25 iOS Tips and Tricks You Should Know

Written by Jeff Benjamin (@JeffBenjamin)

After the announcement of the iPhone 5, we're sure a lot of you current iPhone owners are figuring out ways to scrounge together enough dough to pick up Apple's new smartphone. But are you even taking full advantage of your current iPhone? We're not talking about downloading more photo-editing apps than you'll ever have the chance to use. We mean, do you actually know everything your Apple handset can do? If the answer is no, we got you covered.

Our friend Jeff Benjamin from iDownloadBlog, a site that focuses on everything iPhone, iPad, and iOS, put together a great list of tips and tricks that will help you get the most out of your iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch. The tips range from easy to difficult, and they all work in iOS 5. So, before Apple lets loose iOS 6, brush up on your current OS with these tips and tricks.

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User Level: Novice

The little battery indicator in the iOS status bar is cute, but, when using it alone, it’s not always easy to tell exactly how much battery life is remaining on your device. If you’re trying to make it through a full work day, it’s imperative to have a firm grasp on the amount of battery that remains. Thankfully, enabling a numerical battery percentage reading is a simple affair.

User Level: Novice

It wasn’t that long ago when users were required to jump through hoops in order to enable Emoji icons on their iOS devices. Fortunately, those days are no more. The Emoji keyboard can now be easily enabled right from iOS’ keyboard settings.

User Level: Novice

The weather app has never been about in-depth accuracy when it comes toforecasts, but it did improve for iOS 5. For instance, if you tap on the weather overlay for your city of choice, an hour-by-hour breakdown appears, lending you with an enhanced view of your current weather situation.

User Level: Novice

While the iPad’s larger keyboard has the real estate for a dedicated undo button, the iPhone has no such luxury. Ah, but it does have an accelerometer that can sense when your device is all shook up. Shaking the iPhone prompts you with an easy to use undo option.

User Level: Novice

The butt of many jokes on late night talk shows, Siri, many forget, is still technically a "beta" feature. Using Siri to send texts, check the weather, and get directions is still very useful, especially while multitasking. And with the upcoming iOS 6 release, Siri gets even better, making her way to the new iPad as well.

User Level: Novice

If a professional sports figure can change their name to something ridiculous, then why can’t your iOS device? It may seem daunting, but it’s actually much easier than you think. You don’t even have to see a lawyer to change it back once you’ve come to your senses.

User Level: Novice

Thumb typing isn’t as fun on the iPad’s large keyboard, but there is a way to reduce the size of the keyboard, and change its position, to make it more apt for thumb typists. Just tap and hold the hide button, located at the bottom right-hand corner of the keyboard, and drag up until the keyboard splits.

User Level: Novice

Instead of exiting the Camera app to view photos, wouldn’t it make more sense to be able to access your photos from within the Camera app itself? Apple must have thought so as well, because starting with iOS 5, all you have to do is swipe to the right while in the Camera app, to expose previously snapped photos and videos.

User Level: Novice

Jailbreakers have been using the volume button(s) as a camera shutter release for quite some time now, but Apple just recently added the feature to iOS 5. To use it, open the Camera app, aim, and press a volume key to snap a photo or video. When the iPhone is mated with a pair of Apple headphones featuring physical volume controls, the volume-up button can act as a remote shutter release.

User level: Intermediate

Apple first introduced AirPlay to allow end users to output selected content to an Apple TV-equipped television. With AirPlay mirroring, it went the extra mile, allowing users to mirror their entire display on the big screen—perfect for presentations, and demonstrations. AirPlay mirroring requires an iPad 2, iPhone 4S, new iPad, or later.

To enable:

User level: Intermediate

Wouldn’t it be cool if newly downloaded apps on your iPhone, automatically downloaded on your iPad, or other iOS device? That’s the idea behind iOS’ Automatic Downloads feature. Enabling it on each device helps ensure that all remain in sync with regard to apps, music, and book purchases.

User level: Intermediate

If a four-digit passcode isn’t secure enough for your needs, then don’t fret, enhanced security is a mere toggle switch away. In the Passcode Lock settings, disable the Simple Passcode option to enable more secure passcodes. These “complex” passcodes can be used with alphanumeric and special characters, and its length can well eclipse the four digit limit of simple passcodes.

User level: Intermediate

For $24.99 a year, Apple will store your entire iTunes music library in the cloud, allowing for easy access from any iOS device or computer running iTunes. Instead of having to upload all of your music, which could literally take days or weeks, Apple’s servers will “match” your tunes with music already available on their servers. Tracks that can’t be matched — which are likely few and far between, considering how massive iTunes’ library is — are then uploaded to the cloud.

User level: Intermediate

TextExpander is a wonderful tool for desktop computers. It allows end users to assign shortcut keywords to often typed words or phrases, which in turn saves you time, and reduces finger fatigue. Apple has placed its own spin on this idea with Keyboard Shortcuts, an extremely handy, yet often overlooked feature.

User level: Intermediate

One of the reasons why I used to love my BlackBerry, was due to the fact that it could tell me when I had new messages, all without vibrating or making a sound. That’s because the BlackBerry handset featured a dedicated indicator light, which flashed to alert you of new messages. While the iPhone doesn’t have a dedicated light, per se, it does don an LED flash. Why not make the LED flash perform double duty?

User level: Intermediate

The iPad’s screen size allows one to comfortably use four, our even five fingers, to swipe and pinch on the display. With this in mind, Apple created multitasking gestures exclusively for use on the iPad. Users can pinch to go back to the Home screen, swipe up to reveal the multitasking bar, and swipe left or right to switch between running apps.

User level: Intermediate

The timer contained within the Clock app is good for more than just remembering to take the cookies out of the oven. Did you know that it can also be used to stop music playback after a predetermined amount of time?

User level: Intermediate

“Personal Hotspot” is how Apple refers to what is ordinarily known in most circles as tethering. First introduced with iOS 4.3, Personal Hotspot can be a lifesaver if you find yourself devoid of a Wi-Fi connection, but happen to have your iPhone or cellular-enabled iPad close by.

User level: Intermediate

Before there was iTunes Wi-Fi Sync, there was just Wi-Fi Sync. If those two sound similar, it’s because they are closely related. The original Wi-Fi Sync was a jailbreak app that allowed you to sync an iOS device wirelessly with iTunes. Eventually, Apple recognized that this was a good idea, and implemented the feature directly into iOS 5. Interestingly enough, original developer, Greg Hughes, submitted Wi-Fi Sync to the App Store much prior to iOS 5, but it was, of course, rejected by Cupertino.

User level: Advanced

Gone are the days of needing to connect to iTunes in order to backup photos, music, pictures, and apps. Now you can do so directly on your device wirelessly, courtesy of iCloud.

User level: Advanced

Apple may not have done a grand job explaining what iCloud actually is, but it essentially boils down to this: iCloud allows you to store data, and keep said data in sync across multiple devices. For instance, with Pages — a popular word processing app from Apple — iCloud allows you to both store documents, and keep them in sync across all of your devices, including desktops running OS X Mountain Lion. So the next time you write that thesis on the migratory habits of the duckbilled platypus, you’ll be able to access it from virtually anywhere, at any time. iCloud’s also great for syncing up email, calendars, contacts, and more.

User Level: Advanced

Jailbreaking allows you to install unauthorized apps, themes, and tweaks on your iPhone or iPad. By means of jailbreaking, you can totally alter the look and feel of an iOS device. Before the App Store came into existence with iOS 2.0, jailbreaking provided the only means to install 3rd party apps. It’s hard to believe that at one time, the App Store didn’t exist, but jailbreaking played a well regarded role in inspiring Apple to make the App Store a successful reality.

Popular jailbreak tools to try:

User level: Advanced

Notification Center is the Android-inspired info panel that’s accessible by swiping down on the status bar. While it’s useful on a stock iOS device, IntelliScreen X, a highly popular jailbreak app, allows you to get much more out of Notification Center. With IntelliScreen X, you can view RSS feeds, Facebook and Twitter timelines, email, and more. Top it all off with quick toggles for Wi- Fi, and Bluetooth, and it’s easy to see why IntelliScreen X is bonafide winner.

User level: Advanced

No jailbreak app lends as much customization to iOS than Springtomize 2. You can alter animations, the Lock screen, Home screen, dock, status bar, app switcher, and so much more. Nearly every facet of iOS’ look and feel can be customized with Springtomize 2. It is, without a doubt, one of the first things I install after jailbreaking my iPhone or iPad.

User level: Advanced

Zephyr is one of the most well-regarded jailbreak tweaks of all time, and for very good reason. It takes the idea of the iPad’s multitasking gestures, and takes it to new heights. It brings gesture capability to the iPhone, with a whole slew of other enhancements adored by the jailbreak community. It’s one, of about a handful of jailbreak tweaks, that nearly everyone can and will appreciate.