The secret button on your iPhone
How to make the Apple logo on the back of your phone do anything you want
Do you miss the physical home button on older iPhones? Sadly that is unlikely to come back, but most modern iPhones now have a feature called “Back Tap” that comes pretty close.
As the name suggests, with Back Tap enabled all you have to do is give the Apple logo on the rear of your phone to access a range of useful pre-set actions.
Phone manufacturers rarely add brand new features to their phones, especially models that were released years ago, which makes Apple stand out even more. Almost all the phones listed on this site still receive the very latest iOS updates and all the new features that come with them.
What can I do with back Tap?
This great feature is a shortcut to a host of accessibility and media features on your iPhone. There are loads of options – here are some of our favourites.
- Lock your phone with a quick tap on the back
- Go to your home screen
- Open a specific app
- Take a screenshot
- Change the volume
- Turn the flashlight on
What a great new addition to your iPhone, however old it is.
Does it work on my iPhone?
Great news! Back Tap was introduced in iOS 14, but it works on any iPhone from the iP8 onwards. That means most iPhone users can access this new accessibility feature.
How do I activate Back Tap?
- Check that your iPhone 8 or later is running the very latest verison of iOS.
- Go to Settings > Accessibility > Touch and select “Back Tap”.
- Choose whether to activate Backtap with a Double-Tap or Triple-Tap
- Choose the action that you want Back Tap to trigger.
- Double- or triple-tap on the back of your iPhone to trigger the action you’ve set.
Do I have to hit the Apple logo?
Back tap uses the internal sensors . You don’t have to precisely hit the Apple logo to use this function, but since it is in the centre it is a useful target to aim for.
Does it work through cases?
It does depend on the case, but yes, in general your iPhone can detect the tap through a normal iPhone case.
Does it drain my battery?
It is true that anything that uses the sensors on your phone will have an impact on the battery, but we haven’t seen any reports of excessive battery drain from this feature.
You can even use Back Tap to activate features that save your battery, like deactivating wi-fi or putting the phone in sleep mode.
