10 of the best iPhone hacks you should know about right now

1. Create text shortcuts for commonly used expressions

With text replacement on your iPhone, you can type various shortcuts that will automatically expand to words and longer phrases you frequently type. Take, for instance, typing “dygp” as the shortcut for “did you get the packages?” Every time you type “dygp,” it will replace the text with your full intended statement or query. To set this up, go to Settings > General > Keyboard > Text Replacement on your phone.

2. Forgot a password? Siri can help

Raise your hand if you’ve forgotten a password recently. Don’t worry, Siri’s at the ready to aid you. To view your passwords on-screen say something along the lines of “Hey Siri, show my passwords.” (And if you need a specific password, simply inquire, say, “Hey Siri, what’s my Hulu password?”)

3. Use the spacebar as a trackpad

Whether you’re using Notes to jot down ideas, writing an email or sending a text message, you can hold down on the space bar until the keyboard turns blank and then use your finger to move the cursor freely to make more detailed editing to whatever you wrote.

4. Extend your battery life

Going to be away from home without a charger for a long day out and about? Go to Settings > Battery and then toggle the Low Power Mode setting on (it will turn green) to keep your phone alive longer. Note: enabling Low Power Mode temporarily disables Siri, mail fetch, and more while activated.

5. Pin your favorite conversations in messages for easy access

You don’t have to scroll for ages to find a necessary tidbit of info. Using the pin feature on Messages, users can prioritize up to nine conversations at a time. Whatever you pin will sync across iPad and Mac devices, so you can find things as needed across devices. And if a group conversation is something that you have pinned, you’ll see up to three participants circle around the pin where there are unread messages. Recent messages, Tapbacks (the heart symbol, thumbs up, thumbs down, etc.) and typing indicators animate just above the pin. To use this feature, open Messages and then swipe right over the conversation you want to pin and select the Pin button.

6. Get information from text in your photos and online images 

The convenient Live Text feature recognizes text in photos across iPhone and allows users to do various things with it, such as look up information on the phrase, translate the words and copy and paste the text into an email, Notes, text message, etc. Even cooler: you can tap the image of a phone number to call that number, or the image of a web address to open a page with that info in Safari. Additionally, using the Camera app, you can copy text as you see it in real life, say, the Wi-Fi password written on a sign at a coffee shop. To do so, open up a photo that has text, select the Live Text icon in the lower right corner, and take your desired action on the highlighted text.

For another handy related functionality, check out Visual Look Up. Using this offering, iPhone users can learn more about popular art, landmarks and books, as well as plants and flowers found in nature and breeds of pets that are captured in their photos. Tap the “i” information-button in the lower right-hand corner and select Look Up to get more intel in the above genres.

7. Set up Back Tap on your iPhone to make certain tasks a breeze

By going to Settings > Accessibility > Touch, and then selecting Back Tap > Double Tap or Triple Tap, you can configure your phone to do an action of choice. When set, quickly double tapping or triple tapping on the back of your iPhone to call up the action you set, be it anything from opening the camera and taking a screenshot to adjusting the volume and turning on the flashlight.

8.  Enjoy a distraction-free web browsing experience

You can use Reader to hide advertisements, navigation menus and other distracting items in the Safari browser. When you enact Reader by tapping the AA icon on the top left of your browsing window, then selecting Show Reader View, internet sites will display only the page’s text and images. If you’d like to exit this browsing mode and return to the full page, tap the AA icon again, then tap Hide Reader. (If Show Reader is dimmed, Reader isn’t available for the specific page you are on in Safari.)

9. Turn your iPhone’s display black and white

Let’s face it, our phones can be huge distractions. They steal our attention throughout the day, even when we turn on Do Not Disturb mode (you’re going to Settings > Focus and setting that up, right?). That’s why we love switching to Grayscale, which makes your phone less visually grabbing, which in turn—in our opinion at least— inspires you to spend less time on your phone. To turn on this display mode, go to Settings > Accessibility > Display & Text Size > Color Filters and then select Grayscale. Then go to Accessibility > Accessibility Shortcut and select Color Filters. This way, you can toggle between the standard color display and Grayscale by triple-clicking the side button on the right of your iPhone to turn the feature on or off as you please.

10. Take incredible close-up photos and video 

This new spec allows iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max users to capture crystal-clear macro photography images with a minimum focus distance of two centimeters, including details your eyes alone might overlook. Shooting photo and video in this macro mode occurs automatically when you move one of the above phone models close enough to the object. The camera will automatically switch to the Ultra Wide camera if it’s not selected, and keep your framing while you snap unreal photos and videos. To shoot macro slow-motion or time-lapse videos, select the Ultra Wide camera (0.5x) and move your phone, so you’re two centimeters or closer to the subject.

While we have you thinking about amazing photography from your iPhone, here’s one more simple tip to take your shutterbugging to new heights: Go to Settings > Photos & Camera (or just Camera if using iOS 11 or later) and turn the Grid on to green, so a grid appears whenever you use the Camera app, helping you create a great composition whenever you take a snapshot.