Today we will see how to change certain settings on a new iPhone in order to take full advantage of it. Whether it’s saving battery, avoiding being tracked, or using advanced features, there’s something for everyone.
Updated 12/26 : updated for iOS 18 and iPhone 16.
As is often the case on iPhoneSoft, here is a new tip for beginners which has been added to the section Easy iPhone.
These little iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch or Mac tips often help novices, but can also sometimes surprise the most expert among us!
How to properly configure your iPhone (or iPad)
With this tutorial, you’ll learn which specific iPhone settings you need to change for optimal experience, performance, and battery life on iOS 15 and above.
Apple’s default settings for iPhone are optimized for ease of use, but with a few simple tweaks, you can make your phone more convenient and faster. This means spending some time in “Settings”, one of the most used basic applications. Without further ado, here is the list of settings on your Apple smartphone that you should modify to benefit from slightly faster performance, better battery life and improved comfort. We have already shared tips for preserving your privacy on iOS as well as for saving battery, but this is a more macroscopic approach with various settings.
- Personalize the lock screen with font, widgets, wallpaper, etc.
- Personalize the home screen by changing the size and color of the icons. Requires iOS 18.
- Turn off read receipts in iMessage (Messages > Read receipts).
- Turn off repeated message alerts (Notifications > Messages > Customize alerts > Repeat alerts).
- Block tracking in emails (Email > Privacy Protection > Protect your activity in Mail).
- Disable personalized ads (Confidentiality > Apple advertising).
- Don’t help Apple improve Siri and dictation by sending your data (Confidentiality > Analysis and improvements).
- Do not share iPhone analytics data (Confidentiality > Analysis and improvements).
- Don’t allow apps to request tracking (Confidentiality > Follow up).
- Turn off location suggestions and significant locations (Confidentiality > Location Services > Services system (at the very bottom) and uncheck “Analysis of iPhone”, “Location-based alerts”, “System customization”, “Location-based suggestions”).
- Always allow app downloads over the cellular network (App Store > Cellular Data).
- Change the quality of voice memos to be lossless (Dictaphone > Audio Quality > Without loss).
- Hide expired cards in Apple Wallet (Cards and Apple Pay > Hide expired cards).
- Activate the camera grid or line to take straight photos (Camera > Composition > Grid).
- Activate out-of-camera elements to easily edit your shots later (Camera > Composition > Show items out of frame).
- Choose the primary mode of travel in Maps (Plans > Preferred means of transportation).
- Choose an equalizer for listening to music (Music > Audio > Equalizer).
- Activate double or triple tap on the back of iPhone to trigger an action. (Accessibility > To touch > Touch the back of the device).
- Customize the iPhone 15 Pro Action button action.
- Customize the behavior of the iPhone 16 Camera Control button.
If you have any other tips and advice, please share them in the comments. Also, don’t hesitate to check out the tips for saving battery without losing functionality, tips for iMessage, solutions for saving storage space, etc.
