We give you 30 tips and tricks to get the most out of your Apple iPhone 4S
General
1. Take a screenshot: Want to show off your high score in Tiny Wings or just save a web page for later? Taking a screenshot with the iPhone 4S is a snap. Simply hold down the power button and the home button and your screenshot will be saved to your camera roll.
2. Getting more out of the multitasking bar: Tapping the home button twice will bring up all your currently-running apps but if you slide to the left, you'll get quick access to a music player, the screen lock orientation and volume control. It's an quick way to control your device.
3. Turn on airplane mode: If you're on a plane ride or just want to save some battery, turning on airplane mode is good because it will disable your phone's WiFi and cellular capabilities but still let you watch movies, play games or listen to music. Go into your Settings and slide the "Airplane Mode" button to on.
4. Turn on WiFi, Bluetooth: To turn on the iPhone 4S' WiFi and Bluetooth, go into your Settings and tap on the WiFi or Bluetooth menus. These will be the second and third options from the top.
5. Save battery life: The iPhone 4S has pretty good battery life but you can always eek a bit more out of it by playing with your settings. Adjusting your brightness, disabling Bluetooth when not in use, chaining your data fetch settings and not using GPS that often will do a lot to help your battery life. For more information on saving battery life, please read this post.
6. Add a web page to your homescreen: Want quick access to a website on your home screen? It's a very simple thing to do on the iPhone 4S. When you're browsing and come by a story or web app, simply tap the Go To icon at the bottom and then Add to Home Screen.
Photography
7. Take a photo from the lock screen: Having a smartphone is great for capturing magic moments and being able to take pictures quickly is key to that. From the lock screen, swipe from the bottom to the top of the screen and it will immediately launch the camera app.
8. Turn on Grid: The iPhone 4S has an excellent camera but if you want a little assistance with your shooting, you can turn on the grid. This helps you follow the photographic rule of thirds easier and it can be turned on by opening the Camera app, tapping Options and then turning Grid on.
9. Turn on HDR: HDR mode allows your iPhone 4S to quickly take three photos at once to create a single, better-looking photo. To turn this on, launch your Camera app, tap Options and then slide on HDR. Taking HDR photos takes a little bit longer than your average photo but the results can be worth it.
10. Edit your photos: Not even the best photographer always gets the perfect shot, so there's no shame in editing your pictures. Luckily, the iPhone 4S comes with some built-in photo-editing software. To use this, take a photo, tap the Edit button and you'll be able to crop, auto enhance, remove red eyes and more. It will then be saved to your camera roll.
11. Take better shots: This is probably the one aspect that will take the most time to learn but it's definitely worth it. Basically, when you're taking photos with your iPhone 4S, keep in mind the lighting, composition and angles. We've dedicated multiple sections to helping you take better smartphone photos, so go ahead and check out how to capture light and how to properly compose your pictures.
Apps
12. Rearrange your apps: The App Store is filled with thousands of fun programs but you may only want some on your main home screen. To rearrange apps, simply press your finger on an app for a few seconds until the icons start jiggling. You can then move the apps around.
13. Putting your apps into folders: If you like grouping your apps together, you'll be happy to know that you can easily put your iPhone 4S apps into a folder. To do this, press and hold on an app until the icons start jiggling, then drag that app on another app. These will be placed into a folder that can be renamed.
15. Changing your dock apps: The four app on the bottom of your iPhone 4S are likely going to be used quite often, so make sure these are the ones you really want. In order to change these apps, press and hold on one of the icons in the dock until it jiggles and you can then move it and replace it with an app you want.
16. Rearrange your apps, again: Moving apps on your iPhone 4S is pretty simple to do but it can be kind of a pain to move multiple apps to different home screen. One simple workaround: build a folder with apps you want to move onto a different home screen, place it in the dock and then move that folder onto the screen you want those apps on.
17. Delete an app: Not every app on the iPhone 4S is a winner, so it's nice that deleting apps is a breeze. To delete an app, press and hold an app icon until it jiggles and there will be a small "X" on the corner of apps that can be deleted. Tap that X, confirm you want to delete the app and it will be gone.
Notifications, Sounds
18. Quickly mute your device: Heading into a meeting or just don't want to be disturbed? The iPhone 4S lets you quickly mute your device by sliding the mute switch above the volume up button.
19. Access your music from the lock screen: If you're like me, you use your iPhone 4S to play a lot of music on the go but you don't always need to unlock it to just change tracks. To access your music controls without unlocking the device, simply tap the home button twice on the lock screen and your controls will come up.
20. Control your notifications: Having push notifications can be nice but it can also get a little overwhelming once you've installed a lot of apps. If you want control over which apps can get to your notification bar on the iPhone 4S, simply go into the Settings, tap on Notifications and then you can manually control how the apps notify you.
21. Set your own tones: The iPhone 4S lets you create a specific tone for specific events, so you can have one sound for a Tweet, one sound for a calendar notice and another sound for a message from a specific contact. To get into this, go in Settings, tap Sounds and then assign a tone to each notification.
Security
22. Secure your phone: While putting a security code and restrictions can be kind of a pain, it does make your iPhone 4S more secure. For one, you should definitley set up a passcode and you can also back up your iPhone 4S using iCloud or by plugging it into your computer. Tapping on Settings and then General will get you access to the Passcode Lock and you'll also be able to set up other Restrictions on apps.
23. Encrypt your data: You can encrypt the data of your iPhone 4S when you're backing up thanks to iTunes. When you're plugged in and iTunes opens up, there will be an option in in the iPhone summary page that says "Encrypt iPhone backup." Click on this and then pump in your password and you'll have a secure backup.
24. Find your lost iPhone: Turning on the Find My iPhone feature may help you get back a lost iPhone, just ask David Pogue. When you first set up your iPhone, enable Find My iPhone and if you lose it, you'll be able to track it on a map, send it messages and remotely wipe the device.
Master your keyboard
25. Use voice dictation: Why waste your time pecking away when you can just speak to your iPhone 4S? Instead of typing your message, you can use a function of Siri to dictate for you. Simply bring up the keyboard, tap the microphone button near the space bar, speak into it and your message should be typed for you.
26. Add more to your messages: Like on the iPad, the iPhone 4S lets you add Emoji Emoticons. To do this, go to Settings, tap on General, then Keyboards, then International Keyboards and tap Add New Keyboard. From here, you can choose Emoji and you'll be able to add a ton of fun little characters.
27. Quickly erase the text: Have you ever just written something and want to immediately get rid of it? Instead of holding down the delete button, simply shake your device back and forth. You'll then be given the choice to delete your text.
28. Change your signature: Sure, "Sent from my iPhone" may have been cool in 2007 but it's pretty easy to to personalize your email signature on the iPhone 4S. To do this, go into Settings, then Mail and then Signature. Erase the standard message there and then put in whatever you want.
29. Keyboard tricks: The iPhone 4S also has a bunch of quick tricks on the keyboard. For example, when you tap the space bar twice, it will put a period in what you're typing and then capitalize the next word. You can also touch and hold letters to reveal lists of special characters.
Advanced tips
30. Jailbreak your iPhone: The iPhone 4S is a great device but some of you may want to get a bit more control over the Apple handset. You may want to consider jailbreaking your iPhone 4S because it will let you install apps from places other than the App Store and even let you use the device with SIMs on other carriers. Jailbreaking does come with its own risks, so be sure that you know the risks before trying it. To jailbreak your iPhone 4S, read these instructions.
BONUS TIP - Get iOS 6 right now: The iPhone 4S will be getting iOS 6 in the not-too-distant future but if you're willing to shell out a bit of money, you can get it right now. If you pay $99 for the Apple Developer Program, you'll be able to sign up for the iOS 6 betas and you can then download the latest version on your iPhone 4S. These are called betas for a reason, as these versions are often not super stable but it does let you get all the new features before the general public.
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