Building back better (as US President Joe Biden might put it), exploring the new normal, and rolling out the digital transformation of all we do at work takes time. These iPhone tips may help you save a little time along the way so you can focus on those larger issues.
Send your location
Messages has a useful trick. If someone drops you a text asking where you are, just do this:
Start typing “I’m at” and look at what pops up in the Siri Suggestions bar underneath the text input section: Current Location. Tap this to send your contact your location pinned to a map. This is very useful when you’re trying to meet.
Share your business contacts
You can share the details of any contact record from inside the Contacts app, so why not create a shareable business card? Open Contacts, tap the Plus sign and create a new contact record for you and your business. When you want to share it, just open Contacts, access the record, tap Share Contact and choose how you want to share the card.
Why not change your signature?
Do as I don’t and change the signature file. (The phrase automatically added to every email you send) from the default “Sent from my iPhone” to something useful, such as your business name and contact details.
- Open Settings>Mail>Signature.
- Choose whether you want to use the same signature for All Accounts or Per Account for emails sent from your device.
- You then create a relevant signature.
Use the time for Do Not Disturb
There’s a timer function hidden inside the Do Not Disturb item inside Control Center. To get to it, launch Control Center in the usual way and then press and hold the Do Not Disturb (crescent moon) icon. An interactive menu that lets you set Do Not Disturb to work for an hour, until the next time segment (morning, afternoon, evening), until you leave the location you are in or until the end of a current event listed in your Calendar, such as the meeting you don’t want to be disturbed in.
Use these to make sure you don’t forget to switch Do Not Disturb off after your meeting.
Draw attention to what?
The text magnifier tool is one of those hidden talents of iOS. You can usually get to it by tapping the Share menu, except (unhelpfully) in Mail. You may be looking at a website, reading a report or PDF, or working inside an app that supports Share items and want to send something specific to someone. You may also want to highlight a particular section of the page, and you can do so as follows:
- With the item you want to share open, tap the Share menu and choose “markup.”
- This creates a small PDF of what you see on screen.
- Tap the plus button to the right of the Markup tools and select the loupe item.
- Place it, adjust the zoom and set the size to highlight the section you want to draw attention to.
- You can then share this item using the Share menu.
Anything printable is PDF-able
If you can print it, you can usually save it as a PDF. Just open whatever it is you want to turn into a PDF, tap Share, select Print. You’ll see a preview of what you want to print in the dialog window, but don’t tap Print here — instead, press two fingers on the preview and spread them out.
A full frame PDF will appear, which can itself be saved, shared, annotated.
You shall Wi-Fi pass
One useful iPhone talent is Wi-Fi password sharing, which means you only need to enter the password once on your iPhone to get your Mac online using the same network. This only works if both devices are logged into the same Apple ID, have Wi-Fi and Bluetooth switched on and Personal Hotspot switched off. To bring your Mac onto the same network just open it, select the network in Wi-Fi, and the iPhone should show you a message asking you whether you want to Share Password.
Always keep the receipts
You can scan all your receipts into Notes, where they can then be shared with your accounting app, accountant, or accounts department. Just open Notes, create a Note called “Receipts,” and in the future when you want to scan something into the collection, just open the note, tap the camera icon, and select Scan Documents.
How to make a conference call
If your network supports it (not all do), you can hold a conference call with up to five people on your iPhone:
- Call the first person and place them on hold.
- Tap Add Call (the plus button) and dial a second person.
- Once they answer tap Merge Calls to combine them into a single conversation.
- You must repeat this process for each person you want in the call.
You can also add someone who calls you into a conference that’s in progress: When the call comes in, tap Hold and Accept and then tap Merge Calls.
What number should I call?
Your iPhone tracks incoming caller ID numbers. This is useful in the event someone you hold multiple numbers for calls you and you want to call them back on the same line. Open their Contacts listing and you’ll see the number they used to call you marked as “recent.”
Here are another 50 tips
16+ iPhone tips to get things done faster
12+ useful productivity tips for iPhone
22 Siri productivity tips for iPhone enterprise pros
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