Three iOS 10 Features You Might’ve Missed That Will Make Your Life Easier

It’s pretty obvious now that iOS 10 brought with it a host of innovative and fun additions — like the total revamp of the Messages app, for example. But Apple’s newest iOS version also added some clever, less showy features and tweaks that are sure to add functionality to your phone, and potentially make your life easier — if you use them. Here are our favorites.

1. Voicemail Transcription & Sharing

If you prefer reading a message to listening to a voicemail, you’re in luck. If you have an iPhone 6s, 6s Plus, SE, iPhone 7 or 7 Plus with iOS 10 installed, your voicemails will automatically be transcribed for you.

To start reading your voicemails, just open the Phone app and navigate to Voicemail. From here, the app will display your transcribed voicemail text above the Play icon.

And speaking of voicemails, iOS 10 has also added the ability to export and save important or sentimental voicemails to other apps — like DropBox, AirDrop and iCloud, for example. All you have to do is find the voicemail you want to save, and hit the Share icon in the upper-right corner.

2. Memories, Facial Recognition & Intelligent Searches in Photos

In iOS 10, the Photos app has been overhauled with a ton of features that make it easier to find and share important photos

Under the new Memories tab, Photos will automatically create albums that include pictures taken during a certain time period, or in a certain place — which makes it easier to find and relive the moments that are important to you. Memories can even stitch together a video of a particular time or place.

Additionally, Photos in iOS 10 has added a facial recognition feature that categorizes your pictures based on who’s in them. There’s a new People tab under Albums that allows you to easily search through photos of yourself or your loved ones.

Lastly, Apple has added intelligent searching to its Photos app. Just tap the Search icon in the left-hand corner of the app, and type in whatever you want — you can search for all photos with “dogs,” or for pictures taken at the “beach,” for example.

3. New Camera Features

Not only is the Camera app more easily accessible on the home screen, but you can activate your rear-facing camera simply by activating Siri and saying “take a selfie.”

Another little-known fix introduced in iOS 10 is the ability to take pictures or shoot video while music or other media is playing in the background. Previously, opening the Camera app would pause the song or video — but now, you can happily record your next dance party with the music going in the Camera app.

Apple has also added a powerful magnifier feature that uses your Camera to zoom-in — helpful for people who have trouble reading small text. Just go to Settings > General > Accessibility, and make sure the Magnifier option is switched on. From here, you just needed to triple-press the Home button to activate it.