iPhone Tips & Tricks
The following are tips that I’ve either found through trial and error or read through other online discussions.
Taking Screenshots (my favorite)
To take a screenshot from anywhere on your iPhone, just hold down the home button and quickly press the sleep/wake button at the top of your device. You’ll see the screen flash, and an image is saved to your Cameral Roll. You can then email these to anyone by tapping the share option in the Photos app.
Quick Access to iPod Controls (another favorite)
I like this trick in that mostly when I’m listening to the iPod function, I’ll have the iPhone off. But it seems like such a hassle to hit the home button, swipe to unlock, and then have to drill down to the iPod controls (assuming that wasn’t the last thing you left open).
A much better way is to double click the Home button to bring up the controls for volume, skipping tracks, and pausing your music without leaving the current application. There’s even an “iPod” button that takes you right to the iPod application.
Rebooting Options (something I’ve been doing too much of lately)
To reboot in the event of the iPhone locking up (basically not responding to any input) the best option is to hold the Home button for at least six seconds. In some cases this will not work and the iPhone will remain frozen. Try holding the home and on/off buttons simultaneously for at least twelve seconds. This often reboots the unit when the first technique fails.
Deleting Unread Emails
When viewing your list of unread emails within the inbox, just slide your finger across the right side of the email to get the ‘delete’ box to appear. I find it sometimes takes a slight touch and slide motion to get it to appear cause otherwise it’ll think you’re trying to open the message.
Quick .com in Safari
On a PC keyboard it’s easy to add the http:// and the .com by typing a domain name and pressing CTRL and RETURN. Do the same on the iPhone by typing out the domain name and simply tapping return and the rest of the address is added. Only works for .com domains.
Creating a New Home Page
To add a home page to Safari take a little bit of a workaround. Browse to the page you would like to add as your homepage and add it to your bookmarks, if it isn’t there already. Then open your list of bookmarks and then move the page to the top of the list - this will by default become your homepage.
Jump To Top Of Page
A long webpage will result in a lot of scrolling if you wish to return to the top, as there is no equivalent to the “Home” key on the iPhone. To return to the top of the page and access the address field simply tap on the grey status bar at the top of the screen.
Larger Keyboard for Browsing
This is useful when using safari and produces the larger on screen keyboard for easier data entry. Before tapping the address bar, rotate the iPhone horizontally. Doing this will bring up the larger horizontal screen keyboard for faster and more accurate typing.
Check Balance
To check your remaining balance and/or voice minutes do the following. Tap Settings -> Phone -> AT&T Services. Then select “Check Balance” or “View Minutes”. Your provider will then send the information via SMS.
Stay in Caps Mode
Tap the caps key twice on the keyboard. It will then change to blue and remain in caps mode until the caps key it tapped a third time.
Inspect a Link
When in Safari, holding your fingertip down on a link instead of tapping it produces an information balloon that displays the underlying URL. The same thing happens in Mail when you hold a link, which makes this tip much more useful. Now when those “account update” e-mails appear, you can press and hold on the link to find out if you’re really going to be taken to the site the e-mail claims.
Recover “Lost” E-Mail
Say you try to send an e-mail, but the iPhone can’t get network access. You might think your message has disappeared completely, but don’t worry - it’s still on your phone. A temporary Outgoing folder is created, and the message winds up in there. You can access this temporary folder from the main screen of the sending account; the folder will disappear once network access is available and the message is sent.
Save E-Mail As Drafts
If you want to save a message you’re working on so you can come back to it later, tap Cancel. Instead of deleting the message immediately, Mail pops up a dialog asking you to Save, Don’t Save, or Cancel. Tap Save and the message is placed in your Drafts folder. If your account doesn’t currently have a Drafts folder, Mail will create one.
Scrolling In Contacts
Everyone knows that you can scroll through the Contacts list on your iPhone two different ways - either flick your finger on the list to scroll up or down, or tap on one of the letters on the alphabet running down the right side of the screen to jump to contacts beginning with that letter. But there is a third way: hold your finger on the alphabetical list to the right and then slide up and down - you’ll be able to scroll through your Contacts in a more controlled manner than by flicking your finger.
Favorites and Recents
Favorites and Recents are part of the main Phone screen; the former is iPhone’s version of frequently called numbers while the latter is a list of people who you’ve called and whose calls you missed. But this is not just a phone feature - assuming the numbers in Favorites and Recents belong to a mobile phone, you can send them an SMS message. Just tap the > button next to the contact name or number and then tap the Text Message button at the bottom of the contact listing.
Driving Directions Time-Saver
One of the primary uses for the iPhone’s Map application is to get driving directions. Both the starting point and destination fields offer the Bookmarks button, so you can quickly use a bookmark, recent location, or contact when searching for directions. The first thing you should do in Maps is find your own address and then bookmark it - this will make finding directions to and from locations as easy as tapping your home bookmark.
Recreate Audio Controls
There are several iPod features that are also available on the iPhone. Just tap Settings and then the iPod option; tap the Audiobook Speed entry and in the resulting screen, tap to choose among Slower, Normal, or Faster.
You can also use the Settings screen to turn on Sound Check (the feature that makes volume more consistent from one track to another) and change the EQ with 22 included equalization presets.
Deleting Viewed Videos
Even owners of the largest-capacity iPhone might feel constrained by the 8GB limit when it comes to storing videos. A full-length motion picture takes up around 1GB of storage, which is a significant chunk of space for just one piece of media. To help ease the storage crunch however, the iPhone offers to delete videos after you’ve finished watching them; just tap a button and your viewed movie will disappear off your iPhone, freeing up more space.