What cool things can one do with an iPhone and iPad that most people don’t know about?

Most iPhone and iPad users use their devices every day without accessing all of their capabilities. You might have often heard about “hacks” that allow you to use your iPhones in ways you never thought of before, however, many of them tend to be impractical. Or, they could just prove to be overly complicated for everyday use. Here are a few hidden iPhone as well as iPad features, shortcuts, as well as tricks that will help you get the most out of your iPhone and simplify your daily routine, while still being practical for everyday use.  

5 cool things you can do with your iPhone.  

Create amazing text effects with your iPhone  

It is common knowledge that if you type “congrats” in Messages the entire screen fills up with confetti. Well, the effects don’t just stop there. There are a lot of text effects within the Messages app. I have mentioned below just a few of the many:  

How to create bubble effects (Slam, loud, gentle, and invisible ink effects) with iPhone?  

Bubble effects are some of the simpler as well as very self-explanatory effects that impact the message bubble itself. When the message bubble pops in on the other person’s message thread, they will be able to see it slam, or gently swell, or they might have to erase away the sparkling image to reveal your message.  

To use any of these effects, you have to:   

• Enter your message.   
• Press, then hold the arrow used to send the message.  

• Select one of the bubble effects above.  

How to create screen effects (echo, spotlight, balloons, confetti, love, lasers, fireworks, & celebration) with iPhone?  

Screen effects fill the entire iPhone screen, depending on the effect you choose they can even impact the bubble, like the aforementioned congrats effect.  

To use one of these effects:  

• Enter your message.  

• Press, then hold the arrow used to send the message  
• Click on the screen option at the top of the screen.  
• Choose your desired effect, after selecting tap the send arrow again.  

What are the Phrases that Create Effects on iPhone?  

• Pew Pew will trigger the spotlight effect.  

• Congrats & Congratulations trigger the confetti effect.  
• Happy Birthday will trigger the balloon effect.  
• Happy Chinese New Year will trigger the celebration effect.  
• Happy New Year will trigger the fireworks effect. 

Have Siri call you by a nickname  

Yes, you might say, but Bippin, this isn’t necessary for me, however, some people do prefer to go by a name other than the one that is listed for their Apple ID. As Siri uses your Apple ID and contact information to refer to you by name, Siri will always call you by the name shown, unless you change it or create a nickname. Maybe you have grown accustomed to another name, or maybe you just do not like your given name.  

No matter what the reason is, this trick will allow you to change the name Siri will refer to you by, making it much more personalized.  

As the usual say, “Hey Siri,” then, just tell Siri “Call me by a nickname.” Siri will ask you what you would like to be called, then you can state the nickname. Siri will confirm the pronunciation, then you are good to go.  

Create custom vibrations on your iPhone  

If you are someone who loves to customize their iPhones, this feature is what you are looking for, the best part, is that it’s within your Sounds and Haptics settings. Similar to having customizable ringtones, you also have the ability to customize your vibrations. If you want something even better, check this, you can actually create the beat of the vibration to match your favorite song or rhythm.   

How do you create a custom vibration on your iPhone?  

• Open settings  
• Tap on sounds & haptics  
• Select which uses you want to vibration for (ringtone, text tone, alerts, etc.)  
• Click on vibration  

• Scroll down, then click on create a new vibration  
• You will then tap your pattern onto the screen, if you wish to review it, you can play it to review. Then click on save.  

You can set your iPhone to erase itself when someone is trying to break in  

This feature has been around for a while now, however, it’s often missed within the depths of the iPhone‘s settings. You can take other precautions on top of your password if you are hyper-aware of your security or have very sensitive data on your phone.  

This feature allows your iPhone to erase itself after ten failed passcode attempts. What’s interesting is, that the only correct way to unlock an iPhone after you’ve forgotten your passcode is to erase it, restore it from backup, then create a new passcode.  

How to turn on “Erase Data” after failed login attempts on iPhone?  

• Open Settings  
• Scroll down till you find the *Erase Data toggle, then turn this on or off.  

Receive notifications via camera flash  

Those users who prefer a visual phone alert rather than an audible one will like this relatively secret setting: You have the ability to get your camera’s flash to blink several times whenever you receive a notification.  

To get the feature working,   

• Open Settings, then tap on Accessibility.   
• Then, enter Audio/Visual, here switch the LED Flash for Alerts toggle switch to “on.”   

If you prefer to not be disturbed at all when the phone is in silent mode, you could set the flash not to light up then. This is one iPhone camera trick that has nothing to do with photos, just make sure no one around you misunderstands the situation and thinks you’re snapping a shot of them when you’re out. 

5 cool things you can do with your iPad.  

The Virtual Touchpad  

If you have ever tried to select text by tapping your finger on a word, then manipulating the selection box, you understand that it is harder than it sounds. Simply positioning the cursor using your finger is taxing.   

That is where the virtual touchpad comes in handy. Anytime the on-screen keyboard is displayed, you have the ability to activate the virtual touchpad by pressing two fingers down on the keyboard. The keys will disappear, and the keys will begin to act like a touchpad, allowing you to move the cursor around the screen or select text quickly and with accuracy.  

Once you get used to it, copying and pasting are a lot easier as you can easily select a block of text.    

You can Lock the iPad’s Orientation Through the Control Panel  

If you didn’t know, you could use the control panel to control your music, turn Bluetooth on or off, activate AirPlay so you can send your iPad’s screen to your Apple TV, adjust the brightness, and many other basic functions.  

A handy use is to lock the screen orientation. If you use your iPad while laying on your side, you know how irritating it can be for a simple shift to send the iPad into a different orientation. Earlier iPads had a side switch for locking the orientation, if you own a newer iPad, you can lock it by engaging the control panel. To do so place your finger on the very bottom edge of the iPad’s screen and move it up toward the top. When the Control Panel appears, tap on the button that has an arrow circling a lock. This will prevent the iPad from changing the screen orientation.  

Launch Apps with Siri  

Siri has the ability to find and launch apps for you. While Apple lauds Siri’s ability to place phone calls, and find movie times, perhaps her most useful function is to simply launch any app you wish by saying “Open [app name]”.    

This reduces the search for the app from several icon-filled screens. If you don’t like the idea of talking to your iPad, you could just launch the apps using Spotlight Search, which is also often quicker than searching for the icon.  

Word Correct Without Auto Correct  

AutoCorrect has spawned many jokes and memes on the Internet because it can change what you are trying to say if don’t pay attention to the so-called corrections. The most annoying part of AutoCorrect is how you must tap the word you just typed when it doesn’t recognize the word.  

However, here’s something most people don’t know: You could still get Auto Correct‘s good points despite turning it off. Once it is turned off; the iPad will underline words it doesn’t recognize, if you tap the underlined word, you get a box with the suggested replacements, which to be put simply puts you in charge of the autocorrect.   

This is great if you constantly find AutoCorrect annoying but still require the ability to easily correct your misspelled words. To turn AutoCorrect off   

• Launching the iPad’s settings choose General from the left-side menu.   

• Click on Keyboard Settings, then tap the AutoCorrect slider to turn it off.  

You can Pick Up Where You Left Off on Your iPhone  

Have you ever started typing an email on your iPhone, then realized the email will turn out to be much longer than you expected, and wished you began on your iPad? You don’t need to wish any longer. If you have an email open on your iPhone, then you can pick up your iPad, locate the mail icon in the bottom-left corner of the lock screen, swipe up starting with the mail button, then you will be inside the same mail message you were just typing on your iPhone.    

This works when you are on the same Wi-Fi network, both the iPhone as well as the iPad have to use the same Apple ID. If you have different Apple IDs for everyone in the family, then sadly, you will not be able to do this with every device.    

This is called continuity, and this trick works with more than just Email.  You could use the same trick to open the same document in Notes. Or, you can open the same spreadsheet in Pages among other tasks or apps that support continuity.    

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