Apple has launched the iPhone XS and XS Max, and there are plenty of tricks and features you must try!
The new Apple iPhone XS and XS Max are here, and they’re better than ever. With improved displays, more powerful processors and more powerful cameras, there’s a lot to like and a lot to learn. iOS 12 release date, news and features: Everything you need to know Apple iPhone XS vs iPhone XS Max vs iPhone X: What’s the difference?
Whether you want to master the new gesture-based navigation, Memoji or maximise your battery, there’s plenty here to sink your teeth into. In the guide below you’ll find almost everything you need to know about the new iPhones, and the new software Apple launched recently. iPhone XS/XS Max: No home button, no problem
In 2018,Apple launched the first iPhone not to feature the iconic round home button. The iPhone X’s all-screen front design meant a new approach to many common task. If the XS or XS Max is your first iPhone not to feature a home button, there are a couple of things you’ll want to re-learn. Whether it’s multitasking, taking a screenshot or even just plain old going “home”, no button means new gestures for all of them.
Of course, if you had an iPhone X, you’ll know most of this section, so feel free to skip. Pocket-lint
Take a screenshot: If you had an iPhone X before you’ll already know this, but for those moving from older phones you’ll need to learn a new way to snap screenshots. Simply press the power button and the volume up button together quickly and it’ll snap a screenshot of whatever is on the screen.
Go Home: No, not literally. We’re not that rude. Whenever you want to go back to your home screen from an app, just quickly swipe up from the bottom of the screen where you’ll see a slim white bar.
Launch recent apps/multitasking screen: No more home button means no more double tapping the home button to view your recently used apps. Swipe up from the bottom of the screen and then hold your finger in the middle of the screen for a second or two, and now you’ll see the familiar screen with app thumbnail cards.
Unlock your phone: Presuming you’ve registered your face data with Face ID, you can unlock your phone by simply picking up your phone while looking at and swiping up from the bottom of the screen.
Launch Siri: While you can use the “Hey Siri” hot word to wake up Apple’s digital assistant, there’s still a way to launch the function using a button press. Press and hold the wake/sleep button on the right side of the phone until the Siri interface pops up on screen.
Switch your phone off: Now, because long-pressing the wake/sleep button launches Siri now, there’s a new method for switching the phone off. To do so, you need to press and hold the wake/sleep button and the volume down button at the same time. Now slide to power off.
Launch Apple Pay: Again, the wake/sleep button is the key here. Double tap it and it’ll bring up your Apple Wallet, then scan your face and ask you to hold your phone close to the payment machine. Pocket-lint iPhone XS/XS Max: iOS 12 tips
Create your own Memoji: With iPhone X, Apple launched a fun feature called Animoji that used the advanced face scanning sensor on the front of the phone to animate characters and send recorded messages to your friends. Now, there’s Memoji. This lets you create your own custom Animoji character to look like you (or not like you, whatever you like). What are Memoji? How to create an Animoji that looks like you
Open Messages and start a new message. Tap the little monkey icon, and then hit the “+” button to create your own character. Now you can customise face shape, skin tone, hair color, eyes, jewelry and much more.
Use your Memoji/Animoji in a FaceTime call: Start a FaceTime call, then press the little star icon in the bottom corner. Now tap the Memoji you want to use.
Memoji your selfies: So, if you decide your Memoji face is better than your real life face, you can send selfies with the Memoji replacing your own head in Messages. Start a new message and tap the camera icon, and then press that star button. Now choose the Animoji option, by tapping that monkey’s head again. Select your Memoji and tap the ‘x’ and make sure you have the front facing camera active.
Expand your notification clusters: By default iOS 12 now clusters multiple notifications from the same app in a little virtual pile on your lock screen. To expand them and see all of the individual notifications in a list, just tap on the pile.
Deliver notifications quietly: One interesting new notification management tool lets you send notifications from specific apps to Notification Centre without alerting you with a sound, app badge or lighting up your lock screen. If you want to use this feature, swipe left on a notification (or group of notifications from a specific app) and hit the “manage” option. Now choose “Deliver Quietly”.
Turn off notifications from an app: Same method as the “Deliver Quietly” feature, except you tap the “Turn off…” option.
Open Notification Centre: Apple changed its wording slightly with iOS 12, so now Notification Centre replaces the “older notifications” section. From your lock screen, swipe up from the middle of the screen and you’ll see a long list of previous notifications.
Schedule Downtime: Part of iOS 12’s big revamp is getting you to think more about how much time you spend staring at your screen. Head to Settings > Screentime and choose the Downtime option. Toggle the switch to the “on” position and choose to schedule a time when only specific apps and phone calls are allowed.
Set app limits: Next in the Screentime menu is App Limits. Choose this option and press “add limit” before choosing which category of apps you want to add a time limit to. Select the category and then “add” before choosing a time limit and hitting “set”.
Choose “always allowed” apps:: By default, iOS 12 organises apps into various categories which is both very convenient and inconvenient. For instance, WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger are lumped in with social networking apps. So if they’re your primary communication apps, you’ll want to make sure there’s no limit on them.
In the main Screentime settings menu, tap “Always Allowed” and manually select the apps you want to ensure aren’t impacted by the time limits you’ve set.
Content & Privacy restrictions: This section is also within the main Screentime settings menu and particularly useful if you’re a parent with kids who use iOS devices. Using it you can restrict all manner of content and options, including iTunes and in-app purchases, location services, advertising and so on. It’s worth taking a look at.
Limit content access: As part of the content/privacy restrictions, choose the “Content restrictions” option and here you can limit inappropriate content access including TV shows, websites, books, audio and more.
Siri Shortcuts: This feature is currently in beta, but if you head to Settings > Siri & Search there’s a list of suggested shortcuts automatically populated from your frequent actions. To see more, tap “all shortcuts” to see more. They range from checking weather with Carrot Weather (if you have it installed), to sending WhatsApp messages to your favourite contacts.
Once out of its beta, there will be a more dedicated app to create more complex and useful actions similar to IFTTT. Pocket-lint iPhone XS/XS Max: Display and Home screen tips
Standard or Zoomed display: Since iPhone 6 Plus you’ve been able to choose between two resolution options. You can change the display setting from Standard or Zoomed. To switch between the two – if you’ve changed your mind after setup – go to Settings > Display& Brightness > Display Zoom and select Standard or Zoomed.
Set the screen brightness: Either bring up Control Centre – by swiping down from the top right corner of the screen – and adjust the display brightness slider, or go to Settings > Display & Brightness.
Enable True Tone display: To get the iPhone’s screen to automatically adjust its colour balance and temperature to match the ambient light in the room, head to Control Centre and force press the screen brightness slider. Now tap the True Tone button. You can also go to Settings > Display and Brightness and toggle the “True Tone” switch.
Text Size and Bold Text: To change the default text size, go to Settings > Display & Brightness, then choose the “Text Size” option before adjusting the slider to change the size. Beneath “Text Size” you’ll also find a toggle for bold text, switching it on if you find the standard fine text too difficult to read.
Night Shift: As well as True Tone, there’s an option called Night Shift that cuts out blue light helping your eyes to relax. Bring up Control Centre, then force press the display brightness slider and select the Night Shift button.
Choose a new wallpaper: As with all new iPhones, Apple has completely revamped its wallpaper offering for the new models. New wallpapers to be had in the Settings > Wallpaper. Here you’ll find a refreshed selection of both Dynamic and Live wallpapers.
Remove stock apps: Since last year’s iOS 11 update, you can now remove the Apple stock apps like Stocks, Compass and others. To do so, simply tap and hold on the app icon until it starts wiggling and then tap the “x”. You will be asked to confirm your decision. To get them back, simply search for the app in question in the App Store.
Crop and markup screenshots: Take a screenshot, then a small preview screenshot appears in the bottom left corner. Tap it and then use the tools shown to draw, write on, or crop the image.
Dismiss screenshot preview: To get the little screenshot preview off your screen, just swipe it left. Hey presto! It’s gone.
Get to Wi-Fi settings quickly with 3D Touch: Force press on the Settings icon to reveal quick links to Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and Battery settings. The move makes it really speedy to jump to the wireless settings. iPhone XS/XS Max: Control Centre tips
Add new controls: Like the previous version of iOS, you can add and remove controls from Control Centre. Head to Settings > Control Centre > Customise Controls and then choose which controls you’d like to add.
Reorganise controls: To change the order of those controls you’ve added, tap and hold the three-bar menu on the right of whichever control you’d like to move, then move it up and down the list to wherever you’d like it to be.
Expand controls: Some controls can become full screen, just force press (press harder) on the control you want to expand and it’ll fill the screen.
Switch on personal hotspot: By default, the connectivity control only has four options in it. If you force press to expand it, you’ll get a full screen control with two more options. Tap on the personal hotspot icon to switch it on.
Activate screen recording: One of the new options you can add to Control Centre is Screen Recording. Make sure you add the control, then open Control Centre and press the icon that looks like a solid white circle inside a thin white ring. From now on it’ll record everything that happens on your screen. Press the control again when you’re done, and it’ll save a video to your Photos app automatically.
Adjust flashlight/torch brightness: You can switch on your camera flash, using it as a torch, by opening Control Centre and tapping on the torch icon. If you want to adjust the brightness, force press the icon, then adjust the full-screen slider that appears.
Quickly switch where audio is played: One cool feature is the ability to change where music is playing. While music is playing, through Apple Music, Spotify, or wherever, force press on the music control or just tap the little icon in the top corner of the music control. This brings up a pop-up showing available devices that you can play through. This could be connected earphones, a Bluetooth speaker, Apple TV, your iPhone or any AirPlay device.
Set a quick timer: Instead of heading to the timer app, you can force press on the timer icon, then slide up or down on the full-screen to set a timer anywhere from one minute to two hours long.
How to access HomeKit devices: Open Control Center and then tap on the little icon that looks like a house. Pocket-lint iPhone XS/XS Max: Lock Screen tips
Open camera from the lock screen: Instead of swipe gestures, Apple has incorporated a camera button in the bottom right corner of the lock screen. Press it, and you’ll go straight to the camera app.
Switch on your torch: Just like the camera, there’s a lock screen button for switching on your torch/LED light. Press it, and you’ve got a torch.
Tap to wake: By default, you can wake up your iPhone XS or XS Max just by tapping on the screen when it’s in standby. It’ll light up and show your lock screen.
Raise your phone to wake: Simply pick up the phone in standby and it will wake up showing you all the notifications you’ve got on the Lock screen. To turn this feature on or off go to Settings > Display & Brightness > Raise to Wake.
Notification Centre: On your lock screen, as usual, new notifications pop up as standard. However, if you want to quickly get to older ones you’ve read or ignored, swipe up on the middle of the lock screen and it’ll show “Notification Centre”, collating your previous notifications. Be careful not to start from too low down, otherwise you’ll just unlock your phone and go to your home screen.
Clear notifications: With Notification Centre on screen, press the little “x” in the corner and tap the “clear”.
How to access widgets on the lock screen: Another really simple one. Swipe from left to right on your lock screen.
How to unlock your phone but stay on the lock screen: A curious one, but Face ID users can unlock their iPhone without going to the Home screen. To do so, just pick up the phone and the padlock icon at the top of the screen will disappear show it unlocking, but you won’t be taken to your apps home screen unless you swipe up.
How to add/remove widgets: iOS 10 introduced a Today viewpage, where you can show widgets from any apps that support it. Since then, it’s remained largely unchanged. To add, remove or reorganise, go to the Today view(swipe left to right on the lock screen or first home screen) and then scroll all the way to the bottom. Tap on the edit button to customise which widgets show and in what order.
Quick Reply: When a notification comes in – depending on whether it’s enabled by the developer – you can reply immediately without having to open the specific app. To do this, pull down the notification to reveal the actions you can take. Or, from the lock screen, you can force press or press and hold the notification and tap “reply”, then start typing.
Clear individual/grouped notifications from the Lock Screen: You can clear an individual notification or grouped notifications from an app by simply swiping from right to left and then tapping “clear” or “clear all”. Pocket-lint iPhone XS/XS Max tips and tricks: Battery
Check your average battery consumption: In iOS 12 you can head to Settings > Battery and you’ll see two graphs. One shows the battery level, the other shows your screen on and screen off activity. There are two tabs. One shows your last 24 hours, the other shows up to two weeks. This way you can see how active your phone life is on average, and breakdowns showing your average screen on and screen off times show beneath the graphs.
Enable Low-Power Mode: The Low Power Mode (Settings > Battery) lets you reduce power consumption. The feature disables or reduces background app refresh, auto-downloads, mail fetch, and more (when enabled). You can turn it on at any point, or you are prompted to turn it on at the 20 and 10 per cent notification markers. You can also add a control to Control Centre, and access it quickly by swiping up to access CC and tapping on the battery icon.
Find battery guzzling apps: iOS specifically tells you which apps are using the most juice. Go to Settings > Battery and then scroll down to the section that gives you a detailed look at all your battery-guzzling apps.
Check your battery via the Battery widget: Within the widgets in Today view, there’s a card that lets you see the battery life remaining in your iPhone, Apple Watch and connected headphones. Just swipe from left to right on your homescreen to get to your Today view and scroll until you see the “Batteries” widget.
Charge wirelessly: To make use of the iPhone’s wireless charging capabilities, buy a wireless charger. Any Qi charger will work, but to charge more efficiently you need one optimised for Apple’s 7.5W charging.
Fast charge it: If you have a 29W, 61W or 87W USB Type-C power adapter for a MacBook, you can plug in your iPhone 8 or 8 Plus using a Type-C to Lightning cable and watch it charge really quickly. Up to 50 per cent in 30 minutes. iPhone XS/XS Max: Messages tips
How to add effects to iMessages: iOS 10 added the ability to add full screen and bubble effects to iMessages. Two years later, there are now more effects in iOS 12. To access these effects, press and hold the send icon after you’ve written a message. Here you can switch between Bubble and Screen effects to apply them to your message.
How to mute specific conversations: In your main Messages inbox, swipe left on any conversation you want to hide notifications from then tap “hide alerts”. It’s really useful if you’re part of a particularly persistent and chatty group message.
Send a picture to someone: To the left of the text input field in Messages you’ll see a small camera icon. Tap it and it’ll immediately launch the full screen camera app. To access photos from your gallery, tap the photo gallery icon in the top left corner.
How to Markup a picture in Messages: You can now Markup or quickly edit photos before sending them in iOS. To do so, choose a photo and add it to your message. Before you send, tap on the photo and you’ll get the choice to Markup (i.e. draw on it) or edit it.
Draw and send someone a picture: In Messages you can also send people drawn pictures like Apple Watch users can. Tap the little App Store icon to the left of the message input field. You’ll now see a small heart logo with two fingers on it above the keyboard; tap it and then start drawing. To make the black canvas bigger drag the small grey bar above the drawing area upwards until it fills the screen.
How to draw on a video you want to send someone in a message: Follow the instructions above, but instead of drawing on the canvas straight away press the video camera icon. You can then record a message and draw on it at the same time.
How to send someone a kiss: In Messages you can not only send someone a drawing or a video, but also a series of shapes or patterns, including a kiss on the screen. To send a kiss, go to the black canvas (see above) long-press with two fingers where you want the heart to appear. To break the heart, swipe downwards while long-pressing without lifting your fingers from the screen.
How to access apps in iMessage: In any Messages conversation you’ll see all of your iMessage apps in a toolbar along the bottom of the screen. Swipe left or right to find the app you’re looking for. If you’re typing, you’ll see them in a toolbar along the top of your keyboard.
How to react to a message: Double tap on any individual message you receive, and you’ll reveal a selection of icons including a heart, thumbs up, thumbs down, Ha Ha,!!, and?. Pressing one will add it to the message for the other person on iOS to see. Pressing it again will remove the reaction.
How to share your location: You can quickly share your location within a message by heading to any conversation or message thread. Tap the tiny arrow at the top near your contact’s name, then hit the “i” and select”share my location” or “send my current location”.
How to turn on Send Read Receipts: iOS gives you the option to manage Send Read Receipts individually, based on a specific conversation. Within the same menu as the location sharing, toggle the “Send Read Receipts” option.
What time?: View what time a message was sent by dragging from right to left on the conversation screen.
Quick Voice message: If you press on the small mic button on the right of the text box you can start recording a verbal message. Lift your finger to stop and reveal a playback button. Once happy, tap the arrow to send it or – if you decide not to send it – tap the x button to cancel.
See attachments: Go into a message thread/conversation then tap the little triangle at the top near your contact’s name, then press “i”. At the bottom of the screen and you’ll see any attachments/images you’ve shared with that contact.
Delete messages: As before, swipe from right to left in the Messages hub and then tap the “delete” option.
Delete older messages automatically: Settings > Messages and then scroll down to “Message history”. Here you can Opt to keep Messages forever, 1 year, or 30 days.
Automatically delete audio or video messages: By default, Apple sets it so that once you’ve sent an audio message it deletes from your iPhone or iPad after two minutes. If you want to keep the message go to Settings > Messages and scroll down to Audio Messages or Video Messages sections and toggle the “Expire” setting.
Raise to listen to audio messages: It’s on by default, but you can turn off the ability to listen and reply to incoming audio messages by raising your phone. To turn it off go to Settings > Messages and toggle Raise to Listen.
Blue vs green: Blue bubbles are for iMessages, green are for regular old-fashioned SMS messages.
Send iMessage as SMS: If you are having trouble sending your iMessages (over data) you can opt to have iOS 12 revert to sending the message as a SMS instead. Go to Settings > Messages and toggle the “Send as SMS” switch. Pocket-lint iPhone XS/XS Max: Keyboard tips
Go one-handed: iOS 12’s QuickType keyboard lets you type one-handed, which is great on the bigger devices like the iPhone XS Max. Press and hold the globe icon and select either the left or right sided keyboard. It shrinks the keyboard and moves it to one side of the display. Go back to full size by tapping the little arrow.
Use your keyboard as a trackpad: Since the advent of 3D Touch displays on iPhones you can use the keyboard area as a trackpad to move the cursor on screen. It works anywhere there’s a text input, and saves you having to try and tap the exact location you want to start editing. Just force press anywhere on the keyboard and move the cursor around.
