Image: Reuters

The iPhone is a fine phone, but, like all fine phones, it’s not flawless.

Many of the default settings of the iPhone can be worrisome, imperfect, or downright annoying. Here are eight settings that I would change first thing to make your iPhone experience a bit more pleasant:

1. Stop telling people your email is “Sent from my iPhone.”

By default, any email you send from Apple’s Mail app will come with the signature “Sent from my iPhone” below your message. Maybe you want to signal your phone of choice in every email you send; if not, you can wipe this setting out.

Go into Settings, then Mail, Contacts, Calendars, and then scroll down until you see Signature. Tap that, tap the white box, and then delete those words until the box is blank.

Or you can write your own signature here! Here’s mine!

View photos iPhone Signature settings screen More

Impress friends, strangers, and colleagues with an ironic email signature!

2. Give yourself a distinctive ringtone.

In a perfect world, Apple would assign a random ringtone and new text message tone to each phone. Instead, everyone has the exact same notification sounds, which means that whenever you hear that Apple “Ding!” anywhere within a 40-foot radius, you go rummaging through your purse and pockets as though you just won the lottery and want to share the good news.

If you’re like me, however, the message is never for you. It was someone else’s phone. Boo.

Give yourself a distinctive notification sound so that you know when you, and not the hunky dude next to you on the bus, is receiving a message. Go to Settings, then Sounds, and then open up each important sound under Sounds and Vibration Patterns and choose something that is not “Opening” or “Note” for your sound effects.

3. Put all your Apple apps into their own folder.

There are certain apps on your iPhone that you can’t delete. Don’t invest in the market? Well, there’s nothing you can do about the Stocks app. Don’t play games? You’re stuck with Game Center. More of an Amazon Kindle person? Sorry; iBooks is here to stay.

While you can’t make these apps disappear, you can stash them away in a folder to reduce clutter on your home screen. Hold your finger down on one of the apps you want to hide until it starts shaking. Then drag it on top of another app you want to hide. This will form a folder, which you can name whatever you want. Drag all the apps you don’t care for, but can’t delete, into that folder.

View photos Creating a new folder on the iPhone home screen More

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