This week (on September 16) Apple released iOS 9 for iPhones everywhere, and it’s unlocking even more capabilities and possibilities than ever before. According to Apple CEO Tim Cook, the iPhone is the most beloved smartphone on the market — and for good reason.

Nowadays, we rely heavily on our smartphones for just about everything, but most of us aren’t using them to their fullest potential. That’s right, your smart gadget is jam packed with capabilities, and it’s not just smart — it’s straight-up genius. So why not unlock the potential and make the most of your beloved iPhone with 9 awesome tricks you probably didn’t know your iPhone could do.

 

Hey Siri

Customize Siri to respond only to your voice: This cool new iOS 9 feature upgrades the “Hey Siri” feature big time. Now, when your phone is plugged in and the feature is on (Settings > General > Siri > Allow “Hey Siri”), you can set up Siri to recognize only your voice.

 

It’s Christen, not Christian

Teach Siri how to pronounce names correctly: Isn’t it irritating when Siri can’t seem to get a name right? Did you know you can actually teach Siri how to pronounce a name or a word correctly? Just say, “That’s not how you pronounce it,” and Siri will immediately ask you for the proper pronunciation. From there, it’ll give you three options and you can select the right one.

Personal Assistant Siri

Siri reads you emails: When you tell Siri to read your emails, the digital assistant will pull up your 25 most recent emails and proceed to read aloud the subjects. She’ll also tell you what time they were sent. If there is a specific email you’d like to respond to, you can actually tell Siri to “respond,” and from there, you can dictate your reply. (If you really want to feel fancy, you can change Siri’s voice to project a British Male dialect like I did –  aka Butler Siri at your service!)

 

Let’s Fly Siri

Preview your flight: When Mail or Safari detects a flight number and it’s hyperlinked, you can click on that link, which will bring up a “Preview Flight” option. The next screen will show you all the flight info + a nifty map. (Depending on the travel/airline app you have downloaded on your device – it will then be automatically saved for your

 

 

 

Can’t Talk Now

Send a canned or custom message when you can’t pick up: If you can’t pick up because you’re driving/in a meeting/indisposed, shoot the caller a text by hitting “Message” on the call screen. You can even customize it.

 

Send yourself a callback reminder: When someone calls you and you don’t have time to speak to them, this handy little “Reminder” option pops up above “Slide to Answer.” You can set it to remind you to call them back when you leave, when you get home or in one hour.

 

 

Send your location: To make it easier for a pal to find you, you can drop a pin or send your location straight from Messages. From your chat screen, tap on “Details” in the top right corner. Then, you can choose to “Send My Current Location” or “Share My Location.” The latter allows you to select whether you’d like to share your location for one hour, end of day or indefinitely. You have to make sure Location Services is turned on for Messages to use this feature.

 

 

Reading At Night

 Inverting colors to make it easier on the eyes at night: Sometimes you stay up late on your phone, and maybe your partner is trying to sleep. One way to keep the light from your screen from disturbing anyone’s sleep is inverting the colors of your phone. Just go to Settings > General > Accessibility and turn on “Invert Colors.” Another way to more easily access this feature is Settings > General > Accessibility > Accessibility Shortcut. From there, select “Invert Colors.” Each time you triple-click your home button, this feature will be activated.

 

Set a time to turn off music: For those of us who like to go to sleep with soothing music playing, this is going to be your fave trick. Choose whatever music-playing app you want (could be iTunes, could be Spotify) and then go to your Timer app. From the screen, click into “When Timer Ends,” scroll to the bottom and select “Stop Playing.” Then, set your timer for however long you’d like. Your music will come to a halt by itself once the timer is up.

 

These are just a few ways you can make the most of your iPhone experience with iOS 9.  What are some of the things you can do with iOS 9? How are you looking forward to getting more out of your smartphone? Share your thoughts in the comments section below!

 

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