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Hide Notifications on Lock Screen
Lock screen Notifications can compromise privacy. Most people don’t have sensitive information presented as Notifications. By default, the lock screen displays Notification previews, but this can be easily changed. Simply tap on Settings > Notifications > Previews and set it to either When Unlocked or Never.
Tap Sleep/Wake Button 5 Times for Emergency Call
The iPhone really comes in handy in an emergency. Unfortunately, in some emergency situations, it may not be easy to make a call. The ability to make an emergency call from the lock screen has been available on the iPhone for years. Now, users can simply tap the sleep/wake button five times to make an emergency call.
This feature offers some pretty amazing configuration options. For starters, users can configure it to automatically call emergency contacts. Tap on Settings > Emergency SOS to set up this feature.
Drag Screenshots Directly into Documents
It’s always been easy to take screenshots on the iPhone. Critics claiming that Apple lacks innovation often forget that the iPhone could take screenshots long before other smartphones. Indeed, the ability to take a screenshot simply by pressing a few physical buttons is brand new to other smartphones. Apple has had this for years.
Now Apple has taken a convenient feature and made it even better. When you take a screenshot in iOS 11, a thumbnail is immediately displayed on the left corner of the screen. Press and hold on the thumbnail to display the Share Sheet pop up menu. From there, you can easily add the screenshot to documents, save it to Photos or share it on social media.
Mark Up Images in Documents
A picture is worth a thousands words. A marked up picture may be worth even more. Now, with iOS 11, users can easily add drawings and annotations to emails and photos. In conjunction with the new screenshot features, it is remarkably easy to provide visual information. I was able to take a screenshot of a website, place it in an email and mark it up in less than a minute. This enabled me to help someone who was confused by a website. It would have taken me much longer to explain what to do with words.
Accessing the markup feature is easy. Just press your finger inside an email message and remove it. You’ll see the standard inline pop-up menu. Next, pick Insert Drawing from the pop-up menu. It’s really that easy. You can also mark up any photo in the Photos app. Just tap Edit and click on the markup button, which looks like the tip of a magic marker.
Add Backgrounds to Notes
As previously mentioned, customization is not a top priority for Apple. They get to it eventually, but their efforts are focused on useful and substantial features. iOS 11 allows for increased customization of Notes. Users can now change backgrounds, making it easier to write, edit and read certain documents. You can access this feature from Settings > Notes. next page →