I Was Today Years Old When I Learned About These 35 "Hidden Features" Of Everyday Items, From Credit Cards To iPhones
Recently, Redditor u/eminems_shadow asked, "What everyday item has a hidden feature that not everyone knows about?" I'm all about a life hack or little trick that'll blow people's minds when they hear about it, so naturally, I scoured this thread (and these other two similar ones) for answers. Y'all...I was today years old when I learned about a good chunk of these, and I bet you'll learn something here for the first time, too! Let's get into it:
1."Most prescription bottles with childproof lids have a second pair of threads, so you can flip the lid over and it will screw on normally without the annoying childproof feature."
"Pharmacy tech here. If you look on your prescription label you might see a standalone 'S' or 'E' somewhere near the edge of the label (mine is next to the fill date). That stands for safety or easy-open. If you see that, it means your pharmacy uses prescription software that has settings that can be turned on/off so the pharmacy knows your cap preference. Ask for them to put easy-open caps as a preference on your profile so they know. We don't mind a bit!
If you don't see that, you can still ask and see if they'll put it on your profile. It just won't print on the labels, which means the tech may not remember to flip it. Either way it's worth a shot!"
2."A lot of microwaves have an option to turn the sound off. If you think this would be useful — like if you have a baby or don't want to wake the whole house with a late-night snack — the manual will have instructions on how to do this."
3."Some cars will roll all the windows down if you put your key in the door and hold it in the unlock position. The same goes for locking positions, which will roll them all up. Pretty handy if you forgot to roll one up and didn't notice until you got out."
4."Just found out that most banks in the US (as long as you’re a member) will notarize things for FREE. I’ve been paying for that service all my life."
5."Credit cards come with a whole package of benefits most people don’t know about. Mine came with rental car insurance, refund protection (they pay you if a store refuses a refund), extended warranty (the card covers your stuff after manufacturer's warranty runs out), and theft protection (card covers your stuff if it’s stolen). You have to check your card brand's website (not the bank you got it at) for details.
6."The metal part on the end of your tape measure isn’t loose. It’s designed to wiggle by the exact amount necessary to ensure you always get the correct measurement, whether you’re measuring from an inside edge or an outside edge."
7."The little pepper-looking thing that hangs off of most pin cushions is filled with emery powder to help clean/sharpen your pins and needles."
8."Lifetime warranties on products like as Columbia jackets and Jansport backpacks allow you to file claims online if issues like zipper failure, material separation, or loss of water repellency occur. You typically cover shipping costs to the manufacturer's facilities, and they will repair the item or provide a similar replacement. This process helps companies improve product quality by learning from returned items while ensuring long-term customer loyalty."
9."Hold down a part of a photo on your iPhone that you want to isolate and it will remove the background. And through trying this, I've also discovered that text can be copied and pasted directly from any photo. My mind is thoroughly boggled!"
10."Oven doors come off so they can be cleaned properly. But be very gentle! The glass shatters very easily if you are not careful."
—blakemorris02 and Wooden_Reflection927
11."Most ceiling fans have a summer and winter switch on the head above the blades."
"Clean the fan blades before changing the direction. As the fan spins, dust accumulates along the leading edge. When you reverse the direction, all the dust will now be on the trailing edge and get blown off, leading to large globs of gross gunk being flung around the room."
12."There's an 'Ultra dark mode' on iPhone. I don’t endorse anyone using their phone in a movie theater, but this way is infinitely more discreet. I typically use it when putting my baby to sleep, so I can scroll on my phone without keeping the kid awake. Go to Settings > Accessibility > Display & Text Size. Turn on 'Reduce White Point' and set it to 100%."
"You can even make this process a shortcut so you don't have to do it manually every time. To do so, go to Settings > Accessibility > Accessibility Shortcut. Select Reduce White Point. Now, you can swap between normal display and ultra dark mode by triple pressing the power button. You’re welcome."
13."At most self-checkout stands, you can mute the obnoxious prompts by finding a volume or speaker icon at the bottom. Not a big deal for most people, I suppose, but I hate being yelled at in robot voice to 'remove your item and place it in the bag!' over and over again."
14."When working with spreadsheets, tab moves you to the next cell, but shift+tab moves you back. I was working in a grocery store once and they were teaching me how to do the end-of-night spreadsheets. I put in a wrong number, tabbed to the next cell, and my boss said, 'Great, now you've got to hold down tab for like 10 minutes to go all the way around and get back to that cell.' I looked at her, hit shift+tab, and her jaw dropped."
15."iPhones have a hidden white noise generator. Technically it's an accessibility feature. It can do Balanced noise, Bright noise, Dark noise, Ocean, Rain, and Stream. Go to Go to Settings > Accessibility > Audio/Visual (under Hearing) > Background Sounds. It's awesome. I use it all the time! Works great with AirPods with the noise cancellation enabled. Really helps me focus in a chaotic environment."
16."Garbage disposals have a reset button. If they get clogged or stuck, clean it out and hit reset, and it should be fixed. I did not know this until I was living independently in adulthood."
17."Some truck beds have indented slots on the sides, so you can put 2x6 boards across the bed to section it and to keep stuff from sliding around."
18."In Microsoft Word, Shift-F3 will caps (or uncaps) a line of text."
19."You can turn the standby light off on TVs. I like to sleep in the pitch black and spent years covering the light with an object until I was made aware that there was a setting to turn it off!"
20."Many whiteboard erasers (rectangular ones) have layers. When the bottom is matted and useless, just peel a layer off and it's brand new."
"Generally, you’ll see the layers in alternating dark/light colors if they do the whole peel-to-a-new-layer thing."
21."Most wheelbarrows can be flipped backwards onto their handles to make a very comfortable chair for break time."
22."On an iPhone, you use the translate app with your camera to translate printed text in real-time."
"I did this when we got to an empty train station in Latvia with a sign posted. We were connecting there and thought we were screwed. I translated the sign through the app, and it said, 'The station is not closed, just unmanned. Wait on the platform for the train to arrive and tell the conductor where you're going.' Without that function, I would've just been lost completely."
23."Apple phones have a neat typing feature. If you hold down the spacebar, you can gently slide to other parts of the message you're typing if you make a typo or something. So much easier than trying to manually go back and tap the exact spot in the message."
24."You can switch the direction that refrigerator doors open. Dryers, too."
—AdministrationTop933 and jdeeds1
25."When I hiked the Pacific Crest Trail, I had an expensive backpack, and the clip that connected the shoulder straps together was bright orange. On the buckle of it was an emergency whistle. I thought that was exclusive to my high-end pack, but on the island I’m working on right now, I see dozens of people walk by with all sorts of backpacks, big, small, cheap, and expensive, and many of these packs have identical buckles to mine. I always tell them about the whistle, and most people are totally shocked when I point it out."
26."For Microsoft Windows users: if you have to copy and paste more than one part of a text or if you want to paste something that was copied some time ago, hold the windows button and press 'V' instead of ctrl + V. It will show you a list of recently copied texts/pictures that you can paste."
27."If you need to open a tube of something like ointment, screw the cap off and turn it around. There is usually a pointed cone built into the top to puncture the seal. The same goes for tomato/garlic puree tubes. I'm amazed at how many people unscrew the cap and then reach for a huge pointy knife."
28."When playing Duck Hunt on single player on an NES and the second controller is plugged in, the second controller controls the duck. Continuing the not-well-known NES feature theme, if you hold down A and hit Start from the 'Game Over' screen in Super Mario Bros, it starts you off at the first stage on the world you ended up at."
29."Nearly all dishwashers have a filter, usually at the bottom, that can be removed and cleaned. If you have a dishwasher and you’re not familiar with the filter, I bet the filter needs cleaning."
30."Baby onesies have that weird neck construction so you can easily pull it down over the baby in case of a diaper blowout and whatnot. I didn’t know this until all of my kids were out of baby clothes."
31."On an iPhone, you can 'print' a document to get a PDF version! I help people with this so much in my job when people need to send me documents. Often, they're expecting to see a 'save' or 'save as PDF' option. They're surprised when you suggest trying 'print' without access to a printer and are pleased when they see that it works."
32."The clear section at the end of a lipstick tube that shows you the color can be removed. It's filled with more lipstick!"
33."Cars have a little arrow on the gas tank icon that tells you which side has the refueling hatch."
34."If your car key gets stuck in the ignition (a safety feature to prevent you from removing the key if the transmission isn't in park), look for a small plastic/rubber ring around the ignition. Pry it away from the lock, and you'll find a small button underneath. That's the manual key release."
35.And finally, a little Easter egg: "If you put the Konami code (up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, square, and triangle) into the Fisher-Price baby video game controller toy, it does a special sound effect and tells you that you won."
Do you know any hidden features of everyday items like these? If so, tell us about them in the comments below or via this anonymous form.
Note: Submissions have been edited for length and/or clarity.
