Do you know about any of the hidden features of Android and iOS devices?
If you haven’t explored your mobile devices yet, then there may be chances that you miss out on some of the fantastic features present by default.
Android and iOS are both sorts of devices that have lots of features, So it can be difficult to read the whole manual or go through the device every time. Hence, to save your time and effort, here are some of the top hidden features of Android and iOS devices that you will surely wish you had known earlier.
Excited!
Let’s jump onto know some of them!
Some Best Hidden Features of Android and iOS Devices
Here we are representing an interesting and combined list of hidden features of your devices that you may never know if might not explore the mobile phones. Not to be partial, we have gathered equal less-known features for both kinds of devices!
1.Quick App Switching
One of the old and least popular Android features is Fast App Switching. This kind of feature is the Alt-tab-like function which was discovered in Android 7 in 2016. If you have known about this feature earlier, this could be your favorite one.
You need to have the Android gesture system set up for using this functionality without having any on-screen navigation button and there will be a single thin line at the bottom of the screen. You just have to swipe your finger right along the bottom of the screen. That’ll head you back to the most recently used application in the blink of your eye. Then you can swipe to the right to get back to your application usage history or flick to the left to go to the opposite side.
You can do more or less of the swiping as per your needs. The more you flick, the more applications you will come across all in the right usage history. You may not be aware of this excellent hidden feature in your Android phones but surely when you try your hands on this one, you will surely thank us later.
2.Back Tap
The next less-known feature is for iPhone users named Back Tap. This feature was introduced in iPhone 8 first and then all the updated versions come with this functionality. This hidden iPhone hack allows you to do many functions that too in two or three taps whether you want to open the control center, take screenshots, or want to mute the phone.
Simply, you have to tap the Apple logo on the back of your phone twice or thrice to activate the function. You can do this by following the given:
Settings> Accessibility> Touch Then you just have to find the option of ‘Back Tap’. When you click on this option, you can select either double tap or triple tap. You are good to go to use the awesome functionality.
3.App Shortcuts
Another incredible less-used feature for Android devices is App Shortcuts. Maybe you have got an idea about the functionality of this feature through its name.
Who doesn’t like to add a shortcut to their favorite applications on the Home Screen? Hopefully, Nobody…!!!! So, this awesome function allows you to do the same. This will be very useful if you need to use an app very frequently to save your time and effort. The developers can’t give every app’s shortcut on the home screen itself, So they have added this feature to do as per your app requirements.
You just have to hold down the application for which you want to see the shortcut either on the home screen or the application dashboard.
- Lift your finger slightly, if there is a shortcut to that app, it will appear.
- Then touch and hold on to the shortcut.
- Take the shortcut to the place where you want your application to be.
This way you can use your favorite applications fastly, whenever you want. You don’t need to waste your precious time to find the required application via the search bar or go through the whole app drawer.
4.Put a Note on the Email Attachments
The next feature on the list is for iOS devices to write a note on the Email attachments. This feature can help you a lot in professional tasks.
When you want to let your email recipient know about the attachment or any document, this feature allows you to add extra notes or explanations with those attachments. Also, if you want to sign the attachments without printing them, you can do so.
Tha mail app of Apple allows you to add notes to documents or PDFs, received in your email. You just have to select the image or the pdf, which you need to mark up. You will see a rectangular box with some options. Then choose the mark-up and you can write or sign on your document or image. Then click on done and you are ready to send the updated or signed document.
Note: You can share these signed documents via AirDrop to your other Apple devices if you need to do so.
5.Live Caption Usage
This gem feature of Android was introduced in the market with Google’s Android 10 devices. It is known as Live Caption and is very useful for hard-hearing cases. You can also consider it as an accessibility feature.
You can turn on the feature whenever you watch a video or listen to podcasts. It allows you to see what a video or audio is saying without having an audible sound.
You don’t need to use some special steps or tools to use it. You will notice a little box at the bottom of the volume popup and you have to click on it. You will see the captions popping up on the screen. It will appear only when there is some media or sound playing on the device, just remember this.
One more thing you can do is to make the captions bigger by double clicking the already opened caption box. You can also move this box anywhere on the screen by dragging it. If you are unable to find the option in the volume control, you can search for it in system settings in Android 10 and above versions.
6.Measure the Heights and Distances with iPhone
Yes, you can actually do it with your iPhone!
Maybe you haven’t heard about this less-known feature but it is worth learning it. To measure height or distance, you have to open the Measure app on your iPhone.
To measure the height, after opening the app place the device in front of the person whose height you need to measure. Place the phone in such a way that you can see the person’s head and feet. There should be a line above the head. Just tap the white shutter button and save the screenshot.
To measure the distance, you have to move around your device, So that the camera captures an object’s dimensions. You can save the results by clicking copy and numbers will be added to the clipboard.
7.Guest Mode on Android Devices
This one is really an important feature in Android if your phone gets in so many other hands. By enabling this incognito mode feature, you can give access to your phone to others that too without harming your personal information.
Even you have the option to create multiple guest profiles for other people like your kids, parents, or your co-workers. Just follow these steps:
- Open the settings section on the mobile.
- Click the user’s profile.
- Now, you can add guest modes as per your preferences.
You can add this setting option as a quick setting so that you can open it from the home screen itself. Then you just have to swipe down the screen and click the user’s profile from quick settings and add guest posts.
When you want to switch to the main user’s profile, just open the quick settings and click user profile again and remove guest mode from there. This way you can remove the temporary data stored while accessing the guest mode.
8.iPhone as a Magnifying Glass
You probably have missed this feature on your iPhone but you will love it after knowing about this. There can be situations in your daily life, where you want to Zoom-in the objects to check something like reading any book or checking any currency. But you cannot arrange a magnifying glass there, So your iPhone can be your back.
You just have to open the Settings>Accessibility>Magnifier. Then turn it on. The magnifier is now the accessibility shortcut in the phone. You can easily open it from the control center whenever you need it.
Then you can customize controls from the control center. You just have to click the ‘+’ button next to the magnifier. You can check the magnifying glass option in your control center.
Wrapping Up
This is all about some less-known features and hidden hacks for iPhones and Android devices. The companies have provided these features to make your life easier and save time. They can’t add everything on the home screen of the device, Hence placing them hidden from most of the users. That’s why we have tried to ease your work to know about some of the hidden functionalities. We have equally covered both sorts of platforms (iOS and Android).
What are you waiting for? Try out these hacks to get easy with your phone and let us know if you need us to answer any of your queries….We will be happy to help you!
