Saturday, March 21, 2026
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
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
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
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
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
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 when paired with the FaceTime Audio call.
When you're on a call, open the Control Center, tap the Phone Controls button up top to reveal all options. Here, switch to Voice Isolation mode.
Enhance the Safari iPhone browser using extensions
If you don’t use Safari extensions, you’re sleeping on unrealized potential. Just like on the Mac, the Safari browser on the iPhone also supports extensions. And you can use extensions to do some really cool things, like blocking all ads and trackers (of course), but also to force every website to be in dark mode, all the time. You’ll also find extensions to improve the Reddit browsing experience and to take complete control of all the elements on the websites you use frequently.
Use this gesture to drag and drop anything between iPhone apps
The iPad popularized the drag and drop gesture that lets you transfer multiple items from one app to another with just one swipe. But here's the secret: it's not limited to the iPad. Even though you can't have two apps open at the same time on iPhone, you can still use iPhone's clever multitasking features to drag and drop anything between two apps. Things come in super handy when you want to drag multiple photos to the Files app, or to an email. First, select the files or photos you need. Select one file first, and move your finger to "pick" it up. Then use another finger to add more files or photos to the pile. It will all stay planted underneath your finger. Don't let go of it just yet. Use your other hand to go back to the Home screen and open the app where you want to drop it off. Open the email, or the notes, and simply release your finger. The data will end up right where you let go of your finger.
Switch to a third-party browser on your iPhone
Using a third-party browser, like Vivaldi, is a very power-user move. All third-party browsers on iOS are technically variations of Safari, as Apple forces developers to build their browsers on Safari's WebKit platform. However, these third-party browsers can include unique features that Safari doesn't. Vivaldi, for example, offers desktop-class tab browsing, including tab groups and pinned tabs. Then there’s Orion, which can run desktop-class extensions from Firefox and Chrome Web Store on your iPhone (something that Safari can’t do). And if you don’t like Safari’s new interface, try out Quiche, which is a completely customizable browser.
Use iPhone Focuses to make your phone look and function differently based on where you are
Focuses have the potential to transform how your iPhone looks and works, based on your location, time, day, or the task at hand. It’s time to go beyond Do Not Disturb and embrace everything that Apple's Focuses can do.
It would be a good idea for you to set up Focuses for Work, Personal Time, and Sleep. In each Focus, you can decide which apps can send notifications, and which friends or family members can contact you. You can even choose which home screens to show in particular Focus, choosing to hide widgets and apps depending on the Focus (no work stuff at all in Personal Time Focus, for example). Focus also integrates with Shortcuts and Automations, so you can trigger a Focus when you start a video call on your Mac or reach a particular location (like your workplace). Go to Settings > Focus to get started.
Copy text and run actions directly from images or the camera app on your iPhone
The iPhone has a built-in OCR technology (Apple calls it Live Text) that lets you copy text from an image, but you can also use it to take actions with that text—whether it's captured from an image, in a video, or out in the real world. When you're viewing an image with text on it in the Photos app, you'll see a little "Text" icon in the bottom-right corner. Tap on it, and all the text will be highlighted. If there's a phone number in there, or an address, you can tap on it to directly place a call, or open the location in Apple Maps. This also works in the Camera app: Just point the camera towards the text, and tap the "Text" button in the bottom-right corner.
Use the hidden swipe gestures everywhere on your iPhone
You’ll be familiar with all the usual iPhone gestures, like swiping up from the Home bar, or tapping the top edge of the iPhone to instantly scroll to the top. But the iPhone has a lot more hidden gestures that can really speed things up, and they work throughout the operating system. If you see a long list, try to swipe down with two fingers to instantly start selecting items. This works really well in Mail, Phone, and other Apple apps, but is also supported by third-party apps. Next, in iOS 26, Apple added back gesture support—just swipe in from anywhere on the left edge of the screen to quickly go back. You can also cut, copy, and paste with a three-finger gesture. To copy something, pinch it with three fingers. To cut, do it twice. To paste something, do a three-finger spread gesture (opposite of the pinch).
Use text shortcuts to speed up the iPhone keyboard
The iPhone keyboard is hiding some robust functionality under the hood, including a built-in Slide to Type feature where you can glide your finger over the keys to type words. It works really well, especially when using the phone one-handed. There’s a virtual trackpad built in, too—just tap and hold the Space bar and move your finger to move the cursor around.
If you find your keyboard too large to type on, you can also enable the one-handed keyboard from the Keyboard Settings button (tap and hold the Globe icon). From here, you can go to Keyboard Settings to try out Text Replacement, where you can create shortcuts for expanding your frequently used text snippets. For example, you can type “adrs” to expand to your full home address. You can set these sorts of text shortcuts for any oft-types phrase—for example, you can set "@@@" to auto-populate your email address.
Use this hidden Files feature to scan documents without a third-party app
If you've been relying on third-party document scanning apps, it's worth knowing that there’s a really neat document scanner built into both the Notes app and the Files app on your iPhone. I prefer to use the Files app for this because it allows me to quickly save a PDF directly in the folder that I want. Here's how to do it: pen the Files app, go to any folder, tap the three-dotted Menu icon, and choose the Scan Documents feature. There’s an Auto Shutter feature, enabled by default, that will automatically scan each new page you put in front of your camera (if you find this annoying, you can disable it as well). Scan as many pages as you want, and tap the Done button. Then, give the document a name and it will be stored as a PDF in the folder. You can now send it to where it needs to go, or back it up using iCloud Drive.
Use Guided Access to lock your iPhone apps
If you're handing over your iPhone to a family member for playing a game or to watch some YouTube, iyou might not want them browsing your other apps. You can stop them from doing so using your iPhone's Guided Access feature. When activated, it locks a user in the app that's currently open, unless you press the Side button three times and you enter your passcode.
To set this up, go to Settings > Accessibility > Guided Access and enable the Guided Access option from the top. From Passcode Settings, you can either enable Face ID lock or set a custom passcode. Now that the feature is enabled, open the app that you want to lock and press the Side button three times. From the popup, choose Guided Access. You can draw over part of the screen to disable the functionality. The Session Settings button will give you options to disable access to keyboard, touch, or volume buttons. You can also set up an automatic time limit here. When you're ready, tap Start and enter your passcode. You can now hand over your phone to anyone, without stressing about your private data. When you're done, press the Side button thrice, and enter the passcode to disable the feature.
Upgrade your photos and videos on iPhone Pro
The cameras on the iPhone Pro are truly stellar. But the Camera app is not. The default Camera app does too much computational photography for my taste, and has trouble focusing on elements exactly when I need to capture something small. Plus, the Pro cameras can shoot in Log in ProRes, and to fully take control of the visuals from your iPhone, you’ll need to step out of the Camera app.
For shooting video in the best light, Blackmagic is a great choice. Here, you get full manual control over both photos and videos, with film-grade presets (including the ability to create your own custom ones).
If that feels a bit too Pro, try using a third-party app to capture much better photos. My colleague Pranay has highlighted a couple of great options, with Halide Mark II topping the list (I agree, as well). Halide gives you a lot more control over the look of your photos. There’s also a Process Zero feature that removes all of Apple’s computational processes from the photos.
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