The iPhone is much more than a shiny gadget for making phone calls and sending text messages – the device is packed with features designed to make life easier, inspire creativity, and keep you in contact. The things that iPhone can do range from taking beautiful photographs with professional-grade cameras to keeping track of your health goals.
Did you know iPhone can serve as a personal translator, measure spaces with augmented reality, or even help you save an entire web page? Uncovering the hidden abilities of your iPhone can open up new possibilities whether you're a tech enthusiast or a casual user. You might be surprised at some of these cool and practical things the iPhone can do, so let's get on with it!
Help You Find Your Way
If you're lost and can't make a phone call, the Compass app on your iPhone may help you find your way out of a difficult situation. It functions as an emergency service regardless of whether you have a cell signal. If you find yourself stranded without cellular reception, we advise you to use the offline maps on your iPhone. To determine your distance from your direction of travel, hit your power button and tap the compass face to point a bearing. Your GPS coordinates and current altitude are also displayed on the screen; you can tap and hold them to copy them to the clipboard.
Unlock the Interactive Weather App
Even if all iPhone 13 models are IP68 waterproof, getting caught in the rain is still not fun. With its user-friendly dynamic weather map, the iOS Weather app conveniently lets you check the weather for the day ahead and ensures you never get caught off guard again. Yes, it’s one of the things iPhone can do. The weather map on the app essentially turns you into a weather reporter, with a scrolling 12-hour prediction for any area on Earth, temperate, precipitation, and air quality overlays. Once you start using it, it's hard to quit. To begin, select the map icon in the Weather app's lower-left corner.
Turn a Live Photo into a GIF
GIFs are great, but what about a GIF of your real friends or family? That's the next level. You may share any Live Photo – the video that normally goes with iPhone photos – on WhatsApp or any other messaging app. Installing third-party software like Giphy from the App Store is the easiest method. Locate the Live Photos category by going to the Photos app and scrolling down. Find the one you like, then choose Loop by tapping the Live button in the upper-left corner. Choose the Giphy icon below by tapping the share button. Now, click Share GIF in Giphy, and then choose Save GIF.
Screenshot an Entire Web Page
When you take a screenshot on your iPhone, an annotation thumbnail appears in the bottom-left corner. Tap to make it full-screen. If you used Safari as your default browser when you took the image, and the page you are on is larger than the entire screen, look for a tab at the top that says “Full page.” Even if you didn't initially scroll through the entire page, tapping it will cause a slider to appear on the right, showing the entire page. Click Done to save it, or crop it to only the desired region.
Keep Others Out of Your Private Tabs
Keeping your private tabs hidden is among the things iPhone can do. If you haven't used Safari for 15 minutes, your iPhone may demand authentication before displaying your private tabs. This is useful if you frequently allow others to use your phone and want to keep certain browsing habits hidden. To enable the functionality, click on Settings, then Safari, scroll down, and turn on the Require Face ID to Unlock Private Browsing switch.
Create 3D Models
One of the most incredible iPhone capabilities is generating 3D scans by moving your device about a space. You can use a third-party app like Polycam to achieve this with a regular iPhone by using photogrammetry techniques, which turn 2D photographs into 3D models. Alternatively, use the LiDAR scanner on an iPhone Pro model to obtain a more precise and comprehensive model.
This kind of scanner, which stands for Light Detection And Ranging – is found in the iPhone 12 Pro and later versions, as well as several iPad devices. Light waves bounce back into your iPhone to create a three-dimensional image, much like radar does. You will probably see modifications to many other useful features if your iPhone Pro has LiDAR capability.
Scan Document With Your iPhone Camera.
Until recently, scanning a document to convert physical pages into digital files required a dedicated scanner. Indeed, this still holds for flawless carbon copies. However, what if you simply use your notes app to quickly convert that section from your textbook into a quote? iOS has a clever solution, of course, and the camera on your iPhone is also useful for converting paper text to digital.
To begin, launch the application into where you wish to scan text. This might be Messages, Notes, or any other program that allows text entry. Hold your finger down for a few seconds, then let go in the text-entry field. “Scan Text” and a scanner icon ought to now show up.
Siri Can Read Your Texts
Have a lot on your plate but still want to read an article? Siri is capable of handling that using voice control. It’s among the things iPhone can do. In Safari, navigate to the article's webpage and press the small “aA” action button on the left of the address bar. A webpage can be formatted into an easily readable format by selecting Show Reader. Next, choose Listen to Page from the menu that appears when you hit the “aA” button once more. After that, a synthesized voice will read the story aloud, using the same accent and character as Siri voice on your iPhone.
Move Multiple Apps at Once
You may build a folder on the home screen by dragging apps on top of each other. However, what if you wish to move several apps to a different home screen page? Press down on one app until it wiggles, then tap several applications with another finger. They will be grouped, and as they are added, a number will increment. Drop them at once on a new page by dragging that stack without taking your finger off it.
Camera Shortcuts for Fast Photography
The Camera app opens by default when you swipe left on your iPhone's lock screen, though iOS 18 allows you to switch that shortcut to something else. Pressing the physical volume button rather than hitting the shutter button makes taking pictures considerably simpler.
When you swipe the Shutter button to the left, it takes a series of images in a sequence known as burst mode, whilst holding down the Shutter button takes video without needing to swipe into video mode. Cutting a second off the time it takes to take a picture or record a video might be helpful when trying to capture something brief, like running children or pets.
Recognize Sounds and Alerts You
It is possible to train your iPhone to identify sounds, such as a smoke alarm or doorbell, for accessibility purposes. Even though the accessibility feature is intended for hard-of-hearing individuals, there are other reasons why you might want to activate it. Enable Sound Recognition by going to Settings > Accessibility > Sound Recognition. This accessibility option requires a minor download. Select “Sounds” from this menu to configure alerts.
The iPhone is programmed to identify some of the most common sounds, such as animal noises, emergency vehicle sirens, dogs barking, and fire alarms. To add your own to the list, press “Custom Alarm.” Your gadget will notify you when it hears a sound, even if it's a background noise. Alternatively, you can use the accessibility function to start an automation. To do this, open the Shortcuts app, then start a new Personal Automation by selecting “Sound Recognition” as the trigger and using the “Automation” touch.
Hide Sensitive Apps
This little-known tip makes it easier to move any apps you don't use or don't want people to see out of sight entirely rather than trying to find a location or folder for them. It’s among the indefinite list of things iPhone can do. Thanks to the App Library, you may uninstall an app from your home screen without erasing it. To begin, press and hold the app that you wish to hide. A menu with several selections ought to show up after a few seconds. Choose “Remove App” from this choices menu. This will open a second option: select “Remove from Home Screen.”
Translate Language Without Internet
This is a huge data-saver for the holidays. With your iPhone, you can download several languages for offline translation. For instance, it can convert spoken English into spoken French when you talk using the Apple Translate app. It works well for situations where you need to figure out what something on a restaurant menu is simply by pointing your phone's camera at it. It is quite good. Although Apple cautions that the translation might not be as accurate when accessed online, it appears rather reliable.
Sign Documents
Nowadays, not everyone has a printer and scanner in their house, but Apple provides a simple method for digitally signing documents. Tap the thumbnail of the document you took a screenshot of. Click the Plus symbol in the bottom-right corner. The Signature option is one of them. Use an existing signature or sign immediately on the screen. After selecting “Done,” drag it to the screenshot's document. Put the signature there, adjust the size, and save it for sending.
Limit Your Social Media Time
Social media can consume a great deal of your time without your knowledge. Thankfully, you can set a time limit for using social media on your iPhone by using Screen Time. Go to Settings > Screen Time > App Limits to set the daily time allotment for these apps and enable app limits. A notification will appear, and the app will be momentarily “blocked” when you've gone over your allotted time.
You have three options from this point: either cease using it, postpone using the limit app for a minute (or fifteen minutes), or disregard the restriction for the day and unlock it. Instead of being a complete blocker, this feature works well as a reminder. Having a prompt can sometimes help you become more conscious of where your time is going, even if you ignore it (especially while you're supposed to be working).
Find People With Siri
Yes, finding people is among the things iPhone can do. You can ask Siri to locate someone. Just ask, “Where's Gordon?” And, well, it works if you know someone named Gordon. There are a few restrictions to using this location service. Using the Find My app, that individual must have given you their location. Not only can it locate your phone or MacBook, but it can also locate individuals. The Find My App has a specific People area where you can share your current location with friends or emergency contacts.
Use a Selective Silent Mode
There won't be any issues if you want someone to reach you, even if you have the Focus or Silent modes activated. Press the Emergency Bypass button in the Ringtone area of the person's contact list on your phone. It's a smart approach to prevent constantly switching between silent and non-silent settings.
Lock Any App
With iOS 18, you may lock an app to access it only via Touch ID, Face ID, or a passcode. Most Android phones can do this, too. Long press any app icon, and when the menu appears, pick Require Face ID (or whatever you have enabled). You could also select to hide the app and demand Face ID from the same app settings for more security. After that, clicking the search button in Spotlight will no longer display the app; instead, you must navigate to the Hidden part of your device's App Library, located on the farthest menu to the right on your home screen.
Identify Plants or Animals
By touching the Info button at the bottom of the screen, you may determine the exact nature of any shot you take of a plant, flower, tree, or animal. If your iPhone recognizes the subject, a star symbol will appear at the image's bottom. You can learn more about the plant or animal by looking up its details in the metadata.
Converse in Another Language
Last on our list of things iPhone can do is this. Although many speech and text translation apps are available in the App Store, Apple has one built into your iPhone that can even function offline. To begin, open the Translate app and type your language selections or speak your part of the conversation out loud using the microphone icons. To translate in a more organic conversational style, tap “Conversation” mode.
Simply speak normally after tapping the microphone icon to begin the discussion. If you want the feature to function offline, tap the ellipsis icon in the center of the app and select “Download Languages.” This is particularly helpful if you're traveling overseas and might not have enough data or cellphone reception to support online translation. It is important that you download both foreign and native languages.
Conclusion
The iPhone has revolutionized how we live, work, and play with its impressive features and capabilities. From enhanced reality experiences to advanced camera capabilities, the things iPhone can do are endless, making it an indispensable tool for modern life.
