10 Settings to Change on Your iPhone Right Now

These Battery-Saving Features

Want your iPhone's battery to last longer? There are likely several features you may be missing that could help your device save some battery life throughout the day. They include Background App Refresh and Mail settings.

You’ll want to head to Settings > General > Background App Refresh and disable this for most of your apps. It isn’t that useful for most apps, and you’ll be able to tell pretty quickly if you should switch it back on for some.

If you use the default Mail app, you’ll probably want to set Fetch New Data to a longer interval, like 15 minutes or more. Just pull the screen down in the Settings app to open the search bar, then type Fetch New Data.

Enable Silence Unknown Callers

Robocalls are still a massive problem in the U.S., despite the best efforts of carriers and government bodies to combat them. As of iOS 13, however, you can now send all unknown callers straight to voicemail.

To enable that feature, just head to Settings > Phone and tap Silence Unknown Callers. Any call from a number not in Contacts, Messages or Mail will be sent to your voicemail without ringing your phone. Which is handy, since important unmarked calls will probably leave a voicemail.

Set up Your Emergency Features

The emergency contacts on your phone are something that we hope you never have to use. But they’re a good thing to set up anyway. First off, head to Settings > Emergency SOS and enable Call with Side Button. That way, five clicks on the side button will quickly dial 911 (or your country’s equivalent).

Then, scroll down and tap Emergency Contacts in Health. From here, set some emergency contacts. When the feature’s enabled, first responders will be able to see their contact information from your lock screen. Your contacts will also be notified automatically when you send out an Emergency SOS.

Enable Two-Factor Authentication

We strongly recommend setting up two-factor authentication on your Apple account if you haven’t already. That way, a hacker won’t be able to access your Apple ID — even if they’ve obtained your password via data breach or phishing attack.

Just head to Settings and tap your Apple ID card at the top. Then, tap on Password & Security. Once 2FA is enabled, you’ll need a Trusted Device around to log into your Apple ID from an untrusted source. It’s an extra step, but it can go a long way toward locking down your account.

Bump up That Passcode

Your iPhone’s security is only as good as your passcode. And while Apple has slowly started phasing out a 4-digit passcode as the default, it’s a good idea to switch out that 6-digit code for an alphanumeric one.

You can change that in Settings > Touch/Face ID & Passcode. The longer your passcode, the better. And if you’re worried about convenience, just think about how often you actually enter your passcode in the era of Face ID and Touch ID.

Turn off Shake to Undo

Shake to Undo has been one of iOS’s longest-running annoyances. You’ve probably run into it yourself. And while being able to quickly undo typing is handy, there are now alternatives to Shake to Undo in iOS 13.

For one, you can swipe forward or backwards with three fingers to undo and redo text typing. With that in mind, do yourself a favor and disable Shake to Undo by heading to Settings > Accessibility > Touch > Shake to Undo.

Check Your Permissions

There are a lot of apps out there that want access to your data. And while some of them have valid reasons for retaining access to it, that doesn’t mean you have to stand for every app on your iPhone harvesting your data. So you should check your permissions.

Most notably, you should cut down on the number of apps that can access your Microphone or Camera. It’s a good idea to do the same for Location Services, Bluetooth, Contacts and other features. You can do all of this by heading to Settings > Privacy on your device.

Disable Lock Screen Access

While being able to access certain system features from the Lock Screen is useful, it can also be a potential security risk. So we recommend going to Settings > Touch/Face ID & Passcode and cutting down on the number of features available when your device is locked.

That could include anything from access to the Notification Center to the ability to use your Wallet when the device is locked. We recommend disabling access to Siri and USB Accessories. The former will keep your data secure, and the latter can keep bad actors from hacking your iPhone with the trade-off of some conveniences.

Tweak Your Display

There are a number of ways that you can tweak your iPhone’s display to your liking, and we suggest taking advantage of them. The first thing you should do is head to Settings > Display & Brightness and turn the brightness down. Your iPhone’s battery — and your eyes — will thank you.

This menu also holds a number of other display-related settings. True Tone may be able to offer a more pleasant viewing experience, so try it out and see what you think. It’s also a good idea to switch on Night Shift and tailor the Auto-Lock setting to a realistic time interval.

Set Updates to Automatic

You probably don’t like Apple hassling you about software updates all of the time. And while you can just ignore those prompts, it’s recommended that you keep your iPhone or iPad as up-to-date as possible. The solution is Automatic Updates.

Open Settings and tap General and Software Update. From here, switch Automatic Updates on. Your iPhone will then try to download and install the latest version of iOS, normally when you’re sleeping. It’s also a good idea to keep your apps automatically updated by going to iTunes & App Store and switching up the toggle next to App Updates.