10 Life Hacks Every IPhone User Should Know
I’m constantly amazed by how much technology Apple has managed to cram into an iPhone that now fits comfortably in the palm of your hand. Even more amazing is that beneath all these features lies much more than meets the eye. The keyboard is now more comfortable and faster, you can quickly select unread emails for archiving, browsing the web is more convenient than in the standard Safari, and the iPhone Pro cameras take much higher-quality photos than the standard Camera app.
The iPhone has become such an integral part of our lives that we take it for granted. Yes, it’s a great way to stay in touch with friends and colleagues, capture moments, and enjoy browsing all night long. But spend a little more time, and you’ll experience a completely new iPhone experience that will completely change the way your iPhone looks and works.
Automate small, redundant tasks
Apple includes the Shortcuts app on every device and even offers pre-built automations you can install from the Gallery. But the real fun begins when you explore the vibrant online Shortcuts community and start integrating automations into your workflow.
Apple’s Shortcuts app lets you create automations that automatically perform predefined steps. These can be used to resize images, compress files, convert data, and even control various smartphone functions. For example, you could create an automation that automatically turns on your VPN when you leave the house or sends a message to your partner when you leave work. Want to get started? Here’s a list of seven automations I think every iPhone user should set up .
Add custom widgets to your home screen
I’m a big fan of custom widgets. Every time someone picks up my iPhone, I usually hear something like, “Your iPhone doesn’t look like a regular iPhone.” It’s all about custom widgets that show the time, day of the week, my appointments, the weather, my tasks, and much more. The world of custom widgets for iPhone is vast, and if you just want to try them out, I’d recommend starting with the Widgetsmith app, which lets you customize multiple widgets with the same theme and fonts. It all looks very aesthetically pleasing. When you’re ready, you can dive into the world of Widgy , where you can import and customize thousands of interactive widgets.
Quickly access functions with the hidden Back gesture
The iPhone has a hidden button located on the back. This is an accessibility feature that can be accessed via Settings > Accessibility > Touch > Back . You can then assign any app, shortcut, or action to a double- or triple-press. This is a great way to launch shortcut automations or simply open the front-facing camera. Personally, I’ve found that double-pressing can sometimes be erratic, while triple-pressing is much more reliable.
Improve Safari with extensions
If you’re not using Safari extensions, you’re missing out on untapped potential. Just like on the Mac, Safari on iPhone also supports extensions. Extensions can do some really cool things, like block all ads and trackers (of course) , and force all websites to switch to dark mode . You’ll also find extensions to improve your Reddit experience and fully control every aspect of the websites you frequently visit.
Switching to a third-party browser
Using a third-party browser like Vivaldi is a very convenient option for power users. All third-party browsers on iOS are technically variations of Safari, as Apple forces developers to build their browsers on Safari’s WebKit platform. However, these third-party browsers can include unique features not found in Safari. For example, Vivaldi offers desktop-like tabbed browsing, including tab groups and pinned tabs. Orion can also run desktop-class extensions from Firefox and the Chrome Web Store on your iPhone (something Safari can’t). And if you don’t like Safari’s new interface, try Quiche, a fully customizable browser .
Perfect your tricks
Focuses can transform the look and feel of your iPhone based on your location, time of day, day of the week, or current task. It’s time to go beyond Do Not Disturb mode and take full advantage of Apple’s Focuses features.
It’s recommended to set up Focus for work, personal time, and sleep. Within each Focus, you can specify which apps can send notifications, as well as which friends or family members can contact you. You can even choose which screens appear in a specific Focus, hiding widgets and apps based on the Focus (for example, in the Personal Focus, work items will be completely hidden). Focus also integrates with Shortcuts and Automations, so you can activate Focus when starting a video call on your Mac or reaching a specific location (such as your workspace). To get started, go to Settings > Focus .
Use hidden swipe gestures everywhere
You’re familiar with all the standard iPhone gestures, like swiping up from the Home screen or tapping the top edge of your iPhone to instantly scroll up. But the iPhone has many more hidden gestures that can significantly speed up your work. If you see a long list, try swiping down with two fingers to instantly start selecting items. This works great in Mail, Phone, and other Apple apps, but is also supported by third-party apps. Additionally, in iOS 26 , Apple added support for the Back gesture , which is arguably better than Android’s. You can swipe from anywhere on the left edge of the screen to quickly go back.
You can also cut, copy, and paste using the three-finger pinch gesture . To copy, pinch three fingers together. To cut, pinch twice. To paste, perform the opposite of the pinch gesture.
Work faster with the iPhone keyboard
The iPhone keyboard is more than just eye-catching. It features a built-in Slide to Type feature, allowing you to glide your finger across the keys to type. It’s incredibly convenient, especially when using the phone one-handed. There’s also a built-in virtual trackpad. Simply press and hold the space bar, then move your finger to move the cursor.
If your keyboard is too large for typing, you can also enable one-handed typing in the keyboard settings (press and hold the globe icon). From there, you can go to the keyboard settings to enable the multilingual keyboard and try the text expansion feature , which allows you to create keyboard shortcuts to expand frequently used text fragments. For example, you could type “adrs” to expand the text to your full home address.
Scan documents without a third-party app
You may not know this, but the Notes and Files apps have a really cool document scanner. I prefer using the Files app for this because I can save the PDF directly to the desired folder. Open the Files app, navigate to any folder, tap the three-dot menu icon, and select Documents . There’s an Auto Shutter feature, which is enabled by default and will automatically scan every new page you hold up to the camera (if you find this annoying, you can also turn it off). Scan as many pages as you want and tap Done . Then give the document a name. It’s now saved in the folder as a PDF. You can now share it wherever you need or back it up using iCloud Drive.
Upgrade your photos and videos on iPhone Pro
The iPhone Pro cameras are truly amazing. The Camera app, however, is not. The standard Camera app, in my opinion, relies too heavily on computational imaging and can’t accurately focus on objects when you need to capture something small. Furthermore, the Pro cameras support Log in ProRes shooting, and to fully control the image on your iPhone, you have to exit the Camera app.
For shooting video in the best possible lighting, Blackmagic is a great choice. It offers full manual control over both stills and video, as well as preset film-quality settings (including the ability to create your own).
If this seems too professional for you, try using a third-party app to take much better photos. My colleague Pranay has highlighted several excellent options , with Halide Mark II topping the list (I agree). Halide gives you much more control over the look of your photos. It also features a Process Zero feature that removes all Apple processing from your photos.