iOS 5: All the Little Things (Undocumented Features)

[acfusion29]

not sure if this was mentioned but you could play YouTube (say music from YouTube) and do other stuff...

just find the song you wanna play on YouTube, go to the home screen, double click on the home button, swipe to the right and press play.

[ZepFloyd]

Originally Posted by acfusion29

not sure if this was mentioned but you could play YouTube (say music from YouTube) and do other stuff...

just find the song you wanna play on YouTube, go to the home screen, double click on the home button, swipe to the right and press play.

wow...very nice!

[Clayne]

Groups now in contacts. May have to set them up through icloud.com. not sure yet.

[T-Will]

You can now see the amount of space individual apps are using so you can tidy up those memory hogs right from your iPhone/iPod.

Go to Settings -> General -> Usage and wait a few seconds for the list to to refresh.

You can then tap on an app and see how much space the "documents & data" are taking and even delete the app right from that same page.

[yislam]

Originally Posted by ipoddin

I like the custom vibrations for contacts!

Also noticed you can make the led flash for incoming alerts too! Right below enabling custom vibrations.

These were not undocumented features. They are there in the list of new features

[blackjackmark]

This may have been in previous versions, but I just discovered it while exploring. You can set the phone to always answer calls in speaker mode! (or headset mode if you prefer that)

Settings/General/Accessibility/Physical & Motor/Incoming Calls

[.animal]

the ability to delete individual phone calls and not having to delete the whole history for 1 call.

[skuu2]

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Originally Posted by ZepFloyd

wow...very nice!

this was in 4 and maybe before very handy trick

[yislam]

Originally Posted by ipoddin

I like the custom vibrations for contacts!

Also noticed you can make the led flash for incoming alerts too! Right below enabling custom vibrations.

Originally Posted by boltjames

You can create a lengthy line of text in any message by using a 3 letter code.

Type "NYC" and the phone types "I'm in the city, if you're up for going out tonight text me back" or anything else you configure.

BJ

Such a feature has been in Blackberry smartphone for years

[boltjames]

Originally Posted by yislam

Such a feature has been in Blackberry smartphone for years

So what? No one uses Blackberry anymore and it's new to iPhone so we are happy.

BJ

[polobreaka]

not sure if this was undocumented but you can now create photo albums within the photo.app!

click edit on top right corner and then 'add' button on top left.

finally can organize the photo in the camera roll and/or photo library!

[Rubo Draco]

Originally Posted by yislam

Such a feature has been in Blackberry smartphone for years

That comment would be AWESOME in the "iPhone vs Blackberry" thread!..
Too bad it doesn't exist (rolling eyes)

[Norinion]

I get this (it looks like airplay) icon when in mutlitasking to scrolling towards the volume meter.. apparently i can switch whether it goes out through iphone or iphone speaker... however i can't get it work? maybe this is the use with earphones? can someone test?

and it seomtiems changes to juse iphone.... iono

[daihard]

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Originally Posted by codencis

You can hold down a date in Calendar (month mode) and it will create an event with start/end set at "all-day".

That's a nice one. Thanks!

[Watabou]

Keep the tips coming guys, these are great! And if the OP would be so kind to compile them on the first post, that'd be awesome!

Also - there's a new cool animation when you set Safari to open links in the background.

[bier-meister]

You can now group by album artists in the music app. Nice setting if you have a lot of compilation or mixes, it annoyed me previously having to scroll through 100's of artists.

[yayitsezekiel]

Originally Posted by bier-meister

You can now group by album artists in the music app. Nice setting if you have a lot of compilation or mixes, it annoyed me previously having to scroll through 100's of artists.

Is there any way to disable this? It's so annoying to me haha

[bier-meister]

Originally Posted by yayitsezekiel

Is there any way to disable this? It's so annoying to me haha

Settings -> Music -> Group by Album Artist

[tj2001]

Originally Posted by kidwithdimples

After you send a text message you can hide the keyboard by swiping it down and swiping it up will bring it back again.

Sweet tip, thanks! Now they just need toake that a global feature

[sn]

Originally Posted by aicul

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Take a picture, swipe right to see it.

No need for small icon on bottom left

just discovered a bug with this:

take a picture, swipe right to see it, delete it, swipe left to go back onto camera, picture you just took is still there as an icon in bottom left!

[Frosticus]

If you tap and hold on a song or album when in Music app on iPhone, the song title and artist is shown in a balloon - this is useful if the title is long and goes off the edge of the screen.

[ptb42]

Originally Posted by boltjames

For those of us with Windows, Reminders can sync to Outlook's Tasks. Just go to Settings > Mail > Exchange on the iOS device and turn "Reminders" to 'on'.

I found that if you do this, you lose significant functionality in the Reminder app.

If Reminders are synced to Outlook, you can't set a location on a reminder (leaving, arriving). I switched to syncing reminders to iCloud, and it restored that functionality.

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Originally Posted by Qramohn

If you get an UPS tracking number in a mail or SMS, then you can just touch the number and you will get an option to track the number. You'll be directed to the UPS-website. Guess it works similar for TNT and other similar companies.

That's been in iOS since at least 4.0, although I can't be positive it was supported in an SMS msg.

It works for FedEx, as well.

[aicul]

Is documented but nice to point out:

In mail touch a word to select it, the bubble will then include cut, paste etc. and the option to put emphasis, get definition, etc. on the selection.

[Maverickster]

Originally Posted by ptb42

I found that if you do this, you lose significant functionality in the Reminder app.

If Reminders are synced to Outlook, you can't set a location on a reminder (leaving, arriving). I switched to syncing reminders to iCloud, and it restored that functionality.

Actually, the Reminders app works similarly to the calendar and and contacts apps in that Exchange and iCloud run side-by-side. Although you can't layer "Tasks" (Exchange) and "Reminders" (iCloud) into a single list like you can with Contacts and Calendar (in both of which you can view them combined or individually), you don't have to disable the Exchange reminders (really, it's "Tasks") in order to take advantage of the iCloud "Reminders".

If both are enabled at the same time, there are two "sheets" in the Reminders App -- the "Tasks" sheet syncs with Exchange (and doesn't have all the nifty features), and the "Reminders" sheet syncs with iCloud (and does have all the nifty features). The "Reminders" sheet is located a right-swipe from the "Tasks" sheet (which usually comes up first by default).

So, if you want to take advantage of the nifty iCloud "Reminders" features, you just need to make sure that when you're entering a given "reminder" you're doing so on the "Reminders" sheet instead of the "Tasks" sheet.

As an aside, this parallel structure for Exchange and iCloud is a godsend for 2-iPhone families (like mine). iCloud, basically, functions as our own personal family exchange server, and to be able to run that in parallel with my work exchange is unbelievably useful. The only downside is that the Mrs. has figured out that she can get errands onto my phone from the house without me knowing about them until I've left work. It's already happened that she's setup a Reminder set to alarm when I'm leaving work to do X, Y, and Z on my way home, and I didn't even know about it until I was on my way. I find that kind of cool now...not sure how I'm going to feel when the novelty wears off!

[zero hectic]

I have a lot of problems with how the new Music app has implemented, but this was a nice surprise.

I have a huge video library, so I find it easier to set up playlists to organize and access what I want to sync to my iphone or ipad. Usually, the devices ignore the playlists themselves and just display the content as either TV, Movies or Music Videos. This remains the case in the iPad implementation of the Music and Video apps. But in the iPhone version, the Music app allows you to access it as a playlist and play it through, with both audio and video! I currently have three playlists in my iPhone (Music Videos, Trailers, TV Shows) and all three are playable, and will play through in the order displayed, one after the next, like a proper playlist. Shuffle also seems to work if you have enough content. I have no idea why it's in the Music app and not in the Video app, but I'm pleased to have the capability all the same.