35 brilliant iOS 7 tips and tricks

21. Apps: Automatic Updates

iOS can now update your apps automatically. That's great as long as a) you have an unlimited data plan, and b) your favourite app's functionality doesn't get mangled with some poorly advised revisions. Control this function either way by going to Settings > iTunes and App Store and sliding the Updates option under Automatic Downloads.

22. Siri: can handle calls

You probably know that you can ask Siri to place calls for you, but did you know that you can ask her/him/it to play your voicemail or return your last missed call? Simply say "Return missed call" or "Do I have new voicemail?" and Siri will snap to it. You can also tell Siri "Check my call history" and get a list of your recent calls.

23. AirDrop: share everything with ease

Want to quickly share a photo, a web page, a location, or a contact with someone? That's what AirDrop is for. If you have Bluetooth and Wi-Fi turned on, then you can select AirDrop in the Control Centre and then tap the share icon on whatever you want to share and choose the person you want to share it with.

24. Data: stay within your allowance

Most contracts have a monthly allowance for data and you're going to get stung if you exceed it. Head into Settings > Cellular and scroll down to see which apps might be eating your data. If there's anything unnecessary listed just toggle it off. If you reset the Cellular Data Usage each month you can also use it to keep an eye on where you are.

25. iMessages: delete or forward

Sadly there's no way to delete the embarrassing text you drunkenly sent the object of your affection last night from their phone, but you can delete it from yours.

The method is slightly different in iOS 7, hold down your finger on the message and tap More… and you can tick individual messages and delete them by tapping the trashcan at the bottom of the screen. If you want to send the same message on to someone else then tap the arrow at the bottom right instead.

26. FaceTime: don't look at me!

Whether you're ill, hung over or just feeling ugly, you'll be glad to know that you can now make a FaceTime call without video. To make an audio only call using FaceTime select the contact you want and then just tap the telephone icon to the right of the FaceTime option.

27. Notification Centre: alerts and badges

If you hate the sound that plays to notify you of an incoming message, or you can't stand the red badges on your app icons, then do something about it. Go into Settings > Notification Centre and you can select individual apps and choose whether the Badge App Icon should appear, what sound should play as an alert, and where alerts will show up.

28. Siri and Safari: search Google

You can't change your default search engine in Siri from Microsoft's Bing, but you can say "Search Google for Tech Radar" and get the results you want. In Safari you can switch it. Go to Settings > Safari > Search Engine and pick your favourite.

29. Weather: it's probably still raining

When you fire up the weather app you can see basic info for your chosen cities. Tap the city and you'll get the current temperature and an extended 7-day forecast.

Tap on that big temperature number and you will reveal a breakdown showing humidity, chance of rain, wind speed, and what temperature it will actually feel like when you head out.

30. Keyboard: speed typing

It's easy to miss little shortcuts that can speed up your typing - you might already know these from previous versions of iOS, but if not, they're massive time-savers.

Double tap the spacebar and you'll end a sentence with a full stop and automatically bump on a space ready for the next one. You can also double tap the shift key to keep caps lock on, and hold down the "123" key to pick a single character without leaving the standard keyboard layout.