Having worked at an Apple Store, I’ve been asked almost every question in the book about Apple products. While the majority dealt with personal issues or trying to get me to reveal news about upcoming products (I knew nothing, I promise!), occasionally I’d get this question: Can you show me an iPhone trick I don’t already know?
It’s impossible for me to know what someone does and doesn’t know prior to a conversation, but I did have a bunch of answers pertaining to less common iPhone tips and tricks. If you’re a power user, you make know most of these, but for casual users looking to improve their iPhone experience these tips tend to help.
1. Search For Keywords in Safari: If you’ve ever used command+F or control+F on a computer to search for a term, you know it’s a very useful tool to find content quickly. This feature has been built into Safari, but it’s not entirely obvious. To do this, go to the search bar at the top of the page. This is where you’d typically enter a term to be googled or a URL. In the search bar, enter the term you’d like to find on your current web page and no not hit enter! Rather, scroll down to the bottom of the suggested searches and you’ll see a suggestion called On This Page. Then tap Find “term” and you will be able to browse the web page for your desired term.
2. Quickly Add A Symbol: The iPhone’s keyboard is ever-evolving, but one of the handiest tools for quickly adding uncommon characters into a message is to hold the character button (the 123 button) and you’ll see the keyboard change to the symbols page. Slide over to the symbol you want to use and you let go. Then the keyboard will resort back to the regular alphabetic keyboard. For less common characters, you can hold down the closest corresponding key for a moment and you’ll see a new options appear. For example, holding down the “$” key for a moment will allow you to use other currencies with ease. This is especially helpful when adding accent marks. Bonus Tip: Double tap the shift key for caps lock. I think this is more obvious, but I’m often surprised by how many people don’t know it.
3. Use the Camera’s LED Flash for Alerts: If you’ve ever shared a table and had one phone vibrate, only to have the entire table check their phone, this feature may help. Apple is really dedicated to making their product accessible for customers with specific needs. While most of their Accessibility features cater to these needs, all users can benefit from some of them. If you’ve ever found yourself sharing a space where you don’t want to be alerted by sounds or vibrations, you can use the LED in your Flash to alert you. To do that, follow this path on your phone: Setting- General- Accessibility- LED Flash for Alerts (under “Hearing”)- Tap that option and toggle it on. Mind you, many people find this alert method annoying, but it can be a handy tool in the right situation.
4. Charge Faster: Here’s another tip that is commonly shared, but it’s still handy if you’re unfamiliar. If you’re in a time pinch but you need to charge your phone as quickly as possible you should put it into Airplane Mode. Airplane mode can be found at the top of the Settings app, but for most users it will also be in the Control Center by default (just swipe up from the bottom).
Granted, this tip may not be the most useful all of the time. Users have found varying result, and one test found this method to only save a few minutes. This is why I only suggest using Airplane Mode charging when you’re in a time crunch and want to get the most charge in the limited amount of time. Also, airplane mode will prevent notifications from coming through because cellular date is off and WiFi is off by default.
5. Go to the Top of the Page: This one is easy to use and to show others. If you’ve scrolled really far down into your inbox, or your messages, or your Instagram feed, or a Safari page… almost any app to be honest… and you want to get back to the top of the 
page, just hit all the way at the top of the screen. The time is a good point of reference to hit, and the your iPhone should scroll back up to the top. This doesn’t work on all third-party apps, but it works almost anywhere you’d need to use it.
6. Use Text Replacement to Type Faster: I hate typing in my e-mail address. Despite the keyboard shortcuts, having enter the whole address is a pain. Luckily, there’s a quicker way to get the job done. Any time I was working with someone who relied on Apple products for their business, I would share this tip: use text replacement to type your e-mail (or anything really) more faster. To do this follow this path: Settings- General- Keyboard- Text Replacement. Then tap the “+” in the upper left corner and add in the phrase you’re sick of typing out so frequently and a shortcut to correspond to it.
For example, I just created the shortcut “mbcom” so I don’t need to type out my whole website URL every time I want to share it. By typing the shortcut, my iPhone automatically suggests the URL for my site. Or, if you use predictive text, it will be the first prediction. I recommend you try using this for your e-mail address, home address, or LinkedIn URL. However, the opportunities are limitless here.
Hopefully this article helped out! If you like this, I could easily write about some Mac tips or iCloud tips to make your life easier.
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