If you’re like most people, you use your iPhone for a variety of tasks, from checking email to browsing the web. But what if you want to take action on something? Whether it’s ordering a pizza or scheduling a meeting, using your iPhone can be a hassle. Here are four tips for launching actions on your iPhone:

  1. Use Siri One of the best ways to take action on your iPhone is through Siri. Just say “Siri, order me a pizza” and Siri will start ordering one for you right away. You can also use Siri to get information about the weather, find directions, and more. Just press and hold down on the home button until Siri appears and then say what you want her to do.
  2. Use the Home Screen Launcher Another way to launch actions on your iPhone is through the home screen launcher. This is where all of your apps live and it’s easy to access the home screen launcher by pressing and holding down on an app icon until it pops up. From here, just swipe left or right to access all of your apps and then tap on the home button again to return to the main screen. This is great if you want quick access to all of your apps but don’t want them taking up space on your screen (like when you’re using an airplane mode).
  3. Use Shortcuts in Apps If an app has shortcuts built in, that’s another way to take action quickly. For example, if you’re subscribed to a newsletter in Mail app, just press and hold down on an article headline until a shortcut menu pops up and then select “Subscribe.” From here, just enter your email address and hit “Subscribe.” You can also use shortcuts in other apps too – just search for “shortcut” in the App Store app and see which ones have been created by other users!
  4. Set Up Actions with Automation Rules last but not least, ..

Back Tap is a powerful accessibility feature that can come in handy for all iPhone users. If you’re using an iPhone X and newer, simply tapping the middle part of the back of your iPhone twice or thrice will launch a preconfigured action.

You can use Back Tap to quickly open Notification Center, Control Center, Siri, and more. You can even launch shortcuts with this feature. And thanks to background shortcuts also introduced in iOS 14, they’ll be initiated instantly, without jumping into the Shortcuts app.

RELATED: What Are iPhone Shortcuts and How Do I Use Them?

One of the most popular use cases we have seen so far is to bring up the Google Assistant (via a custom shortcut) using a double-tap gesture.

You can set Back Tap up by first opening the “Settings” app. From there, go to the “Accessibility” section.

Here, tap the “Touch” option.

Scroll all of the way to the bottom of the page and choose the “Back Tap” option.

You’ll now see two different options for customizing the “Double Tap” or “Triple Tap” feature.

Choose one to see a list of all available actions. At the top, you’ll find system actions like Notification Center, Screenshot, Siri, and more. Scroll down to find accessibility options like AssistiveTouch, Smart Invert, and more.

At the bottom of this screen, you’ll find a section dedicated to the Shortcuts app. Here, choose a shortcut to associate it with one of the Back Tap gestures.

Once you go back to the previous screen, the Back Tap gesture will be activated. Now you can double-tap or triple-tap the back of your iPhone at any time to initiate the selected action.

Want to more about widgets on your iPhone? Learn how iOS 14 transformed the Home screen by adding brand-new customizable widgets.

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