A look at the many hidden features of iOS 7

You’ve bought the new iPhone or installed the software update – either way you’re running iOS 7 which has many new features and some cool hidden ones.

Apart from the obvious new look and design there are a host of new features that are plain to see.

But there are also many hidden features built into iOS 7 that will surprise users.

Here’s a look at some of the many hidden features of iOS 7:

MESSAGE TIME STAMP

If you want to know when messages were sent even in a long thread of messages all you need to do is keep your finger on the screen and swipe to the left and the times each message was sent and received will be revealed.

BLOCK CONTACTS

Don’t want to hear from certain people? In iOS 7 you can block them. You can block calls, messages and FaceTime in these respective settings where you’ll find a new Blocked section. Here you can select the contacts you don’t want to hear from.

EVEN MORE iOS 7 HIDDEN FEATURES

TECH GUIDE’S iPHONE 5S REVIEW

TECH GUIDE’S iPHONE 5C REViEW

SAFARI SOCIAL LINKS

Our friends share all kinds of links on social networks and now there’s a way you can check them all out within the Safari browser on iOS 7. In the bookmarks screen there are three tabs – bookmarks, reading list and a third simply called @. It is here where you’ll find these shared links.

BOLDER TEXT

iOS 7 is a lot sleeker with a minimal look and this applies to the fonts. But one complaint with that is that it can make things harder to read for some users. You can make these fonts bold in the settings. Go to General > Accessibility > Bold Text.

UNLIMITED FOLDERS

Arranging apps into folders is nothing new but there were limits to the number users can includes. With iOS 7 there are no limits to the amounts of apps you can stuff in there.

SPOTLIGHT SEARCH

How do I find things on my iPhone or iPad – before you could swipe or click the home button to open up the Spotlight search window. On iOS 7 you can make that search from anywhere. Just swipe down from the middle of any screen and you’ll see the Spotlight search appear at the top of the page.

TORCH

Hands up if you downloaded one of those torch apps to help you light up your surroundings Inside the new Control Centre, which is activated by sweeping up from the bottom of the screen, is a Torch feature that turns the flash on as a light.

SPIRIT LEVEL

The accelerometer inside the iPhone is super accurate and it can be used like a spirit level. If you go into the Compass app and swipe to the left you’ll see two circles with a number in between – this figure is the angle above the zero level. Now you can see if you’ve hung those pictures straight.

SAVE MOBILE DATA

With limited data allowances on our plans it’s important we keep an eye on our usage. With iOS 7 you can now decide which apps can be used on 3G and 4G. Go to Settings > Cellular and scroll down to see a list of all of your apps that can connect to the internet and a toggle switch beside each one to turn cellular connection on or off.

Related Stories

How to install the new iOS 7 update on your iPhone and iPad

iOS 7 for iPhone and iPad available free on September 18

Apple unveils completely redesigned iOS 7 operating system