Tech News

Master Your iPhone: 17 Pro Tips and Tricks You Need to Know

Published

3 months ago

November 1, 2025

The iPhone 17 series from Apple is making waves with its bold features and design. The base iPhone 17 now includes features that were previously only available on the Pro models, such as the highly anticipated 120Hz ProMotion Display. The iPhone Air pushes the boundaries of design and engineering, while the iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max come with professional-grade features like ProRes RAW and GenLock.

These new models also come with the latest iOS 26 user experience, which introduces a visual departure from the flat interface of previous releases. The addition of Liquid Glass and other new features changes the look, feel, and behavior of iOS in exciting ways.

Whether you’re a newcomer to the iPhone 17 series or a long-time iPhone user upgrading to one of these new models, this guide will provide you with helpful tips and tricks. The guide is written by someone who has reviewed almost every iPhone model of the last decade and has spent a significant amount of time optimizing the iOS experience as a result.

Customize the lock screen clock

With iOS 16, Apple introduced the ability to customize the lock screen clock’s font and color. With iOS 26, the customization options have been expanded even further. Now, you can scale the clock, which, when paired with the Always-On Display feature, provides a useful functionality. You can still customize the font and color of the clock and choose between the Liquid Glass aesthetic or the more traditional flat appearance of previous iOS versions.

Foundry | Alex Walker-Todd

HOW? To customize the lock screen clock, press and hold on a blank area of the lock screen until the wallpaper zooms out. Then tap the Customize button that appears at the bottom of the screen. Bounding boxes will appear around all the key UI elements you can interact with, including the clock.

Tap and drag on the grab handle visible in the bottom right of the clock’s bounding box, and then simply drag downwards to extend the clock to your preferred height.

Once you’re satisfied with the position of the lock screen clock, tap anywhere within the clock’s bounding box to bring up the Font & Color menu. In addition to adjusting the font and color, there’s now a new Glass / Solid toggle that you can experiment with as well.

Spatial Scene lock screen

In iOS 26, Apple has introduced a new faux 3D effect called Spatial Scenes that can be applied to your lock screen. This effect creates a sense of depth and movement in certain images, enhancing the visual experience.

If you’ve selected a lock screen image that is compatible with Spatial Scenes (usually one with a clear foreground subject), you can create a Spatial Scene lock screen.

HOW? To create a Spatial Scene lock screen, go to Settings, then tap on Wallpaper. Choose a photo you want to use as your lock screen and see if it’s compatible with Spatial Scenes. If it is, you’ll be able to turn on the Spatial Scenes effect on your lock screen.

Note: Spatial Scene wallpapers only appear on the lock screen. They will not be visible on your home screen.

Spatial Scene in Photos

If you want to experience the Spatial Scene effect on multiple photos in your gallery without going through the process each time, you can easily view compatible images as Spatial Scenes directly in the iOS Photos app.

Alex Walker-Todd

HOW? Open the Photos app, tap on an image you want to view as a Spatial Scene, and if it’s compatible, you’ll see a small hexagonal icon with an arrow on its right towards the top right of the screen. Tap the icon to enable the Spatial Scene effect on your selected image.

Faster haptics for a better feel

Apple’s Taptic Engine has revolutionized the way we interact with iPhones, offering precise and powerful haptic feedback. To enhance the feel of interacting with your iPhone even further, you can adjust the haptic touch settings to make your device feel snappier.