My iPhone for Seniors, Second Edition (2016)
1. Getting Started with Your iPhone
In this chapter, you get introduced to the amazing iPhone! Topics include the following:
Getting to know your iPhone’s external features
Getting to know your iPhone’s software
Your iPhone is one of the most amazing handheld devices ever because of how well it is designed. It has only a few external features you need to understand. For most of the things you do, you just use your fingers on your iPhone’s screen (which just seems natural), and the iPhone’s consistent interface enables you to accomplish most tasks with similar steps.
Getting to Know Your iPhone’s External Features
Take a quick look at the iPhone’s physical attributes. It doesn’t have many physical buttons or controls because you mostly use software to control it.
• Cameras—One of the iPhone’s camera lenses is located on its backside near the top-left corner; the other is on the front at the top at the center of the phone. When you take photos or video, you can choose either camera to use. All iPhone models have a flash located near the camera on the backside. The iPhone 6s and 6s Plus also have a flash on the front; for all other models, there is no flash when you use the camera on the front.
• Wake/Sleep button—Press this to lock the iPhone’s screen and put it to sleep. Press it again to wake the iPhone from Sleep mode. You also use this button to shut down the iPhone and to power it up.
• Mute switch—This switch determines whether the iPhone makes sounds, such as ringing when a call comes in or making the alert noise for notifications, such as an event on a calendar. Slide it toward the front of the iPhone to hear sounds. Slide it toward the back of the iPhone to mute all sound. When muted, you see orange in the switch.
• Headphone jack—Plug the iPhone’s EarPods or self-powered, external speakers into this jack.
• Volume—Press the upper button to increase volume; press the lower button to decrease volume. This is contextual; for example, when you are listening to music, it controls the music’s volume, but when you aren’t, it controls the ringer volume. When you are using the Camera app, pressing either button takes a photo.
• Docking port—Use this port, located on the bottom side of the iPhone, to connect it to a computer or power adapter using the included USB cable. There are also accessories that connect to this port. The iPhone 5s, 5c, 6/6s, and 6/6s Plus have the Lightning port, which uses a flat, thin plug. It doesn’t matter which side is up when you plug something into this port. The iPhone 4s uses the 30-pin port, which is much larger and has to be inserted “top side up.”
• Touch ID/Home button (iPhone 5s, 6, 6s, 6 Plus, and 6s Plus)—This serves two functions. The Touch ID sensor recognizes your fingerprint, so you can simply touch it to unlock your iPhone, sign into the iTunes Store, and use Apple Pay to confirm your information to complete a transaction. It also functions just like the Home button described in the following bullet.
• Home button (iPhone 5c, 5, and 4s)—When the iPhone is asleep, press it to wake up the iPhone. When the iPhone is awake and unlocked, press this button to move to the all-important Home screens; press it twice quickly to open the App Switcher. Press and hold the Home button to activate Siri to speak to your iPhone.
>>>Go Further: So Many iPhones, So Few Pages
The iPhone is now in its ninth generation of software that runs on multiple generations of hardware. Each successive generation has added features and capabilities to the previous version. All iPhone hardware runs the iOS operating system. However, this book is based on the current version of this operating system, iOS 9. Only the iPhone 4s and newer can run this version of the software. If you have an older version of the iPhone, this book helps you see why it is time to upgrade, but most of the information contained herein won’t apply to your iPhone until you do.
There are also differences even among the models of iPhones that can run iOS 9. For example, the iPhone 5s, 6, 6 Plus, 6s, and 6s Plus models have Touch ID that uses your fingerprint to unlock your iPhone, to sign into your Apple ID, and for other purposes (such as Apple Pay). The iPhone 4s, 5, and 5c do not have this capability.
This book is primarily based on the latest generation of iPhones, the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus. If you use one of the other models that can run iOS 9, there might be some differences between the details you read in this book and your phone. Those differences aren’t significant and shouldn’t stop you from accomplishing the tasks as described in this book.
Getting to Know Your iPhone’s Software
You might not suspect it based on the iPhone’s simple and elegant exterior, but this powerhouse runs very sophisticated software that enables you to do all sorts of great things. The beauty of the iPhone’s software is that it is both very powerful and also easy to use—once you get used to its User Interface (UI for the more technical among you). The iPhone’s UI is so well designed that after a few minutes, you may wish everything worked so well and was so easy to use.
Using Your Fingers to Control Your iPhone
Apple designed the iPhone to be touched. Most of the time, you control your iPhone by using your fingers on its screen to tap buttons, select items, swipe on the screen, zoom, type text, and so on. If you want to get technical, this method of interacting with software is called the multi-touch interface.
Going Home
Almost all iPhone activities start at the Home screen, or Home screens, to be more accurate, because the Home screen consists of multiple pages. You get to the Home screen by pressing the Touch ID/Home button once. Along the bottom of the Home screen (or along the side on an iPhone 6 Plus or 6s Plus held horizontally) is the Dock, which is always visible on the Home screen. This gives you easy access to the icons it contains (more on the Home screens shortly); up to four icons can be placed on this Dock. Above the Dock are apps that do all sorts of cool things. As you install apps, the number of icons increases. You can also create bookmarks for websites and store them on the Home screens. You can organize the pages of the Home screens in any way you like, and you can place icons into folders to keep your Home screens tidy. At the top of the screen are status icons that provide you with important information, such as whether you are connected to a Wi-Fi network and the current charge of your iPhone’s battery.
Touching the iPhone’s Screen
The following figures highlight the major ways you control an iPhone:
• Tap: briefly touch a finger to the iPhone’s screen and then lift your finger again. For example, to open an app, you tap its icon.
• Double-tap: tap twice.
• Swipe: touch the screen at any location and slide your finger in one direction.
• Drag: tap and hold an object and move your finger across the screen without lifting it up; the faster you move your finger, the faster the resulting action happens. (You don’t need to apply pressure, just make contact.)
• Pinch or unpinch: place two fingers on the screen and drag them together or move them apart; the faster and more you pinch or unpinch, the “more” the action happens (such as a zoom in).
• Rotate: rotate the iPhone to change the screen’s orientation.
On an iPhone 6s or iPhone 6s Plus, you can take advantage of 3D Touch that enables you to perform tasks by applying pressure on the screen in addition to just touching it.
When you are looking at a preview of something, such as an email, tap and put a small amount of pressure on the screen to perform a Peek. A Peek causes a window to open that shows a preview of the object. You can preview the object in the Peek window; in most cases, when you swipe up on a Peek, you get a menu of commands related to the object. For example, when you perform a Peek on an email and then swipe up on the Peek, you can tap Reply to reply to the email.
When you are looking at a Peek, apply slightly more pressure on the screen to perform a Pop, which opens the object in its app. For example, you can perform a Peek on a photo’s thumbnail to preview it. Apply a bit more pressure (a Pop) on the preview to “pop” it open in the Photos app.
Peeks and Pops can take a little bit of experimentation to get the amount of pressure you need just right, but after a few tries, you’ll find these to be handy techniques to quickly access content.
Working with iPhone Apps
One of the best things about an iPhone is that it can run all sorts of applications, or in iPhone lingo, apps. It includes a number of preinstalled apps, such as Mail, Safari, and so on, but you can download and use thousands of other apps through the App Store. You learn about many of the iPhone’s preinstalled apps as you read through this book. And as you learned earlier, to launch an app, you simply tap its icon. The app launches and fills the iPhone’s screen.
On an iPhone 6s or iPhone 6s Plus, 3D Touch enables you to perform tasks by applying pressure on the screen in addition to just touching it. When you press on an app’s icon, the Quick Actions menu appears; slide your finger on the menu to highlight an action to take it. For example, when you open the Quick Actions menu for the Phone app, you can place calls to people you have recently communicated with or create a new contact.
In Chapter 5, “Customizing How Your iPhone Looks and Sounds,” you learn how you can organize icons in folders to keep your Home screens tidy and make getting to icons faster and easier. To access an icon that is in a folder, tap the folder. It opens and takes over the screen. Under its name is a box showing the apps or website bookmarks it contains. Like the Home screens, folders can have multiple pages. To move between a folder’s pages, swipe to the left to move to the next screen or to the right to move to the previous one. Each time you “flip” a page, you see another set of icons. You can close a folder without opening an app by tapping outside its borders or press the Home/Touch ID button.
To launch an app or open a website bookmark within a folder, tap its icon.
When you are done using an app, press the Home button. You return to the Home screen you were most recently using.
When you move out of an app by pressing the Home button, the app moves into the background but doesn’t stop running (you can control whether or not apps are allowed to work in the background, as you learn in a later section). So, if the app has a task to complete, such as uploading photos or playing audio, it continues to work behind the scenes. In some cases, most notably games, the app becomes suspended at the point you move it into the background by switching to a different app or moving to a Home screen. In addition to the benefit of completing tasks when you move into another app, the iPhone’s capability to multitask means that you can run multiple apps at the same time. For example, you can run an Internet radio app to listen to music while you switch over to the Mail app to work on your email.
You can control apps by using the App Switcher. To see this, quickly press the Touch ID/Home button twice. The App Switcher appears.
At the top of the App Switcher, you see icons for apps you have used recently. Under each app’s icon, you see a thumbnail of that app’s screen. You can swipe to the left or right to move among the apps you see. You can tap an app’s screen to move into it. That app takes over the screen, and you can work with it, picking up right where you left off the last time you used it.
When you open the App Switcher, the app you were using most recently comes to the center to make it easy to return to. This enables you to toggle between two apps easily. For example, suppose you need to enter a confirmation number from one app into another app. Open the app into which you want to enter the number. Then open the app containing the number you need to enter. Open the App Switcher and tap the pervious app to return to it quickly so that you can enter the number.
To close the App Switcher without moving into a different app, press the Home/Touch ID button once. You move back into the app or Home screen you were most recently using.
In some cases (such as when it’s using up your battery too quickly or it has stopped responding to you), you might want to force an app to quit. To do this, open the App Switcher by quickly pressing the Touch ID/Home button twice. Swipe up on the app you want to stop. The app is forced to quit, its icon and screen disappear, and you remain in the App Switcher. You should be careful about this, though, because if the app has unsaved data, that data is lost when you force the app to quit. The app is not deleted from the iPhone—it is just shut down until you open it again (which you can do by returning to the Home screen and tapping the app’s icon).
Sometimes, a link in one app takes you into a different app. When this happens, you see the Back to App button, where App is the name of the app in which you tapped the link, in the upper-left corner of the screen. You can tap this button to return to the app you came from. For example, you can tap a link in a Mail email message to open the associated web page in Safari. To return to the email you were reading in the Mail app, tap the Back to Mail button in the upper-left corner of the screen.
Using the Home Screens
Previously in this chapter, you read that the Home screen is the jumping-off point for many of the things you do with your iPhone because that is where you access the icons you tap to launch things such as apps or website bookmarks you’ve saved there.
The Home screen has multiple pages. To change the page you are viewing, swipe to the left to move to later pages or to the right to move to earlier pages. The dots above the toolbar represent the pages of the Home screen. The white dot represents the page being displayed. You can also change the page by tapping to the left of the white dot to move to the previous page or to the right of it to move to the next page.
Using the iPhone 6 Plus/6s Plus’ Split-Screen
When you hold an iPhone 6 Plus/6s Plus in the horizontal orientation, you can take advantage of the iPhone 6 Plus/6s Plus’ Split-screen feature in many apps (not all apps support this). In Split-screen mode, the screen has two panes. The left pane is for navigation, while the right pane shows the content selected in the left pane. The two panes are independent, so you can swipe up and down on one side without affecting the other. In most apps that support this functionality, there is a button you can use to open or close the split screen. This button changes depending on the app you are using. For example, when you are using Safari to browse the Web, tap the Bookmark button (this looks like an open book) to open the left pane and tap it again to close the left pane (while the left pane is open, you can select bookmarks in the left pane and see the associated web pages in the right pane). As another example, in the Mail app, you tap the Full Screen button (two arrows pointing diagonally away from each other) to open or close the left pane.
Apps that support this functionality include Settings, Mail, Safari, and Messages; you see examples showing how Split-screen works in those apps later in this book. You should hold the iPhone 6 Plus/6s Plus horizontally when using your favorite apps to see if they support this feature.
When you hold the iPhone 6 Plus/6s Plus horizontally and move to the Home screen, the Dock moves to the right side of the screen and you see the Home screen’s pages in the left part of the window. Although this looks a bit different, it works the same as when you hold an iPhone vertically.
Searching on Your iPhone
You can use the Spotlight Search tool to search your iPhone. To open this tool, move to a Home screen and swipe down from the center part of the screen. (Be careful not to swipe down from the very top of the screen because that opens the Notification Center instead.) The Search bar appears at the top of the screen and the keyboard opens.
To perform a search, tap in the Search bar and type the search term using the onscreen keyboard. As you type, items that meet your search are shown on the list below the Search bar. When you finish typing the search term, tap Search.
The results are organized into sections, such as TOP HITS, CONTACTS, MAIL, MUSIC, and so on. Swipe up and down the screen to browse all of the results. To work with an item you find, such as to view an event you found, tap it; you move into the associated app and see the search result that you tapped. The results remain in the Spotlight Search tool. Move back to the Home screen and open the Spotlight tool again. The results of the most recent search are still listed. To clear the search term, tap the Clear button (x). To close the Spotlight tool without going to one of the results, tap Cancel.
Working with Siri Suggestions
When you move to a Home page and swipe all the way to the right, you see the SIRI SUGGESTIONS page. This page shows you people you communicate with, apps you use, items that might be of interest that are near you, and news you might be interested in. You can also search from this screen just like from other Home screens.
On the SIRI SUGGESTIONS screen, you can do the following tasks:
• Tap in the Search bar to type a search or tap the Microphone to dictate a search. This works just like the searching you learned about in the previous section.
• Tap a contact to reveal options you can use to communicate with her.
• Tap an app you’ve used recently to return to it.
• Tap a category of location shown in the NEARBY section to move to the Maps app and see a list of places of that type.
• Swipe up and down in the NEWS section to browse news stories. Tap a story to read its detail in the News app.
Working with the Control Center
The Control Center provides quick access to a number of very useful controls. To access it, swipe up from the bottom of the screen. If your iPhone is asleep/locked, press the Sleep/Wake or Touch ID/Home button to wake up the phone and then swipe up from the bottom of the screen from the area of the horizontal line. Sometimes when you are using an app, the place you swipe up on is marked with an upward-facing arrow. Regardless of the screen you are on, when you swipe up, the Control Center opens and gives you quick access to a number of controls.
Control Center Tip
Some apps have a Dock at the bottom of the screen. When you are using such an app, make sure you don’t touch a button on the Dock when you are trying to open the Control Center because you’ll do whatever the button is for instead. Just swipe up on an empty area of the toolbar and the Control Center opens.
At the top of the Control Center are buttons you can use to turn on or turn off important functions. To activate a function, tap the button, which becomes white to show the function is active. To disable a function, tap the button so that it becomes dark to show you it is inactive. For example, to lock the orientation of the iPhone’s screen in its current position, tap the Orientation Lock button so it becomes white. Your iPhone screen’s orientation no longer changes when you rotate the phone. To make the orientation change when you rotate the phone again, turn off the Orientation Lock button. You learn about Airplane mode and Do No Disturb later in this chapter. Wi-Fi and Bluetooth are explained in Chapter 2, “Connecting Your iPhone to the Internet, Bluetooth Devices, and iPhones/iPods/iPads.”
Below the top function buttons is the Brightness slider. Drag the slider to the right to make the screen brighter or to the left to make it dimmer.
In the center of the Control Center are the audio controls you can use with whatever audio is playing, such as podcasts from the Podcasts app.
The AirDrop button enables you to share content with other iOS device and Mac users in the same vicinity; this is covered in Chapter 2. The AirPlay button enables you to stream your iPhone’s music, podcasts, photos, and video onto other devices, such as a TV to which an Apple TV is connected.
At the bottom of the Control Center are four app icons; tap an icon to open the app, just as you do on the Home screens. The Flashlight app uses your iPhone’s flash as a flashlight. The Clock app provides you with a number of time-related functions, which are world clocks, alarms, timer, and stopwatch; when you open this app from the Control Center, it opens in the timer, but you can use its other functions by tapping the function you want to use. The Calculator does just what it sounds like it does; when you hold the iPhone vertically, you see a simple calculator, while if you rotate the iPhone to horizontal, the calculator becomes more powerful. The Camera app enables you to capture photos and video (this is covered in Chapter 14, “Working with Photos and Video You Take with Your iPhone”).
Working with Notifications and the Notification Center
Your iPhone has a lot of activity going on, from new emails to reminders to calendar events. The iOS notification system keeps you informed of these happenings through a number of means. Visual notifications include alerts, banners, and badges. Alert sounds can also let you know something has happened, and vibrations make you feel the new activity. There are a variety of notification options for each app. You learn how to customize the notifications your iPhone uses in Chapter 5.
Working with visual notifications is pretty straightforward.
When a banner appears, you can do one of several things. You can view and then ignore it (it rotates off the screen after displaying for a few seconds). You can tap it to move into the app to take some action, such as to read an email. You can swipe up from the bottom of the banner to close it. For some apps, such as Messages, you can swipe down on the banner to respond directly in the notification.
When an alert appears, you must either take action, such as marking a reminder as completed or listening to a voice message, tap the Options button to take one of a number of actions, or tap the Later, Dismiss, Close, or Ignore button (the button you see depends on the app the alert comes from) to close the alert and keep doing what you were doing.
Badges appear on an app’s or a folder’s icon to let you know something has changed, such as when you have received new email.
Badges are purely informational as are sounds and vibrations; you can’t take any action on these directly. They inform you about an event so that you can take action, such as to download and install an update to your iPhone’s iOS software.
Notifications on the Lock Screen
Notifications can appear on the Lock screen. This is useful because you can see them when your iPhone is locked. If your phone is asleep, the notifications appear briefly on the screen and then it goes dark again; you can press the Wake/Sleep button or the Touch/ID Home button to see your notifications without unlocking the iPhone. You can swipe up or down the screen to browse the notifications on the Lock screen or swipe to the right on them to move to the related app, too (you need to enter your passcode or touch the Touch ID button to move into the associated app).
The Notification Center organizes and displays a variety of information for you. To open the Notification Center, swipe down from the top of the iPhone’s screen; if your iPhone is currently asleep/locked, press the Home/Touch ID or Sleep/Wake button and then swipe down from the top of the screen to open the Notification Center.
Tap the Today tab to see the day and date along with weather information. Under that, you see any information that impacts your day; this information is organized in sections based on its type, such as Reminders, Calendar events, and so on. If you swipe up far enough, you see the Tomorrow section that presents information about tomorrow’s activities, too.
Tap the Notifications tab to see all your current notifications, such as for new email or text messages. These are organized by the app from which they come. Like the Today tab, you can swipe up and down to browse all the notifications, tap a notification to move to the related app, and so on. To remove all the notifications for an app, tap its Clear button (x) and then tap Clear.
Active Notifications
Some of the notifications can show more information than can fit on the screen (examples include the Weather and Stocks apps). Swipe to the left or right on these notifications to see more information. Some notifications have links that take you to the Web to get more detailed information.
Using the Do Not Disturb Mode
All the notifications you read about in the previous section are useful, but at times, they can be annoying or distracting. When you put your iPhone in Do Not Disturb mode, its visual, audible, and vibration notifications are disabled so that they won’t bother you. It won’t ring if someone calls you, unless you specify certain contacts to override the Do Not Disturb.
To put your iPhone in Do Not Disturb mode, open the Control Center and tap the Do Not Disturb button. It becomes white and the Do Not Disturb: On status appears at the top of the Control Center. Your iPhone stops its notifications and does not ring if someone calls. To make your notifications active again, tap the Do Not Disturb button so it is black; your iPhone resumes trying to get your attention when it is needed.
In Chapter 4, “Configuring an iPhone to Suit Your Preferences,” you learn how to set a schedule for Do Not Disturb so that your iPhone goes into this mode automatically at certain times, such as from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. You can also configure certain exceptions, including whose calls come in even when your iPhone is in Do Not Disturb mode.
Working with Text
You can do lots of things with an iPhone that require you to provide text input. There are a couple of ways you can do this, the most obvious of which is by typing. The iPhone’s keyboard is quite amazing. Whenever you need it, whether it’s for emailing, entering a website URL, performing a search, or any other typing function, it pops up automatically.
To type, just tap the keys. As you tap each key, you hear audio feedback (you can disable this sound if you want to) and the key you tapped pops up in a magnified view on the screen. The keyboard includes all the standard keys, plus a few for special uses. To change from letters to numbers and special characters, just tap the 123 key. Tap the #+= key to see more special characters. Tap the 123 key to move back to the numbers and special characters or the ABC key to return to letters. The keyboard also has contextual keys that appear when you need them. For example, when you enter a website address, the .com key appears so you can enter these four characters with a single tap.
You can also use Predictive Text, which is the feature that tries to predict text you want to enter based on the context of what you are currently typing and what you have typed before. Predictive Text appears in the bar between the text and the keyboard and presents you with three options. If one of those is what you want to enter, tap it and it is added to the text at the current location of the cursor. If you don’t see an option you want to enter, keep typing and the options change as the text changes. You can tap an option at any time to enter it. The nice thing about Predictive Text is that it gets better at predicting your text needs over time. In other words, the more you use it, the better it gets at predicting what you want to type. You can also enable or disable Predictive Text as you see shortly.
Predictive Text Need Not Apply
When you are entering text where Predictive Text doesn’t apply, such as when you are typing email addresses, the Predictive Text bar is hidden and can’t be enabled. This makes sense because there’s no way text in things such as email addresses can be predicted. When you move back into an area where it does apply, Predictive Text becomes active again.
The great thing about a virtual keyboard like the iPhone has is that it can change to reflect the language or symbols you want to type. As you learn in Chapter 4, you can install multiple keyboards, such as one for your primary language and more for your secondary languages. You can also install third-party keyboards to take advantage of their features (this is also covered in Chapter 4).
By default, two keyboards are available for you to use. One is for the primary language configured for your iPhone (for example, mine is U.S. English). The other is the Emoji keyboard (more on this shortly). How you change the keyboard you are using depends on if you have installed additional keyboards and the orientation of the iPhone.
If you haven’t installed additional keyboards, you can change keyboards by tapping the Emoji key, which has a smiley face on it.
If you have installed other keyboards, you change keyboards by tapping the Globe key.
Each time you tap this key (Globe if available, Emoji if there isn’t a Globe), the keyboard changes to be the next keyboard installed; along with the available keys changing, you briefly see the name of the current keyboard in the Space bar. When you have cycled through all the keyboards, you return to the one where you started.
The Keys, They Are A-Changin’
The keys on the keyboard can change depending on the orientation of the iPhone. For example, when you have more than one keyboard installed and hold the iPhone vertically, the Emoji key disappears and you see only the Globe key. Not to worry though, you can still get to the Emoji keyboard by tapping the Globe key until the Emoji keyboard appears, or by opening the Keyboard menu and tapping Emoji. When you have installed additional keyboards and hold the iPhone horizontally, you see both the Globe and Emoji keys. Tap the Emoji key to switch to that keyboard or the Globe key to cycle through all the keyboards.
You can also select the specific keyboard you want to use and enable/disable Predictive Text by tapping and holding on the Globe key (or the Emoji key, if you don’t see the Globe key). The Keyboard menu appears. Tap a keyboard to switch to it. Tap the Predictive Text switch to enable or disable it; when the switch is green, Predictive Text is enabled, when the switch is white, it is disabled.
The Emoji keyboard allows you to insert a variety of icons into your text to liven things up, communicate your feelings, or just to have some fun (if you don’t have this keyboard installed, see Chapter 4). You can open this keyboard by tapping its key (the smiley face) or by tapping it on the Keyboard menu. You see a palette containing many icons, organized into groups. You can change the groups of icons you are browsing by tapping the buttons at the bottom of the screen. Swipe to the left or right on the icons to browse the icons in the current group. Tap an icon to enter it at the cursor’s location in your message, email, or other type of document. To use an icon you’ve used before, tap the Clock button; you’ll probably find that you use this recent set of icons regularly so this can save a lot of time. To return to the mundane world of letters and symbols, tap the Emoji or Globe key again.
Another Reason It’s Called a Plus
When you rotate an iPhone 6 Plus or 6s Plus to the horizontal position, the keyboard gains some extra keys. These include Cut (scissors), Copy (two squares), Paste (paper and clipboard), Format (BIU), and Undo (curved arrow).
What’s Your Typing Orientation?
Like many other tasks, you can rotate the iPhone to change the screen’s orientation while you type. When the iPhone is in the horizontal orientation, the keyboard is wider, making it easier to tap individual keys. When the iPhone is in vertical orientation, the keyboard is narrower, but you can see more of the typing area. So, try both to see which mode is most effective for you.
If you type a word that the iPhone doesn’t recognize, that word is flagged as a possible mistake and suggestions are made to help you correct it. How this happens depends on whether or not Predictive Text is enabled.
If Predictive Text is enabled, potential replacements for suspicious words appear in the Predictive Text bar. Tap a word to replace what you’ve typed with the suggested word.
If Predictive Text isn’t enabled, a suspicious word is highlighted and a suggestion about what it thinks is the correct word appears in a pop-up box. To accept the suggestion, tap the Space key. To reject the suggestion, tap the pop-up box to close it and keep what you typed. You can also use this feature for shorthand typing. For example, to type “I’ve” you can simply type “Ive” and iPhone suggests “I’ve,” which you can accept by tapping the Space key.
Typing Tricks
Many keys, especially symbols and punctuation, have additional characters. To see a character’s options, tap it and hold down. If it has options, a menu pops up after a second or so. To enter one of the optional characters, drag over the menu until the one you want to enter is highlighted, and then lift your finger off the screen. The optional character you selected is entered. For example, if you tap and hold on the period, you can select .com, .edu, and so on, which is very helpful when you are typing a website or email addresses.
By default, the iPhone attempts to correct the capitalization of what you type. It also automatically selects the Shift key when you start a new sentence, start a new paragraph, or in other places where its best guess is that you need a capital letter. If you don’t want to enter a capital character, simply tap the Shift key before you type. You can enable the Caps Lock key by tapping the Shift key twice. When the key is highlighted, everything you type is in uppercase letters.
To edit text you’ve typed, tap and hold on the text you want to edit. A magnifying glass icon appears on the screen, and within it you see a magnified view of the location of the cursor. Drag the magnifying glass to where you want to make changes (to position the cursor where you want to start making changes), and then lift your finger from the screen. The cursor remains in that location, and you can use the keyboard to make changes to the text or to add text at that location.
Using 3D Touch with Text
When you are using an iPhone 6s or 6s Plus, you can apply slight pressure when you touch the screen to have the closest word selected automatically; it is highlighted in blue to show you that it is selected. To place the cursor without selecting words that are near your finger, just touch the screen without applying any pressure.
Your Own Text Replacements
You can create your own text shortcuts so you can type something like “eadd” and it is automatically replaced with your email address. See Chapter 4 for the details.
You can also select text or images to copy and paste the selected content into a new location or to replace that content. Tap and hold down briefly where you want to start the selection until the magnifying glass icon appears; then lift your finger off the screen. The Select menu appears. Tap Select to select part of the content on the screen, or tap Select All to select everything in the current window.
More Commands
Some menus that appear when you are making selections and performing actions have a right-facing arrow at the right end. Tap this to see a new menu that contains additional commands. These commands are contextual, meaning that you see different commands depending on what you are doing at that specific time. You can tap the left-facing arrow to move back to a previous menu.
You see markers indicating where the selection starts and stops. (The iPhone attempts to select something logical, such as the word or sentence.) New commands appear on the menu; these provide actions for the text currently selected.
Drag the two markers so that the content you want to select is between them; the selected portion is highlighted in blue. As you drag, you see a magnified view of where the selection marker is, which helps you place it more accurately. When the selection markers are located correctly, lift your finger from the screen. (If you tapped the Select All command, you don’t need to do this because the content you want is already selected.)
Have I Got a Suggestion for You!
Tap the Suggestion option to see items that might be useful to you. These are also contextual. For example, when you have a word selected, one of the suggestions might be Define, which looks up the selected word in the Dictionary (tap Done to return to where you came from). As you use your iPhone, check out the Suggestions because you’ll find some very useful options tucked away there.
Tap Cut to remove the content from the current window, or tap Copy to just copy it.
Format It!
If you tap the B/U button, you can tap Bold, Italics, or Underline to apply those formatting options to the selected text. You also can tap multiple format options to apply them at the same time. You might need to tap the right-facing arrow at the end of the menu to see this command, depending on how many commands are on the menu.
Move to where you want to paste the content you selected; for example, use the App Switcher to change to a different app. Tap where you want the content to be pasted. For a more precise location, tap and hold and then use the magnifying glass icon to move to a specific location. Lift your finger off the screen and the menu appears. Then tap Paste.
The content you copied or cut appears where you placed the cursor.
The iPhone also has a spell-checking feature that comes into play after you have entered text (as opposed to the Predictive Text and autocorrect/suggests feature that change text as you type it). When you’ve entered text the iPhone doesn’t recognize, it is underlined in red.
Tap the underlined word. It is shaded in red to show you what is being checked, and a menu appears with one or more replacements that might be the correct spelling. If one of the options is the one you want, tap it. The incorrect word is replaced with the one you tapped.
Contextual Menus and You
In some apps, tapping a word causes a menu with other kinds of actions to appear; you can tap an action to make it happen. For example, in the iBooks app, when you tap a word, the resulting menu enables you to look up the word in a dictionary. Other apps support different kinds of actions, so it’s a good idea to try tapping words in apps that involve text to see which commands are available.
Dictating Text
You can also enter text by dictating it. This is a fast and easy way to type and you’ll be amazed at how accurate the iPhone is at translating your speech into typed words. Dictation is available almost anywhere you need to enter text. (Exceptions are passcodes and passwords, such as for your Apple ID.)
To start dictating, tap the Microphone key. The iPhone goes into Dictation mode. A gray bar appears at the bottom of the window. As the iPhone “hears” you, the line oscillates.
Start speaking the text you want the iPhone to type. As you speak, the text is entered starting from the location of the cursor.
When you’ve finished dictating, tap Done. The keyboard reappears and you see the text you spoke. This feature is amazingly accurate and can be a much faster and more convenient way to enter text than typing it.
You can edit the text you dictated just like text you entered using the keyboard.
Meeting Siri
Siri is the iPhone’s voice-recognition and control software. This feature enables you to accomplish many tasks by speaking. For example, you can create and send text messages, reply to emails, make phone calls, and much more. (Using Siri is explained in detail in Chapter 12, “Working with Siri.”)
When you perform actions, Siri uses the related apps to accomplish what you’ve asked it to do. For example, when you create a meeting, Siri uses the Calendar app.
Siri is a great way to control your iPhone, especially when you are working in handsfree mode.
Your iPhone has to be connected to the Internet for Siri (and dictation for that matter) to work. That’s because the words you speak are sent over the Internet, transcribed into text, and then sent back to your iPhone. If your iPhone isn’t connected to the Internet, this can’t happen and Siri reports that it can’t connect to the network or simply that it can’t do what you ask right now.
Using Siri is pretty simple because it follows a consistent pattern and prompts you for input and direction.
Activate Siri by pressing and holding down the Touch ID/Home button or pressing and holding down the center part of the buttons on the right EarPod wire until you hear the Siri chime. If so configured (see Chapter 12), you can say “Hey Siri” to activate it, too. This puts Siri in “listening” mode and the “What can I help you with?” text appears on the screen. This indicates Siri is ready for your command.
Speak your command or ask a question. When you stop speaking, Siri goes into processing mode. After Siri interprets what you’ve said, it provides two kinds of feedback to confirm what it heard: it displays what it heard on the screen and provides audible feedback to you. Siri then tries to do what it thinks you’ve asked and shows you what it is doing. If it needs more input from you, you’re prompted to provide it and Siri moves into “listening” mode automatically.
If Siri requests that you confirm what it is doing or to make a selection, do so. Siri completes the action and displays what it has done; it also audibly confirms the result.
Siri isn’t quite like using the computer on the Starship Enterprise on Star Trek, but it’s pretty darn close. Mostly, you can just speak to Siri as you would talk to someone else, and it is able to do what you want or asks you the information it needs to do what you want.
Understanding iPhone Status Icons
At the top of the screen is the Status bar with various icons that provide you with information, such as whether you are connected to a Wi-Fi or cellular data network, the time, sync in process, whether the iPhone’s orientation is locked, the state of the iPhone’s battery, and so on. Keep an eye on this area as you use your iPhone. The following table provides a guide to the most common of these icons.
iPhone Status Icons
Turning Your iPhone On or Off
If you want to turn off your iPhone, press and hold the Wake/Sleep button until the slider appears at the top of the screen. Swipe the slider to the right to shut down the iPhone. The iPhone shuts down.
To restart your iPhone, press and hold the Wake/Sleep button until the Apple logo appears on the screen, and then let go of the button.
After it starts up, and you have a passcode, you see the Lock screen. Swipe to the right and enter your passcode to start using your phone. (Even if you have Touch ID enabled to unlock your phone, you must enter your passcode the first time you unlock it after a restart.)
If you don’t have a passcode configured, you move directly to the Home screen when the phone starts and it’s ready for you to use. Keep in mind, if you do not have a passcode configured, your phone is vulnerable to anyone who gets a hold of it.
Sleeping/Locking and Waking/Unlocking Your iPhone
When an iPhone is asleep/locked, you need to wake it up and then unlock it to use it. How you do this depends on the type of iPhone you have.
If you have an iPhone 5s or later, and have configured it to recognize your fingerprint to unlock it, press the Touch ID/Home button once, and then touch the Touch ID button with your finger. When your fingerprint is recognized, your iPhone unlocks and you can start using it.
Be Recognized
To use the Touch ID, you need to train your iPhone to recognize the fingerprints you want to use. You were prompted to configure one fingerprint when you started your iPhone for the first time. You can change or add fingerprints for Touch ID at any time; see Chapter 4 for the details of configuring Touch ID.
If you have an iPhone 5c or older, or you don’t have any Touch ID configured to unlock your phone, you first press the Wake/Sleep button or the Home button. The iPhone wakes up, the Lock screen appears, and at the bottom of the screen, the Unlock slider appears. Swipe on the slider to the right to unlock the iPhone so you can work with it.
If you require a passcode to unlock your iPhone—which you should for security—type your passcode at the prompt.
When you unlock the phone, or swipe to open it if no passcode is configured, you move to the last screen you were using before it was locked.
The Time Is Always Handy
If you use your iPhone as a watch the way I do, just press the Wake/Sleep button. The current time and date appear; if you don’t unlock it, the iPhone goes back to sleep after a few seconds.
In most cases, you should just put the iPhone to sleep when you aren’t using it instead of turning it off. It doesn’t use much power when it sleeps, and it wakes up immediately when you want to start using it again. Also, when you put your iPhone to sleep, it can’t be used until it is unlocked. If you set it to require a passcode to unlock, this also protects your information. (You seldom need to turn off an iPhone.) Even when the iPhone is asleep, you can receive notifications, such as when you receive emails or text messages. (See Chapter 4 to configure which notifications you see on the Lock screen.)
To put your iPhone to sleep and lock it, press the Wake/Sleep button.
Signing Into Your Apple ID
As you learn throughout this book, an Apple ID is useful in many situations, such as to access iCloud services; purchase music, movies, and other content from the iTunes Store; download apps from the App Store; and so on. If you have an iPhone 5s or later, you can quickly sign into your Apple ID by using the iPhone’s Touch ID/Home button. (As referenced in the prior note, you need to configure your iPhone to recognize your fingerprint to use Touch ID; see Chapter 4 for details.)
When you need to sign into your Apple ID, you see a prompt. Simply touch your finger to the Touch ID/Home button. When your fingerprint is recognized, you sign into your Apple ID and can complete whatever your were doing, such as downloading music from the iTunes Store.
If you have an older model or you don’t have the settings configured to enable you to use Touch ID with your Apple ID, you need to provide your Apple ID password to sign in by typing it and tapping OK. Whatever action you were performing is completed.
Setting the Volume
To change the iPhone’s volume, press the up or down Volume button on the side of the iPhone. When you change the volume, your change affects the current activity. For example, if you are on a phone call, the call volume changes or if you are listening to music, the music’s volume changes. If you aren’t on a screen that shows the Volume slider, an icon pops up to show you the relative volume you are setting and the type, such as setting the ringer’s volume. When the volume is right, release the Volume button.
When you are using an audio app, such as the Music app, you can also drag the volume slider in that app or on the Control Center to increase or decrease the volume.
When you use the iPhone’s EarPods, you can change the volume by pressing the upper part of the switch on the right EarPod’s wire to increase volume or the lower part to decrease it.
Using Airplane Mode
Although there’s a debate about whether devices such as iPhones pose any real danger to the operation of aircraft, there’s no reason to run any risk by using your iPhone while you are on an airplane. (Besides, not following crew instructions on airplanes can lead you to less-than-desirable interactions with the flight crew.) When you place your iPhone in Airplane mode, its transmitting and receiving functions are disabled, so it poses no threat to the operation of the aircraft. While it is in Airplane mode, you can’t use the phone, the Web, Siri, or any other functions that require communication between your iPhone and other devices or networks.
To put your iPhone in Airplane mode, swipe up from the bottom of the screen to open the Control Center and tap the Airplane mode button. All connections to the Internet and the cell network stop, and your iPhone goes into quiet mode in which it doesn’t broadcast or receive any signals. The Airplane mode button becomes white and you see the Airplane mode icon at the top of the screen.
In Airplane mode, you can use your iPhone for all your apps that don’t require an Internet connection, such as iBooks, Music, Videos, Photos, and so on.
To turn off Airplane mode, open the Control Center and tap the Airplane mode button; it becomes black again and the Airplane mode icon disappears. The iPhone resumes transmitting and receiving signals, and all the functions that require a connection start working again.
Wi-Fi in Airplane Mode
Many airplanes support Wi-Fi on board. To access a Wi-Fi network without violating the requirement not to use a cell network, put the iPhone in Airplane mode, which turns off Wi-Fi. On the Control Center, tap the Wi-Fi button to turn Wi-Fi back on. Wi-Fi starts up and you can select the network you want to join (see Chapter 2). You can use this configuration at other times, too, such as when you want to access the Internet but don’t want to be bothered with phone calls. When your iPhone is in Airplane mode and Wi-Fi is on, all your calls (including Wi-Fi calls) go straight to voicemail but you can use your Internet-related apps. (I would never do this, you understand.)
Using the Settings App
The Settings app is where you do almost all of your iPhone’s configuration, and you use it frequently throughout this book. To use the Settings app, tap Settings on the Home screen. The app opens. Swipe up and down the screen to browse the various settings tools. Tap an item to configure its settings. For example, to configure your notifications, tap Notifications. (You use the Settings app in a number of chapters in this book, especially in Chapter 4.)
Printing from Your iPhone
You can also print from your iPhone to AirPrint-compatible printers.
First, set up and configure your AirPrint printer (see the instructions that came with the printer you use).
It Depends
When you tap the Share button, you might see a menu containing commands instead of the grid of icons shown in the figure. The way it appears is dependent upon the app you are using. Either way, tap Print to move to the Printer Options screen.
When you are in the app from which you want to print, tap the Share button. Tap Print on the resulting menu. You might need to swipe to the right to expose the Print command. (If you don’t see the Share button or the Print command, the app you are using doesn’t support printing.) The Share button looks a bit different in some apps, but it works similarly.
The first time you print, you need to select the printer you want to use. On the Printer Options screen, tap Select Printer. Then tap the printer you want to use. You move back to the Printer Options screen and see the printer you selected.
Don’t Have an AirPrint Printer?
If you don’t have an AirPrint printer, do a web search for a tool called “AirPrint for Windows” if you have a Windows PC or “handyPrint for Mac” if you have a Mac. Download and install the software on a computer that is capable of sharing its printers. Configure your computer to share the printer you want to use with your iPhone. Then launch the software on your computer and start it. The printers you configure in the AirPrint software are available for printing from your iPhone.
Tap the – or + to set the number of copies; the current number of copies is shown to the left of the buttons. Tap Print to print the document.
The next time you print, if you want to use the same printer, you can skip the printer selection process because the iPhone remembers the last printer you used. To change the printer, tap Printer and tap the printer you want to use.