If you’re an old-time Apple iPhone owner, the company’s recently released iPhone X might prove somewhat confusing at first.
Over the last decade, iPhone owners have been conditioned to use a variety of gestures to switch between apps, open settings, and perform a variety of other actions. And many of those gestures relied upon the physical home button sitting under the screen to work.
Since the iPhone X doesn’t have a physical home button, Apple needed to rethink a variety of gestures and how they work on its latest handset. And although they’ll take some getting used to, after a few days, you should feel right at home without the home button. But if you’re having some troubling finding certain features or quickly accessing menus, here’s our guide on the 5 iPhone X gestures you can’t live without:
How to Multitask
Looking to quickly switch between apps? Swipe up from the bottom of your iPhone X, but keep your thumb on the screen. You’ll see a group of windows pop up, allowing you to remove your thumb. The app you have open will join the others, and you can swipe left and right to access another app.
If you want to close one of those apps, hold your finger down on the screen until a small red button is displayed above each app. Tap that button and the app will close.
Open Control Center
Control Center has moved. To access the menu, which includes access to your Wi-Fi settings, Apple Music, and more, swipe down from the upper-right portion of the screen. Make sure to be to the side of the notch and not on it. Control Center will then be displayed.
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Access Notifications
Wondering if your friend called or just want to see all the notifications you missed? Swipe down from the top of your screen. But remember: Control Center lives on the top-right, so be sure to swipe either over the notch or to the left of it.
Quickly Access Widgets
Widgets, including a quick look at what’s next on your calendar and Siri App Suggestions, are also hiding. To access them, swipe right from the iPhone X’s lock screen. They’ll show up and allow you to access everything from apps to news to your calendar.
Reach the Top of the Screen
If you’re finding the iPhone X is a bit too tall for your thumb and makes it hard to access apps at the top of the screen, you can use a gesture to move apps down for easier access. But you’ll need to do some work to turn it on.
To turn on “Reachability,” go to Settings > General > Accessibility and tap Reachability to turn on the feature.
Now armed with the feature, place your thumb on the bottom of the screen and quickly swipe down. Don’t move your thumb too high up: any higher than the edge of the screen, and a swipe-down gesture will open up the operating system’s search.
