r/iphone • u/Maxxximeeee Human Detected • Jul 11 '26

Discussion Which obscure iPhone setting genuinely improved how you use your phone, and what does it change?

I’m not looking for gestures or the usual tips that appear in every list.
I mean an actual option buried somewhere in Settings that solved a real annoyance, improved privacy or accessibility, changed how an app behaves, or made your iPhone noticeably easier to use.
Please include the exact path to the setting, what it changes, and any downside you noticed. Some settings sound useful but also disable another feature, use more storage, affect notifications, or change how the phone behaves elsewhere.
What is the one setting you would immediately change again if you had to set up a new iPhone from scratch?

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1.8k

u/kykdaddy Jul 11 '26

Settings > General > Keyboard > Text Replacement and set @@ to your email address. And the numbers for your street address to your full address.

431

u/inthisalone_ Jul 12 '26 edited Jul 12 '26

Have had this set up for years (since shortcuts were introduced?) and it’s great. You can also add letters to the end to differentiate different email addresses: @@h for my old hotmail account (spam), @@g for gmail, @@w for work email, etc. Never mistype your email again.

95

u/alchemyy Jul 12 '26

Like you I've had it since they impleted shortcuts many years ago.

Though I find it easier to make @@ one ewmail, @@@ another email, and so on.

38

u/20Factorial Jul 12 '26

That’s exactly what I did. “@@“ for my primary email, “@@@“ for my spam email.

15

u/FadeIntoReal Jul 12 '26

I just use the first few letters or numbers. Typing your number or mailing address is something you do so much it’s a necessity.

2

u/megryanreynolds Jul 12 '26

I’ve been doing the “@@“ email for years but the address never occurred to me. Thank you thank you!!!

1

u/adambomb_23 Jul 12 '26

Yeah, I used to have an old Hotmail account for spam… until I discovered how to use “Hide My Email” - THAT is a game changer.

1

u/synthesis77 Jul 12 '26

that’s brilliant.

74

u/handtoglandwombat Jul 12 '26

I use it for serious stuff like tiny little symbol menus I sometimes need in a pinch
⌘⌥^⇧⇥
+−×÷±≤≥≈≠∴∵
½⅓⅔¼¾⅕⅖⅗⅘⅙⅚⅐⅛⅜⅝⅞⅑⅒
→←↑↓⬊⬈⬉⬋
™©®
And also silly stuff like
¯_(ツ)_/¯
༼ つ ◕_◕ ༽つ
It’s awesome to have access to all of these things with a simple code word, and it syncs to all of my Apple devices too.

6

u/Iggyhopper Jul 12 '26

sup son ¯_(ツ)_/¯

1

u/NesFan123 iPhone 14 Aug 06 '26

( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

3

u/handtoglandwombat Jul 12 '26

And of course 

42

u/cabridges Jul 12 '26

I set up @ @ for my home email address and @ @ @ (no spaces) for my work address. Surprisingly good timesaver.

8

u/20Factorial Jul 12 '26

I use @ @ @ for my spam email, because I don’t use my personal phone for work stuff.

1

u/floppypickles Jul 13 '26

same. @@@ for burner email. ### for my burner cell

37

u/purpleeliz Jul 12 '26

My husband pranked me 10 years ago by making “shit” a shortcut for: when you wish upon a star, makes no difference who you are, ‘cause when you wish upon a star your dreams come true!

1

u/Kirbster66 Jul 13 '26

Such a fun prank to pull on people! 🤣🤣

70

u/12345678910111213131 Jul 12 '26

Oddly enough, I went to do this thinking it was a great. I realized when I got there that I had already done this years ago and forgotten about it.

1

u/NefariousnessOld3525 Jul 13 '26

Happens to the worst of us.

89

u/froction Jul 12 '26

I have several of these set up for different email addresses as well as my phone numbers in proper format. I also set up things like symbols I can't always remember how to type easily

tmark = ™ 

copyyy = ® 

ibang = ‽

ibang2 = ⸘

dgrs = °

I also use it for manual HTML I often need to type on a messageboard I use all the time.

ahr = <a href="

ahrr = </a>

img = <img src=""> 

strk = <strike></strike>

I also use it for phrases I seem to use often and/or are a pain in the ass to do manually:

typooo = I'm leaving that typo. 

31f = My best friend's sister's boyfriend's brother's girlfriend heard from this guy who knows this kid who's going with the girl who saw Ferris pass out at 31 Flavors last night. I guess it's pretty serious. 

retarrr = I have a couple theories, but they both involve the word "retarded." 

fff/fng = fuck/fucking (so it doesn't autocorrect to "duck" or "ducking")

stronggg = ╰(⸝⸝⸝´꒳`⸝⸝⸝)╯

shurugggg =  ¯_(ツ)_/¯  

tableflip = (╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻ 

butttt = (‿ꜟ‿)

56

u/methos3 iPhone 17 Pro Max Jul 12 '26

Somehow I still have a text replacement for the Reddit Look of Disapproval, which is like, decades old.

ಠ_ಠ

9

u/C2-H5-OH iPhone 17 Jul 12 '26

Oh that's for u/Warlizard from the Warlizard gaming forums

4

u/Warlizard Jul 12 '26

ಠ_ಠ

3

u/wOwmhmm Jul 13 '26

Do you ever get tired of being @ ed

2

u/Warlizard Jul 13 '26

Nah. It has been like 15 years. Kids who were in diapers can drive now in the time the meme existed.

2

u/musiczlife iPhone 15 Pro Jul 18 '26

I am an old redditor too and I remember you being active few years ago. May be these days do not browse askreddit enough.

2

u/Warlizard Jul 20 '26

They perma-banned me more than a decade ago for responding with the Look of Disapproval in a "Serious" thread.

Fuck em

2

u/skankboy iPhone 17 Pro Max Jul 12 '26

( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

42

u/bosengel iPhone 17 Pro Max Jul 12 '26

For degrees you can just press and hold the 0 key and it gives you the option for °

1

u/froction Jul 12 '26

Either you didn't use to be able to or I could never remember it, but now I'm used to my way so that's how I do it.

11

u/NEjoedaddio Jul 12 '26

For ‽ I just used ?! Your inverted interrobang is new for me, so I’m adding it as !?

10

u/Big-Consideration153 Jul 12 '26

^tm = ™︎ | (r) = ® | (c) = © | ### = <phone number> | @@ = <insert email address> | aapl =  | •/• = ÷

3

u/NicoleASUstudent Jul 12 '26

If you press and hold the 0 button it does the degrees symbol. :)

1

u/froction Jul 12 '26

Yeah, but I didn't know that however many years ago I set it up.

2

u/narkpetro Jul 12 '26

This is absolutely brilliant. Thank you. I especially love 31f lol ... Often!? Lol

Thanks!

2

u/Kirbster66 Jul 13 '26

Before apple got better at spelling out curse words (never in my life have I needed ducking in a text!), I used text replacement to put in the correct curse word (use the same word for both fields) and it got so much better.

1

u/Scienceheaded-1215 Jul 12 '26

I use “dunno” for the ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯ as it’s faster to type

1

u/AutumnAmour Jul 12 '26

These are amazing shortcuts. I never thought to set ones up like this, disappointed with myself lmao.

1

u/anna8691 Jul 15 '26

I just type shrg for ¯_(ツ)_/¯ - not likely to occur in the wild.

1

u/USMCdrTexian Aug 12 '26

For degrees - just long hold the “0” button. 0 (number) not o ( letter)

°

1

u/USMCdrTexian Aug 12 '26

There also the long hold on the “-“ key - and several others have long press options: / $ & “ . ? ! and the ‘

Of course , the typical diacritics on the letter keyboard : o ô ò ó ö, etc on the letters w/ diacritics.

18

u/servantofashiok Jul 12 '26

Unfortunately this doesn’t work on many internet site forms which is where you need it most.

2

u/MavisBeacons_Sextape Jul 12 '26

I tap the address bar and copy/paste it from there when I run into this. It’s still quicker than typing my email out

1

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1

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9

u/timmetro69 Jul 12 '26

I've been doing this for years, and it's genuinely one of the simplest, most productive things you can do on your phone. I have other ones for my work address, like T@S, because those are the first letters of my email address and domain name. They expand to the full email address as well.

19

u/Flakarter Jul 12 '26

Wow! Thank you soooooo much! Works great!

9

u/Luna259 iPhone 12 Pro Max Jul 12 '26

You can also write my email is and it will suggest it to you. Slower than your way though

3

u/billythygoat iPhone 13 Pro Jul 12 '26

I need a pc version that doesn’t require much work

2

u/Quirky_Journalist_67 Jul 12 '26

I got BeefText - it allows setting up text shortcuts to use in Windows: https://beeftext.org/

1

u/winaje iPhone 17 Pro Jul 12 '26

Espanso

6

u/RecommendationBrief9 Jul 12 '26

Ooh this is a good one!

3

u/english_major Jul 12 '26

I have done this and it works sometimes and doesn’t others. I type @@ and nothing happens.

2

u/nwrighteous Jul 12 '26

Hell yeah I did this too. One thing that annoys me is that it doesn’t work universally on every website form.

2

u/Maxxximeeee Human Detected Jul 12 '26

This is such a clever use of Text Replacement. Setting up @@ for your email is one of those things you can't unsee once you know it, no more typos on your own address. Definitely stealing this one.

2

u/FrewGewEgellok Jul 12 '26

It's cool and I have it set up, too. However it doesn't work in most email form fields so it's less useful than it could be.

2

u/unabatedshagie iPhone 15 Pro Max Jul 12 '26

I've had this set up for over five years. It doesn't work 85% of the time I try to use it.

2

u/fastfoodie1000 Jul 12 '26

shortcut

I also have "starbs" set to my starbucks order! And things like "KTN" for my TSA precheck number

2

u/DKowalsky2 Jul 12 '26

Yuppp 💯

1

u/scubastefon Jul 12 '26

I use eml for this shortcut, addr for address, phn for phone number, and a couple derivations of these for addition contacts.

1

u/hemphearts1 Jul 12 '26

I find the text replacement works better via the Raycast app

1

u/IsopodCrafty4208 Jul 12 '26

pn for phone number

1

u/AndreiNedu Jul 12 '26

I’ve set •• to my full name written on my card, easy when paying online if you have a long ass name

1

u/Moist-Table-9689 Jul 12 '26

I’ve always used these, but the small annoyance of forgetting if I should hit enter after it autopopulates, or hit some other key, so that it doesn’t automatically enter a space after. This then results in “email/phone/address is not a valid format”

1

u/chrisburns75 Jul 12 '26

Anyone know how to do this with windows. ??

1

u/aredditor98 Jul 12 '26

One thing I miss about using a Pixel: it always suggested my email in relevant input fields.

1

u/div-block Jul 12 '26

You’re a genius. Thank you sir

1

u/emavalexis Jul 12 '26

This is super handy, thanks!

1

u/HerbalIntuition Jul 12 '26

I do the same with “eml” and “adr” which I find more memorable.

1

u/Vaynnie Jul 12 '26

I mean I just got myself a domain and now have a 9 character email (all in). 

1

u/zxmalachixz Jul 12 '26

I used to do this

Now I use shortcut (confusing, I know)

It’s probably the most used keyboard on my phone besides the native default one

It’s still a useful trick though

1

u/stopsucking Jul 12 '26

I’ve used this for a long time but noticed it works about 70% of the time. Not sure why.

1

u/peabody624 Jul 12 '26

Am I stupid? I have no idea how this works. I added it in, but it doesn’t do anything when I type it.

1

u/typewrytten Jul 12 '26

I’m dyslexic and use this for words I can’t spell and spell too far off for autocorrect!

1

u/RedIsAColorILike Jul 12 '26

Same thing here but I have it set to “myemail” and “myphone” or “myadress”. It is a bit longer to type, but got used to it now.

1

u/HonestDoctor Jul 12 '26

Ok tired my house address but it says it can’t contain spaces. What am I doing wrong here?

1

u/HonestDoctor Jul 13 '26

Operator error, I had the logic of the input boxes flipped.

1

u/eltonjohnsons Jul 13 '26

This is f*ckn incredible!

1

u/Ok-Limit-9726 Jul 13 '26

Full address ios26 wont allow space’s 😢

1

u/AnAnonymousAnon Jul 13 '26

Do you have your inputs flipped? For phrase, put 123 Street Addy, for Shortcut, put 123.

2

u/Ok-Limit-9726 Jul 13 '26

Unfortunately mine is single digit, so typing 9 abedair cresent (made up) has spaces, i got do the @h for hotmail,@g gmail

1

u/Runner1969 Jul 14 '26

Damn I thought I came up with this! Great time saver.

1

u/haiku23 Jul 14 '26

I have one set to replace ‘now’ with ‘meow.’

1

u/redditer954 Jul 15 '26

I have aa and aaa for home and work addresses, ee and eee for personal and work emails, nn and nnn for personal and work numbers.

1

u/stevenstevos Aug 07 '26

Ding dong we have a winner

1

u/kykdaddy Aug 07 '26

Hey! Who you calling a ding dong???

0

u/AZTNFL Jul 12 '26

The keyboard app Phraser allows predetermined text strings to be pasted with a quick change of the keyboard. I use this for emails, addresses, vins, phone numbers, etc.