Technologies
My Favorite Hidden iPhone Shortcut To Turn On The Flashlight (And More)
This simple pro iPhone tip will save you time and fumbling.
My iPhone‘s flashlight isn’t just a tool I casually fire up if something accidentally rolls under the couch, it’s a feature I use daily to light up the way to the bathroom in the middle of the night, scan my backyard when animals make weird sounds and… OK, yeah, find something I’ve lost under my couch. And since I use the iPhone flashlight so often, I’ve turned on a tool deep in the iOS settings menu that makes it faster to light up the torch — no more fumbling with the lock screen for the flashlight icon or unlocking the phone first.
I don’t exaggerate when I say this hidden iPhone feature has changed the flashlight for me.
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Back Tap for the iPhone is an accessibility feature that Apple introduced with iOS 14,. It lets you quickly perform certain actions — say, taking a screenshot or launching your camera — by simply tapping the back of your phone. Essentially, it turns the entire back of your iPhone into a button.
This is an important benefit for all kinds of people, and for me, enabling Back Tap has let me turn it into a customizable button to quickly trigger the iPhone flashlight. I’ll tell you exactly how to set it up for yourself, and you can of course customize Back Tap to trigger other actions.
Also, if you want to learn more about other iPhone and iOS features, check out these 10 next-level iOS 16 features and how to find the “secret” iPhone trackpad.
How to set up Back Tap on iPhone
Whether you want to link Back Tap with your flashlight, camera or launch a different iPhone app, the path through your iPhone settings begins the same way.
On your compatible iPhone (iPhone 8 or later), launch the Settings application and go to Accessibility > Touch > Back Tap. Now you have the option to launch your action (in this case, your flashlight) with either two or three taps. Although two taps is obviously faster, I would suggest three taps because if you fidget with your phone, it’s easy to accidentally trigger the accessibility feature.
Once you choose a tap option, select the Flashlight option — or a different action if you prefer. You’ll see over 30 options to choose from, including system options like Siri or taking a screenshot, to accessibility-specific functions like opening a magnifier or turning on real-time live captions. You can also set up Back Tap to open the Control Center, go back home, mute your audio, turn the volume up and down and run any shortcuts you’ve downloaded or created.
You’ll know you’ve successfully selected your choice when a blue checkmark appears to the right of the action. You could actually set up two shortcuts this way — one that’s triggered by two taps and one that’s triggered by three taps to the iPhone’s back cover.
Once you exit the Settings application, you can try out the newly enabled Back Tap feature by tapping the back of your iPhone — in my case, to turn on the flashlight. To turn off the flashlight, you can tap on the back of your iPhone as well, but you can also just turn it off from your lock screen if that’s easier.
For more great iPhone tips, here’s how to keep your iPhone screen from dimming all the time and cancelling all those subscriptions you don’t want or need.
Technologies
Bessent reportedly tells Russia it won’t get economic relief until it ends Ukraine war
The meeting underscored Washington’s willingness to reopen diplomatic talks with Moscow, as Europe intends to isolate the nation while the war continues.
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Technologies
Venezuela awards 100-year concessions across 17 oil fields to U.S.-backed company NABEP, according to the White House
The White House announced that Venezuela has granted century-long concessions across 17 oil fields to NABEP, a U.S.-backed energy firm. The agreement marks a major expansion of American energy interests in the country.
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We will also use other Cookies that are essential or related to our services, including for security and fraud prevention. To learn more about some of our vendors, see the IAB and Google Vendors under each purpose. Visit our Cookie Notice and Privacy Policy to learn more.
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Your data can be used to monitor for and prevent unusual and possibly fraudulent activity (for example, regarding advertising, ad clicks by bots), and ensure systems and processes work properly and securely. It can also be used to correct any problems you, the publisher or the advertiser may encounter in the delivery of content and ads and in your interaction with them.
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– Use limited data to select content 180 partners can use this purpose Content presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device type, or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example, to limit the number of times a video or an article is presented to you).
These Cookies and SDKs are used to collect data about your browsing habits, use of the Services, your preferences, and your interaction with advertisements across platforms and devices for the purpose of delivering targeted advertising content, both on our Services and on third party sites. Third-party sites and services also use Targeting Cookies to deliver content, including advertisements relevant to your interests on the Services. If you reject these Cookies or SDKs, you will see less relevant advertising.
Data collected under this category through Cookies and SDKs can also be used to select and deliver personalized content, such as news articles and videos.
Technologies
Tehan Calls for Return to June Agreement, Crude Climbs as Trump Pledges to Strike Iran Forcefully
Oil prices climbed Tuesday amid fears of escalation after fresh U.S.-Iran military strikes and unrest in the Strait of Hormuz, as Tehran urged Washington to return to the June interim deal and Trump promised to hit Iran hard.
Oil prices extended gains Tuesday as traders mulled the threat of escalation, following the resumption of U.S.-Iran military strikes and more turmoil in the Strait of Hormuz.
A tanker was struck by three unknown projectiles while transiting Hormuz on Monday, according to an incident report from the the U.K. Maritime Trade Operations Centre.
Brent
The tanker was sailing in the southern shipping lane close to the Omani coast, the UKMTO said, adding that no casualties were reported.
Iran launched an attack on two American bases in Jordan on Monday in retaliation for the U.S. strike on its Larak Island. American forces targeted two Iranian rocket launchers on Larak Island on Sunday, reportedly killing three, saying that Tehran intended to launch rockets carrying sea mines into the Hormuz Strait.
The small island, located in the strait, has been a critical military and shipping control point for Iranian forces, helping them keep a firm grip on vessel traffic through one of the world’s most critical maritime routes.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian told the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Summit on Tuesday that Tehran would immediately reciprocate if Washington agreed to return to its commitments under the interim deal signed in June, according to the Iranian Student News Agency.
The back-and-forth hostilities marked the first time that the U.S. and Iran traded strikes in over a month.
While neither side appeared to be seeking a return to full-scale war, both signaled they were prepared to respond to further attacks. “We are going to hit them hard,” President Donald Trump told Fox News on Monday, saying that “there will be a response” to Iran’s attacks on U.S. military bases in the region.
Analysts largely view the U.S. strike on Larak Island as an attempt to break a deadlock rather than a shift in strategy. “By hitting the launchers rather than broader Iranian military infrastructure, the U.S. appears to be punishing a specific behaviour rather than, at least for now, broadening its war aims,” said Ali Vaez, deputy program director at International Crisis Group.
“It is enforcing the blockade,” said Jason Brodsky, policy director of United Against Nuclear Iran, adding that the Trump administration’s goal was to further degrade Tehran’s capabilities to mine the Strait of Hormuz, while focusing on economic coercive measures as the midterm elections approach.
Washington has ramped up pressure to squeeze Iran’s already-torn economy with “secondary sanctions” that punish nations and businesses buying Iranian crude oil. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Monday, on the sidelines of the Group of 20 finance ministers gathering, that Iran was “lashing out kinetically” because the new sanctions were taking a toll on its economy.
Speaking from the Oval Office on Monday, Trump reportedly said Iran’s financial systems, armed forces, and governing body have been largely degraded. “It doesn’t mean we won’t smack them to see what happens,” the president said.
The war, now stretching into its seventh month, has disrupted global energy supplies and sent shock waves through global financial markets.
“This is fundamentally an endurance contest,” said Brodsky, as Trump has demonstrated an “unpredictability” that should concern the Iranians, and Tehran may lash out more aggressively militarily as the economic pressure mounts.
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