33 Tips And Tricks Every iPhone Owner Should Know

Close three apps at once

Need to force-close multiple apps fast? At the risk of looking like you're clawing at your phone, you can close up to three apps at once by swiping up with three fingers.

Quickly shut off the flashlight

Included in iOS's Control Center is access to a flashlight. Once enabled, you can quickly shut it off by using the camera shortcut from the lock screen.

Hidden bubble level

iOS's built-in leveling tool uses the phone's gyroscope to help you find out if an object is perfectly horizontal (or vertical).

To access it, launch the compass, then swipe right to reveal the level.

Quickly 'go back'

The iPhone doesn't have a dedicated "back" button. But, a little-known gesture makes that completely acceptable.

In Messages, Mail, and even Safari, simply swipe right from the edge of the screen to go to the previous window. The gesture even works in some third-party apps like Instagram.

8 earbud controls

- Tap the center button once to pause, and once again to resume.

- Fast forward by tapping the center button twice and holding down on the second tap. Rewind by tapping three times and holding down the third tap.

- Switch to a new incoming call by tapping the center button once. You can end that new call by holding down the center button for two seconds.

- Inside of the default camera app, press the volume up button to take a picture. This doesn't work with other camera apps, such as Instagram.

- If you're sporting an iPhone 4S, tap and hold the center button to activate Siri.

- Double-tap the center button to skip to the next song. (You can even triple-tap to go to the previous song.)

- Just tap the center button once to answer and once to hang up.

- Press and hold the center button for a couple seconds, then release it. You'll hear two beeps when the call's been disconnected meaning you've successfully ignored a phone call.

Create custom vibration alerts

To do it, go to Contacts, choose a contact, and tap Edit in the upper-right corner.

Then, scroll down and navigate to Vibration > Create New Vibration. In the interactive screen, tap and hold to create a pattern, using long presses for long vibration notes, and so on.

Lock focus and exposure

To lock the focus and exposure, tap and hold until you see a yellow bar appear at the top of the screen, Even if you change your composition, the focus and exposure will be unaffected.

Find out what the locals use

When you're traveling, it's a good idea to find out which apps the locals love most -- especially public transportation apps.

To see what locals are downloading, go to the App Store and tap Near Me at the bottom.

Search text messages

Here's another one you might only stumble upon. To find a specific text message, use the search bar at the top of the message interface.

Don't see it? Pull down to reveal it, or tap the top bar.

Extra characters

Hidden beneath the unassuming characters of the iOS keyboard is a world of letters and symbols only available with a long-press.

- If Siri mispronounces your name -- or anyone else's -- there's an easy way to correct that. At any point just say, "That's not how you pronounce [name]" and Siri will take you through a process of correcting it.

- Let Siri set your alarm. Simply say, "Set my alarm for [time]," and she'll do it.

- If you've set up your Facebook and Twitter accounts on your iDevice, Siri can handle status updates. Just say, "Tweet [insert tweet here]" or "Update Facebook [your message here]." Siri can even understand hash tags, so "Tweet Go USA exclamation point hash tag world cup" turns into "Go USA! #worldcup."

- Let Siri handle it for you. Just say, "Flip a coin," and Siri will randomly populate heads or tails. And, she's so authentic that sometimes the coin falls in the crack of her virtual sidewalk.

- Need to quickly find an e-mail or note? Siri can handle it. Just say "Find my note about [word]" and it'll appear.

- You can create any kind of relationship -- even unconventional ones like "lifesaver" -- by telling Siri "[Person's name] is my [relationship]." This gives you the option to give commands such as, "Siri text my mother."

- Bored? Or just have time to kill? Siri can entertain you. The personal assistant can tell you which planes are traveling overhead in real time.

- Don't know what to say to Siri. She can help with that too. To see a list of some of the most helpful commands Siri can handle, just say, "What can I say?"

- Instead of searching around your home screen for an app just tell Siri to launch whatever app you want to open.

- By default, Siri will address you with your name as it's entered in your Contacts. But if you want to something different, just ask Siri to call you something else.

- The default voice for Siri is female, but if you prefer a male personal assistant, set that option by going to Settings > General > Siri > Voice Gender.

Charge your phone faster

Sometimes you just need your phone charged quickly. To do so just charge your phone on Airplane mode and you'll have a full battery in no time.

If we forgot any tips please feel free to share yours in the comment section below!

Also be sure to check out Apple's Tips app which shows you a plethora of features on your iOS device.