7 fun iPhone features you didn't know about

You already know how to use your iPhone® to send photos to friends and to check news alerts, but there are a variety of surprising and handy features you may have overlooked. To access these, you'll need iOS® 13 or later.

Here at Asurion, we help you get the most of out your tech—whether you want to update your apps or find out what to do if your Face ID® isn't working. Here are seven fun iPhone features to check out.

1. Voice control

Voice control on the iPhone allows you to open and navigate apps, lock your screen, and more—just by speaking.

To turn on the Voice Control feature, go to Settings > Accessibility > Voice Control, tap Set Up Voice Control, and complete the setup. To see a full list of built-in voice commands or to create your own, tap Customize Commands.

Since learning Voice Control can be overwhelming at first, we recommend enabling the Show Hints feature so your phone will automatically suggest commands based on your activity.

2. Robocall silencer

Robocalls—those annoying automated telemarketing calls—are difficult to block. Did you know that you can help combat them with a built-in feature on your iPhone?

Open your Settings menu, select Phone, and then enable Silence Unknown Callers. Calls from unknown numbers will go directly to voicemail without you hearing the ring. You can quickly delete them later.

To walk through the steps, check out this video from Asurion’s YouTube channel:

3. Share location

Want to know how to quickly share your location when you're meeting up with other iPhone-using friends? In the Messages app, open the message thread, type “I'm at" into the interface and tap the Space key. Then tap Current Location (you may have to allow permission), and the app will send your location.

Don’t waste time scrolling

Life is short. Ask our experts and get answers now.

Ask an expert

4. Notes scanner

If you need to quickly and easily scan and send a document, your iPhone can do the job.

1. Go to your Notes app, open a new note, tap the Camera icon on the toolbar at the bottom, and select Scan Documents.
2. Place your document on a flat, well-lit surface, and take a photo.
3. Tap Keep Scan > Save to save the document. If you want to share it, tap the Share icon at the top-right corner and select how you'd like to send the document.

5. Measure app

If you never seem to have a tape measure when you need one, the Measure app on your iPhone, which uses augmented reality along with the camera on your device to record measurements, is incredibly useful.

1. Open the Measure app and scan the room with your phone.
2. When a circle appears, place it at your starting point and press the “+".
3. Next, move to your endpoint and press “+" once more.
4. The screen will display your item's dimensions.

6. iMessage full-screen effects

Why send a boring text? Add a full-screen effect to animate your text courtesy of iPhone's iMessage® function.

1. Open Messages and tap the Compose button to write a new message or go to an existing conversation.
2. Type your message.
3. Touch and hold the Send button, then tap Screen.
4. Swipe left to choose a full-screen effect (echo, spotlight, etc.).
5. Tap the Send button.

To replay a message effect that you receive, tap the Replay button under the text. If you don't see it, try checking your Reduce Motion settings.

7. Slide to text

Slide to text is a feature that allows you to compose a text, email, or any document by sliding from letter to letter to create entire words instead of tapping individual letters. To do this, simply slide your finger from letter to letter until you've formed a word. It may take some getting used to, but you might find you can compose texts more quickly.

This feature should be on by default, but in case you need to enable it, go to Settings > General > Keyboard > turn on Slide to Type.