Phones have evolved dramatically over the past 20 years. We’ve gone from bulky cellphones, to the compact and indestructible Nokia phones, to the classic flip phones. Nothing compares to the capabilities of the smartphone. Smartphones have undeniably changed modern society permanently. Aside from being a device that lets you text and update your status, there are tons of more hidden gems that these little machines can do.

1. Hide Private Photos:
   1. You want to show your friends your vacation pictures, but you don’t want them to accidentally scroll too far. Secure private photos by filing them away. Start by opening the photos app, and go to the Camera Roll for Albums. Tap the photo you want to hide, which will make it open as usual. Tap and hold the photo to bring up an option menu. From here, you can select “Hide” and confirm that you wish to “Hide Photo”.
2. Turn eBooks into AudioBooks: I love to read, but there’s hardly ever time during the day to sit down and read. Now, you can listen to your newest Kindle purchases while you are driving or doing chores. Start by customizing the VoiceOver settings. Then open the Kindle app, choose the book you want to hear, and flip to the page you are on. Ask Siri to turn on VoiceOver, and viola! You have an audiobook!
3. 3D Touch: This new feature deserves a section all to itself. There is so much that you can do with 3D Touch. I’ll list a few of the biggest advancements.
   1. Press and hold down on an app, and you’ll get a list of quick actions. You can choose from a drop-down menu of items such as, share and view activity. It’ll pull in information about recent searches or who you were talking to about specific topics. It’s a more intuitive way to experience the web.
   2. If you have Peek and Pop settings on, then you can see information at a glance. You can more easily jump around to messages, links, and widgets to access information faster. It pulls out the information that you need instead of having to open the whole app. So convenient.
4. It’s a Flatbed Scanner: This is beyond taking a photo in Evernote. The iPhone scanner is great for saving small things in a pinch, but I wouldn’t use it day to day for business. Download a scanning app like Scanner Pro, take the photo of the document, and save. You can go without the app and create a pdf from your photos, but it’s so much easier with the app. You can professionally email and send these documents wherever you need to.
5. Find Your Parked Car: You’ve had a great day walking around the city, but now you can’t remember which parking deck you parked in. Every deck all looks the same, and you can’t go through every one. Save yourself the mental breakdown, and let your iPhone tell you where you parked. Before you get out of your car, make sure that you have the Location Services turned on. Once you’re here in the settings, go to System Services, and turn on Significant Locations. In Significant Locations you can turn on Show Parked Location. After your fun day, you can go into Maps, and see a pin with your parked car.
6. Hidden Bubble Leveler: Are you assembling a new piece of furniture, but you forgot your leveler? No worries. The iPhone has your back. Go to the new Compass setting. At the bottom, you’ll notice that there are 2 dots, which means that there is a second page. Swipe left, and a bubble leveler will appear. The screen will go green with a giant 0 when you are completely straight. Those guys think of everything.

Get more out of your iPhone by learning all of the in’s and out’s of the possibilities. As smartphones are able to do more work for us, we can be more efficient at our daily lives. It’ll be difficult to go through life without these magical little devices that are able to do so many little tasks for us.