Hidden Tricks to Make iOS 7.1 Feel New While Waiting for iOS 8

Apple recently unveiled the new and improved iOS for your iPhone, iPod, and iPad devices — iOS 8. It is packed with a lot of amazing features all iOS fans will surely love. You can have firsthand account to all of these wonderful features when iOS 8 becomes available to the public this coming fall. While waiting for the public release, you can make the most out of your iOS 7.1 by checking out these hidden features that will make your iOS devices feel new again.

Number Key Shortcuts

Accessing the number keys while typing is not too taxing. However, there is a quicker way of accessing the number keys and getting back to the letter keyboard in a flash. All you need to do is tap and hold the 123 key, and then slide your finger to the number or symbol you are looking for.

Once you release your finger, the number or symbol you chose will be inserted and the letter keyboard will automatically return to the panel.

Built-in Level

The Compass app can be used as a level. Levels are invaluable, especially when hanging pictures or evening out a table. To access the built-in level, launch the Compass app to display the familiar dots at the bottom of the screen that indicates a second screen. Swipe your finger from right to left to display the spirit level.

Disable Parallax Effect

Any type of animation or moving screen wallpaper, including the parallax effect of icons and alerts, may look cool but it can put a strain to your eyes and will make you a little queasy. Not only that, it also drains the battery big time. It’s a good thing you can disable the parallax effect by turning on Reduce Motion. To do this, go to Settings > General > Accessibility, and then toggle Reduce Motion to on.

You can also go to Settings>Wallpaper & Brightness. Tap on your lock screen, and then toggle Perspective Zoom to off. Do the same thing on your wallpaper and you'll be good to go.

Improve Screen Visibility

iOS 7.1 has different options that will make your screen more visible to you. The Dynamic Type mode will make the text larger and easier to read on supported apps. Aside from adjusting the text size, you can also reduce the screen brightness, reduce transparency, darken colors, and increase the color contrast to name a few.

To adjust the font size, go to Settings > General > Text Size. Adjust the text size by moving the slider to your preference.

To increase legibility, increase the color contrast on some backgrounds. To do this, go to Settings > General > Accessibility > Increase Contrast. From here you can turn on the following to further improve screen visibility:

• Reduce Transparency - removes transparency effects on the Home screen dock, folder backgrounds, Control Center, and Notification Center
• Darken Colors - darkens all colors on the display
• Reduce White Point - makes whites on the screen less bright

Web Address Shortcuts

One of the things most people miss after upgrading to iOS 7 is the absence of the .com key inside Safari. You can still access the .com key by simply tapping and holding the . (period) key, which will display .com, .net, .org, .us, and .edu keys.

Shake to Undo Deleting Email

If you are using the default Mail app to check your emails, it is now easy to restore accidentally deleted emails by simply shaking the iPhone right after deleting the message. This gesture will bring back the deleted email to your Inbox. This hidden feature is similar to the Shake to Undo typing option to clear out what you have typed in the text box.

Control Your iOS Device Through Head Gestures

iOS 7 can use the front-facing camera to detect head movements to control your device. All you need to do is to go to Settings > General > Accessibility >Switch Control.

Tap Switches, and then select Camera as the source. From there, you can set a left head gesture and a right head gesture to perform specific functions.

Bring Buttons Back

The standard buttons where replaced with the text-only labels in iOS 7. Some people may find this a little confusing simply because they won’t know which area to tap. If you are one of those people, do not fret. You can still bring back the standard buttons in iOS 7.1 by going to Settings > General > Accessibility, and then toggle Button Shapes to on.

Noise Cancellation

With iOS 7.1, the noise cancellation feature became available, not only to iPhone 5s but also to earlier iPhone models. To enable this feature, go to Settings > General > Accessibility, and then toggle Phone Noise Cancellation to on.

Tap vs Scroll

Not a lot of people know that tapping the status bar at the top of the screen of any scrollable screen on the iOS device will bring you to the top of the page. Isn’t that neat?


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