The 10 best TikTok smart tech hacks you definitely didn’t know

There are now more than 1 billion TikTok users around the world, and considering the rate technology is advancing, sometimes it’s easy to find yourself falling behind. And it would appear TikTok is brimming and bursting with life-saving tips and tricks for your modern smart tech devices.

With this in mind, experts from two key departments OnBuy Tablets and OnBuy Smart Watches were consulted, in a bid to find the most popular and life-changing smart tech hacks using TikTok, presenting 10 of the most useful (and viral) videos with the highest views and likes.

Top 10 Life-Changing Smart Tech Hacks

Setting up hands free commands → here

Views - 2.6 million
Likes - 165k

Setting up hands free commands allows you to use your voice to instruct your smart device to carry out certain tasks or complete simple actions. OnBuy Tablets discovered this viral video, showcasing @techkitchen setting up  the command “Next” to instruct his iPhone to scroll to the next TikTok video.

Alexa sound detection → here

Views - 289.6k
Likes - 23.4k

Alexa has a feature where you can set up alerts to notify you when a certain sound is being played. @cathypedrayes demonstrates how easy this feature is to use. By going into your Alexa phone app, you can create ‘routines’ which allow you to be notified in reaction to a trigger. These triggers can be set up as ‘sound detection’ where a list of sounds are provided for you to select from - you can also manually input these sounds for any unique noises you would like as a trigger. This could be set up to monitor a baby, or to listen out for an oven timer as shown in the video that garners nearly 300,000 views!

Facial Recognition safety → here

Views - 229.5k
Likes - 38.6k

@carterpcs shows us that when setting up Face ID on an Apple product, there is a feature called “Require attention for Face ID” which when selected, allows you to only unlock your phone when you are looking directly at it, even if your face is in frame, adding to personal security.

Apple watch hand gestures → here

Views - 8 Million
Likes - 572.7k

By using certain hand gestures and movement, you can access features on your Apple watch. OnBuy Smart Watches found this viral video by @ellyawesometech who shows us how. By going into the ‘watch’ app on your iPhone, you can access through the settings, an option called ‘assistive touch’. Here you will see an option called ‘hand gestures’ which will allow you to assign an apple watch function to a certain movement. As an example seen in the video, you can clench your fist to open Apple Pay, or to access Siri, which astonishingly has been watched 8 million times.

IOs copy text → here

Views - 1.6 million
Likes - 111.2k

Make copy and pasting easier! As demonstrated in this viral TikTok from @frankmcshan, OnBuy Tablets found that the new IOS 15 update allows you to take photos of text, and copy and paste it from the photo itself, removing the step of having to type everything out yourself.

Smart Tabs → here

Views - 1.1 million
Likes - 176.4k

@tatechtips explains such a simple hack that most people would not have known about. By selecting his internet browsing tab and shaking his mouse, his computer recognises the gesture and proceeds to minimise all other tabs and reduce clutter earning 1.1 million views!

Air tag for your pet → here

Views - 6.8 million
Likes - 1.7 million

The Apple Air Tag is a new tracking device linked to your iPhone that can be used in your bags, wallets and even cars. However, people have started using these for their pets, attaching them to their collars, so they can keep constant track of their beloved pets as illustrated by @frankmcshan whose video has earned nearly 7 million views.

Sending location → here

Views - 241.4k
Likes - 8.9k

Easily send your location to friends and family with this life-saving hack shown by @brandon.butch. By holding down the ‘maps’ app on your iPhone, you will be shown the option to ‘send location’ through a variety of apps, making it easy to find you in emergency situations or if you’re just looking to send directions!.

SOS → here

Views - 28k
Likes - 2k

This simple setting could end up saving your life. There is a feature within your iPhone called ‘in case of emergency’ which can be located in the shortcuts app. You can add instructions such as sending a location coupled with sending an SOS text message to your loved ones or to the emergency services, as shown by @brendanstechtips in this video.

Medical ID → here

Views - 30.5k
Likes - 1.3k

In the health app on your iPhone, you can set up something called your ‘medical ID’. This is where you can input all of your medical conditions, allergies or requirements. As shown here by @ellyawesometech, even if your phone is locked, holding down the power on and volume up button will trigger an emergency screen which will allow anybody to access your medical ID in the case of an emergency, potentially saving lives.

Methodology

  1. Experts from two key departments were consulted, OnBuy Tablets and OnBuy Smart Watches in a bid to find the most popular smart tech hacks using TikTok.

  2. OnBuy decided to Utilise TikTok to determine what the most popular “hacks” were. This was carried out by filtering videos with the highest views and likes under the hashtags #smarttechhacks and #smarttechtricks.

  3. Having searched for smart tech hacks and tricks OnBuy then filtered the results to display videos with the highest number of likes and views.

  4. OnBuy then generated a list of 10 of the most popular hacks with the results.

  5. All data was obtained by OnBuy on 03/02/22 and is accurate of then and subject to change. 

Credit: https://www.onbuy.com/gb/smart-watches~c11521, https://www.onbuy.com/gb/tablets~c3333