YOU can add special emoji icons that appear next on your iPhone status bar – and there’s a good reason to do it.
Many iPhone owners don’t realise that the trick even exists, or why it could help you out.
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A Reddit user posted a thread with hundreds of upvotes asking: “What does the smiley face mean?”
The image showed a picture of a small smiley face on the iPhone’s status bar, which is used to display time, battery charge, and signal.
It turns out that the smiley face is actually linked to an iOS feature called Focus.
Apple explains: “Focus is a feature that helps you reduce distractions and set boundaries.
“When you want to concentrate on a specific activity, you can customise one of the provided Focus options – for example Work, Personal, or Sleep.”
But you can also set up your own custom Focus modes, with a specific emoji icon of your choice.
GET FOCUSED!
You can turn Focus modes on by going into the Control Centre, just like when you’d set up Do Not Disturb.
But you can create a custom Focus by heading into Settings > Focus.
Tap on the plus symbol, the choose Custom, enter a name, then hit Return.
Now you can choose a colour and specific icon for your Focus.
Choose some rules that you’d like your iPhone to follow while the Focus is engaged.
And then save it to use whenever you like.
Once you activate the custom Focus, the emoji you’ve chosen will appear on your iPhone status bar until you turn it off.
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You could create a custom Focus for reading, working out, gaming, or anything else you can dream up.
MAKE IT YOUR OWN
These’s another clever trick worth trying out to better customise your iPhone.
You can link a Focus to your Lock Screen so that your wallpaper changes.
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Just go to your Lock Screen and touch and hold it.
Once the Customize button appears, tap on Focus to see options.
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You can then assign a specific Lock Screen to a custom Focus that you’ve created.
It makes your custom Focus even more powerful, and also instantly recognisable.
iPhone tricks to try today
Here are some of the best…
- Typing cursor – When typing, hold down the space bar to turn your keyboard into a trackpad, letting you move around words and sentences more easily
- Close all Safari tabs – To do this in one go, simply hold the overlapped squares in the bottom right-hand corner, and press close all tabs
- Delete lots of photos quickly – Hold down on a photo and then drag your finger diagonally in Photos to select lots of images at once, then hit delete
- Convert currency quickly – Swipe down from the top of your Home screen (or swipe left to right on an iPhone X or later model), then tap in the bar and type a currency (like $200) and it will automatically covert to your local currency
- Check if you’re due a battery upgrade – Batteries inside smartphones degrade over time. Just go to Settings > Battery > Battery Health, and check out the Maximum Capacity reading. Generally a battery is considered worn when you’re down to 80% capacity. If you’re below, you can buy a battery swap from Apple
- Move apps around faster – Hold an app until it starts wiggling, then (while still holding) tap other apps, causing them to stack so you can move them around easier