How to Use All the iOS 11 Features on iPhone and iPad

BY Khamosh Pathak

Published 19 Sep 2017

iOS 11 brings incremental upgrades for the iPhone. But it completely changes how we use the iPad. From the new Control Center to the new multitasking system on the iPad, there are a lot of new features in iOS 11.

How to Use iOS 11 Features on iPhone and iPad

Read on for our complete guide on how to use all the new awesome features in iOS 11.

Lock screen and Notification Center

Lock screen and Notification Center are now merged into one Cover Sheet. This means that when you swipe down, you’ll now see the Lock screen.

Swipe Up in Lock screen To View Past Notifications

When you swipe down from the top of the screen, nothing happens. To get to the past notifications, you have to swipe up in the middle of the screen.

New Now Playing Widget

The Now Playing widget now has a small album art and a shortcut for opening the AirPlay feature.

Disable Notification Previews When Locked

iOS 11 lets you hide notification messages from every single app when your phone is locked. To enable this feature, go to Settings -> Notifications -> Show Previews and select When Unlocked.

Control Center

Control Center is redesigned and is back to being a one-page affair. Controls now have dark icons which animate based on the input. Widgets on top are expandable.

Customize Control Center

The best thing about the new Control Center is the customizable part. You can add extra functionality by adding more controls at the bottom of the page. Things like an Apple TV remote, screen recording functionality, Notes toggles and more. Go to Settings -> Control Center -> Customize Controls to get started.

Record Your iPhone or iPad Screen

After you’ve enabled Screen Recording toggle, just tap on it to start recording the screen, along with the audio. Tap on the red status bar when you’re done and the video will be saved in the Photos app.

Do Not Disturb While Driving

This new feature stops you from using your phone when you’re driving. All notifications are disabled during this time as well (unless they’re urgent). You can set it up so that whenever your iPhone connects to your car Bluetooth, the feature is automatically enabled.

Go to Settings -> Do Not Disturb and from the Do Not Disturb While Driving section, tap on Activate. Here, select When Connected to Car Bluetooth.

Home screen

iOS 11 gets a new Dock on both the iPhone and iPad. On the iPhone, the apps no longer have a label.

Move Multiple Apps at Once

Rearranging home screens got a whole lot easier. You can move multiple apps at once, and interact with the Home screen using two fingers at once.

Tap and hold on an app till it enters jiggle mode. Then use your other finger to select more apps. Use your other hand to navigate to another screen or folder. Release your finger and all the apps you were holding will more there.

Quickly Share Screenshots

When you take a screenshot, you’ll see a preview in the bottom left corner. You can swipe it away. But if you tap and hold on it, it will bring up the Share sheet. This way you can quickly share the screenshot to a conversation or an app.

Quickly Markup Screenshots

When you tap on that screenshot preview, it will open the new Markup view. Here, you can doodle on the screenshot, crop it or annotate it. Then share it in a conversation or an app. When you hit Done, you can choose to save the screenshot to Photos app or to delete it. This way, screenshots won’t crowd up your Photos library.

One Handed Keyboard Mode

Tap on the Globe icon on the keyboard and you can select a left-handed or a right-handed keyboard. This makes it easy to type when you only have one hand free. Tap on the empty block to go back to the full sized keyboard.

Profiles in Apple Music

You can now have a public profile in Apple Music. You can connect with your friends, see what they’re listening to, share your favorite music and more.

Notes

Scan Documents

Open a new note, tap on the Plus button and select Scan Documents. You can now scan multiple documents automatically, in grayscale or photo mode. They’ll be saved in the Notes app and exporting them as a PDF to as easy as hitting the Share button.

Change Background Paper Style

If you use your Pencil for handwritten notes, this feature will be really useful. In a new Note on the iPad, tap on the Share button and select Lines & Grids. Then choose a ruled paper or grid style.

Pin Notes

Swipe all the way to the right on a note and you’ll pin it to the top of the list. Much easier to spot important notes now!

Take Notes from Lock screen

Tap your Pencil on the iPad Pro’s Lock screen and you’ll open a new secret note where you can quickly jot things down. From Notes section in Settings, you can change the feature to open the last note created from the Lock screen instead.

Inline Drawing

Just put the Pencil to the Notes app and start drawing anywhere. No need to enter into the special sketching mode. This works in the Mail app as well.

There are more, smaller features in the Notes app. Read about them in our guide here: How to Use The New iOS 11 Features in Apple Notes on iPhone and iPad

Redesigned App Store

App Store has been redesigned in iOS 11. It has a similar design language to Apple Music now.

Explore the New Today Tab

The first section you’ll see is the new Today tab. You’ll find daily featured apps, videos, stories and lists of apps here. If you’re looking for new and interesting apps, come here every day.

App and Game Sections

Apps and Games sections have been separated. They each have their own top free, top paid sections and their own categories.

Disable Autoplay Videos

Go to Settings -> iTunes & App Store -> Video Autoplay and turn it off. No more autoplay videos in the App Store.

New Podcasts App

Similar to the App Store, the Podcasts app is also redesigned. You’ll find the Apple Music style design and Now Playing screen. Even the queue management is same as the Music app.

You’ll find a new Listen Now section which lists your feed of new episodes. You’ll also find new recommendations for podcasts based on your listening habits.

Siri

Siri’s voice in iOS 11 is more natural and it integrates intelligently with stock apps. You’ll see Siri suggestions in Apple News app to the Calendar app.

Translate Using Siri

You can translate using Siri from English to French, German, Italian. Mandarin Chinese and Spanish.

Just ask Siri something like “How to do you say ‘x phrase’ in ‘y language’”. Something like “how do you say which way to the bus station in Chinese”.

Type to Siri

iOS 11 lets you switch to type-only mode for Siri. Go to Settings -> General -> Accessibility -> Siri and turn on Type to Siri.

Photos

Photos app brings Faces data sync between all your devices and more types of Memories categories.

Edit Live Photos

We can finally edit Live Photos. Tap on the Edit button and then use the ticker at the bottom to trim the video part. Tap on the Speaker icon at the top to mute the video.

Live Effects

Swipe up from the bottom to see a new Effects section. The Loop effect turns your Live Photo into a GIF-like effect. Bounce does something like Instagram’s Boomerang. Long Exposure blurs the moving part of the video to give a really cool motion effect to your photo.

Remove Depth Effect from Portrait Mode Photos

For photos clicked on iOS 11, removing depth effect is a bit different. Tap on the Edit button and then tap on the Yellow Depth button from the top.

GIFs work in Photos App

Just save a GIF to Photos app (like you would for any image) and you’ll find that GIFs actually animate in the Photos app. You can even export them as GIFs from the Photos app. There’s also a new Animated folder.

Safari

Safari in iOS 11 brings behind the scenes technology update. It now supports WebRTC protocol and intelligent cross-site tracking. There’s a new Video player UI and much faster scrolling.

Auto Reader View

This feature lets you automatically enable Reader view whenever you open a compatible web page. Tap and hold on the Reader View button to enable the feature on just the site you’re viewing right now or for all website. If you want to stop using the feature, tap and hold on the Reader View icon once again.

Prevent Cross-Site Tracking

This feature is enabled by default and it stops ad agencies from tracking you between every site that you visit. This feature doesn’t block ads themselves. And you can disable this feature from Settings -> Safari.

Messages

New iMessages App Drawer

The iMessage App Drawer now shows up as a little ticker at the bottom of the conversation. You need to swipe horizontally to interact with it. Tap on an app and it will take up the keyboard view.

Just as the app drawer, the process of editing iMessage apps and removing them is also different. Read about it in our guide here.

Coming Soon: Apple Pay Cash and iMessages in iCloud

Apple Pay Cash will let you send money to your friends using iMessage. iMessages in iCloud stores and syncs all messages from iCloud, adding to the reliability of iMessage. But both features aren’t ready for iOS 11 and we expect them to ship in the next couple of weeks, perhaps with the iOS 11.1 update.

Block SMS Spam

iOS 11 lets third-party apps filter SMS spam for you. Once you’ve installed such an app, go to Settings -> Messages -> Unknown and Spam and enable the app. Back in the Messages app, you’ll now see a new Unknown & Junk section where the spam will live.

Maps

Maps app in iOS 11 brings better lane guidance.

One-Handed Zoom

Can't believe I missed that you can zoom one-handed now in iOS 11 Maps using the tap-and-a-half gesture. pic.twitter.com/ErenDt7NnH

— E.J. Kalafarski (@ejkalafarski) July 5, 2017

Just like Google Maps, you can zoom in Apple Maps with one finger. Double tap on the screen and before releasing your finger on that second tap, swipe up or down on the screen to zoom in or out.

Try the ARKit Flyover Mode

Go to a metro city like New York, make sure 3D Mode is turned on and select Flyover. You’ll now be flying over the city, like Batman. What’s awesome is that as you move your device in real life, you’ll move your viewpoint in the map too.

Indoor Maps for Malls and Airports

You’ll now find indoor maps for some of the most popular airports in the world, right inside Apple Maps.

iPad Only Features

iOS 11 is a huge update for the iPad. If you use your iPad to get work done, you’ll find iPad a lot easier to use after the update. Instead of getting in your way, iOS 11 actually helps you get things done in an intuitive manner.

New Dock

The new iOS 11 Dock is a floating dock (like the one in macOS). You can add a dozen or so apps and folders in the Dock now. So add all your frequently used apps here first.

Then when you’re in an app and you need to switch to another app, just swipe up from the bottom to bring up the Dock, tap on the app and you’ll switch to it. No need to go all the way back to the Home screen.

New Multitasking Features

The new multitasking system starts with the new Dock. When you’re in an app, swipe up to bring up the Dock. Then tap and hold on an app icon in the Dock and drag it to the middle of the screen. If you drop it here, the app will open as floating window.

If you take the app to the edge of the screen and drop it there, the app will be docked on the side and you’ll now be using two apps side by side.

New App Switcher

Swipe up from the bottom edge, all the way to the middle of the screen and you’ll get to the new App Switcher. It integrates the Dock and the new Control Center.

System-Wide Drag and Drop

After docking two apps side by side, try dragging and dropping content between the apps. Tap and hold text, images or links, then drag it over to the other app, release your finger to drop it on another app.

QuickType Keyboard Gestures

The new QuickType keyboard for the iPad supports gestures so you can type alternate characters on a key by swiping down on it. For example, swipe down on Q to type in the number 1.

New Files App

There’s a whole new file management app in iOS 11 that lets you browse files from services like iCloud Drive, Dropbox and more.

Drag and Drop in Files App

On both the iPhone and iPad, you can use drag and drop as a quick way to move files from one place to another. Tap and hold on a file, then pick more files using another hand. Navigate to another folder and then release your finger to drop the files in the new location.

Tag Files

Files app supports tagging. Tap and hold on the file, select Tags to add a new tag. You can also drag and drop a file to the Tags section in the sidebar.

Collaborate on Documents

Just like Dropbox, you can copy a link to the document stored in iCloud Drive or invite someone to collaborate on the document.

Tap on the Share button, select Add People, select an app and send them the invite.

There’s a lot more to the new Files app. Read our in-depth guide to the Files app here: How to Use the New iOS 11 Files App on iPhone and iPad

New Settings

Offload Unused apps

Once enabled, Automatically Offload Apps feature will automatically delete apps that you haven’t used in a long time when you’re running out of storage space. It will only delete the app. The app’s data and documents will still be safe on your iPhone or iPad. You can find this feature in Settings -> General -> iPhone Storage.

Disable Background App Refresh on Cellular

Go to General -> Background App Refresh -> Background App Refresh -> and switch to Wi-Fi. Now, iOS won’t refresh apps and use data in the background when you’re out and about.

New Emergency SOS Section

When you click the Sleep/Wake button 5 times, you’ll get to a new screen which has options to access your Medical ID and Emergency SOS. When you slide on Emergency SOS, it will call the local emergency service number and then notify your emergency contacts.

From the Emergency SOS section in settings, you can switch to the Auto Call feature and add emergency contacts.

Disable Game Center Completely

Go to Settings -> Game Center and just tap on the toggle next to Game Center. There, the whole Game Center system in iOS 11 is disabled.

Find Out 32-Bit Apps on Your iPhone or iPad

iOS 11 doesn’t support 32-bit apps. If you want to see a list of all the 32 Bit apps that you’re using on your iPhone or iPad, go to Settings -> General -> About and tap on Applications.

Auto Brightness Toggle Moved to Accessibility

Apple has moved the Auto Brightness toggle in iOS 11. If you want to turn off auto brightness, go to Settings -> General -> Accessibility -> Display Accommodations.

Smart Invert Feature Brings Dark Mode

While it’s not an official dark mode, we can use the new Smart Invert feature to enable a makeshift dark mode. It’s an upgrade to the Color Invert feature that doesn’t touch media like photos and videos.

Go to Settings -> General -> Accessibility -> Display Accommodations -> Invert Colors and turn on Smart Invert.

Automatically Answer Calls

In Accessibility, go to Call Audio Routing and select Auto Answer Calls. This feature lets you automatically pick up a phone call once the set amount of time has passed.

How’s Your iOS 11 Experience?

Have you upgraded to iOS 11? What are your favorite features? And whats’ the performance like on your device? Share with us in the comments below.

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