take into account that Apple’s own cloud service iCloud also only has limited storage space. Additional capacities must be paid at an additional cost.

Spotlight Search and App Library as an iOS feature

The iPhone has an excellent search function that can find and open practically anything. Swipe down on the home screen to access it. Now you can access apps, contacts, emails, notes, images and even iOS or iPhone functions.

The home screen on the iPhone is also quite rigid. If you don’t want to store all the apps there, you can find them in the app library, which is on the last page of the home screen. All apps are neatly categorized there. If the route there is too far for you: all apps can also be found via Spotlight.

Share WiFi password via iPhone

You can easily share your WiFi password with guests if they also have an iPhone. All your guests need to do is have their Apple ID (phone number or email address) in Contacts and then click on your network in the Wi-Fi settings.

You will receive a request on your Apple device and all you have to do is confirm it – done. You can find detailed sharing instructions here: How to share your WiFi password from iPhone.

Emergency SOS

There have been additional security functions since version 11: Apple has built in an SOS function with which you can quickly and easily call for help and also deactivate Touch ID on the iPhone so that no one can gain access to the smartphone.

For the SOS function on iPhone 11, 11 Pro (Max), Xs (Max), Xr and X, all you need to do is hold down the lock button and one of the volume buttons for five seconds. On iPhone models with a home button (including iPhone SE and iPhone 8), the lock button must be pressed five times in a row. Additionally you can go to the settings under Emergency call SOS Emergency contacts can also be stored and an automatic call can be set.

Feature creates movies from photos and videos in iOS

When you open the Photos app, you’ll immediately notice that iOS organizes content by date and sometimes location. This means you can select a specific group of pictures and videos that belong together – for example from vacations or excursions – as an album. To do this, click on the three small dots at the top right in the month or day view and then select reproduction out of. The app now combines all the photos and videos from this time into a film and starts playing it immediately.

Simply click on the screen to pause and adjust the mood of the film (such as sentimental, light-hearted, or epic) and playback length. You can then save the film by clicking on the box symbol at the bottom left and then save it to video. Automatic videos only work in Months and Days views, but not in Years and All Photos views.

Spirit level in the camera

The perfect little feature for anyone who likes to photograph their food or things from above – because in iOS there is a built-in spirit level right in the camera that you can use to make sure you are really photographing straight down.

The function is hidden in the camera settings: If you select Settings on the iPhone’s home screen and then “Camera” you can activate the “Grid” option. Guide lines now appear in the camera and if you take a photo straight down with the iPhone, two crosses automatically appear in the middle of the display. If you superimpose both, then you photograph perfectly straight down. By the way, this also works if you take photos looking upwards.

Turn off notification preview globally

If you get a notification on your iPhone, you can find out something about its content directly on the lock screen – the first words of a WhatsApp message, for example. But this also means that anyone can read the notifications without unlocking the iPhone.

iOS has a handy feature that prevents exactly that if you want. Via Settings and then “Notifications” under “Show previews” you can select when a notification should be readable and switch off the preview globally for all apps.

Multiple shot in camera

The iPhone camera has a handy feature that allows you to take multiple pictures at a very short distance. The so-called burst mode is activated by holding down the shutter button and swiping to the left. The longer the button is pressed, the more images will be captured. A small counter keeps track of how many there are already.

Also interesting: How do I backup my iPhone without iTunes?

If you want to get to the bottom of long documents or web pages, it can be annoying to constantly have to swipe to scroll on the screen. Luckily, Apple has hidden a trick here too that makes the process much easier.

Simply drag the page up or down with your finger until the scroll bar appears on the right edge. Now hold down the slider in the bar until you feel a vibration and the slider becomes wider. Now you can quickly scroll to the bottom or top of the page simply by continuing to hold down the slider and dragging it up or down.

Search photos by tags and locations

Google led the way with its Photos app and artificial intelligence (AI), but Apple has long since followed suit. In the Photos app in iOS there is the option at the bottom Seek. There you can enter all sorts of search terms like “cat,” “car,” “mountain climbing,” or “beach” and the app will search your images for those tags. You can also search your photos by specific locations.

iOS then collects all the images taken at that location and displays them as an album – you can even create a movie from them. However, the overview map is even more interesting. No matter which photo you open in the app: if you swipe up, a map appears with the location where the picture was taken. click on Show nearby photosyou can see all the locations where photos were taken and even small previews of each image.