I didn't realise my smartphone could...

85 per cent of those who took part in Deloitte’s seventh annual Mobile Consumer Survey either now own or have access to a smartphone — which works out at 41 million people — and 55 per cent of them admitted to looking at their device within 15 minutes of waking up. These figures demonstrate that there’s a lot of people around the country using smartphones. For many, there will be so much more that they could be doing with their trusty gadgets that they may never have realised.

Join premium leather iPhone X case supplier TORRO Cases as they highlight just a few extraordinary and useful things that you can do with your smartphone…

iPhones Reply to texts while your phone is locked

Save time when you need to quickly respond to someone’s text message by pulling down the notification drawer and swiping left on the notification which indicates the text in question. From there, you will see a ‘Reply’ button — simply click this and you can text your reply without ever needing to unlock your phone.

You can also use this tactic to swiftly reply to a text message while you’re using an app without exiting the software.

Remind Siri to get you to read a text or email later

Just been sent a text but have no time to read the message at the moment? Then ask Siri "remind me to read this text message later" and the intelligent personal assistant will give you a nice reminder at a more convenient time for you. This also applies to emails so long as they are accessed via Messages, Mail, Notes or Safari.

See every photo and video you’ve ever sent or received from someone

Don’t worry about scrolling through months or years of interactions just to find a photo or video that you either sent someone or received from them. Instead, simply open a messaging thread and hit the ‘Details’ button in the top right-hand corner. Every photo and video sent between the two of you will be ready to access right there.

Share a location with someone via text

Do you need to explain where you are to someone but just don’t know where to begin? Save the hassle by hitting that same ‘Details’ button in a messaging thread and tapping ‘Send My Location’. Your friend or family member will know where you are in an instant.

You can also use a similar method if you would like someone to keep track of where you’re going — just select ‘Share My Location’ instead of ‘Send My Location’ and then decide between sharing your location for the next hour, the entire day or until you say otherwise.

Undo typing by shaking your phone

Don’t panic if you make an error while texting, writing an email or editing a photo on your iPhone. Just give your smartphone a quick shake and you’ll get the handy option to undo typing to sort out your mistake quickly.

Android devices Disable your phone’s lock screen at home

Locking your phone when you’re out and about is wise — there’s so much crucial data stored on our devices today, after all — but it seems more of a hassle once you’re comfortable in your own home. Use Google’s Smart Lock feature by going to Settings> Security> Smart Lock and you can disable your smartphone’s lock screen but only when the device knows you’re in your humble abode.

View two apps at the same time

Eager to text someone about a crucial bit of news or information that you’ve just read on one of your apps? Instead of having to jump constantly between apps, you can run them side-by-side or one above the other.

All you need to do is click the Overview button that is below your smartphone’s screen and selecting which apps you want to see. From there, hold the title bar of an app and drag if to either the top or left of your device’s display. Repeat with another app but place it on the bottom or right of the display this and suddenly multitasking will become so much easier!

Find notifications that you’ve lost

It can be annoying when you swipe away one of the notifications on your smartphone when you’re in a rush but then cannot think what it was notifying you about. Fortunately, you can find notifications that you’ve lost.

Find an empty portion of your device’s home screen and tap and hold it. Screen-adjusting mode will be activated, whereby you need to select ‘Widgets’ and then locate the ‘Settings’ shortcut. Pop this shortcut icon into that earlier discover empty portion of your home screen and a list will appear. Select the ‘Notification log’ from this list and those notifications which you once swiped away will be there to view again.

Prioritise who calls you

All of us go through times when we just don’t feel like talking, which makes the Do Not Disturb feature of your Android device such a handy feature. Find it by going to Settings> Sound> Do Not Disturb and you can filter any texts and call notifications that come through to your smartphone to only those that will be crucial.

Of course, there may be times when someone who you may not see as being an important contact at the time needs to urgently get in touch with you. Fortunately, the Do Not Disturb feature also includes a ‘Repeat Callers’ setting which will notify you if the same person tries to contact you at least twice in a 15-minute period.

Tap phones to share

If you have a Near Field Communication-enabled smartphone, Android Beam gives you the opportunity to exchange stuff like apps, photos, videos, music and contact details by simply tapping your phone with another NFC-enabled device. Once the two gadgets have made contact, simply tap what you want to send on your phone and it will instantly be transferred to the other device.

Georgie White is copywriter on behalf of Projected Image.