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Most People Don’t Know About These 50 Hidden Features In Things Of Everyday Use
Interview With Expert
Many everyday items have hidden features that we often overlook but can really improve our daily routines. For example, I recently discovered that the hole at the end of my pot handles isn’t just for hanging—it’s perfect for holding a wooden spoon or spatula while cooking, keeping them from slipping into the pot.
Luckily, there are kind people all over the internet who love sharing these helpful tips. We found some great ones under this r/AskReddit thread, and of course, we had to let you in on them as well. Take a look below—you might find something that could make your life a bit easier!
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
Spiderwebs have coagulant properties. If one has a laceration if you put spiderweb on it, it will stop the bleeding.
My grandmother was seminole indian. She knew old stuff like that.
RELATED:
#2
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.
Curious to know more about the hidden features we come across in common things, Bored Panda got in touch with London-based product designer Oyindamola Ajibike. While we might dismiss them as happy accidents, Ajibike reveals that most are the result of thoughtful design.
These features, she explains, exist to spark a sense of discovery. In fact, many products are crafted to encourage exploration, rewarding us with unexpected functions that enhance our interactions with them. For example, Google’s search page has fun Easter eggs, like the dinosaur game in Chrome when there’s no internet connection. “I’ve used a bank app that brings up the help chat when you shake your phone,” Ajibike adds. “I thought that was quite interesting.”
#3
Lifetime warranties on products such 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, where 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.
Tabitha 5 months ago
LLBean too. I bought my husband a parka from them in 2003. A couple years ago the zipper finally broke. Called LLBean, and they said to send it back and they’d replace the zipper. I had it replaced locally because I needed it fixed fast. They said to email them the receipt, which I did, and they reimbursed me for 100% of the cost.
#4
The star symbol next to one of the floors on the elevator button panel is the floor that leads you out to the street.
Will Cable 5 months ago
Well that's another wrinkle in my bum (phrased used by grandparents when learning something new)
Humans are wired to love discovery, which is why novelty plays a big part in design. Neuroimaging studies show that our brains respond three to five times more strongly to new experiences, according to Dr. Sylvain Moreno, Associate Professor of Neuroscience at Simon Fraser University.
“Let’s say a musician, who’s very experienced in sound differentiation, hears a sound they’ve never heard before; their brain will react very strongly because their brain is already trained to capture differences in sounds,” he says. “The same would go for someone who isn’t a musician, just to a lesser degree.”
The heightened response comes down to our evolutionary development. “It’s rooted in survival,” Dr. Moreno explains. “We need to understand if novel stimuli in our environment is dangerous or not.” This triggers a dopamine release, a neurotransmitter linked to reward, which makes encountering new things inherently exciting.
#5
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.
#6
Nearly all dishwashers have a filter, usually in 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.
Nevertheless, hiding features isn’t just about excitement; it’s also practical, especially in the digital realm. “From a design perspective, [it] can help with decluttering or streamlining a product’s functionality,” says Ajibike. Too much information at once can be overwhelming, so concealing certain elements makes things easier to navigate.
“Advanced features in a product can be hidden for users to find later on. This, I believe, can minimize overwhelming them. As users become more familiar with the interface, they gradually discover more complex [ones],” she explains. Think of the settings on your phone—you don’t need to explore them all right away, but they’re there when you need something specific.
However, there’s a downside. Ajibike acknowledges that some hidden functions might go unnoticed, which can be frustrating. In such cases, “it is important to ensure users understand how a product works, particularly when accessibility is a key factor,” she adds.
That said, when done well, hidden features can contribute to a seamless and delightful product experience. In the bigger picture, this is what sets good design apart from bad. When everything feels intuitive and natural, it’s a clear sign of excellent craftsmanship.
So, the next time you discover a secret feature, take a moment to appreciate the thought and creativity behind it. Hopefully, these little surprises will continue to make your everyday life a bit easier and more enjoyable.
#7
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.
Ali H M Salehuddin 5 months ago
The amount of people who do not know this, but they should, is staggering. They are QC inspectors, fabricators and welders. Yes, I am speaking from experience.
#8
Expo marker ink will remove Sharpie ink. Cover completely and simply wipe away.
#9
The metal rods on car headrests can be used to break out windows if you are trapped.
Nancy Bourque 5 months ago
Or you can just buy one of the gadgets specifically meant to break the windows so you're not wasting time by fighting with the headrests while you're about to drown.
#10
If you own a windows computer, do this from time to time, especially if it's behaving oddly and a reboot doesn't seem to fix the issue:
1. Run CMD/PowerShell/Terminal as admin (easiest way is to right click the start button and select it.
2. type in this and press enter:
sfc /scannow
3. Let it run and look at the results.
I work in IT, and this fixes a range of problems. Why Windows isn't set up to run this automatically in the background occasionally, I have no idea.
#12
The "end" of a roll of tape doubles as a temporary mustache for impromptu spy missions—perfect for undercover operations in the office.
#13
When working with spreadsheets, tab moves you to the next cell, but shift+tab moves you back.
I was working in a grocery store, and they were teaching me how to do the end-of-night spreadsheets. Put in a wrong number, tabbed to the next cell.
"Great," said my boss. "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 look at her. I hit shift+tab. Her jaw dropped.
EDIT: For the folks asking, "Why didn't she just point and click on the cell?" This was 20 years ago. It was old-back-then software custom built for our chain of stores. DOS-based. All keyboard entry. No mouse.
#14
Aluminum foil comes on a roll in a box. At the ends of the box are triangular cutouts that you are meant to push in, forming a spindle for the roll to rotate on.
#15
On many xacto knives / box cutters, the butt end of the handle is removable and has a slot cut into it. This is to break off the tip of the blade for when it gets dull.
#16
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.
#17
Super Glue - stick the metal end of a tack/push pin with the plastic top in the hole instead of the screw top. Keeps the glue fresh & always easy to remove.
Caulk in a caulk gun - use a plastic electrical wire nut on the end to keep the caulk fresh after use.
#18
If someone walks into your space and you don’t want them to see the stuff on your screen (Windows) all you have to do is hold down the Windows key and tap the letter “L”.
Win+L (it’s not case sensitive)
It immediately gives you the LOCK screen.
You might have your Cayman Island bank accounts open, or “something else”…😬.
John Mosley 5 months ago
Whatever you actually had up, they are immediately going to assume it was "something else" when they see you lock it.
#19
Cars have a little arrow on the gas tank icon that tells you which side has the refueling hatch. You're welcome.
2econdSelf 5 months ago
Also, if you ever find yourself locked in the trunk (boot) of a car, look for a luminescent tab to release the hatch...usually near the center of the hatch. I hope you don't need to do this, but it's a good thing to know.
#20
Some truck beds have indented slots on the sides so you can put 2x6 boards across the bed to section it to keep stuff from sliding around.
Matthew Currie 5 months ago
On smaller pickups which do not have a full 4 foot floor width between the fender wells, those slots allow you to put boards across to hold 4 x 8 sheets of plywood or sheetrock flat at a higher level. 5/4 x 6 decking works just fine.
#21
The lines on the red SOLO cup are measurements: 1oz, 5oz and 12oz.
#22
Some vehicles have extendable sun visors. This blew a buddies mind when I extended the visor in their truck to block the sun that the visor otherwise didn't reach.
#23
I dunno about other phones, but Apple phones have a neat typing feature. If you hold down the spacebar, you can gently slide to other parts of the messages if you make a typo or something. So much easier than trying to manually go back in the message.
#24
Most ceiling fans have a summer and winter switch on the head above the blades.
Toothless Feline 5 months ago
To explain this in a little more detail, the switch reverses the direction the blades rotate. You ideally want them rotating counterclockwise (looking from below) in the summer and clockwise in the winter. You should always fully stop the blades before flipping that switch (just like you fully stop the car before shifting into reverse gear), and while you’ve got the fan stopped, you should dust the blades (I use a vacuum cleaner with an extension), because if you don’t, when it starts spinning in the other direction, all the dust that had accumulated on the leading edge of the blades will suddenly be on the trailing edge, and it will all fall on whatever’s under the fan. It’s amazing what you can learn when you read the manual!
#25
Potato peelers have a notch to help pick out the spaces that your peeler doesn’t get so you don’t waste any potato trying to peel it.
#26
Babies clothes: The neck hole flaps are not for some sort of weird baby style points. They are to allow the garment to be pulled down over the shoulders and be pulled off the legs in the event of a poopocalypse (or whatever else).
When a cousin who told me this over a year in to ours, she was like "🤯🤯🤯 right?!??" She was excited to tell me because she had JUST learned it and didn't know herself, and her kids are both out of college haha.
Almost every new parent I talk to now, I ask if they want a couple tips, two important things no one told us and that we didn't read anywhere, this is the first. Not that I talk to that many new parents, but so far the score is 7 of 8 didn't know.
Mia Hamsa 5 months ago (edited)
As someone who worked twenty years in the technical side of kids clothing I can categorically say it is not true. You can use it as such, if you like. The flaps and anything around the neck is there to accommodate for the disproportionately large head babies and toddlers have in comparison to the rest of their bodies. You wouldn't be able to fit tops and onesie over their hat without the ability to extend the neckline
#27
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!
#28
This should be common knowledge as it's obvious but people do still seem to miss it. Most toasters come with a little removable tray which collects crumbs for easier cleaning.
The paper sauce-holders in McDonalds peel open to make a bigger sauce tray for easier dipping and more sauce-to-surface ratio.
#29
Fisher & paykel washing machines can play 3 different national anthems. (US, NZ, Aus.)
No, I don't know why, either.
#30
When you pop open a can of soda, you can turn the popper around and insert a straw through the hole.
#31
You can switch the direction that refrigerator doors open.
#32
On those gas station pumps that advertise to you while you fill up your vehicle: there are buttons on each side of the screen. Pressing the second from the top on the right side will mute the speaker.
Is this a USA only thing?
#33
Most "modern" European windows have a 3rd setting called "Spaltlüftung" (gap ventilation). It's a setting between the tilting and full opening of the window, that just leaves a tiny gap. Extremely useful if you have a pet, but nearly no one knows about it.
Ample Aardvark 5 months ago
I think it's a great invention, specially because I like to keep windows open a tiny bit in the bedroom all year round
#34
Oven doors come off so they can be cleaned properly.
Matthew Savestheworld 5 months ago
Everything can come off of anything if you are motivated enough
#35
A lot of microwaves have an option to turn the sounds off. I you think this would be useful, the manual will have instructions on how to do this.
#36
Can't believe I'm admitting this, but the little black slider on the lid of Yeti mugs is magnetic. It comes completely off of the lid so you can wash all the nooks and crannies. I only discovered this after accidentally dropping the lid once and it flew off. I spent years washing around that little black piece. I felt so dumb.
#37
Mose staplers have a hole in the sides allowing you to see if you are running low on staples so that you don’t have to dry fire or open it up to check.
On Swinglines the staple pusher thingy is copper colored so that it stands out through the hole.
John Mosley 5 months ago
And, and I told Don too, because they've moved my desk four times already this year, and I used to be over by the window, and I could see the squirrels, and they were merry, but then, they switched from the Swingline to the Boston stapler, but I kept my Swingline stapler because it didn't bind up as much, and I kept ...
#38
Kraft Parmesan cheese lids that screw on also fit on mason jars. Side by side refrigerators do not have enough space so we keep a small mason jar of the cheese in there with the larger container in a garage fridge.
David 5 months ago
Related - I have a ziplock bag of various small lids I've saved. If you drop a bottle of this or that and the lid breaks - I use a spare one. But also - many of the sizes fit other things. The lid on my melatonin broke - a different one fit. A spice mix I use only had a screw lid, but another lid with a flip top feature and sprinkle holes fit.
#39
If you need to open a tube of ointment. Screw the cap off and turn it around, there is usually a pointed cone built into the top to puncture the seal of the ointment.
ॐBoyGanesh 5 months ago
Gods bless this poster for qualifying their statement with “usually” as opposed to most of the others, which are stating the common knowledge as fact/given.
#40
Most garbage disposals can be reset easily if it stops working. It’s a red button under the disposal device you can press and it resets.
David 5 months ago (edited)
so it does. TIL EDIT: I feel like I'm in the twilight zone. I made this comment yesterday and I'd swear it had nothing to do with garbage disposals. The red button would be a thermal reset. Many things have them but on a lot of stuff it auto resets (bimetalic, changes shape as it cools down). Some stuff it is a manual button.
#41
The spot in between the handles on scissors to open bottles. When we first started dating I blew my wife's mind when I used scissors to open a bottle of soda that was screwed on very tight.
#42
If your car has a memory drivers seat there's a decent chance your car ties the setting to a specific key fob. So you and your partner can each have their own key fob that automatically adjusts to your setting when you get in the car.
Auntriarch 5 months ago
I love these, since there's a significant difference between the length of Mr Auntriarch's legs and mine
#43
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.
Toothless Feline 5 months ago
Only some pharmacies use this style of vial and lid. Around me, Walgreens is the primary one that does. But there’s a trick you can use on the ones that aren’t reversible like this. The standard childproof caps are made of two pieces that have to be pressed together so that the inner part can actually unscrew; otherwise the outer part just spins (this is what makes it childproof, as most children are incapable of pressing down hard enough to engage the inner layer). You can use a screwdriver or bottle opener to pry off the outer piece, and then you’re left with just the part that actually screws on, easy to open.
#44
If you put the Konami code into the Fisher-Price baby video game controller toy, it does a special sound effect and tells you that you won.
Edit - Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A. For those who are curious.
#45
Your mattress might have a winter side and a summer side. Check its edge for a tag.
#46
Not sure if it’s only people around me that tend not to know this, but for most vacuums you should be able to rotate the top hook that holds the cable 180 degrees to take off the wire coil all at once instead of having to unwind the entire thing.
Toothless Feline 5 months ago
This is common on devices that have hooks for winding the power cable on.
#47
Your bic lighter is also a bottle opener, when you're cool.
#48
I didn't always know that most dish brushes have a scraping edge on the top.
It thought it was pretty useful when I found out.
ॐBoyGanesh 5 months ago
I mean, c’mon. Are we really becoming that dense of a species that we can’t identify the scraper as a scraper?
#49
On a Apple phone, if you text yourself a flight number, tapping the number will reveal flight information. Don’t know if it works with whatsapp, but for text messages it works great!
Aisling Raye 5 months ago
To build on this. If someone sends you a text with a currency amount in it, a line will appear underneath. If you tap the amount it will show you currency conversions.
#50
Have you ever noticed the hole in the handle of a pasta spoon? It's actually there to measure out a single serving of spaghetti. Yeah.
What do you think ?
Ali H M Salehuddin 5 months ago
Bored Panda has a little X on top left of the screen. Click this is to exit the site because you and I have been browsing BP for far too long!
Auntriarch 5 months ago
The most useful thing I picked up here was from a fellow Panda's comment
Ali H M Salehuddin 5 months ago
Bored Panda has a little X on top left of the screen. Click this is to exit the site because you and I have been browsing BP for far too long!
Auntriarch 5 months ago
The most useful thing I picked up here was from a fellow Panda's comment
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