Our devices are smart—we know that. But with so many functions and features that make life easier, are there others that could make life easier-er? The answer: yes. Whether you have an android smartphone or iPhone, there are hidden tricks for every device that save a few more seconds and headaches that only serious phone pros would know. Until now.
We found 6 useful smartphone and iPhone tricks that are there when you need them:
1) Custom Replies For Calls You Can’t Answer
We can’t always answer. But we can always respond. When you don’t have the time nor focus to answer a call but want to let the caller know you got it, you can with custom replies. This hidden smartphone and iPhone trick lets you create your own custom reply so you can just swipe up on the call screen, and send.
How do you do it on iPhone? Go to Settings > Phone > Respond with text. Then write your reply.
On Android? Open the Phone App → Tap Overflow menu → Settings → Quick responses → tap one of the standard responses you want to customize.
2) Set Reminders To Call Back Later
Call back reminders are another hidden iPhone trick to make sure you don’t forget to call back after sending that custom reply.
To set up: when receiving a call, tap Remind Me → select the reminder duration (1 hour, When I Leave, etc).
While not native on other phones, a popular app that performs the same feature on Android is Any.do. The app is a jack-of-all-trades organization hub for calendars, plans and reminders, and it’s free. It’ll also manage your calls. When you miss a call, the app sends you a notification that visually stands out from standard Android notifications so they’re hard to miss. You can then choose to call back, dismiss, or—in the event you want to call back later, but not now—snooze. Snooze will send you a reminder later to call back.
3) Save Battery With Low Power Mode / Battery Saver Mode
Add hours to your battery life with this hidden iPhone and smartphone trick. Androids and iPhones will prompt you to turn on low power/battery saver mode when the battery is on the low end. But, you can turn it on whenever you want. You will lose or reduce some features on the iPhone in this mode, such as “Hey Siri,” email fetch, automatic downloads, and background app refreshes. On Android, you’ll lose location services when your screen turns off, and also background app refreshes. But, if you’re planning on using your phone to just browse social media and text and call, you’ll be able to do a lot more of that on power save and battery saver modes.
How do you do it on Android? Swipe down from the top of your screen → tap Battery Saver.
On iPhone? Select Settings → Battery → Low Power Mode.
4) Shake to Undo
This iPhone exclusive trick saves a few seconds by deleting what you just wrote, in any app, like an Etch A Sketch. Type a giant paragraph and don’t want to backspace-delete it? Shake your iPhone and it’s gone. You can try it right now by opening your Note app, typing anything, then shaking your iPhone (don’t let go!).
Want to turn it off? Go to Settings → General → Accessibility → Shake To Undo → Flip the green switch to gray.
5) Take Photos While Recording Video
A video is worth a thousand pictures. Sometimes you find one moment during filming that you want to capture in photo. You can do this through the Android and iPhone camera app.
On iPhone: Open your camera app and slide to video. Start recording. You’ll notice a white button appears in the bottom left of the screen. Tap that button to take a photo without interrupting your video.
On Android: Open your camera app and tap the video camera icon. Start recording. Tap the camera button on the bottom left side of the screen to take a photo while recording video. It will be instantly saved to your gallery.
6) Charge Your Phone With Your Hotel TV
Picture it: you’re on a business trip. Your phone is almost dead. You look in your luggage for your charger and all you can find is the USB cable. This happens all too often and always at the worst time. You could go to the store and buy a charger, or you could use this weirdly convenient hack.
Most hotel rooms have TVs and almost every TV has universal USB ports on its back or side panels. Travelers who forget their charger can simply plug in their USB to their TV and charge their phone that way. Is it practical? No. Does it work? Yes. Is it a good ice breaker? Absolutely.
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