Tips for new iphone user (coming from years on Android)?
July 3, 2024 5:54 PM Subscribe
I've recently ordered a new Iphone 15 Pro, after using Android for years. I'm wondering if there are quick tips to ensure I'm able to use my new Iphone efficiently. I'd like to discover any useful short cuts (for example, I could swipe my android screen for a quick screen grab). Anyone else made this transition and have any tips or resources? Thanks.
Best answer: I switched last year. Feel free to memail me if there's a specific question.
Some general stuff:
swipe right on the ____ bar at the bottom of the screen to move through the open apps. Once you've swiped right you can then swipe left. This is used similarly to how you'd double tap on the open apps icon on Android to move between two open apps.
you can use Siri for a bunch of stuff. Use the word Schedule to put something in your callender and the word Remind to put something in your reminders app. they have different notifications so you might want to experiment and see which you prefer.
you can say, "hey, Siri, remind me to buy toothpaste the next time I'm at the grocery store" and it will do so.
Siri is great for timing stuff. Use Set a Timer to do exact seconds and Set an Alarm for specific times. So if you say set an alarm for 1 minute at 658, it'll ring at 659 even if that's 10 second later. If you say, set a timer for one minute it'll do a literal 60 seconds. You can have multiple alarms and can differentiate by naming them. Set a Timer for 3 minutes called Eggs, for example.
you should look up some Youtube videos on the Shortcuts app. It's very powerful. For instance, I take a big walk first thing in the morning so have a shortcut so that if I leave the house between 5 am and 7 am, it starts a walk workout. When I return to the house, it stops the workout and saves it. If I say, Hey, Siri, Silencio, it silences my phone and watch, turns off all the lights, and opens the Criterion Channel app.
If you have a someone else in your life with a 15 or later, you can text them your location with the + button in imessage and they can be lead to you. Great in crowd situations. You can also use the Name Drop feature with other iOS 17 or later people (check youtube for that term).
For Youtube I like the tips from Steven Robles and Proper Honest Tech.
I strongly suggest you get a good case. Screen replacement is insanely expensive ($500 on the 15 pro max). I suggest Peak Design cases. I had Android for up until last year and never had a case.
posted by dobbs at 8:28 PM on July 3 [4 favorites]
Some general stuff:
swipe right on the ____ bar at the bottom of the screen to move through the open apps. Once you've swiped right you can then swipe left. This is used similarly to how you'd double tap on the open apps icon on Android to move between two open apps.
you can use Siri for a bunch of stuff. Use the word Schedule to put something in your callender and the word Remind to put something in your reminders app. they have different notifications so you might want to experiment and see which you prefer.
you can say, "hey, Siri, remind me to buy toothpaste the next time I'm at the grocery store" and it will do so.
Siri is great for timing stuff. Use Set a Timer to do exact seconds and Set an Alarm for specific times. So if you say set an alarm for 1 minute at 658, it'll ring at 659 even if that's 10 second later. If you say, set a timer for one minute it'll do a literal 60 seconds. You can have multiple alarms and can differentiate by naming them. Set a Timer for 3 minutes called Eggs, for example.
you should look up some Youtube videos on the Shortcuts app. It's very powerful. For instance, I take a big walk first thing in the morning so have a shortcut so that if I leave the house between 5 am and 7 am, it starts a walk workout. When I return to the house, it stops the workout and saves it. If I say, Hey, Siri, Silencio, it silences my phone and watch, turns off all the lights, and opens the Criterion Channel app.
If you have a someone else in your life with a 15 or later, you can text them your location with the + button in imessage and they can be lead to you. Great in crowd situations. You can also use the Name Drop feature with other iOS 17 or later people (check youtube for that term).
For Youtube I like the tips from Steven Robles and Proper Honest Tech.
I strongly suggest you get a good case. Screen replacement is insanely expensive ($500 on the 15 pro max). I suggest Peak Design cases. I had Android for up until last year and never had a case.
posted by dobbs at 8:28 PM on July 3 [4 favorites]
There is a lot of configurability in the phone, but it's not always where you expect it. Some apps have their settings in the app itself; some (particular Apple's own) put them all in the Settings app. There are some settings relating to systemwide features, like location monitoring or camera access, that might be in the app itself and the Settings app. The Settings app does have search, so if there's something you think might be in there, you can search for it.
I recommend spending some time with the Notifications settings (in the Settings app) to calibrate your annoyance levels.
Swipe down from the top-right corner to get access to the Control Center, for things like screen brightness, music playback, etc. The icons on this are customizable. Swipe down from the top-left to see what's on your lock screen. Swipe left to view a page full of widgets (also customizable). Swipe past the last page of apps to see all your apps in one place (this is similar to a view you had on Android); it's possible to delete an app from the regular pages but still have it accessible on the all-in-one page. Hold down an app icon to make the icons jiggle so you can rearrange them; drag one app icon onto another to create a folder containing both. Swiping up quickly from the bottom exits the current app; doing it more slowly brings up an app switcher showing half-sized windows of each app; swiping up on one of those windows force-quits that app. This is usually not necessary or helpful, but once in a while it is.
Hold down the lock button and a volume button to put the phone in "emergency mode." This does a few things: it lets anyone access your emergency medical info (which you can set up in the Health app, probably a good idea); it lets anyone use your phone to make an emergency call; and it disables biometric authentication until the next time you enter your passcode (handy if you plan on going to a protest). Hitting the lock button 5 times quickly has the same effect.
You should have good battery life, but if you're ever worried about being able to recharge, put the phone in low power mode—you'll barely notice the difference. This is in Settings > Battery, but you can add a low-power icon to the Control Center. If I'm traveling and will be out and about all day and using my phone intensively, I switch to low power.
What started out as "Do Not Disturb" has expanded to a Focus feature. You can create as many foci as you want (it comes out of the box with Do Not Disturb, Home, and Work). This is very customizable and I won't go into it all here. You can set your focus (or no focus) in the Control Center.
posted by adamrice at 7:46 AM on July 4
I recommend spending some time with the Notifications settings (in the Settings app) to calibrate your annoyance levels.
Swipe down from the top-right corner to get access to the Control Center, for things like screen brightness, music playback, etc. The icons on this are customizable. Swipe down from the top-left to see what's on your lock screen. Swipe left to view a page full of widgets (also customizable). Swipe past the last page of apps to see all your apps in one place (this is similar to a view you had on Android); it's possible to delete an app from the regular pages but still have it accessible on the all-in-one page. Hold down an app icon to make the icons jiggle so you can rearrange them; drag one app icon onto another to create a folder containing both. Swiping up quickly from the bottom exits the current app; doing it more slowly brings up an app switcher showing half-sized windows of each app; swiping up on one of those windows force-quits that app. This is usually not necessary or helpful, but once in a while it is.
Hold down the lock button and a volume button to put the phone in "emergency mode." This does a few things: it lets anyone access your emergency medical info (which you can set up in the Health app, probably a good idea); it lets anyone use your phone to make an emergency call; and it disables biometric authentication until the next time you enter your passcode (handy if you plan on going to a protest). Hitting the lock button 5 times quickly has the same effect.
You should have good battery life, but if you're ever worried about being able to recharge, put the phone in low power mode—you'll barely notice the difference. This is in Settings > Battery, but you can add a low-power icon to the Control Center. If I'm traveling and will be out and about all day and using my phone intensively, I switch to low power.
What started out as "Do Not Disturb" has expanded to a Focus feature. You can create as many foci as you want (it comes out of the box with Do Not Disturb, Home, and Work). This is very customizable and I won't go into it all here. You can set your focus (or no focus) in the Control Center.
posted by adamrice at 7:46 AM on July 4
In your phone contacts, the contact card for yourself lets you add references like your parents, your spouse, your siblings. So you can easily say "Siri, call my brother at work" and it will know who your brother is and what the work number is.
Siri has its critics, and there are some times when it doesn't do what I expect it to do, but I've found if you use Siri conversationally, you'll have better luck. I've witnessed people say things like "Siri, get navigation direction to XXX" when it's far easier to say "Siri, take me home" or "... to work" or "... to the grocery store." It will suggest some nearby grocery stores. If you say "... to Kroger" it will run through just the nearest Kroger stores. "One location is on XXX and it gets 4 stars on Yelp. Do you want that one?"
You can automatically share the WiFi details with phones nearby, so they can easily join networks without needing to type in passwords.
In iOS 18, coming soon (and with certain features only available for newer phones) you'll be able to turn on eye tracking as an accessibility feature. Seemingly borrowing some eye-tracking tech from the Vision Pro headsets, allowing you to navigate around your phone just by looking at things.
Third-party app wise, a lot of developers develop for iPhone first and you'll get to take advantage of some smartly designed apps.
posted by emelenjr at 1:19 PM on July 4
Siri has its critics, and there are some times when it doesn't do what I expect it to do, but I've found if you use Siri conversationally, you'll have better luck. I've witnessed people say things like "Siri, get navigation direction to XXX" when it's far easier to say "Siri, take me home" or "... to work" or "... to the grocery store." It will suggest some nearby grocery stores. If you say "... to Kroger" it will run through just the nearest Kroger stores. "One location is on XXX and it gets 4 stars on Yelp. Do you want that one?"
You can automatically share the WiFi details with phones nearby, so they can easily join networks without needing to type in passwords.
In iOS 18, coming soon (and with certain features only available for newer phones) you'll be able to turn on eye tracking as an accessibility feature. Seemingly borrowing some eye-tracking tech from the Vision Pro headsets, allowing you to navigate around your phone just by looking at things.
Third-party app wise, a lot of developers develop for iPhone first and you'll get to take advantage of some smartly designed apps.
posted by emelenjr at 1:19 PM on July 4
You can get to the camera or flashlight from the lock screen by pressing the (screen) buttons at the bottom of the lock screen.
Swipe down from the top right corner to get a control panel that can quickly set the phone to "do not disturb" (the moon icon) or can lock the screen horizontally (the lock button).
If you take a clear photo of text, you can then tap the photo to highlight the text and copy-paste the text from the photo into a word processor!! Magical.
posted by nouvelle-personne at 9:09 PM on July 4
Swipe down from the top right corner to get a control panel that can quickly set the phone to "do not disturb" (the moon icon) or can lock the screen horizontally (the lock button).
If you take a clear photo of text, you can then tap the photo to highlight the text and copy-paste the text from the photo into a word processor!! Magical.
posted by nouvelle-personne at 9:09 PM on July 4
Take a picture of wildlife or fauna / flowers and then go into the Photos app to see the photo. Swipe up, and it will tell you what animal or plant you've taken a picture of (if this doesn't work for you, you'll need to go into settings and enable Siri Search).
Take a picture of something and then press and hold on the subject and it will be lifted from the photo and you can turn it into a sticker.
posted by dobbs at 3:21 PM on July 5
Take a picture of something and then press and hold on the subject and it will be lifted from the photo and you can turn it into a sticker.
posted by dobbs at 3:21 PM on July 5
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You can take a screenshot by squeezing the power down and volume up button at the same time.
In most places, tapping the very top of the screen will scroll you back up to the top. Unfortunately for apps that scroll new things on the bottom (like Messages) there's no way I know of to scroll all the way to the bottom.
If you press and hold space on the keyboard, the keyboard turns into a trackpad for moving the cursor around.
I'm a keyboard person so I often don't bother using the home screen app icons (which are on multiple pages and/or in folders) instead I just swipe down and search by the first few letters of the name, if it hasn't already figured out what I want.
There's a ton of useful stuff you can do with Siri and AFAICT it's not all documented by Apple, but there's a bunch of tips on reddit (and a lot of other places too)
posted by aubilenon at 7:43 PM on July 3