iPhone Settings

The Settings screen on iOS devices keeps growing longer. With every new feature of Apple's mobile operating system, another menu item is added to the list. Unfortunately, this makes finding a particular setting on the iPhone, iPad or iPod touch more difficult. Sometimes it's not even clear whether or not a particular feature can be customized. Luckily there are two tricks you can use to more efficiently access iOS Settings, saving time and effort.

Anybody who has young children (and probably most who don't) knows that one of the quickest cures for restlessness is to hand over your iPhone so they can, depending on their age, immerse themselves in games, surf the web, check their social media or just tap randomly and watch the results. You hope that it isn't handed back to you with hundreds of dollars of in-app purchases, screwed up settings, inappropriate sites in your browser history or strange new "friends" on Facebook. Fortunately Apple has built "Restrictions" into iOS that are often updated to stay current.

Most iPhone users should know that the Do Not Disturb mode is the easiest way to stop their phone from ringing, chirping and vibrating while they are at the movies, in a meeting or just trying to get a good night's sleep. What many may not know, however, is that you can customize the Do Not Disturb settings to allow certain calls and notifications through, and you can schedule it to automatically turn on at specific times. If you want to allow possible emergency calls from family come through, you can do that.

Moving app icons around on the iPhone home screen is easy. Usually iPhone owners find a configuration that works, however sometimes it can help to start from scratch. The good news is that iOS has a built-in function to reset the home screen layout to factory settings. Moving each app around in wiggle mode isn't necessary to make this happen. Here are instructions on how to quickly reset the iPhone home screen icons to the default layout.

The larger screens on more recent iPhones has made content easier than ever to read, however there may be some of you out there who still prefer to make things on your screen bigger. Also, the recent release of the smaller iPhone SE may be leaving 4-inch phone diehards wishing they had a way to make text more legible. Here are a few tips to help you do just that.