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Viral iPhone hack lets you unlock your phone with a voice command

Published Jul 22nd, 2020 8:56AM EDT
iPhone Tips And Tricks
Image: Zach Epstein for BGR

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  • There are plenty of iPhone tips and tricks out there that some people are unaware of, but we just found one that practically no one had heard of before this video went viral on TikTok.
  • Using this cool “hack,” you’ll be able to unlock your iPhone anytime you want with a simple voice command to Siri.
  • This neat little trick only takes about 1 minute to configure, and anyone can do it regardless of skill level — you don’t need to jailbreak or do anything complicated with your iPhone to get this to work.

We periodically post iPhone tips and tricks anytime we come across nifty tricks we think our users might benefit from. Each time we do, we inevitably get emails from readers proudly proclaiming that they already knew about the iPhone tips in question. That’s great and we’re very happy for those readers, but we also want to make sure that other people out there are covered who might not have been aware of these lesser-known features. In the case of the iPhone trick we came across earlier this month, however, we can just about guarantee you’ve never heard about this trick before unless you watched the same viral TikTok video we did.

There are so many nifty iPhone tricks out there that you’re likely unaware of. For example, we covered a bunch of neat lesser-known features earlier this year in a piece entitled 10 hidden iPhone tricks you’ve been missing all this time in iOS 13. Those are all great tidbits and you should definitely check that post out — there’s a very good chance that there are at least a few things in there that you were unaware of. But even if you’re the savviest iPhone user out there and you already knew about all those tricks, this latest iPhone “hack” is almost certainly news to you.

Earlier this month, a TikTok video by a user who goes by @kaansanity went viral. As of the time of this writing, it had been seen by more than 5.7 million people. Of course, there are hundreds of millions of iPhone users out there, so the odds are fairly good that you’re not one of the people who have already seen this nifty hack.

In a nutshell, @kaansanity found a trick that lets you take advantage of Apple’s extensive accessibility features to create a voice command that will unlock your iPhone. It’s debatable whether or not one can actually call it a “hack,” but there’s no question that it’s a cool and creative way to use the iPhone’s voice control feature in a way most people out there would never think of.

Open the Settings app on your iPhone and tap on Accessibility, then scroll down and select Voice Control. Next, choose Customize Commands and tap Create New Command. Give the new command any name you want — “Open sesame” is used in the video — and tap Action. Then select Run Custom Gesture, and this is where the only tricky part comes in. On the next screen, you’ll have to tap out the PIN code you use to unlock your iPhone, only the numbers won’t be on the screen. Most people have likely tapped out their PIN enough times that they’ll be able to pull it off after just a few tries.

Once you’ve saved the new gesture, you’re ready to try out this cool iPhone hack. Lock your phone and give Siri whatever voice command you configured. If you choose the same phrase that @kaansanity used in the video, saying “open sesame” will unlock your iPhone! You’ll find the full TikTok video embedded below so you can see this cool iPhone hack in action.

@kaansanity

Who knew this? 😳 #iphonetrick #iphonetricks #iphonehack #iphonehacks

♬ original sound – aakaanksh

Zach Epstein
Zach Epstein Executive Editor

Zach Epstein has been the Executive Editor at BGR for more than 10 years. He manages BGR’s editorial team and ensures that best practices are adhered to. He also oversees the Ecommerce team and directs the daily flow of all content. Zach first joined BGR in 2007 as a Staff Writer covering business, technology, and entertainment.

His work has been quoted by countless top news organizations, and he was recently named one of the world's top 10 “power mobile influencers” by Forbes. Prior to BGR, Zach worked as an executive in marketing and business development with two private telcos.