Unlocking The Possibilities Of Your iPhone 7 Plus
With great performance, decent battery life, (optionally) huge storage and a camera to die for, the iPhone 7 Plus is a fantastic tool for those who can afford it. At the same time, with such a wealth of features, some less serious users might have trouble learning how to get the most out of this great phone. If you are the kind of person who thinks reading the manual is for other people, we’ve collected some of the most useful features for those migrating from older models.
Getting to Grips With the Interface
People that are used to using the iPhone 6 or iPhone 6S will notice a couple of changes. Firstly, there’s no Home button which has been replaced by a capacitive sensor. Thanks to the Taptic Engine it lets your fingertip know when it’s been activated. You can actually change this sensation by navigating to Settings, General, Home Button and select your favorite feel from the three options.
Also like anything electronic, when things occasionally go haywire it’s time for a hard reset. You would normally use the Home button for this too; instead, hold down the power button on the right-hand edge while keeping the Volume Down button on the opposite side pressed as well. You’ll soon see the Apple logo appear and things should work perfectly once more.
This is certainly the phone for those who like their happy snaps, but the little camera icon on the lock screen you would have used to quickly activate shooting is also missing. Don’t worry, just swipe to the left on the lock screen to open the camera. The Control Center is far more useful in this model. Simply drag upwards from the bottom of the screen to quickly open some of the functions you use most often: Wi-Fi, AirDrop, AirPlay and Bluetooth connectivity plus some of the most frequently used apps.
Factory Unlocking your iPhone 7 Plus
You might have purchased your device from a cellular service operator instead of an Apple store and be regretting it already. The main difference is that a phone supplied by a network is typically tied to only that network while you can put any SIM card in one bought directly from Apple and expect it to work fine. On the other hand you might have found out too late that your chosen provider offers indifferent customer service, poor coverage, and actually ends up charging you much more than the “headline” price they mention on their ads.
The bad news is that the contract you signed with them (you read through that thing, didn’t you?) often doesn’t allow you to unlock your phone before the contract period has expired which is typically twelve to twenty-four months. In this case since the factory unlocking process has to go through the service provider you may be out of luck as far as switching networks goes. However it rarely hurts to ask and a number of companies work with cellular network operators and Apple itself to provide easy, affordable unlocking services. There are quite a few suspicious websites out there so use your discretion but certain enterprises have a good track record and will be quite upfront about what they can and cannot do. Unlockiphoneden.com is a good place to learn about unlocking and typically answer queries in a timely fashion. These companies will register your phone’s unique IMEI number on Apple’s own database as being unlocked, after which you can use any SIM card you like. This will save you a significant amount of money especially if you plan to use your iPhone abroad.
Some Convenient and Time-Saving Features
If you’ve typed part of a text message but decide to start over completely you can tap the backspace button a hundred times or so…or you can just quickly shake the phone to discard all the text you’ve entered. There’s a confirmation step involved so you won’t do this accidentally.
If you’re not the kind of person who likes to check for notifications every five minutes there’s an easy way to set your phone to let you know from across the room with a flashing light. Simply go to the Settings menu, then General and Accessibility. You’ll find the LED Flash for Alerts option and never miss an urgent notification again.