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Home » iPhone hidden feature takes screenshots and controls home with simple gesture
Lifestyle

iPhone hidden feature takes screenshots and controls home with simple gesture

By staff10 August 2025No Comments3 Mins Read

A hidden gesture on your iPhone can allow you to take a screenshot or even control parts of your house without even needing to move your finger very far

Woman using phone
iPhone owners could be missing out on this secret gesture(Image: Getty Images)

While there’s a plethora of tricks you can perform with your iPhone, many might not know that a simple gesture could unlock a host of additional features.

A hidden gesture on your iPhone could enable you to take a screenshot or even control parts of your home with barely a flick of a finger. To access this feature, iPhone users need the Shortcuts app.

This app typically comes pre-installed on your iPhone and doesn’t require downloading from the App Store. The tool lets users create custom shortcuts on their phone, enabling them to streamline a multitude of tasks by linking them all to one action, such as a gesture or button press.

One specific gesture that can utilise Shortcuts is the ‘Back Tap’ feature. This allows users to trigger a Shortcut when they double or triple-tap the back of their phone with their finger.

Cropped shot of young woman using mobile app on smartphone in the city at sunset
Shortcuts can provide a variety of new actions(Image: Getty Images)

How to activate back tapping on your iPhone

Official guidance from Apple states that a double or triple tack on the back of an iPhone can be activated with the following steps:

  1. Press Settings
  2. Press Accessibility
  3. Press Touch
  4. Press Back Tap
  5. Select Double Tap or Triple Tap
  6. Choose what action you want to link it to (e.g. take a screenshot)

What can be controlled with back tap

Apple’s guidance highlights that a double or triple tap can perform minor actions such as taking a screenshot. However, to fully exploit the feature, you might want to link it to run a personalised Shortcut.

The Shortcut app boasts a plethora of actions that can be executed with just a tap on your smartphone. DiscoPumpe, a Reddit user, shared their use of the shortcuts app to switch off all lights at home.

Woman using iPhone while sat down
People have found a variety of uses for the hidden gesture(Image: Getty Images)

In a discussion about the various uses for shortcuts, they explained: “I use it a lot. You can even make different shortcuts depending on the focus mode that is activated. So while a triple tap shuts all light and music off while my home focus is activated, it activated my budget tracking shortcut while I’m out.”

Meanwhile, Larten_Crepsley90 said: “I have a shortcut that takes a screenshot and copies all of the text, it then saves it into a note and opens the note. Handy when I want to copy something that is not selectable.”

Not_TheMenInBlack added: “Double tap opens a prompt to switch between mono and stereo. It gets a lot more use than you’d think. Triple tap turns on my color filters, night shift, etc. to redwash my screen before bed. I typically have this all automated with my sleep focus, but occasionally it helps to minimize eye strain when I have headaches.”

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