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Raise your hand if you’re a busy mom – ???… every mom in the world puts both hands up!
I saw a stat that reports that Americans check their phones an average of 46 times per day – and this stat was from 2015 so I’d be willing to guess it’s a whole lot higher today.
Smartphones can get a bad rep but they can be SUPER helpful for busy moms on the go – I have a couple of tricks and iPhone hacks for busy moms that I promise will make your life a little easier!
9 iPhone Hacks for Busy Moms
1. Download the Best Apps
I’m all about any app that will make my life easier + save me money! The My Phillips 66 app does both – you can pay at the pump using your phone (always a mom win!) AND you save $0.15/gallon (up to 30 gallons) when you pay using the My Phillips 66 app now through 12/31/19. Win/Win!
The My Phillips 66 app also shows you the price per gallon at Phillips 66 stations near you.
You can download it here on Android and Apple devices!
2. Email Your Child
I wrote about this before – create an email address for your child and send him/her photos, notes, silly things they say, or nice emails from their teacher. When they turn 18, give them the password.
An easy, great way to create a little digital scrapbook for your child – just be sure to periodically log in and check the account so it stays active.
3. Share Calendars
There are a few apps out there to manage family calendars, but the thing that works best for us is to each have our own Gmail and Outlook calendars (Chris’s calendar of record is his work one – Outlook) and we invite each other to events.
Another option is to have separate Gmail calendars for each family member OR just for the family that both parents can see.
Either way, keeping it all straight is much easier when both parents have their calendars in their pockets.
4. Set App Limits
Ever accidentally scrolled Facebook or Instagram for WAY too long? (guilty). You can set up time limits for whatever apps you want, schedule downtime, and, if you have kids using your phone (or their own), you can set content & privacy restrictions. Go to Settings > Screen Time to set them up.
5. Timers for Everything
I’m the queen of setting my phone’s timer for eve.ry.thing… – when I tell the kids, “we have 5 minutes left at the park” I set my timer for 5 minutes and then when the timer goes off, we go! Much easier for the timer to be the boss than me ;).
6. Talk to Text is Life
If you aren’t using the ‘talk to text’ function on your phone, you’re missing out! You just press the button and speak everything you want typed into a text… including punctuation! So if you wanted the text to say: I love you! you would say “I love you exclamation point”.
My friends Lindsay and Emily also use voice memos which is SO great if you have something longer than a text but can’t chat on the phone.
7. Reminders List
The Reminders app (standard on the iPhone, nothing to download) SAVES MY LIFE regularly. I tell Siri to “remind me to mail the tuition check” or basically anything that pops into my head and it’s all in one place. A great on-the-go to-do list.
8. Text Replacement for Stuff You Type Often
This one is one of my faves, especially if you have something tricky you’re constantly having to re-type. Go to Settings > General > Keyboard > Text Replacement – and from there, you can enter any abbreviation you want to auto populate into an entire word.
For instance, I have all my blog URLs with shortcodes so I don’t mistype an address:
9. Quick Battery Recharge
You probably already know the whole ‘put your phone into airplane mode while it’s charging so it charges faster’ trick but if you also turn your screen’s brightness down it’ll charge even quicker.
10. Search Your Photos
Did you know there’s a search function on your photos roll? Just type in whatever it is you’re looking for and all the results will pop right up!
11. Guided Access
For the times you’re not *rightnextto* your child and they’re watching a show or playing a game on your phone – you can ‘lock them in’ an app. GO to General > Accessibility > Guided Access. You can enable this setting then to activate in an app, triple click your home button, and disable whatever sections of the touchscreen you want. No more accidental emails sent from children ;).
12. Emergency SOS
Here are instructions on how to set up your phone to make emergency phone calls by pressing your lock button repeatedly.
Smartphones can definitely help make your #momlife easier if you know how to help them help you ;). Phillips 66 is also dedicated to helping us Live to the Full – check out my Tips for Taking Your Kids to the Cardinals Game + Our 5 Favorite STL Places for Families.
Carrie M. says
Love this list! We do all our meal planning in a shared Google calendar. I love that we both know what the plan in for dinner as soon as we walk in the door, and it is really easy to just drag and drop meals around as plans change. It also allows us to see, at a glance, what meals we’re repeating a little too often or go back and repeat one from a few weeks ago. Overall, a great help!
Val says
This is genius! It would also require me to actually meal plan 😉
Amber says
Use Guided Access so your kids can’t exit out of the approved app! Go to Settings > Accessibility > Guided Access to set a pass code. When the kids are in the app tap the home button or side button to turn it on, then a code needs to be entered to get back out! Life saver if the kids use it when you can’t fully monitor them.
Val says
YES! This is genius 🙂 adding to the list!
Liza Martin says
General – Accessibility – Guided Access. You can enable this, triple click your home button, and disable the touchscreen! Throw on some Netflix to make it through the last 10 minutes at a restaurant when your 2 year old has had enough!
Val says
Best mom iPhone tip ever!
Ashley Riley says
In the reminder app. Create a board for Weekly Menu. Put your weekly meal plan into a different line and check off as you make them.
When deciding what to eat for the next week. Press show completed and all of your previous meals are saved. No need to rethink meals every week.
I also save recipes from websites onto my screen and then save them all into an app folder for quick reference.
Val says
SO smart! Makes me want to meal plan more 😉
Kelly says
I use my reminders app for dinner ideas. I have one tab that’s titled “Dinner” which has all of our tried and true meals. I select “show completed” at the bottom and recheck whatever I want to make for the week and it becomes our meal plan. So helpful when you are trying to think of dinner ideas.
Val says
Love this! So smart
Lydia says
If you make a typo, press and hold the space bar to navigate back to what you want to change. It’s much more precise than trying to press and hold directly on the text.
I learned this yesterday and it changed my world.
Val says
Mind. Blown!!!
Katy says
In case if emergency, push your lock button 5 times fast. There are different settings for alarms but it will call 911. I’ve heard of people teaching there little ones at home to do it in case something happened to an adult.
Val says
I need to do this ASAP! So smart!
mideastmom says
Along the lines of text replacement, I have my kids’ initials for their names, so I’m typing 2-3 letters, rather than their whole (rather long) name.
Val says
So smart! Love it!
Rachelle Frost says
@busytoddler introduced me to the ‘guided access’ feature. In settings go to general, then accessibility and scroll down to guided access. This allows you to keep your phone in a certain app and cannot leave without the password. Great for when my little one has my phone playing her educational app game or netflix she can click the home button and get out anymore and scream for help. It’s a game changer, trust me!
Val says
Guided access is LIFE! So genius!