How to Make Your iPhone Work for You (Not Against You)

If you're anything like me, whenever you need to do something quickly on your iPhone, you often find yourself flipping and scrolling around looking for an app.

Then, after you find the app and open it, you tap around to get it to do what you want.

Sometimes I feel like it would be easier, especially when taking a quick note or jotting down a name and a phone number, to carry a little pocket notepad and pen.

The iPhone is the most powerful device most of us carry every single day.

For most of us, it's actually the number one thing that is distracting us from achieving our goals.

This has got to be one of the iPhone's most overlooked and underused features, and there's really no learning curve.

It's more of a remembering curve, because all you have to do is long-press an icon to get to that app's quick actions.

And I've created two powerful focus modes, one for the morning, one for the daytime. This has changed the way that I use my phone forever.

Well, I did that in two simple steps.

I took every app off my home screen and put back only the apps I use, and then I started using each app's quick actions, and what a difference it made.

Step One: Stripping Back the Home Screen

Step one is simple. Strip it all back.

Every time I removed an app, I asked, " Do I need this right now? Or am I just used to seeing it and clicking on it?

And most apps are a bit of a pain.

So instead, I decided that if I really was probably going to need this at some point in the future, I won't delete it.

I will remove it from my home screen. So it wasn't there, and it was decluttered. But if ever I needed it, I could get it.

Curating Prime Real Estate

The first thing I did to make this whole thing work was choose the apps I wanted on my home screen, and you can do the same.

The apps that you use may not be the apps that I use.

What I did was start figuring out what I use most on my iPhone, and that's what I put on my home screen.

At the bottom, I typically keep communication stuff, although I've got reminders in here.

I keep Phone and Messages, FaceTime, and a few other apps up here.

I have Weather and Photos because I always look at photos. I have YouTube because I watch YouTube videos, and I have music.

I have Notes, Calendar, and a clock, which I don't use all the time, but I occasionally set a timer, so I put that on there, and then the camera.

I know there are various ways to get to all of these apps, but this is just the stuff that I put on my home screen, and that's really special real estate for me.

Only important stuff goes on the home screen.

So if you want to try this out on your phone, think about the apps you use, and those will be the apps you put on your home screen.

Step Two: Mastering Quick Actions

Second, I looked at all the quick actions each of these apps has. Let's take a look.

Communication and Organization Shortcuts

If I open Reminders, I've got a series of lists and some stuff up here like you always have.

But if I tap and hold, I can add a reminder just by tapping and holding the quick actions.

It just pops up, and I can put something in each one of these lists.

I typically put things in the inbox, then sort them out later, so I can quickly tap New and Inbox like that, and I'm done.

On phones, you can tap and hold. You can create a new contact, view your most recent call, and then search for calls.

What makes this unique for me is creating a new contact. Sometimes, people will want to give me their name and phone number, and I can tap that, create a new contact, and enter the phone number.

So quick, much faster than going into Contacts itself and doing that, so that I can do it right from there.

With Messages, you can tap and hold, and you can send a message to some of your most recent people that you've sent messages to, or you can tap on New Message.

You can do it right from Quick Actions.

Media and Utility Shortcuts

With the camera, you can tap and hold, and this is handy, too.

If you want to take a video or do anything else, you have to open the app, choose, slide, and do this and do that to get where you want to be.

But if you're out somewhere and want to take a quick video, you can tap and hold, tap Video, and you're good to go. Same thing with portrait or portrait selfie mode.

With the clock, you can tap to create a new alarm, or you can start a stopwatch or start a timer, something like that.

I typically use it for alarms. If I've got my iPhone beside the bed, you know, I can just set an alarm.

With the Calendar, the only thing I really want to do is add an event. I can tap Add New Event, and I'm good to go.

If I need to take a note quickly, I can tap and hold on that, and then tap New note. Or I can actually scan a document, and that's come in handy too.

With music, I can play my favorite songs. You know, if you go into music and you find a song that you like, you can tap the little heart, and you've created a favorite with it.

And I do that from time to time, but occasionally I want to listen to those favorite songs, so tapping that and hitting play on a favorite song is a killer way to get straight to it.

With YouTube, I can tap and hold, and what I like about this is that while I can go to Shorts and Search and all that kind of stuff, what I really like is the ability to go to my subscriptions, those channels that I've subscribed to.

And I can tap on any one of these names and get to their videos without having to do a whole bunch of searching.

With Photos, I can tap and hold here, and I can go to my favorites, like in Music, and I like just One Year Ago.

Lastly, with the Weather app, if you tap and hold, you can go straight to the weather.

I can tap on Raleigh and go straight to the weather, a little quicker than opening the app itself.

Building the Ultimate Productivity Toolkit

OK, so now I've got fewer apps. Great.

I need a way to have only the apps I need show up when I need them, at the specific time of day they are helpful and relevant.

We've done this by setting up two distinct focus modes, breaking the day into two parts.

But before we do that, we need to get really rigorous around what tools we're going to give ourselves throughout the day to be productive.

So calendar. Obviously, it has my upcoming events, meetings, etc.

Apple Notes is perfect for jotting down quick ideas you may have throughout the day.

Second Brain and AI Systems

This next one is really big, though: a second brain app.

So what do we mean by a second brain app? These are typically essential for organizing your thoughts and projects over time.

Some really good examples are Craft, Notion, Obsidian, or Evernote.

I personally have been using Craft recently because it's actually much more lightweight and less complicated than the likes of Notion and Obsidian, particularly Notion.

Look, it's the modern world, and generative AI systems are incredibly important. I have two that I swear by.

First is ChatGPT. Its memory feature is super powerful. Notebook LM is a total game changer.

The most important part is that it can turn whatever you're reading into a podcast you can listen to and interact with throughout the day.

Task Management and the Pomodoro Technique

We couldn't be anywhere without a to-do app.

I've relied on Todoist for ages because I really love the widget integrations.

Marques Brownlee actually swears by TickTick, so it's worth a look.

A little hidden secret I've found incredibly helpful for staying productive is embracing the Pomodoro technique. And a Pomodoro app like Focus Keeper is perfect.

The widget interface lets you jump straight into a timer for any specific work mode.

It helps you keep track with beautiful music, a ticking clock, whatever makes you feel that you are in the zone.

Creating Intentional Focus Modes

All right, so this is really where most people stop.

So now it's about what really makes these things stick. And that, my friends, is micro habits.

The Morning Focus Mode

For the morning, there is no social media, no games, and no notifications for anything I decide I don't want notifications from.

It's just the things that I think are going to help me get things done.

My day starts with this morning focus mode with its custom lock screen, no notifications except for the urgent ones, of course, just the time, the weather, and a single button for chill beats.

I've actually kept a couple of things here that I might need. So typically I want to read some news in the morning for sport or just general news.

Also, I've got Craft there; I want to tap into it and jot down a bigger idea as part of an all-term project, because sometimes you get inspiration.

Those things are still there, but it's a very simple, deliberate home screen. And if I really want another app, I can search for it. And that pause in searching makes all the difference.

The Work Mode Command Center

So at work, Work Mode kicks in. This is where my iPhone turns into a true productivity epicenter.

So I've only got two pages in Work Mode, and this page is my command center.

We've got a visual calendar with a blocked timeline for deep work. Trust me, block time for yourself like you would block time for meetings.

And because I've got, you know, my own personal calendar and my work calendar, I've set those up as widgets next to each other so I can see them.

And this timeline view allows me to see what's coming up in something that's a little bit more aesthetically pleasing.

I've got my to-do list identified right in the middle. It's the first thing I see.

Then, obviously, I have quick access to my emails and instant messaging.

For deep work, I've got the Focus Keeper widget, and it's basically a Pomodoro timer with big visuals, very calming sounds, and zero friction.

It is free. Skip the paid version. I've used it. You don't need the paid version. The free version is just fine.

I've set this up as a shortcut that launches directly into any 25-minute focus block.

So page two is very curated. There's no socials, no games, just tools that amplify what I'm already doing.

So that's AI tools. And the micro habit I've got here is getting really comfortable with using a large language model to almost act as your expert companion whenever you need it.

The Results: Taking Control of Screen Time

And in setting these things up, my iPhone doesn't drain my time. It actually now actively protects it.

I've taken control of my phone right now. What you can see is that I've actually more than halved the screen time I get.

Several times I've actually picked my phone up. And guess what? It's all because my notifications are down by about 80 percent.

Once you figure out what apps do with their Quick Actions, you'll figure out the ones you need to put on your home screen.

For me, the hardest part of using Quick Actions was remembering they were there.

Read to improve !!!

Writing for Beginners: 7 Steps to Rank writing tips must follow

Follow us