iOS Tips & Tricks

Last updated for iOS 17

Touch and hold the back button on a navigation bar to view the entire navigation history.
Tap the status bar at the top of the screen to scroll to the top of the current page.
Touch and hold the scroll bar to drag it to a new scroll position.
In a list with selectable items (e.g. Mail, Messages, Notes), tap with 2 fingers to select an item, and then keep dragging with 2 fingers to select more items.
Touch and hold items in Control Center to access more options.
In the print dialog, pinch outward from the print preview at the bottom to create a PDF of the printed content.
Double tap on a Picture-in-Picture (PiP) video to change its size.
Touch and hold on the flashlight icon in Control Center to change the flashlight brightness level.
Touch and hold on the Shazam icon in Control Center to view the history of recognized songs.
Touch and hold on a time input wheel to bring up a number pad to enter an exact time.
Tap and hold on a screenshot preview to directly bring up the share sheet.

Touch and hold the Space bar to move the cursor. While still holding the Space bar, tap the keyboard area with another finger to create a text selection.
Touch and hold the emoji icon to switch to a one-side keyboard for one-handed typing.
Pinch in with three fingers to copy the selected text. Pinch in twice to cut.
Pinch out with three fingers to paste.
Tap with three fingers to bring up the text toolbar.
Swift left and right with three fingers to undo and redo.
Touch and hold the 123 key to automatically go back after selecting a character.
Swipe to a number after pressing the 123 key to automatically select a single number.
Double tap on text to select a word. Triple tap to select a sentence.
To temporarily enable caps lock, use one finger to hold the shift key while using the other finger to type letters.
Tap on the original text box to exit emoji keyboard search mode.
Long press on a letter key to insert an accented variant.
Long press on the 0 key to insert a degrees symbol.

If an app within a folder has a notification, long press on the folder to quickly open the app with the notification.
Instead of dragging an app icon across multiple home page screens, use one finger to select the app icon and use another finger to swipe across home screen pages.
Move multiple app icons simultaneously by tapping on the other icons to create a drag group.

Touch and hold the new tab button to see recently closed tabs.
In the tab viewer screen, tap on the status bar to scroll up to the search field. After searching, touch and hold the Cancel button to close all tabs matching the search text.
In the tab viewer screen, long press on any tab to change how the tabs are arranged/sorted.
In the tab viewer screen, long press on a tab group to copy all tabs as links.
Tap on a link with two fingers to open it in the background.
To take a screenshot of the entire webpage, take a screenshot like normal and then switch to the Full Page tab at the top of the screenshot preview.
Touch and hold the bookmarks button in the bottom bar to add the current webpage to the Reading List.
Touch and hold the tabs button in the bottom bar (the double square icon) to switch between tab groups and access tab management actions.
When the address bar is at the bottom (Settings > Safari > Tabs > Tab Bar), swipe horizontally across the address bar to move between tabs. Swipe up on the address bar to view all tabs.
Touch and hold on the reader icon in the address bar to toggle reader mode.

Touch and hold the shutter button to quickly start taking a video (without having to first switch to video mode).
Drag the shutter button to the left to take a burst of images.
Touch and hold on part of the picture preview to lock auto-focus.
Enable Settings > Camera > Mirror Front Camera to have the front-facing camera preview the same orientation as the picture will be taken.

Timers can be configured to stop playing the current audio source (YouTube, Spotify, etc.) when the timer expires.

Touch and hold the Compose mail icon to view drafts.
Touch and hold an email and select More > Notify Me to get notifications for that specific email thread.
Touch and hold on the Trash icon when viewing a message to archive the message instead of deleting it.

Long press on the + button to directly select a photo.
When sending a message using iMessage, long press on the send button to add an animation.
Swipe to the left in a conversation to see exact timestamps.

Tap on the timestamp at the top of a note to toggle between Created At and Edited At.
In a bulleted or numbered list, swipe left or right on a list element to indent or unindent.

To zoom with one finger, double tap and keep pressing after the second tap, and then move the finger up and down to zoom in and out.

Say "Learn to pronounce [name of contact]" to teach Siri to correctly pronounce a particular name.
Say "Remind me about this" to create a reminder that is linked to whatever is currently on the screen.
Say "[Name of contact] is my {husband,wife,boss}" to be able to refer to them by that moniker. Alternatively, assign the contact a nickname in the Contacts app to refer to them to Siri with that nickname.
Say "Split a check [number] ways" to have Siri help split a bill and calculate tip.
Ask "What flights are overhead?" to get flight numbers and altitudes of overhead planes.

Turn off Settings > App Store > In-App Ratings & Reviews to stop getting nagged about app reviews.

Tap the green dial button to re-dial the previous number.
To end a call without making it look like you hung up, switch to Airplane Mode which will show the call as failed.
Dial *3001#12345#* to access advanced cellular data diagnostic info.
Touch and hold 0 to input a + to enter a country code.
Long press on the Mute button to put the call on hold.

Touch and hold the "Download and Install" button on the software update screen to view an additional option to install the software update later that night.