5 iPhone Shortcuts to Brighten Your Day
I do enjoy the updates that I frequently get for my iPhone, but I don’t always take the time to learn the new features that I get. This weekend I made an effort to get to know my phone a little more. Here is what I found…
Control Center
I started with the gray Control Center that appears when you swipe upwards on any screen. I noticed that the icons in WHITE were those in use and those grayed out were not.
1. Switch your setting to Airplane Mode by tapping airplane icon. You don’t have to do the extra step of going into your Settings App, you can do it on the gray control center.
Bonus Tip: Your phone charges twice as fast when in Airplane Mode.
2. Stop phone from rotating to landscape orientation when you are viewing it lying down. Or when you set it down on a surface. Tap the small padlock symbol icon to keep screen in portrait orientation. Tap again when you want to reverse it.
3. Decrease backlight strength by sliding dim control bar to the left. You don’t have to do the extra steps of going into your Settings App and changing the Brightness level, you can do it on the gray control center. I listen to Pandora with my earphones at night in bed sometimes. I dim the screen so as not to disturb Hubby when I want to change the channel or view info on the song playing.
Bonus Tip: This reduces the amount of power your screen uses and lengthens the battery life.
Typing
4. Complete a sentence automatically when you reach the end by hitting the space bar twice. Your iPhone will produce a period, a space, and capitalize the next letter for you. Great time saver!
5. Hold down the 0 (zero) key and the degree symbol will pop up for you to insert it. Most of the other letter and punctuation keys have additional characters and symbols too.
Do you own an iPhone? If no, what type of cell phone do you have?
Are any of these shortcuts new to you?
Which shortcuts have you recently discovered on your iPhone?
Which other Apple products do you own?
I was featured at…
Linking to: Mommy Monday Blog Hop, This Momma’s Meandering Mondays, Gingham & Roses Link Up, Turn It Up Tuesday, Welcome Party Wednesday, Wine’d Down Wednesday, Doing You Well Wednesday, That’s Fresh Friday, The Art of Living Fabulously
Your blogging and social media tips posts are really helpful! I didn’t know most of this about my iPhone – and have been wondering how to set it to type in caps! Your comment about that was well timed! Thanks!
Susan, I’m glad it was helpful to you. Thanks!
Thank you! I knew about some of these, but not all!
Glad you learned something new from the post. Thanks Amber!
I didn’t know about the degree symbol – that’s a great tip!
Yes, it’s pretty neat. Thanks for stopping by, Tom.
Oh I had NO idea about the degree symbol!! Thank you for this!!
Isn’t that something? It’s been there all along. Thanks Laura.
These are great shortcuts. I knew a few of them, but not the letter shortcut symbols! Fabulous! #SITSBlogging
Funny how we don’t know about things right under our noses. LOL Thanks Kimberly.
Oh my goodness, these are great! The only one I already knew about was #4. Thanks so much for this! Visiting from SITS Girls Comment Love Tribe ~Krissa (http://www.morethanmundane.com)
They are true time savers, Krissa! Happy to connect with you.
Ooh thanks for sharing those! I have an iphone and I feel like I’m always learning new tips and tricks for it. I didn’t realize that you could dim the backlighting just from that pull-up screen!
The pull-up screen for the control center is my “go-to” for my iPhone now! I avoided it for the longest time and am so glad now that I gave in. Thanks Kristi!
These are great tips. Some of them I did not know before!!
Glad you found them helpful, Leigh.
I didn’t know about the degree button. Thanks for sharing these tips!
With all this crazy Snowmageddon stuff going on, it’s coming in handy. LOL Thanks Kristen!
Excellent set of tips! I’m always looking for ways to maximize my iPhone. 🙂
Thanks for linking up at Gingham & Roses!
Hope to see you back next week!
Tenns @ New Mama Diaries
Thank you, Tenns! They really do help me save time.
I have an iPad with this same feature and had no idea what all those lovely little icons meant! Thanks so much for sharing! I am featuring this on Makeovers & Motherhood’s Welcome Party Wednesday Link-Up this week!
Thanks Alisha! I am honored. Yay!
These are fantastic! Thanks for sharing some quick simple tips to simplify life. Some days my battery is running low quicker than others and I realize my bluetooth button has been activated when I don’t need it, as soon as I turn this off battery runs perfectly! Coming over from Meandering Monday.
Come over the visit gurvygreen.com
Good to know that you can benefit from the tips. Thank you for stopping by! I appreciate it.
Wow! Very cool post Kimberly! I learned so much about my iPhone. Thank you for sharing.
~ Vashti
Good, Vashti! Glad they were helpful for you.
Thanks for sharing via Mommy Monday!
I’m pinning this to our board.
XOXO
Great! Happy to share the tips.
The Swipe feature on my Samsung Galaxy S2 is why I will never get an iPhone. Who has time to type one letter at a time? Not me!
My husband shakes his head at me for texting for hours with friends instead of calling them. Typing one letter at a time does take a while. Thanks Yvonne!
Thanks for the great shortcuts! I had recently noticed this gray screen, but didn’t really pay attention. I’ll definitely be using the brightness slider since I tend to bring my phone in the baby’s room with me when putting her to sleep (on the dimmest setting it provides just enough light to see, and if she’s a little restless I’ll sit in the rocking chair catching up on some reading until she’s asleep)
The dim control would be perfect for being in the baby’s room. Thanks for stopping by, Leslie!
Great tips! I’ve had a Iphone 4 for over a year and didn’t know about some of these features! Thanks for sharing! Coming over from #winedown
My pleasure, Katie! Thank you.
I didn’t know about the control center and doing things from there – that’s a time save for sure. Thanks for sharing, Kimberly – we have three iPhone users in my house these tips will come in handy!
Happy to pass it on. Thanks Dana!
Oh my gosh, thank you so much for sharing these tips! I had no idea what that control center was, although I’ve accidentally brought it up a few times. Great stuff to know!
I kept bringing up the control center and using the camera function. I saw all of the other icons but am just now using them. Thanks Sarah!
Cool beans! I didn’t think anyone could tell me something about my phone that I didn’t know. I didn’t know #4 and #5 so I’m excited!
I somewhat have an iPad – Christopher has taken it over. So I do everything from my phone, and I have a MacBook.
Let’s see shortcuts I use often – that control center is the bomb. I love the swipe down to see the current weather and then tapping to see the extended forecast here and everywhere I have saved. But outside of that if I need something quickly I just start with Siri. It takes me too long to find which folder I have an app in unless I use it all the time.
I need to use Siri myself. Tried it in the very early phases and haven’t done it since it became new and improved. I like the extended forecast too. Helpful in the mornings when getting Deuce ready for school.
These are great tips, Kimberly. I’m off to share them on Twitter!
I appreciate that, Alison!
Everyone in my house has an iPhone. Whenever they hand it to me, I’m reminded of Carri in the Sex in the City movie “I don’t know what to do with that”. It IS NOT just like the iPad either. I try the same commands and get nothing. Ugh, very frustrating. I don’t want one. I have a droid.
I had a Blackberry several years ago and I swore that I did not want, I did not need, and could care less about an iPhone. Until my husband bought himself one. After 10 minutes of looking at his and loving it, he said “OK go to Best Buy and get one for yourself!” I’ve been a fan ever since.
Wow, I can’t believe I’ve been missing out on these! I will use each and every one. Great informative and useful post to start the week Kimberly!
Happy to share the info, Kathy. Thank you!
Awesome. I do have an iPhone and didn’t know some of this. I’ll keep it in mind!
I just figured out that if I tap the caps button twice, it gives you a caps lock feature. Can’t tell you how many times I type OMG LOL or just want to get my point across in a text. Now I’m set! Thanks Amber.
Nice! I own an iPhone, and I knew the double space for the end of the sentence/period, but I didn’t really know any of these other tricks, especially the battery life ones. Definitely going to be putting these to good use, so thanks for sharing!
There are so many shortcuts that I couldn’t list them all. Some I know people already know and I’m the one who is just finding out. LOL Thanks Erin!
Cool shortcuts! I will have to try these! Thanks for sharing!
Amazing the things you discover when you just take a moment to seek them out. Thanks Michelle!
I have an iPhone which I love and an IPad mini and MacBook Air. I also have a Samsung S4 (business phone) which I don’t have a clue how to operate – any tips on those?!
The only Samsungs I know anything about are my TV and my refrigerator. LOL>