We are big fans of the iPhone at Creative Bloq. They look great, sport some of the best cameras smartphones have ever seen, and as icing on the cake, all sorts of handy iPhone tricks keep coming out, helping to speed up regular processes or unlock new features.
Granted, a lot of the so-called “iPhone hacks” being shared online every day use the term quite loosely to describe something no one will have missed (yes, we know the iPhone can make calls). But every once in a while, we discover a trick we didn’t know the iPhone could do. And even better, sometimes discovery is actually a useful thing.
We’ve been using and reviewing iPhones for years, but the iPhone tricks below took us by surprise over the past year. We’ve shared all of them individually before, but we think they’re worth revisiting for anyone who may have missed them, from a wand shortcut straight out of Harry Potter to a faster way to select multiple emails or messages and a junk fix. . for students who haven’t done their homework – not that we condone cheating in any way.
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The Multiple Selection iPhone Trick
First of all, a little time saver for sifting through a bunch of emails, messages, or reminders. Turns out you don’t always have to hit ‘Select’ and then individually tap each item you want to highlight. Instead of that multi-step process of tapping select and then ticking the items you want to choose, it turns out that we can simply scroll down with two fingers. We’re sure many iPhone users must already know this, but it was new to us when the edge Jon Porter shared the trick via a screen recording on Twitter (below).
Unfortunately, this handy little iPhone hack doesn’t work on all apps. As Porter points out, it’s absent from the Clocks app, where it would be very useful for removing a backlog of past alarms. Many third-party apps don’t use it either, but maybe that’s because the developers don’t know it exists.
Schedule text messages on iPhone
We have seen many people on Twitter asking Apple to create an option that allows us schedule text messagesso we were shocked to discover that the same thing already exists via the iPhone’s built-in Shortcuts app.
What Frank McShanThe video (below) shows that the process is quite simple. All you have to do is create a ‘personal automation’ in the Shortcuts app. You can choose a specific time of day to automate a message, and by disabling the “ask before executing” popup, you can schedule the message to be sent without any further input.
@frankmcshan Did you know you could do this? 🤯
It might seem like a niche feature, but we can see many uses for it, especially when it comes to reminders. TikTok commenters seemed to agree, calling the hack “amazing,” “life-changing” and, yes, “mind-blowing.”
The iPhone trick that is used to copy the task
The iPhone has made all sorts of objects and activities redundant, replacing cameras, calculators, clocks, and more. Now it turns out that students no longer need to ask to copy someone else’s homework. As demonstrated in the viral TikTok video below, iOS 15’s Live Text feature is surprisingly effective at copy and digitize (i.e. steal) notes from another screen. So perhaps it’s no surprise that students are taking the plunge.
Available for any iPhone from XS with iOS 15 installed, live text it can detect text within photos and allows the user to select, copy and paste it just like they would from a word processor or web browser. The clip below, which has racked up millions of views on TikTok and Twitter, shows a student taking a clandestine photo of a classmate’s class notes, before selecting, copying and pasting them into a document of his own.
@yannbernillie #pasenviedecopier #mercios15 #cours #amphi #cbolavie# #technology #mercivoisine #geography #Bordeaux #copiercoller #jeunesse_en_christ #
This is probably not exactly what Apple intended for its feature, and note that we by no means condone this behavior, but there’s no denying that it’s a fun and effective demonstration of the power of Live Text. “I’m not saying do this…but f*ck I would have DONE this in school,” one Twitter user. commented.
Pinch to copy and paste between devices
Many of the new iPhone tricks shared online simply involve an iOS feature that the Internet has yet to fully discover. But even if it’s been around for a while, East it’s still impressively futuristic.
In the viral video below, TikTok user @happymelmelr shared the moment he discovered that Universal Clipboard + finger gestures = Minority Report level cool, allowing you to pinch a photo in on an iPhone, then pinch out. outside on an iPad to paste the image. Some commenters were so stunned that they accused the user of posting a fake video, but futuristic witchcraft is very real, all thanks to Apple. universal clipboardwhich actually exists since 2016.
@happymelmelr
♬ MONEY – LISA
You can copy and paste files seamlessly on two Apple devices (Universal Clipboard also works with Mac), as long as they’re both signed in with the same Apple ID, connected to Wi-Fi, and within range of each other. Bluetooth with each other. . It is a more advanced version of a Similar ‘trick’ that went viral in February, in which users discovered how the gesture can work on a single device. But using it on two devices really creates the illusion of passing the file through the air.
Turn your iPhone into a magic wand
And finally, some real magic. Did you know that your phone also works like a magic wand? Neither do we, but iPhone users have somehow figured out that Siri responds to various spell commands straight from the Harry Potter universe (no, we’re not sure how you figured such a thing out). Some of them are even quite useful. Do you want to turn on your touch? Just yell “Lumos!”
As long as ‘Hey Siri’ is enabled for your iPhone to listen for commands, you can press below (or just mutter) “Lumos” to turn on the flashlight, “Nox” to turn it off, and “Accio [app name]” to open an app. Anything is better than fumbling with your fingers to complete the action, and as you can imagine, Harry Potter fans in particular were riveted. In fact, according to comments on Twitter, several spent entire days doing nothing but saying “Lumos” and “Nox”, and watching their flashlights go on and off.
Shout out to @ScotPThomas who reminded me that I can pretend my work phone is a magic wand by telling Siri “Lumos”. I only used it to get a sneaky midnight snack. With sincere gratitude, A loyal Android user was forced to learn the ways of the iPhone.January 6, 2022
So if you want to make your day a little more magical, all you have to do is ask Siri to turn on the light. Waving your hand like a wand is completely optional.
Just can’t get enough iPhone hacks? We have also learned lately how to take full page screenshotsand Apple itself even shared its own list of 10 iPhone tricks, so it seems that after all this time, we still have more to learn about the iPhone. Do you want to experience all of the above for yourself? Check out today’s best iPhone 13 deals below.
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