Ambient sound to plant finder apps: What hidden features does my phone have?
Smartphones are the obvious must-have tech gadget in 2023. More than 85% of us have one. We use it for several hours a day for just about everything from texting, talking and taking photos or videos to shopping, working, social media-ing and so much more.
Still, are we getting the most out of our magical little do-everything devices? Probably not.
Gadget-makers add handy new tricks all the time. For instance, did you know that many smartphones now come with a built-in white noise machine? I didn’t, until I happened upon the feature buried in my accessibility settings a few days ago.
Take a look at that little bit of genius, plus a handful of other fun and useful tips to help you save time, money and sanity.
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How do I turn on auto translate on my phone?
You can translate text with your camera, photo or video
On an iPhone:
As long as you’re using the latest operating system with your iPhone, the camera and photo apps have a Live Text feature that can work wonders in a whole host of scenarios.
Live Text recognizes text and information within the image and lets you do all kinds of things, such as select text to copy, share, look up or translate. You can even use quick actions to perform tasks like making a phone call or converting currencies.
Here's a great example that I ran into recently when I was at a restaurant and the menu was in another language.
Point your camera at the menu, tap the little page icon, then touch and hold the selected text.
Use the little yellow grab points to select specific text and then tap “Translate.”
If you want to translate text from a photo or video in your Photo app, open that image, or pause a video that contains text, then:
Tap that little page icon again, then touch and hold the selected text.
Apple says you might need to tap Continue, then choose a language to translate in, or tap Change Language.
If you have any difficulties doing either of those moves, make sure Live Text is turned “On” for all supported languages. (There are 34 supported languages at the time I’m writing this.)
Go to Settings General, Language & Region.
Turn on Live Text (green is on).
On an Android device:
The process is similar on most Android phones through Google Lens. Both newer-model Android phones that I tried this with – a Google Pixel 6 and Samsung Galaxy Z Flip – come with it already installed. Because many handsets running on the Android OS are slightly different, you might have to download the free Google Lens app from the Play Store.
Take a photo, or choose a photo from your Photo library, tap the Lens icon, and choose “translate.”
How can I use my phone to identify a plant?
Use your camera or photos to identify plants, landmarks, wine and more.
Just last year, I paid a pretty penny to identify plants in my own backyard with a special app. Now, my phone does it free.
For iPhones, this feature’s called Visual Look Up. For Androids, you can keep using Google Lens.
On an iPhone:
Go to your Camera app, snap the photo, then look for the small "i" icon at the bottom, in the middle of a circle. As long as it has two small stars at its top-left corner, you’re in luck. Visual Look Up information is available for that photo.
You also can go back through your Photo app and find this on an older photo. You're good to go as long as the small “i” icon with the two stars is there.
Swipe up on the photo or tap that icon to see more of what the AI “sees” in the photo.
Either tap Look Up in the middle of your screen or tap that little “pin” icon to see what Siri can figure out about it.
Usually, it takes you to a Wikipedia page and shows other similar photos.
On most Androids:
I usually use Google Lens for this as well. Bixby Vision is easy for Samsung devices, too – and it’s all super-similar to how it works for iPhones.
Open the Google Lens Camera app, tap the shutter button, and it automatically searches.
If you’re looking through a photo or video you already took, tap that photo and tap the little eye icon for Bixby Vision.
What is ambient sound on my phone?
Sure, you can spend $100 or more for a specific white noise device to drown out sirens, honking horns, loud gum-chewers or peacocks (seriously, have you heard them screech?). Or you can use what’s already loaded on your phone.
On an iPhone:
Apple calls this feature “Background Sounds”
Go to Settings > Accessibility > Audio/Visual > Background Sounds.
Toggle “on” background sounds to help you sleep, focus or cover up the loud-breather in the cubicle next to yours.
You can choose from a range of sounds: rain, stream, ocean, balanced noise, bright noise and dark noise. You also can adjust the volume.
It automatically turns off when you lock your screen or you can set your screen to lock after a certain amount of inactivity.
On an Android:
Playing white noise on an Android device takes just a few seconds, too.
The easiest way is through Google Assistant.
Say “Hey Google, play ambient noise.”
This also works with Alexa, Siri and many other smart speaker assistants.
Magically remove backgrounds from images
This was one of my favorite updates when Apple first released iOS 16 last fall.
Apple's cutout tool magically isolates subjects and removes backgrounds from images. Until that update, you had to use a separate app like Canva or Picsart to isolate a subject in a photo (I use this a lot with my dog)!
On an iPhone:
Open a photo in the Photos app or in apps like Messages, Quick Look, or Safari.
Touch and hold the subject of the photo. A shimmering white outline should appear.
Let go to reveal options like Copy and Share in the Photos app or Copy Subject in Safari.
Once you copy the subject of a photo, you can share it through apps like Messages, Mail, or use AirDrop.
You can also copy and paste it into other apps like Notes.
On an Android:
You’ll have to download an app to do this on an Android device. I typically use PhotoRoom, which is free from the Google Play Store.
Open the PhotoRoom app and tap through the quick tutorial.
In the Create tab, tap Start from Photo.
Select your photo.
Once you choose a photo, the app works automatically.
You can make further tweaks, choose a background color, and hit the share button to save to the gallery.
Use Amazon lens as a shopping hack
Here’s one I found about when I was shopping for furniture last year. I discovered my dream bookshelf for my living room, but it was way over my budget.
I can’t remember who told me about this or when, but I remembered the hack to screenshot the item, open the Amazon app on my smartphone, then use the little camera icon in the search bar – it’s called Amazon lens – to find much less expensive lookalikes. Bingo – I found a similar bookshelf for a fraction of the price.
Since then, I’ve used it for clothes, lamps, dressers, and a whole bunch of other great stuff.
Here’s how to do it on any smartphone:
Screenshot the item. Open your Amazon shopping app.
Tap the little photo icon in the search bar and tap the yellow Upload a photo bar.
The app shows you all the shoppable links of items like your screenshot.
You can also upload a photo of pretty much anything, like a lamp you saw at your friends’ house or a screen grab from a TV show.
You can also use Google Lens to do this across devices:
Right-click any image in your web browser and tap Google Lens.
You’ll then see a shopping tab, which shows similar items it finds across the internet – not just on Amazon.
This is especially good for when you really love something, like a specific article of clothing or pair of shoes but it’s sold out where you usually shop.
What are some tips and tricks you’ve discovered on your devices? Please share in the comments section here or in our social feeds.
Jennifer Jolly is an Emmy Award-winning consumer tech columnist. Email her at jj@techish.com. Follow her on Twitter: @JenniferJolly. The views and opinions expressed in this column are the author's and do not necessarily reflect those of USA TODAY.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Can my phone do that? Find hidden apps and hacks on your smartphone.
