iPhone – Page 10 – Tech Savvy Life

Seven Hidden iPhone Message Features

The iPhone’s Messages app has numerous little-known features. Users can track live flights, unlock animations with secret codes, mark messages as unread, stop spam messages, and use Visual Lookup on sent messages. The recently released iOS 17 introduced features to quickly access photos and Check-In, which notifies contacts when the user arrives safely at a destination. The information shared via Check-In is end-to-end encrypted and can provide safety assurance.

RAYMOND OGLESBY @RaymondOglesby2
December 12, 2023

This is for the iPhone. Screenshots are from iPhone 14 Pro running iOS 17+

Even if you use the iPhone’s Messages app every day, there’s a chance you do not know everything it’s capable of. To fully appreciate the app, here are a few of the most hidden secrets Messages offers users. Let’s explore these features.

Track Live Flights

If you have a friend or family member flying, you can see exactly where they are as long as you know the flight number. Let’s say the flight is AA7262, and they just sent you the flight number. Long press the flight number, then tap on Preview Flight. You will see all the details about the flight. Refer to the below image:

Unblock Animations With Secret Codes

You can get custom animations depending on the phrase you sent on iMessage. While you can long press the Send button before sending a message to choose a proper animation, you can also trigger them depending on the message. Here are some examples:

Happy Birthday! – balloons will appear
Congratulations! – confetti rain
Happy New Year! – fireworks
Happy Chinese New Year! – red explosion
Pew pew – laser light show

See the below image:

Unread a Message

One of the best features available with the Messages app on your iPhone running iOS 16 or above is the ability to mark a message as unread. If you have already read it but do not have time to reply at the moment, you can leave a notification badge on it. To mark messages as unread, tap and hold a conversation in the app’s Inbox and select Mark as Unread. See the following image:

Stop Spam Messages

iMessage has a great feature that can split your Messages Inbox by different senders. Head to:

Settings > Messages > Filter Unknown Senders

and toggle to ON. Scroll up to:

Notifications > Customize Notifications > Unknown Senders

and toggle to OFF.

With that, you will not be notified about spam or messages from people you do not know. You just need to check the Unknown Senders tab every now and then. Refer to the below image:

Visual Lookup On Sent Messages

Visual LookUp works like Google Lens, which can tell you what’s in an image. An example, to view info about a plant:

Take a photo of a plant
Open Photos and find the image
Swipe up on the image
Tap Look Up

Now, view the results from Siri knowledge. See the below image:

Quickly Open Photos

With iOS 17, there’s a new feature to access your Photos in your Messages. Just long press the “+” icon in the bottom left-hand corner and select a photo to place in your message. To access a new menu of options, just press the “+” sign. See the following image:

To access a new menu of options, just press the “+” sign. Refer to the below image:

Check In

This is a new iOS 17 feature. It works when a user wants to notify a family member or friend that they have safely made it to their destination. After a user initiates a Check In, their friend or family member will automatically be notified when the user arrives. If they are not making progress toward their destination, useful information will be temporarily shared with the selected contact, such as the device’s location, battery level, and cell service status.

One of the primary benefits of Check In is the safety assurance it provides. Personal safety is paramount, whether navigating the streets late at night, venturing into unfamiliar territory, or heading home, Check In serves as a digital guardian. It offers security, letting your contacts know you’ve safely arrived at your intended destination. Any information shared is end-to-end encrypted. Both the recipient and sender must have iOS 17 or higher installed.

To use this feature:

Open the Messages app. Tap on the conversation where you want to use Check In.
Next, tap the plus (+) button, choose More, and select Check In.
If it’s your first time, follow the on-screen instructions. You must decide between Limited or Full data-sharing access. These options give you control over the level of location access.
Tap the Continue button as you read through the on-screen explanations until you see the Send a Check In button and tap it.

After that, if you do not reach your destination within the set time or place an Emergency SOS Call, your iPhone will prompt you to check if everything’s okay. If you do not respond within 15 minutes, Check In will alert your contact.

Disclaimer

Technology is always changing and rarely is there static tech for smartphones and desktops. Thus, the contents of this post are only valid at the time of writing. Blog posts older than six months may have directions incompatible with your device or OS. Hopefully, older post content will continue to work as advertised. Thank you for reading TechSavvy.Life for Technology at Work For You.

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How to Find Kaleidoscope Wallpapers on iPhone

Apple’s iOS 17+ introduces new customization features for iPhones, including kaleidoscopic wallpapers that change appearance throughout the day. Users can explore these options in the Wallpaper menu within the Settings app and select images for Lock and Home screens. There are two categories of images to choose from: Jewels and Flowers. Widgets can also be added to the Kaleidoscope screen for further customization. Unfortunately, one can’t set up two different kaleidoscopic images for Lock and Home screens.

RAYMOND OGLESBY @RaymondOglesby2
December 5, 2023

This is for iPhones running iOS 17+. Screenshots are from iPhone 14 Pro.

The iPhone is boring, some people often say. As if Apple had to come up with a new design every year. As if it could significantly and regularly update the external appearance at this particular point in smartphone history, where nearly every device features an all-screen display. But you can make the iPhone a lot more fun by customizing the look of the software. You can change the icons to custom images, set wallpapers for each Focus mode, and then rotate them regularly.

Apple has plenty of good options in the Wallpapers gallery. And it so happens that iOS 17 brings over new kaleidoscopic wallpapers to iPhone that you can start using right away. Let’s find out about the Kaleidoscope wallpapers.

How to Find the Wallpapers

The new wallpapers might not be immediately visible, as you might need to do a bit of scrolling to find them. But they are there, and we will tell you exactly where to go.

What’s so special about the Kaleidoscope wallpapers, you ask? Well, there’s an algorithm at work here that will apply changes to them as the day passes.

First of all, since iOS 16, you have two ways of customizing the wallpaper on your iPhone. One involves pressing and holding your finger against the Lock Screen wallpaper until the customization menu pops up. The other is the one you might have been using since the early days of the iPhone. It involves going to the Settings app and looking for the Wallpaper menu.

Add a Kaleidoscope Wallpaper

Whatever the route, you will get to an Add New Wallpaper menu to select new images for your Lock and Home screens.

Once there, scroll until you find the Kaleidoscope category to select one of the new wallpapers. You might see the category in the Featured section, so you might not need to scroll. Refer to the below image:

You will discover six Jewels kaleidoscope images and eight Flower ones. The Jewels will also feature Dark and Light modes, which means they will change appearance depending on how you have set up your iPhone. Unfortunately, the Flowers kaleidoscopes do not. But we would say the color palette is even better for the Flowers options.

Once you have selected the one you like best, you can set it as a Wallpaper Pair for both the Lock and Home screens. Or you can customize the Home screen with a separate image. You can always select a kaleidoscope for the Lock Screen and a different image for the Home Screen. Sadly, you can not set up two different kaleidoscopes, one for each screen.

Add a Widget to Your Kaleidoscope Wallpaper

Just like other Apple wallpapers, you can add widget(s) to your Kaleidoscope screen. See the below image:

How to Add Widgets on iPhone Lock Screen in iOS 16+

We have TechSavvy.Life stats and Google Lens widgets for our wallpaper. Your new wallpaper will look similar to the one below. See the following image:

That’s all you have to do to take advantage of the new Kaleidoscope wallpapers on iPhone after updating to iOS 17 or higher.