Hey,
If you've got an iPhone, this issue is for you.
Most of us use a fraction of what it can do, and the new features this year are easy to miss because none of them switch themselves on.
By the end of this, you'll know how to find any email or address in seconds, stop retyping things by hand, and make your phone do your repetitive stuff for you.
How to get way more out of the iPhone you already own
Here are the settings, shortcuts and new features I think are worth five minutes of your time, with the exact steps for each:
Part 1: The new stuff (iOS 27)
🗣️ Turn on Siri AI (it's off by default)
Siri has been completely rebuilt. It's closer to ChatGPT than the Siri you've been ignoring for a decade. Updating to iOS 27 doesn't switch it on for you, though.
How to turn it on:
Update to iOS 27: Settings > General > Software Update
Go to Settings > Siri
Tap Try Siri AI (Beta)
Follow the prompts. You might be put on a waitlist. Waits have ranged from a few minutes to a few days, and you'll get a notification when it's ready
Say "Hey Siri" or open the new Siri app
Before you start: you need an iPhone 15 Pro or newer. It's English-only at launch (more languages are due this month) and it's not available in the EU yet. It's also still labelled a beta.
If you can't get it yet, join the waitlist anyway.
🔎 Ask it to find things in your own life
Siri can now search your messages, emails, photos and notes.
Try asking:
"Check my Messages for Sarah's address"
"Find the confirmation number from my last hotel booking email"
"Find the restaurant my friend recommended"
The trick: name the app. "Check my Messages for…" tends to work much better than a vague "What's Sarah's address?"
Ask it anything, really. It can pull up current answers from the web too, and you can keep asking follow-up questions in the same conversation.
📧 Add every email account to Apple Mail
This one is boring, and it's the one that makes #2 actually work.
Even if you never open Apple Mail, add all your email accounts to it. That way Siri can index them and pull your emails into its answers.
How to do it:
Open Settings and find Mail
Tap Mail Accounts > Add Account
Add each one: Gmail, Outlook, work, the old one you forgot about
Leave Mail on and give it a little while to index
You don't have to switch to Apple Mail. You just need your accounts to live on your phone.
👀 Ask Siri about what's on your screen
Siri can now see what you're looking at. So you don't have to copy, paste and retype anything.
How to use it:
Open an email with flight details, a group chat arranging dinner, or a page with concert dates
Say "Hey Siri, add this to my calendar"
Check the invite it creates (title, time, address) and confirm
It works with anything you can see on the screen. Ask Siri a question about it, or ask it to do something with it.
📷 Siri Camera: point it at things and ask
If you've used Gemini or Google Lens, it's the same idea. It's now built into the Camera app.
How to use it:
Open Camera
Swipe along the modes at the bottom (Photo, Video…) until you reach Siri
Point at something and tap the Siri button (it's where the shutter normally is)
Type your question, or tap the mic and ask out loud
Keep asking follow-ups, and your past lookups are saved in the Siri app
Things to try: identify a plant or animal, translate a menu, snap an event poster and send the date to your calendar, or split a bill.
Good news: it works on any Apple Intelligence iPhone (15 Pro or newer), not just the new one. The iPhone 18 Pro is just faster. If you've got an iPhone 16 or newer, you can also long-press Camera Control to launch it.
⚡ Build a Shortcut just by describing it
Shortcuts has always been brilliant and slightly terrifying. You needed to be a bit of a nerd to build anything. Now you can just tell it what you want.
How to do it:
Open the Shortcuts app
Tap +
Tap the new Prompt bar
Describe the routine in plain English. Something like: "When I get in the car, open Maps and start my podcast"
Tap the arrow, and Siri builds it
Check what it made, then tap Done
Always check what it built before you save it.
⚙️ Part 2: Already on your phone, just ignored
Not on an iPhone 15 Pro or newer? These work for you too.
🔘 Action Button: make it do your most common task
If your iPhone has an Action Button, it's probably set to silent mode and nothing else.
How to change it:
Settings > Action Button
Swipe through the options: Camera, Flashlight, Focus, Visual Intelligence, Shortcut and more
Pick the thing you do 20 times a day
Choose Shortcut and it can do almost anything, including the ones you built in #6.
📄 Live Text: copy words out of the real world
Phone numbers on posters. Wi-Fi codes on the back of a router. Text in a photo someone sent you.
How to use it:
Open a photo, or point your Camera at some text
Touch and hold on the text until it highlights (in the Camera, tap the Live Text icon)
Choose Copy, Translate or Look Up
No more retyping a 16-digit code by hand.
🌙 Focus modes: stop being pinged all day
Most people have Do Not Disturb and nothing else. Focus is the grown-up version.
How to set one up:
Settings > Focus
Tap + and pick one (Work, Sleep, Driving…)
Choose which people and apps are allowed to reach you
Set a schedule, so it switches on by itself
Set it once and it runs in the background. That's the point of it.
🎯 What I'd turn on first
If you want to… | Do this |
|---|---|
Find an address, email or booking | Ask Siri + add all accounts to Mail |
Add events without typing | "Add this to my calendar" |
Identify something in the real world | Siri mode in the Camera |
Automate a daily routine | Describe it in Shortcuts |
Do your most common task in one press | Set up the Action Button |
Copy text from the real world | Live Text |
Stop being pinged all day | Focus modes |
Not on an iPhone 15 Pro or newer | Start with Live Text and Focus |
What do you wish your iPhone did better?
📱 Enjoying this newsletter? Share it with a friend who’s as obsessed with tech as you are:
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and more…