10 Hacks Every iPhone User Should Know
I'm routinely surprised by just how much technology Apple has managed to pack into the iPhone that I can carry in the palm of my hand. What's even more surprising is that underneath the layers, there's even more than what meets the eye. There's a better, 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 just the usual Safari experience, and you can get way better photos out of the iPhone Pro cameras than what the stock Camera app shows you.
The iPhone has become such a default product in all our lives that we just take it for granted. Yes, it's a great way to stay in touch with friends and coworkers, to capture moments, and to doomscroll the night away. But spend some more time, and there's a whole new iPhone experience just waiting for you that will truly transform how your iPhone looks and works.
Automate the small, redundant tasks
Apple installs the Shortcuts app on every device and even offers pre-built shortcut automations that you can install from the Gallery. But the fun starts when you explore the very active Shortcuts community online and start to integrate Automations into the mix.
Apple’s Shortcuts app lets you create automations that automatically follow pre-defined steps. They can be used to resize images, compress files, convert data, and even control aspects of your smartphone. For example, you can create an automation that automatically enables a VPN when you step out of your home, or sends a message to your partner when you leave work. Looking to get started? We have a list of seven automations that I feel every iPhone user should install.
Add custom widgets to your Home Screen
I’m a huge fan of custom widgets. Whenever someone picks up my iPhone, the response is usually something like, "Your iPhone doesn’t look like a regular iPhone." That’s down to custom widgets that show the time, day, my appointments, the weather, my tasks, and more. The world of custom iPhone widgets is huge, and if you just want to dip your toes in, I would suggest you start with the Widgetsmith app, which lets you customize multiple widgets with the same theme and fonts. All together, it looks really aesthetically pleasing. When you’re ready, you can dive in with the Widgy app, where you can import and customize thousands of interactive widgets.
Access features quickly using the hidden Back Tap gesture
The iPhone has a hidden button, and it’s on the back of your iPhone. It’s an accessibility feature that you can access via Settings > Accessibility > Touch > Back Tap. You can then assign any app, shortcut, or action to either the Double Tap or Triple Tap gesture. It’s a great way to trigger Shortcuts automations, or to simply bring up the selfie camera. I personally find that the double-tap gesture has a tendency to misfire sometimes, and the triple-tap gesture is a lot more reliable.
Enhance Safari using extensions
If you don’t use Safari extensions, you’re sleeping on unrealized potential. Just like on the Mac, the Safari browser on the iPhone also supports extensions. And you can use extensions to do some really cool things, like blocking all ads and trackers (of course), but also to force every website to be in dark mode, all the time. You’ll also find extensions to improve the Reddit browsing experience and to take complete control of all the elements on the websites you use frequently.
Upgrade to a third-party browser
Using a third-party browser, like Vivaldi, is a very power-user move. All third-party browsers on iOS are technically variations of Safari, as Apple forces developers to build their browsers on Safari's WebKit platform. However, these third-party browsers can include unique features that Safari doesn't. Vivaldi, for example, offers desktop-class tab browsing, including tab groups and pinned tabs. Then there’s Orion, which can run desktop-class extensions from Firefox and Chrome Web Store on your iPhone (something that Safari can’t do). And if you don’t like Safari’s new interface, try out Quiche, which is a completely customizable browser.
Master your Focuses
Focuses have the potential to transform how your iPhone looks and works, based on your location, time, day, or the task at hand. It’s time to go beyond Do Not Disturb and embrace everything that Apple's Focuses can do.
It would be a good idea for you 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 show in particular Focus, choosing to hide widgets and apps depending on the Focus (no work stuff at all in Personal Time Focus, for example). Focus also integrates with Shortcuts and Automations, so you can trigger a Focus when you start a video call on your Mac or reach a particular location (like your workplace). Go to Settings > Focus to get started.
Use the 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 to the top. But the iPhone has a lot more hidden gestures that can really speed things up. If you see a long list, try to swipe down with two fingers to instantly start selecting items. This works really well in Mail, Phone, and other Apple apps, but is also supported by third-party apps. Next, in iOS 26, Apple added back gesture support that’s arguably better than Android. You can swipe in from anywhere on the left edge to quickly go back.
You can also cut, copy, and paste with a three-finger gesture. To copy something, pinch it with three fingers. To cut, do it twice. To paste something, do a three-finger spread gesture (opposite of the pinch).
Get faster with the iPhone keyboard
The iPhone keyboard is more than what meets the eye. It has a built-in Slide to Type feature where you can glide your finger over the keys to type words. It works really well, especially when using the phone one-handed. There’s a virtual trackpad built in, too. Just tap and hold the Space bar and move your finger to move the cursor around.
If you find your keyboard too large to type on, you can also enable the one-handed keyboard from the Keyboard Settings button (tap and hold the Globe icon). From here, you can go to Keyboard Settings to enable a multi-lingual keyboard and to try out Text Replacement, where you can create shortcuts for expanding your frequently used text snippets. For example, you can type “adrs” to expand to your full home address.
Scan documents without a third-party app
You might not know this, but there’s a really neat document scanner built into the Notes app and the Files app. I prefer to use the Files app for this because I get to save a PDF directly in the folder that I want. Open the Files app, go to any folder, tap the three-dotted Menu icon, and choose the Scan Documents feature. There’s an Auto Shutter feature that’s enabled by default that will automatically scan each new page you put in front of your camera (if you find this annoying, you can disable it as well). Scan as many pages as you want, and tap the Done button. Then, give the document a name. And it’s now stored as a PDF in the folder. You can now send it to where it needs to go, or back it up using iCloud Drive.
Upgrade your photos and videos on iPhone Pro
The cameras on the iPhone Pro are truly stellar. But the Camera app is not. The default Camera app does too much computational photography for my taste, and has trouble focusing on elements exactly when I need to capture something small. Plus, the Pro cameras can shoot in Log in ProRes, and to fully take control of the visuals from your iPhone, you’ll need to step out of the Camera app.
For shooting video in the best light, Blackmagic is a great choice. Here, you get full manual control over both photos and videos, with film-grade presets (including the ability to create your own custom ones).
If that feels a bit too Pro, try using a third-party app to capture much better photos. My colleague Pranay has highlighted a couple of great options, with Halide Mark II topping the list (I agree, as well). Halide gives you a lot more control over the look of your photos. There’s also a Process Zero feature that removes all of Apple’s computational processes from the photos.