If you’ve got daily screen time reports set up on your iPhone, there’s a good chance they’ve been skyrocketing as of late. With so many of us stuck in COVID-induced isolation, we’ve got more time on our hands than ever before, and as a result, we’re spending a lot more time on our phones.
However, there’s only so much FaceTime, meme tagging and texting you can do in one day – that’s why Apple has hidden a ‘pew pew’ texting hack in your iPhone that is guaranteed to annoy the hell out of your mates in isolation.
Looking for things to do in isolation? Hear about epic DIY hacks for renters below:
All you have to do is text your friend the words ‘pew pew,’ sit back, and enjoy the laser show playing out in the background of your message screen. It’ll even make your iPhone vibrate.
Turns out there are a bunch of animated iPhone texting hacks like ‘pew pew’ that aren’t actually hidden – it’s just none of us have bothered to give them a go.
If you text ‘Happy Birthday,’ you’ll see a flourish of balloons on your iPhone, messaging ‘Congratulations’ will shower your screen in confetti, ‘Happy New Year’ turns your text chat into a fireworks display, and ‘Happy Chinese New Year’ turns your message red and results in a similar celebratory effect.
Let’s not forget about the manual animated iPhone text effects, either. Holding down the send button on your message will allow you to “send with effect,” whether it be with a slam, loud, gentle, and invisible ink – or screen effects, like echo, spotlight, love, lasers and a shooting star.
Who would’ve thought that a humble text message could bring so much joy? To be fair, after binge-watching everything Netflix has to offer, finishing a 10,000-piece puzzle, and baking every dish under the sun, we are easily entertained and a ‘pew pew’ laser text show is the perfect remedy to COVID boredom.
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