10 Useful iPhone Tips and Tricks You May Not Know About

Over the years, the iPhone operating system has become complicated. Apple adds new features with each version of iOS, and many of them aren’t always obvious, leading to hidden iPhone features you may not be aware of.

The tips below assume you have iOS 26 or later installed.

You can turn most app icons into widgets right from the iPhone home screen. Long-press an app icon and select one of the squares at the top to choose the size of the widget. It works with any Apple or third-party app that has a widget option. Long press again and select the top left icon with four squares to turn it into a standard app icon.

See where you’ve been

In the Maps app, you can check your location history to see the places you’ve visited. This is useful if you went away for the weekend, found a good restaurant, and want to remember where it was the next time you visit.

You can access this feature by opening the Maps app, tapping your profile, selecting Places, then choosing Visited Places. Places are organized by categories such as leisure or shopping, and by city.

You can clear your history by scrolling to the bottom of the interface, or select a period of time for which visits will be retained. Go to Settings > Maps > Location > Visited Places to turn it off completely.

Set custom vibrations

You probably know that you can set custom sounds for people calling or texting, but you can also do the same thing for vibration patterns if you keep your iPhone silent all the time, like civilized people do.

The important people you message can each have a different vibration pattern, letting you know who’s texting without having to look at your phone.

To set a vibration pattern for someone, open the People app and select it. Tap Edit in the upper right corner, then tap Text Tone or Ringtone. Tap Haptics, then select Create new vibration. From there, you can use taps and presses to create your own vibration patterns.

Customize your lock screen buttons

Your lock screen buttons don’t need to open the Flashlight and Camera app. You can set them to any Control Center option, including third-party apps.

To do this, go to the lock screen and long press. Tap Customize if you want to change your current wallpaper and lock screen, or tap the “+” button to create a new one. From there, tap the “-” button on the apps on the left or right of the screen to remove them, then tap “+” to choose something new to add.

Back tap gestures

Back Tap has been around for a long time, but it’s easy to forget it exists. You can use it to tap the back of the iPhone and do whatever you want, from taking a screenshot to turning on the flashlight. It even works with shortcuts you created.

Go to Settings > Accessibility > Touch, then scroll down to Back Tap to configure it. You can set actions for a double tap or triple tap.

Screenshot of a web page

When you press the side button and volume buttons to take a screenshot, the default is a capture of what is currently on your screen. If you want to capture an entire web page or PDF, there is a way to do it. Take the screenshot as usual, then tap on it (if full-screen previews are disabled). Select “Full Page” at the top of the interface, then choose where to save your extra-long screenshot.

Hide apps

If you have apps that you don’t want to show on the “home screen”, you can hide them one by one by long-pressing and tapping the Face ID option, or you can hide an entire app page at once. To hide an app page, long press on the home screen to enter jiggle mode.

Tap the dots at the bottom of the screen, then select the app page you want to hide. Apps hidden in this way do not appear in the Hidden folder in the App Library. You can always find them via Spotlight search and they are visible in the appropriate category in the App Library. To view a page, follow the same steps and tap the checkbox to bring it back.

Quickly set a timer

If you add the Timer option to Control Center, you can long-press it to get a simple slider that lets you select how long you want to set it for.

In Control Center, tap the “+” button, then choose Add Control. Select the timer icon to add it to the Control Center. Long-press the timer, choose a duration from the slider, then tap Start. Duration varies from two hours to one minute.

Delete location data from photos

If you’re sending a photo to someone, you may want to first remove metadata such as location. To do this, select an image in the Photos app, swipe up, and tap Fit location. From there, you can choose No Location.

Alternatively, when you share a photo, you can turn off metadata in it. Select a photo and tap the Share button. Tap Options and turn off Location.

You can use timers to control how long music, podcasts, audiobooks, and other media play, which is useful if you only want to listen for a short time at night.

In the Clock app, tap Timers. Set a period of time, then tap the When timer ends option. Scroll down and select Stop playing. When your timer goes off, all currently playing media will stop.

More tips

Do you have a favorite iPhone trick that most people don’t know? Let us know in the comments below.