15 best tips and tricks for smartphones

15 best tips and tricks for smartphones to impress your friends Become an instant mobile wizard, be it iOS or Android

Become an instant mobile wizard, be it iOS or Android

There is more to your smartphone than you might think: beneath its simple and easy-to-use surface there are all kinds of hidden functions and shortcuts that you can take advantage of to do more with your phone of choice.

Okay, okay, maybe your friends are not so impressed unless you make your phone disappear into the air.

But these are all useful little tips that you can use to get more out of your mobile phone and maybe raise an eyebrow or two along the way.

1. DIGITALIZE YOUR DOCUMENTS

Thanks to the increasing quality of smart phone cameras, you no longer need a scanner to upload all your paper files to the cloud. Evernote, Google Drive and CamScanner are three of several applications that can do the job.

2. IDENTIFY SONGS IN AN INSTANT

You can use applications like Shazam or SoundHound to calculate what you are listening to, but you don't have to: Google Now, Siri and Cortana can respond to the voice command "what song is this?".

3. PUT YOUR CONTACT DETAILS ON THE LOCK SCREEN

If someone else finds your phone, can you give it back? Put your data on the lock screen to make sure: the option is in Settings in Android, Health in iOS and in Windows Phone, you will have to edit the wallpaper.

4. GET AUTOMATIC TIME ALERTS WITH IFTTT (ANDROID AND IOS)

Set up a recipe in IFTTT (or the mobile applications that come with it) and you can receive alerts sent directly to your phone in bad weather, useful if rain or snow means you will have to go to work earlier.

5. FIXEZ LA FUSEAU HORAIRE DU CALENDRIER GOOGLE (ANDROID ET IOS)

Dive into the Google Calendar app settings and it's possible to set the time zone (rather than updating it every time you travel somewhere). That way, you will always know when something is happening at home.

6. TURN OFF THE WI-FI WITH YOUR VOICE

The future is here: Siri, Google Now and Cortana allow you to deactivate Wi-Fi with your voice. Just launch the app of your choice and say "turn off Wi-Fi" to get the result you want. It also works with Bluetooth).

7. SEND HUGE FILES TO YOUR IPHONE (iOS)

iOS 9.2 has added Mail Drop to iPhones, so when you send a large file from your phone, you will be prompted to use it. Instead of attaching the file, Mail downloads it to iCloud, with the download link valid for 30 days.

8. CONTROL YOUR COMPUTER WITH YOUR PHONE

A multitude of apps, from Spotify to YouTube, have some sort of built-in remote control functionality. If you want to have global control over your laptop or desktop, take a look at Aified Remote and Alfred.

9. CHANGE THE KEYBOARD (ANDROID AND IOS)

Android and iOS now support the use of third-party keyboards, which can do it all: add additional emojis to apply some processing power from the neural network to your phone's AutoCorrect feature.

10. DISCOVER OERE GOING THE POWER OF YOUR BATTERY

All major smartphone operating systems now have detailed readings of which apps are consuming the most battery power, so have a root via the Settings app to find the worst offenders and uninstall them if necessary.

11. USE AIRPLANE MODE TO ACCELERATE THE CHARGING

Just like everyone else, you probably want your phone to charge as quickly as possible (even more if you're in a hurry). Put it in airplane mode and it will consume much less battery life and therefore charge faster.

12. KEEP YOUR CHILDREN OR FRIENDS WITHIN AN APP (ANDROID)

On Android Marshmallow, go to Settings, Security and Screen lock: when activated, you can 'lock' apps from the multitasking screen, so the app cannot be left without a PIN. Convenient to lend your mobile phone to other people.

13. USE THE LED FLASH OF YOUR IPHONE FOR NOTIFICATIONS (IOS)

You can flash the LED light of your iPhone every time a notification arrives as an additional way to notify you of a new activity: from Settings, choose General then Accessibility, then activate the LED Flash for the alerts in the active position.

14. ENTER ANDROID HIDDEN SECURE MODE (ANDROID)

Android has a hidden safe mode (like Windows) where third party apps are disabled, useful for troubleshooting. On Android, bring up the shutdown menu with the power button, then long press on it.

15. RAPID FLOW OF RAM ON YOUR IPHONE (IOS)

iOS doesn't have a safe mode, but you can quickly empty the memory and speed everything up again: hold down the power button, then when the "slide" message appears, hold down the Home button.