Work smarter—not harder. We’ve all heard the expression. This is especially true for meeting and event planners who have a million little things to think of and get done in a timely manner. But it doesn’t matter if you’re an event planner, a speaker at a conference, an exhibitor at a convention, or someone attending a meeting. We all want to be more efficient with how we spend our time.
This is one of the reasons why we use smart devices and apps; they make things more convenient for us. Apps are fun to use, sure, but they’re also time savers. This may be why utility/productivity apps grew 149% last year. We want to be more efficient and productive, so we use apps to help us do everyday tasks faster.
While you and I might use our iPhones to be more efficient, are we actually using them efficiently? In the interest of knowing more about the tech I use every day, I researched and tested out these five iPhone tips:
1. Double tap the space bar. Write messages faster.
When texting or emailing, you can double tap the space bar to start a new sentence. Doing this adds a period and a space for you. No more tapping the “123” key, tapping the period, and then tapping “ABC” to get back to your keyboard. Just double tap the space bar and keep writing!
2. Turn on airplane mode to charge your phone faster.
Of course this makes sense, but I had never thought to do it before. I tested this out by charging my phone in two 15-minute intervals. In airplane mode, my battery life increased by 30%. When I turned airplane mode off, my phone charged 18%. So if you need to bring your phone back to life fast, consider charging it in airplane mode.
3. Stop all that scrolling.
You know when you’re deep in the Internet hole—going from page to page? Or when you’re scrolling through feeds forever? Here’s how you easily find your way back. When you’re in an app or on a website, swipe your screen from left to right to get back to the previous page. To jump back to the top, tap your status bar at the top of your iPhone (where the time and battery life are displayed).
4. Group similar apps together.
A lot of my apps are blue, which means I often hit the MyFitnessPal app when I’m trying to tap the Shazam app right next to it. Because I have more than one food/activity app—and I don’t want to hunt for my Shazam app—it makes sense to group the similar apps together in a folder. Press and hold an app to make it wiggle, then drag it on top of the other app to create a folder. Any folder with frequently-used apps can be dragged down to your iOS dock for easier access.
5. Misplaced your iPhone? Find it quickly.
A friend of mine was on her way out the door when she couldn’t find her iPhone. She spent thirty minutes looking for it before getting on Facebook and messaging me to call her. I called several times while she searched, and then told her to use “Find my iPhone.” Within minutes, my friend found her phone (it was on her car in her driveway). Turn this feature on (settings > iCloud > Find my iPhone) so you don't waste time looking for your phone or stressing out about where it might be.
Have other iPhone tips to add? Share what you know in the comments below!
Written byy Valerie Zogas
