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0:00 This is my Apple collection. An iPhone, an iPad, a MacBook, and some AirPod Pros. And no, I don't yet own an Apple Watch. And that's not counting all the rest of the ecosystem. But even as an experienced Apple ecosystem user, I recently realized that I've been missing out on loads of awesome features that could save me and you time, pain, and frustration. So, it stands to reason you're probably missing out on a few of these, too. So, this week, I've set myself a challenge. Can I find you and everyone that watches this video at least one killer new feature that they hadn't heard of that would make their life better with the ecosystem? So, here we go. A bunch of underrated, overlooked features that Apple users like you should be using all in just a few minutes. And thank you to, well, me for sponsoring my own video with my custom
0:46 icon packs. You can find them at bettercreating.com. Well, hello and welcome back to better creating. And do let me know in the comments if I actually do find you something that you've never heard of. I think it's very possible. But first, we need to remember one important thing. The glue that connects all your devices across the ecosystem is iCloud. And this essentially allows everything to sync and work seamlessly. It's also key to using things like find my. To be honest, I forget this feature that I can just ping my other devices when I lose them. So, maybe I've already helped you by reminding you of that. So, next time you misplace your phone, find mine. And actually, now this even works for the Apple Pencil Pro. Okay, feature proper number one. You are using AirDrop ROM. Sure, you might be aware of how useful AirDrop is. You can send files from one
1:34 place to another using the AirDrop feature and very quickly see them turn up on the other device just by selecting it and sending them and there they are. But there are two lesserknown features that I think make it so much better. First, if you want to share photos with someone, select all the items, hold your phones next to each other, bump them, and you'll actually find that it just transfers them magically. How cool is that? This works for contact details, too. Just bump them together, and give it a go. But AirDrop also works with a wired connection. Now, this discovery for me has been an absolute gamecher and I don't use that word lightly because it means I can send big videos over to my MacBook and it's so much quicker when I
2:19 want to like edit. So, if I just click MacBook now, it will actually send it over wire. And look how fast that is. So, that's awesome. But I might have one more copying and sharing trick that you could have missed too. Feature two is pinch and paste across devices with universal clipboard. You might already be aware that you can copy text and images across devices by selecting it, clicking copy, and then going and pasting it into the other space as long as those devices are both signed in on the same iCloud account and have some sort of connection. But did you know you can also do it with gestures? How about this? I like copying text from my notion workspace and then pasting it into Instagram as a quick way to speed up how
3:05 I plan out my posts. But look at this. I can swipe inwards with three fingers to select it and then on Instagram swipe outwards with three fingers to paste it. That is very cool. This realtime syncing across devices in apps like pages, notes and others means that you can really work on a document on both devices at once as well or jump between them as you go. And the same works with photos. I can copy an image and three-finger swipe out to paste that image in a different spot. How cool is that? And don't forget, you can go even further with Sidecar and Universal Control when pairing an iPad with your Mac as a full-blown secondary monitor. You can either simply control both devices from the same controls or use it as a second
3:51 monitor. And it's really fantastic. But if you want to know more about how to do all of that, check out my iPad tips video after this. And while we're here, make sure to get subscribed if you haven't and turn on the bell notifications for loads more lovely tech and productivity solutions to make your life a little better here. Now, feature number three is using your phone as a scanner and annotation tool for your Mac. Now, staying with cross device controls for a minute, did you know that whilst using the continuity camera is of course a brilliant way to use your iPhone as a webcam on your Mac, it also does something far more surprising? You can use it as a portable scanner. For example, in pages or mail, I can click on insert and add from iPhone to scan a document to add it as a PDF. Incredibly
4:36 useful for saving time. Better still, ever needed to sign and annotate a document that's sent to you electronically and they don't give you a means to do it and you've got to print it or move it to your iPad? Well, continuity markup allows you to select iPhone or iPad as an option to sign on a PDF that's on your Mac. It's brilliant. Now, before we continue with the rest of these, maybe we should hear from my sponsor, me. I don't know if you've noticed my custom home screens. Well, if you would like to make your iPad, Mac, or iPhone look a little bit like this, jump over to bettering.com and grab some of my minimal icon packs. The packs feature 192 custom icon designs that cover system apps, general shortcuts, Google and Microsoft suites, and all my favorite third party apps from Arc Browser to Notion and all the rest. So,
5:21 you're going to find what you need. And each pack comes with a dark and light mode option, custom wallpapers, and some of which even disappear the dock in iOS, and even some widget widget templates that tie the whole design together across the system. And we even made a folder recently for each of the packs that works on your Mac doc. Now, my favorite at the moment has to be our latest physical buttons pack inspired by the design language of DA ROMs to give a clean and minimal tactile kind of feel. We really love this one and it's particularly a good compliment, I think, to the Apple aesthetic. So, you can watch a full guide video on customizing on iOS and another one on doing it on your Mac, which I've linked below. And yep, we will update the packs for iOS 18 if that comes out or has come out with
6:07 rounded icons. Thanks to me for sponsoring this video again and go check them out. Feature number four is transferring calls automatically, moving from one device to another. So, if you are on a video call on your phone, for example, you could select to move this to your laptop when you move to your desk for a full screen chat or even add it to Apple TV. But calls go further, too. If you're calling over Wi-Fi, you can make and answer calls on a connected iPad whilst your phone is locked and elsewhere. Nice when you've left it in the other room and are watching Netflix. But sadly, this feature isn't available to those of you that live in the EU. Feature number five, don't forget your hotspot. So staying with this value of the iPhone within the center, I think of the ecosystem, don't forget your iPhone
6:54 can operate as a hotspot for your other devices seamlessly. And this is likely the reason that most people will never need a cellular connection on an iPad. And I always recommend just getting a Wi-Fi one because you can just hotspot your iPad to your iPhone. It seamlessly connects my Mac and iPad when I'm on the go on a train when I don't have connection. It's really good and I find it super stable and effective. Yep. So, that is definitely one of my top tools if it is a little bit more wellnown. But, we should probably move to feature six and that is AirPods and the fact that they are amazing. If you don't own them, they are worth it. I'll be honest, I avoided AirPods for years and shouldn't have. They transform how you use your Apple devices and seem to just know what you want when you want to
7:39 listen to it. So, my favorite point of the more hidden features of these has got to be automatic switching between devices. So, AirPods connect to devices kind of based on proximity and whichever you start using. They tend to just connect and work. But my favorite use case, nodding to answer a call or shaking your head to deny it. Absolutely brilliant. And what's really cool is if you're watching something, say on your iPad, when a call comes in, it will pause the video on the iPad and switch audio over to your phone. If you don't own them and you can afford them, get them. So, of course, these tips are just the tip of the Apple ecosystem iceberg. But I hope I achieved my challenge and gave you at least one new discovery that you'll be able to use. Let me know if I
8:25 did. But since you are watching this, I suspect you are someone who wants to make the most of the tech that you own. So, click the like button for this video and then I recommend watching this video next for the iPad specific tips that will mean you make more use of it. Or watch this one down here for my guide to customizing your Mac so that it really works for you in a minimal way. It would be awesome if you clicked my face to subscribe and I'll see you on the next one. Bye.
