These 6 iPhone Tips Blow You Away (And Hardly Anyone Knows)

Forget the storms Dudley and Eunice: The biggest chance of getting blown away is after reading these six iPhone tips. So brace yourself, because the tricks will be racing through your head for a while.

iPhone Tips That Blow You Away

on iPhoned we share the best iPhone tips every week. This time, you’ll discover that your iPhone has a secret Rainfall Radar, learn that it doubles as a spirit level, see how you celebrate Carnival in a FaceTime call, and more.

1. Rainfall radar in the Weather app

To find out whether the umbrella should be taken with you, you probably open the Buienradar app. But the iPhone also has a built-in rain radar as standard – although it is quite hidden. This is how you get it out:

1. Open your iPhone’s Weather app;
2. Tap the map-like icon at the bottom left;
3. Tap the icon with the stacked squares in the top right;
4. Choose ‘Precipitation’.

2. Use your iPhone as a spirit level

Do you want to hang a painting straight, but you don’t have a spirit level at hand? Of course it is! Your iPhone is always nearby, and you can also use it as a spirit level. This is how you do it:

1. Open the Measure app;
2. Tap the ‘Spirit level’ tab at the bottom right;
3. Place or place your iPhone on an object. The screen will turn green when straight.

3. Disguise yourself during FaceTime call

Carnival is coming, and in FaceTime you already put yourself in a digital costume. Are you going as a dragon, skeleton, ghost, dinosaur, or do you choose your own put together Memoji?

The steps below show you how to disguise yourself as a Memoji while video calling with FaceTime. You need an iPhone with Face ID (facial recognition) for this.

1. Open FaceTime and start a video call;
2. Tap the effects button: this is a button with a star in it;
3. Choose the Memoji you want to use.

You can also create your own personalized Memoji beforehand. To do this, open the iPhone’s Messages app and tap the icon at the top right to start a new conversation. At the bottom you see a Memoji button with a yellow frame over it; tap it. Swipe the window to the right and press the plus button to create your own Memoji.

4. Swipe to undo

Do you accidentally delete a whole paragraph from a text, or do you want to undo the deletion of a mail? Then you can shake your iPhone to undo this.

But recently there’s a way that’s more intuitive: swipe left with three fingers. This works for example in the Mail app or Notes. Swiping left on the iPhone screen with three fingers does what Cmd+Z is to the Mac: you undo the last change. Still back? Swipe right with three fingers.

5. Create a video from multiple Live Photos

If you have Live Photos enabled, your iPhone will record short videos while shooting. That’s nice, but what if you get a mini-movie of several Live Photos at the touch of a button? You can, and here’s how:

1. Open the Photos app and tap “Albums”;
2. Under ‘Media Types’ choose Live Photos’;
3. Tap ‘Select’ in the top right and choose multiple Live Photos;
4. Tap the Share icon at the bottom left;
5. Choose ‘Save as video’;

Your video is now in your Library. But beware: it may not be at the very bottom. Apple puts the video behind the most recent Live Photo you chose.

6. Keep your notifications silent

Are you bothered by the many push notifications that an app sends today, but you don’t want to switch off the notifications completely? Then you can choose to keep the notifications silent for the rest of the day. You can do that from the notification itself:

1. Swipe a notification you receive to the left;
2. Tap ‘Options’;
3. Choose ‘Keep quiet today’.

If an app sends a notification, you will not be disturbed with a push notification. The notification does appear in the Notification Center. You can get it by swiping up on the lock screen.

More tips and tricks for iPhone and iPad

These were our tips for the iPhone (and iPad) this week. Want even more handy tricks? Then sign up for our newsletter, so that you discover new functions every week.