iPhones are pretty easy to use, but there are also plenty of hidden features that can make your device even more useful. Here are a few of our favourites.
How to hide photos from your camera roll
Everyone loves showing off photos to friends, but handing over your phone to a friend might feel a little bit risky at times. What if they accidentally see a meme that's a little too spicy?
If you'd like to avoid this potentially awkward situation, iOS actually lets you tag a photo as hidden, which will exclude it from your camera roll. If you want to see it, you have to go to a specific folder that's kept far away from prying eyes.
To hide a photo, follow these steps:
- Open the Photos app
- Select the photo you want to hide
- Tap the share button in the bottom left-hand corner
- Scroll down to hide, and tap hide
- Tap Hide Photo
And to see hidden photos, follow these steps:
- Open the Photos app
- Tap Albums
- Scroll down to Hidden
- Tap Hidden
You can also hide your hidden album, for extra secrecy. To do so, follow these steps:
- Open the Settings app
- Tap Photos
- Toggle Hidden Album to off
Of course, you'll need to toggle your Hidden Album back on if you want to view whatever saucy content you've decided to bury deep within the labyrinth that is your iPhone.
Back Tap
Did you know that you can use the back of your iPhone as a button of sorts? You double-tap or triple-tap the back of your iPhone to fire up Siri, adjust your volume, or even trigger custom shortcuts you've made.
- Open the Settings app
- Scroll down to and tap Accessibility
- Tap Touch
- Tap Back Tap
Here you can select what you'd like a double-tap and triple-tap to do.
Setting up nicknames or phonetic pronunciation for contacts to make using Siri easier
If you're having trouble with Siri recognising names when you're using voice to interact with your iPhone, you can add manual pronunciation options to improve your success rate.
- Open the Contacts app
- Select the contact you want to assign a nickname to
- Scroll down and tap Add Field
Here you can pick from options like phonetic first name, pronunciation first name, phonetic last name, pronunciation last name, and nickname. This is really helpful if you have Polish friends or family.
Make moving apps easier
Rearranging apps on your iPhone can be a bit of a pain, especially if you want to move them to another screen. It turns out there's an easier way to move from pane-to-pane.
You don't have to drag apps to the edge of your screen to move them to another pane, you can simply hold the icon with one finger and use another finger to swipe left and right.
You can also pile up to five apps to move them to a new screen. After you’ve picked up one app, simply tap the others you want to move and they'll create a neat little bundle.
Using your keyboard as a trackpad
Touchscreens are great, but they're not always precise - especially when it comes to fine adjustments when typing. Like if you've made a typo in a word and just want to change one character. You can however use the iPhone keyboard as a trackpad, which gives you a little cursor you can move around the screen.
To do this, hold down the space bar on the keyboard when you're typing. This will put the keyboard into "trackpad mode", which will let you drag your fingers to move the cursor.
You'll need to be using the default iPhone keyboard to do this.
Alex Choros
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