/iOS-tidbits

List of fun little iOS tidbits

iOS tidbits ✨

General

Swipe sideways directly on the home indicator to switch between recent apps. There's no need to invoke the app switcher for this. (thanks Eugen)

Tap on the status bar at the top of the screen to scroll lists back to the top. This is especially fun in Photos, where you might have years or decades worth of photos (tapping on the tab bar at the bottom brings you back down 😉)

Current iOS is very gesture-driven. Navigating back a screen can usually be done by swiping right from the left edge. Modal views and large media displays can often be dismissed by swiping down.

Navigating back through several layers at once in a navigation context works the same way as in many browsers, long-press on the Back button to see a menu with all possible views to jump back to.

When there is a navigation stack in a tab bar item, tapping the tab navigates to the root of the navigation stack.

Safari

Accidentally closed a tab? No worries, just press and hold the new tab button + in the tab overview to reopen recently closed tabs.

If you're looking to close tabs very quickly, hold the tab-overview button or the done button in the tab overview to be prompted for closing all tabs.

Safari's Find on Page feature is hidden in the share sheet. Alternatively you can type directly into the URL bar and scroll down to search for your text on the current page.

There's two ways to save a page as a PDF file depending on if you want the layout optimized for printing or not. If so, go into the share menu, tap print and then pinch to zoom on the preview. Here you can share the PDF file. (thanks Andre) If you want the normal layout, take a screenshot, tap it and select "Full Page" in the segmented control at the top of the screen.

Calculator

Delete incorrect input by swiping on the display.

Maps

US addresses have the house number up front, many other countries don't. But you can still enter the number first to use the autocompletion without it immediately triggering a search for the incomplete query. E.g. type "19 Rothenbu" to use the autocompletion to search for "Rothenburger Straße 19".

Double-Tap and pan up to zoom in, pan down to zoom out.

Photos

When in selection mode, tap and drag over multiple photos to make a range selection.

With multiple selected Live Photos that have overlapping video frames, pick “Save as video” from the three dot menu to create one long video. (thanks Vishnu)

Screenshots

Cropping screenshots snaps to view boundaries.

Keyboard

3D Touch can not just be used to move the cursor, but by pressing harder you can also select ranges or, by pressing harder yet again, select entire sentences.

With 3D Touch no longer existing on modern devices, you can now move the cursor by holding down on the spacebar and then moving across the entire keyboard. Select text by tapping anywhere on the keyboard with a second finger and moving the cursor with the first finger to select. (thanks Martin)

To quickly enter numbers or punctuation without having to tap on the 123 key, the character/digit and the 123 key again, just hold it, swipe to your number or punctuation character of choice and let go. iOS will then jump back to the default keyboard layout.

Camera

Camera can scan QR codes directly, don't install 3rd party apps for this.

Hold the shutter button to record video. You can also slide it to the side to the lock icon so as not to have to hold it anymore. If you miss the burst photo functionality here, you can use the volume up button for this (down records video as well), after enabling it in the camera system settings.

Copy, Paste, Undo & Redo

  • Tap with 3 fingers to open Copy-Paste-Menu
  • Swipe left with 3 fingers to Undo
  • Swipe right with 3 fingers to Redo
  • Pinch in with 3 fingers to Copy
  • Pinch out with 3 fingers to Paste
  • Double pinch in with 3 Fingers to Cut