iPhone Tips and Hidden Features Every Beginner Should Know

Your iPhone can do about 200 things you’ve never tried. We know this because we’ve been using iPhones since 2007, and we still discover new tricks every few months. Apple doesn’t exactly advertise these features — they’re buried in settings menus, hidden behind gestures, or activated by interactions nobody thinks to try.

These 20 tips aren’t theoretical. Every single one is something we use regularly, and each takes less than 30 seconds to learn. Start with number one — it’s the most popular for a reason.

1. Back Tap = Instant Screenshot

Settings → Accessibility → Touch → Back Tap → Double Tap → Screenshot

Tap the back of your iPhone twice with your finger. Not the screen — the actual back panel. Screenshot taken. It works through most cases. This single feature has replaced the awkward side-button-plus-volume-button dance for millions of people. You can also set Triple Tap to a different action — Flashlight is a popular choice.

2. Swipe Left on Calculator to Delete

Open the Calculator app and type a long number. Made a mistake on the last digit? Don’t hit clear. Swipe left or right on the number display. The last digit disappears. Swipe again for the next one. This has existed since iOS 9 and approximately 95% of iPhone users have no idea it’s there. Truly one of Apple’s best-hidden features.

3. Hold the Space Bar for Cursor Control

When typing any text — Messages, Notes, Safari, anywhere — press and hold the space bar. The keyboard goes blank and becomes a trackpad. Slide your finger to move the text cursor with pixel-level precision. No more trying to tap between two letters and missing. This works on every iPhone with 3D Touch or Haptic Touch, which means every iPhone from the 6s onward.

4. Long-Press Safari Address Bar for QR Scanner

Open Safari. Long-press the address bar at the bottom. A menu appears with “QR Code” as an option. Tap it, and the camera opens in QR scanning mode. No need to open the Camera app separately or download a third-party QR reader. Safari has had this built in for years.

5. Press and Hold a Photo Subject to Remove Background

Open a photo in the Photos app. Press and hold on the main subject — a person, pet, object, whatever has a clear outline. The subject lifts off the background with a glowing edge effect. Now you can copy it, share it, or save it as a sticker. This uses Apple’s on-device machine learning and works surprisingly well, even with complex hair and fur. iOS 16 introduced this, and it keeps getting better.

6. Sleep Timer: Set Timer → “Stop Playing”

Open the Clock app → Timer → set any duration → tap “When Timer Ends” → scroll all the way to the bottom → select “Stop Playing.” Now start the timer. When it ends, whatever audio is playing — a podcast, music, an audiobook, white noise — stops automatically. Your phone stays asleep. This is the unofficial sleep timer that Apple never properly advertised. Perfect for falling asleep to a podcast without it playing all night.

7. Spotlight Search: Swipe Down from the Middle of Any Home Screen

From any Home Screen page, swipe down from the middle of the screen (not the top — that opens notifications or Control Center). Spotlight Search appears. Type anything: app names, contacts, calculations (“45 * 1.08”), unit conversions (“150 lbs to kg”), dictionary definitions, web searches, even content inside your files and messages. It’s faster than opening any individual app.

8. Convert Live Photos to Long Exposure

Take a Live Photo (the concentric circles icon in the Camera app should be yellow/on). Open it in Photos. Swipe up on the photo or tap the “LIVE” badge at the top-left. You’ll see effect options: Live, Loop, Bounce, and Long Exposure. Tap Long Exposure. Moving elements in the photo — waterfalls, car headlights, waves — become silky smooth streaks. Static elements stay sharp. It’s a fake long exposure, but it looks remarkably convincing. No tripod required.

9. Triple-Tap to Select an Entire Paragraph

In any text field, tap once to place the cursor. Tap twice to select a word. Tap three times to select the entire paragraph. This is standard text selection behavior, but most people don’t know about the triple-tap. Combine it with the space-bar trackpad trick (tip #3) and you can select and manipulate text almost as fast as on a desktop.

10. Shake to Undo

Just typed something and want to undo it? Shake your iPhone. A popup appears: “Undo Typing.” Tap it. Your last action is reversed. This works in most apps — text entry, email composition, even accidental deletions in some apps. It feels ridiculous the first time, but it becomes second nature. Shake again to redo.

11. Volume Buttons as Camera Shutter

Open the Camera app. Press either volume button. Photo taken. This is especially useful when holding your phone in landscape orientation — the volume button sits right where a traditional camera shutter button would be. It’s a more stable grip than tapping the screen. Works for video too: press volume to start recording, press again to stop.

12. Search Your Open Tabs in Safari

Open Safari. Tap the tab button (bottom right, the overlapping squares). Now swipe down on the tab grid. A search bar appears at the top. Type any word from a page title or URL. Safari instantly filters your 200+ open tabs down to the one you’re looking for. This is the cure for “I know I had that tab open somewhere.”

13. Rotate Your Phone for a Scientific Calculator

Open the Calculator app in portrait mode — you see a basic calculator. Now rotate your phone to landscape. The calculator transforms into a full scientific calculator with trigonometric functions, logarithms, exponents, parentheses, memory functions, and more. No setting needed. No download needed. It just works. This has been a feature since the original iPhone, and it’s still one of the best-kept secrets.

14. Adjust Flashlight Brightness

On iPhones with a Dynamic Island or notch: swipe down from the top-right for Control Center. Long-press (don’t just tap) the Flashlight icon. A vertical brightness slider appears with four levels. The lowest level is perfect for navigating a dark room without blinding yourself. The highest level is genuinely useful outdoors.

15. Swipe Left on a Notification → Manage → Deliver Quietly

When a notification appears that you don’t care about but don’t want to fully disable, swipe it left. Tap “Options” (or “Manage” on older iOS). Select “Deliver Quietly.” That app’s notifications will still arrive but won’t make sound, show on the lock screen, or show a badge. They’ll sit silently in Notification Center until you check. This is the middle ground between “all notifications” and “no notifications” that most people need.

16. Live Text: Copy Text from Any Photo

Point your camera at any text — a sign, a book page, a receipt, a whiteboard. You’ll see a small text-recognition icon appear in the bottom-right corner. Tap it, and the text becomes selectable. Copy it, look it up, translate it, or share it. This also works on photos already in your library — open any photo with text in it, and you can select the text directly. Live Text supports English, Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish, and more.

17. One-Handed Keyboard Mode

When you’re typing, long-press the globe key (or emoji key) at the bottom-left of the keyboard. At the bottom of the menu, you’ll see three keyboard icons — full-width, left-compressed, and right-compressed. Tap left or right to shrink the keyboard to one side. An arrow appears on the empty side to return to full width. Essential on the larger Pro Max models when you’re typing with one thumb.

18. AssistiveTouch Custom Actions

Settings → Accessibility → Touch → AssistiveTouch → ON

This adds a floating button on your screen that you can customize. Single-tap can open Control Center, double-tap can lock the screen, long-press can trigger Siri. You can also create custom gestures. It’s designed as an accessibility feature, but plenty of people use it as a customizable shortcut button. If your side button or volume buttons are damaged, AssistiveTouch can replace their functions entirely.

19. Guided Access: Lock Your Phone to One App

Settings → Accessibility → Guided Access → ON → set a passcode

Then open any app and triple-click the side button. Guided Access locks the phone to that one app. The Home gesture is disabled. Notifications are hidden. The user can’t switch apps. Triple-click the side button again and enter your passcode to exit. This is designed for handing your phone to a child — they can watch a video or play a game without accidentally calling your boss or buying things on Amazon.

20. LED Flash Alerts for Notifications

Settings → Accessibility → Audio/Visual → LED Flash for Alerts → ON

When you receive a notification, the camera flash on the back of your phone blinks. Useful in loud environments where you can’t hear your phone, or when your phone is face-down on a table. You can also enable “Flash on Silent” so it only triggers when the ringer switch is off — which is how most people prefer it.

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These 20 tips work on every modern iPhone — from the iPhone 12 series through the latest iPhone 16 lineup. Most of them have existed for years, which makes it all the more surprising how few people know about them. Try three today. You’ll wish you’d known sooner.

Looking for a new iPhone to try these on?

iPhone 16 on Amazon (paid link)

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For more setup guidance, check our iPhone Setup Checklist — an interactive walkthrough of the 20 most important settings for new iPhone owners.