You probably already know more about your phone than you think. If you’ve ever answered a call, sent a WhatsApp message, or used your phone as a torch during load-shedding, you’ve already used most of what this article covers. We’re simply going to put names to things you’ve been doing by instinct — and fill in a few gaps that will make everything else easier.
Most South Africans use Android phones — Samsung in particular is by far the most common brand. This article is written with Android in mind, but we’ll note where iPhones work differently. The good news is that both work in almost exactly the same way for everyday use.
The power button
The power button is the most important button on your phone. It’s usually found on the right-hand side of the phone, about halfway down. On some Samsung models it’s built into the fingerprint sensor on the side.
It does different things depending on how you press it:
A short press wakes the screen up if the phone is sleeping, or puts it to sleep if it’s on. This is what you press dozens of times a day without thinking about it.
A longer press (hold for about 2 seconds) brings up a menu with options to switch the phone off, restart it, or activate emergency mode. On newer Samsung phones, a long press opens Bixby (Samsung’s voice assistant) instead — if that happens, look for a Power off option by pressing the power button and volume down button together.
The screen going dark doesn’t mean your phone is off — it just means the screen has gone to sleep to save battery. Your phone is still on, still receiving calls and messages. To wake it, press the power button once.
The volume buttons
On the left side of most Android phones you’ll find two buttons stacked on top of each other. These are your volume buttons — press the top one to make things louder, the bottom one to make things quieter.
They control different sounds depending on what you’re doing:
- During a call — they adjust how loud the other person’s voice is in your ear
- When music or video is playing — they control the media volume
- When the phone rings — pressing either volume button once silences the ring without rejecting the call. Useful when your phone rings at an inconvenient moment and you want to silence it quickly without cutting the caller off.
- When the screen is on but nothing is playing — they adjust the ringer volume
A useful trick: pressing the volume down button and the power button at the same time takes a screenshot — a photograph of whatever is on your screen at that moment. Screenshots are saved to your gallery like any other photo. This is how you save your boarding pass, an important message, or anything else on your screen that you want to keep.
The home button — your escape hatch
The home button takes you back to your main home screen — the starting point of your phone — no matter where you are or what you’re doing. Think of it as your escape hatch. If you ever get lost inside an app, a menu, or a setting you don’t understand, press the home button and you’re immediately back at the beginning.
On older Samsung phones the home button is a physical button at the bottom centre of the phone, below the screen. On newer Samsung phones and most modern Android devices, it’s a gesture — you swipe up from the bottom of the screen to go home.
On iPhone: Older iPhones (iPhone 8 and earlier) have a physical round home button below the screen. Newer iPhones (iPhone X and later) use a swipe-up gesture from the bottom edge of the screen.
The back button
On Android phones, the back button takes you one step backwards — like the back button in a web browser. If you’ve opened a menu three levels deep and want to come back out, pressing back once brings you back one level at a time.
On older Samsung phones the back button is a physical button or touch-sensitive area to the left of the home button. On newer Android phones it’s a gesture — swipe inward from the left or right edge of the screen.
The back button and the home button together handle about 90% of navigation on an Android phone. Home gets you out completely, back brings you back one step. Between the two, you can get out of almost any situation.
The recent apps button
On older Android phones there’s a third button to the right of the home button — it looks like a small square or two overlapping rectangles. Pressing it shows you all the apps you’ve had open recently, displayed as a stack of cards you can swipe through.
This is useful for two things:
Switching between apps — if you want to go back to something you had open a moment ago without searching for it again.
Closing apps — swipe an app card upward to close it completely. You don’t need to do this regularly — Android manages open apps efficiently and closing them doesn’t usually save battery as many people believe. But if an app is misbehaving, closing it and reopening it often fixes the problem.
On newer Android phones this is accessed by swiping up from the bottom and pausing briefly before releasing.
The charging port
At the bottom of your phone you’ll find a small slot — this is the charging port, where you plug in your charging cable. Most modern Android phones use a USB-C cable — a small oval-shaped connector that can be plugged in either way up, which is much more convenient than older cables that only worked one way.
Older Android phones may use a Micro-USB connector — a slightly wider trapezoid shape that only goes in one way. If you force it in the wrong way you can damage the port, so if it feels resistant, flip the cable over and try again.
iPhone uses its own connector called Lightning (older models) or USB-C (iPhone 15 and newer).
A few charging habits worth building:
- Don’t let your battery drain to zero regularly — it shortens battery life over time. Charge it when it drops to around 20%
- You don’t need to charge to 100% every time — topping up to 80% regularly is actually better for the battery in the long run
- Avoid cheap no-name chargers — they can damage your battery or in rare cases cause safety issues. Stick to the charger that came with your phone or a reputable brand like Anker
The SIM card slot
On the side of your phone — usually the left side — there’s a very small slot with a tiny hole next to it. This is where your SIM card lives. The SIM card is a tiny chip that connects your phone to your mobile network — Vodacom, MTN, Cell C, Telkom, or whichever network you’re on. Without it, your phone can’t make calls, send SMS messages, or use mobile data.
You don’t need to touch the SIM card slot in normal day-to-day use. The only times you’d open it are when setting up a new phone, replacing a damaged SIM, or switching to a new network. If you ever need to do this, take your phone to your nearest network store and ask them to do it for you — it’s a free service and takes about two minutes.
One important warning: there are scammers who will contact you claiming to be from your network and asking you to do a “SIM swap” — transferring your number to a new SIM card. A fraudulent SIM swap gives criminals access to your phone number, which they use to intercept the OTPs sent by your bank. Never agree to a SIM swap requested by someone who contacts you. If you genuinely need a SIM swap, go in person to your network’s official store with your ID.
The front and back cameras
Your phone has two cameras — one on the back for photographing things in front of you, and one on the front (called a selfie camera) for photographing yourself or for video calls.
You don’t need to do anything to set them up — they’re ready to use from the moment you open the camera app. To switch between front and back camera while the camera is open, tap the small rotating arrow icon on the screen.
The headphone jack — if your phone has one
Older Android phones have a small round hole — usually at the top or bottom of the phone — where you can plug in wired earphones. Many newer phones have removed this in favour of Bluetooth wireless earphones.
If your phone doesn’t have a headphone jack and you want to use wired earphones, you’ll need a small adapter that converts the USB-C port to a headphone socket. These are available at most phone accessory shops for around R50 to R80.
A quick reference — all the buttons at a glance
Right side: Power button — wake, sleep, switch off Left side: Volume up and volume down — louder, quieter, silence a ring, screenshot Bottom: Charging port — plug in your cable Side slot: SIM card — your network connection Bottom of screen or swipe up: Home — escape hatch back to the start Swipe from edge: Back — one step backwards Swipe up and pause: Recent apps — switch between or close open apps Back of phone: Main camera Front of phone: Selfie camera and face recognition sensor
Try this now
Pick up your phone and locate each of the buttons described in this article — power, volume up, volume down, and the charging port. Then press the power button once to put the screen to sleep, and press it again to wake it up. Find the home button or gesture and use it to get back to your home screen from wherever you are. You’ve just navigated your phone deliberately rather than by guesswork — that’s a real step forward.
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