Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Tips for those who are new to the iPhone...

Z

Zeisen55

macrumors member
Original poster
Aug 8, 2011
51
0
My first iPhone will soon arrive in the mail (hopefully this Friday) and I'm excited to finally have one. I was hoping that those of you who have been iPhone owners for a while, could help out the newbies such as myself. What are some tips that we should know as new users?

Setup tips?
Case/screen protector suggestions?
Ways to save battery life?
Anything else you can think of :)


Thanks ahead of time for your tips!
 
Go to settings and turn Wi-Fi off. Only turn it on when you need to connect to a Wi-Fi connection. Otherwise it will constantly be searching for a signal even when you don't have access to a hotspot.
 
Kendo said:
Go to settings and turn Wi-Fi off. Only turn it on when you need to connect to a Wi-Fi connection. Otherwise it will constantly be searching for a signal even when you don't have access to a hotspot.
Click to expand...

I never turn mine off but I will suggest that you turn off the option to "ask to join a network".
 
I've been searching around for this too, but i seem to find a lot of stuff from people going from 3gs to 4. Not just here but on google. Ill get a lot of "just like the last iphone..." which doesn't really help me lol

I'm sure it isn't rocket science but i wouldn't mind some tips from the iphone vets.
 
Kendo said:
Go to settings and turn Wi-Fi off. Only turn it on when you need to connect to a Wi-Fi connection. Otherwise it will constantly be searching for a signal even when you don't have access to a hotspot.
Click to expand...

Do you really need to do this? I have a 3G iPad and do it the other way around. I only turn on the 3G when I need it. Of course, with an iPhone the 3G should always be on, and I would just naturally leave the Wi-Fi on so that it automatically joins trusted Wi-Fi networks (like your house). I think that makes the most sense.
 
When I got my first iPhone (gen1) I would always turn off my wifi when I left my house to save on battery. It eventually got old so I quit doing it out of laziness, and I never noticed a difference in battery life. I let the phone manage that now.

One feature that I often forget about but have found useful in the past is the 'undo' feature. If you accidentally type or delete something, you can shake your phone to undo the last action. It can save you from having to retype something long.
 
Apps in the multitasking bar are not actually running, and closing them will not affect battery life.
 
applefan289 said:
Do you really need to do this? I have a 3G iPad and do it the other way around. I only turn on the 3G when I need it. Of course, with an iPhone the 3G should always be on, and I would just naturally leave the Wi-Fi on so that it automatically joins trusted Wi-Fi networks (like your house). I think that makes the most sense.
Click to expand...

No there really is no reason to do this anymore. I think it started when the 3G came out and had horrible battery life. People were looking for any little thing that might get them through the day.
 
I never used screen protectors for my 3gs or any Android phones without any issues. Personally I think they're a ripoff.

Sent from my MB855 using Tapatalk
 
Push and hold the Home button, then click the Power button on the top (while holding Home) to take a screenshot.

If you ever need a hard reboot, push and hold both the Home and Power button. Keeping holding when you get the Slide to Power Off screen, keep holding till it reboots and you get an Apple symbol on the screen.

To kill an app, press and hold the Power button till you get the Slide to Power Off screen. Then let go and hold the Home button till the app exits.

You shouldn't need either of the past two tips, but they're good to know. I actually did need to do a hard reboot last month (phone wouldn't turn on or charge). I can't remember the last time I needed to kill an app.
 
Do internet data charges start when you open browser or is there
a switch for this?
Thanks.
 
I have a question to add on to this thread:

Do purchases on your Apple account get transferred?
For example if I have a 3GS now (no contract) connected to one of my Apple account with 5 app purchases,
once I get another iPhone, will I be able to re-download all those apps on that phone if I connect that phone to my account?
 
CrzyIcE said:
I have a question to add on to this thread:

Do purchases on your Apple account get transferred?
For example if I have a 3GS now (no contract) connected to one of my Apple account with 5 app purchases,
once I get another iPhone, will I be able to re-download all those apps on that phone if I connect that phone to my account?
Click to expand...

Yep
 
alex2792 said:
I never used screen protectors for my 3gs or any Android phones without any issues. Personally I think they're a ripoff.

Sent from my MB855 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

I'm the opposite. In my case a screen protector was the only thing that saved my phone when I dropped it. The screen shattered, but I was still able to use the phone because the screen protector kept the glass from coming out until I could take the phone in to get repaired.

Another thing I learned from that experience is use some sort of case so the screen does not get hit if the phone is dropped. Otterbox makes good ones, but I've dropped my phone in my Pixelskin by speck case and because of the way the front of the case is designed, the screen didn't shatter any of those times the phone has been dropped facedown. These are cheaper than the otterboxes. http://www.amazon.com/Speck-IPH3G-G...4N5M/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1318291703&sr=8-5
 
As an Amazon Associate, MacRumors earns a commission from qualifying purchases made through links in this post.
How do you guys deal with syncing?
I have a big itunes library so I always click the box to manually add and remove music and movies. Are there other syncs besides this that itunes does automatically when you plug in? Basically was wondering how you guys do it.
The sync thing confuses me at times as I dont trust it to not flood my ipod or take stuff off of it.
 
For synching, I use a Smartplaylist for my music, I only put my top rated music on it. Anything else doesn't go on my iPhone. I manually add everything else like movies or tv shows.
 
chrislaw said:
How do you guys deal with syncing?
I have a big itunes library so I always click the box to manually add and remove music and movies. Are there other syncs besides this that itunes does automatically when you plug in? Basically was wondering how you guys do it.
The sync thing confuses me at times as I dont trust it to not flood my ipod or take stuff off of it.
Click to expand...

I too have a big music library and just do manual syncing. It won't sync anything that you don't move over manually.
 
Use Search

Wanna make a call?
Wanna launch an app?
Wanna look up a contact?

Don't go hunting around for apps. Just go to the (first) home screen and swipe right to bring up the search window, then just type a few characters of the thing you want to do. Much faster.

Of course, with Siri, voice search probably trumps this technique.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back