Discovering new iPhone features is a great way to spice things up when interacting with your device. Not only that, but finding out about a new feature could even make your iPhone-using experience more productive. It’s important to remember that finding new features isn’t instantaneous—it can take months before you’ll encounter a new feature, often by mistake. No worries, Lifehack is here to help you discover new features to enhance your iPhone experience.

Take Photos with Headphone

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Let’s start with something simple. When taking photos, it is important to remember that despite the advanced features that come with the iPhonecamera, it is still an iPhone. There are times when photos become jittery, but one way to lessen the possibility of blurry photos is to take photos by using your headphones as a shutter button. When in the camera app, simply press the center of the headphones and the photo is taken.

Boost Photos HDR

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HDR stands for High-dynamic range photos. What this technology essentially does is take two photos, match both of their best qualities together, and offer up a stunning photo in about 3-5 seconds. The iPhone allows you to take these type of photos by going into the camera app, clicking “Options” at the top center, and switching on “HDR”. It’s important to remember that HDR automatically turns off when you adjust flash settings, and HDR automatically adjusts lighting, so put this into consideration as well.

Define Terms Dictionary

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If you are like me, you try to have the least amount of applications as possible, especially if the iPhone—from a native app—does something just as well. This is the case with word definitions on iPhone. Simply press and hold on a word to highlight, using the blue circles to narrow down to a single word, then clicking “Define”. From there, the pronunciation, part of speech, and definition along with an example appears. It’s simple, but sweet.

More Access with AssistiveTouch

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Apple has successfully made iPhone more accessible for people with disabilities. Through the Assistance feature in settings, seeing- and hearing-impaired people can use features that help them navigate. Luckily, you don’t have to be differently-abled to take use of these features.
When in the accessibility section (General > Accessibility), you’ll find the “AssistiveTouch” feature. This allows you to have a button available to easily access Siri, favorites and the home screen. In “device options”, you can do everything from taking a screenshot to rotating your device without doing anything more than clicking a button.

Get Notified with LED Alerts

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Blackberry and other devices make it easy to know when you have a notification with the use of the red notification light at the top left, and you may be surprised to learn that the iPhone has a notification option as well. In Accessibility, you can have your iPhone’s camera flash go off when you have a notification. Simply go to Settings > General > Accessibility > Activate “LED Flash for Alerts”.

Scroll to Top – Faster

When reading text or scrolling through a web page, the hardest part is having to get to the top. It’s time consuming and involves a lot of thumb movement. Why go through the trouble when you can quickly scroll to the top with one tap? First, find the top tab bar, this is where you’ll find signal strength, time, and battery life. Then, all you have to do is click that area.

Quick Access When Locked

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A locked iPhone shouldn’t have to stop you from quickly being able to do common iPhone tasks. Two options you have when your iPhone is locked are Siri access, and photo taking. You can activate Siri as normal by pressing the home button twice, and to take a photo, just find the camera icon at the bottom right, then press and flick all the way up.

Hide Native Apps

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The App Store offers so many ways to make your iPhone work for you. You can find apps that make tasks simpler to do or more advanced, and as a result, native apps that come with the iPhone can become unnecessary. Leaving them out in the open can become an eyesore and takes up space.
What can be your saving grace? You may be be surprised to learn that ParentalControls can help. When iPhone restrictions are enabled, that prevents access by essentially hiding the app. You can do the same by going to Settings > General > Restrictions > Enable Restrictions > Enter Your Password > Switch toggles off to enable restrictions.

Emoticons Galore

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The second best way individuals find ways to express emotions from afar is through the use of emoticons., but the text emoticons don’t cut it nowadays.iPhone allows you to have emoticons on board, without having to download an app. Simply go to the keyboard settings of iPhone (Settings > Keyboards > Add New Keyboard… > Emoji). When you are ready to use it, simply bring up the keyboard, then press and hold the globe at the lower left until you see Emoji. Click on that.

Know When iMessages are Read

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Whenever you are annoyed about not hearing back from someone you’ve messaged, iMessage offers a great solution: through the use of Read Receipts, you can view when a message has been read and at what time/date. To activate, go to Settings > Messages > and toggle on Send Read Receipts. This not only allows you to know, but also allows the recipient to know you’ve read their message.

iCloud Reading List

The last lesser-known feature of iPhone is the iCloud Reading List. When you are visiting a webpage on your Mac, you may want to finish enjoying the page or news article on your iPhone. If both devices are connected to the same iCloud account, this is possible. Once iCloud is set up on your Mac and iPhone, just go to Safari > Bookmarks icon > then iCloud Tabs. Separated by device, you will see a list of the active tabs on that device that you can view on youriPhone.

Switching Keyboard Quickly

When you want to type a number, it is inconvenient to switch to numbers, type one number and then switch back to normal keyboard. If you press and hold the number key and then slide to the number and lift your finger off, it will type the number and automatically switch back to previous keyboard.
Secret and lesser-known features are a great way to make interacting with youriPhone more productive and fun. Let us know in the comments which feature you were most surprised/excited to learn about.