KUALA LUMPUR: Dear Apple fans – if you've updated your devices to the latest iOS 10.3 and watchOS 3.2, here are some "hidden" tips and tricks that you may find handy and interesting.
1. Spring cleaning: We all know how much of a nuisance unwanted emails can be when they keep on filling up our mailbox. Well, the new Unsubscribe feature in Mail makes it easy to remove yourself from unwanted mailing lists by simply opening the email and tapping on “Unsubscribe” at the top of the email.
2. Sharing is caring: Why buy more if you can share? Do you know that you can set up Family Sharing to share iTunes, Books and App Store purchases with up to six people in your family? Share photos, a family calendar, and more, so you’re always connected. Then take your sharing to a new level with an Apple Music Family Membership. For more details, visit: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201060 and https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT205595.
3. Health management: You can stay fit in a more organise way now. Just open the Health app to start managing all the health data you’re capturing across a number of health, fitness and nutrition apps – all in one place. For more details, visit: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT203037
4. More Storage: You can never have too much storage space. We are all storage-hungry users. The Optimise iPhone Storage feature lets you keep smaller, space-saving photos and videos on your device, while all of your original, full-resolution versions are stored in iCloud. You can also Optimise Storage in Apple Music to automatically remove older tracks you haven’t listened to in a while, to make room for new content. For more details, visit: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT205703
5. Customise your Today View: If you swipe the left of the home screen, you'll see the information you want to view at a glance, whether it’s your step count, news headlines, local weather or quick access to friends and family members you call and text with the most.
6. Stay organised and on time: Try to keep a consistent bedtime and get the sleep you need by setting up the new Bedtime alarm in iOS 10. It’ll prompt you to go to bed and help ease your wake-up with soothing alarms. Read in bed? Turn Night Shift on to automatically shift the colours in your display to the warmer end of the spectrum after sunset. You can always set Night Shift right from the Control Centre with a quick swipe on your display.
7. Siri as personal assistant: Ask Siri “Remind me to schedule our spring vacation on Saturday” or make it location-based, like “Remind me to pick up milk at Cold Storage.” Never miss another meeting by asking Siri, “When is my next meeting today?” or “Schedule a coffee chat with Johan for 3pm tomorrow.”
8. Notes app: Take a fresh look at the Notes app, where you can quickly jot-down new ideas, start a checklist, add a sketch, images and more – you can even share them with friends and family, or secure them with a password.
9. Read receipts in Messages: You can turn Read Receipts on and off for specific individuals in iOS 10. This customisation is not well known yet, but allows you to maintain privacy during off hours with work colleagues, while also keeping your friends informed as you communicate.
Here's how to do it. Go to Messages on iPhone or iPad —> tap on the conversation —> tap on the Info icon “i” in the upper right hand corner —> Toggle Send Read Receipts off or on, based on your preference for that person.
10. Hidden keyboard: A new feature, the “hidden” keyboard on iPhone that lets you send all sorts of fun text-based emoticons. To enable, go to Settings app —> scroll down and select Keyboard —> tap Keyboards at the top of the screen —> select Add a New Keyboard —> from the list of languages, select preferred language keyboard.
11. Bonus: Interact in different languages? No problem. You can enable other language keyboards if you frequently toggle between languages in your conversations. New with iOS, Multilingual typing allows users to type in two languages at once, without switching keyboards. QuickType automatically identifies which the language you’re typing in and adjusts predictions accordingly. You can type with any pair of the following languages: English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish. Multilingual typing is also supported for English and Chinese.
12. Siri in emergency: With Hey Siri enabled on your iPhone, you can call 9-9-9 to initiate an emergency call even without touching your iPhone. Without this feature enabled, you can still use Siri to contact emergency services, but you need to activate Siri by holding down the home button. Siri will respond with “Calling Emergency Services in five seconds…” followed by a countdown in case the user wants to cancel the request before the call is made. There is also a “Cancel” button to stop the call before it’s connected and a second button, “Call”, which immediately connects you to emergency services.
13. SOS on Apple Watch: With SOS in watchOS 3, you can quickly and easily call for help and alert your SOS contacts. This is an important feature for runners out in the early morning or after dark, or for elderly family members or folks managing a medical condition. When you make a call with SOS, your Apple Watch automatically calls the local emergency number. You can also add emergency contacts within Medical ID, who will be alerted via text once you’ve completed your SOS emergency call. More info here: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT206983.