15 Hacks Every iPhone User Should Know

I'm routinely surprised by just how much technology Apple has managed to pack into the iPhone that I can carry in the palm of my hand. What's even more surprising is that there's even more to it than meets the eye. There's a better, faster way to use the keyboard and a faster way to select unread emails to archive. There are better ways to browse the web than just the usual Safari experience, and you can get way better photos out of the iPhone Pro cameras than what the stock Camera app shows you.

The iPhone has become such a default product in all our lives that we just take it for granted. Yes, it's a great way to stay in touch with friends and coworkers, to capture moments, and to doomscroll the night away. But spend some more time, and there's a whole new iPhone experience just waiting for you that will truly transform how your iPhone looks and works.

Automate small, redundant tasks on your iPhone with Shortcuts

Credit: Khamosh Pathak

Apple installs the Shortcuts app on every device and even offers pre-built shortcut automations that you can install from the Gallery. But the fun starts when you explore the very active Shortcuts community online and start to integrate Automations into the mix.

Apple’s Shortcuts app lets you create automations that automatically follow pre-defined steps. They can be used to resize images, compress files, convert data, and even control aspects of your smartphone. For example, you can create an automation that automatically enables a VPN when you step out of your home, or sends a message to your partner when you leave work. Looking to get started? We have a list of seven automations that I feel every iPhone user should install.

Add custom widgets to your iPhone Home Screen

Credit: Khamosh Pathak

I’m a huge fan of custom widgets. Whenever someone picks up my iPhone, the response is usually something like, "Your iPhone doesn’t look like a regular iPhone." That’s down to custom widgets that show the time, day, my appointments, the weather, my tasks, and more. The world of custom iPhone widgets is huge, and if you just want to dip your toes in, I would suggest you start with the Widgetsmith app, which lets you customize multiple widgets with the same theme and fonts. All together, it looks really aesthetically pleasing. When you’re ready, you can dive in with the Widgy app, where you can import and customize thousands of interactive widgets.

Hide any Home Screen pages to quickly clean up the clutter on your iPhone

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While we're on the home screen, here's another time-saving hack. If you've been using your iPhone for years, your home screen might be cluttered with apps. You can go to Settings > Home Screen & App Library and choose the App Library Only option in the Newly Downloaded Apps section to make sure that newly downloaded apps don't show up on your home screen by default.

But what about the dozens of apps already there? Well, you can quickly hide them in bulk. The iPhone has a hidden manager for home screen pages. Tap and hold on any empty part of the home screen, tap the Edit button from the top-left, and choose the Edit Pages option. You will now see a list of all your home screen pages at once. Simply uncheck the pages that you want to hide. If you would like to delete the page (along with all the apps and widgets in it), tap the Minus button in the top-left corner of the screen review, and from the popup, tap on Remove. Then tap Done to save your setup. Ah, see, much cleaner!

Access features quickly using your iPhone's hidden Back Tap gesture

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The iPhone has a hidden button, and it’s on the back of your iPhone. It’s an accessibility feature that you can access via Settings > Accessibility > Touch > Back Tap. You can then assign any app, shortcut, or action to either the Double Tap or Triple Tap gesture. It’s a great way to trigger Shortcuts automations, or to simply bring up the selfie camera. I, personally, find that the double-tap gesture has a tendency to misfire sometimes, and the triple-tap gesture is a lot more reliable.

Use Voice Isolation to block out background noise during calls on your iPhone

Credit: Apple

If you live in a noisy city, or if you take calls during your commute, you'll appreciate this hidden feature. Voice Isolation is one of those features that Apple chooses to bury that, honestly, should be better placed. As the name suggests, Voice Isolation works in the background during calls (and when recording audio in Voice Memos, and some third-party apps), methodically removing distracting and loud background noises, and ambient noise. It can cancel out construction noise, or a loud hum of an AC unit. It works on any iPhone starting with iPhone X, but the best way to use it might be with the AirPods. The combination of the noise-canceling mode, with the boost of Voice Isolation leads to some of the clearest call quality you can get, especially