Welcome to Tech Tips, our series breaking down the best apps and tech advice you should know. Today, we take a look at some of the best iOS 14 tips and tricks.
iOS 14 was released on September 16 and comes with hundreds of new features and updates to the mobile operating system. Here are nine features, tips and tricks in iOS 14 that you might not know about.
Customization
This year Apple has added lots of new features that allow you to customize your iOS experience and make it unique to you.
Add or Remove Home Screen Pages
In iOS 14 you can add and remove entire pages from the home screen. All your apps still remain accessible from the App Library, another new feature that comes with iOS 14. Adding and removing pages could be useful when you’re working and want to temporarily hide distracting apps from your home screen.
To use this feature this long-press on the home screen > Tap on the page icons > Uncheck the pages you want to hide > Tap done.
Customizable App Icons
In addition to hiding entire pages from your home screen, you can create custom icons for your apps. Apple has released its Shortcuts app that allows you to create personal shortcuts that appear on your home screen. You can set actions like getting directions to the nearest cafe near you or getting directions home, sending your ETA, and start listening to the news all at once.
You can then give these custom shortcuts their very own icons by downloading an image you want to use as an icon and selecting it directly from the Shortcuts app.
Back Tap
Another customizable feature available on iOS 14 is Back Tap. This allows you to set shortcuts or actions that you activate by double-tapping or triple-tapping the back of your iPhone. For example, you could double-tap the back of your iPhone to start a Google search or take a screenshot.
To set these shortcuts go to Settings > Accessibility > Tap > Back Tap.
Note this feature is only available on certain iPhones: iPhone 8 series, iPhone X series, iPhone 11 series and iPhone 12 series.
Change Default Browser and Email Apps
While you can’t change every default app in iOS 14 you can choose which browser and email app your phone uses. However, not all browsers and email apps available on the Apple App Store can be chosen as default apps.
To change them head to Settings > Select Your Preferred Browser or Mail App > Default Browser or Mail App.
Privacy Control
Apple has highlighted its privacy features in every recent major update of its mobile operating system and iOS 14 is no different.
Recording Indicator
Whenever an app uses your microphone or camera an orange dot appears in the top right-hand corner of the screen. You can also view which apps recently accessed your microphone or camera from the Control Center.
Password Alerts
In addition to making password recommendations, your iPhone can notify you if any of your saved passwords have appeared in a known data leak or breach.
To turn this alert on go to Settings > Passwords > Security Recommendations.
Precise vs. Approximate Location
In iOS 14, you can choose whether an app can access your precise or approximate location. This means you can hide your exact location from certain apps, like Facebook, while only giving your exact location to some others, like Apple or Google Maps.
You can set these permissions from Settings > Privacy > Location Services > Precise Location.
Other Cool Features
Enhanced Voice Recording
If you send a lot of voice recordings with the Voice Memos app you can upgrade the audio quality. To activate the feature tap the Enhance Recording icon in the Memos app. This will reduce background noise and room reverberation in your recordings.
Fake Eye Contact with FaceTime
2020 has seen us all do a lot more video calls and one of the biggest annoyances is not being able to make direct eye contact with whoever you’re talking to. FaceTime can help overcome this issue by artificially making it look like you’re staring at your camera instead of the screen during a call.
To turn this on go to Settings > FaceTime > Eye Contact.
To look at all the new features in iOS 14 head to Apple’s website.
For more Apple coverage check out…
- Here’s everything Apple announced at the iPhone 12 event
- Google and Apple to Release Contact-Tracing App to Fight COVID-19
- Voysis Acquired by Apple to Help Improve Voice Recognition
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