Check out some pretty cool—and underrated—iPhone features in iOS that will surprise and delight you. Grab your iPhone and follow along with our video!
Video: 5 underrated iPhone features in iOS
We’re highlighting a few small but useful new features in iOS that we believe are wrongfully underrated. These aren’t tentpole features but rather little-known ones that won’t jump out at you every time you unlock your phone. We think more people should use these under-appreciated features so we’ve asked our videographer Michael Billig (@michael_billig) to put together a hands-on video walkthrough.
A new way to use Spotlight in iOS 16
We’d appreciate if you shared this video with your friends and support folks. One of the gems deals with the removal of a pull-down gesture on the home screen that was used in iOS 15 and earlier to invoke Spotlight search. In iOS 16, however, you must tap the dots at the bottom of the screen which denote home screen pages. Now you can bring up Spotlight search easily when using the phone in one-handed mode. Read: How to fix apps not showing in Spotlight search on iPhone
Spotlight on Back Tap
But did you know that iOS also turns Spotlight into one of the available actions for the Back Tap feature, which lets you invoke the systemwide search feature by tapping the back of your iPhone? Me neither! That’s one of the several such features that Michael discusses in his video so be sure to give it a quick watch and learn something new. Read: macOS Spotlight tips for searching faster
When will iOS 16 release publicly?
iOS 16 and other major Apple OS updates are currently being tested. The updates will spend the whole summer in a testing mode before they are released to the public in the fall. Apple permits early adopters and just about anyone to test-drive iOS 16 ahead of release by signing up for the Apple Beta Software Program at beta.apple.com with your Apple ID (no developer ID required). You’ll need to enroll your device by downloading a special configuration profile, which will expose the iOS 16 beta and subsequent beta updates via Apple’s Software Update mechanism.