iPhone Essentials

Before you start

Have your iPhone unlocked and in front of you.

Walk-through

1. Phone & Contacts. Open the Phone app. Find the Contacts tab — your address book, the same one that’ll show up on the iPad later. Find one contact and place a call.
2. Messages (texting). Open Messages. Notice how a new message is started (the pencil/compose icon) and how to reply to an existing thread. Green bubbles are regular text messages, blue bubbles are Apple’s own messaging (iMessage) — both work the same from your end.
3. Camera & Photos. Open Camera, take one photo. Open Photos and find it — every photo you take lands in this same app automatically, and (because of Session 2) it’ll also show up on your iPad.
4. Dictation instead of typing. In Messages, tap the microphone icon on the keyboard and speak a message instead of typing it.
5. The App Store — adding a new tool to the truck. Open the App Store, use the search tab, search for one app you’d actually use (a church giving app, a Bible app, etc.), tap “Get,” and install it.
6. Siri — the quick-ask assistant. Hold the side button (or say “Hey Siri” if enabled) and ask something simple like “what’s the weather today” or “set a timer for 10 minutes.” A small preview of the AI series to come.

Try it together

• Send one real text message using dictation instead of typing.
• Take a photo and find it in the Photos app unassisted.
• Search for and install one app you actually want.

Before next time

• Use dictation for at least one text message a day instead of typing.
• Ask Siri one question a day to get comfortable talking to the phone.