6 iOS 11 tips and tricks you need to know to master your iPhone or iPad

Get 3D Touch without 3D Touch

If your iPhone (or iPad) doesn’t support 3D Touch, which enables you to get additional options by hard-pressing icons, iOS 11 brings something very like it to the Control Center - but not to the rest of iOS.

If you long-press the buttons in Control Center you’ll get the 3D Touch actions, so for example long-pressing the torch icon brings up the torch’s intensity settings, while doing the same on the timer allows you to easily and quickly adjust its length.

Tap and drag to open apps

The new Dock makes it easy to multitask. If you're in an app and quickly want to check your messages, swip up from the bottom of the screen to display the dock, press and hold the Messages icon and drag it to the side of the screen.

It will then open in a narrow window so that you can send or read messages without exiting the app you’re already using.

You can put apps side by side as before, and you can replace an open app by dragging the new app’s icon over it.

Annoy your Android friends

Live Photos don’t work on Android, but if you record one in iOS 11 and apply the Loop or Bounce effect then they’re sent via MMS as MP4 files.

That’s a sure-fire way to stuff their smartphones with unnecessary frames, but don’t forget that sending MMS messages usually costs money. Don’t bankrupt yourself just to wind up your friends.

Make your pictures pop

This one’s quite subtle, but if you look at the available color filters in the Photos app you’ll see that Apple has added some new ones such as Vivid Warm, Dramatic Cool and our new favorite, Silvertone. 

That latter one works brilliantly on almost anything, and it’s particularly nice on portraits.

Zoom in on Maps

You’re familiar with pinching to zoom in and out, but in iOS 11 the iPhone Maps app gets another way to zoom. 

Double-tap with your finger or thumb and keep it pressed down on the screen. Move it up to zoom in on the map, and move it down to zoom out.

Don’t pine for your Power button

If your Power button isn’t working, you can still shut down and restart your iPhone: go into Settings > General and flip to the very bottom of the list. 

You’ll see the new Shut Down option, which brings up the familiar Slide To Power Off control.