Three “Secrets” Hidden inside your Settings

Everyone knows about the Settings app, those “gray gears” that sit on our home screens, holding the settings for the entire OS. But most people never wander down far enough into the menu to realize that there is a whole bunch of options that can really improve your iOS experience. Here are seven of the best options hidden beneath the top layer of settings.

1. Battery Percentage:

When you first get your Apple device, the only thing you might see on the status bar is: your device’s name (iPod, iPad) or carrier’s name (Verizon, AT&T), the devices network status, time, and finally…the battery. But the battery image makes it pretty hard to accurately tell how much battery you have left. But if you divulge in to the settings app, you can turn on an option that tells you the exact battery percentage…very helpful.

1.Open the Settings app and go to “General.”

2. Go to the “Usage” tab.

3. Switch “Battery Percentage to “ON.”

Before

After

2. Personal Hotspot:

If you’ve got a Verizon iPhone, or an iPhone updated to 4.3 or higher, and have a tethering plan; the personal hotspot setting is an awesome option for internet on the go.

If you bought your phone with the tethering option already on your plan, then the Personal hotspot setting should appear right underneath the Wi-Fi settings on the main screen in the Settings app.

If you just recently upgraded to 4.3 and have a tethering plan, and the option isn’t activated already, here’s how to activate it.

1. Open the Settings app and go to “General.”

2. Go to the “Network” tab.

3. Go to “Personal Hotspot” and switch it to “ON.”

3. Customize your Spotlight:

As you use your iDevice more and more, the searching page on your home screen will begin to fill up with plenty of new results. Fortunately, there is an option to sort and hide certain types of information from clogging up your Spotlight.

Getting to this setting is fairly easy:

1. Open the Settings app and go to “General.”

2. Go to the “Network” tab.

3. Tap selections to hide that type of info from being shown in spotlight, you can also rearrange the order your info is shown.

There are plenty of “hidden” options in the Settings app, and most can be found pretty easily if you have to time to look.

SK( Managing Editor )

Obsessed with tech since the early arrival of A/UX on Apple, Sudz (SK) is responsible for the editorial direction of AppleToolBox. He is based out of Los Angeles, CA.

Sudz specializes in covering all things macOS, having reviewed dozens of OS X and macOS developments over the years.

In a former life, Sudz worked helping Fortune 100 companies with their technology and business transformation aspirations.