Using Your iPhone's Core Features
Learn how to use some of the iPhone’s “core” features, meaning those that apply across multiple apps and functions of your phone running iOS 12.
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In this chapter, you learn to use some of your iPhone’s core features. Topics include the following:
Working with the Settings app
Connecting to the Internet using Wi-Fi networks
Connecting to the Internet using cellular data networks
Working with text
Searching on your iPhone
Working with Siri Suggestions
Working with notifications
Printing from your iPhone
In Chapter 1, “Getting Started with Your iPhone,” you learned how to interact with your iPhone including using apps, locking and unlocking it, swiping to open and close things, and zooming in or out. In this chapter, you learn to use some of the iPhone’s “core” features, meaning those that apply across multiple apps and functions of your iPhone. For example, an Internet connection is required by many, and used by most, of the apps on your iPhone. As another example, you’ll be typing or speaking text in many different situations from emails to messages to searches, so it’s fundamental to know how to work with text on your iPhone. Getting comfortable with these core features helps you do the many other things you can do with your iPhone that you learn about throughout the rest of this book.
Working with the Settings App
Aptly named, the Settings app is where you configure the many settings that change how your iPhone looks, sounds, and works. In fact, virtually everything you do on your iPhone is affected by settings in this app. As you use and make an iPhone into your iPhone, you frequently visit the Settings app.
Using the Settings App on Any iPhone
You can work with the Settings app on any iPhone as follows:
On the Home screen, tap Settings. The Settings app opens. The app is organized in sections starting at the top with your Apple ID information followed by Airplane Mode, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and Cellular.
Swipe up or down the screen to get to the settings area you want to use.
Tap the area you want to configure, such as Sounds & Haptics (iPhone 7 or later) or Sounds (earlier models).
Use the resulting controls to configure that area. The changes you make take effect immediately.
When you’re done, you can leave the Settings app where it is (it remains there when you come back to it) or tap the Back icon (<), which is always located in the upper-left corner of the screen (its name changes based on where you are in the app), until you get back to the main Settings screen to go into other Settings areas.
Searching for Settings
You can quickly find settings you need by searching for them:
Move into the Settings app. (If you aren’t on the main Settings screen, tap the Back icon (<) until you get there.)
Tap in the Search bar; if you don’t see the Search bar, swipe down from the top of the Settings screen until it appears.
Type the setting for which you want to search. As you type, potential matches are shown on the list of results. Matches can include a settings area, such as Sounds & Haptics, or specific settings, such as the ringtone and vibrations used when you receive a call.
Tap the setting you want to use.
Configure the setting you selected in the previous step.
Using the Settings App on an iPhone Plus
When you hold an iPhone Plus in the horizontal orientation and use the Settings app, you can take advantage of the Split-screen feature as follows:
Hold the iPhone Plus so it is horizontal.
Tap the Settings app to open it. In the left pane, you see the areas of the Settings app that you can configure. In the right pane, you see tools you can use to configure the selected setting. The two panes are independent, making navigation easier than with other iPhones.
Swipe up or down on the left pane until you see the function, feature, or app you want to configure.
Tap the function, feature, or app you want to configure, such as Sounds. Its controls appear in the right pane.
Swipe up or down on the right pane until you see the specific setting you want to change.
Tap the setting you want to configure, such as Ringtone. Its controls appear in the right pane.
Use the tools in the right pane to configure the setting you selected in step 6. These work just as described in the previous task and throughout this chapter except that you move within the right pane instead of changing the entire screen.
To move back through the screens in the right pane, use the Back icon (<), which is labeled with the name of the screen you came from.
Tap another area in the left pane to configure it. As you can see, the split screen makes it very easy to quickly switch between areas in the Settings app.