How To Use Your iPhone: Six Tips You May Not Know
This series is for those of you who have an iPhone and don’t have a clue how to do anything but answer it. It’s also for the seasoned iPhone user who may discover one simple little tip here that somehow slipped by you. It happens. I continue to learn really basic tricks that I didn’t know about, and a lot of times, I learn them from people who are new to their iPhones. So you just never know. What’s that saying? “Throw it against the wall and see what sticks”?
As always with everything we post, if you have suggestions or comments or tips of your own, please share them! We read and respond to all comments on our blogs, and we love hearing from you. Feel free to comment below, and also feel free to use the social media sharing buttons to share this post if you feel it could be helpful to others. As they say “Sharing is Caring”. How ’bout we all share what we know, wanna?
All the posts in our “How To Use Your iPhone” series will include the below general iPhone diagram. As you read our tips and instructions, you’ll have a quick reference when instructed to “click blank button” or “look at your blank bar”.
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Ready? Lets learn how to do some stuff…
#1. Double tap the space bar to insert a period.
I’m a punctuation and grammar nazi. To insert a period in a text, you need to tap the “123” button to bring up the punctuation characters, find what you want, then click back out to your regular keyboard. Seriously? This is one of the shortcuts that made me want to kiss my phone. When typing, double click on your spacebar to get a period. It also inserts the space after, so that you can just keep on a typin’.
#2.Hold down a letter to get different versions of it.
If you want to type a word like “fiance” with the little tic above the “e”, hold down the letter to get different versions of it . Then slide your finger to the one you want and it will be entered.
#3. Easily type in ALL CAPS.
Do you want to type something in all caps? Double click the arrow and it will lock your caps. Tap it when you’re done to unlock it.
#4. Take a picture of what’s on your phone’s screen.
Want to take a screenshot of your phone? Press the home button and the lock button at the same time. The screenshot image is then saved, just like other pictures you take, to your photo stream. I use this feature a lot to send screenshots to someone I’m texting. (See Tip #5)
#5. Send a screenshot in a text message.
Tons of uses for this feature. Example: My hubs, (who doesn’t have a smartphone), texts me before scheduling his next outdoor job asking me what the weather looks like the rest of the week. I’m slammed with work and don’t have the time to call him, so I pull up my weather app, take a screenshot of the week’s forecast, and attach the screenshot to my return text to him. Done and done. It saves a lot of back and forth texting, and keeps me from being distracted by phonecalls when I’m working.
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Step 1
With your right finger on the on/off button, and your left thumb on the home button, push them at the same time. When you release, you’ll see a white screen and hear a camera sound. You’ve taken a picture of your screen and it’s saved in your photo stream.
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Step 2
1. Go to Text Messages.
2. Write your message, like normal, but don’t send it yet.
3. To attach your screenshot, tap the photo icon.
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Step 3
1. You’ll be asked to choose a photo, or take one.
2. Choose Existing.
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Step 4
1. Locate the screenshot you just took and tap it.
2. Your screenshot is now attached to your text message. Tap send.
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#6. Accept or Reject Autocorrect
Pay attention to this option! Have you seen all those autocorrect mishaps that are flying around the internet? Hilarious sometimes, but not paying attention to what your phone inserts for you could also come back and bite you in the ass!
As you type, your autocorrect will suggest words that it thinks you’re trying to type. Sometimes the autocorrect suggestions aren’t even close to the word you had in mind. (Click here for examples of some adult autocorrect errors done wrong). Don’t get in a hurry and allow your iphone to think for you. Your recipient may end up receiving a wonky message from you that resulted from one incorrectly inserted word that changed the meaning of your entire message!
When autocorrect pops up with a suggested word, you have two options:
- Glance at it and mentally kiss your phone for anticipating the word you wanted to type with its correct spelling. By you ignoring the autocorrect suggestion, it assumes you approved, and it will automatically be inserted.
- Glance at it, and say outloud, “Holy shit, are you KIDDING me?”. If the word isn’t at all what you were trying to type, click the “x” in the suggested word’s right corner to reject it, thank GOD you were paying attention, and continue on typing the word you want.
We’ll be back with more iPhone tips next week. Be watching!
