We're a little wary of TikTok iPhone hacks. Many of them turn out to be revelations of the obvious. Yes, we know the iPhone can make calls and send text messages, thanks. But sometimes a brief TikTok video can reveal a cool, timesaving feature we never knew existed – and we've been reviewing iPhones for years.
One sign of how good a TikTok iPhone hack really is can be found in the number of likes it's racked up, since we can assume that many of the people hitting 'like' were either genuinely enlightened by the tip or else they already knew and find it a useful feature (see our guide to the best camera phones if you're not sure which phone to buy).
The most popular iPhone hacks on TikTok
We've made our own round-up of popular iPhone hacks before, but now the UK-based online phone trade-in company Envirofone has performed a more quantitative study. They've picked out the six TikTok iPhone hacks with the most likes. From controlling the cursor with the space bar to reducing background noise during calls, these tips have together clocked up well over a million likes on the platform. Let's take a look.
01. Moving apps on the home screen – 717.9k likes
Moving apps around on your home screen can be a tedious task, so it's perhaps no surprise that people seem to like this iPhone hack from TikTokker ActuallyItsBella that shows how to easily move several apps at once. She shows how instead of moving apps one by one, you can hold down on one app icon and then tap on all the other apps that you want to move. Just move to the desired place on your home screen and drop all the apps there. She also tells us how we can stop someone from unlocking our phone using our own face for Face ID.
02. Control the keyboard cursor - 322.3k likes
Editing text on a smartphone keyboard can be a nuisance - just getting the cursor in the right place where you want to write or copy/paste a phrase can be tricky. But in the video above, TikTok creator Faisal shows us a handy two handy iPhone hacks for more precise cursor control.
The first option is to tap and hold the space bar on the keyboard, which turns it into a trackpad, allowing us to move the cursor around. But Faisal says this can still feel clumsy – as an even better hack for more precise control, Faisal recommends holding two fingers down on the screen to move the cursor.
03. Reduce background noise on calls - 265k likes
Need to answer a call in a noisy location? TikTokker Aakaanksh has some advice. It isn't exactly an iPhone hack, but it's a feature that a lot of people don't know about. After answering the call, you can swipe down on your screen and click 'Mic Mode > Voice Isolation'. This should reduce the background noise and make your voice sound clearer.
04. Remove the background from iPhone pictures – 207.8k likes
There are now plenty of tools that can remove the background from images, not least Photoshop. But if you want to remove backgrounds from a whole bunch of images in one go, TikTok user LaChief has an iPhone hack for that. Just go to your camera roll and select the photos you want to remove the background from, tap on the share button and save to files. Now go to files and select all the pictures that you just saved there, tap on the 3 dots and press 'remove background'. The images will be saved without a background.
05. Back tap hidden feature - 111k likes
This is an iPhone hack we've mentioned before. You can turn on a feature that allows you to activate a shortcut by tapping the back of your phone. To turn on back tap iPhone, go to Settings > Accessibility > Touch > Back Tap. You can choose between double tap or triple tap to activate the shortcut, which can be used to perform various actions of your choosing. In the video above, TikTokker EllyAwesome uses back tap to start the Shazam app, but it can also be used to do things like take a screenshot or to turn on your torch, lock screen or Siri.
06. Improve video quality - 73.2k likes
Finally, TikTok creator Eugoson Quorch shares a handy iPhone hack for quickly undoing actions. Go to your iPhone settings and turn on 'shake to undo', under the touch section. Once it's enabled this feature allows you to simply shake your iPhone to undo an action. For example, if you delete a photo by mistake, just shake your iPhone to bring it back. Neat!
See the best iPhone 14 prices below if you're looking for a device. You might also want to see our iPhone Pro camera tips.
