IOS 11 has brought very interesting news to all the iPhone and iPad models for which it was made available, but in addition to the obvious features mentioned by Apple, there are still some hidden functions. Most of these secret iPhone codes are small details that have been added to make life easier for your users, but they end up not being that obvious.
That’s why we’ve created a list of no fewer than 30 of these hidden tricks from iOS 11, most of which are available on all iOS 11 devices. Check out the article below for more details!
1. Old notifications on the lock screen
You may have noticed that iOS 11 often shows the latest notifications on your lock screen, but you can also see some of your old notifications if you want.
To do this, place your finger in the middle of the device screen and drag upwards. You’ll see notifications under the name “Earlier today” and you’ll be able to interact with them normally without having to unlock the device. Just drag right to respond or left to choose what to view or remove from the list.
2. 3D Touch in Control Center
Control Center has received a lot of changes in iOS 11, including support for 3D Touch to give you easier access to its functions and options.
Just click and press the feature you want to see what options are available. A good example is the use of 3D Touch in the music player, as you get options to decide which source you want to hear your songs from, be it Apple Music, Spotify, etc.
3. Enter passwords automatically
If you used Safari to save your usernames and passwords for different websites or services, you can now use this data stored in applications. To do this, simply open the app from something you have already used in Safari and it will show you the option to use the stored password for this service, such as Facebook or Reddit, for example.
4. Customize the Control Center
Another nice thing about the new Control Center is that you customize it the way you want. Basically, just go to the “Settings” app and click on the “Control Center” option. There you can select all the features you want to see in Central and uncheck the ones you don’t use as much.
5. Effects on iMessage messages
To make your conversations more interesting in iMessage, iOS 11 included some cool effects known as Echo and Spotlight. To use them, simply write a message to one of your contacts and press the submit button for a few seconds.
This will show you the effect options you can choose, and the Echo gives an obvious echo effect in the message while the Spotlight makes it clear.
6. Set the emergency mode
Instead of unlocking the device and dialing the emergency number in a situation of need, you can configure this mode in a simpler way.
Go to the “Settings” of your device and click on the “Emergency” option. There you can activate the option so that you only have to press the Power button five times in a row so that the option to call the emergency number appears automatically.
7. Disable Touch ID
Touch ID can be a great way to unlock your iPhone quickly, but it can also be a bit dangerous in certain situations. If someone forces you to use the Touch ID to unlock the device, for example, you can not protect your smartphone and its stored information.
The good news is that it is easier to disable the use of Touch ID so that only your access code is used. Just press the Power button five times to make it happen.
8. Scan QR Codes
With iOS 11 installed, you no longer have to use third-party apps to scan QR codes around. Just open the camera app on your device and point to the code to read automatically.
9. Share Wi-Fi password
It can be pretty annoying to have to give your Wi-Fi password to everyone who visits you and wants to use the internet. This applies especially if it is a more secure and complicated password to remember.
Fortunately, iOS 11 lets you easily share the password if the other person is using an Apple device. The best thing is that you do not even have to do anything, just wait for someone to try to connect to the same network used on the iPhone or iPad so that you receive a warning and the option to share the password with the person in question.
10. Burn the iPhone screen
After a long time of thousands of users asking for a native option to record their iPhone and iPad screen, Apple has finally implemented this feature on iOS 11. To easily record your screen, go to “Settings” and enable the feature option. of the “Control Center”. This will give you access to the screenshot button directly from the switch.
11. Turning off the auto-brightness
Apple has deprecated quick access to the option to turn off auto-brightness, but you can still find it in the “Settings” of your smartphone. Go to the “Accessibility” tab in the general settings for your iPhone or iPad and click on the “Screen adapters” option. In the options displayed on this screen, simply click the button next to “Auto-Brightness” to enable or disable this function.
12. Activate Do Not Disturb While Driving
If you go to the “Settings” on your iPhone or iPad and click the “Do Not Disturb” option, you may find the “Do Not Disturb While Driving” option.
It’s very useful so you don’t get distracted by notifications while driving. Unfortunately, some of the older iPhones and iPads do not have this option.
13. Delete apps you don’t use
We know it’s normal to install a bunch of apps and games that we just slip away after a while. The problem is that this takes up space and you do not always have time to check which ones to delete from your device or not.
That’s why iOS 11 has an interesting feature that automatically checks which apps are never used and removes them from the iPhone or iPad for you. Of course, you can install these apps again if you want, but this is a great option to save space.
To make use of this feature, open “Settings”, click “iTunes & App Store” and enable the “Uninstall unused apps” option. It’s important to note that app data is still stored if you ever use it again.
14. Faster iPad Keyboard
The iPad keyboard has received an interesting little overhaul that can make it much more responsive to use. Instead of pressing the “Shift” key to switch to uppercase / lowercase letters, numbers, and symbols, you can simply press the desired key and drag it down. This will activate the alternate version of that key automatically.
15. Scan documents
If you want to scan documents with your iPhone or iPad, you no longer need to use a third-party application. You can now use the native “Notes” app to do this.
To do this, open the application, click the “+” symbol at the bottom right of the screen and choose the “Scan Documents” option. Then just point the camera at the document and take the picture.
16. Use Less Photo Space
With iOS 11, Apple has implemented its own file system, making photos and videos take up much less space on your iPhone or iPad.
Only you have to make sure that this system is active on your device. To do this, go to “Settings”, click “Camera” and choose the “Formats” option. Then activate the “High efficiency” option only. It is important to note that older devices may not have this feature at this time.
17. Select and drag the text
With iOS 11, you can hold and drag text snippets to other places in the same application. This can be very useful if you decide that an excerpt or phrase from something you wrote might fit much better in another part of the same text.
To do this, select the desired stretch and keep your finger pressed on it. It will stand out from the rest of the text and you can move it at will.
18. Take Live Photos with FaceTime
It is now possible to make Live Photos directly from videoconferences made with FaceTime. To activate the option, go to “Settings”, click the “Facetime” option and activate the “Live Photos” feature.
Then simply start a video call on FaceTime and click the camera button that will appear on the bottom left of the screen. Just remember that this option is only available on devices that have Live Photos natively.
19. Add notes to the lock screen
If you want to use the Notes app to write something quickly, you no longer need to unlock your device before you can open the app and write your note.
You can do this directly from the lock screen as follows: go to “Settings”, click on “Notes” and enable “Access Notes on Lock Screen”. This way, you will have an icon to create a note in Control Center.
20. Use a reference grid in the photos
It’s not always that simple to angle or frame objects and people in photos, but you can use the new grid implemented in iOS 11 to get a better feel for it. You can do this by going to “Settings”, clicking “Camera” and activating the “Grid” option.
21. Create a PDF directly from iPhone
If you find a web page that you want to make a PDF to share with your friends, you can simply click the share button and click the “Create PDF” option. You can even annotate this PDF if you like.
22. Enter for Siri
Siri is a very helpful personal assistant, but you can’t always talk out loud when you want to use her. So now you can simply type your commands for it on iOS 11.
To do this, go to “Settings”, find the “Accessibility” option on the “General” tab, click “Siri” and enable the “Type to Siri” option. The only problem is that this option is not yet available on older devices.
23. Turn iPhone off without Power button
Unfortunately, there is always a chance that one of the physical buttons on the iPhone will stop working, which is especially awful if it’s the Power button. The good news is that you can turn off your device without having to use this button on iOS 11. To do this, just go to “Settings” and click the “Turn off” option on the “General” tab.
24. Track Background Update
Now iOS 11 gives you more control over apps that keep updating in the background on your iPhone or iPad. To disable this feature on your device, go to “Settings”, click “General” and select the “Background Update” option.
From this screen, you can manually disable apps that you do not want to use this option. This can help you save your battery and your data plan easily.
25. Disabling the One-Handed Keyboard
IOS 11 also lets you turn off the one-handed keyboard option on your iPhone, which is much more useful for those who prefer to use both hands while typing. To do this, go to “Settings”, click “General” and select the “Keyboards” option to disable the feature.
26. More control over notifications
In earlier versions of iOS, you had to be set up notifications for your apps separately, which took much longer and was quite tedious.
With iOS 11 installed, simply go to “Settings”, click “Notifications” and select the “Show Previews” option. In this screen, you will have the option to choose if and when the preview of your notifications will appear.
27. Disable connection request
By default, your iPhone or iPad is requesting connections to any Wi-Fi network you find, which can be dangerous with public networks. To prevent this from happening, go to “Settings”, select the “Wi-Fi” option and disable the “Request Connection” feature by pressing the green button on the side.
28. More control under your messages
You now have a lot more control under the messages sent or received through iMessage or the text messaging app on your iPhone or iPad. Just pick a conversation and drag it to the left and you have the option to delete it or put it into Do Not Disturb mode.
29. Color Reversal
While Apple doesn’t add a native dark mode on iOS, we might be content with the new version of the color inversion option. This leaves the app settings pretty much look the same in a dark way, so it’s worth testing.
To enable this mode, go to “Settings”, click “Accessibility” in the “General” tab and select the “Screen adaptations” option. Then click on “Color Invert” and enable the “Intelligent Invert” option.
30. Insert tables in the Notes app
Another nice new feature of the Notes application is that you can insert tables natively. To do this, create a new note and click on the table symbol to add one to it. Once added, it still offers options for adding new columns and rows.