Apple has managed once again, to create hysteria around its latest iPhone, but many consumers bought these premium smartphones without caring to much about the features of the new iOS 8.  The big problem with this operating system is that it was released too early and has stability issues, because Apple focused on the new features and neglected the core USPs.  But the updates of the iOS 8 solved a lot of problems and users no longer complained about the battery not lasting and other issues. This meant they could started enjoying iOS 8’s features.  To improve your user experience we came up with a list of tips and tricks which you might find very useful.

Backup your data  

We tend to take lots and lots of pictures, store SMS texts or conversations from messaging applications and if we lose our phone, or it gets stolen, we run the risk of losing all that information.  Think about your naughty pictures, your iCloud Documents or banking information (credit cards), which could fall into the wrong hands! You wouldn’t want that to happen to you! There’s a way to keep your data private by storing it via iCloud or iTunes.

To back up data via iCloud, you need to head to your Settings app>iCloud>Backup and enable the iCloud backup option.  Next, plug your iPhone into USB power and connect it to a WiFi network so that the connection will be fast enough to back up accounts, documents, Health data, HomeKit data and other content to iCloud.

If you want to back up files via iTunes, while your iPhone is plugged into your PC, launch iTunes and go to File menu>Devices>Backup.

Hide photos

There are many curious people that like to go through their friends’ photos hoping to find something embarrassing.  Unfortunately we can’t keep our eyes on our phones all the time, especially if we’re in a club and we leave the table for a few minutes and we don’t take our phones with us.  To prevent nosy friends from viewing your pictures, go to your Photos app, tap and hold on the pictures you want to hide, then when the “Hide” option appears, tap on it, then on the confirmation that pops up.

Enable Touch ID

The iPhone 6 and 6 Plus come with a fingerprint scanner called Touch ID. With it you can lock and unlock your device using your fingerprint or a passcode.  To enable Touch ID head to Settings app, then tap Touch ID & Passcode.  If the sensor stops working and no longer recognizes your fingerprint, create a four digit PIN (you will have 9999 possible combinations).  If you want to create a password (alphanumeric strong passcode), switch the Simple Passcode toggle OFF, which will then turn to white.

Manage Notifications

The LED flash of your iPhone’s camera can be used to alert you when you receive texts, calls and notifications.  Until now, users were notified via vibration and sound alerts,  but Apple are now using this feature that allows the users to get visual alerts via the LED light.  To enable this feature head to Settings>General>Accessibility and toggle the LED Flash for Alerts to ON, which will turn green.  From now on, the camera light will flash a two-blip sequence and will repeat continuously until you check your missed call or received message.

Extend your battery life

A smartphone could be fitted with the most powerful processor in the world but if the battery is too small and the user installs tones of applications, the battery life will decrease drastically.  The iPhone 6 has a 1810 mAh battery, which barely lasts 14 hours when making phone calls on 3G.  If you browse the internet, play games and run multiple applications at once, the phone will die in a few hours.  To conserve the battery life, we recommend closing applications and services if you have stopped using them.  By letting them run in the background, they will drain the battery.  To get a better idea of what these applications may be head to, Settings>General>Usage> and then tap Battery Usage.

Use the Home Button to adjust the screen brightness  

When you are outside in the direct sunlight it can be hard to see the content from our phone’s screens and we tend to increase their brightness for a better view. But a brighter screen eats a lot of battery and it must be adjusted depending on the lighting conditions. iOS 8.1 brought the option to manually adjust the iPhone 6’s brightness by pressing the home button three times.  However, you will need to enable this feature by going to Settings>General>Accessibility> and toggle the Zoom switch to ON.  If you tap the screen three times, with three fingers, you will get a menu overly then tap on Choose Filter and Low Light.  Next, go to General>Accessibility>Accessibility Shortcut and set the shortcut to Zoom.