30 Popular Products With A Secret Feature That Only A Few People Know About

Don’t you love learning some useful hacks? Well, I’m pretty sure everybody does. And how about finding out, let’s say, some feature on your iPhone that makes your everyday life easier? Yep, I'm sure, everybody likes learning that. So let me tell you some examples that hopefully will make your everyday life easier as well! So, the iPhone has a feature that can take a photo of the laundry symbols and translate them to understandable language. Or, it turns out that toasters have a removable tray at the bottom that catches the crumbs and you can remove them.

One Reddit user recently started a thread online asking folks to share common products that have a feature which many people might not know about. The post caught a lot of attention and people online actively shared various things that most of us probably haven’t heard about. So scroll through and find out about these not-so-hidden but unknown features!

More info: Reddit

This post may include affiliate links.

30 Popular Products With A Secret Feature That Only A Few People Know About On the left side of a car's steering wheel is a stick. Pushing the stick up or down will indicate to other drivers which direction you intend to turn!

You're welcome!

HistoricalCrow , Shaylor Report

Final score:

387points

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Jessica Rabbit 10 months ago

I thought I was going to learn a trick and ended up laughing.

117points

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30 Popular Products With A Secret Feature That Only A Few People Know About Mobile phones have a low powered speaker just above the screen, so you can put the phone to your head and other people can't hear your call

JustAFakeAccount , JÉSHOOTS Report

Final score:

252points

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TheGoodBoi 10 months ago

So that's how it works! /S

31points

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30 Popular Products With A Secret Feature That Only A Few People Know About Closed an important tab accidentally? Press CTRL+SHIFT+T to bring it right back.

TheArchitect_7 , Designecologist Report

Final score:

245points

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April W 10 months ago

I logged in just to upvote this. Wish I had known this years ago.

81points

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30 Popular Products With A Secret Feature That Only A Few People Know About Barilla Pasta has a Spotify list. Each specific song has a duration to match the relevant pasta’s cook time

toasted_marshmellow0 , Fred Romero Report

Final score:

220points

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Bouche and Audi and Shyla, Oh My! 10 months ago

This is clever and funny!

52points

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30 Popular Products With A Secret Feature That Only A Few People Know About 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.

ChaoticCryptographer , Dvortygirl Report

Final score:

182points

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Heather Vandegrift 10 months ago

I found this out when using my mom's setting kit, but mine just has pins in a box and no tomato. I'll have to see about getting one, or making one (maybe I'll make one that looks like Pinhead...)

31points

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30 Popular Products With A Secret Feature That Only A Few People Know About Browsers let you use ctrl+f to search within a page. You can use this, for example, to check if 500 people have already made a joke about turn signals

sac_boy Report

Final score:

177points

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BlueBlazer999 10 months ago

I’ve always wanted to know if 500 people made a joke about turn signals!

51points

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30 Popular Products With A Secret Feature That Only A Few People Know About Lifetime warranties on consumer goods. Like Columbia jackets and Jansport backpacks. If your zipper fails or the material separates or is no longer repelling water, file a claim online and pay for shipping to the factories. They will either repair it or ship you a comparable new version. Companies like this use your returns to identify weak points in their products while retaining lifetime customers.

ThrowmeawayAKisCold , Encore Clothing Report

Final score:

172points

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INGI 10 months ago

I splurged 10 years ago on a Litter Robot. These run around $500 (I used my tax refund and it was the best money I think I've ever spent.) A piece broke, and I called to see if I could just order the piece. The rep said they no longer made that model. I wasn't super upset. Ten years is a good run. So I was about to order a new one, when she told me they'd be happy to just send me a new unit. A brand new, $500 unit. I was blown away. Can't recommend the original Litter Robot highly enough!!!!

79points

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30 Popular Products With A Secret Feature That Only A Few People Know About The number of people on this site who don't know to clear their lint trap after using the dryer is too high

mizushimo , u/BobertTheConstructor Report

Final score:

158points

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Jon Paris 10 months ago

I do it after every load.

109points

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30 Popular Products With A Secret Feature That Only A Few People Know About

When you are writing in Microsoft word or Outlook and accidentally leave caps lock on, select the text and press Shift F3. It will change the text between upper and lower case, and there's a third option to make the first letter of each word upper case too.

Always seems to blow peoples minds when I tell them.

ExcitedlyAmusing , William Fortunato Report

Final score:

138points

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GlassHalfWay 10 months ago

Control Z will bring back your accidental deleted sentence, paragraph, etc. if you hit delete while the text is highlighted.

30points

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#10

30 Popular Products With A Secret Feature That Only A Few People Know About The amazon bags are reusable. Turn them inside out, and turn the piece of plastic off to reveal the tape to reseal.

Very useful for making returns.

RedAce2022 , u/[deleted] Report

Final score:

108points

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Two_rolling_black_eyes 10 months ago

It says it on the bag but its easily missed.

27points

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#11

30 Popular Products With A Secret Feature That Only A Few People Know About Swiss army knife, parcel hook. Most people don't know what it's for, but it lets you use the knife as a handle for carrying unwieldy c**p.

Fluff42 , u/BuckStreams Report

Final score:

104points

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JL 10 months ago

Or for sliding down a really tiny zipline.

121points

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#12

30 Popular Products With A Secret Feature That Only A Few People Know About A lot of people think that Febreze just covers up odors with perfume.

It's actually an excellent odor *remover* and there's an unscented version that works extremely well and leaves no smell behind. It's just that when they first brought it to market, a lot of people didn't like it because they associate "smelling clean" with perfumed products. They found that adding a perfume to it increased their sales. It's hard to find in stores, but you can still order the unscented version on Amazon.

jmurphy42 , ajay_suresh Follow Report

Final score:

102points

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Charles McChristy 10 months ago

Well, I've met many odors that Febreze couldn't quell, so this was my assumption from the beginning.

16points

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#13

30 Popular Products With A Secret Feature That Only A Few People Know About Turning your phone sideways in calculator mode gives you a full scientific calculator.

Holding letters down on your phones keyboard brings up a selection of ‘alternate forms’ șö ŷòų ċæņ ďo þħīß! ŴØÁĦ

seen_enough_hentai Report

Final score:

102points

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R.A. Haley 10 months ago

That last one is how we all learned to swear on BP.

105points

MP 10 months ago

Good fùcking sħit!

14points

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the_avenging_knight (her/she) 10 months ago

fûçk, døńt gįvê åwâÿ öūr ßėçrētš!

13points

Turtlehead 10 months ago

Yee fücking haw

0points

Strahd Ivarius 10 months ago

Still missing the hieroglyphs however, for some good swearing!

0points

WindySwede 10 months ago

Or, just non English.. 🙃 järnspikar..

0points

White Sauce Hot Sauce 10 months ago

This comment has been deleted.

0points

Eric Williams 10 months ago

well !#%@ me sideways!

8points

Anna Drever 10 months ago

With a rabid space badger! (Sorry. I had a Picard meme that I deliberately looked up since your comment made me think of it 😀)

1point

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Linden 10 months ago

Just checked on my phone and it didn't change when tilted sideways, but I did notice for the first time there is a button to make it do that and another to go into unit conversion mode - I never knew that and always used Google. (Samsung Android) I knew about the special characters because I often use macrons when typing Māori words.

1point

UpQuarkDownQuark (he/him) 10 months ago

“ŴĦØÁ.”

1point

JennyñÄdrian Cotter 10 months ago

Well it's true, you DO learn something new every day 👍

1point

Kelly Scott 10 months ago

My question would be, how do you get the phone in calculator mode? I have a cheap, $12 phone, so maybe it doesn't have a calculator mode.

1point

My eye bags make me look like a panda. 10 months ago

are 12 dollar phones even a thing? ( I dont mean this as making fun of you,sorry if you understand it like that)

2points

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Firefly1617 10 months ago

A lot of newer phones have a calculator app. The one shown looks like the app on my old phone, some oldish iphone

1point

MP 10 months ago

Depends on the phone

1point

Tracy 9 months ago

Țħãńķš

0points

THE COOL ZACH 10 months ago

Ħǎħă!

0points

Shadow 10 months ago

Alternate forms? Aren't those just symbols for other languages?

0points

Lady Gypsy Rain 10 months ago

Holding the space bar down will allow you to move the cursor with more ease than repeatedly trying to fat finger it to the right spot.

0points

JensenDK 10 months ago

And a long presse on space turns the keyboard into a touchpad, making it easier to correct words you've misspelled easier, because it is easier to hit the right spot with the cursor.

0points

BagelBoi 10 months ago

țħăť’ş čřążŷ

0points

parmadillo 10 months ago

Ļöł

0points

Al! 10 months ago

Hijğïť

0points

Dante McBride 10 months ago

Ñįčę! Free zalgo text.

0points

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#14

30 Popular Products With A Secret Feature That Only A Few People Know About The second button down on the left on a gas pump will often mute the audio coming from it.

Also, whoever decided to put videos on gas pumps should be sent to The Hague for trial.

Edit: lots of people are saying it's the second button down on the right. Just try whichever and see if it works.

Orcapa , u/djinnman17 Report

Final score:

101points

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Apatheist Account2 10 months ago

Don't have these in the UK.

22points

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#15

30 Popular Products With A Secret Feature That Only A Few People Know About Nearly all staplers can make two kinds of staples: regular and temporary. You can spin the strike plate around by pushing it up from underneath and the resulting staples will go out instead of in, making them easier to remove.

I thought this was common knowledge, but my wife of 14 years was amazed when I showed our daughter how that worked.

iThinkergoiMac , John Diez Report

Final score:

100points

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Lyop 10 months ago

AHHH! Just did it! Thank you stranger.

19points

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#16

30 Popular Products With A Secret Feature That Only A Few People Know About A regular pair of binoculars pointed at Jupiter will reveal four of Jupiter’s moons! Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto.

musichorn , Francis Seura Report

Final score:

94points

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Chewie Baron 10 months ago

They’ll also enable you to see Saturn’s rings.

3points

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#17

30 Popular Products With A Secret Feature That Only A Few People Know About Toasters have crumb trays in the bottom that you can and SHOULD remove and clean

LaikSure , IndyDina with Mr. Wonderful Report

Final score:

92points

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Ru Bee 10 months ago

Also and yeah I know I'm dumb but if it's still toasting just raise the lever instead of popping the toaster to see what it looks like! .....I have two degrees and learnt this about a week ago 😊

11points

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#18

30 Popular Products With A Secret Feature That Only A Few People Know About If you want to move the cursor on the text you just typed on the phone, just slide your finger to the left or right of the spacebar. No more annoying "tap tap tap oh s**t I accidentally deleted it"

ohhellopia Report

Final score:

92points

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Lotekguy 10 months ago

Muchas gracias. Just found that it works on my android.

31points

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#19

30 Popular Products With A Secret Feature That Only A Few People Know About Even though it's only been a couple decades, I feel like people forget that you can just buy an HD antenna and watch local channels instead of needing cable/satellite.

psycharious , artistmac Report

Final score:

87points

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BlitheSpirit 10 months ago

We did that - tried the indoor antenna first (which didn’t work at all) and then just bought the roof antenna and we get 43 channels.

36points

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#20

30 Popular Products With A Secret Feature That Only A Few People Know About If your blinker is faster it means you have a bulb out

Ok_Dragonfruit_3718 , Iain Cameron Report

Final score:

72points

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R.A. Haley 10 months ago

No, that means your blinker fluid is low.

88points

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#21

30 Popular Products With A Secret Feature That Only A Few People Know About Netflix has a Fitness or Exercise genre where you can watch and workout alongside videos.

TalkShitGetWitt , cottonbro studio Report

Final score:

67points

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Michelle C 10 months ago

It's called Netflix & Chill not Netflix & Burn

53points

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#22

30 Popular Products With A Secret Feature That Only A Few People Know About With Google Maps on your phone, when traveling to someone, you can let them know exactly where you are so they can track your progress.

Open maps, tap your account icon at the top right, tap location sharing, and you have the option to share your location for a set amount of time (like an hour). You can then tap to send this location sharing directly to a person or to send it through a text message. The other person can now know where you are along your journey. This way they can better prepare for your arrival.

gt24 Report

Final score:

62points

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Two_rolling_black_eyes 10 months ago

I use this while traveling both locally and out of town. If some bloke starts trailing me, the first person I click on in my contacts list will now know where I disappeared.

16points

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#23

30 Popular Products With A Secret Feature That Only A Few People Know About So one that kinda blows my mind and I use all the time now.

But you can program your phone to send texts at later times depending on the software.

You hold the send button and see if any prompts come up, it's insanely handy for calling out sick on a job (if you your bosses # anyway) or checking in with somebody when you think of them but know right now is a bad time to text, etc.

Ghostbuster_119 , picjumbo.com Report

Final score:

54points

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Upstaged75 10 months ago

You can do the same thing in Outlook email. I have definitely used it to make it look like I'm reporting in sick first thing in the morning when I really did it late the night before so I can sleep in. :) You can find it under Options > delay delivery and choose what time you want the message to be sent.

25points

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#24

30 Popular Products With A Secret Feature That Only A Few People Know About Least and best used feature in a Microwave is actually low power and defrost settings.

TheMTOne , Ewen Roberts Report

Final score:

52points

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Jon Paris 10 months ago

100% correct on this one! When reheating, cut power to 50% and double the time. No cold spots.

39points

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#25

30 Popular Products With A Secret Feature That Only A Few People Know About You can use the Notes app on your iPhone as a scanner. Start a note, hit the camera icon, and it will give you the option to scan a document. You can do single or batch, and if you share the note or email it to yourself, it will come through as a PDF.

The "scan text" feature below that one is great too; instead of creating a PDF, it'll import printed (or some handwritten, depending on how tidy your writing is!) text into your note. You just hover over a doc and it'll pop up as text.

croque_mademoiselle Report

Final score:

47points

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seana lammers 10 months ago

Definitely a cool feature!

10points

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#26

I've met a weirdly high number of people that think you can't charge an EV off a standard wall outlet.

You can, it just takes a while. My Model 3 takes about two days to go from 0% to 100%.

As opposed to 40 minutes at a fast charger

MrGruntsworthy , meow Report

Final score:

43points

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Richard Graham 10 months ago (edited)

Yes. I come home from work, put my electric car in the garage, then plug it into the AC electric outlet. I charge it every night. In four years I have never used a public charger, just my home electric outlet. (BTW, my electric bill is about $20 a month extra because of this - still far cheaper than gasoline or paying for a charge.)

24points

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#27

30 Popular Products With A Secret Feature That Only A Few People Know About you can turn your brightness lower than the lowest brightness setting.

settings —> accessibility —> display & text size —> reduce white point

6teeee9 Report

Final score:

40points

POST

Sleepy Panda 10 months ago

That’s how I have my screen at all times! 95% reduced. It doesn’t hurt my eyes or give me headaches, and I fall asleep scrolling bp every night!

19points

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#28

30 Popular Products With A Secret Feature That Only A Few People Know About Rearview mirrors have a tab that lets you flip it upward, effectively reducing the glare if the car behind you has its high beams on. I've been surprised by how many people haven't been aware of this.

ExtraHorse , Bill Smith Report

Final score:

40points

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JB 10 months ago

Typical BP “any image will do”. This is a side view mirror, which may or may not have anti-glare tint or auto-dimming; they don’t have a button or tab for the nighttime setting. The rear view mirror is the one inside your car.

111points

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#29

30 Popular Products With A Secret Feature That Only A Few People Know About I recently found out that if i press and hold my car key to unlock the car, all the windows open automatically.

Not so impressive but some people might try it out lol

JohnyyBanana , revac film's&photography Report

Final score:

29points

POST

Austin L 10 months ago

It isn't a feature all cars have.

31points

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#30

30 Popular Products With A Secret Feature That Only A Few People Know About On a Windows computer WinKey + Tab brings up a virtual desktop switcher. At the top of the screen, hit the plus (+) icon to make a second desktop. You can then use Ctrl + WinKey + L/R arrow to switch back and forth quickly.

I keep all my browsers on one desktop, and Spotify/Discord/Reddit on the other and swap back and forth all day at work.

LogicWavelength , Karol D Report

Final score:

29points

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keyboardtek 10 months ago

I love how Windows 10 has all these added feature where your desktop image jumps randomly to some weird configuration and you have no idea what key you pressed to cause it to happen.

21points

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#31

30 Popular Products With A Secret Feature That Only A Few People Know About The nub on the edge of a tape dispenser (the red one for moving boxes) is meant to find the edge of the tape. Press it down and move the tape around and it’ll peel it up

Edit: copying a video tagged below to answer questions Edit 2: here to blow your mind again. There’s a regular cap under all OTC child safety caps. Put a butter knife in there and pry off the cap example

stowRA , home_reimagined Report

Final score:

16points

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Erin Eubanks 10 months ago

Again I concur with Ron. I tired this on multiple bottles. Even the ones that come off to reveal a regular cap are REALLY hard to get off.

5points

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#32

Windows Key + Shift + S is a shortcut to a snipping tool. It will freeze and darken your computer screen and then you can click and drag a square to grab a snapshot that you can then paste wherever.

If you double tap the lock button on an Android, it opens the camera.

You can take a phone screenshot on an Android by pressing the volume down and lock buttons at the same time.

astoriahfae Report

Final score:

15points

POST

Upstaged75 10 months ago

I use the screen shot/snipping tool almost every day at work. (On my laptop, not my phone) Very useful.

7points

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#33

For a new Google doc, in the browser bar you can just type “doc.new”

Works for sheet.new and slide.new too

chiralityhilarity Report

Final score:

13points

POST

#34

30 Popular Products With A Secret Feature That Only A Few People Know About Apple camera comes pre installed with a feature that translates those laundry symbols

Maria-Stryker , wtfaleisa Report

Final score:

11points

POST

MetaMaxNL 10 months ago

i really thought you were gonna say the phones had a wash instruction 😂😂😂🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️

9points

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#35

E-readers and TTS is on everyone's phone. I'm blind and yall have no clue how many times a day people ask me "how are you reading and talking online?"

TrailMomKat Report

Final score:

8points

POST

Jeevesssssss 10 months ago

What, you don't have touchscreen Braille?? My old uni laptop had specialist TTS designed to handle medical terminology (I was studying pharmacy). However, it was unable to differentiate between 'Asperger's' and 'a*s burgers' lmao.

11points

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#36

If you press and hold the flashlight button on your iPhone, you can adjust the brightness of it

pastyNproud Report

Final score:

8points

POST

Panda Pandemic 10 months ago

Thanks! I just tried it and never knew that. Awesome!

2points

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#37

30 Popular Products With A Secret Feature That Only A Few People Know About KwikSet locks can be easily rekeyed in about 30seconds.

Buying the rekey kit online comes with four new keys that are cheaper than duplicating a new key.

DigNitty , u/bad_karmaa Report

Final score:

7points

POST

JB 10 months ago (edited)

Not a KwikSet lock. Those have a small hole to the bottom left of the keyhole, which is where you insert the reset key. Read the instructions very carefully! If you get it wrong you can find that neither the original or new keys work, which means a locksmith or new doorknob.

6points

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#38

That most new phones (at least Samsung) has a panic button function that will work even if your phone is dead (this depends on the phone). You can put in your distress contacts and when activated, they will receive a text, call and a live map to your location.

AilaKnows Report

Final score:

6points

POST

Ace 10 months ago

Dead battery? No, this will not work with a dead battery.

10points

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#39

30 Popular Products With A Secret Feature That Only A Few People Know About Mastercard and Visa both offer cell phone insurance on some of their credit cards if you pay your phone bill with their card. This can cover theft and damage to your cell phone.

Edit: about time i add this to the main, check your credit card benefits guide for details to see if it's applicable. And yes it might be a pain in the a*s, but it's still there for some cc's

this_is_poorly_done , Thomas Kohler Report

Final score:

5points

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#40

The little door for your gas pump should have a spot to rest the cap so gas doesn't drip onto the handle

techsuppr0t Report

Final score:

5points

POST

R.A. Haley 10 months ago

Mine just has a string attached to the cap to keep me from leaving it on the pump.

10points

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#41

Alumin[i]um boxes have two little tabs on the side you're supposed to push in. Now you don't have to struggle when pulling out a sheet.

That extra container you've never touched since installing your dishwasher? It's for Rinse Aid. Now your plates won't have streaks on them when you take them out.

zerbey Report

Final score:

5points

POST

Bored something 10 months ago

For a cheaper and better tasting rinse aid use white vinegar. I've done this for 15 years and works really well.

10points

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#42

In the US, most electrical stuff uses a type of combination screw called ECX. It can be turned by a slotted, Phillips, or Square (Robertson) bit, or a special ECX unique bit.

If you use a Phillips with it (as most people do) it's very prone to stripping out. If you use a square bit, it is like a thousand times easier. But most people don't know about the feature and don't have a square screwdriver.

nalc Report

Final score:

5points

POST

Lee F. 10 months ago

Robertson is a Canadian invented screw :)

10points

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#43

On windows. Holding the shift key while you move your scroll wheel gives you horizontal scrolling.

Off_Tangent Report

Final score:

3points

POST

EvilBikerScum 10 months ago

This is correct: however it works only if you have something to side-scroll. You can prove it by enlarging a web page over the window size, or by looking at a picture that more than fills your browser window. (downvotes, seriously??)

4points

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#44

Most microwaves can be muted.

You can call an iPhone to stop its alarm

Edit: you can also turn off the your PS5’s power up beep

Johoku Report

Final score:

1point