Every once in a while I get asked about how to do something dead simple on the iPhone, such as moving icons around. To most of us, this is very basic stuff, but not everyone knows everything about the iPhone, which is why I decided to write a post with 10 tips and tricks.
Shake to Undo
When you are writing an email or a note, you can shake your iPhone to undo what you just wrote. If you just deleted some text from the note or the email, you can also shake to undo and it will bring back the text you accidentally deleted. Note that this feature works for every application that allows you to input text (ie SMS, Tweetie, etc...)
Quickly Silence or Send Incoming Call to Voicemail
If you are receiving a phone call you don't want to answer, you can press the power button or any volume buttons once to mute the ringing. Now if you want to send the person calling you directly to voicemail, simply press the power button twice.
Zooming on Images in Safari
To quickly zoom on an image in the Safari web browser, simply double tap on the image.
Zooming on Text in Safari
Just like you can zoom on images, you can zoom on text in Safari by double tapping it. If you are on a website with multiple columns (such as the New York Times website), it will zoom in the column, making it easy for you to read what's in it.
Save or Copy an Image
You can easily save images from virtually any application (ie Safari, Mail, Twitter app, etc...) by holding your finger on the image and selecting "Save Image" or "Copy". If you select to save the image, it will be saved in your camera roll.
Quickly Go Back to the Top of A Page
In any application, if you are scrolling down (ie scrolling down a web page in Safari) and you quickly want to go back to the top of the page, you don't have to scoll up. Simply tap the status bar (this is where the time is displayed) and it will take you all the way up the page.
Preview Links
When browsing a web page for example, you may see a link to another page. If you are curious to see where this links may take you without having to open it, simply put and hold your finger on it. It will show you the destination of the link, also giving you the opportunity to open it, open it in a new page or even copy the link.
Save Time Typing Domain Names
When you are in Safari and you want to go to another web page, you don't have to type the full URL. For example, if you want to go to https://www.idownloadblog.com from Safari, just type iphonedownloadblog and the "www." and ".com" will be added automatically.
Take a Screenshot
You can take a screenshot of any screen on your iPhone by simply holding the Power and Home button together. You will see your screen flashing and making the camera noise. The photo will be saved in your camera roll.
Add Your Favorite Websites to Your Springboard
If you have favorite sites that you visit all the time, it might be a good idea to add them to your springboard (the main screen where all the apps are). To do this, simply go to the webpage you want to add to your springboard, tap "+" at the bottom, and choose "Add to Home Screen". This will create an icon on your home screen and you'll be able to access this page quickly, without having to open Safari first.
Do you have more tips? Please share them in the comments.