We’re always looking for new functions that will enable us to make the most of Apple’s iPhone. They are after all considered to be among the greatest phones available, and with each new release of the iOS, we go further and further to discover what is concealed within. We also rarely experience disappointment because it feels like there is always a new hack or secret function to discover.
As 2022 comes to a close, we’ve compiled 11 of our favorite iPhone hacks from the previous year that we think will make you a more proficient iPhone user. These workarounds and tweaks range from tiny adjustments to significant features. Whether you’re using your iPhone for karaoke or photo editing, whether you’ve put it down the toilet or immediately regret sending that irate text to your employer, they’ll all help you make the most of it.
These 11 iPhone features will help you become a power user.
Before we get started, just be aware that several of the features we’ll be discussing below only became available with iOS 16 or later. As a result, you’ll need to make sure your iPhone is completely updated to use all of the hacks we cover. If you haven’t previously, take a look at our article on updating an iPhone, where we walk you through the process.
For portable karaoke, use Apple Music Sing.
Just in time for the holidays, Apple Music Sing, a new feature in the Apple Music app, goes beyond simply showing a song’s lyrics. It is a part of the iOS 16.2 update. It gives you an incredible karaoke experience by allowing you to lower the vocal volume so you can hear yourself singing over the top. Additionally, it supports tens of millions of music. Simply choose a song, tap the song to start it playing, and then click the Lyrics icon in the bottom left. The vocal volume can then be changed by tapping and holding the Apple Sing symbol.
Using Visual Look Up, extricate a subject from a photograph.
There was a time when we could spend hours in Photoshop painstakingly removing the background and cutting off the subject of a picture. currently not. We now have a fantastic new option in Visual Look Up that allows you to choose an image, possibly one stored in your camera roll, in Safari, or Quick Look, and just press and hold on to the subject. Then you can hit the Share button and decide whether to share or copy something. Only the subject will be shared or copied in either scenario, thus the backdrop should have been cleanly removed.
Disable spam messages on iPhone
Do you have to pick up the package and cover the postage costs? Have you unexpectedly been awarded a reward for a contest you didn’t enter? The likelihood is that both questions are “no,” yet those spam texts can be incredibly persistent. While a sender’s number can be blocked, using the spam filter in Messages is more efficient and makes using an iPhone more enjoyable. Toggle the Filter Unknown Senders toggle to on by opening Settings, selecting Messages, and then scrolling down to Message Filtering. Open Messages and choose Known Senders immediately. The issue is resolved.
Use the iPhone camera to identify any plant.
Thanks to Visual Look Up, you can identify a lovely perennial during winter or a vibrant annual when the weather warms up again (the same set of tools that lets you lift images from the background). Without spending hours trying to describe the species of flowers and plants using the Google search engine, you may identify the species using Visual Look Up’s identification capability. Simply open the Camera app, photograph a plant, and then see the photo in the Photos app. You can touch Look Up and look through the results when you swipe up from the bottom of the image.
Delete Multiple contacts
As many of you will have discovered, deleting several contacts on an iPhone hasn’t always been simple, but the release of iOS 16 has made things a little bit easier. You can activate the Contacts app as long as your contacts are in a batch, or placed next to one another in a list (or launch the Phone app and tap Contacts). Then, tap one contact with two fingers and drag it up or down to indicate any nearby contacts you want to delete. When you release the block, you can long hold it and select Delete Contacts. Even though it’s not the most elegant method, it served as a useful workaround for us.
