How Hal Can Assist Your Hands with That New, Bigger iPhone of Yours
The Hal App continues to be a source of help, companionship, advice, ideas…and now it will soon include things like food delivery & specialized help on some key topics (more to come on that later) — and on top of all that, we still get asked a lot of questions about how to best use an iPhone.
With the release of the much larger iPhone series, and even before that, with the loss of the familiar Home Button that so many iPhone users loved, we get asked a lot about how we can help now that so many have upgraded. Whether you’re rocking the iPhone XR that is missing the Home Button — or the brand new iPhone Pro Max with its massive 6.7" screen, questions abound.
Not to worry — Hal’s got answers!
Let’s start by addressing how Hal solved the “Mystery of the Missing Home Button”:
For some reason, tons of people check in with Hal about how much they miss the Home Button when they upgraded from their iPhone 6, iPhone 7 or their iPhone 8 to something newer. That button somehow made them feel like no matter what they tapped on, they could quickly and easily get back to the Home screen with ease. And it was designed for that express purpose: so you could navigate with a single click and get back to that one familiar place that you came to know so well. It’s called a Home screen for a reason, after all!
And while many love the swipe/gestures associated with the new iPhone lineup, starting with the iPhone X, others are still lamenting the loss of that solitary, familiar button that rested so close to their hand. So we get asked (a lot!), is there any way to make that button return once again if it’s not part of the new design? While we can’t change the hardware for you, the answer is still a resounding YES!
What many people don’t know is that there are many useful little secrets tucked away in the Accessibility settings that can make life wonderful. The one we are referring to in this case is called “Assistive Touch” — and it’s pure magic for those who long for their Home Button once again!
All you need to do is navigate to Settings>Accessibility>Touch>Assistive Touch and then turn it on by swiping the little white circle to the right. Once it is enabled, scroll down on that same screen to “Custom Actions” and select “Single Tap”. There are a slew of actions that you can set up with Single, Double or Triple taps, but in this case the Single Tap is what we are configuring. Scroll down and select “Home” for Single Tap. Now it is ready to bring you directly to your Home Screen no matter where you are at in your iPhone.
Once it is selected, this little “ghost like circle” appears on your iPhone screen. Simply drag it to the bottom center of the screen where it will be nestled between apps in the dock at the bottom — similar to how the old Home button was there waiting for you at the bottom of your iPhone — and *poof*, you now have a Home Button that permanently resides on the iPhone to use!
So many Hal users have asked Hal about the desire for the Home Button that it has made some wonder if that was the motivation behind releasing the iPhone SE (2nd Generation) model within the last year that has all the aspects of the original design but with a chip that has lots of performance built in. Despite the theories, it is definitely certain that restoring the Home Button with Assistive Touch has made several Hal customers very happy indeed.
The other big question that comes up a lot is about how people can use their iPhone with one hand. Ever since the screen sizes moved from the iPhone’s standard 4.7" to 6.1", 6.5" and now the new iPhone Pro Max that comes in at a whopping 6.7" screen, it’s an issue for many people. And those number aren’t even the full size of holding the entire device — those are just the screen dimensions, measured diagonally. Needless to say, many with either smaller hands, larger iPhones or simply an inability to get to the top of their screens with one hand are all looking for solutions to this issue.
Well, search no more, friends of Hal! We have another answer for you so that you can use your iPhone one-handed once again if you upgraded to a larger size device.
Not unlike our last tip, this one will take you to the Accessibility features page once again. Once there (from Settings), you then tap on “Touch”, then look for a little swipe button labeled “Reachability”. Enable that by swiping the little white circle to the right and now you have a way to reach all that stuff at the top half of screen with one hand!
The key to using this feature is how you swipe down on the bottom EDGE of your iPhone screen so that the top portion magically comes down and is within reach. One little downward swipe and all those apps are now yours for the tapping.
Thanks to all for your great questions that our team at Hal is happy to answer for you. Whether it’s finding that new restaurant, getting your fave team’s schedule, how to Zoom, kitchen hacks or iPhone tips and tricks, Hal is truly your one-stop app for it all. Come visit us by downloading the Hal — Personal Assistant App from the Apple App store. Once you have access to your free session, we will be waiting to greet you with….
How can I help you today?
