10 simple tips and tricks to help you master your new iPhone

So you just took your brand new iPhone out of the box. Maybe it’s the first one you’ve ever had. Maybe you’re replacing an iPhone 8 that has seen better days. Maybe you get an iPhone every year, but you just use it very casually.

Whatever the reason, you’ll enjoy your time with your new phone so much more if you spend some time learning new tips and tricks. Some of these you may know, others you may not have heard of, but they all make life with an iPhone a little more fun.

Change Siri’s voice

Siri’s voice is quite iconic, but did you know you can change it? There are multiple variants (American, Australian, British, etc.) to choose from, each with different voices, including different genders. Just open Settings, tap Siri & Searchthan Siri voice listen to the possibilities. You may need to download new voices, so this is usually best done when connected to Wi-Fi.

Swipe to search everything

It’s always surprising to see how many people don’t seem to know or use the iPhone’s powerful global search feature. Like Spotlight on the Mac, it can find apps, search the web, and search all sorts of content on your device, such as photos, documents, emails, messages, and more.

Just swipe down on your home screen to access it – not from the top edge (that opens Notification Center or Control Center), just give the home screen a downward swipe from anywhere in the middle of the screens.

Spotlight Search on the iPhone is so overlooked that Apple even added a little “Search” button to the bottom of the Home screen in iOS 16. Just search for something and scroll down to find results in the App Store, at internet and from the various apps on your phone. You can also type simple math problems and the like.

Widgets are a great way to get information on your home screen at a glance. But too many widgets leave little space for apps.

Fortunately, you can stack widgets of the same size! Add a widget by tapping and holding the home screen until all your icons “shake” and dance, then tap the (+) button in the top left to add a widget. Once you have it on your home screen, tap and hold the widget until a menu pops up. You can select “Edit Stack” to choose which other widgets you want on top.

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Or, keep holding on the widget after the menu appears. Just a few more seconds and you can drag the widget around and move it around as you wish. Just drag it onto another widget to stack them.

Your iPhone will do its best to show you the widget you probably want to see from a stack, using the time and location, along with your past behavior. If you don’t see the one you want, just swipe up or down on the widgets to scroll through the stack.

Set Back Tap to a frequently used function

Your iPhone has an accessibility feature that is very useful for almost everyone. It’s called “Tap Back” and you can double or triple tap it on the back of your iPhone to initiate an action. For example, you can double-tap to launch the camera, or triple-tap to turn the flashlight on or off, open Notification Center, turn on mute, take a screenshot, or launch a custom shortcut.

Open Settings and then tap Accessibilitythan Touch. Scroll down to find Tap back (usually at the bottom or near the bottom) and select it. You can set independent actions for double-tap and triple-tap.

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Use the keyboard as a trackpad

Whenever the keyboard is open, tap and hold the space bar. After a second you will see all the letters blank and you can drag your finger around to move the cursor as if you were using a trackpad. You can then move the cursor to the text you want, hold again and the text picker will appear. It’s a really simple and convenient way to get back to just the right place to make edits.

Pull the subject of a photo out of the background

Normally, cutting out an image from a photo requires Photoshop and a little skill, but with your iPhone you can quickly get exactly the right topic of an image and not the background. Just tap and hold an image on a web page or in your Photos app. In Photos, the subject is selected, while on a web image you get a context menu and have to tap ‘Copy subject’.

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You can then paste it into all sorts of other apps – Messages, Mail, and even save to Files. If you have handy fingers, you can touch and hold the subject to drag it to other apps. A more detailed step-by-step explanation can be found here.

Scan documents easily

Your iPhone can scan paper documents into PDFs quite easily and even mark them up. You can save them to the cloud or your Files app, Messages or send them an email, whatever you want. There are a few ways to achieve this, so check out our step-by-step guide for more information.

The easiest way is to use the Notes app. Open Notes, tap the camera button, then tap Scan documents. This is a great way to take receipts, vaccination books, records and other important paper documents and create a digital copy that you can store in the cloud for safekeeping.

Set up your medical ID

The tip that can save your life! Your iPhone can display emergency medical information for first responders. It’s called Medical ID and it only takes a few minutes to set up. First open the Health app. Then tap your profile picture top right. Crane Medical ID. Crane Edit top right. You can fill in emergency contacts, medical allergies, major medical conditions, and other information.

Then tap the Show when locked toggle, which allows people to see your medical information in an emergency. You can also enable Emergency Call Sharing so that when you contact emergency services on your iPhone, your Medical ID is automatically shared with the person on the line.

Enable the haptic keyboard

In iOS 16, Apple finally added haptic feedback to the keyboard, but it’s not enabled by default. To turn it on (and turn off the annoying clicks), open Institutionsselect Sound and hapticsthan Keyboard feedback. You can enable or disable sounds and haptics independently. It’s a fantastic feature that adds a little vibration under your fingers as you type. It might help you make fewer mistakes!

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Read the manual

Remember when electronics like computers used to come with an actual physical manual? Those days may be long gone, but Apple still has an up-to-date iPhone User Guide with simple, detailed instructions on how to everything with your iPhone.

You can find it on the web or download a free e-book copy of the most recent version from the Books app. It’s really worth looking through. Even the most experienced iPhone users will find something they never knew.