With the lack of a Home button, modern iPhones are more gesture-based than ever before. Everyone knows about swiping up to go back to the Home screen or dragging down from the top-right corner to access Control Center, but there are lots of other iPhone gestures Apple doesn’t make so clear.
Whether they make common actions faster or unlock entire shortcuts you didn’t know were present, these gestures are worth learning. There aren’t as many gestures as the iPad offers, given the smaller screen, but they’re powerful all the same.
Drag and drop between apps
Dragging files, images, and other data between apps is easy with a mouse, but have you ever tried it on your iPhone? While it’s a bit clunkier with your fingers, it still works.
To drag and drop content between different iPhone apps, press and hold on an image, bit of text, link, or whatever else you want to reuse. While holding it with that finger, use another finger to go back to the Home screen, then open another app. Inside that app, keep using the second finger to navigate, then drop what you’re holding into the applicable spot.
Try using this to move text between group chats quickly, share links, or share an image from the web without downloading it first.
Hold the spacebar for a trackpad
Did you know your iPhone has a trackpad hiding in the keyboard? It’s a great utility, as it provides a more precise way to move the cursor instead of trying to tap the exact right spot.
To activate this, press and hold the spacebar while your phone’s keyboard is open. Once the keys turn blank, slide your finger around the keyboard area as needed to freely control the cursor.
Try it next time you need to correct a voice-typed message or navigate around a lot of text.
Three-finger swipe to undo/redo
By default, shaking your iPhone undoes the last action you took. However, I’ve long found this to be unreliable, plus it’s not always easy to perform. There’s a better way to undo and redo with a quick gesture.
To undo your last action, place three fingers on the screen and slide them to the left. If you want to redo that undo, swipe three fingers to the right instead. You’ll see Undo or Redo text at the top to confirm it was successful.
For example, if you accidentally delete a paragraph of text in Notes or Messages, perform the undo action to bring that text back. This is much easier than flailing your device around.
Three-finger pinch to copy, cut, and paste
Having three fingers on the screen unlocks yet more gestures you might not have known about. While you can perform standard cut, copy, and paste actions by selecting text and using the resulting tooltip, this isn’t the fastest method.
Instead, pinch with three fingers (in the same way you zoom in with two fingers) to copy the currently selected text. To cut instead (removing the text from its current position), perform this three-finger pinch gesture twice.
Then, once you’ve navigated to where you want to paste that snippet (and placed the cursor in the text box accordingly), reverse the three-finger gesture by “pinching out” (spreading). If you do it right, your copied or cut text will appear in its new home.
If you have trouble selecting the exact text to copy or cut, or placing the cursor to paste, the trackpad tip mentioned above will help.
While not strictly gesture-based, there are also lots of little iPhone typing tricks that will also save you time.
Two-finger multi-selection
Next time you need to select a bunch of items in a row, don’t tap them one by one. Instead, adding a second finger lets you select lots of emails, message conversations, files, or other data.
For example, in the Mail app, use two fingers to press the first email, then immediately swipe down. Once you do this, you’ll see selection circles appear on the left side. Continue to slide your fingers down over the next items to swiftly select them.
If you hold your fingers at the bottom of the screen once you reach it, it will continue to scroll as long as there’s more. You can also select non-consecutive items by lifting your fingers, scrolling to the next area you want to select, then performing the gesture again.
The hidden shortcuts on your lock screen
Even the iPhone’s Lock screen hides a couple of gestures you might have missed or forgotten about.
Swiping in from the right side opens the camera; knowing this allows you to replace the redundant default Camera widget at the bottom-right. Customizing your Lock screen lets you replace that with something else, like the Calculator or a Shortcut.
Swiping in from the left opens the Today View, which is a collection of iOS widgets. If you haven’t taken the time to customize this, it’s worth setting it up so you can access this info without unlocking your phone.
Smaller gestures are all around iOS
There are lots of little gestures that aren’t as major as the above, but still help you navigate your iPhone faster. Try these out:
When you start scrolling on a long page, touch the scroll bar that appears on the right side of the screen. Slide this to scroll much faster; this saves effort compared to making repeated huge swipes.
In Safari, you can jump to the tab overview page by performing the two-finger “pinch out” gesture (used to zoom out) when already zoomed out.
In many apps, press and hold on a link to open a small preview of it. This lets you see what’s linked without opening a new tab or switching apps.
In apps that show the Back menu at the top-left, you can press and hold on the text to show the breadcrumb trail, then let go to select. For example, if you’re two pages deep in Settings, this lets you go back to the main Settings page without tapping twice.
Tap the top-center center of your iPhone’s screen (around the Dynamic Island on modern iPhone models) to scroll to the top of the page. This is a huge time-saver when you’ve scrolled to the bottom of a massive page.
If you’re into gestures, you also shouldn’t forget about Back Tap, which lets you run two different actions of your choosing by tapping your finger on the back of your phone.
