Little-Known Hacks To Get Better Functionality From Your iPhone

The iPhone changed the world, and even today with plenty of competitors in the smartphone market, they are still the brand that everybody wants to have. You see them all over the world, and it seems that just about anybody who can afford an iPhone has an iPhone. 

People use their iPhones for many different purposes, and it seems that no two people use their iPhone in the same way. The customizability of it is part of its appeal, and most people don’t really know just how much they can do with their phones. Read on for four little known hacks that will improve your iPhone’s functionality and let you customize it better for your needs.

Clear Your Phone’s RAM To Make It Run Faster

One general rule of computers is that the more you use them, the slower they begin to run. There are many reasons for this, and in the long run it is a trend that cannot be reversed, but there are ways you can speed things up if you find your phone to be on the sluggish side lately. If that happens, the first thing you should do is clear the RAM, which stands for random access memory.

To do this, hold down on your phone’s wake/sleep button as if you were to turn your phone off. Once the “slide to power off” icon pops up, then you will release your hold from that button and instead press the home key, keeping your finger on it for a couple of seconds. You will see your screen figure if you do it correctly, and then it will go to your phone’s home screen. This means your RAM has been cleared, and you should notice a smoother performance.

Set Timers With Your Phone To Stop Playing Media

Our cell phones have gone from being devices used purely for calling to becoming mini computers and media devices. Now many of us are more likely to use our smartphones for purposes of listening to music or podcasts or even watching movies than we are to use it for actual phone calls. This is fine, but sometimes we wake up in the morning with a half gone battery and we wonder what happened and how it got so low.

Luckily, Apple has put in a feature on iPhones that lets you stop playing media after a timer has run out. You can set your own timer by going to the clock app, going to “Timer” and then setting a time. This usually puts an alarm when the time runs out, but you can change the setting to “Stop Playing” so that when the time runs down, whatever you are listening to or watching will stop.

Know How Long Your Texts Are With A Character Count

Ever feel like you write such long texts that you want to know just how long they actually are? Well, you can actually do that with your iPhone. There is a “character count” setting which will tell you how many characters your text is even before sending it, allowing you to catch yourself and cut it down in case a message is ridiculously long.

To set this up, go into your settings and click on “Messages.” When there you will see a tab that says “Character Count.” Just flick that switch and the characters will start counting up. Be careful what you wish for though, because this may just make you overly self conscious about the length of the messages you’re sending.

Record Videos With The Screen Off

You may find yourself in situations where you want to take a picture or snap a video in a hurry. Perhaps you see something that will only be there for a few seconds, and you want to catch it in all of its glory before it has gone. The few seconds you spend opening your phone could allow you to miss it. You also may want to keep the screen off while taking videos. That is why iPhones let you open the camera without unlocking your phone and take videos while the screen is off.

Just swipe your finger to the left to get into camera mode. To use video with the screen off, hit the shutter button when the screen is locked and slide the camera icon up. You’ll get to camera mode, and then go to the video section. Double click thrice on the home button while holding the slider, and the screen will turn off while the video starts. Then when you want to stop the video from recording, just unlock your phone.