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Do you use majority of the features on iPhone?

Hieveryone

Hieveryone

macrumors 603
Original poster
Apr 11, 2014
5,632
2,347
USA
I have iPhone 6 plus and I love it. As Apple continues to unveil new features though, I'm finding that I'm not really using them.

All I use my iPhone for is messaging, web, email, songs, mail, stocks, notes, calendar.

I Never use FaceTime, health, iCloud backup, etc.

What do you use your iPhone for?
 
I am not big on the built-in apps. I use Fantastical, Shoot, Castro, Soulver, Spark, and Drafts as alternatives to Calendar/Reminders, Camera, Podcasts, Calculator, Mail, and Notes.

I write to the Health app with third-party apps too, but you know, I've been using the iPhone as a way to track health stuff since the App Store opened. For me, the APIs make it manual and more accurate, but I don't necessarily need them.

I don't do iCloud backups either, prefer to keep those on my Mac.

I mostly just type on my phone, lots and lots of typing. And take pictures. And answer the phone when people call me. :p
 
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All I use is message,Facebook,email,Internet and Bluetooth to the car. Everything else is turned off to save the battery :(
 
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Once Apple realizes a phone does not need to be so thin and make it a tad thicker for better battery, I will turn all my features on lol.

But as of now, I use the basics....internet/text/fb/twitter/mail/camera/google maps/GBA4iOS
 
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AndrewR23 said:
Once Apple realizes a phone does not need to be so thin and make it a tad thicker for better battery, I will turn all my features on lol.

But as of now, I use the basics....internet/text/fb/twitter/mail/camera/google maps/GBA4iOS
Click to expand...

How often do you use camera? Maybe my life is boring I don't have anything to take pictures of on a day to day basis.
 
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I use my 6+ for web browsing, Whatsapp, SMS, phonecalls, email, the Notes app, camera, sat nav and a few other third party apps. I do use iCloud but pretty much all other iOS advancements/additions since iOS7 go unused. I don't need widgets, AirDrop, ApplePay or any of that stuff.
 
Sounds like you need an Apple watch to simplify your life. ;)

sunking101, I'm surprised you can do all that stuff with 1 GB of RAM.
 
I am a long haul trucker, so I use quite a bit of my phones capabilities. fedex mobile, FB, fuel prices at 3 truckstop brands, as well as an app that tells me the lowest price for my discounts on my route, WF app, Google maps, SMS, viber, sim city buildit game, as well as words with friends app, both versions of yahoo mail (personal & business) the camera, xoom, and a few others as needed. I use siri all the time for hands free calling, and a call her a lot of bad names because she is a lousy assistant. lets not forget youtube and iTunes as well as surfing.. But, this is why I love the idea behind the iPhone. I have had one since the 3G, and, I really love how every phone is personalized to each user, and how it is used in THEIR lives.
 
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The funny thing is, my first iPhone was a 3Gs, and there's not much that I do on my 6 that I didn't do on my 3Gs. Specifically: email, camera, music, social media, driving directions, light web surfing, and of course texting and phone calls. Don't get me wrong, the 6 performs all of these tasks WAAAAY better than a 3Gs, but I know that my iPhone can do a lot more, I just don't often need it to.
 
Hieveryone said:
How often do you use camera? Maybe my life is boring I don't have anything to take pictures of on a day to day basis.
Click to expand...
only when im on vacation/holiday. Im leaving for China and Japan next month and ill be gone for a month so ill be taking 2000+ photos lol.
 
A few of them. I mainly use my phone for social media (FB, Instagram, Tinder, Twitter, snapchat), reminders, iCloud photo backup, messaging (kik, iMessage), pictures (taking them/photoshop), and I have to admit I do use Apple Pay whenever I can. Since I have a macbook pro I cannot tell you how indispensable continuity has been for me. I love that I can sync messages, photos, websites across devices. To be honest at this point because I'm so invested in apple's ecosystem for better or worse I can't imagine switching to windows/android in the foreseeable future. Oh and I actually do enjoy using my phone as an actual phone sometimes...
 
I use my 6 plus for email, web browsing, calls, messaging, camera, sat nav, music, games, on line banking, shopping, notes, audio books, watching videos, reminders (Siri), calendar, social media, status updates and journey planners when using public transport, keeping up with the news, following the football team I support, calculator, to unlock my MacBook Air, iCloud Drive, checking the weather, alarm clock.


I absolutely use iCloud backups. I don't backup to my Mac.
 
I have the Plus and since getting the larger phone, I use mine as my main driver other than my PC for work.

I do all my web browsing including shopping etc. from my iPhone. My phone is also my main camera for photos. I text all the time with my husband and kids. We all are also connected through Find Friends app. I use the news and weather apps for info other than TV. I use the Maps app for GPS. Also do all my banking and pay bills from my phone. My kids bought me a subscription to Tidal music streaming - love it!

I also use on a daily basis - iBooks, Kindle app, Facebook, TV Guide, YouTube, email personal and work, calculator, timers and alarms, checkbook reconciliation, travel apps such as Delta, Passbook, Yelp.

Additionally I use Pocket Informant for my personal planner for both home and work. Also for work, I use Lync for chatting and on line meetings. I also have all my most important documents saved on my phone for easy access if I need to get to them on the fly.

I guess my phone use is pretty endless - use it all the time for everything and anything.

Since jumping to the larger phone, I find I use it so much more and the iPad sits idle.
 
I've had an iPhone since the first. So all the features has slowly just found a way into my life. So I use pretty much everything except health and airdrop. Shake to undo gets used sometimes as well.
 
I use my iphone as a phone ^^ and then, texting, mails, web browsing, gaming, music, hot spot for my mini2, GPS like maps with car or bike, some pictures, alarm, translate apps, learn lenguages apps, and check weather and social media stuff, also bank app to make transfers and I probably forget some things. this is why, I can't upgrade my iphone, because I can do all my needs, and just works. I got an iphone 4 /8gb
 
mostly iMessage, WhatsApp, Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook and Safari. oh and Spotify, i tried AM but not a fan of its interface at all.

i never ever use Siri and have it turned off just like all the other battery hogs e. g. background refresh.

i do use iCloud Photo though which is great to keep all my photos synched and sorted. by the way is there a single photo app that supports the extention feature to use its filters right from the built in photo app??? i have like ten photo apps and none support it

ironically i never use the phone part of the iPhone unless i need to call some support hotline lol
 
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I use just about every feature of my phone.

High end games, Spotify, mail, Safari, notes, reminders, messenger apps, Facebook, camera for vacations, tripadvisor for hotels and offline maps, transit directions from Google, a Chinese dictionary since I've lived in China, a recipe app since I'm an avid cook, online banking, password manager, document scanner, passbook for airplane tickets, etc etc..

The only feature I'm not using is actually the phone feature, unless I have to call customer support.
 
Fzang said:
I use just about every feature of my phone.

High end games, Spotify, mail, Safari, notes, reminders, messenger apps, Facebook, camera for vacations, tripadvisor for hotels and offline maps, transit directions from Google, a Chinese dictionary since I've lived in China, a recipe app since I'm an avid cook, online banking, password manager, document scanner, passbook for airplane tickets, etc etc..

The only feature I'm not using is actually the phone feature, unless I have to call customer support.
Click to expand...

They're mainly apps and Safari though. Which actual phone features do you use?
 
Currently, the stock apps that I use are Safari, Camera, Maps, Photos. My iPhone is linked to a Pebble Watch via bluetooth and I do use Airdrop and Siri from time to time. Touch-ID, all the time (when it works).

I used to have alternatives to every other stock iOS app, but with the iOS 9 beta, I am trying out the stock apps again for the integration with Proactive. The stock calendar app has gotten surprisingly useable, but I still keep fantastical 2 around for the widget. Have replaced Drafts with Notes and deleted the Evernote app. I have dragged the music app out of the folder for Apple Music. Contemplating trying out the reminders app once more (for Siri integration).

My alarm wakes me up every morning, but I never open the clock app. Not sure if that counts.

I did try the health app back when I was playing around with various health apps like sleep-tracking, but I never saw the point of it. Apple Watch app....maybe if I do get one in the future.

I still can't give up Overcast's smartspeed feature though. Wish Marco would make a desktop app. That's really the only thing I miss about not using the podcast app. I am also too addicted to the triage features of Mailbox and Spark to go back to the stock mail app.

I use FaceTime on my iPad to make calls (via continuity).

I have 9 widgets on my notification bar (Dataman, Pedometer, Fantastical, Musixmatch, Launcher, Clips, Next, Calculator, Authy). I also have a couple of apps which I use only as extensions (like opener, stacks, workflow).

92 apps in total (used to have as high as 161, but have since pruned a fair number). As far as possible, I do play around with my iPhone's features and try to integrate them into my life as much as possible, but I don't force it.
 
I'm such a huge fan boy, I use all the stock apps except for stock. When I was in college I used the voice memos app, and now, being in the working world, I use the calendar more than anything. Siri I use all the time, and I also use the share extensions more than not.
 
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