7 best hidden iPhone features you didn't know about | Asurion (2024)

You already know how to use your iPhone® to send photos to friends and to check news alerts, but there are a variety of surprising and handy features you may have overlooked. To access these, you'll need iOS® 13 or later.

Here at Asurion, we help you get the most of out your tech—whether you want toupdate your appsor find out what to do if yourFace ID® isn't working. Here are seven fun iPhone features to check out.

1. Voice control

Voice control on the iPhone allows you to open and navigate apps, lock your screen, and more—just by speaking.

To turn on the Voice Control feature, go toSettings>Accessibility>Voice Control, tapSet Up Voice Control, and complete the setup. To see a full list of built-in voice commands or to create your own, tapCustomize Commands.

Since learning Voice Control can be overwhelming at first, we recommend enabling theShow Hintsfeature so your phone will automatically suggest commands based on your activity.

2. Robocall silencer

Robocalls—those annoying automated telemarketing calls—are difficult to block. Did you know that you can help combat them with a built-in feature on your iPhone?

Open yourSettingsmenu, selectPhone,and then enableSilence Unknown Callers. Calls from unknown numbers will go directly to voicemail without you hearing the ring. You can quickly delete them later.

To walk through the steps, check out this video from Asurion’s YouTube channel:

3. Share location

Want to know how to quickly share your location when you're meeting up with other iPhone-using friends? In theMessagesapp, open the message thread, type “I'm at" into the interface and tap theSpacekey. Then tapCurrent Location(you may have to allow permission), and the app will send your location.

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4. Notes scanner

If you need to quickly and easily scan and send a document, your iPhone can do the job.

1. Go to yourNotesapp, open a new note, tap theCameraicon on the toolbar at the bottom, and selectScan Documents.
2. Place your document on a flat, well-lit surface, and take a photo.
3. TapKeep Scan>Saveto save the document. If you want to share it, tap theShareicon at the top-right corner and select how you'd like to send the document.

5. Measure app

If you never seem to have a tape measure when you need one, theMeasureapp on your iPhone, which uses augmented reality along with the camera on your device to record measurements, is incredibly useful.

1. Open theMeasureapp and scan the room with your phone.
2. When a circle appears, place it at your starting point and press the“+".
3. Next, move to your endpoint and press“+"once more.
4. The screen will display your item's dimensions.

6. iMessage full-screen effects

Why send a boring text? Add a full-screen effect to animate your text courtesy of iPhone's iMessage® function.

1. OpenMessagesand tap theComposebutton to write a new message or go to an existing conversation.
2. Type your message.
3. Touch and hold theSendbutton, then tapScreen.
4. Swipe left to choose a full-screen effect (echo, spotlight, etc.).
5. Tap theSendbutton.

To replay a message effect that you receive, tap theReplaybutton under the text. If you don't see it, try checking your Reduce Motion settings.

7. Slide to text

Slide to text is a feature that allows you to compose a text, email, or any document by sliding from letter to letter to create entire words instead of tapping individual letters. To do this, simply slide your finger from letter to letter until you've formed a word. It may take some getting used to, but you might find you can compose texts more quickly.

This feature should be on by default, but in case you need to enable it, go toSettings>General>Keyboard> turn onSlide to Type.