The iPhone is unlike any other mobile device you have experienced before. In large, the iPhone has replaced old fashioned device buttons with onscreen touching, flipping, dragging and more. This guide will explain the various finger techniques you will be using with the iPhone.
Tap
In owning an iPhone, you will be doing a lot of tapping. The iPhone consists of a number of onscreen buttons, which you will need to tap with your finger. Luckily they are big enough for users to see and touch. Here you will not be using the old-fashioned stylus, pen tip or any other small object.
Slide
On some screens you will be required to confirm an action by sliding your finger across the screen of the iPhone. Examples of sliding requests are when you intend to switch off your iPhone or unlock it after it was locked due to inactivity. You will also be requested to slide your finger to answer a call on a locked phone or to shut off an alarm or alert.
Drag
Dragging will occur when you are zoomed into a web page, email or photo and you wish to move around the enlarged image. Dragging is almost like a flick of the finger, but only slower and more controlled.
Pinch and Spread
In applications such as Mail, Web, Maps and Photos a user can zoom in by spreading. This is done by placing two fingers on the screen and spreading them apart. By doing this the image will start to enlarge.
Once zoomed into an image, you can zoom out again by pinching. This is done, once again by placing two fingers on the screen and pinching them together.
Flick
A flick can be seen as a fast and uncontrolled slide of the finger. By scrolling vertically you can browse long lists. The faster you flick the faster the list scrolls by.
Double-Tap
The double-tap term is plain forward and easy to understand, however, this is very rarely used on the iPhone where all functions are activated with one tap.
Generally double tapping are reserved for three functions only, and they are:
- Double tapping images in the browser will zoom in on them.
- Double tapping a zoomed image will restore the image to its original size.
When watching a video, double tapping it will switch between aspect ratios.
Two-Finger Tap
This is a very rare action on the iPhone and is only used in Google Maps. This will zoom out of a map viewed and is performed by tapping the screen once with two fingers.