How Much Do You Really Know About Your Phone?

Sarah Lichterman

Think you’re a tech-savvy individual? Me, too. Be ready to have your mind blown.

I have always been one to keep up with the latest technology from devices to operating systems to appliances. Even if I don’t own the latest and greatest, I do my best to stay in the loop about such technology. Also, I have a knack for weeding through technology-help forums to fix most any technological problems that occur.

First, let’s get this out of the way – I am an Apple user. I am familiar with PC products and have owned some, but my brand allegiance is with Apple. I ran across this article the other day and was pleasantly surprised by what I learned. The article on A+ is titled “21 Things You Didn’tKnow Your iPhone Could Do.” While I waited for the page to load, I thought to myself that this would probably be a waste of time. However, I was intrigued with it from fact No. 1.

If you work in the realm of the PR world, you probably use your phone often; I know that is true for me. I wanted to share some of these iPhone tricks to help you save some time or just love your iPhone a little bit more. Below are a few of my favorites. (Warning: If you are an Android user, I’d suggest that you stop reading for you may become jealous of all your iPhone-using friends.)

Shake to undo. No need to waste any more time hitting the backspace key over and over again. Now, all you have to do is shake! Shake with caution, however, because it takes a power-shake to make this option work, so don’t be too gentle with it. Also, make sure not to fling your phone across the room while shaking it.

Recharge your battery faster by switching to airplane mode. I have always known that dimming the brightness on my phone would save battery life, but I never even thought about this method before. It makes complete sense because by turning on airplane mode, you’re turning off wireless and cellular access that drains your battery.

Teach Siri how to pronounce words. Do your friends have tricky names? You are in luck! The next time Siri mispronounces a name you can tell her “That’s not how you pronounce [blank]” and she will offer you alternative ways to say it.

Automatically turn off your music with a timer. I have never found a time when it would be appropriate for me to use this, but I still think it’s cool knowing that I have the option. Instead of setting a tone for “When Timer Ends,” all you have to do is select the “Stop Playing” option at the bottom of the tone list.

Customize vibrations. Who else hates the sound of your phone vibrating on a table? You can now make that sound a little less annoying by changing the vibration pattern for alerts, notifications and individual contacts. Just go to Settings > Sounds > Ringtone > Vibration > Create New Vibrations and viola! 

Create custom keyboard shortcuts. I am very familiar with this trick but wanted to share it with you because it is probably one of the most useful tricks on the list. It is very convenient and saves time when typing long words. For example, I’ve added the shortcut “bc” for “because” and “lich” for “Lichterman” to make my text-response time that much shorter. Also, you can fix any annoying auto-corrects using this tool. For example, when I type “Obsidian” with a capital “O”, it sometimes changes it to a lowercase. By making the shortcut for “Obsidian” as “Obsidian,” I have solved the problem. To make a shortcut, go to Settings > General > Keyboard > Shortcuts > Add New Shortcut.

There are many more interesting tricks on the list for all you iPhone users. I hope you enjoy!