The iPhone Manual - Tips and Hacks E-Book

Wallace Wang

• Herausgeber: Packt Publishing
• Kategorie: Wissenschaft und neue Technologien
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 398

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2020

Beschreibung

Discover customization and productivity tips with this quick guide for iPhone users

Key Features

• Learn everything about your iPhone quickly to use it as an effective tool for communication, entertainment, and work
• Customize your phone’s look and sound and modify the iOS’s privacy settings
• Keep your apps tidy and organized using the App Library

Book Description

The iPhone is the most popular smartphone available on the market, renowned for its sophisticated design, immersive UI, and user safety. And even if you’ve bought an iPhone for its impressive specifications, you may still be unaware of many of its features, which you’ll discover with the help of this book!

The iPhone Manual is your practical guide to uncovering the hidden potential of iPhones, and will leave you amazed at how productive you can be by learning tips and hacks for customizing your device as a communication, entertainment, and work tool. You’ll unearth the complete range of iPhone features and customize it to streamline your day-to-day interaction with your device. This iPhone manual will help you explore your iPhone’s impressive capabilities and fully understand all the features, functions, and settings that every iPhone owner should know. With this book, you’ll get to grips with not only the basics of communication but also best practices for accessing photos, videos, and music to set up your entertainment using your iPhone. In addition to this, you’ll learn about serious work tools that will make you productive in your everyday tasks.

By the end of this iPhone book, you’ll have learned how to use your iPhone to perform tasks and customize your experience in ways you probably didn’t realize were possible.

What you will learn

• Use touch gestures and understand the user interface to use any app on the iPhone
• Explore the latest apps exclusive to iOS 14, such as the translate and magnifier apps
• Find out how to share data from your iPhone with other devices
• Set up and customize Siri and learn how to give commands
• Discover different ways to capture and access pictures and videos
• Set up an email account and use multiple accounts on a single device
• Set up FaceTime on your iPhone and discover different ways to make a FaceTime call
• Use Apple Pay to shop online or send money to other users

Who this book is for

The book is for iPhone users who want to get more out of their state-of-the-art iPhone device and the powerful iOS interface. If you are new to using smartphones or are an Android user new to iPhones, this book will help you migrate efficiently.

Leseprobe

The iPhone Manual – Tips and Hacks

A complete user guide to getting the best out of your iPhone and iOS 14

Wallace Wang

BIRMINGHAM—MUMBAI

The iPhone Manual – Tips and Hacks

Copyright © 2020 Packt Publishing

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embedded in critical articles or reviews.

Every effort has been made in the preparation of this book to ensure the accuracy of the information presented. However, the information contained in this book is sold without warranty, either express or implied. Neither the author, nor Packt Publishing or its dealers and distributors, will be held liable for any damages caused or alleged to have been caused directly or indirectly by this book.

Packt Publishing has endeavored to provide trademark information about all of the companies and products mentioned in this book by the appropriate use of capitals. However, Packt Publishing cannot guarantee the accuracy of this information.

Commissioning Editor: Pavan Ramchandani

Acquisition Editor: Srikanth Varanasi

Senior Editor: Keagan Carneiro

Content Development Editor: Divya Vijayan

Technical Editor: Deepesh Patel

Copy Editor: Safis Editing

Project Coordinator: Kinjal Bari

Proofreader: Safis Editing

Indexer: Rekha Nair

Production Designer: Shankar Kalbhor

First published: November 2020

Production reference: 2061120

Published by Packt Publishing Ltd.

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B3 2PB, UK.

ISBN 978-1-83864-101-6

www.packt.com

This book is dedicated to anyone who ever bought and used a piece of technology that promised to make their life better but found it only made their life more confusing and complicated. The problem is that technology is often created by tech-savvy people for other tech-savvy people. If you find technology intriguing but intimidating, you'll find that the iPhone may be the perfect smartphone for you. This book is dedicated to those willing to get out of their comfort zone and take a chance to learn something new.

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Contributors

About the author

Wallace Wang has written dozens of computer books over the years, including Microsoft Office for Dummies and Beginning Programming for Dummies, along with Macintosh and iPhone books such as macOS Programming for Absolute Beginners, Beginning iPhone Development with Swift 5, Pro iPhone Development with Swift 5, and Beginning ARKit for iPhone and iPad.

When he's not helping people discover the fascinating world of programming, he performs stand-up comedy and appears on two radio shows on KNSJ in San Diego, called Notes From the Underground and Laugh In Your Face Radio.

In his free time, Wallace also writes a screenwriting blog called The 15 Minute Movie Method and a blog about the latest cat news on the internet called Cat Daily News.

About the reviewer

Rudra S Misra is an Apple Certified Trainer and, since 2009, Rudra has been working on the Apple ecosystem. He conducts training on various aspects of macOS and iOS, such as management, troubleshooting, deployment, and app development for his wide range of clients, from corporates, Apple India channel partners, and Apple solution providers, to educators and individuals. Rudra is actively involved in app development, content creation, R&D with new technology, technical blogging, and technology awareness programs.

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Acknowledgements

First, this book would never have been created with out all the hard-working people at Packt who helped put it together: Divij Kotian, Keagan Carneiro, and Divya Vijayan.

I would also like to thank the many people who had nothing to do with this book but still played an influential role in my life in some form or another:

Dane Henderson, Kristen Yoder, and Jody Taylor, who help me co-host a radio show on KNSJ.org called "Notes From the Underground."

Chris (the Zooman) Clobber and Sarah Burford, who help me co-host another radio show on KNSJ.org called "Laugh In Your Face Radio."

Leo (the man, the myth, the legend) Fontaine, Freddie King, and Terry Sanchez at Twin Dragons.

Thanks go to Michael Montijo, who spend nearly two decades pitching his animated TV series to different networks before finally finding success. During much of that time, he'd drive from Phoenix to Los Angeles (five hours one-way) to talk to network executives. If you want to achieve success, a large part is simply commitment, dedication, and lots of hard work.

Final thanks go to Cassandra (my wife) and Jordan (my son). More thanks go to Oscar and Mayer (our cats) for providing my life with lots of interesting tasks that usually involve some form of biological fluid splattering on the floor after being ejected from one end of the cat or the other.

Table of Contents

Preface

Chapter 1: Learning Basic Touch Gestures

Using tap gestures

Using swipe gestures

Using left- and right-swipe gestures to navigate screens

Using left-swipe gestures to delete items in a list

Using the down-swipe gesture to view Notifications Center

Using up- and down-swipe gestures to view more information

Using up - and left/right-swipe gestures to switch apps

Using swipe gestures to open Control Center

Using long-press gestures

Using drag gestures

Using pinch gestures

Using rotation gestures

Summary

Chapter 2: Using the New iOS 14 Apps

Using the Magnifier app

Using the App Library

Summary

Chapter 3: Customizing Sound, Look, and Privacy Settings

Getting an Apple ID

Protecting your iPhone

Using passcodes

Using Touch ID

Using Face ID

Making sure you don't lose your iPhone

Setting up tracking

Locating a missing iPhone

Changing the wallpaper

Customizing sounds and haptics

Blocking out disturbances

Adjusting text size and screen brightness

Customizing date/time formats

Customizing the battery

Defining an emergency SOS

Protecting your privacy

Defining notification settings

Setting Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and hotspots

Connecting to a Wi-Fi network

Turning on Bluetooth

Creating a hotspot

Finding information about your iPhone

Updating an iPhone

Using accessibility features

Summary

Chapter 4: Making Phone Calls

Making a call

Typing a complete phone number

Calling a phone number from the screen

Storing and calling a number from the Contacts app

Calling a favorite person

Calling recent callers

Receiving a call

Defining a ringtone and haptic feedback

Creating a reminder for returning a call

Creating messages for returning a call

Taking multiple calls

Blocking callers

Blocking disturbances

Summary

Chapter 5: Sending Text Messages

Understanding text messages

Sending a text message

Sending pictures as a text message

Sending emojis as a text message

Sending stickers as a text message

Creating Memojis

Sending a Digital Touch drawing as a text message

Sending audio as a text message

Sending animated fitness images as a text message

Sending animated images as a text message

Sending a song you're currently playing as a text message

Sending money through a text message

Receiving and responding to text messages

Responding to text messages with symbols

Hiding a text message conversation

Deleting a text message conversation

Summary

Chapter 6: Using Siri

Setting up Siri

Asking Siri questions

Giving Siri commands

Getting the current time

Getting the current weather

Translating words and phrases

Setting, editing, and deleting an alarm

Setting a timer

Setting a reminder

Setting an appointment

Getting directions

Sending and receiving text messages

Making phone calls

Opening an app

Tracking flights above you

Summary

Chapter 7: Taking and Sharing Pictures

Capturing still images

Capturing a photo or square image

Capturing a portrait image

Capturing a panoramic image

Capturing screenshots

Recording video

Recording ordinary video

Recording time-lapse video

Recording slow motion video

Using the Photos app

Viewing images and videos in the photos category

Viewing images and videos in the For You category

Creating albums to organize images and videos

Editing images and videos

Editing Live Photos

Trimming a video

Adjusting the appearance of an image or video

Applying filters to an image or video

Resetting the orientation of an image or video

Cropping an image or video

Tagging and sharing images and videos

Tagging an image or video

Sharing an image or video

Deleting images and videos

Summary

Chapter 8: Listening to Music

Listening to the radio

Listening to Music 1

Listening to internet radio stations

Listening to podcasts

Downloading podcast episodes

Deleting downloaded podcast episodes

Unsubscribing from a podcast

Transferring music to an iPhone

Transferring audio from a Macintosh

Transferring audio files with iTunes

Storing and organizing audio files on an iPhone

Creating playlists

Editing a playlist

Playing an audio file

Deleting audio files

Summary

Chapter 9: Browsing the Internet with Safari

Browsing websites

Typing a website address

Changing text size

Reloading web pages

Navigating between web pages

Opening and switching between multiple web pages

Opening additional web pages

Switching between open web pages

Closing web pages

Private browsing

Defining privacy settings in Safari

Bookmarking websites

Creating a bookmark

Using a bookmark

Deleting and moving a bookmark

Viewing browsing history

Using reading lists

Storing web pages in a reading list

Viewing web pages in a reading list

Deleting web pages in a reading list

Sharing websites

Searching with Safari

Summary

Chapter 10: Sending and Receiving Email

Setting up an email account

Setting up a common email account

Manually setting up an email account

Sending email

Writing and sending email

Saving email as a draft

Attaching files to an email message

Reading messages

Choosing a message to read

Responding to a message

Moving a message to the Archive folder

Deleting a message

Creating a VIP list

Filtering email

Flagging messages

Dealing with junk email

Summary

Chapter 11: Using FaceTime

Setting up FaceTime

Using Wi-Fi for a FaceTime call

Making a FaceTime call

Talking in a FaceTime call

Adding multiple people to a FaceTime call

Using visual effect filters in FaceTime

Adding text to a FaceTime image

Adding shapes to a FaceTime image

Adding activities to a FaceTime image

Adding memojis to a FaceTime image

Adding emojis to a FaceTime image

Summary

Chapter 12: Reading eBooks

Getting eBooks from Apple's bookstore

Adding eBooks to the Books app

Adding eBooks from a Macintosh

Adding eBooks from an iPhone/iPad

Opening an eBook

Choosing from the Reading Now list

Choosing from your eBook library

Searching for an eBook title

Reading an eBook

Closing an eBook

Viewing a table of contents

Searching an eBook

Bookmarking a page

Changing text size in an ePub eBook

Taking notes in an ePub eBook

Highlighting in an ePub eBook

Reading a PDF eBook

Summary

Chapter 13: Storing Contact Information

Storing contact information

Communicating through the Contacts app

Combining duplicate contacts

Displaying birthdays

Defining favorites

Sharing contacts

Deleting contacts

Creating emergency contacts

Summary

Chapter 14: Setting Appointments and Reminders

Setting appointments

Editing and deleting an appointment

Setting reminders and travel time

Defining recurring appointments

Adding meeting locations

Inviting others to an appointment

Adding notes to an appointment

Typing text on an appointment

Attaching files to an appointment

Attaching URLs to an appointment

Deleting an appointment

Summary

Chapter 15: Writing Notes and Recording Voice Memos

Taking notes

Understanding folders

Creating a new note

Typing and editing text

Formatting text

Using tables

Modifying table rows and columns

Moving and copying rows and columns

Copying a table

Sharing a table

Converting tables to text

Deleting a table

Creating checklists

Adding pictures to a note

Cropping images into a note

Adding images and videos to a note

Adding a picture from the Photo Library to a note

Drawing in a note

Searching notes

Viewing notes as thumbnails

Password protecting notes

Capturing audio with Voice Memos

Summary

Chapter 16: Getting Directions with Maps

Customizing the Maps app

Getting directions

Adding a detour

Viewing a list of instructions

Searching around you

Creating favorite locations

Using a guide

Deleting a location in a guide

Placing markers on a map

Using the compass

Changing the appearance of a map

Summary

Chapter 17: Getting Time, Weather, and Stock Information

Using the Clock app

Using the world clock

Setting alarms

Using a stopwatch

Setting a timer

Getting weather forecasts

Viewing stock quotes

Summary

Chapter 18: Using Apple Pay

Setting up Apple Pay

Adding multiple cards to your Apple Pay account

Removing cards from your Apple Pay account

Defining a shipping address

Paying with Apple Pay

Viewing past transactions

Getting an Apple Card

Summary

Other Books You May Enjoy

Preface

When Apple introduced the iPhone in 2007, it redefined the smartphone market. Over a decade later, the iPhone continues advancing smartphone technology with innovations such as biometrics (fingerprint and facial recognition), contactless payment (Apple Pay), voice recognition (Siri), and touchscreen interfaces.

With so many features packed into an iPhone, many people simply use what features they can learn on their own and often overlook additional features that they might find useful if they knew they even existed.

That's the purpose of this book, to explain different features of the iPhone that many people may not be aware of and teach people how and why to use these features to make their iPhone an even more indispensable tool than ever before.

Who this book is for

This book is for anyone who has an iPhone and would like to know more about how to take advantage of its various features. If you're a beginner, intermediate user, or even someone already familiar with using an iPhone, this book can work as a tutorial or a reference to help you get the most out of your iPhone in the shortest amount of time.

What this book covers

Chapter 1, Learning Basic Touch Gestures, explains the common touch gestures needed to control the iPhone.

Chapter 2, Using the New iOS 14 Apps, describes how to use the latest features in iOS 14.

Chapter 3, Customizing Sound, Look, and Privacy Settings, shows how to customize your iPhone so it works exactly the way you want.

Chapter 4, Making Phone Calls, explains all the different ways to make and receive phone calls.

Chapter 5, Sending Text Messages, explains how to send and receive text messages.

Chapter 6, Using Siri, shows how to use Siri in different ways to perform common tasks.

Chapter 7, Taking and Sharing Pictures, explains how to capture video and still images.

Chapter 8, Listening to Music, shows how to store and play audio files.

Chapter 9, Browsing the Internet with Safari, shows how to navigate around web pages using the built-in Safari browser.

Chapter 10, Sending and Receiving Email, shows how to connect to an email account to send and receive messages.

Chapter 11, Using FaceTime, shows how to make video phone calls using FaceTime.

Chapter 12, Reading eBooks, shows how to get eBooks and audiobooks and read different types of eBooks.

Chapter 13, Storing Contact Information, shows how to store, retrieve, and edit the names of important people.

Chapter 14, Storing Appointments and Reminders, explains how to keep track of your appointments and use reminders to help you remember them.

Chapter 15, Writing Notes and Recording Voice Memos, explains how to store ideas as text or audio recordings.

Chapter 16, Getting Directions with Maps, shows how to use the Maps app to find nearby areas along with directions for how to get there.

Chapter 17, Getting Time, Weather, and Stock Information, shows how to use the Clock app to set timers or get time and weather information from different parts of the world. It also explains how to track stocks.

Chapter 18, Using Apple Pay, explains how to set up Apple Pay and send cash electronically to others with an iPhone.

To get the most out of this book

This book is geared toward novices and experienced iPhone users who own a recent iPhone and want to know more about its various features so that they can use them as quickly as possible. After reading this book, readers will have a better idea of what their iPhone can do and which features they might want to start using. More importantly, readers will also learn how to customize their iPhone to make it work exactly the way they prefer.

Download the color images

We also provide a PDF file that has color images of the screenshots/diagrams used in this book. You can download it here: https://static.packt-cdn.com/downloads/9781838641016_ColorImages.pdf.

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Chapter 1: Learning Basic Touch Gestures

Before Apple introduced the iPhone in 2007, mobile phones often sported confusing keyboards that flipped open and required you to press multiple keys just to type a single character. Not surprisingly, these early mobile phones were often confusing and clumsy to use.

When Apple introduced the iPhone, they introduced an entirely new way to interact with a mobile phone. Instead of forcing users to type on cramped physical keyboards and squint at information crammed into tiny screens with poor resolution, the iPhone displayed nothing but a blank screen.

This blank screen doubled as both a viewing screen and a virtual interface. Instead of sporting physical buttons, the iPhone could display virtual buttons that could adapt to whether the user wanted to type a text message, an email, or a website address. By adapting to the user, the iPhone screen proved far more versatile than previous mobile phones.

The key to controlling an iPhone lay in its touchscreen, which could interpret touch gestures to perform different commands. Although today's iPhone is vastly different from the first iPhones of 2007, the touchscreen interface remains largely the same. To get the most out of your iPhone, you must learn not only what touch gestures are available, but when and how to use them.

In this chapter, we will cover the uses of these gestures in the following sections:

Using tap gesturesUsing swipe gesturesUsing long-press gesturesUsing drag gesturesUsing pinch gesturesUsing rotation gestures

Using tap gestures

If you've ever pointed at something in a book or magazine, you've used a tap gesture. Tap gestures consist of pointing at – that is, tapping – something on the iPhone screen, such as an icon or a hyperlink. After tapping the screen briefly with one finger to select that item, you then lift your finger off the screen.

Think of tap gestures as similar to pointing and clicking with a mouse on a traditional PC.

Tap gestures let you tell your iPhone, "See what I'm pointing at? That's what I want." Since tap gestures select items, they represent a common yet simple touch gesture you'll use all the time.

Tap gestures are commonly used to choose commands or select items represented by the following onscreen elements:

IconsButtonsTextPictures

Tapping an icon or button to choose a command immediately causes something to happen, giving you visual feedback that you tapped on an item. For example, tapping an app icon from the Home screen loads that app, while tapping a button might dismiss a dialog or open up a different screen, as shown in Figure 1.1:

Figure 1.1 – Tapping a button loads another screen

Besides causing an action to occur, the tap gesture can also select items displayed in a list. The Mail and Messages apps display a list of email and text messages, respectively. When you want to read a specific message, you scroll through a list of messages and tap on the one you want to view its entire contents.

When you want to move, send, or delete items such as pictures, messages, or files, you need to select one or more items by tapping on them. Tapping typically highlights the selected items in some way, such as displaying a check mark, as shown in Figure 1.2. After selecting one or more items, you can then choose a command to move, send, or delete those selected items:

Figure 1.2 – Tapping on pictures selects those items

Since the tap gesture acts as a pointing tool, you can also use the tap gesture to move the cursor when editing text. On a traditional computer, you can move the cursor using a mouse or the cursor keys, but on the touchscreen of an iPhone, you must move the cursor by tapping where you want to place it.

Using swipe gestures

Think of reading a book or magazine. When you're done reading a page, you can put your finger on the far edge of the page and swipe to the left or right to turn to the next (or previous) page. That swiping gesture works exactly the same way on the iPhone.

Swipe gestures are similar to scrolling to view more information on a traditional PC. Such gestures involve placing one fingertip on the edge of the screen, and then sliding your finger in an up, down, left, or right direction, as shown in Figure 1.3:

Figure 1.3 – The four directions for a swipe gesture

Swipe gestures are one of the most common gestures used on the iPhone. Whenever you want to see additional options or switch to another screen, try swiping in all four directions. If an app does not support a swipe gesture, you can't damage anything by swiping, since nothing will happen.

Using left- and right-swipe gestures to navigate screens

One common use for swipe gestures is to navigate from one screen to another, just like turning pages in a book. The left- and right-swipe gestures are often used to navigate between multiple screens within a single app.

To show there are multiple screens available, a series of dots appears at the bottom of the screen where each dot represents another screen. A white dot identifies the currently displayed screen while dimmed dots identify the number of screens available if you swipe left or right, as shown in Figure 1.4:

Figure 1.4 – Dots identify the number of hidden screens to the left and right

In Figure 1.4, there's only one dimmed dot to the right of the white dot, and three dimmed dots to the left. This means there's only one more screen to view if you swipe left, but three available screens to view if you swipe right. Dots identify both how many screens are available to view and how many are hidden to the left and right of the currently displayed screen.

The most common place that these dots can be seen is on the Home screen, but they also appear in other apps that need to display multiple views of nearly identical information, such as the Weather app (see Figure 1.4). To get familiar with the left- and right-swipe gestures, follow these steps:

Turn on your iPhone. The Home screen should appear. The more apps installed on your iPhone, the more screens the Home screen needs to display them all. Look for the dots at the bottom of the screen to identify how many screens are available.Swipe left.

Notice that, each time, the Home screen displays a different screen filled with app icons. The last screen will be the App Library screen that organizes apps into common categories, such as Social and Utilities, as shown in Figure 1.5:

Figure 1.5 – The App Library screen appears when you keep swiping left

Swipe right.

Notice that, each time, the Home screen displays the previous screen. When you swipe right on the main Home screen, the iPhone displays a Screen text field along with widgets that display information from different apps such as showing news, weather, stock quotes, or appointments you've scheduled, as shown in Figure 1.6. This screen is called the Today View and is meant to display a list of useful information you might need that day:

Figure 1.6 – The Today View lists a search text field and widgets

Later in this book, you'll learn how to customize both the Today View and the App Library.

Using left-swipe gestures to delete items in a list

Many apps display information in rows, such as the Mail app, which displays messages, or the Notes app, which displays the names of different notes in a list. Deleting items usually takes two steps:

Tap the Edit button.Tap the item you want to delete.

As a shortcut, you can also swipe left on list items to display options such as deleting that chosen item:

Figure 1.7 – Swiping left displays a list of options for an item in a list

Depending on the app, that list of options may include a Delete, Remove, or Trash option. Other times, you may see several additional options, as shown in Figure 1.7.

Using the down-swipe gesture to view Notifications Center

Apps will occasionally display messages called notifications. For example, the News app might display the latest story, while another app might simply display a message from the company that made the app.

While you can view notifications individually, it's often easier to view them all at once in the Notifications Center, which you can access by using a down-swipe gesture. To open the Notifications Center, follow these steps:

Place one fingertip at the top of the iPhone screen, as shown in Figure 1.8:

Figure 1.8 – Start the down swipe

Swipe down until Notification Center appears, as shown in Figure 1.9:

Figure 1.9 – Notification Center

Swipe up from the bottom of the screen to return to the Home screen.

Using up- and down-swipe gestures to view more information

Both up- and down-swipe gestures are commonly used to display more information on the screen. The most intuitive use for up- and down-swipe gestures occurs when viewing lists of items, such as text messages or pictures stored in the Photos app.

Any time you see a list of items, use the up and down gestures to scroll up and down to view more information that may not fit on the screen, as shown inFigure 1.10:

Figure 1.10 – Up and down swipes let you scroll through a list

Any time you see information partially obscured by the top or bottom of the screen, that's a visual clue that you can swipe up or down to view more information. Even if nothing is obscured, try swiping up and down just in case there may be more information hidden out of sight.

Using up - and left/right-swipe gestures to switch apps

You can have multiple apps running at the same time, even though you can only view one app at a time. When you have two or more apps running at once, you can easily switch between apps.

For iPhones without a Home button, place one fingertip at the bottom of the screen and swipe up to the center of the screen as shown in Figure 1.11:

Figure 1.11 – Swipe up to the center of the screen

For iPhones with a Home button, press the Home button twice in rapid succession.

In both cases, all open apps appear as multiple windows on the screen, as shown in Figure 1.12:

Figure 1.12 – Viewing all open apps at once

By viewing all open apps, you can quickly jump to the one you want to use. If there's an open app you no longer want to use, you can swipe up to shut that particular app down completely.

Using swipe gestures to open Control Center

If you need to access iPhone features such as screen brightness or volume, turn your iPhone into a flashlight, or open common apps such as the Camera or Calculator, you can open Control Center.

To open Control Center, you need to do one of two swipe gestures, depending on whether you do it on an iPhone that has or does not have a Home button:

On iPhones without a Home button, swipe down starting in the upper-right corner of the iPhone screen as shown in Figure 1.13 to open Control Center, shown in Figure 1.14. Then swipe up from the bottom of the screen to hide Control Center:

Figure 1.13 – A left and down diagonal-swipe gesture

On iPhones with a Home button, swipe up from the bottom of the screen to display Control Center, as shown in Figure 1.14. Then swipe down from the top of the screen to hide Control Center:

Figure 1.14 –Swiping up from the bottom edge displays the Control Center screen

Just remember that the gesture you use to display Control Center is the opposite of the gesture you use to hide Control Center.

Using long-press gestures

Similar to the tap gesture is the long-press gesture. With the tap gesture, you touch the screen briefly and then lift your finger away. With the long-press gesture (also called tap and hold), you press the screen over an item and hold it until the iPhone responds in some way, typically by displaying one or more options you can choose from.

To make those options go away, just tap anywhere on the screen, away from the list of options that appeared.

Think of long-press gestures as similar to right-clicking with a mouse to view a submenu of options on a traditional PC.

On the Home screen, the long-press gesture can display commonly used commands for a specific app, along with general commands for editing the Home screen. When you long-press the Camera and Maps icons on the Home screen, the Camera app displays shortcuts for taking selfies or videos, while the Maps app displays shortcuts for marking locations or searching nearby, as shown in Figure 1.15:

Figure 1.15 – Long-press gestures on a Home screen icon displays shortcuts

Besides displaying options for apps on the Home screen, the long-press gesture can also display options for text and pictures sent as either a text or email message. This can be handy to display options for saving, copying, or sharing a message or image, as shown in Figure 1.16:

Figure 1.16 – Long-press gestures on a picture sent as a text message

When working with text, the long-press gesture can select a single word and display additional options, as shown in Figure 1.17:

Figure 1.17 – Long-press gestures on text selects a word and displays options

In the Maps app, a long-press gesture places a marker to define a specific location, as shown in Figure 1.18. This long-press gesture allows you to mark a specific location rather than just point and scroll on a map:

Figure 1.18 – A long-press gesture places a marker in the Maps app

As a general rule, any time you want to get more information, try a long-press gesture on that item. If nothing happens, then you're already seeing all information available.

Using drag gestures

Drag gestures occur when you place a finger over an item on the screen, slide your finger across the screen, then lift your finger off the screen. Drag gestures typically move items, select text, or draw lines.

Think of drag gestures as similar to holding down the left mouse button and moving (or dragging) the mouse on a traditional PC.

On the Home screen, the drag gesture is used to move app icons around the Home screen, as shown in Figure 1.19. The drag gesture typically works with the long-press gesture as follows:

Open the Home Screen and use the long-press gesture to select an item.Drag the item to a new location.Lift your finger off the screen:

Figure 1.19 – Dragging lets you move an icon on the Home screen

When working with text, the drag gesture is used to select text. First, you use the long-press gesture to select a word.Then you drag the selection handles that appear to the left and right of the selected word. Dragging these selection handles highlights additional text, as shown in Figure 1.20:

Figure 1.20 – Dragging a selection handle can select more text

With icons and images, drag gestures are most often used to move items. With text, drag gestures are most often used to drag a selection handle to highlight additional text.

Using pinch gestures

Pinch gestures are two-finger gestures where you place two fingertips on the screen and either move them apart or closer together to zoom in and out. Pinch gestures are most commonly used with both text and pictures so you can zoom in to see details and zoom back out again, as shown in Figure 1.21:

Figure 1.21 – Pinching can expand (and shrink) text and images

Think of pinch gestures as similar to changing the size of an item using the scroll wheel with a mouse on a traditional PC.

Pinch gestures are often used with drag gestures as follows:

Use the pinch gesture (moving two fingertips apart) to expand text or an image, as shown in Figure 1.22:

Figure 1.22 – Using the pinch gesture to expand a view

Use the drag gesture to position the expanded text or image to display what you want to see. Repeat the pinch gesture (moving two fingertips closer together) to shrink the text or image back to its original size, as shown in Figure 1.23:

Figure 1.23 – Using the pinch gesture to shrink a view

Remember that when you reach the maximum or minimum size of an image, the pinch gesture will no longer work. This is the iPhone's way of letting you know when you've reached a maximum or minimum size.

Using rotation gestures

Rotation gestures are another two-finger gesture where you place two fingertips on the screen, but then move them in a circular motion, either clockwise or counter-clockwise, as shown in Figure 1.24:

Figure 1.24 – The rotation gesture involves two fingertips moving in a circular motion

Rotation gestures are commonly used to rotate images inside apps, such as rotating an image within the Pages word processor app, as shown in Figure 1.25:

Figure 1.25 – The rotation gesture rotates an image

Think of rotation gestures as similar to moving the rotation handle of an image being edited on a traditional PC.

Summary

Touch gestures let you take complete control of your iPhone, so it's important that you know the basics of all these gestures and the common ways to use them. While not all apps will support every type of touch gesture, most touch gestures can be used interchangeably across different apps. Here is a quick summary of the gestures we went through in this chapter:

Tap gestures are most often used to select an icon or image, or position the cursor within some text.Swipe gestures are most often used to navigate to another screen or slide an item in a list to the left to delete that item.Long-press gestures are most often used to display additional information about an icon, image, or word.Drag gestures are most often used to move an icon or image, or to select text.Pinch gestures are most often used to zoom the screen magnification in or out.Rotation gestures are most often used with images to rearrange their orientation.

In many cases, apps won't always give you any visual clues when you might be able to use different touch gestures, so try experimenting with these touch gestures in different parts of every app.

The most common touch gestures are taps and swipes, so try these three touch gestures in every app to see what they might do (if anything).

The second most common touch gestures are long presses and pinches. The long-press gesture typically displays a menu of additional commands, while the pinch gesture expands or shrinks an item to make it larger (and easier to see) or smaller (back to its original size).

By understanding common touch gestures, you'll be able to control your iPhone no matter which app you may use, now or in the future.

Once you understand basic touch gestures, you'll be ready to learn more about common user interface features of iPhone apps in the next chapter. With your knowledge of touch gestures and user interface features, you'll be able to use most almost every type of app you might use on your iPhone.

In the next chapter, we will look at the new iOS 14 apps.

Chapter 2: Using the New iOS 14 Apps

In 2020, Apple introduced iOS 14, the latest operating system for the iPhone. Besides adding new features, iOS 14 also includeds a Translate and a Magnifier app. The Translate app lets you convert spoken or written words into another language, while the Magnifier app lets you turn your iPhone camera into a magnifying glass to help you read text that may be too small to read comfortably.

By learning how to use these new apps, as well as using the new features of iOS 14, you can get comfortable with using common user interface elements of iPhone apps. Since most apps work in similar ways, the more apps you use, the easier it will be to use your iPhone.

In the last chapter, you learned how to use common finger gestures to control different features of an iPhone. In this chapter, you'll learn the common elements of iOS by experimenting with the latest features of iOS 14:

The Magnifier appThe Translate appThe App Library

Using the Magnifier app

Many people have a hard time reading text up close. This can be due to farsightedness or trying to read small print in low-lighting conditions. If you ever forget or misplace your reading glasses, you can use the Magnifier app on your iPhone, which appears as shown in Figure 2.1:

Figure 2.1 – The Magnifier app

To start the Magnifier app, you need to use two different gestures: swipe and tap. First, you'll need to use the swipe gestures to scroll through the different Home screens on your iPhone until you find the Magnifier app icon. Once you find the Magnifier app, you can start it by tapping the icon. Once the Magnifier user interface appears, you can point your iPhone camera at text or any item you want to see, as shown in Figure 2.2:

Figure 2.2 – Using the Magnifier app

The Magnifier app consists of buttons and sliders. Tapping an icon performs an action, while swiping the slider left or right lets you increase or decrease a value, such as brightness or magnification. Let's begin:

To save space, only the zoom slider appears. If you want to display the brightness or contrast sliders, you'll need to tap the brightness or contrast icons, as shown in Figure 2.3:

Figure 2.3 – The zoom, brightness, and contrast icons

When you tap the brightness or contrast icons, a slider appears so that you can adjust either the brightness or contrast. Swiping left and right on the slider changes that option, such as zoom, brightness, or contrast. When you no longer want to see the brightness or contrast sliders, tap the brightness or contrast icons again. (Note that the zoom slider always remains visible by default.)If you tap the color filter icon, a list of different color filter options appears, as shown in Figure 2.4:

Figure 2.4 – The color filter icon

To illuminate an object, tap the flashlight icon, as shown in Figure 2.5. This flashlight icon toggles between turning the flash on or off to illuminate the area in front of your iPhone:

Figure 2.5 – The flashlight icon

Most apps offer a way to customize the app, so to do that in the Magnifier app, tap the settings icon, as shown in Figure 2.6:

Figure 2.6 – The settings icon

Tapping the settings icon displays the Customize Controls screen, which displays options in a list. Two common features of lists are that they allow you to delete items or move items. To delete items, you can tap the delete icon, which looks like a white dash inside a red circle. To move an item, you can swipe up or down on a three-line icon, often called a "hamburger menu" since it looks like the top and bottom of a bun with a patty inside, as shown in Figure 2.7:

Figure 2.7 – The Customize Controls screen

When you're done with the Customize Controls screen, tap the Done button in the upper-right corner of the screen. By experimenting with the Magnifier app, you can learn the basic gestures and user interface elements, which can help you use nearly any app in no time.

One unique feature of the Magnifier app is that it allows you to capture an image to view or share it with others. (However, note that when you capture a picture with the Magnifier app, that picture is not saved but stored temporarily.) This lets you capture pictures and view them later at your convenience. The two buttons for capturing and viewing images are shown in Figure 2.8:

Figure 2.8 – The capture view and view buttons

Tapping the capture view button captures a picture of whatever you see through the iPhone camera. Once you've captured an image, you can view the captured image at your leisure without the need to hold your iPhone camera over a page anymore. The capture view button turns into a close button, so when you no longer want to view the static image you captured, click the close button, as shown in Figure 2.9:

Figure 2.9 – The capture view button turns into a close button

Once you've captured an image, you can tap the close button to dismiss that image. However, if you capture an image and want to temporarily save it, tap the View button instead. This turns the capture view button into a + button to capture additional images, along with displaying the View button with the number of images temporarily stored, as shown in Figure 2.10:

Figure 2.10 – The buttons change slightly when capturing multiple images

If you tap the + button, you can capture additional images. If you tap the View button, you can view previously captured images. To dismiss a previously captured image, tap the End button in the upper-left corner.

The Magnifier app makes it easy to either view images while holding your iPhone or to capture images that you can review later so that you don't have to hold your iPhone over a page.

Like most apps, the Magnifier app makes icons and buttons easy to spot. To see how another app works, let's take a look at the new Translate app.

Using the Translate app

While some people may be multilingual, most people know their native language well but may not feel comfortable speaking another language fluently. That's why Apple included a new Translate app in iOS 14. The purpose of the Translate app is to let you either speak or type words in one language and see and hear a translation in another language.

Currently, the Translate app can translate to and from the following languages:

ArabicChinese (Mandarin)English (US and UK)FrenchGermanItalianJapaneseKoreanPortugueseRussianSpanish

The Translate app appears as shown in Figure 2.11:

Figure 2.11 – The Translate app

The Translate app displays two different screens depending on whether you are holding your iPhone in portrait or landscape mode. Portrait mode is meant to let you either speak or type text to translate, as shown in Figure 2.12:

Figure 2.12 – The Translate app in portrait mode

Landscape mode can translate a conversation and let both people comfortably view the screen, as shown in Figure 2.13:

Figure 2.13 – The Translate app in landscape mode

To define which languages you want the Translate app to use, hold the Translate app in portrait mode. Then, tap the two language buttons at the top of the screen. When you tap a language button, a list of supported languages appears, as shown in Figure 2.14:

Figure 2.14 – Choosing a language in the Translate app

Tap a language to use, and then tap the Done button in the upper-right corner of the screen. By doing this for both the input and output languages, you can translate between multiple languages.

Once you've defined the two languages to use, you can now translate using either text or speech. To translate text:

Tap the Enter text box to make the virtual keyboard appear. Type your text and tap the Go button in the bottom-right corner of the virtual keyboard.The Translate app displays your text, along with the translation in your chosen language, as shown in Figure 2.15:

Figure 2.15 – Translating text

To translate speech, tap the microphone button. The Translate screen displays an audio image, along with text that says