Five Tech Annoyances You Easily Can Fix on Your iPhone
Credit: Kaspars Grinvalds / ShutterstockTechnology is great until it is not. As much as we love our iPhone and use it constantly in our daily lives, there are times when that smartphone is downright frustrating. It can be so irritating you may be tempted to throw your phone across the room. Don't do it. You will regret it. Instead, take a moment to continue reading through our five favorite tips to help you deal with the annoying side of mobile technology.
Problem: Typing in handwritten notes is tedious
Solution: Use LiveText in iOS 15 to copy the text from a photo
Typing in handwritten notes is a painstaking process. Don't waste your time on such a cumbersome chore if you have an iPhone with iOS 15. Make things easier using LiveText, an iOS 15 feature that lets you copy text from a photo. This feature works with most handwriting. It just needs to be reasonably legible. Chicken scratch from physicians need not apply.
Start by taking a picture of the note and opening the image in the Photos app. When you open the image, you should see a small icon in the right corner representing lines of text. This icon appears only in images that contain text. You can tap on the icon to highlight the text recognized by iOS.
To copy the text, you need to tap and hold on the text in the image. When highlighted, simply release your finger and choose the appropriate menu item. You can copy the highlighted text, select all text, look up the text, translate the text or share the text snippet with others.
Problem: No time to type out a long messsage
Solution: Customize your text responses
Sometimes a quick "ok" is not enough. You need to write a longer text so the recipient understands why you cannot answer their phone call or respond to their text messages.
Let's start with the phone calls. Apple lets you ignore a phone and instead respond with a text message. You can choose between three default messages such as "Sorry, I can't talk right now" or "I'm on my way." You can change these messages by opening Settings > Phone > Respond with Text. Here you will see the three default messages. Tap on the message you want to change and type in your custom text.
You also can do something similar with text messages. Instead of typing out a lengthy response, you can create shortcuts. Open the Settings app and select General > Keyboard > Add New Shortcut. Choose a shortcut such as "omw" and then type in the complete text phrase. In this example, we want "omw" to stand for "On my way home, see you soon."
Problem: You miss critical phone calls, answer scammers
Solution: Setup specific ringtones or vibration patterns
You've probably customized your ringtones to specific contacts, but did you know you can also set unique vibration patterns. That way when your phone is on silent, you'll be able to tell who's calling just by the buzzing pattern. Open the Contacts app on your ?iPhone? and select the contact you want to change. Select Edit and then ringtone or text tone, depending on which one you want to change. Select vibration and choose the default vibration or create a custom one by tapping on the screen.
If that isn't enough, you can tap into the accessibility settings and configure your Phone to flash for every incoming call. Go to Settings > General > Accessibility. In the "Hearing" section, you will find an LED Flash for Alerts option. Select this menu item and enable the toggle to turn on the feature and the other if you want to use LED Flash for Alerts when the ringer switch is set to silent.
Now that you've configured your Phone to detect important callers, you can set up your Phone to detect spam. Open the Settings app and select Phone. Scroll until you see Silence Unknown Callers and turn on the toggle to enable this feature. Once enabled, all calls from unknown numbers will be silenced and sent to voice mail. If you want to review these spam calls, you can find them in your recent calls list.
Problem: The cursor is always in the wrong place
Solution: Use this keyboard hack to move the cursor right where you need it
Nothing is more frustrating than trying to correct a typing error on your iPhone or iPad. You tap to place the cursor where you need it and fat-finger it into the wrong position. We feel your frustration and have a tip that'll solve your problem in an instant. Instead of tapping the cursor into place, tap and hold on the space bar of the iOS keyboard. The keyboard will disappear, and you can slide your finger up, down, left, or right to move the cursor into just the correct position.
Problem: You can't find your iPhone, and your battery is dead
Solution: Use Find My iPhone like an AirTag
Almost every day, my iPhone runs out of battery life. Unfortunately, I am at my busiest when my iPhone charge is at its lowest. I inevitably misplace my phone in the hustle and bustle of a busy day and then search frantically for it a few hours later. Thankfully, Apple has made it possible to find your iPhone even after the battery has died. You just need to know how to enable it before you need it.
Start by opening the Settings > Find My > Find My iPhone. Scroll down and turn on the toggle for the Find My network. This simple little feature allows you to locate your phone even when it is offline, in power-saving mode, or entirely out of juice. Once enabled, you can open the Find My app and locate your phone for up to five hours after the battery has died.
