Get more from your phone with our tricks
1. Set a Live Photo as lock screen image
One of the biggest features of the iPhone 6s is the camera, namely the introduction of ‘Live Photos’, still images that animate when activated via force touch. These Live Photos are meant to give you a glimpse of what was happening when the photo was taken – a fantastic feature when you want to take a trip down memory lane. However, many iPhone 6s and 6s Plus users are unaware that these live photos can be used as the lock screen image and animated at any time. To set a live photo as your lock screen image, simply open the Photos app and browse to the image you want to use. Once opened, tap the Share button (square with an arrow pointing out of it) and scroll along until you find ‘Set as Wallpaper’, then tap it. Making sure ‘Live Photo’ is selected, set the image as your lock screen wallpaper and lock your iPhone. Now all you need to do is force touch the screen to animate the image.
2. Quick access to multitasking menu
For years, iOS users have trained their brains to double tap the home button to access the multitasking menu, but that action has been rendered moot by the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus. Why? Because you can easily access the multitasking menu from anywhere in iOS, simply by force pressing the left side of the screen and swiping towards the center of the display. If done correctly, you should be taken to the multitasking center, where you can easily switch between your recently used apps. Though some users might find it a bit awkward to use at first, it’s a very handy gesture to have once you’re used to it. It’s also worth mentioning that a similar action can take you back to the last used app without accessing the multitasking menu. Simply force press on the left hand side of the screen, then drag your finger from the left hand side of the display to the right hand side. The app you were last using should be dragged onto screen, replacing the active app.
3. Quickly reply to messages
The iPhone 6s and 6s Plus also give you a new way to easily reply to text messages. Proactive was a big introduction to iOS 9, and lets the operating system learn your habits including the apps you use, people you speak to and even how you reply to text messages. This information can then be used to your advantage – in this case, ‘peek’ at the message thread to get a preview of the text conversation by force pressing on the message, then simply swipe up to reveal a list of predetermined replies,
and tap on the one you want to use. As well as a list of predetermined replies, it may feature contextual replies, that is if a question was asked, replies would include ‘yes’, ‘no’, ‘maybe’, and so on.
4. Access Camera shortcuts
3D Touch was the biggest feature of the iPhone 6s, enabling a whole new way for users to interact with their smartphones. One of the key features of 3D Touch was being able to force tap an app icon to display a menu with shortcuts to the most prominent features of the app. This means that instead of
having to open the Camera app and swipe to the recording mode of choice, you can force touch the icon and easily select which you want. You have the choice of taking a selfie, recording a video, recording in slo-mo or taking a standard photo. It’s not just the Camera app that offers 3D Touch shortcuts, as many stock iOS apps have shortcuts – experiment with what you can do! Third-party apps are slowly adding support too, with early adopters including Instagram (options to publish a new post, view your activity, search or access direct messages) and Tweetbot 4 (reply to last mention, access activity tab, tweet the last photo or write a tweet).
5. Turn the keyboard into a trackpad
3D Touch isn’t only handy for accessing app shortcuts or previewing message threads – it can also make text editing on an iPhone 6s or 6s Plus less of a headache. We’ve all been in situations where we’ve misspelt a single letter of a word on our iPhones, and tried to insert the cursor mid-word to edit it (and failed a number of times before deleting the word and re-writing it). There’s no need to do that any more, as you’re now able to force press the keyboard to turn it into a trackpad, allowing you to place the cursor wherever you want. It doesn’t just stop at being able to move the cursor around either – once in trackpad mode, you can tap again once to highlight a single word, twice to highlight the entire sentence or thrice to select everything you’ve written.
6. Preview Safari links
Here’s another useful use for 3D Touch, this time allowing users to preview a link before opening it.
iPhone 6s and 6s Plus users can ‘peek’ at Safari links in-app by lightly pressing on a URL, giving you a preview of the page before applying more pressure to ‘pop’ open Safari and open the link. If you’re
not interested, simply let go of the display and the preview will disappear.
This feature can be found in a number of places throughout iOS, from the Messages app to the Notes app to third-party apps, including WhatsApp and Tweetbot 4. This gives users a new way to browse and preview links (and images if supported) before properly opening them. It comes in handy too,
as you can now see if the link your friend tweeted is something you’re interested in reading before loading it up in full-screen mode.
7. Hands-free Siri
Another exclusive iPhone 6s and 6s Plus feature is hands-free Siri, something that up until now has only been possible when your iOS device is plugged in and charging. iPhone 6s and 6s Plus users can ‘train’ Siri to recognise only their voice, allowing them to activate Siri from anywhere simply by saying ‘Hey Siri’. Before you impress your friends with your always-listening virtual assistant, you need to set it up by heading to the Settings app > General > and toggling the ‘Allow “Hey Siri”’ option on. Once toggled on, you have to go through the initial setup process where Siri gets to know the sound of your voice. Simply repeat the phrases that appear on screen, then you should be able to
activate Siri by saying “Hey Siri” at any time.
8. Make darker strokes in Notes
Using the new 3D Touch technology found in the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus, users are able to make
darker strokes in Notes simply by applying more pressure on the display, much like when shading with a pencil. Though this is a slightly novel use for the pressure-sensitive display, I’m sure artistic users could find a use for it. It’s also worth mentioning that third-party app developers can also utilise the technology in the same way, so expect to start seeing pressure-sensitive drawing features added to
the likes of Paper at some point soon.
9. Adjust 3D Touch sensitivity
3D Touch is a great addition to the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus, but with the excess pressure used on the display, there is an issue – it can cause the oleophobic coating of the iPhone display to wear out sooner than usual. The oleophobic coating on the display helps your display stay relatively smudge free, keeping grease at bay by providing a surface it can’t ‘stick’ to it. It also makes your display feel
smooth to the touch, which also helps with scratch resistance – reduced friction will cause sharp/dangerous materials to slide off the surface, rather than damaging it.
It’s not permanent though, so excessive pressure may speed up the process of wearing it out. To help
combat the issue, you can turn up the sensitivity of 3D Touch to activate it without needing as much pressure. To do this, simply head to Settings >General > Accessibility > 3D Touch then adjust the 3D Touch Sensitivity from medium to light.
10. Peek into an entire album in Apple Music
Let’s say you have found an awesome song while listening to Apple Music’s ‘Hot Tracks’ section in the New tab. Using 3D Touch, deep press on the track to get a glimpse of the entire album that song is a part of. From there you can start playing the entire album, put it on shuffle or add it to My Music.
11. Add a new number to your Contacts
What happens when you get a new number sent to your Messages? Pressing the digits launches straight into a call, but deep pressing it gives you new options. You can now use 3D Touch to create a new contact or add a number to an existing contacts right from the Messages app.
12. Switch apps with 3D Touch
Instead of double tapping your home button every time you want to pull up the App Switcher, try this: deep press on the left edge of the screen. Your background apps will come seamlessly into view. Just one more added functionalities of the new 3D Touch on the iPhone 6s and the iPhone 6s Plus.
13. Siri can do accents now
Apple says Siri is getting smarter, so much in fact that she can now pull off three different English accents: American, Australian and British. Just a simple preference, really, but having an AI spout answers in a British accent just makes her sound more well informed.
14. Share location in Maps
You ask your friend to meet you at a coffee shop, but there are quite a few in the city? In Maps you
can deep press on a place to quickly share the exact location of where you want to meet. You can also
deep press on the you-are-here blue dot to share your current location.
15. Send quick replies in Messages
Similar to the Messages for Apple Watch app, you can now send quick replies on your iPhone 6s. Deep press on a conversation thread to peek into it and pull it up to reveal a list of short replies, like “Thanks” or “Talk later?” Different conversations pull up different quick replies. For whatever reason, some of them only have the option to text back with “OK.”
16. Enabling 4K video recording
The iPhone 6s can shoot 4K video, but that recording mode is not on by default. You have to enable it in settings. The 4K videos do take up a lot of space on your iPhone (about 375MB per minute), but they are totally worth it.
17. View recently taken pics in Camera
Don’t slow down your photo-taking rampage. The Camera app on the iPhone 6s lets you view your recently taken photos while still taking new ones. Just deep press on the photo thumbnail on the bottom left corner. After you’re done browsing through your recently taken pics, you’ll go right back to the Camera app so you can keep snapping away.
18. Activate Siri with your voice
Enable the new “Hey Siri” feature in your settings, and Siri becomes voice-activated. Just say “Hey Siri” whenever you have a query. Siri only responds to the sound of your voice, so here’s how you can set this up once you enable the feature.
19. Message your most recent contacts
Want to pick up a conversation with the contact you last texted? The Messages app has all your favourite people right at your fingertips. Deep press on the icon to launch a quick action to message one of the last three people you texted.
20. Peek into another city’s weather conditions
Planning a ski trip this weekend? You can peek into weather conditions from any of the cities saved you added to the Weather app by deep pressing on them.
21. Hide native apps
Every iPhone user has that rarely used folder hidden on a faraway home screen with titles ranging from “Apple Stuff” to “Crap I Never Use.” With the iPhone 6s you can now hide some of those native apps from your screen, like News, Podcasts, iBooks Store and even Safari for you Chrome
diehards. Go to the Restriction page in settings to toggle these apps off your iPhone. Unfortunately, there’s no way to get rid of Stocks or Compass yet.
22. Easier way to redeem codes in the App Store
If you want to redeem a code from the App Store, you have to scroll all the way down past all the app
collections to get to a Redeem Code button. With 3D Touch, however, you can deep press on the App Store app right on your home screen and launch a quick action for redeeming codes. This trick also works in the iTunes Store app.
23. Manually activate Low Power Mode
Your iPhone 6s will ask you if you want to enable Low Power Mode once you get to the last 20 percent of battery. But if you want your iPhone to last longer even when it’s fully charged, you can manually activate Low Power Mode in your settings. During Low Power Mode, you can’t use “Hey Siri,” background app refresh is turned off, and other visual effects are disabled to save battery life.
