10 hidden iPhone features you might not know about

Most iPhone users rely on the same apps every day—Messages, Safari, Photos—without ever digging into the settings that can make the experience smoother and more personalized.

But a recent Reddit thread suggests many of Apple’s most useful features are hiding in plain sight.

In a post titled “What’s one underrated iPhone setting you use every day that most people don’t know about?” on the r/Apple forum, a user asked commenters to share their favorite hidden tools.

The discussion drew more than 1,200 upvotes and 867 comments.

Here are some of the most useful iPhone settings Redditors say more people should know about.

Vehicle Motion Cues (for motion sickness)

Several commenters called this feature “magic.” It adds subtle animated dots to the screen that move with your vehicle, helping reduce nausea when reading in a car or train.

Find it: Settings → Accessibility → Motion → Vehicle Motion Cues → Automatic.

Reduce White Point (extra-dim display)

If your screen still feels too bright at night, Reduce White Point lowers the intensity beyond the normal brightness slider. Many users map it to the Accessibility Shortcut for quick toggling before bed.

Find it: Settings → Accessibility → Display & Text Size → Reduce White Point.

Background Sounds

Instead of downloading a third-party app, iPhone includes a system-level sound generator with rain, ocean and white noise options. Users in the thread noted that it uses fewer resources than streaming audio.

Find it: Settings → Accessibility → Audio & Visual → Background Sounds.

Silence Unknown Callers

Tired of robocalls? This setting automatically silences numbers not in your contacts or recent calls. The call still appears in Recents, but your phone won’t ring.

Find it: Settings → Phone → Silence Unknown Callers.

Hide My Email

For iCloud+ subscribers, Hide My Email generates random relay addresses when signing up for websites. You can deactivate a relay at any time to stop spam instantly.

Find it: Settings → [Your Name] → iCloud → Hide My Email.

Back Tap

Many commenters were surprised to learn you can double- or triple-tap the back of your iPhone to trigger actions like screenshots or custom Shortcuts.

Find it: Settings → Accessibility → Touch → Back Tap.

Text Replacement

Several users praised this as a daily time-saver, as you can create shortcuts that expand into your email address, phone number or frequently used phrases.

Find it: Settings → General → Keyboard → Text Replacement.

Hidden Keyboard and Safari Gestures

The thread also included quick gestures many people overlook:

• Long-press the spacebar to move the cursor precisely.
• Long-press “0” for the degree symbol (°).
• Swipe left or right on Safari’s address bar to switch tabs.
• Tap and hold the “+” in Messages to jump straight to your photo library.

Focus Modes That Change by Location

Several commenters said Focus became far more useful once they tied it to specific places.

You can set a Work Focus to activate automatically when you arrive at the office, or a Shopping Focus that turns on at the grocery store—even swapping in a different Home Screen with only relevant apps.

Find it: Settings → Focus → Choose a Focus → Add Schedule or Automation → Location.

Swipe to Select Multiple Photos (and Emails)

Instead of tapping items one by one, you can speed through cleanup by dragging your finger across the screen.

In Photos, tap Select, then swipe across images to highlight multiple at once. In apps like Mail, use a two-finger swipe down a list to select multiple messages quickly.

As the Reddit thread shows, even longtime iPhone users are still discovering tools that make life a little easier without downloading extra apps.