How well do you really know your iPhone? We’re guessing you’ve never seen most of these tricks before.
The iPhone is tremendously easy to personalize. For example, you can choose a custom case, customize your home screen and apps to make it truly your phone. With the arrival of the iPhone 16, there are even more ways to customize your phone.
You’ve probably only discovered a small part of everything you can do on your iPhone. There are probably still a few secret tweaks and tricks you don’t know about yet. We are now going to unravel those secrets for you.
These settings are not to be missed on an iPhone
You’re bound to find some interesting settings, both things you already know and new surprises. In these ways, you can set up your iPhone all your own way.
#1 Put Safari’s address bar back on top
A few years ago, the address bar in Safari was moved to the bottom of the screen. This is especially useful for people with smaller hands who had trouble reaching the top of the screen. It may feel more natural because it’s closer to your keyboard and where you usually place your thumbs, but it may take some getting used to the URL bar at the top.
If you want to put the address bar back on top, tap the aA button on the left side of the address bar. Now choose Show top address bar.
#2 Add features to your iPhone’s lock screen
Sometimes you want to have certain info at hand even when your phone is locked. That’s why Apple lets you use certain features without unlocking your phone, such as the Notification Center, the Control Center and the Wallet app.
Want to customize which features you can use on your lock screen? Then go to Settings, tap Face ID and Access Code, and enter your access code when prompted. Scroll down to the Allow access on lock section and turn the sliders on as you like.
(Image: Lisa Eadicicco/CNET)
#3 Make your favorite email app or web browser your default
Not everything revolves around Safari. In fact, on your iPhone, you can choose your own default apps for email and web surfing. This means that when you click on a link or send an e-mail, your iPhone automatically opens your favorite browser or e-mail app instead of Safari or Mail.
To set this, go to Settings, choose the app you want as your default (such as Google Chrome or Outlook), and tap Default email app or Default browser app to make your choice.
#4 Change your iPhone lock screen background
Apple has a lot of great wallpapers with beautiful colors and cool effects. They instantly make your lock screen a lot more fun to look at.
Open the Settings app on your iPhone and choose Wallpaper. Then tap Choose a new wallpaper and select Stills or Live. Look at the circle at the bottom of each background image. That circle is half black and half white. That circle means the background is for both light and dark mode and changes automatically based on your phone’s settings.
#5 Turn on dark mode to save battery.
If you don’t want to adjust your screen brightness all the time, you can use your phone’s dark mode. This mode changes all white background color in apps to black, which can save your battery.
To enable dark mode, go to Settings > Display and Brightness and choose the Dark option at the top of the screen. You can also just swipe down from the top right corner of your iPhone and tap the dark mode icon in the Control Center.
#6 Adjust the font size on your iPhone
Want to adjust the font size on your iPhone for better reading comfort? That’s just a few clicks away.
Go to Settings, then to Display and Brightness > Text Size. Use the slider to adjust the text size as you like. For an extra boost, you can also turn on Bold text, found just below the slider.
#7 Change Siri’s voice
If you recently set up a new iPhone, you may have noticed that Siri no longer has a female voice by default. Now you can choose which Siri voice you want, with several new options. Once you make your choice, Siri’s voice will change on all your devices associated with your Apple ID.
Want to see the voice options? Then go to Settings > Siri and Search > Siri voice. By the way, Apple has also added a gender-neutral Siri option for English speakers.
