10 Hidden Features in iOS 8 That You Should Know About

Image via Complex UK

Battery life has long been a problem with the iPhone, and it's not always been easy to tell what apps are draining power the most. But now you can.

Settings > General > Usage > Battery Usage

No doubt after having used your phone for a while you're going to have built quite an archive of messages. These can seriously eat into your storage space. Handily, you can now get messages to auto-delete after different periods of time.

Settings > Messages > Keep Messages

'Do Not Disturb' is a handy feature for users, but sometimes you just want to quieten a particular person. Just click 'Details' when you're inside the message window and check 'Do Not Disturb'.

Messages > Details

Siri now has built-in Shazam power. If you've found the app too cumbersome to pull out and use before, now you should have no problem by asking Siri "Hey Siri, what's this song?" when an unknown song is playing.

Long-press the home button and ask "what is this song?"

Haven't managed to convince everyone in your phonebook to make the switch to Snapchat? Well you don't need to. Apple's latest software now lets you send self-destructing videos, audio and photos right within its messages app.

Messages > Long-press either the camera or microphone icon

Deleted photos now reside in a photos album called 'Recently Deleted'. These will stay around for 30 days, giving you a last ditch solution to saving those photos you never meant to get rid of.

Photos > Recently Deleted

Losing your phone is never a welcome mishap. Previous software updates helped remedy this by introducing 'Find My iPhone' but this was slightly limited, especially if you had run out of power.

Settings > iCloud > Find My iPhone

Sometimes you don't want to have to explain to someone whereabouts you are, especially if you don't even know yourself. iOS 8 now has a handy tool to be able to share your location for a period of time, or indefinitely, to a person or group in messages.

Messages > Details

Want to reply to someone but not quit what you're currently doing? Just swipe down the banner notification at the top of the screen and up pops a keyboards you can begin using to reply.

Pull down a message alert banner

The bane of Windows Vista users' lives just shy of a decade ago, widgets are now making a big comeback. The iOS 8 notification center now enables apps to implement handy time-saving features into its screen.

Pull down the notification center