When you first buy an Apple iPhone it is likely that you will spend the first few days working out how to use all the applications and features built into it. One thing you might not yet have come across is that there are a few hidden tricks that you could find very useful. A lot of people don’t pick these up at first because they haven’t taken the time to learn everything about their phone.

This is only to be expected though. When a phone sports as many visible features as the iPhone does it is easy to be content with that and not go on the hunt for hidden features as well. If, however, you want to maximize your use of the iPhone then it is definitely worth investing a little more time to find out about those too.

When using your iPhone you will have noticed that on most occasions you simply single tap an item to use it. In some places, however, a double tap causes the phone to do something other than a single tap does. The first place that you will find a use for the double tap is when you are watching videos on your iPhone.

When you watch a movie on your iPhone the default view is to show it in letterbox format with blank areas at the top and bottom of the picture. This is so that you get a widescreen view of the movie. The letterbox format, however, is not to everybody’s taste so you may want to switch it off.

If you want to get rid of the letterbox view and instead watch the movie in full screen mode then just double tap the screen and the view will change. You do need to be aware though that some movies are designed to be viewed in widescreen and if the movie has subtitles then some of these could get cut off.

If you want to go back to letterbox view from full screen mode then guess what? That’s right, you simply double tap the screen again and the view is restored. It really is simple features like this that give you the choice of how you want to use your iPhone that makes the iPhone such a wonderful device to own.

You will also find that double tapping works in other programs on your iPhone too. If you are using Photos, Google Maps or Safari then a double tap will zoom into whatever you tapped on. The zoom is twice the size of the original so if for example you are viewing an online newspaper then this could give you a much better view of the article you are interested in. You will also find a few other places that double tap does something for you so why not grab your iPhone right now and see what a double tap can do for you?