iPhone 14 Pros: Discover the 10 coolest hidden features

From the power on/off sound to Emergency SOS via satellite and beyond, here are the ten coolest hidden features of the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max.

Apple’s Pro-branded phones offer some hardware advantages over their non-Prop counterparts, like bigger screens and better cameras. If you recently purchased an iPhone 14 Pro or iPhone 14 Pro Max, there are plenty of hidden features to discover, from the power on/off sound to Emergency SOS via satellite and beyond.

Watch the video and read along to learn about ten hidden features of the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max that you’ll like, and how to enable and use them.

The ten coolest hidden iPhone 14 Pro features to discover

1. Enable the power on/off sound

A male hand holding an iPhone 14 Pro Max on top of a work desk, showcasing the rear cameras
Your iPhone can play a sound when turned on or off | Image: Michael Billig/iDB

To hear a sound when turning the phone on/off, go to Settings → Accessibility → Audio/Visual, then slide the switch next to Power On & Off Sound to ON.

The device will now play different sounds when you power it on or off. The sound plays right before the phone shuts down and immediately after being turned on—handy if you are unsure whether your iPhone has shut down completely.

2. Customize your Always-On display

In Settings → Display & Brightness → Always-On Display, you can customize how your iPhone 14 Pro display works. By default, the Always-On Display switch is turned on, dimming your Lock Screen wallpaper when the phone is idle.

iPhone 14 Pro laid flat on a table next to iPad and AirPods Pro, with the time and date shown on its always-on display
You can customize your Always-On display | Image: Victor Carvalho / Unsplash

Toggle it off to shut the display down when the phone is idle. You can choose whether to see notifications and your wallpaper on the Lock Screen when the Always-On feature is active. Turning both off will create a minimalist Lock Screen with just the current time and widgets, saving a bit of battery life.

3. Multitask with two activities in the Dynamic Island

Closeup of the Dynamic Island on an iPhone 14 Pro
The Dynamic Island can host two apps at once | Image: James Yarema/Unsplash

Dynamic Island can host two apps at once. If you’re playing a song in the Music app, for instance, and then switch to the Clock app and start a timer, the Dynamic Island will split into two portions—your timer in a smaller bubble on the right and your music in a pill-shaped area on the left. A smaller bubble will appear whenever you have an app running in Dynamic Island and then start a second one.

4. Interact with the Dynamic Island

Dynamic Island aka the notch on the iPhone 14 Pros
Image: Apple

With an activity running in the Dynamic Island, press and hold anywhere within the Dynamic Island to reveal additional controls. If listening to music, for example, this action will expand the playback controls, album art and the scrubber. If you have a timer going, the expanded controls let you cancel or pause it.

5. Dismiss anything from the Dynamic Island

iPhone 14 Pro Max displaying the Lock Screen with the Dynamic Island at the top
Swipe inward or outward on the Dynamic Island | Image: Lucas Hoang/Unsplash

You cannot permanently turn off the Dynamic Island, but you can immediately dismiss any interaction or animation by swiping inward or outward across it.

This will stop the animation and shrink the Dynamic Island area to its standard size. So, for instance, you can easily dismiss the pulsing red dot animation in the Dynamic Island when using the Screen Recording feature until you stop recording.

6. Shoot steady video with Action Mode

A still image from a music video that videographer Jonathan Morisson shot using iPhone 13 Pro and Apple's Cinematic Mode for Julia Wolf's song "Falling in Love"
Action Mode reduces shakiness via cropping | Image: Jonathan Morisson/YouTube

If you don’t use a gimbal, the Action Mode feature in the Camera app will help you capture steadier video, but you’ll have to put up with some aggressive cropping—Action Mode shoots in either 1080p or 2.8k resolution at up to 60 frames per second (so no 4K Action Mode video for you, sorry!). Swipe to Video in the Camera app and hit the Action Mode icon in the top-left corner that resembles a runner.

This feature requires lots of light to produce good results. You’ll see “More light required” in the Camera app if it’s too dark. When using Action Mode in low-light situations, turn on the Action Mode Lower Light switch in Settings → Camera. Doing so will decrease the stabilization to optimize for less bright scenes.

7. Enable peak brightness outdoors

Blue iPhone 14 Plus held in hand, with the lock screen active
Peak brightness is available with auto-brightness turned on | Image: Apple

The iPhone’s OLED display is Apple’s brightest mobile screen at 1000 nits typical brightness. iOS will boost the display to 1200 nits when watching HDR video (to stop this behavior, disable the View Full HDR toggle in Settings → Photos).

Your iPhone 14 is also capable of 2000 nits of peak brightness, but only when iOS is set to automatically adjust the brightness—go to Settings → Accessibility → Display & Text Size and turn on the Auto-Brightness switch at the bottom.

Now when you’re outside, and direct sunlight makes it challenging to discern what’s displayed on the screen, iOS will crank up the brightness. Peak 2000-nit brightness isn’t sustainable, so you may notice a brightness drop after a few minutes.

8. See how Emergency SOS via satellite works

Composition showing an iPhone 14 Pro with the Emergency SOS via satellite demo, set against an image of Earth and an orbiting satellite in the background
The demo doesn’t actually call emergency services | Image: Apple

The iPhone 14 family provides satellite connectivity to message 911 and update your location in the Find My app. The feature automatically kicks into action when you try to use the Emergency SOS feature in an area with no cellular and Wi-Fi networks available. You can also try it out without actually calling emergency services.

To do so, go to Settings → Emergency SOS and choose Try Demo at the bottom, provided you live in one of the supported regions for Emergency SOS via satellite. If you don’t see this option, the feature is unavailable in your area.

9. Turn on the 48-megapixel photo capture

Closeup of the back cameras on deep purple iPhone 14 Pro
Only the primary camera is 48 megapixels | Image: Quinn Battick / Unsplash

Your iPhone 14 Pro has a 48-megapixel camera, but iOS defaults the Camera app to shoot 12-megapixel photos. This uses the pixel binning technique, which merges four pixels into one to improve light sensitivity on images.

To get 48-megapixel images, go to Settings → Camera → Formats and turn on Apple ProRAW under Photo Capture, then set ProRAW Resolution to 48 MP. You’ll now see the RAW indicator in the top-right corner of the Camera app, which you can toggle whenever you’d like to shoot 48-megapixel photos.

The stock Photos app and third-party ones like Darkroom let you edit RAW images. However, each 48-megapixel ProRAW image will take up about 75 megabytes of storage, or 25 megabytes for 12-megapixel ProRAW shots, versus two megabytes or less for regular 12-megapixel HEIFF photos (High Efficiency).

You can only capture 48-megapixel photos with the main rear camera. Images taken in Night Mode and flash and macro shots are always saved at twelve megapixels.

10. Cinematic Mode upgraded to 4K resolution

A still image from a music video that videographer Jonathan Morisson shot using iPhone 13 Pro and Apple's Cinematic Mode for Julia Wolf's song "Falling in Love"
You can now shoot with Cinematic Mode in 4K resolution | Image: Apple

Cinematic Mode debuted on the iPhone 13 Pros as a way to shoot video with the cinematic depth-of-field effect. To use it, simply swipe to Cinematic in the Camera app and start capturing video. Your iPhone will dynamically focus on the frontmost subject, but you can adjust the focus afterwards in the stock Photos app.

The new phones boost Cinematic Mode from 1080p to 4K resolution. To adjust your Cinematic Mode resolution, go to Settings → Camera → Record Cinematic, then choose between 1080p HD at 30 fps, 4K at 24 fps and 4K at 30 fps.

What are your favorite iPhone 14 Pro features?

These are some of the coolest, underrated features available on the iPhone 14 family. Most of them require the Pro models, but some like Emergency SOS via satellite are available across the regular and Pro models. Some of the listed features, like the power on/off sound, may also be available on older iPhones.

What are your favorite hidden features on the iPhone 14 or iPhone 14 Pro? Be sure to let us know by sharing in the commenting section down below.