With the iPhone 8 announcement coming sometime this fall, a lot of attention seems to focused on Apple’s hardware. The real awesome features, though, are coming in iOS 11. If you have already installed the iOS 11 beta then you know exactly what I’m talking about. Sleek, sexy hardware is great but knowing these iOS 11 tips and tricks will make you the master of iOS.
Best iOS 11 Tips And Tricks
Customize Control Center
Swiping up from the bottom of the screen has always opened up control center. There you could quickly toggle certain controls like bluetooth, wifi, airplane mode, and more. However, until iOS 11, control center only contained the controls that Apple told it to. This meant some toggles were noticeably absent from control center. Not any more! In iOS 11 you can customize control center to feature the controls that you use the most. If you want to customize your control center go to “Settings” then tap “Control Center.” There, you can add and remove shortcuts to make control center work the way you want it to. This is arguably the most functional update to iOS and one of the handiest things to learn from our iOS 11 tips and tricks list.
WiFi Sharing
90% of the people that come to your house will ask for your WiFi password. That’s a stat I made up from my own personal experience but I believe it holds true no matter who you are. If you’re like me, you set your WiFi password when you got a new router and proceeded to immediately forget it. Every time someone connects to the WiFi they have to try 8 variations of your dog’s name and a significant year before they actually get it right. Well, my friends, those days of guessing passwords until you remember “Fluffy1960” are over! Now, phones running iOS 11 can share WiFi passwords simply by being near each other and within range. Just hold an unlocked phone that’s connected to the WiFi network near the unconnected phone and a request will pop up asking if the user would like to send the WiFi password wirelessly. No more guessing games for you!
Type to Talk to Siri
Siri is arguably the world’s most well-known voice assistant. We have asked her to tell us jokes and posed life’s most significant questions to her. Now, you can type those questions. Just enter the Siri interface and start typing! This is perfect for those questions that you don’t want to speak out loud in a public area. Just discreetly type Siri your question or command and move on.
Turn off FaceTime Photography
FaceTime has a feature that allows you to take live photos of your call. This may not be such an awesome feature if you are prone to having, ahem, “intimate” conversations on FaceTime. Just go into “Settings” then tap “FaceTime” and turn off FaceTime Live Photos. Of course, this does not disable the other caller from taking a screenshot so you should still be careful with what you show on FaceTime. These aren’t just iOS 11 tips and tricks; this is real-life advice!
Record Your Screen
This feature has always been available through third-party apps but now it’s baked right into iOS 11. You can now add screen recording to your control center (see tip 1 for how to do so). Now, if you want to record your screen, simply swipe up, tap the screen recording icon, and go! This is perfect for us tech writers who want to review the latest app. It’s also a fantastic feature for anyone who wants to show how to do something on an iPhone. For example, if your parents continuously dog you with questions about how to delete a Facebook comment on mobile, you can create a quick video instead of trying to explain it with words… We all know how well that goes.
Focus on the Road
Apple has added a “Do Not Disturb While Driving” feature to iOS 11. As soon as the iPhone detects it’s in a moving vehicle, it will enter do not disturb mode. All notifications are turned off until movement is stopped or until you tap “I’m Not Driving.” Hopefully this helps to reduce distracted driving and keep eyes on the road. After all, your messages will be there when you arrive at your destination but first you have to actually arrive safely. Look at me, turning my iOS 11 tips and tricks into a life advice piece again.
Save Storage by Offloading Apps
We all know how precious that iPhone storage is. Choosing what to delete when you max out your storage is like choosing which kid you like the most. Now, Apple has introduced a setting that allows unused apps to be deleted off the device while retaining the data for the future. This means that a user can download the app in the future and pick up right where they left off. To enable this feature go into “Settings” then tap “General” then find “iTunes & App Store” and turn on the “Unload Unused Apps” feature. Enjoy your precious storage space!
Explore A Little Bit
There’s so many things to see and do in iOS 11. These iOS 11 tips and tricks are just the tip of the iceberg! Explore the new OS for yourself and see what there is to discover! If you haven’t downloaded the iOS 11 beta for yourself; check out our article here and be sure to stay tuned for when the next build of the iOS beta drops!
