15 Cool iPhone Hacks You Never Knew About

What are some iPhone tricks? Apple’s iPhone can do amazing things. It’s jam-packed with tons of outstanding and useful features, but do you know them all? Familiarizing yourself with all the coolest iPhone hacks will provide you with the optimum iOS experience.

Apple’s iOS has a constant rollout of updates and new features, which makes it hard to keep up. Meanwhile, there are even some older features that you may not know about despite being available for years.

In this blog, we’ll discuss all the little-known and new iPhone hacks and tricks. From charging the battery faster to enhancing your device’s security, here are the best iPhone hacks that can dramatically change how you use your smartphone.

15 Cool iPhone Hacks to Try

Here’s our list of incredible ways you can enjoy your iPhone experience.

1. Unlock Your iPhone With Your Apple Watch

If you’re wearing a mask or glasses, your iPhone’s Face ID functionality may be compromised. If typing in your passcode isn’t on your agenda, no worries—iOS 14.5 makes it possible to unlock your iPhone with your Apple Watch.

Here’s what you’ll need:

• iPhone X or later with iOS 14.5 or later installed
• Apple Watch Series 3 or later with watchOS 7.4 or later installed

Before you begin:

• Make sure your Apple Watch and iPhone are paired
• Turn on Bluetooth and WiFi on both devices
• Your Apple Watch should have a passcode set up, and you should have wrist detection turned on
• Put the Apple Watch on your wrist and be sure to unlock it

How to set it up:

Settings > Face ID & Passcode > Type in your passcode > Scroll down until you see Unlock with Apple Watch > Switch the feature on.

How to Unlock Your iPhone With Your Apple Watch

Wake your iPhone by raising it or tapping on the screen > Look at your iPhone to unlock it > Slide up from the bottom of the screen to use it.

2. Get Apps To Quit Spying On You

On average, each app on your iPhone includes six trackers from other companies with the sole intention to collect and sell your data in bulk. Fortunately, Apple has introduced a new tool in iOS 14, called “App Tracking Transparency,” that makes it much easier to block ad trackers.

So, if you don’t want Facebook to track you over to Amazon, you’re in luck. The best part? Companies can’t limit the functionality of their apps for users who don’t want to be tracked.

Settings > Privacy > Tracking > Find Allow Apps to Request to Track and toggle it to the on position.

3. Hidden PDF Feature

This next insane feature has blown me away and is something that I only found recently. You can turn any web page into a PDF document and save it to your device!

To do this, begin by browsing in Safari on your iPhone or iPad, then look for the share icon (it looks like a square with an upward-facing arrow coming out of it and is likely at the bottom of your screen).

Tap this icon and a share menu will pop up but look for the word ‘options’ at the top of this menu. Once you tap ‘options’ you will be prompted to choose from ‘send as – Automatic, PDF or Web Archive’ – choose PDF and select ‘Done’.

Now when you want to send a web page to someone via the share menu it will become a PDF document.

You can send this via AirDrop, Messages, Email, or if you look for the option ‘Save to files’ it will save the PDF to your device (located in the files app).

To find the files app exit Safari, drag your finger down from the top of your screen over your regular apps to reveal a search tab. Now search the word ‘files’ – the app icon is white with a blue folder on it. You will find the PDF here, if not, search for it in the files app.

This is such a useful feature, especially for students who are collecting documents for research that may need to be printed out for reading.

4. Send Spam Calls to Voicemail

Sick of robocalls? You can now direct unknown callers directly to your voicemail. Of course, some robocallers may spoof a friend or relative’s phone number so that it actually looks like they’re calling you—and iOS can’t really help you there—but otherwise, if the phone number isn’t saved in your contacts, you won’t have to deal with it until later. Exceptions include phone numbers that you’ve recently made an outgoing call to or phone numbers that Siri finds in your email, for instance.

Settings > Phone > Switch on Silence Unknown Callers.

5. Turn Dark Mode Only at Night

The army of Dark Mode disciples finally got what they’ve been begging for all of these years with iOS 13. If your primary preference isn’t a dark little screen, but you still want to reap some of Dark Mode’s benefits, like reducing your eye strain at night, consider turning it on only during certain hours.

Settings > Display & Brightness > Turn on Automatic > Tap Options, which should appear as a list right below. There, you can create a custom schedule for dark mode, either based on dusk-to-dawn settings or your own specific timing.

6. Tag Contacts in Group Messages

The next time you want to get someone’s attention in a group chat, mention them directly by typing the @ symbol followed by their name. Then, hit the space bar or add punctuation to bold the person’s name and make the @ symbol disappear. After you send the message, the mentioned person will receive a notification. This way, your message won’t get lost in a long thread. Find out if you’re guilty of these 12 annoying texting habits that bother almost everyone.

7. Add Captions to Photos and Videos

Thanks to the latest iPhone update, you can now add captions or keywords to any photo or video you take. Just swipe up on an image or video to add your caption, and it will automatically save to your iCloud Photos. To quickly find the image later, type in the caption or keyword in your iPhone’s Search window. Learn how to hide private photos on your iPhone and iPad, too.

8. Hide Unused Apps

While iPhone apps offer plenty of bells and whistles to improve our lives, you probably don’t use most of them regularly. Thankfully, you can now move your unused apps to Apple’s “App Library” on iOS 14. Simply tap “Remove App” from the app’s quick actions, then select “Move to App Library.” If you want to keep prying eyes away from your apps, here’s how to lock apps on an iPhone. And if you want to get rid of apps, here’s how to delete apps on an iPhone permanently.

9. Quickly Launch A Website

To pull up a website in a hurry, here’s a shortcut: Type the web address into Safari, and then hold down the period icon on your phone’s keyboard to bring up a list of URL endings. Options range from the standard suffixes (.com, .net) to the more uncommon ones (.edu, .ie).

10. Customize Notifications

Though the days of customized ringtones are behind us, you can still customize the text notifications you receive. Start by selecting a person in your contacts list and tapping “Edit.” From there, go to “Vibration” and press the “Create New Vibration” button to select a custom vibration for that person. Now you can always know who texted you, from your boss to your children, without glancing at the screen.

11. Take A Hands-Free Photo

You don’t need an empty hand or two to snap a photo on your phone. Just turn on your iPhone’s voice command function under Settings > Accessibility > Voice Control. Then, ask Siri to open your camera and turn the volume down, and your iPhone will capture the moment. If you have an Apple Watch, you can also take a picture by opening its Camera Remote app and pressing the shutter button. Learn more things you didn’t know your Apple Watch could do.

12. Limit Phone Usage to be More Productive

Have you ever composed a long message but decided not to send it? Instead of hitting the backspace button that takes forever, simply shake your phone and it will prompt you to confirm to delete what you typed. You can also shake it again to undo the deletion of the text.

And while this is one of the most useful iPhone hacks for people who tend to second guess themselves when texting, not everyone finds it helpful. If you find that it easily gets triggered by accident, you can opt to disable it.

1. Go to Accessibility in the Settings app.
2. Select Tap and scroll down to the Shake to Undo field.
3. Toggle it off and you won’t have to worry about getting a pop-up to delete a message.

13. Take a Photo While Shooting a Video

One of the coolest iPhone hacks photography enthusiasts will surely find helpful is taking photos while recording a video. All without having to switch to camera mode!

Here’s how you can capture the perfect mode in both video and photo format:

1. Open the Camera app and switch to Video mode.
2. Tap on the red button in the middle to record a video.
3. Next to this, you’ll see a white button near the corner of the screen.
4. Tap on it to snap a photo without interrupting the video.

Note that the image quality won’t be the same as it would be in normal Camera mode. The resolution will be lower, but this trade-off seems reasonable enough for most users. After all, you get to capture moments both in a photo and video format at the same time.

14. One Button to Make a Call

These days, following up with the last person you chatted with on the phone doesn’t require dialling *69. Instead of digging around your contacts, simply open your keypad and tap the green phone icon. Your phone will instantly redial the last number you called. One way this comes in handy is if you’re looking for a stolen iPhone or a lost iPhone—if a friend recently called your phone, they can redial your number and see if it rings. And if you want to see your call history, here’s how to see (and delete) your iPhone call history.

15. Create Long Exposures

Introduced in 2015, the Live Photos feature lets you record the moments before and after you snap a picture. This results in stunning images with movement and sound that’s around three seconds. On top of that, you can easily convert Live Photos into long exposure shots!

How to Create Long Exposures on an iPhone Camera:

• Open your Camera app.
• Tap on the Live Photos button at the top of your screen.
• Capture the image by tapping on the shutter button
• Go to the Live Photo you just took in your camera roll
• Swipe up to open Effects.
• Swipe left until you find the Long Exposure effect.

Long exposure photography is great for capturing motion. Try this neat iPhone hack when taking photographs of light trails, flowing water, firework, and the night sky.