New to iPhone? 8 Best Tricks You’ll Wish You Knew Sooner

The iPhone Has a Hidden Trackpad

Many new iPhone users don't know that their iPhone has a hidden trackpad on its keyboard. This trackpad will help you reach words in the text faster so that you can change them or fix them easily. All you need to do is long-press the spacebar when the keyboard is up! The whole keyboard will turn into a trackpad! You can slide your finger around, and the cursor will move too. Once you reach the spot you want, you can release your finger and continue typing!

Have Siri Listen for Your Requests

Siri, Apple's voice assistant, can change the way you use your iPhone forever. With just the sound of your voice, Siri can help you do many things, like set up reminders, start your favorite playlists, make appointments, and more. The sky's the limit, but you'll want to make sure Siri knows when you're speaking to it, automatically! Here's how to set up "Hey Siri" on your iPhone.

1. Open the Settings app.
2. Scroll down and tap on Siri & Search.
3. Toggle Listen for Siri on.
4. Tap on Continue. 
5. Follow the instructions on your screen and say the words as clearly as you can. 
6. Tap Done when you finish.

And done! Siri will now turn on when you say something as simple as "Hey Siri." And since you're on Siri's settings, you can try customizing its settings however you like. You can even change Siri's voice to whatever option you prefer.

Minimize Your Distractions

One of Apple's coolest features on iOS 15 is called Focus. This mode helps you silence all non-important notifications and focus on whatever you're doing at the moment. It also helps you keep the apps you'll need during work or study right there on your Home screen. You can create different Focus modes based on your daily activities. That way, you can create a Focus mode for work or even spending time with your family. The possibilities are endless; all you need to do is create a Focus mode you want like this:

1. Open the Settings app.
2. Tap on Focus.
3. Tap the plus icon in the top right corner of your screen.
4. Choose a default Focus mode or create your own by tapping on Custom.
5. Follow the instructions on your screen.

And that's it. Once you're done, you can also customize your Focus to open a specific Home screen, or so it triggers automatically when you get to the gym or your work! Play around with it and find the settings that work best for you.

Type Faster with Text Replacements

If you find yourself typing the same words or phrases constantly, you can use Text Replacements, so your iPhone writes them for you. Instead of typing "on my way" all the time, you can just type "OMW," and your iPhone will write the rest for you! You can use any type of word or phrase and shortcut, which makes it really cool and versatile. Here's what you need to do.

1. Open the Settings app.
2. Scroll down and select General.
3. Tap on Keyboard.
4. Tap Text Replacement.
5. Tap the plus icon in the top right corner of your screen.
6. Enter the phrase you want to use.
7. Enter the shortcut you want to use too.
8. When you're done, tap on Save in the top right corner. 

If you want, you can delete any text replacements by sliding the word to the left and tapping on Delete.

Change the Default Email App

If you don't want to start using Apple's Mail app, we can't blame you. Sure, it's an awesome app with a ton of features, but sometimes we just want our good old Gmail app. Fortunately, you can make it so your iPhone knows what is your preferred default email app with a few taps. Your preferred app will automatically open whenever you need to send an email. 

1. Open the Settings app.
2. Scroll down and select the email app you want to set as default.
3. Tap on Default Mail App.
4. Select the mail app you want to use as default.

And that's it! Remember that you can always change it to another app by following the same steps.

Customize Your Control Center

Control Center is a powerful feature that helps you keep shortcuts or controls nearby at all times! In case you didn't know, you can access Control Center by swiping down from the top right corner if you're using an iPhone with no Home button. If your iPhone does have a Home button, you'll need to swipe up from the bottom of your screen to open up Control Center. The best part is that you can customize it with whatever controls you'd like!

1. Open Settings.
2. Scroll down and select Control Center.
3. Tap the plus icon to add a control to the Control Center.
4. Likewise, you can tap the minus icon to remove a control from Control Center.
5. You can also drag the controls up or down to change their position!

Save Your iCloud Storage Space

You probably haven't bought extra iCloud storage yet if you're new to Apple. Don't worry; you don't need to do it, but Apple only gives you 5GB of storage for free. Still, that can be more than enough if you know how to manage it. You'll need to disable iCloud for a few apps, but that'll help you keep the free plan as long as possible. 

1. Open the Settings app.
2. Tap on your Apple ID card. That's your name that's located at the top of the settings.
3. Select iCloud.
4. You'll see a list of all the apps that use iCloud. Disable all the apps you don't want using iCloud. 

If you actually want to save iCloud storage, make sure that the Photos app doesn't use iCloud to store your photos. That'll help you save a few extra gigabytes of storage. Store your photos with these options instead.

Add Shortcuts to Your Screen

AssistiveTouch is a neat accessibility feature that puts a digital button on your screen at all times – it's helpful if you want different shortcuts right at your fingertips, and it'll also allow you to create custom actions with single or double taps. You can use it to open Control Center or even take a screenshot. The best part is that you can customize it however you want. Here's how to enable it:

1. Open Settings on iPhone.
2. Scroll down ad select Accessibility.
3. Tap on Touch.
4. Select AssistiveTouch.
5. Toggle AssistiveTouch on.

You can customize the first button by creating a custom action for a single or double tap or a long press. You can create cool gestures that only you'll know about.