Our initial guide to the Top 10 iPhone Tricks and Shortcuts was a huge hit. After we published the article, several people followed up saying they rely heavily on their browser, asking for more tricks focused on that aspect of the iPhone. As a follow up, here are our top 10 tricks and shortcuts to know when using Safari for iPhone – from the basics to the more advanced:
Scrolling Tricks
Reading and/or scrolling a long article page within Safari? Use one finger to move the page up, down, and side-to-side. Scrolling this way means you don’t have to worry about mistakenly clicking any links. On a website that has multiple frames and only want to scroll one of those frames instead of the full webpage? Use two fingers to scroll instead of one. Want to get back to the top of the page if you’ve scrolled to the bottom? All you need to do is tap the status bar where the time and signal indicators are. You’ll fly back to the top of the page instantaneously.
Zooming
If you plan to live heavily in the browser, one of the first things you need to master is zooming. It is a beautiful feature on the iPhone that will make navigating webpages a breeze. With one finger, double-tapping an image or section of a page will automatically zooms in so the image or width of the column spans the width of your screen. Double-tap again to zoom back out. If you want to zoom in on a particular feature, pinch with your thumb and forefinger, moving your fingers apart to zoom out and together to zoom in.
Move to Another Page
Safari for iPhone allows you to open up to 8 webpages at once. The number inside the square box at the bottom Safari bar indicates how many you have open. Clicking that icon will allow you to scroll left and right to view the other webpages you have open. Select the one you want to access, and you’re on your way.
Call/Text/Create Contact from Safari
On a webpage with a phone number and want to store, share or call it? No need to copy and paste the number. All you need to do is click the number, and an option box will appear to place the call, text the number, or store it in your Contacts as a new contact or appended to an existing contact.
Email a Link
Articles and webpages sometimes include an ‘Email this to a friend’ button alongside other share buttons for Facebook, Twitter, etc. Sometimes it’s tricky within the browser on your phone to tap these buttons, not to mention it takes a few extra steps like opening yet another webpage and remembering the person’s email.
Instead of going through this process, click the More button on the bottom bar within Safari and select ‘Mail Link to this Page.’ You’ll automatically be dropped right into a new email message (with whatever email account you’ve set as default on your phone), complete with subject (name of the webpage) and URL within the text of the email. This way, you’re already connected to your contacts/address book and can easily select the recipients you want the message to reach.
Browse While on a Call
Bored while on a call or need to find must-know information? You don’t need to remain in misery or hang up the phone. All you need to do is double tap the Home button and click Safari from your iPhone’s dock.
View a Link’s True URL
There’s nothing worse than clicking a link that brings you to a bad destination. Short URLs like bit.ly links have made this even more of a problem, masking a URL’s true destination. In Safari, you can get around this by holding your finger on the link you plan to click through. An option box will pop up with the full destination URL of the link. You can then choose to open it (or not) in a new page or write on the page you’re currently on.
Save an Image
Come across an image on a webpage that you want to save on your camera roll? All you need to do is touch and hold the image, with a gray line indicating you’ve held your finger on the image long enough. A options box will pop up and select ‘Save Image.’ Open your camera roll, and the image will be there.
Add Webpages as App-like Icons
Not every website has a dedicated app, but if it is a site your frequent, you can still create a shortcut to it on your home screen that lives among all your other apps. This is an alternative to the typical method of brookmarking a page within Safari, and is definitely more convenient.
Visit the webpage you want to create a shortcut to, click the More button on the bottom Safari bar, and select ‘Add to Home Screen.’ You will be prompted to name the shortcut, and after entering, an icon for the webpage will appear on your home screen just like a regular app icon appears.
Search a Webpage
Sometimes you just want to find or highlight a particular word or reference on a webpage, and not many people know that you can do this with Safari for iPhone. To the right of the URL box at the top of Safari is a search box (mine defaults to Google). Start typing the word you want to find on the webpage you’re on into this box.
Search engine results will display on the top, and below them are results for ‘On This Page,’ with the number of matches indicated. Click anywhere to make your keyboard disappear, and then click ‘Find “XYZ”‘ at the bottom of the search results. The words will be highlighted on the webpage you’re on in yellow.
What other tips, tricks or shortcuts for Safari would you add to the list?
