Start using your iPhone better
7 tips for faster workflow on iOS devices
When I see my friends using their iPhones I’m surprised how little of iOS features they use. Apple’s mobile operating system is full of small things that really speed up using the phone. By applying just a few of them you can get things done much, much faster. Below you can find some that I use on a daily basis.
1. Spotlight
Spotlight is a great tool to search for things on your phone. To access it just swipe down on Home Screen or Today view (the one with widgets). You can use it to open apps, so you don’t have to swipe through pages full of icons, but it doesn’t stop here. Spotlight is indexing content from apps installed on your phone, so you can access different things like emails, calendar events, songs and much more. I also like to use it for some basic math.
2. 3D Touch
If you have an iPhone 6s or newer (except SE) you can use 3D Touch, which senses how deeply you press the display. It enables some cool features, like Quick Actions on Home Screen. Press firmly on icons and they’ll reveal shortcuts to different features. My favorite example is creating new tasks in Things, adding new events to Calendar and selecting my recently played Spotify playlists. In some apps, you can Peak and Pop into content and if you swipe up it gives you access to some options, like sharing, replying etc.
One of the less known 3D Touch features is using a keyboard as a trackpad for text cursor. Just press hard on the keyboard and start moving finger around. If you press deeper you can start selecting.
3. Multitasking
There’s one more 3D Touch tip, which works only on iPhones 6s, 7 and 8. If you press hard on the left edge of the screen and swipe right you can access the last used app. If you press deeper, the Multitasking menu will launch. To access the last used app on iPhone X you have to swipe right on the Home indicator area.
4. Widgets
Widgets on iOS are great. Not only do they display useful data, but they also let you do some basic in-app interactions, like checking off tasks in Things. If you have Bluetooth devices like Apple Watch or AirPods you can add Batteries widget too.
5. Workflow
Workflow is this amazing app that Apple bought last year. It lets you automate different things on your iPhone, iPod or iPad — the possibilities are limitless. I use it for converting Live Photos to GIFs, adding a frame to iPhone X screenshots and more. I highly recommend digging into Federico Vitcci’s articles on MacStories about it.
6. Customizing Control Center
Control Center customization was one of the most wanted features since Apple added it in iOS 7. In the 11th edition of Apple’s mobile OS, they finally gave us some options to personalize it. On iPhones, there are 16 different toggles that can be added to the Control Center. It even features a Screen Recording option!
7. Customizing Share Sheet
Can’t see your favorite messaging app in Share Sheet? You can easily add it by tapping on More. If you tap and hold you can change the order of the icons. It works the same in the second row, which gives you an access to apps’ extensions.
