Good news: your iPhone will let you create custom vibration “patterns” that you can assign to any contact you choose.

iOS 7 already comes with a few preset iPhone vibrations, ranging from Heartbeat (buzz-buzz, buzz-buzz) to S.O.S. (three short buzzes, three long buzzes, and three short buzzes again), and you can assign those patterns to specific contacts in your address book (more on that in a moment).

But you can also “record” your own personalized vibration patterns by tapping out the buzzes on your iPhone’s touchscreen.

Neat, right?

You can select a saved custom vibration—or create a new one—for a specific contact.

Here’s how you do it…

• First, launch the Phone app, tap the Contacts tab at the bottom of the screen, then pick your favorite contact.
• Tap the Edit button in the top-right corner of the screen, then scroll down until you see a section with fields for “Ringtone” and “Vibration.” Tap “Vibration,” then scroll down and tap “Create New Vibration.”
• Now, ready to create your own vibration pattern? If so, time to start tapping. You can tap rapidly to create little “dot-dot-dots” of buzzes, or tap and hold for a long, sustained buzz.
• All done? Tap Stop, then tap Play to, um…”feel” your new vibration. You can also tap Record to try again.
• Happy with your creation? Tap Save, give your vibration a name, and then tap Save again.
• You should now be back on the “Vibration” setting for the contact in question, and you’ll notice that your new vibration (under the Custom heading) has a checkmark next to it. Tap the blue Done button in the top-left corner of the page.
• From now on, whenever your contact gives you a ring, your silenced iPhone will “play” the vibration you just created.
• Want your new custom vibration to buzz whenever your contact sends you a text message? Go back to the contact, tap Edit, scroll down to the “Text Tone” section, tap “Vibration,” and choose your vibration pattern under the “Custom” heading. You can also create a brand-new vibration just for text alerts, if you’re feeling ambitious.

Bonus tip

Once you save a custom vibration, it’ll often be available as an alert option for other apps and events.

For example, you can set a custom vibration to buzz when you get a calendar alert by tapping Settings, Notifications, Calendar, Calendar Alerts, Vibration.

Scroll down to the Custom section, then pick one of your previously saved custom vibrations from the list, or tap Create New Vibration.

Click here for more iOS 7 tips!

Note: This updated and revised tip was first published in January 2012.

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Sure, it’s neat that Siri can answer questions like “Do I need an umbrella today?” and “Who was Benjamin Franklin?”, but that gets old pretty fast.

And no way am I going to lounge in my living room and ask Siri to tell some jokes. (Remember those ridiculous TV commercials with John Malkovich? Ugh.)

Recently, though, I decided to start fresh with Siri—and to my surprise, I discovered several useful, everyday iPhone and iPad tasks that Siri performs way better (and faster) than my fingertips can.

Read on for five things that Siri’s pretty dang good at (share in the comments if you have more!), starting with…

1. Scheduling a (simple) reminder

The iOS Reminders app is not my favorite, by a long shot. The interface is far too confusing, and scheduling a simple reminder takes about five more taps than it should.

Siri’s pretty good at setting up reminders on your iPhone or iPad.

It turns out, though, that asking Siri to schedule a reminder is easier and faster than using the actual Reminders app.

Just press and hold the Home button, and then say something along the lines of:

Can you remind me to call the plumber tomorrow?

Siri will quickly set up the appointment and display it for your approval. Like what you see? Then tap the Confirm button. Done and done.

2. Set the alarm clock

Simple to use though it is, the iOS Clock app still requires a series of swipes and taps to set the alarm for, say, 7 in the morning.

With Siri, though, you can set the alarm clock in about five seconds flat.

Need an early wake-up call? Just ask Siri.

Just say…

Wake me up at 7 a.m.

…and Siri will set the alarm in a flash, no swiping or tapping required (beyond pressing the Home key, of course).

3. Shuffle your music

Like the Reminders app, the iOS Music app has grown more and more complicated over the years. Indeed, spinning up a shuffle is no longer a simple matter of flick, flick, tap. (Remember how easy it was to play music on the original iPod? Ah, those were the days.)

Now, let’s get one thing straight: Siri’s voice comprehension is pretty touch-and-go when it comes to proper names, and that goes double for the names of indie rock bands.

But if all you want is a simple shuffle, you can safely skip the Music app and leave it to Siri.

Just launch Siri and say…

Shuffle rock music

…then sit back, and let the music play.

Don’t count on Siri to help with long texting threads, but it can compose simple messages for you.

4. Send a quick text message

No, Siri won’t be much help in a lengthy text chat with your bestie, but it’s pretty good at firing off a quick and easy text message, particularly if a) it’s along the lines of “running late” or “be there soon,” and b) if you’ve assigned a relationship or a nickname to the contact you’re sending the message to. (Skip down to the “Bonus Tip” for more on setting up nicknames for Siri.)

Just say…

Text my wife that I’m late

…and Siri will compose a quick text to that effect. Happy with the text? Then tap the Send button. That’s a lot easier than fumbling with the on-screen keypad.

5. Reschedule a calendar event

Sure, you could try asking Siri to create a detailed appointment in the Calendar app—you know, one with a name and title, a street address, a start and end time, and a reminder alert—but I wouldn’t recommend it.

Asking Siri to move an appointment on your calendar is easier than doing it yourself.

That said, if all you want to do is move an event from, say, 1 p.m. to 2 p.m., Siri should be your first stop.

Just say…

Move my 1 o’clock to 2 PM

…and voilà—it’s done. Love it.

Bonus tips

Want to “teach” Siri the name of your spouse, your parents, your kids, or another special someone? Just open Siri and say (for example), “Claire Rose Patterson is my daughter,” and Siri will commit the name and relationship to memory.

You can also open your own entry in the Contacts app, tap Edit in the top-right corner, scroll down to the “Add related name” field, and add the name of a spouse, partner, sibling, child, boss, or anyone else you want.

Last but not least, you can give anyone in your iOS contact book an easy-to-pronounce (or understand, in Siri’s case) nickname. Open their contact card in Contacts, tap Edit, scroll down, tap “Add field,” Nickname, then type in any nickname you like.

Click here for more iOS tips!

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Hi Maria! Great question, and sorry for not going into more detail in the other day’s article.

Anyway, yes—you can color-code your Calendar events directly from your iPhone or iPad, and it’s easy to do.

Just to be clear, what we’ll be doing is color-coding the individual calendars in the iOS Calendar app—that is, the Home, Work, Birthday, and various other calendars you’ve set up.

Once you color-code a calendar, all the events for that calendar will show up in the corresponding color.

Here’s the trick…

• Launch the Calendar app, go to any of the various views (Day, Month, List), then tap the Calendars button at the bottom of the screen.
• Next, you’ll see a list of all the calendars on your on your iPhone or iPad. See the little “i” buttons to the right of each calendar? Tap one of them to visit the Edit Calendar screen.
• Scroll down to the Color section, and pick a new color.
• All set? Tap the Done button.

Now, is your Calendar app synced up with your Mac via iCloud? If so, keep in mind that changing a calendar color on your iPhone or iPad will change it on your Mac, too.

Also, one more thing: While you can color-code calendars from iCloud or Yahoo, there doesn’t seem to be a way to manually color-code a synced Google calendar. Don’t ask me why.

Bonus tip

Want to add a calendar—or delete one, for that matter?

Tap the Calendars button at the bottom of the screen, tap Edit in the top-left corner on the following screen, scroll down and tap Add Calendar.

To delete a calendar (and all its events—careful!), tap the Calendars button again, tap “i” next to the calendar you want to zap, scroll all the way down and tap the Delete Calendar button.

Click here for more iOS tips!

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One of the biggest complaints I originally heard about the new Calendar app (particularly on the iPhone) was that there was no easy way to view a list of all your upcoming events. After a little digging, I found that tapping the Search key did the trick.

Well, the Search key won’t do you a lick of good in the updated Calendar app for the just-released iOS 7.1 update. Tap the key, and you’ll get a search box, but no event list.

That’s the bad news. The good news is that Calendar for iOS 7.1 does, in fact, still have a “list” view, and it also adds a better way to check your events from the month view.

Oh, and after a brief moment of missing Calendar’s handy day view—complete with drag-and-drop events—I’m happy to report that I found it again.

Last but not least, I’ll show you Calendar’s nifty “week” view—which, I admit, I stumbled upon completely by accident.

Read on for four ways of viewing your events in the new Calendar, starting with…

(Note: The following tips are focused on the iPhone version of Calendar; the big-screen iPad version is, to my mind, much easier to use and requires little explanation.)

1. Visit the “day” view with drag-and-drop events

You can drag and drop events from the “day” view in Calendar for iOS 7.1.

So, first things first. Want to see your schedule for a given day, with color-coded events you can drag and drop? Here’s how.

• First, go to the full “month” view, then make sure the Details button—it’s the third button from the right, just left of the Search button—is de-selected.
• Tap a day, any day. When you do, you’ll jump to the “day” view, where you’ll see hours blocked out whenever you have an event.
• Want to move or edit an event? Tap and hold it, then drag and drop the event to a new time. You can also “grab” the top or bottom of an event to lengthen or shorten it, To edit the event’s details, tap it, then tap the Edit button on the next screen.

2. View a list of all your events

Want to scroll through a big list of all your upcoming events and appointments? Like I mentioned above, tapping the Search key won’t help you anymore. Instead, try this.

• Still on the “day” view? If so, tap the List button—it’s (again) the third from the right, to the left of the Search button, and it replaces the Details button from the “month” view.
• Presto! A list of all your events should appear. Scroll down to your heart’s content, or tap an event to view its details.

3. See daily events in the “month” view

One of the most frustrating aspects of the Calendar app in iOS 7 was that you couldn’t see individual events for a given day in the “month” view—or at least, not in the iPhone version of Calendar.

Tap the Details button to see daily events from the “month” view.

Luckily, that’s no longer a problem in Calendar for iOS 7.1.

• Head back to the “month” view, then tap the Details button at the top of the screen (just to the left of the Search button). You’ll know the Details view is active when the button is surrounded by a red box.
• Once you tap the button, the month view will shrink, making way at the bottom for a list of events on the day that’s selected. Tap an event to view its details.
• Now, want to go back to the “day” view with drag-and-drop events? Tap the Details button to toggle it to the “off” position, then tap a date. If you see the list view instead of drag-and-drop events, tap the List button at the top of the screen.

4. View your calendar for the week

Here’s a final trick for you: just tilt your iPhone sideways, in “landscape” mode, either in the day or month views.

Tilt your iPhone sideways for a weekly view of your Calendar events.

When you do, you’ll get a weekly view of your Calendar events.

Swipe back and forth to view days in the past or future, or tap, hold, and drag an event to move it to a new day. Neat.

All that making sense? (Don’t be embarrassed if it doesn’t; it took me a good half an hour of trial and error to figure it out.) Still have questions? Let me know!

Bonus tip

Not sure how to update your iPhone to iOS 7.1? Just tap Settings, General, Software Update, then follow the prompts. The update will take about 15 minutes or so, depending on how long it takes to download the update file. Make sure your iPhone is plugged in and backed up before beginning the update.

Click here for more iOS tips!

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