A Few iPhone "Hacks" to Get You Out of Tough Situations

At Mr. Telephone Man, our mission is to show people how to use their phones in ways that make their lives infinitely easier. That’s why our Owner and Lead Tech, D McKinney, loves sharing his expert iPhone knowledge with others.

In this blog, we’ll cover some of D McKinney’s top tips on how to use your iPhone more efficiently. Chances are you’ll walk away feeling like an iPhone pro!

1. Know Your Apple ID

Do you actually know your Apple ID and password? Most people dismiss this information, thinking they will never have to use it. But it is actually your key to the Apple world!

2. iCloud Tips

iCloud is yet another feature that many iPhone users are unaware of. So what is iCloud? iCloud saves all of your photos, videos, documents, and other data in the Cloud. If you lose your device, you can log into iCloud.com and view all of your data.

To access iCloud, go into your Settings and click on your name at the top. In the middle of the screen, click iCloud. Then you’re all set!

iCloud Storage: There are limits to the amount of iCloud Storage that you can have. McKinney recommends that you have at least 50GB, which will only cost you $1 a month. Your memories and data are priceless, so it is worth the money!

Keychain: Most users have the Keychain feature turned off because they’re uncertain what it is. Keychain is a feature that saves all of your passwords, which is incredibly convenient for those of us who don’t keep our passwords logged and saved somewhere! Keychain also populates your credit card number for smoother online purchases.

iCloud Backup: We highly recommend that you turn on iCloud Backup as well. It will automatically backup your data anytime, anywhere.

3. Emergency Situations

That’s right—your iPhone can even help you in an emergency situation. Here’s how:

Medical ID: By enabling this feature, first responders will be able to access your medical information upon arrival (allergies, illnesses, emergency contact, etc.).

To enable/edit your Medical ID, pull down from the middle of your Home screen and find the search area. Type “health” and click on the health app. Click on your picture in the top right corner, hit Get Started, and put in all of your medical information.

Emergency SOS: The Emergency SOS feature will automatically call emergency services and give them your location. Go into Settings and scroll down to Emergency SOS. There will be two boxes; if you select the first box, Emergency SOS will turn on when you hold the side button and one of the Volume buttons and press them 5 times. If you select the second box (auto call) by holding the home button and the bottom button, it will immediately call emergency services for you. Additionally, If you have your emergency contact in there, it automatically sends a text message to your emergency contact and sends them your location. As you move (in an ambulance, for example), it will update your emergency contact with your location.

4. Two Factor Authentication

Two factor authentication prevents your accounts from being hacked. Whenever you log into your Apple ID, it will send an alert to your phone, and you must enter the code to continue.

In case you lose your phone: Go to appleid.apple.com. Log in with your Apple ID and password and scroll down to the section “trusted phone number.” Here, you can enter someone else’s phone number, so if you lose your phone or if your screen is broken, you can send the code to that number instead.

5. Siri

Not everyone is a fan of Siri. We know. But Siri can make your day to day activities a lot easier! For example, you can enter your home address or work address in your contact card so Siri knows where you live/work. This feature is helpful when you need to tell Siri to remind you to do something when you leave your home, workplace, etc., and she will notify you as soon as you leave that specific location.

6. Do Not Disturb

Do Not Disturb is another helpful feature, especially during work hours. You can set a specific amount of time when your phone will be on silent. But you can also allow calls from certain people should an emergency take place.

To enable Do Not Disturb, go to the Home screen and pull down from the right hand side. The crescent moon icon is the Do Not Disturb icon.

Fun fact: You can hard press on the crescent moon icon and turn on the Do Not Disturb feature until you leave a specific location, as well.

These tips are just a handful of many. If you want to learn even more, D McKinney offers private training for only $75/hr. Contact us today to learn more!

Oh, and just remember to “Never despair, because Mr. Telephone Man is there.”