Tap the back of your phone to light up a room
Beneath the familiar surface of a device billions carry daily lies a quieter layer of capability — one that most users never encounter, not because it is hidden by design, but because discovery requires curiosity the interface rarely invites. Tech blogger Elly Awesome has surfaced three such features from Apple's iOS: a Back Tap shortcut system that can trigger Shazam or a torch with a tap on the phone's back, and a long-press gesture in Safari that closes all open tabs at once. These are not new inventions but old gifts gone unnoticed, a reminder that the tools we most need are sometimes already in our hands.
- Millions of iPhone users are unknowingly performing extra steps every day for tasks their phones could handle in a single tap.
- The gap between what Apple's software can do and what its users actually know creates a quiet, daily friction — small inefficiencies that compound over time.
- Blogger Elly Awesome has mapped three of these buried shortcuts, offering a practical bridge between Apple's dense settings architecture and the people who never venture into it.
- Back Tap transforms the physical back of the phone into a customisable shortcut panel, putting Shazam or the torch one gesture away without unlocking the screen.
- A long-press on Safari's tab icon collapses dozens of accumulated open tabs into a single decisive action, ending the one-by-one closure ritual many users quietly endure.
Your iPhone is likely capable of more than you know. Buried inside Apple's settings menus are features that can save real time each day — if someone points you toward them. Tech blogger Elly Awesome has done exactly that, surfacing three shortcuts worth knowing.
The first involves Shazam. Rather than unlocking your phone, hunting for the app, and waiting for it to listen, a feature called Back Tap lets you assign actions to physical taps on the back of your device. Navigate to Settings, Accessibility, Touch, then Back Tap — choose two or three taps, select Shazam, and from then on a quick tap near the Apple logo identifies any song playing around you. The same system works for the torch, replacing the lock screen hold or Control Centre swipe with a single tap on the back of the phone — a minor convenience until the moment you actually need it in the dark.
The third trick solves a problem many iPhone users know well. Safari accumulates open tabs quietly and relentlessly — Awesome herself admitted to 71 at once. Rather than closing them one by one, a long-press on the overlapping squares icon in Safari reveals a menu with a single option to close all tabs at once, along with quick access to private browsing.
None of these are new. They have existed within iOS for some time, waiting for users willing to navigate Apple's layered settings or lucky enough to encounter someone who already has. The real question they raise is not whether the features work, but why so many people never find them — and whether Apple might one day make its own software easier to discover.
Your iPhone is probably doing more than you realize. Buried in the settings menus and tucked behind gestures most people never discover are features that can save you time every single day—if you know where to look. Tech blogger Elly Awesome has spent enough time digging through Apple's software to surface three of them worth knowing about.
The first involves Shazam, the music identification app that's been around long enough that most people have forgotten it exists. You know the scenario: you're in a coffee shop or a store, a song comes on, and you want to know what it is. Normally you'd have to unlock your phone, find the Shazam app, open it, and wait for it to listen. But newer iPhones have a feature called Back Tap that lets you assign actions to physical taps on the back of your device. Set it up to trigger Shazam—go to Settings, then Accessibility, then Touch, then Back Tap, choose whether you want two or three taps, and select the Shazam shortcut from the list—and suddenly you can identify any song by simply tapping the back of your phone near the Apple logo. It's the kind of small convenience that feels almost magical the first time it works.
The same Back Tap system works for the torch. Normally turning on your flashlight means either holding down the torch button on your lock screen or swiping into Control Centre. It's not slow, exactly, but when you're fumbling in the dark it feels like an extra step. Using Back Tap to assign the torch function—select it from the System panel instead of Shazam—means you can light up a room with a quick tap on the back of your phone. It's a minor thing until you actually need it.
The third trick addresses a problem that probably sounds familiar. Safari on most iPhones accumulates tabs like dust. Awesome admits to having 71 tabs open at once, closing them one or two at a time when the weight of it all becomes unbearable. But there's a faster way. Open Safari and look for the icon of two overlapping squares—on newer models with the search bar at the bottom, it's in the bottom right corner. Long-press it. A menu appears with an option to close all your tabs at once. No more tedious individual closures. The same menu also offers quick access to private browsing mode if you need it.
These aren't new features. They've been part of iOS for a while now, sitting in plain sight for anyone willing to navigate Apple's settings architecture. The real story isn't that the features exist—it's that so many people don't know they do. Apple's software is dense with capability, but the company has never been particularly good at surfacing these hidden tools to the average user. You have to actively search for them, or stumble across someone like Awesome who's already done the digging. For anyone who uses their iPhone daily, that gap between what the phone can do and what most people know it can do is worth closing.
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I have 71 tabs open in Safari on my iPhone— Elly Awesome, tech blogger
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Why does Apple hide these features so deep in the settings?
I think it's partly about not overwhelming people. If every feature was front and center, the interface would feel chaotic. But it also means useful things just disappear.
The Back Tap feature seems almost too clever. How did anyone discover it?
Probably through the same way most people find hidden features—someone was bored in Settings one day and started poking around. Once one person finds it, it spreads.
Do you think people actually use these once they know about them?
The torch one, definitely. That's immediately useful. Shazam depends on whether you care about identifying music. But the Safari tab closer? That's the one that makes people wonder why it wasn't easier to find in the first place.
What does it say about Apple that users need a tech blogger to explain their own phone?
That there's a gap between what the company builds and what it teaches people to use. Apple's design is usually about simplicity, but simplicity sometimes means burying power where people can't see it.
Will Apple ever make these easier to find?
Maybe. But there's also something to be said for features that reward curiosity. Once you know about Back Tap, you start thinking about what else might be hiding in there.