Healthcare worker shares clever emoji hack that customizes her iPhone to match her occupation

Smartphones can sometimes feel a bit uniform - meaning we welcome any hack that helps us customize our devices.

And a handy tip has cropped up on TikTok, thanks to user Anna (@annafroehlich0809).

It's not one of those 'check out this iPhone hack' videos that so often do the rounds - instead, this clever tip is somewhat buried in the post.

annafroehlich0809 / TikTok

The video is a joking comparison of Anna's mom at 23 - engaged and working full time - and Anna now: messaging her mom to tell her she smiled at someone at the grocery store today. It's a cute juxtaposition of how different things are for many of us today compared to our parents, racking up 312.4K likes on the video sharing app.

But this screenshot of their message thread threw up something slightly unusual: a little symbol of a stethoscope next to the timestamp on the top left of the screen.

"What's the symbol next to the time on your phone"? reads the top comment. "Like it's a stethoscope but what is it for."

Anna jumps in to respond: "I work in healthcare so it's a fun little thing lol."

And others start piling into the thread, with everyone wanting to know the same thing: how on Earth do you get your own personalized symbol?

Luckily, another user - @shesnotsadshesrad - was on hand with the answer, commenting: "Settings > focus > plus sign in the corner to add new > custom, then you can customize your color and icon and notifications that come through when you're in that focus."

VW Pics / Contributor / Getty

It's a simple way to bring a unique spin to your smartphone's display - with a whole bunch of icons to choose from. These range from a fire symbol and a little dog paw to a leaf and a pair of headphones, all of which you can adjust to a different color.

People are certainly loving this new tip, with one TikToker responding: "I'm obsessed thank you!!"

When you dig a bit deeper, there are plenty of opportunities to customize your iPhone. A hilarious Reddit post has been doing the rounds of someone setting up a custom automation on their device, meaning that if their heart rate fell below 5, their browser history would be erased - so all their secrets would go with them to the grave.

Or, you could take your iMessaging up a notch by stacking stickers on top of each other - making your conversations totally customized.