It wasn’t that long ago that phones were used only to call people and nothing else. Nowadays, you can play games, watch videos, and do all sorts of other things on your phone you may not even know about. When it comes to useful phone hacks, here are 20 you can impress your family and friends with.

Uninstall useless apps

When you get a new phone, you may notice it’s already got quite a few apps installed on it. However, there’s absolutely no reason they need to stick around. Some of these apps can take up valuable storage or memory, so if you’re not using them anyway it’s best to get rid of them as soon as possible! It will not only help your phone run faster, but look tidier too.

Edit quick settings

Many phones will have a quick settings menu (or Control Center on iPhone) that when you swipe down shows the most commonly used settings. However, if you find that you’re often expanding the window to reach other settings such as airplane mode or dark mode, you’ll be happy to learn it’s easy to adjust what appears in the quick settings menu. This will save you valuable seconds each time you use the setting, which is sure to add up over time.

Turn off auto-rotate

Ever try to use your phone while laying on your side and the screen keeps rotating? You can prevent that by going into your settings and turning off the auto-rotate feature, so the phone display only flips horizontally when you want it to. From then on, instead of rotating the moment it’s turned sideways, your phone will display a small rotate icon you can click on if you want to do so.

Add captions to photos

Ever take a photo as a way of remembering something? Or do you want to add a bit more context to the stunning image you just captured? Swipe up on any photo in your camera roll and you can add a caption or description that will help keep those memories alive. A picture may be worth a thousand words, but a quick sentence helps clarify what those words were.

Hold down a letter to access accents

The savvy international texter may already know this, but if you hold your finger on a letter for a second, a small menu will pop up showing different options including all common accents for the letter. Whether you wish to properly ask a friend if they want to go for phở, express your love for Pokémon, or simply spell a person’s name correctly, there are plenty of reasons to bust out the accents.

Install apps on your phone with your computer

This one is for Android users only. If you have your phone and PC connected to the same email, you can download apps from your computer directly to your phone. Simply log onto the Google Play store via your browser and you should be able to browse and download a new productivity app, game, or whatever else you like while your phone charges in the next room.

Customize notifications

Did your phone just beep and you don’t know if it’s the email you’ve been waiting for or a notification from some game you haven’t played in three months? It may be time to customize your notifications with different alerts for different apps. No longer will you be lunging for your phone thinking they finally texted back only to see your horoscope app had some mean things to say.

Make your phone louder

This one only works for iPhone users. If you head into your phone’s audio settings, under “Music” there should be an option to change the equalizer settings or the EQ. Click on that and select the “Late Night” option to have the loudest possible audio settings on your phone. While it won’t be the same as having a speaker system going, the volume will be noticeably louder.

Take a photo with the volume button

Want a much more natural way to take selfies? Rather than sliding your finger over the screen to find the photo button while striking a pose, simply click on your phone’s volume button to snap the photo instead. This even works for headphones that have built-in volume controls, meaning you can focus on your smile rather than clicking in the right spot.

Control your smart home from your phone

Want to turn off the lights but don’t want to get out of bed to do it? Simply reach over to your phone and do it from there. Most Androids now have a feature found by long-clicking the power button that brings up a shortcut to all your smart home devices. Dim the lights, turn up the music, or lower the air conditioning all on your phone.

Ditch all your loyalty cards

There are a couple of good apps out there that allow you to add all your loyalty cards into your phone, letting cashiers scan the barcode on your screen instead of the card itself. Feel the weight of a dozen useless plastic cards being removed from your wallet and enjoy the freedom of never having to dig to find where that one obscure card is hiding.

Ask the AI to help you take photos

Cameras on phones are pretty amazing these days and can do everything from slow-motion videos to panoramic shots. However, these fancier features are usually buried deep in the camera settings and by the time you get to them the moment may be lost. Instead, ask Siri or your Google Assistant to help you out. Simply asking them to “take a slow-motion video” or “take a panoramic photo” is enough to have that feature open instantly.

Turn on dark mode

Ever check your phone at night only to be blinded by the glaring white light? Or are you just looking to reduce some strain on your eyes throughout the day? Changing your phone’s settings to default to dark mode in all applications and menus is an easy way to prevent those moments of squinting and blinking through the blinding pain.

Make a DIY stylus

Want some extra precision while tapping around on your phone but you don’t have (or can’t find) a stylus? Luckily for you, a stylus can easily be made with common household objects as simple as tinfoil and a Q-tip or pencil. In a pinch, you could even use a small battery as your stylus for those moments when you need those pinpoint taps.

Make a quick lamp

Out camping, or the power went out and you need a quick lamp to light up the surrounding area? Simply lay your phone down and place a water bottle over the flashlight for a makeshift lamp that can illuminate the area around it. While holding your phone will be more useful for a precision light, the lamp method is great for adding some ambience to the darkness.

Get a cursor while typing something out

Ever been writing out a long text or email on your phone and realize you need to go back and delete something? Rather than deleting everything you’ve written since then, or trying to tap the exact word you want to edit, simply hold down the space button to make a small cursor appear that you can then slide around the doc to get to the exact spot you want to edit as if you were using a trackpad.

Make texting shortcuts

Whether it be a long acronym you hate typing out in full, or a piece of ASCII art you love to use but hate having to search out and copy and paste, there’s an easier way to text what you really want to say. By going into your phone’s settings, you can program keyboard shortcuts that will save you a lot of time. It’s like an autocorrect that does exactly what you want it to.

See your phone usage

Looking to spend less time on your phone but need a way to measure exactly how much you use it? Luckily, most phones already track usage, often even tracking how much time you spend on each specific app. This is a great way to quantify just how much you rely on your piece of pocket tech, and also how to scare friends into realizing they’re addicted to their device by pulling this up on their phones.

Use Google Maps offline

Google Maps has a great feature where you can download the map of a particular city or area so that you have it available for offline use. If you’re travelling somewhere where you won’t be able to use cell data without costly roaming fees, simply download the map of the area and that way you’ll never have to worry about getting lost while you’re there.

Create a morning routine

Do you get off to a bad start every morning when your awful-sounding alarm goes off and wakes you up in the worst way possible? Instead, set a morning routine that will make that wakeup much more pleasant. You can program your phone to tell you the weather, play the morning news, update you on last night’s sports scores, or simply fade into your favourite easy-listening song. It will make your days that much brighter.