A Getting Started Tour of your iPhone
You have an iPhone. You have used it to make calls. But this is supposed to be a Smart Phone. It is supposed to do a lot. How do I get started?
The first task in your mission is to learn about the physical features of the device. You want to understand the buttons and port. You need to know how to turn it on and home. How to go home. And you don’t want to be embarrassed when you phone rings during a church service.
The purpose of the recipe is to provide a tour of your device. You will learn some of the essential functions of your device. As we explore, you will see lots of references to other Recipes and Nuggets that cover topics in more detail.
Your Getting Started Tour
The Red numbers in the diagram above correspond to the numbered points below.
1 Home Button
The Home button is truly home on iPhones and iPads. It serves multiple roles.
Press the Home Button once to:
- Unlock your device from its sleep state. Alternatively, you can also use the Sleep/Wake button.
- Unlock your device is you have enabled Touch ID. See Recipe #017 Setting Up Passcodes and Touch ID.
- Go to the Home screen. The Home screen is the screen that displays the icons for your apps, e.g. Phone, Message, etc. This will shift focus from any app you are running to the Home screen.
Other Home button Actions:
- Double Tap twice to see apps that are open. From this display you can switch or “kill” apps. See the topic Multitasking in Recipe #127 iPhone Touchscreen Basics.
- Use Siri. Press and hold the Home button to make a request. With later versions of the iPad, you may prefer to say “Hey Siri” if this function is activated. See Recipe #012 Getting to Know Siri
- Triple Tap Home – This is an Accessibility Shortcut where you can activate a special function using the Home button. At the Senior Tech Club, we recommend activating the Magnifier using this shortcut. See Recipe #130 How to Use the iPhone Magnifier.
The Future Home
The physical Home button is disappearing in current versions of the iPhone. This is starting with iPhone X and later. To unlock you will use Face ID and swipe up from the bottom of the screen to go Home. If you want to go to the Home screen from an app, you will swipe up from the bottom of the screen.
Refer to the iPhone X Cheat Sheet for a summary of the new actions.
2 Sleep/Wake or Side Button
The Sleep/Wake button is on the upper right side of your iPhone. Recently, Apple documentation is referring to this button as the Side button as it does much more than controlling the sleep process.
Here are some of its functions:
Press once to wake up your device or to put it to sleep. See Recipe #100 Sleep and Shutdown
Press and hold to shut down your device See Recipe #100 Sleep and Shutdown
Press twice to decline an incoming call See Recipe #125 Making and Receive Calls
Refer to the iPhone X Cheat Sheet for a summary of the new actions including summoning Siri and more.
3 Ring/Silent Switch
The Ring/Silent is on the left side of your phone. It is the slider switch above your volume buttons. It is the primary method to silence your iPhone ringer by putting it into vibrate mode. See Recipe #101 How to Control and Silence Your iPhone Ringer.
4 Volume Buttons
The Volume Button can be used to control:
The volume of your ringer
The volume of music or videos that you play
The volume of the speaker while on a phone call.
See Recipe #101 How to Control and Silence Your iPhone Ringer.
5 Touch Screen
The Touch Screen is a significant navigation too on your iPhone. You will use it to tap, double tap, swipe, drag, pinch and expand the items that are displayed on your screen. It will automatically switch between Portrait and Landscape mode. For a review of its functions see Recipe #126 Touchscreen Basics or Recipe #201 iPad and Touchscreen Basics
6 Control Center
The Control Center is an essential control panel for your iPhone and many people only discover it accidentally. It not only provides quick access to essential apps like the Camera and Calculator, it is the ONLY place where you can turn on the Flashlight. It includes a whole host of other useful functions and with later versions of IOS, can be customized. See Recipe #103 Using the Control Center for Quick Access to Essential Functions.
7 Lightening Port
The Primary use of the lightening Port is for charging your iPhone or iPad. The recommended charging approach for your device is to plug your iPhone into your charger every evening so that in the morning your wake up to a fully charged device.
Since iPhone 7 and later, the Lightening Port is also used to connect headphones and earbuds to your device. The connection can be made from earbuds that have a lightening connector or through the use of an adapter that connects to more common audio jacks.
The Lightening Port is also used to connect your device to a computer through the USB charging cable. You can connect to perform transfer of music, pictures, do backups and more.
8 Headphone Jack
On iPhones before version 7, use the headphone jack to connect speakers or earbuds for listening to music or hands-free phone calls. Since iPhone 7, you will either use Bluetooth or the Lightening port to connect to speakers or earbuds.
More information about many of these topics can be found in other Recipes on the SeniorTechClub.com site. See the links above or under Additional Information below.
Phone X Cheat Sheet
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Go Home. Swipe up from the bottom edge of the screen to return to the Home screen at any time. | ||||||||||
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Quickly access controls. Swipe down from the top-right corner to open Control Center. Press (or touch and hold) a control to reveal more options. To add or remove items, go to Settings > Control Center > Customize Controls. | ||||||||||
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Switch between recent apps. Swipe up from the bottom edge of the screen and pause to show the App Switcher. From any open app, you can also swipe right along the bottom to quickly switch apps. | ||||||||||
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Summon Siri. Just say, “Hey Siri.” Or hold down the side button and make your request. Siri listens until you release the button. | ||||||||||
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Use Accessibility Shortcut. Triple-click the side button to access tools like the Magnifier. | ||||||||||
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Make an emergency SOS call Simultaneously press and hold the side button and either volume button until the sliders appear, then drag Emergency SOS. | ||||||||||
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Turn off/Shutdown. Simultaneously press and hold the side button and either volume button until the sliders appear, then drag the top slider to power off. Or go to Settings > General > Shut Down. | ||||||||||
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Force restart. Press and release the volume up button, press and release the volume down button, then press and hold the side button until the Apple logo appears. |
Check for Understanding
Use the following questions to determine if you need to read or study this recipe. You might already have an understanding of this topic. Following your study, answer the same questions to help you check your understanding of the skills taught in this lesson.
- Can you name multiple functions of the Home button on your iPhone?
- What is Sleep versus Shutdown?
- How do you control the Ringer Volume on your iPhone?
- What is the Control Center?
Additional Information
The Senior Tech Club recommends the following additional resources for members that wish to pursue additional and/or advanced information on this recipe:
Senior Tech Club Recipes and Nuggets on iPhone & iPad Essentials
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