There are some things hiding in Apple’s new iOS 10 software that iPhone and iPad users still don’t have access to. That’s right, dark mode, we’re looking at you. The much sought-after dark user interface mode that was found buried in the code from Apple’s first iOS 10 beta back in June still hasn’t managed to see the light of day. Who knows when we might finally see dark mode make its way to iPhones and iPads around the world? In the meantime though, there are plenty of other features hiding in iOS 10 that users actually have access to, and learning about them will help you get the most out of your iPhone or iPad.
We already showed you dozens of secret features in Apple’s various iOS 10 apps, and now we’re back with a new list of hidden gestures that are going to change the way you use your iOS device.
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Let there be light
Everyone knows about the flashlight button on the first Control Center panel in iOS. Swipe up from the bottom of the screen, tap the flashlight button, and your rear LED flash turns on to illuminate everything around you. But beginning with iOS 10, there’s a sweet new flashlight feature available. Press and hold firmly on the flashlight button to open a 3D Touch Action Menu that will let you choose low light, medium light or bright light.
See recently closed tabs
You know that tapping the tabs icon in the lower-right corner of Safari shows you all of your open tabs. You know that tapping the plus icon on the tabs view will open a new tab. But did you know that if you tap and hold that plus icon you’ll see a list of all your recently closed tabs?
Bring back the address bar
When you visit a web page in Safari and begin to scroll, the address bar/toolbar disappears so that the webpage can occupy more of the screen. But you don’t have to swipe back down to make it reappear — just tap near the bottom of the display.
Move calendar events
This is a cool one: if you have an entry in your calendar and the time has changed, you don’t have to jump through all those hoops to reschedule it. In the single-day view, simply tap and hold on the event and you can drag it to the proper time. Just don’t press too hard or you’ll trigger a Peek or a Pop.
Hidden back button in Calculator
Don’t clear your entire entry just because you accidentally typed “58009” instead of “58008.” Simply swipe to the right on the numbers in the virtual calculator window and you’ll be able to delete them one at a time.
Zoom in on videos
Pinch to zoom on photos is a gesture everyone knows about, but did you know that you can now use the same gesture to zoom in and out on videos? Now you do.
Select multiple photos
Want to delete the 47 bad selfies you just took before you finally got the perfect shot? You don’t have to keep tapping away. With the thumbnails view open in the Photos app, tap the select button in the top right corner. Then tap on the first image you’d like to select and slide your finger around the screen — you’ll select every photo you touch along the way.
Move to the top or bottom of an album
You have about a billion photos on your iPhone and navigating through them can be a chore. On any photo album screen, you can tap the time at the top of the display to zip to the top. Everyone knows that shortcut… but you can also tap the Photos icon at the bottom of the screen to zip to the bottom of the album.
Quickly save an email draft
You’re in the middle of tapping out an email when a new message comes in that you need to check out. Don’t worry, saving a draft can not be done with one single gesture. Just swipe down on the screen beginning at the top of the email screen and your draft will be saved while you navigate elsewhere in the email app.
See all your email drafts
Did you get carried away with the tip above and now you’ve lost count of all your drafts. Don’t forget to send those important emails and get fired, just tap and hold on the compose button in the bottom-right corner and a list of all your drafts will pop up.
