Top 9 New iPhone Features in iOS 14 That Are Hard to Find

The new iOS 14 and iPadOS 14 update for your iPhone ($ 699 at Amazon) and iPad ($ 270 at Back Market) add a lot of features that we are excited about, like widgets on the home screen, a kind of app drawer and privacy enhancements. (Here’s how install iOS 14 and iPad 14 right now, later preparing your phone or tablet, of course.)

These welcome enhancements are sure to enrich your experience, but my favorite tricks in iOS 14 and iPadOS 14 are the ones that you have to struggle to find. For example, now you can completely get rid of Apple Mail and Safari with a new default app settings.

Here’s how to use nine of the best hidden features I’ve discovered in iOS 14. This list is sure to keep growing, so check back for more gems.

Set your default email or web browser

True, Apple is finally giving up some control over its default apps. At this time, the feature is limited to email applications and web browsers. So, for example, you can assign Chrome to be your go-to browser or Outlook as your preferred email app.

App developers will need to update their apps for iOS 14 for the new default mapping option to appear, so you may need to be patient if your favorite app isn’t ready.

To get started, open your iPhone or iPad’s Settings app and then scroll down to the bottom where all installed apps are listed. Find the email or browser application you are looking for and tap on it. If it has been updated for iOS 14, you will see Default browser app or Default email app; tap it and then select your preferred app.

There is currently a bug in iOS 14 and iPadOS 14 restoring default app selection when you restart your device. Apple is aware and promises that a future update will fix it.

At this point, I know that Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Outlook, and Hey Email have been updated to include this new “default” option.

Quickly get rid of app home screens

iOS 14 is new Application library acts as an app drawer, allowing you to ditch countless home screens full of apps that you rarely, if ever, use. Instead of going through each app one by one and submitting them to the App Library, you can hide entire home screen panels with just a few taps.

Long press on an empty area of ​​your home screen to activate edit mode. Next, tap the page indicator, then tap the check mark under each panel you want to remove. This will not delete those apps, but will only move them to the App Library, where they are more or less hidden in an app drawer that you can access at any time.

Delete newly downloaded apps from your home screen

You took all that time to select your home screens, add widgets, and keep only your most important apps, only to have all your hard work ruined by a new app you just downloaded. Rather than letting your iPhone drop apps on your home screen when you install them, submit them directly to the App Library until they prove valuable.

Open Settings > Starting screen and select App library only in the upper section. You can easily find recently downloaded apps in the app library. Recently added category, which should be the top right folder when you view it.

Search the emoji keyboard

Lastly, yes, this one deserves a “FINALLY!” Very strong, you can search the emoji selector for exactly what you want. Launch the emoji keyboard like you always do and now you will find a search bar at the top of the keyboard.

Hidden photos are now really hidden

The ability to hide specific photos or videos has been in iOS and iPadOS for a while, but there was one big problem: These photos that you didn’t want to see anymore were stored in a hidden Album in the Photos app that was too far away easy to find. With iOS 14, Apple has added the option to hide the hidden album, allowing you to actually hide those photos and videos that you want to keep, but don’t want anyone else to see.

Turn it on by going to Settings > Photos and making sure the Hidden album the switch is off. (Yes, off: enabling the setting means that the Hidden Album will show up in the Albums tab.) Everything you hide on camera roll will be saved on your device and in your iCloud Photos library, but you will have no way of accessing it unless you go back to these settings and turn on Hidden Album.

Watch YouTube videos in Picture-in-Picture mode

The iPhone now has one of my favorite iPad features: Picture-in-Picture (PiP) mode for watching videos or using during FaceTime calls. Is that how it works. Instead of having to stay in an app, for example if you are watching your favorite game streamer on Twitch, you can swipe up from the bottom of the screen to exit the app and the video will automatically shrink to a floating window. . You can move this video thumbnail or even hide it on the edge of the screen if you just want to hear the audio.

The YouTube app doesn’t support PiP at this time, but you can fix it by starting to watch a YouTube video in Safari in full screen mode and then swipe up to return to the home screen. The key is that you must put the video in full screen mode before exiting the application.

If you prefer not to activate PiP when you leave an application, disable automatic activation by going to Settings > general > Picture in Picture and turn it off. After which the only time PiP will be used is when you tap the icon on a playing video.

Fake eye contact on FaceTime

We first saw the FaceTime eye contact feature in the beta version of iOS 13 last year, but it was never finally released. Well, it’s back in iOS 14. Essentially, your iPhone or iPad will make it look like your eyes are looking directly at the camera, even if you’re looking at the screen.

It’s a subtle feature, but one that should make the person on the other end of the call feel like you’re paying full attention.

Turn it on by going to Settings > general > Facetime > Eye contact.

Double or triple tap on the back of the phone to activate actions

A new accessibility feature called Back Tap lets you activate system features like multitasking or Control Center, or start a shortcut by simply tapping the back of your iPhone two or three times.

Find the function in Settings > Accessibility > I touched > Touch Back. Choose the number of taps you want to use and then you will see a list of actions that you can initiate.

For example, you can triple tap on the back of your phone to take a screenshot or launch Siri.

When I first read about this feature, I thought it would be very easy to activate it just by putting my iPhone in my pocket or placing it on my desk. But that hasn’t been the case at all – the phone seems good at identifying the tap pattern before it kicks in.

Scribble in any text field on your iPad with Apple Pencil

The iPad has a new feature called Scribble. Basically it turns any text field into a box you can type in using a Apple pencil, and your iPad will convert your handwriting to typed text automatically.

If you’re in the middle of taking notes and you get a new iMessage, you can lower the alert and use the quick reply field to type your reply and retype notes, all without having to put down the stylus or activate the keyboard.

For heavy Apple Pencil users, Scribble should speed up many tasks that would normally have been slowed down by having to switch between the stylus and the keyboard.

There is much more to these updated operating systems. iOS 14 and iPadOS 14 are available as free updates and it doesn’t take long to install. Just make sure do a little cleaning on your device before installing to make sure the process runs smoothly. And don’t be surprised if there are some problems with your favorite apps during the first few days – Apple surprised everyone, including the developers, by releasing the update the day after the “Time Flies” event on September 15.

Update, 11:50 am: Add information about resetting default apps.