Using iOS

iOS is an awesome mobile operating system that works like a charm. But many of the best features are hidden and not easily discovered. I'm always trying to long press, swipe and force tap anything to see if there is a little hidden gem. This is my collection so far.

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Safari tips

Instant Reader Mode in Safari

Long press the Aa icon in the Safari header to instantly activate reader mode.

Search within the page

While on a webpage, type your search query in the address bar. Scroll down until you come a cross "On this page"

Is also possible from the share sheet.

Notes

Undo

Shake your phone to undo in Notes.

Indent text

Swipe on an item in a bullet list to indent. Also works for outlines and checkboxes.

Keyboard

Place cursor anywhere in text

While typing, tap and hold the spacebar. Drag a cross the keyboard and place the cursor where your want.

Instantly return to keyboard after typing a number

Press and hold the "123" key and drag your finger to a character. Release your finger to insert the character and return to the regular keyboard.

Quickly type "..."

Press and hol the "." on your keyboard to show "..." Not sure if it's faster, but you'll totally look like a bad ass!

Quickly type a TLD like .com

Long press the period on your keyboard to reveal a list of TLD's.

Enable kidmode (best parental controls)

If your kid uses your phone and you don't want them to close the app or go to a different app, use Guided Access under Accessibility. You can activate the mode in any app.

Open most recent app

From your start screen, swipe from left to right to open your most recent app.

Easy way to rearrange your apps

A single app

Long press on the app that you want to move. Once it starts shaking, swipe with your free hand instead of dragging the app to the edge of your screen.

Rearrange multiple apps

Long press on one of the apps you want to move. Once it starts shaking, tap with your free hand on any other app that you want to move as well. You can now move all the selected apps to a desired place.

Backspace in calculator

Swipe from right to left on the numbers in the calculator to backspace.

Fast scrolling

Press and hold the scrollbar to scroll faster than Usain Bolt

Quickly switch WiFi networks and Bluetooth devices

In control panel, press and hold WiFi or Bluetooth for more options. You can switch networks and switch devices.

Bonus: you can also configure AirDrop by longpressing.

Basic conversions in Spotlight

You can use Spotlight for quick calculations and conversions like temperatures and distances.

Clear all notifications

Tap and hold the "x" to get a button with "clear all notifications"

Force close multiple apps

In the app switcher, hold multiple apps at the same time en drag them upwards to force close.

SOS/Emergency mode

Press 5 times on the power button to enable SOS/Emergency mode.

Force update an app

Know there is a bad ass feature in your favorite app but you don't see it in the updates menu in the App Store? Go to the detail page of the app itself and your able to update. Or look at the bonus below.

Bonus: extra updates

For some reason, iOS doesn't show all the updates. You can pull refresh the app update menu in the App Store to refresh the list. I always have a bunch of apps that have updates.

Search in Spotify

Tap on the search icon to go to the search screen. Tap on the search icon again to set the focus on the search field and bring up the keyboard.

Hide app bar in Messages

Tap the App Store Icon next to the camera in Messages to hide the app bar.

Show options in YouTube app

You can tap and hold anywhere on the card to show the options. You don't have to precize press the three vertical dots.

Reachability

Ever since Apple decided to get rid of the home button (which was a right call), people have asked themselves how to use Reachability. First: go to settings -> Accessibility and toggle Reachability on. Swipe down on your home indicator to use it.