Your iPhone has a 'secret' back button that can be used for anything
Apple has made it fully customisable for its users.
Featured Image Credit: NurPhoto / Contributor / Westend61/ Getty
Even years after getting their devices, Apple users are only just discovering the mystery of the secret back button.
This comes after the revelations of hidden symbols within the smartphone's keyboard, screenshot features and gaming hacks.
One that's most recently shaken the online Apple community is a button on the iPhone that's hidden in plain sight - the 'Back Tap' feature.
The accessibility feature was introduced with iOS 14 so it's been around since late 2020. However, Apple users are only recently learning its practicality.
Advert
Tech reviewer - under the TikTok handle - @ellyawesometech showed her audience the sneaky button to her audience.
She captioned in her viral 2022 video: 'Back Tap is an insane hidden iPhone feature!'
The influencer exclaimed to her fans: 'You're using your iPhone wrong if you're not using the Back Tap feature.'
To activate the feature, the TikToker shows her viewers to go into Settings, Accessibility > Touch, and scroll down to Back Tap.
From there, Apple owners can choose between a 'Double-tap' or -Triple-tap' or both.
Once you click on it, you can scroll down and pick your shortcut. You can simply confirm the associated shortcut by tapping the back button.
The TikTok user demonstrates how she uses the button as a shortcut for the music app Shazam, saying: 'I use Back Tap so I can Shazam a song in two seconds!'
Her fans are shocked to only just discover this button's function now.
One viewer commented: 'Omg omg omg you have change my life forever.'
Whilst another plainly stated: 'Why has nobody told me this.'
'Set it to mute/unmute because the button doesn’t work on my phone, genius. So much easier than using the little button thing on the screen,' another user wrote.
Other viewers are discussing all the potential shortcuts for the button, including screenshots and toggling the flashlight.
Like most of the tech company's features, Apple never really directly disclosed its use to its community. However, users have reported the feature as fully responsive, leaving them with full customisation to make the Back Tap button work in whatever way helps them most.
If you want to take a bash at the Back Tap feature, you'll need at least an iPhone 8 or newer and software no older than iOS 14.
Interestingly, Google also tried to incorporate a similar feature for the Android 11, although it didn't end up making the final cut.