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Before We Start
If you've picked up this book, you might be feeling one of three things.
Perhaps you've just been given a smartphone, maybe by a well-meaning son, daughter or grandchild who set it up in four minutes, said "it's easy!", and left. Perhaps you've had one for a while but only use it for calls, and you have a nagging feeling that you're missing out. Or perhaps you're simply tired of asking for help, and you'd like to understand the thing yourself.
Whichever it is, you're in the right place.
This book makes three promises.
One: no jargon without an explanation. Every technical word is explained the first time it appears, and there's a glossary at the back.
Two: it works whether you have an iPhone or an Android phone. These are the two main types of smartphone. Where they work differently, you'll see two short sets of steps, clearly labelled.
Three: you can't break it. This is the most important thing to understand, so it's worth saying twice. You cannot break your phone by pressing the wrong thing. You can't delete the internet. You won't accidentally phone Australia. Almost everything can be undone. The worst that usually happens is that you end up on a screen you don't recognise, and in Chapter 2 you'll learn the one gesture that gets you home from anywhere.
So take a deep breath, make a cup of tea, and keep your phone next to you as you read. This book is meant to be read with your phone in your other hand.
Chapter 1: Meet Your Phone
iPhone or Android?
Turn your phone over. If there's an apple logo on the back, you have an iPhone, made by Apple. Almost everything else (Samsung, Google Pixel, Motorola, Nokia, Xiaomi, Oppo and others) is an Android phone. Android is the name of the software that runs them, made by Google.
Neither is better for a beginner. They do the same things in slightly different ways. Throughout this book you'll see:
- 🍎 iPhone: steps for Apple phones
- 🤖 Android: steps for Android phones. Menus may be named slightly differently depending on the make, but they'll be close.
The buttons
Most modern phones have only a few physical buttons:
- The side button (also called the power button). Press it once to turn the screen on or off. Press and hold it to switch the phone off completely or restart it.
- Volume up and down. Usually on the left (iPhone) or the same side as the power button (many Android phones).
- On some iPhones, a small switch above the volume buttons, which puts the phone on silent. If your phone isn't ringing, check this first! On newer iPhones this is an Action button instead.
The screen is the keyboard, the mouse and everything else
A smartphone has no mouse. Your finger is the mouse. You'll use five simple movements, called gestures:
| Gesture | How | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Tap | Touch the screen lightly and let go, like tapping someone on the shoulder | Opens or selects things |
| Swipe | Slide your finger across the screen | Moves between pages, scrolls up and down |
| Press and hold | Touch and keep your finger still for a second | Shows extra options |
| Pinch | Two fingers moving apart or together | Zooms in and out on photos, maps and web pages |
| Drag | Press and hold, then move without lifting | Moves things around |
Switching on, switching off, and waking up
Your phone is almost never truly off. When the screen goes black, the phone is just asleep, still receiving calls and messages. Press the side button once and it wakes up.
To switch it off completely:
- 🍎 iPhone: press and hold the side button and either volume button together until a slider appears. Drag the slider.
- 🤖 Android: press and hold the power button (on some Samsung phones, the power and volume-down buttons together) and tap Power off.
To switch it on again, press and hold the side button until a logo appears.
Try it now
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