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iPhones have seen several notable upgrades over the years, both on the hardware and software side of things. But even if you’re a long-time iPhone user, there’s a good chance you’re not aware of (or have ignored) some of its lesser-known features.
From augmenting your device’s functionality and automating trivial actions to simplifying everyday tasks and improving the overall user experience, these iPhone features are a game-changer. Let’s check them out.
1Back Tap
Ever since its introduction in iOS 14, Back Tap has been one of the most used features on my iPhone. As the name implies, Back Tap allows you to perform various actions by double-tapping or triple-tapping the back of your device.
For example, you may set up the Double Tap or Triple Tap gesture on your iPhone to take a screenshot, toggle the flashlight, lock the screen, or summon Siri, among other things. You could even use it to run your favorite shortcuts from the Shortcuts app. A good example of this is running a shortcut that opens an app.
Enabling and setting up Back Tap on an iPhone is easy. Head to Settings > Accessibility > Touch. Scroll down to the bottom and select “Back Tap.” Now, choose “Double Tap” or “Triple Tap,” depending on which gesture you want to configure, then tap on an action on the following screen to assign it.
Once done, just double-tap or triple-tap the back of your iPhone, and it’ll perform the designated action. Your iPhone may not be able to register taps if you’re using a thick case. Try removing the case and try again.
2Custom Vibration Patterns
Your iPhone vibrates every time you receive a call, text message, or other notification. While each notification category has a different vibration pattern, so you know what kind of notification it is without looking at your phone, all notifications within the same category use the same pattern by default.
This means, irrespective of who calls or texts you, your iPhone will buzz in the same way. As such, unless you take your iPhone out of your pocket, you may’t tell who’s contacting you. However, thanks to the custom vibration feature, you can create custom vibration patterns for specific contacts to easily identify them and ensure you never miss a notification from them.
To create a custom vibration for a contact, open the “Contacts” app and tap the contact you want to assign it to. Hit “Edit” in the top-right corner, scroll down, and tap “Ringtone.” Next, tap “Haptics” and select “Custom New Vibration” under the “Custom” section. Now, tap out a sequence on the screen to create a vibration pattern; you’ll feel the pattern as you do this. To play it back, tap “Play.” Or, hit “Record” to record another pattern.
Finally, hit “Save” in the top-right corner, give the vibration a name, and tap “Save” to save the custom pattern. This pattern will be set as the default vibration pattern for the contact. Go back to the previous page, tap “Done,” and hit “Done” again to save the changes.
3Action Button
Starting with the iPhone 15 Pro series, Apple replaced the Ring/Silent switch with the Action button, a customizable physical button that you can use to perform a range of actions with a simple press. By default, it’s set to toggle the Silent Mode, but you can assign it other actions, based on your preference.
For example, you’re able to get the Action button on your iPhone to toggle the flashlight, open the Camera in your preferred mode, or translate text, among other things. You can even set up the Action button on your iPhone for Visual Intelligence, invoking Siri, accessing your favorite AI chatbot, and more.
My favorite option, though, is the Shortcuts app. I use it to assign a multi-function shortcut—Magic Button—I created that gives me access to a bunch of apps and tools in one place. This includes my payment app, QR code scanner, and shortcuts for accessing settings, texting unsaved numbers on WhatsApp, and searching the screen.
4Look Up
Look Up is a nifty feature on iPhones that lets you quickly look up and get information about the selected text without leaving the current app. It’s enabled by default and works across both built-in and third-party apps as long as they support text selection.
To use Look Up, simply tap and hold the text you want to know more about until you see a context menu pop-up. Hit the arrow in the menu and choose Look Up. You’ll now see a pop-up window on the screen with a bunch of information about your selection. This may include its dictionary definition (with the source), thesaurus, Wikipedia entries, and other information.
In case you don’t see any results, tap the “Search Web” button that appears, and Look Up will look up the word or phrase on the internet and show the result in your default browser. You’ll need to be connected to the internet for this to work.
5Text Replacement
If you need to type specific text snippets on your iPhone regularly, you should start using the Text Replacement feature right away. Put simply, the feature allows you to create text shortcuts for long words or phrases, which expand as soon as you type them in, saving you the hassle of manually typing them every time.
For instance, if you need to type your home or office address, contact information, or a set of canned responses regularly, you can create Text Replacement shortcuts for each of them. It’s easy tomake Text Replacement shortcuts on your iPhone. Head to Settings > General > Keyboard > Text Replacement and tap the “+” button in the top-right corner. Now, type the full-blown phrase into the “Phrase” text field and the shortcut you want to use to type it in the “Shortcut” field.
Once done, all you need to do is type the shortcut. You’ll now see the full phrase above the keyboard. Tap it, and it’ll replace the shortcut. Alternatively, type the shortcut and hit the space key.
6Vocal Shortcuts
If you use Siri to perform actions on your iPhone, you’ll appreciate the Vocal Shortcuts feature. Introduced in iOS 18, Vocal Shortcuts is an accessibility feature that lets you set up custom words, phrases, or sounds to trigger various Siri actions, including running shortcuts (in your Shortcuts app library).
For example, you’re able to use Vocal Shortcuts to control your iPhone’s flashlight. Simply invoke Siri and say Lumos to turn the flashlight on and Nox to turn it off. Besides, you can create custom Vocal Shortcuts, too. To do this, go to Settings > Accessibility. Scroll down to the “Speech” section and select “Vocal Shortcuts.” Tap on “Set Up Vocal Shortcuts,” hit “Continue,” and tap the search bar at the top to look for an action. If one doesn’t exist, tap “Siri Request.” Now, in the case of the former, you’ll be prompted to type a custom phrase that you’ll be speaking to trigger the action.
Alternatively, in the case of the latter, you’ll first need to type the Siri request—the action you want to perform— followed by the trigger word, phrase, or sound. In either case, set up the command. You’ll be prompted to speak the command three times to register it successfully.
Once done, you’re all set. You can edit your Vocal Shortcuts or delete them if you want.
7The Shortcuts App
Shortcuts is a built-in iPhone app that lets you automate trivial and repetitive actions. It packs a huge gallery of pre-built shortcuts, which you can explore if you’re just getting started. Or you could create custom shortcuts to accomplish complex tasks.
Some of the nifty built-in shortcuts available in the Shortcuts gallery include Remove Background from Portrait, Convert Burst to GIF, Clean Up Screenshots, Made PDF, Shorten URL, Translate Selection, and Shazam & Save.
As someone who uses Shortcuts extensively for a variety of tasks, I have a bunch of custom shortcuts in my library. A few notable ones include Resize Photos to resize photos to a specific dimension, Combine Screenshots for stitching screenshots, Toggle 5G to toggle between 5G and 4G data, Open Settings for jumping directly into my most-needed settings, and Magic Button, which I assign to my iPhone’s Action Button to access all my frequently needed tools and apps.
Depending on your preference, you can run shortcuts from the Shortcuts app, their widget on your Home Screen / Lock Screen, Back Tap gestures, or the Action Button.
Besides shortcuts, you can also create personal automations in the Shortcuts app. While shortcuts need to be run manually, personal automations run automatically when specific criteria are satisfied.
For example, I’ve set up a personal automation on my iPhone toautomatically toggle the screen orientation upon opening or closing specific apps. Similarly, I have one that automatically sets the volume to 80% and starts playing my favorite playlist on Apple Music as soon as my iPhone connects to my car via Bluetooth.
Knowing these features can prove significantly useful in your day-to-day life. As a long-time iPhone user, I use many of these features almost every day and miss not having them on my Android phones.
Besides, there are many othergreat iPhone features you should be using to get the most out of your iPhone. Similarly,iPhones come pre-installed with a bunch of useful appsthat make them readily available to handle a bunch of tasks.
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