When you think about it, it's surprising how much of my work depends on the iPhone. From Telegram messages to search
Even with amazing performanceapplications, there are many options to improve your productivity only with built-in applications and features. So, let's talk about how to become more productive - so much faster and so much better - using your iPhone.
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Use Spotlight to launch everything.
Forget about Siri, forget about the desktop, that's all you really need to use to run anything on your iPhone – This is Spotlight.
With the release of iOS 9, Spotlight has taken an amazinga place, first of all I use it to search for everything. And you must take it into service. Instead of spending milliseconds trying to figure out how you will do it, just enter it in Spotlight and often it will give you what you were looking for.
The following are just some of the options for which I use Spotlight.
- Launch applications.
- Search for contacts and calls to them.
- Search for music.
- Search for notes and open them.
- Currency Rates.
- Basic math.
- Search for channels in Slack and directly open them in Slack.
- Search and open PDF files on iBooks.
What is really amazing is that youYou can go to some applications directly from Spotlight. And this is thanks to universal links. And you could not imagine this, but the most productive applications already support this feature.
So it’s worth taking the initial search in Spotlight, and you will save a billion milliseconds every year.
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Use the "Hello Siri" command when your hands are busy
If you have an iPhone 6s or iPhone 6s Plus, youyou can use Siri without touching your iPhone. If the feature is enabled (Settings -> General -> Siri -> Allow Hey Siri), all you have to do is say “Hey Siri” out loud to start talking to Siri . This is really useful for playing music while you're in the kitchen or for setting an alarm at night.
Alternatively, you can use Siri todo what you cannot do with Spotlight search. It's easy enough to ask Siri to turn off Wi-Fi or turn on do not disturb mode or send someone a message when you are driving.
- Recall some usage rules.
- Use "Hello Siri" when your hands are busy.
- Use Spotlight Search to launch everything.
- Use Siri to perform actions if you are too lazy to use the search.
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Moving the keyboard cursor using 3D Touch
If you are using iPhone 6s or iPhone 6s Plus,you can press harder on the keyboard to convert it to a trackpad. Then, without releasing your finger, swipe left / right to move the cursor left / right. Press harder before moving your finger, and you can also select text while moving the cursor.
This is really great, this is the best way to move the cursor on iOS.
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Use Quick Actions for apps that support them
3D Touch also works on application icons. If the application supports it, by tapping the application icon harder, a quick menu will appear. And if you use such useful applications as Launch Center Pro, Overcast, Tweetbot and others, you will notice that these actions are faster. I use them for direct transitions to tweets and for custom commands that I configured in Launch Center Pro.
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Rotate, crop and edit photos from the Photos app
One of the most annoying things when taking pictures from the lock screen is that the picture was saved in portrait mode instead of landscape, or vice versa.
Luckily, the Photos app allows you to do basic editing, which involves changing the orientation of the photo. You can also trim it and do some basic editing.
Click on the “Edit” button when you are viewing photos and press the first button to go to the rotation options.
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Use the Widget Notification Center to access quick information
Productivity is everything, looking for morequick access to perform any action. Widget notifications are the best example of quick access to view information and perform basic actions. It’s impossible for me to list here the amazing productivity of each widget.
But try the widget notification center, combining a calendar, currency converter, viewing photos and quickly calling applications from the widget.
If you want a huge number of settings for launching applications and actions from the Notification Center, pay attention to Launcher 3.
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Use Automation Apps
If you use a Mac, you know how muchautomation can be surprising. You can turn off some of the features on iOS. If you're new, install IFTTT's IF application to create web-based automation.
If you're ready to do crazy and amazing things, try the following apps – Workflow, Drafts 4, Launch Center Pro.
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Search in Settings
As a technical writer who visits frequentlyThe settings app, about 36 times a day, is amazing how much time this simple function can save. There is no need to remember exactly where the necessary settings items are located. Just swipe down in the settings app, click on the search bar and do your job.
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Open links from iPad and Mac using Continuity feature
This feature is enabled by default. You just have to find her. If you have an open page on your Mac or iPad and you want to open it on your iPhone, double-click the home button and at the bottom you will see the option to open the page from another device in Safari.
It works in the opposite direction.
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Do Not Disturb Schedule
I am sure that you are familiar with the Do Not Disturb mode. You can enable it manually by simply clicking on the “Moon” icon from the Control Center.
But if you go in“Settings” -> "Do not disturb"You can find many options.
You can schedule this mode accordingwith the schedule, for every night, and also when you are at work, all notifications will be silenced and only calls from the selected list will be able to go through. You can also customize this list by creating a new contact group and selecting it.
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Using the VIP Contacts feature in the Mail app
If you receive a lot of emails,You must create a VIP list in the Mail application. Setting up VIP in Mail is quite simple. VIPs receive special rights. You can view email messages only from VIP contacts by going to the VIP folder on the sidebar.
And in the "Notifications" parameter in the "Settings" you canalso specify the notification settings for VIP, regardless of other letters. For example, you can turn off notifications for all emails from your Gmail account, except for VIP contacts.
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Give the Notes app a chance
For notes, I used the Evernote app onover the course of many years. After iOS 9, I tried Notes and it is now my default notes app. It works surprisingly well – syncs with Mac and iPad, gives me options for formatting checklists, and does the best job of saving links with wide previews.
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Use text abbreviations to save time when typing.
If you use your iPhone for work –writing letters and editing documents, use text abbreviations. This will allow you to make a note, such as "@@", which will automatically convert to your email address. You can do this in any frequently used application. Set notes to addressSettings >> Basic >> Keyboard >> Replacing text. Read the detailed guide to get started.
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Reading almost any text out loud for you
This is a special function, it must be included insettings, but this is one of the best iPhone hacks I've ever come across. After setting it up, all you have to do is swipe down from the top of the screen with two fingers and the iPhone will find readable content on the screen and begin to read your chosen item with Siri's voice (if you are in the USA, try Alex's voice, it’s really good ) This feature also works in the Kindle app.
To enable this feature, go to“Settings” -> “Basic” -> “Universal access” -> “Speech” -> "Screen out loud".
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Setting up extensions
Extensions you see after clicking onThe Share icon is one of the best ways to quickly share data between apps. Even if it's just sharing a photo on WhatsApp or saving a page in Pocket. After taking a moment, swipe to the end of the application line and tap Next. Include and organize icons according to your most frequently used apps.
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Using a Third Party Keyboard
Custom keyboards are still clumsy, butswitching to one of them will increase your productivity. I'm already in love with Gboard. Finding the link I want to send in correspondence (often this is my own article) has never been easier.
You can search and share directly from the keyboard. In addition, there are applications, such as Reboard, that allow you to take advantage of a much larger number of functions - such as access and file sharing directly from the keyboard. We talked about many productive keyboard applications, but I would recommend starting with Gboard.
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Learning and using hidden gestures
Hidden gestures in iOS are everywhere. From archiving in mail to turning off the sound and responding to a notification from a locked screen. Many third-party applications by default hide professional functions using gestures. So, if you are looking at a list of items that you can work with, just swipe a little to the left to see if something is going to happen.