IOS eight Tips, Tricks and Secrets, Trusted Reviews
iOS eight Tips, Tricks and Secrets
Whether you’re already running the latest version of iOS eight (8.1.1 at the time of writing), thinking about buying an iPhone 6, a iPhone six Plus or an iPad Air Two, here’s a selection of iOS eight tips, tricks and secrets to help you master it – and possibly shove you into adopting it.
We’ll keep updating this article all the time, so share your tips in the comments below and we’ll add the best ones to the guide.
Witness our iOS eight tips and tricks movie
Last Update on 2nd December added: How to find out what’s playing, Hey Siri, how to get home, Photos before and after, and more.
iOS eight Tips and Tricks: Siri
How to find out what’s playing
Apple has integrated Shazam into iOS 8, which means that you can have
your iPhone name any tune you hear playing. To do so, simply embark up
Siri (press and hold the home button) and say something like “What’s the
name of this tune?” or “What’s playing?” – and then let Siri listen
out. Provided the tune is clear enough, and there’s not too much
foreground chatter, your iPhone will establish what’s playing and
provide a link to the iTunes listing.
You can bring up Siri even without touching your iPhone, simply by telling “Hey Siri.” There are some caveats tho’. Very first, you need to activate the function by going to Settings>General>Siri and rolling the toggle to Permit “Hey Siri.”
2nd, it’ll only work when your iPhone is charging.
Boot up Siri and say “Take me home,” and it’ll use Apple Maps to get you turn-by-turn directions back to your house. You’ll need to ensure you have an address listed for Home in your Contacts app, but even if you don’t Siri will suggest up a shortcut to do so.
iOS eight Tips and Tricks: Photos
Before and after
iOS eight Tips and Tricks: iCloud
Simply go into Settings>iCloud>Set Up Family Sharing, then hit Get Commenced and go after the instructions.
iOS eight Tips and Tricks: Today view and Notifications
How to add and eliminate widgets from the Today View
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Left, shortcuts in the Today view; Right, the Launcher app
iOS eight Tips and Tricks: Safari
Subscribe to websites using Collective Links
To do so, visit the website then go to the Bookmarks section shown by the book icon. From here press the ‘@’ icon, select ‘Subscriptions’ from the bottom and then ‘Add Current Site’ at the bottom. You can add and eliminate sites here, too. It’s a useful way to keep an eye on blogs that don’t post often, and this works across Safari on all your devices.
How to quickly type web addresses
Press and hold the total stop key on the keyboard in Safari when inputing an address and you’ll bring up a list of internet address suffixes, like .com, .co.uk, and the like. Release your thumb over the one you want to insert it into the address.
How to enable private web browsing
Safari in iOS eight now includes the option of setting DuckDuckGo as your default search engine. Unlike Google Yahoo, Bing and the like, DuckDuckGo doesn’t log your activity or track what you search for. To select it, go to Settings>Safari>Search engine and select DuckDuckGo.
iOS eight Tips and Tricks: Messages and Keyboard
How to turn predictive QuickType text on and off
One of the iOS 8’s fresh features is a predictive text system called QuickType.
This isn’t fresh if you’ve had an Android phone,
but it’s fresh to iOS. You now get a bar that automatically generates
suggestions as you type, learning what words you use as you go.
are two ways to turn this feature on or off. One is two swipe up or
down from the top edge of the keyboard. The other is to press and hold
on the ‘Emoji’ icon in the bottom left, which brings up a ordinary toggle.
How to add third-party keyboard
Now all you need to do is select the keyboard(s) you want and you’re ready to go. If you want to attempt numerous keyboards, you can switch inbetween them by pressing the globe icon on each keyboard.
How to mark all messages as read
How to send voice messages from the Messages App
in iOS eight has lots of fresh features, including the capability to send voice
messages using iMessage. To do this, simply tap and hold the microphone
icon to the right of message box. Record your message and then let go to
stop. Select the ‘X’ icon to cancel and up arrow to send the voice
How to muffle a group talk in Messages
group talk that is driving you mad? You can muffle the group in iOS 8.
Go to the group thread, select ‘Details’ in the top right corner and
scroll down to the ‘Do Not Disturb’ toggle at the bottom.
How to lightly share your location with someone
of the cooler fresh features is the capability to quickly and lightly share
your location with someone. It’s much lighter than explaining it and you
don’t have to find the address or street by palm.
tap ‘Details’ and then ‘Send My Current Location’. Another option is to
share your location across the day for a period of time. This is
useful if someone needs to find you but you’re not staying in one place
How to see when a message was sent
This one’s effortless to miss, but you can see what time messages were sent by dragging the message bubbles to the left.
iOS eight Tips and Tricks: Camera Tips
How to adjust exposure by hand
camera app has never included much manual control, but iOS eight adds the
capability to tweak the exposure by hand before you shoot. To do so,
simply tap to concentrate and then haul up or down when the brightness symbol.
How to record a time-lapse movie
fresh feature is the time-lapse feature. This is a joy way to create
movies of very slow moving objects and events, such as clouds in the
sky, the sunset, the tide or any other number of things. To access it,
just swipe right in the camera app.
are two things worth attempting. One is securing your phone and leaving it
to record — we stuck the phone to window using to record the above
Alternatively, the time-lapse can
also be used to speed up normal movements to ridiculous speeds. The
keyboard typing movie above is a classic example of this.
The trouble with selfies is that the actual process of physically taking the picture at arm’s length can be difficult. You need a time. Fortunately there’s one within effortless reach in iOS 8. Activate the front camera, then tap the little timer icon at the top of the screen. Select either three seconds or ten seconds, then when you hit the shutter button, you’ll have that amount of time to align the camera and pose. Effortless!
iOS eight Tips and Tricks: HealthKit
How to setup your Health Kit Medical ID
HealthKit is one of iOS 8’s signature features. It collates health information from supported apps into one interface, all of which is also available to other Health Kit apps.
One of the simpler features is the Medical ID, where you can provide basic health information in the case of emergency. Go to the Health app and select ‘Medical ID’ and then ‘Edit’ in the top right corner. From here you can add any medications, conditions and other pertinent info, such as your blood type.
Other apps can’t access this info, but it is accessible from the lock screen in the case of an emergency.
How to access iPhone Medical ID from the lock screen
If you need access someone’s medical details in an emergency, swipe right on the lock screen, tap on ‘Emergency’ and then select ‘Medical ID’ in the bottom left. This will demonstrate you a person’s basic medical info if they have added to the Health app.
iOS eight Tips and Tricks: Mail App
Get notifications for specific email threads
Sometimes you don’t want to hear about all your email, but only specific, very significant exchanges. You can set this up very quickly and lightly in the Mail app. Swipe left on the message, tap ‘More’ tab and select ‘Notify Me’ to activate. Do this again to turn them off.
How to see just emails with attachments
Where is that email with the attachment? You know, the one with the nonsensical subject line that you can’t find? A fresh feature in iOS eight lets you see just email with attachments. On the Mailboxes screen, select ‘Edit’ and select ‘Attachments’ from the list.
Other fresh options include the option to just see emails from today and threads you’re getting notifications on.
How to hide the Compose window to read emails
This neat fresh feature lets you hide the compose window without actually closing it, which is useful if you want to check a fresh email or a detail without saving and coming back.
To do so, swipe down on the subject header at the top. The compose window then sits at the bottom of the screen, where you can then tap it to bring it back.
iOS eight Tips and Tricks: Settings
How to track which apps use the most battery
This useful fresh feature lets you keep an eye on which apps use the most battery.
Most of the time this should be consistent with how much you use the apps, but if one is using more than its fair share — perhaps because of background updates — this helps you identify it.
To access this feature, head to the Settings app and go to ‘General. From here select ‘Usage’ and then ‘Battery Usage’.
We’ll keep updating our iOS eight tips and tricks all the time, so share your tips in the comments below so we can add them.