10 iPhone Tips And Tricks I Didn't Know About A Week Ago

We take a break from our regularly scheduled programming to bring you a list of cool things you can do with your iPhone. Some of this might be obvious, and some of it might be totally new! Either way, I'm sure you'll learn something!

1) Cut/Copy/Paste
Easily the most talked about feature in the new 3.0 software is the ability to cut, copy and paste text or images. All you have to do is double-tap to select text, drag the blue markers to grow or shrink your selection, then press cut or copy. Then, double-tap any type-able area and hit paste. (this should work in all iPhone native apps, and I've found it works in many third-party apps, too!)


2) Scroll to the top of the page instantly in Safari.
This is one that had been bugging me forever, until I finally found out the secret! No matter how far you've scrolled on a web page in Safari, if you tap the "top bar" (where the time and battery indicator are) you'll instantly jump to the top. Awesome.

3) Forward or Delete individual SMS messages.
Prior to 3.0, we all had to either delete an entire SMS conversation, or leave it. Now, by pressing the "Edit" button, you'll have the option to "check off" individual messages, and then either forward or delete them. Easy!

4) Press and hold characters on the type pad for new options!
While typing, you can press and hold on, for example, the period key, to get an ellipsis. If you press and hold on the .com button (when entering a URL) you'll see options for .net, .org, and .edu! Try press and hold on all the keys (not so much letters, but almost all the punctuation marks) and see what you can find! Make sure you slide your finger to the option you want, without lifting it. If you lift off, you'll probably get the original symbol.

5) Press and hold on URLs for new options!
In the pre-3.0 world, you could press and hold on URL's to see the full link. Now, you can press and hold to open the link in a new Safari tab, or copy it. Sweet.

6) Screenshots
If you're an iPhone blogger like myself, you probably already know this one. If not, you can tap the Power button and the Sleep button at the same time, no matter what you're doing on the iPhone, and snap a screengrab. It'll automatically be added to your Photos collection so you can access it anytime! Some people say it's easiest to hold the home button first, then tap the sleep button to snap.

7) Email multiple photos at once (up to 5)
This is a 3.0-only feature. Simply go to your Photos collection, press the bottom left "share" button, and then tap up to 5 images. They'll be checked off, and you can then click Share, Copy, or Delete. A quick way to send all those screenshots you've been taking! (Or get rid of the screengrabs of you playing Stick Wars all day).

8) New options for double-clicking the Home button
Go to Settings>General>Home and you'll see a few new options for double-clicking the Home button. If you never set this up in the first place, this allows you to double-click the home button to get to: Your home screen, the new Spotlight search screen, your "Phone Favorites", the Camera (my personal new favorite setting) or the iPod. There's also an option to always open the iPod controls if music is currently playing. At the bottom of this page, you can limit or re-order the search results that appear when you use the new search bar.

9) Quickly get to your first Home screen, or the Search screen.
From any arbitrary app, tap the Home button once to close it, again to get to your first page of icons, and a third time to get to the Search screen. If you're already browsing through your Home pages, just tap once to get to the first screen, and twice to get to search. But be careful, a quick double-tap will go to whatever screen you chose in the tip above!

10) Don't mess with my icons!
Pre-3.0, if you wanted to drag that latest app to your first screen, it would mess with all the icons on all the screens in between. Now, however, if you hold that icon all the way to the left or right, while the pages flip by, all the icons on all those pages will stay put, until you move it back towards the middle of the screen. Skip through all those pages and pages of apps without screwing everything up!

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