Learn input secrets for any situation.

Keep a Bookmark on the Home Screen
 

If you frequently visit a website, add its bookmark directly from the Home screen. Go to the page in Safari, and tap the + symbol at the bottom of the screen. Select Add to Home Screen. Rename it if you want, but keep the title short to fit next to the other icons.

Save a Picture to Your Library

If you find a cool Image in Safari or the Mail application, just hold your finger on it for a moment to save it to the Photo Library. A menu will pop up. Select Save Image, and it’ll join the other pictures you took. You can even turn it into the wallpaper. Open Photos > Camera Roll, select the image, and tap the button in the lower-left corner.

Home Button Shortcut

The circular Home button on the face of the iPhone has a hidden secret; double-click to activate a command other than a trip to the Home screen. Go to Settings > General > Home Button. Set it to open your favorite phone contacts or the iPod app. If you leave iPod Controls active, the double-click even opens basic play and adjustment tools when the phone is locked. There’s no place like Home.

Set the iPhone to Turn Off After You Fall Asleep

While the iPhone has replaced plenty of watches—just whip it out and hit the Home button to see the time—it can do a lot more. Within the Clock application, you’ll find World Clock, Alarm, Stopwatch, and Timer features. And the Timer can set the iPod to sleep, instead of sounding a chime. Tap When Timer Ends, then scroll to the top for the sleep option. It’s perfect for listening to music when you hit the hay.

Swap Between Letters and Punctuation

Tap the spacebar twice to automatically enter a period, end a sentence, and capitalize the following word, but reach for the punctuation keypad in the lower-left for other marks. You have two ways to quickly return to the letters. Tap Space to go back to the alphabet. Or initially hold your finger on the punctuation button, slide to the character you want, and let go.

Automate the Apostrophe

Some contractions look like words to the iPhone dictionary, so while it’ll automatically add an apostrophe if you type “wont,” it won’t for “were,” “well,” or “hell.” Make the typing corrector add that punctuation back in by including an extra letter, such as “welll,” “helll,” and “weree.”

Activate Hidden Secondary Keys

The .com button speeds up entering Safari URLs, but you can instantly add other top-level domains by just holding the button for a moment. In Mail, hold the period key for the same result. And hold certain, other keys to activate accent commands that are useful, especially in non-English languages: “?,” “!,” “A,” “E,” “I,” “O,” “U,” “C,” “L,” “N,” “S,” and “Z.”