10 Hacks Every iPhone User Should Know

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I'm constantly amazed at how much technology Apple has managed to pack into an iPhone that I can carry in the palm of my hand. What's even more surprising is that underneath the layers there is more than meets the eye. There's a better and faster way to use the keyboard, there's a faster way to select unread emails to archive, there are better ways to browse the web than the regular Safari experience, and you can get way Photos from iPhone Pro cameras come out better than what the stock Camera app shows.

The iPhone has become such a standard product in our lives that we take it for granted. Yes, it's a great way to stay connected with friends and colleagues, capture moments and scroll the night away. But spend a little more time and you'll find a whole new iPhone experience that will truly change the way your iPhone looks and operates.

Automate small, repetitive tasks

Apple installs the Shortcuts app on every device and even offers pre-built shortcut automation that you can install from the Gallery. But the fun begins when you explore the very active online Shortcuts community and start integrating automation into it.

Apple's Shortcuts app allows you to create automations that automatically perform predefined steps. They can be used to resize images, compress files, convert data, and even control functions on your smartphone. For example, you can create an automation system that automatically turns on the VPN when you leave the house, or sends a message to your partner when you leave work. Want to get started? We have a list Seven Automations I Think Every iPhone User Should Install.

I'm a big fan of custom widgets. When someone picks up my iPhone, they usually respond with something like, “Your iPhone doesn't look like a regular iPhone.” This includes custom widgets that show the time, day, my appointments, weather, my tasks and more. The world of custom widgets for iPhone is huge, and if you just want to dive into it, I'd suggest you start with Widgetsmith an application that allows you to customize multiple widgets with the same theme and fonts. All together it looks really aesthetically pleasing. When you're ready, you you can immerse yourself in the game using the Widgy appwhere you can import and customize thousands of interactive widgets.

Quickly access features using the hidden Back Tap gesture.

The iPhone has a hidden button and it is located on the back of the iPhone. This is an accessibility feature that you can access through Settings > Availability > Touch > Back Click. You can then assign any app, shortcut, or action to a double- or triple-tap gesture. This is a great way to activate shortcut automation or simply bring up the selfie camera. Personally, I find that the double-tap gesture glitches sometimes, but the triple-tap gesture is much more reliable.

Improve Safari with Extensions

If you're not using Safari extensions, you're sleeping on unrealized potential. Just like on Mac, Safari on iPhone also supports extensions. And you can use extensions to do really cool things like blocking all ads and trackers (of course)but also for make every website run in dark modeall the time. You will also find extensions for improve the Reddit browsing experience and so that take full control of all elements on websites you visit frequently.

Switch to a third-party browser

Using a Third Party Browserlike Vivaldi, this is a move by a very experienced user. All third-party browsers for iOS are technically variations of Safari, as Apple forces developers to build their browsers on the Safari WebKit platform. However, these third-party browsers may include unique features not found in Safari. Vivaldifor example, offers desktop-level tab browsing, including tab groups and pinned tabs. Then there is Orionwhich can run desktop-class extensions from Firefox and the Chrome Web Store on your iPhone (something Safari can't do). And if you don't like the new Safari interface, try Quiche is a fully customizable browser..

Perfect your tricks

Focuses can change the look and feel of your iPhone based on your location, time, day, or task at hand. It's time to go beyond Do Not Disturb mode and take advantage of everything Apple Focuses can do.

It would be nice to set up focuses for work, personal time and sleep. In each focus, you can decide which apps can send notifications and which friends or family members can contact you. You can even choose which home screens to display in a specific Focus, hiding widgets and apps depending on the Focus (Personal Time Focus has no work content at all, for example). Focus also integrates with shortcuts and automation, so you can activate Focus when you start a video call on your Mac or reach a specific location (like your desk). Go to Settings > Focus to start.

Use hidden swipe gestures everywhere

You'll be familiar with all the usual iPhone gestures, like swiping up from the Home bar or tapping the top edge of the iPhone to instantly scroll up. But the iPhone has many more hidden gestures that can really speed things up. If you see a long list, try swiping down with two fingers to instantly start selecting items. This works very well in Mail, Phone, and other Apple apps, but is also supported by third-party apps. Next, in iOS 26, Apple added support for back gestures it's probably better than Android. You can swipe left from anywhere to quickly go back.

You can also cut, copy and paste three finger gesture. To copy something, pinch it with three fingers. To cut, do this twice. To insert something, make a three-finger spread gesture (opposite the spread).

Work faster with the iPhone keyboard

There's more to the iPhone keyboard than meets the eye. It has a built-in Slide to Type feature that allows you to slide your finger across the keys to enter words. This works very well, especially when using the phone with one hand. There is also a built-in virtual trackpad. Just press and hold Space and move your finger to move the cursor.

If you think your keyboard is too big for typing, you can also enable the one-handed keyboard by clicking the Keyboard Settings button (press and hold Globe icon). From here, you can go to Keyboard Settings to enable the multilingual keyboard and try it out. Replacing textwhere you can create shortcuts to expand frequently used pieces of text. For example, you can enter “adrs” to indicate your full home address.

Scan documents without a third-party app

You may not know this, but the Notes and Files apps have a really handy document scanner built into them. I prefer to use the Files app for this because I can save the PDF directly to the desired folder. Open Files app, go to any folder, click the three dot icon Menu and select the S iconCan I have documents? peculiarity. By default, the auto shutter feature is enabled, which automatically scans every new page you put in front of the camera (if you find this annoying, you can also turn it off). Scan as many pages as you like and tap Made button. Then give the document a name. And now it is stored in PDF format in a folder. Now you can send it wherever it needs to go or back it up using iCloud Drive.

Update your photos and videos on iPhone Pro

The iPhone Pro cameras are truly stellar. But the Camera app does not. The default Camera app does too much computational photography for my liking and has trouble focusing on elements exactly when I need to capture something small. Additionally, Pro cameras can shoot using a ProRes login, and to fully control the image from your iPhone, you'll have to exit the Camera app.

For shooting video in the best lighting conditions Blackmagic this is an excellent choice. Here you get full manual control over your photos and videos with cinematic-grade presets (including the ability to create your own).

If this seems too professional for you, try using a third-party app to get much better photos. My colleague Pranay highlighted a couple of great optionsWith Galid Mark II tops the list (I agree too). Halide gives you much more control over the appearance of your photos. There's also a Process Zero feature that removes all Apple computing processes from photos.