I had no idea there was an 'ultra dark mode' on my phone!
Angelica Martinez is the Latine Editorial Lead at BuzzFeed and covers a little bit of everything, from quizzes and true crime to celebrities and pop culture. As a twenty-something learning at least once a week from strangers on the internet that I am doing something either the hard way or flat out incorrectly, I don't think I'm alone in thinking we could really, really use a"how to adult" class in school.
Was I supposed to come out of the womb knowing how to do my taxes or where the heck the dishwasher filter is??? Hello???This might not be the adulting masterclass we yearn for, but it's pretty close, in my humble opinion. I've scoured Reddit for tips, tricks, and lifehacks around everyday items most people have...but had no idea existed. I am slightly ashamed to say I genuinely learned a good chunk of these for the very first time today, so I bet you'll learn something, too! Here are 38"hidden features" or Easter eggs of products you probably already own that the average person doesn't know about, but should:"Credit cards come with a whole package of benefits most people don’t know about. Mine came with rental car insurance, refund protection , extended warranty , and theft protection . You have to check your card brand's website for details."Most also have limited medical insurance for travelers. For me, its like up to $75,000 USD, for example. There are many, many benefits.""The little pepper-looking thing that hangs off of most pin cushions is filled with emery powder to help clean/sharpen your pins and needles." "Garbage disposals have a reset button. If they get clogged or stuck, clean it out and hit reset, and it should be fixed. I did not know this until I was living independently in adulthood." "Garbage disposals also have a manual function that allows you to loosen and/or clear blockages. It’s a hex socket in the center of the bottom of the unit. Sometimes the red reset button is nearby. Insert an Allen wrench and manually turn the blade to clear the obstruction." "A lot of microwaves have an option to turn the sound off. If you think this would be useful — like if you have a baby or don't want to wake the whole house with a late-night snack — the manual will have instructions on how to do this." "Many whiteboard erasers have layers. When the bottom is matted and useless, just peel a layer off and it's brand new.""Some cars will roll all the windows down if you put your key in the door and hold it in the unlock position. The same goes for locking positions, which will roll them all up. Pretty handy if you forgot to roll one up and didn't notice until you got out." "Similar to holding the key in the door lock to roll down and up the windows, many cars can roll down the windows with the key fob. Just press unlock twice and then hold the unlock button. Windows roll down. Some will also roll up, but that isn’t as common.""At the gas pump, the second button down on the right side of the display will turn off the mf-ing commercials that play at max level noise." "At most self-checkout stands, you can mute the obnoxious prompts by finding a volume or speaker icon at the bottom. Not a big deal for most people, I suppose, but I hate being yelled at in robot voice to 'remove your item and place it in the bag!' over and over again." "There's an 'Ultra dark mode' on iPhone. I don’t endorse anyone using their phone in a movie theater, but this way is infinitely more discreet. I typically use it when putting my baby to sleep, so I can scroll on my phone without keeping the kid awake. Go to Settings >Accessibility >Display & Text Size. Turn on 'Reduce White Point' and set it to 100%.""You can even make this process a shortcut so you don't have to do it manually every time. To do so, go to Settings >Accessibility >Accessibility Shortcut. Select Reduce White Point. Now, you can swap between normal display and ultra dark mode by triple pressing the power button. You’re welcome." "Nearly all dishwashers have a filter, usually at the bottom, that can be removed and cleaned. If you have a dishwasher and you’re not familiar with the filter, I bet the filter needs cleaning.""Clean the fan blades before changing the direction. As the fan spins, dust accumulates along the leading edge. When you reverse the direction, all the dust will now be on the trailing edge and get blown off, leading to large globs of gross gunk being flung around the room." If you need to store something in a plastic bag that's bigger than the size of just one bag, you can use two and flip one inside out so they still connect/seal together. "Most prescription bottles with childproof lids have a second pair of threads, so you can flip the lid over and it will screw on normally without the annoying childproof feature.""Pharmacy tech here. If you look on your prescription label you might see a standalone 'S' or 'E' somewhere near the edge of the label . That stands for safety or easy-open. If you see that, it means your pharmacy uses prescription software that has settings that can be turned on/off so the pharmacy knows your cap preference. Ask for them to put easy-open caps as a preference on your profile so they know. We don't mind a bit! If you don't see that, you can still ask and see if they'll put it on your profile. It just won't print on the labels, which means the tech may not remember to flip it. Either way it's worth a shot!" will notarize things for FREE. I’ve been paying for that service all my life." "Hold down a part of a photo on your iPhone that you want to isolate and it will remove the background. And through trying this, I've also discovered that text can be copied and pasted directly from any photo. My mind is thoroughly boggled!"online if issues like zipper failure, material separation, or loss of water repellency occur. You typically cover shipping costs to the manufacturer's facilities, and they will repair the item or provide a similar replacement. This process helps companies improve product quality by learning from returned items while ensuring long-term customer loyalty." "On the Instant Pot multi-cooker, the square tabs that stick out of the lid fit into the handles of the Instant Pot to hold the lid when you want to serve from the pot. No need to put the lid down on the counter. Added bonus is any condensation in the lid drains back into the pot.""When working with spreadsheets, tab moves you to the next cell, but shift+tab moves you back. I was working in a grocery store once and they were teaching me how to do the end-of-night spreadsheets. I put in a wrong number, tabbed to the next cell, and my boss said, 'Great, now you've got to hold down tab for like 10 minutes to go all the way around and get back to that cell.' I looked at her, hit shift+tab, and her jaw dropped." "You can turn the standby light off on TVs. I like to sleep in the pitch black and spent years covering the light with an object until I was made aware that there was a setting to turn it off!" "Oven doors come off so they can be cleaned properly. But be very gentle! The glass shatters very easily if you are not careful." "Apple phones have a neat typing feature. If you hold down the spacebar, you can gently slide to other parts of the message you're typing if you make a typo or something. So much easier than trying to manually go back and tap the exact spot in the message." "You can change a text file into an excel file by erasing .txt and changing it to .xls . I was so confused when they showed me some roundabout way of converting txt to excel, couldn’t figure it out, I tried this trick and it worked! Email lists or text files=select and save as .xls, voila!""You can turn on double-tap or triple-tap on an iPhone and set it up do a lot of things, like turn on your flash. Activate it by double or triple-tapping the back of your iPhone."Follow these instructions in settings: Accessibility -->scroll down to"touch" -->scroll down to"back tap" and select what you'd like to set a double and a triple tap to do! For instance, I have double-tap set to take a screenshot, but you can also set it to do things like open the camera, mute your phone, or turn on the flashlight. Then, tap away at the back of your phone and see it in action!"For Microsoft Windows users: if you have to copy and paste more than one part of a text or if you want to paste something that was copied some time ago, hold the windows button and press 'V' instead of ctrl + V. It will show you a list of recently copied texts/pictures that you can paste." "If you need to open a tube of something like ointment, screw the cap off and turn it around. There is usually a pointed cone built into the top to puncture the seal. The same goes for tomato/garlic puree tubes. I'm amazed at how many people unscrew the cap and then reach for a huge pointy knife." "Baby onesies have that weird neck construction so you can easily pull it down over the baby in case of a diaper blowout and whatnot. I didn’t know this until all of my kids were out of baby clothes." The top of your range lifts up like the hood of a car, so you can clean under your burners. Remove all your burners, carefully lift the top, and it will have a metal arm just like on your car to prop it up while you clean.""Again, this is for ELECTRIC ranges. Do NOT do that to your gas range. It's not designed to do that, and you'll asphyxiate yourself."in my job when people need to send me documents. Often, they're expecting to see a 'save' or 'save as PDF' option. They're surprised when you suggest trying 'print' without access to a printer and are pleased when they see that it works." "Similarly, I often do this with recipes, as I don't care for the novel of text I have to wade through to get to the actual recipe. Click 'jump to recipe' and THEN you’ll see a 'print' button that you can use in the same way. Your PDF will only contain the recipe and not the author’s life story." "If your car key gets stuck in the ignition , look for a small plastic/rubber ring around the ignition. Pry it away from the lock, and you'll find a small button underneath. That's the manual key release." "The clear section at the end of a lipstick tube that shows you the color can be removed. It's filled with more lipstick!" "iPhones have a hidden white noise generator. Technically it's an accessibility feature. It can do Balanced noise, Bright noise, Dark noise, Ocean, Rain, and Stream. Go to Go to Settings >Accessibility >Audio/Visual >Background Sounds. It's awesome. I use it all the time! Works great with AirPods with the noise cancellation enabled. Really helps me focus in a chaotic environment." "When I hiked the Pacific Crest Trail, I had an expensive backpack, and the clip that connected the shoulder straps together was bright orange. On the buckle of it was an emergency whistle. I thought that was exclusive to my high-end pack, but on the island I’m working on right now, I see dozens of people walk by with all sorts of backpacks, big, small, cheap, and expensive, and many of these packs have identical buckles to mine. I always tell them about the whistle, and most people are totally shocked when I point it out." "Some truck beds have indented slots on the sides, so you can put 2x6 boards across the bed to section it and to keep stuff from sliding around." "The metal part on the end of your tape measure isn’t loose. It’s designed to wiggle by the exact amount necessary to ensure you always get the correct measurement, whether you’re measuring from an inside edge or an outside edge." "When playing Duck Hunt on single player on an NES and the second controller is plugged in, the second controller controls the duck. Continuing the not-well-known NES feature theme, if you hold down A and hit Start from the 'Game Over' screen in Super Mario Bros, it starts you off at the first stage on the world you ended up at.""I did this when we got to an empty train station in Latvia with a sign posted. We were connecting there and thought we were screwed. I translated the sign through the app, and it said, 'The station is not closed, just unmanned. Wait on the platform for the train to arrive and tell the conductor where you're going.' Without that function, I would've just been lost completely." "When a Brompton bike is folded, a whole tool kit can be found in the central metal tube that is revealed."Do you know any hidden features of everyday items like these? If so, tell us about them in the comments or anonymous form below.
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