Necessary change

I’ve heard folks saying they want something new for some time now. After being conditioned to a tick-tock upgrade cycle with a radically new iPhone design every two years, the last four years have felt a little uneventful. The iPhone X is the most radical change we’ve seen since the introduction of the Plus, and maybe ever.

But with change comes the need to retrain and relearn. Working without a home button, authorizing through Face ID, and adapting to the notch will take a little bit of time to get used to. My thumb is still subconsciously trying to push the home button every time I use the phone, but ultimately, I find the few days of retraining well worth it.

A few helpful tips for adapting

1) Reachability isn’t gone.

If you are a user who likes the Reachability feature (double tapping the home button to bring the top half of the screen down into the thumb zone), don’t fear, that feature isn’t gone — it’s just different.

To use it, double-check the feature is on in Settings > General > Accessibility > Reachability. After it’s on, swipe down at the bottom of the screen and it will pull the top down. Then, to resume regular full screen use, either make a selection or swipe up from the bottom of the screen.

I actually find it more natural. It’s almost like you are pulling the top of the screen down to where you can reach it and then flicking it back up when you are done.

2) You can still view your battery percentage.

One of the very first things I do when setting up my new iPhone is going to Settings > Battery to turn ON Battery Percentage. I prefer this for personal use, but find the precision essential for professional use. For example, if I’m recording video and my battery is 18%, I’m going to make radically different shooting decisions than if my battery is 6%. Without the the percentage on, both of these look like the same slim red bar of battery life.

So when I powered on my iPhone X and went to turn on this feature in settings and didn’t find it, I was pretty miffed. I thought, “surely they’ve just put this feature somewhere else.” I looked and looked and didn’t find it. I can see why they cut it (because the notch eats up the screen real estate needed to display the extra horizontal data) but I couldn’t imagine it’d be gone all together.

Finally, the next day I discovered it’s on by default in the Control Center. Now, to check the precise percentage of remaining battery, just swipe down from the top right corner. While I would prefer to have it on all the time, I’m glad it’s not entirely gone.