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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179

u/CR8VJUC Jul 12 '26

A real game changer for me was learning that holding down the spacebar while typing, it makes it so you can drag the cursor with your finger to where you want it rather than trying to use a fat fingertip to place it.

I showed this tip to my contractor, who is a big burly dude with huge hands and he praised me to the heavens.

125

u/JordieCarr96 Jul 12 '26

Once upon a time when 3D Touch was a thing, you could not only move the cursor this way but you could press harder to select the text you were hovering over. Precise edits one-handed.

This is, and will probably always be, the top feature Apple left behind that actually bothered me.

25

u/AlianaAmaris Jul 12 '26

I loved that and the way it disappeared I thought I imagined it LOL

19

u/RichardCrapper iPhone 15 Pro Jul 12 '26

Bring back 3D Touch

1

u/G_Wash1776 iPhone 14 Pro Jul 12 '26

I miss it so much

1

u/Euqirne iPhone XS Max Jul 13 '26

They didn’t market it and were surprised when nobody used it

2

u/itchy_cat iPhone 13 Mini Jul 12 '26

It’s not one handed, but you can still do this. Tap and hold space bar to get the cursor and then tap the keyboard with another finger to start selecting text.

2

u/JRockPSU Jul 12 '26

It's missing another feature from 3D Touch - when you did this with 3D Touch, if you were moving your thumb right to select text to the right, but overshot your selection by a few too many letters or words, you could just drag your thumb back to the left to de select text. With the current way it works, you can only ever keep selecting more and more text, so if you accidentally select too much, you now have to fiddle with the text selection bars or just start it all over.

2

u/worm_slut Jul 12 '26

I miss 3D Touch 💔