iTips for Your iPhone

Datamation content and product recommendations are editorially independent. We may make money when you click on links to our partners. Learn More.

1. How to Set Any Picture as Wallpaper

With the iPhone, you can use any picture that you’ve synced through iTunes or taken with the built-in camera as wallpaper. It is a great and simple way to add a little bit of your personality to your iPhone.

Here’s how to do it:

Press the home button to get to the iPhone’s home screen.
Select settings.
Select Wallpaper.
Choose the folder from which you want to select your wallpaper image.

You’ll see one labeled Wallpaper at the top with pre-loaded wallpaper pictures from Apple. That’s where our rose in the picture above comes from.

Next up is Camera Roll, where all the pictures you take with the iPhone are stored. Underneath that is the general Photo Library folder and then all the folders you’ve synced from your desktop.

Select an image.
What you’ll see next is how the image you selected will look as wallpaper.
Thankfully, you can move and adjust the picture as much as you like with your fingers through Apple’s multi-touch interface. Use one finger to move an image around. Use two fingers, pinching them together and widening them apart, to shrink and enlarge the picture.
Once you’re satisfied with how the image looks, select Set Wallpaper.

That’s it, you’re all set. The next time you turn your iPhone on, you’ll be greeted by the picture of your choice. Unfortunately, that’s just about the only place you’ll see wallpaper with the iPhone. It doesn’t even appear on the home screen, which remains a dull black no matter what.

And, annoyingly, there doesn’t appear to be any easy way to go back to not having wallpaper once you start using it. It seems you have to stop syncing or delete that image from your iPhone. All you can easily do, apparently, is change the wallpaper to another picture.

In addition to your own pictures, there are free wallpaper sites out there that have images you can download already formatted to fit smoothly on the iPhone’s 320 x 480 pixel resolution display.

Simply download them to your computer and sync them to your iPhone.

2. How to Accent Letters When Typing

If you need to add an accent mark to your text message, e-mail, or note – here’s a slick feature. Just type the relevant letter and hold that key down – a selection of accented letters will pop up. Chose the accent you want. And voilá, you’re good to go.

3. Let Your Fingers Reveal the Details

The mapping feature on your iPhone is great – find your current location (just tap the circle on the left side, bottom, of the screen) and then tap Directions. Enter an address (or get one from your Contacts list) and you’re on your way. You can get driving directions or an overall map of your route complete with a blue line going from here to there.

But how can you see details on the map?

You can use “the two-finger spread” – put two fingers together in an “I”, place them on the screen and just spread them apart into a “V” – you’ll zoom in. Another way to zoom in is the just tap the screen twice with one finger. If you need more detail, tap with a finger twice again. Your map will zoom in.

Zoom back out by making a “V” with two fingers, touch the screen with both fingers, and then move the fingers together (into an “I”). An easier way to zoom out, however, is just tap the screen with two fingers. Keep your fingers an inch apart and tap. The map zooms out. You can continue tapping with two fingers until you’ve zoomed out to a map of the entire U.S.

This article was first published on iPhoneGuide.com.