30+ iPhone tricks that will make things so much easier

With the many changes that took place in the workplace in 2020, having a scanner wherever you go can definitely come in handy. Whether you need to sign an onboarding document for a new job or send a personally signed note to a friend online, now you can use the Notes app that came with your iPhone as a scanner. Simply open the app and tap on the “+” symbol at the bottom of the screen. Select the option to Scan Documents from the list that pops up. That will launch the iPhone camera. As soon as the camera picks up on the document you need to scan, it will highlight the document in yellow on your iPhone screen. Tap the capture button, and your iPhone will then scan the document and automatically save it to your phone. It will appear with your photos.

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Ever hear a phrase in another language you wish you understood? Your iPhone can translate a number of languages, including Spanish, French, Russian, Italian, and German, making it one of the most useful iPhone tricks, especially when you’re travelling abroad. First, make sure you have updated to at least iOS 14. Then, tap on your phone’s built-in Translator app, choose the language you’ll be translating, and select your target language. (If you’re reading this, you’ll probably want to select English as the target language.) Next, either type the word or phrase you want to translate into the open space or paste it in there from your source document. Tap Go to confirm that you’re ready for the translation, and the translated word or phrase will appear. If you want it read to you, tap the Play button to hear it read aloud.

There are many reasons why you’d want to have your screenshots or photos protected from immediate access by anyone who uses your phone. Luckily, you’re just a few clicks away from being able to do so. Go to your Photos app and click on the pictures and screenshots that you want to hide. Then—and this may sound contradictory to your goals—select the Share option. That should pull up a list where you can choose the option to hide the selected photos or screenshots. Go back to the Photo Library to make sure that the photos are now private. They will be in the Hidden folder that was created automatically when you hid the photos. You can find this folder by clicking on your Photos app, then going to the Albums tab. If you change your mind and want to “unhide” the photos, simply select the photo and choose to move it back to the primary album of the Photos app.

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If you have sensitive information on your phone (and who doesn’t?), you may worry about what could happen if it gets into the wrong hands. Prevent that from happening by taking the rather dramatic step of setting your phone to essentially self-destruct if someone steals it and tries to use it. If you enact this feature and someone enters the wrong passcode more than 10 times, your phone will erase everything on it. (Of course, if you frequently forget your password or have a child who plays with your phone, you may want to think twice before opting for this security measure.)

If you decide that this is the right move for you, go to Settings, choose General, and then Passcode Lock. After you do that, activate the option to Erase Data. Then, if someone steals your phone and tries to repeatedly break into it, the data will be erased and inaccessible to the prying eyes of the thief.

The iPhone has a number of functions to protect you from…yourself. You can turn on a Do Not Disturb While Driving option to help eliminate the temptation of answering incoming calls and texts while you’re on the road. Go to the Control Centre to turn it on, and this built-in feature will limit any notifications that you receive. If this feels too extreme, you can ask Siri to read your notifications. That way, you can be in the know without grabbing your device and being dangerously distracted on the road.

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Any owner of an iPhone has likely received unwanted notifications. The good news is that you are actually in control of how and when you receive these notifications. First of all, if you don’t want to see a screen full of notifications every time you pick up your phone, go into Settings and choose Notifications. From there, turn off the Lock Screen view. Also turn off banners and badge notifications.

If you want to get some notifications and not others, that’s easy, too! Go to Settings, then choose Notifications as you did above. Then tap on the individual app titles below Notification Style. You can decide whether you want notifications on an app by app basis. Simply toggle the notification option to the green “on” selection to get notifications on that app. Exit the screen, and the new settings should be applied.

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Have you ever accidentally clicked on a link, only to find that the new website took over the original page you were on before you were done with it? Ah, the annoyance of trying to toggle back between pages that get buried! It’s no wonder that the lack of an apparent back button on the iPhone can be disconcerting. However, it’s super easy to access the last screen you were looking at. Just swipe from the left of your screen to the right, and it should bring you right back to the previous page.

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Sure, you know you can use your iPhone to take relatively high-quality photos instead of lugging around a bulky camera. Many people don’t realise, however, that you can easily use the phone’s camera to shoot bursts of photos like you would with a DSLR camera. Just hold down the camera app’s shutter button.

If you are conducting work meetings on Zoom or other apps, you may want to record your screen for accessing the data or screens that are shared later on. It’s easy to do this on an iPhone. Go to your Settings, then choose the Control Centre. Next, add the Screen Recording option. Then, when you want to record your screen, go to the Control Centre and simply press the record button. One important note: This only captures the visual component of your screen; it doesn’t record the audio. This works best for things like slideshows where you only need to access the visuals.

With just a few clicks, you can ensure that all the photos you take with your iPhone will be saved on the iCloud. You can then access them from your computer, iPad, and other devices. Go to your settings, then select iCloud. Next, choose Photos and switch on the iCloud Photos option. That way, your iPhone will automatically back up both videos and photos to the Cloud.