iPhone Tips and Tricks
iPhone has been around for a while now. We have had iPhone 3G, since some time too. Maybe we will have a iPhone Nano soon enough. But the fact remains, there are various hidden tweaks in the device , that when you find them, still amaze you. Most of them are very handy, and can be a user’s delight to know. These are some of them, which i could find. If you know one that’s not present here, please let me know.
Press & Hold For Alternate Characters
Keep holding any letter, and you get a popup of various versions of the character (i.e. to type España with the “ñ” simply hold “n” and simply slide/release to the appropriate character).
Automatically capitalize and add apostrophes
The iPhone automatically capitalizes certain words (”I” when you type “i”). It also automatically adds apostrophes (”I’m” when you type “Im”).
Double tap space bar for a period
While typing, we often need to type a “.” . In such a case you need to press “123″ to get to the numbers and symbols page where the period is. You can just , double tap the space bar at the end of a sentence, which will automatically enter a period followed by a space.
Tap the bottom corner to navigate home screens
You can switch pages, just by tapping the bottom right/left corner, when on your home screen, instead of swiping your finger across the screen.
Move “dock” icons
Well this one stares in your face, and still you dont know it. The 4 icons located on the grey bar at the bottom of your iPhone - Phone, Mail, iPod, Safari - are movable, just like the rest of the icons. Just press and hold the icons, then drag them while they are shaking. Press the home button when you’re done. You can put any 4 icons on your dock.
In the screenshots, note the difference between pic 1 and 2.
Take out your SIM card during backup and sync
While backing up and syncing your iPhone, it is generally better to take your SIM card out. Why? Lets say you are the end of the time consuming backup, and suddenly you get a call. This renders the whole backup useless !
So if you need to backup, take your SIM out , put it in a old cellphone ( so that you are not disconnected
), Backup your phone , put the SIM back in. And dont worry, this does not damage your phone at all.
Double tap a column on Safari to fit-to-page
When browsing the Internet in Safari browser, double tap anywhere on the screen and Voila! the text fits according to your iPhones screen. This is extremely useful for reading blogs, newspapers etc.
Manually select the icon image for a bookmarked webpage
One of iPhone’s features, is a bookmark straight on your home screen. How? When you are browsing a website on your iPhone’s Safari browser and want to add its icon to your home screen, press the plus sign and select “Add to Home Screen”.
The image in the icon, however, is a screenshot of the page you were on. But if you want the icon to look a specific way, zoom in on a particular item on the page. Whether you want the website’s logo, or some picture on the page, simply zoom in on that part of the page before you press “Add to Home Screen”.
Note: This doesn’t work with all websites. Popular sites like Google have special icons for the iPhones home screen.
Go to your website of choice Zoom in on your favorite part.
Press the + sign and choose Name the bookmark appropriately
Add to Home Screen. (Digg - Apple)
Now that exact part of the webpage is displayed in your icon.
Scroll to Top of Page
Scrolling down a long webpage and need to get to the top ? You dont need to scroll back up, just tap the “top bar” the one with Time , and you get to the top of webpage and it also brings up the URL bar.
A Bigger Keyboard
Well one of the issues people have, is with the small size of keyboard. But very few know, that there’s a Landscape Keyboard in iPhone too. The catch , however is, it only opens up in Safari. Whenever you are using a keyboard in Safari, just rotate the iPhone to the Horizontal and the webpage adapts to the landscape mode and a bigger keyboard appears.
Drop Down Menu in Safari
When it comes to Apple, nothing is left ugly. For example, even the drop down menu that appears in some web pages, is an absolute delight to see. You have to flick through a wheel type object, and tap the one to select.
Domain Resolution
You dont need to type “www” or the “.com” , just enter the name and press Go. For instance, for www.cnn.com just type “cnn” in the URL box. Note: Your search engine must be set to Google, not Yahoo.
Domain Suffix - [On firmware 2.0 only]
Apart from the .com button in Safari, you can also get “.net, .edu, .org” buttons too. Just keep holding the “.com” button and you soon get a extension of “.net” , “.edu” , “.org” buttons.
Note: Rather than lifting and pressing, slide your finger from .com to .net/.edu/.org .
Click & Hold URL’s
In Safari, hold a link to see the URL and site name.
Make a Call Directly from Safari
In Safari, if you find any number, you would like to call, just tap the number and iPhone will dial it for you . Similarly if you find any numbers or URL’s embedded in your SMS’es you can just tap and the iPhone will dial it or open the browser respectively.
Mark email as Unread
On the outside, it appears as if there is no way to mark the read messages as unread. But infact there is one. While you view a message, just click Details -> Mark as Unread and its done.
Recover Unsent Emails
If you try to send an email, when you dont have network access, it appears as if the message is discarded. But it isnt so. Instead a temproary Outgoing folder is created, and the message is saved there. Whenever you get network access the next time, the iPhone will send the message for you and the folder once empty is deleted.
Save Any Image from Safari
If you need to save images in Safari, simply press and hold the image. A menu will appear asking “Save Image” or “Cancel”. Once the image is in your camera roll, you can set it as your wallpaper.
Delete Emails
You can do both “bulk deletes” and “individual deletes” when browsing email. Forbulk delete, simply click Edit, check off the desired emails, and then choose delete or move. For a single email, simply “cross it out” by swiping your finger across the email, then press delete.
Your iPhones headphones have a multi-function button!
The iPhones native headphones have a button on the microphone. If you squeeze the microphone together, the button gets pressed.
The buttons functions:
While Calling(1) Press once to answer a call
(2) Press twice to send the call to voicemail
(3) Press once to hang up a callWhile call-waiting
(1) Click once to hold current call and switch to new call
(2) If you hold for 2 secs and release, it ignores the new callNo Call
(1) Press once to activate iPod and play song
(2) Press once to pause song
(3) Press twice to skip to next song
Soft Reset
If your iPhone hangs up, you can do a soft reset. Just Press and hold the Home button and the Sleep button to restart your iPhone. A white light will flash, the screen will shut off and then turn back on. Keep holding until the screen turns back on.
Take a Screenshot
Hold the home button and click the sleep button. You get a screenshot of your iPhone. The screen will flash white and the screenshot will be stored in your camera roll.
Set Parental Controls
To set Parental Controls, just go to Settings, General, Restrictions.
Change the 4 dock items in Music Menu
By default, the 4 items in the music menu dock are Playlists, Artists, Songs, Videos, and More . But you can change them . Just go to More->Edit . In this menu just drag and drop the items you want in their respective positions. And you’re done.
Fast Forward/Rewind Music & Video
Press and hold the skip forward/back arrows to fast forward or rewind rather than skip tracks. Also, press on the album art to manually FF/rewind.
Double Tap Home Button
In middle of any application, just double tap the home button . You can set it as a shortcut to your phone’s favorites. Go to Settings->General->Home and check the phone favorites option.
Or It can bring up a small screen through which u can play/pause music, change tracks , fast forward or rewind as described above, open the now playing window, or close the music. Go to Settings->General->Home and check the iPod Controls option.
