Secret iPhone tricks from an ex-Apple worker are blowing TikTok’s mind

A former Apple employee who worked at the Genius bar has been going on TikTok and revealing all sorts of interesting iPhone tricks. Her videos are full of enlightening pointers, and even seasoned iPhone users are liable to learn something new.

As a quick aside, it’s bizarre that Apple packs so much functionality into iOS but doesn’t actually communicate the full extent of the iPhone’s capabilities to end-users. Instead, iPhone users have to rely on TikTok videos and power users to learn about incredible iPhone tricks, but I digress.

iPhone trick – How to select multiple emails or messages at once

For as much as people use the Mail and Messages apps, this trick is surprisingly not that well known. Say you want to delete multiple email messages. Instead of selecting each one individually, you can instead place two fingers on the display and drag them down. Upon doing so, you’ll see an option to quickly select multiple messages for deletion, archiving, or moving to another folder location.

Note that this two-finger technique also works in Messages for mass selecting conversation threads to delete.

Record video with music playing in the background

This iPhone trick really blew my mind when I first stumbled across it. As anyone who has recorded video with an iPhone can attest, background music in Spotify or Apple Music automatically stops playing when a video recording start. This is helpful most of the time.

However, there are also times when you’d like to add your background music to a recording without having to edit it later in an editing app. If you want to record a video with curated music playing in the background, the solution is simple. After the music you want is playing, open up the Camera app. Now, instead of navigating over to the Video setting, simply press on the white shutter button and drag your finger to the right.

As you’ll see, the button transforms into a red “Recording” button as you drag your finger to the edge of the display. When you release your finger, the video will record as the background music continues to play on.

Figure out what song is playing with ease

Using Shazzam to figure out what song is playing is relatively straightforward. But there’s actually a more seamless alternative worth mentioning.

As seen in the video below, it’s possible to add a Music Recognition option to the Control Center. Once added, all you have to do is swipe to call the Control Center into action and tap the Shazzam logo.

This is definitely an iPhone trick music lovers will want to pay attention to.

Drag and drop files between apps

This is a new feature Apple added to iOS 15. Users can finally drag files from one app to another. As seen below, it’s easy to drag a photo from the Photos app right into the Mail app.

Lastly, on a related note, you’ll definitely want to check out this list of iOS 15 features you may not know about.