Hidden tech tricks to get the most out of your Apple, Amazon, Samsung and Google gadgets

Did you know gadgets could screen calls, understand Harry Potter spells or sense when you enter a room? These are the top tech tricks.

Smartphones and gadgets often run our lives – but they could run it better.

Devices from most major brands offer a wealth of hidden talents, from screening your phone calls to turning on lights as you enter rooms and even snapping selfies hands-free. Here are some tricks to get more out of your gadgets.

GOOGLE

● Hold no more:Arguably the best use of Google’s Assistant is a new feature called Hold For Me. It appears when you’re placed on hold during a phone call while using a Google Pixel phone and offers to transcribe the on-hold recordings and alert you when someone is ready to talk to you. It could save you from lengthy frustration.

Google's Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro smartphones feature hidden talents.

●Who’s calling: If you’re a person who doesn’t answer calls from unfamiliar numbers, Call Screen is a feature worth trying. The feature, available on Google Pixel phones, will see the Google Assistant answer the phone call for you and ask who is calling and why. Users can then send a pre-programmed response or answer the call themselves.

●What’s playing: There is a way to quickly identify all songs playing around you, no lyrics required, with Pixel phones. In the device’s menu, you can select “Show Songs on Lock Screen” to have the phone automatically detect and search for songs playing nearby and identify them before you even unlock your phone.

APPLE

● Easy revamp: If you’ve ever wanted to reorganise your apps without total tedium, there are shortcuts to help. After holding down an app to make all apps wiggle on screen, select an app with one finger and tap others to move them with it. Use your other finger to swipe between screens until they’re in the right place and you can release them.

● Real magic: Apple’s smart assistant knows some Harry Potter spells and they can prove handy for muggles. You can turn the phone’s torch on by saying “Hey Siri, lumos” and turn it off again with the command “Hey Siri, nox”.

●Photo drop: It’s surprisingly easy to add a photo to a document, notes, or an editing app with this shortcut. From your camera roll, hold down a photo with one finger while you go to the Home Screen and open another app with the other. Let go of the photo when it’s in position.

SAMSUNG

● App double act: You can open up more than one app at a time on your Samsung smartphone, and save the best combinations for quick access. Split Screen View can be used by opening one app then sliding a tab from the side of your phone, selecting another app, and dragging it below the other. Tap the three dots separating the two and you can save the combo for later.

Samsung's Galaxy S22 Ultra smartphone has hidden depths.

●Less awkward selfies: Holding the phone and tapping the shutter icon can be tricky. Samsung adds two shortcuts to avoid this. The first lets you show your palm to the camera to trigger a selfie countdown, the second lets you say words like smile, cheese or shoot to capture a photo. Both are in the Shooting Methods menu.

●Fresh alerts: You can personalise the way your Samsung phone notifies you of new messages in a host of pleasing ways. In the “Brief pop-up settings” of the notifications menu, users can choose different animations (like fireworks), different colours, and how long alerts appear on screen.

AMAZON

● Alexa no more: If your name is Alex, using an Amazon smart speaker might prove difficult due to misheard commands. You can change the device’s “wake word” to avoid confusion and swap it for computer, echo or ziggy for example.

●People detection: Some Amazon Echo speakers can sense when a person enters the room, using either ultrasound motion detection or computer vision. You can use this feature to have smart lights, a fan or an airconditioner turn on automatically when you enter a room by setting up a “routine” in the Alexa app.

●Hushed commands: If you don’t want Alexa to announce your findings to the entire room, you can enable “whisper mode” on your device simply by asking for it. Whenever you whisper a query to your smart speaker in future, it will reply in a quiet voice.