Do you know these iPhone Tricks?
Have you ever read your iPhone or iPad user manual and guide? Chances are more people were so excited when you got your new Apple gear and the user guide was left in its box. But buried deep inside this document of nearly 200 pages, there are some really clever, useful and interesting tricks you should be aware of.
So have a look at these tricks for your iPhone and iPad that you may not know of and start using them.
Invert your screen colours
Say you are browsing in a dark place, perhaps a restaurant, you could just down the brightness of your screen to make it easier on your eyes. But there is just one problem, turning down the screen brightness also reduces the contrast between the text you are trying to read and your screen’s background. But here a little known trick, you can try. Just invert the screen colours so the formerly white background is now black and the text is now bright white. It will be much easier to read and your screen will produce much less light. Both the other folks around you and your eyes will appreciate how much less light your gadget is creating. Just be aware that although white text on black background will be easier to read in low light, photographs will also be reversed like a film negative.
Go to Settings > General > Accessibility and turn on “Invert Colours” for better browsing.
Display Zoom
Do you ever have trouble reading your iPhone without your reading glasses? Or perhaps you have a hands-free holder in your car that places your screen just far enough away that it is hard to read maps or directional prompts? Here is a quick way to instantly make everything on your screen a bit bigger.
The feature is called Display Zoom. You will find it in the Settings menu: Settings > Display & Brightness > View >Display Zoom
Compass doubles as a levelling tool.
Next time you are hanging pictures on the wall or perhaps even levelling a desk so your pen does not roll off, remember that your iPhone has a built in level.
Go to the Compass app and swipe left on the Compass screen to reveal the Level.
Faster charging
Say you only have a few minutes to grab as much battery recharge as you can, maybe before boarding a fight or going out to meet friends. Putting your phone in Airplane Mode will allow it to charge just a bit faster. That is because Airplane Mode turns off all the radios, including cellular, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth on your Apple gadget. Not only does it save the juice that would have been powering those transmitters but also by being offline, your gadget would not suddenly begin downloading a big email attachment if one were to arrive during your charging session.
Of course to charge the very fastest, you could simply turn off your phone or iPad so it draws no power at all. If you have only a few minutes to grab the battery, the power required to restart your phone and reload up your apps could be more that the extra charge you would get while your phone is off.
There are other variables in play including your chargers, the amount of power on your battery and even its age that can affect recharge time. But in general, flipping on Airplane Mode will juice up your device faster. Access Airplane Mode swiping up from the bottom of your Home Screen to open the Control Centre and tap the airplane icon.
Get back quicker
Here is a gesture few people seem to know about that can really save you some time on your phone. In Messages, Mail and Safari, you can simply swipe left to right to go back to the previous window you had open. It is faster than using the home button to switch to the home screen to get another app. Some non-Apple apps are adding this feature as well. It works with Instagram iOS app but not in Facebook.
Safer passcodes with letters
By default, iPhones only allow a 4 digit number as your screen-lock passcode. Apple calls this Simple Passcode, for a very good reason. Do the math on that and you will realise that allows just 10,000 passcode combinations. Now consider that someone watching you might see the simple combination you use to enter your passcode or someone who knows you well might guess your 4 digit passcode based on a birthday, street address or other number many folks are known to use as passcodes and PIN’s.
But lots of iPhone users are not aware that it is easy to switch your passcode to use your entire keyboard. With a “letter passcode,” your passcode can be longer than 4 characters and can be any combination of letters, numbers or symbols you can type on your keyboard.
To switch to longer passcodes, go to Settings > Touch ID & Passcode > Simple Passcode. Now you can feel safe that all of your photos are locked behind a passcode for your eyes only.
Selfie photo tip
When taking a selfie or any photo for that matter, you have more options to “take” the photo other than just the Photo button on the camera.
The button to press is not the most convenient to reach when holding your phone selfie-style at arms-length or if you are trying to hold your phone very steady for a blur-free shot.
Instead, when in the camera app, you have a couple of handy options. First, while holding your phone by the edges, notice how the volume controls (left side of your iPhone) fall right under your fingertips? The volume buttons can be used to snap your photo too. For even more remote control options, your ear phone volume control can also be used to snap your pic.
