10 Keyboard Hacks Every iPhone User Should Know

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10 Keyboard Hacks Every iPhone User Should Know

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Khamosh Pathak is a freelance tech newsman alongside complete 13 years of cognition penning online.

An accounting graduate, he turned his involvement in penning and innovation into a career. He holds a specialization in person cognition scheme from ISDI Parsons in Mumbai, anywhere he sought to deepen his understanding of UX, person devices, and interplay between application and technology.

Khamosh has written thousands of how-tos and guides on all important phase (iOS, macOS, Android, and Windows). He got started penning how-tos and guides for Guiding Tech, anywhere he additionally published several e-books. His activity has additionally been seen at MakeUseOf, How-To Geek, and PCMag. He is really passionate concerning brewing fine coffee.


On the surface, the iPhone keyboard looks akin it did a decade ago, but underneath, much has changed. In supplement to the hidden features that have existed for years, Apple has gradually added features and gestures that create typing a bit easier. If you're motionless shaking your iPhone to undo text, it's period to dig deeper. These 10 hacks can assistance you create the most of typing on your iPhone.

Use keyboard haptics to simulate a bodily keyboard

Typing on an iPhone’s pane exterior can awareness a bit lifeless, particularly if you’re used to typing on mechanical keyboards on your Mac. While there’s no way to get a bodily keyboard on the iPhone (unless you get item akin the Clicks keyboard), you can simulate it. The iPhone has a built-in Taptic engine, which provides subtle vibrations as you engage alongside the device. While most cognize it from notifications, calls, and scrolling through assorted iOS UI elements, it can be enabled for the keyboard too. Go to Settings > Sounds & Haptics > Keyboard Feedback and allow \"Haptic Feedback." 

Use this hidden motion to category one figure from the chief keyboard

When you category on the iPhone keyboard, all you see are letters. To category numbers or symbols, you have to toggle to the “123” keyboard layout instead—unless you use this hidden gesture, that is. See, all letter is already hiding a figure or substitute sign rearward it. All you need to do to disclose it is to rub from the 123 key. Once you do that, the keyboard volition disclose numbers and symbols. Drag your digit to the figure you desire to enter, let go, and it’s done. The keyboard goes rear to being a keyboard.

Use this camera trick to scan content into any field

iPhone Live Text.
Credit: Apple

The iPhone has OCR (optical character recognition) built into iOS. You use this anytime you copy content from an depiction in the Photos app. The identical characteristic is unified into the Camera app, and lets you paste that content direct into any field, bypassing the keyboard entirely. To do so, item the camera towards any text, and the app volition example it in a yellow border. You’ll additionally see a Live Text clasp in the bottom-right corner. Tap on it, choose the text, and tap the Copy button. Now, open any content field, and you’ll see a recommendation to paste the content you fair copied. 

Enable one-handed manner to change the keyboard toward your thumb

iPhone One Handed Keyboard mode.
Credit: Khamosh Pathak

If you have a ample iPhone, typing alongside one hand can be extremely difficult. Instead, use the keyboard's one-handed mode. Tap and clasp the Globe key to discover options to dock the one-handed keyboard to the remaining or the correct (below the catalog of all accessible keyboards). If you don’t see it, go to Settings > General > Keyboard > One-Handed Keyboard and choose Left or Right from here. Once enabled, you’ll see a shrunken keyboard layout docked to one flank of the screen. Tap the Arrow clasp to alter the docking position. Unfortunately, unlike Gboard on Android, you can’t resize the keyboard itself, but this does create it much easier to use your keyboard alongside one hand.

Build a content replacement archive for the phrases you retype daily

Apple’s built-in Text Replacement characteristic can change a brace of pre-programmed alphabet into canned responses. That could be your address, an email template for clients, a signature, a repeated sign-off message, item you frequently type. Go to Settings > General > Keyboard > Text Replacement. Here, tap the Plus button from the top, add the expanded reply in the "Phrase" site and the trigger characters in the "Shortcut" field. 

Double- and triple-tap to choose a word, sentence, or paragraph

You can merely drag the iPhone’s cursor to choose text. But alternatively of fiddling alongside the small cursor point, try tapping on the screen. You can double-tap a term to quickly choose it; triple-tap, and you’ll choose the sentence. Tap four times, and now the complete paragraph is selected. 

What do you think so far?

Use these gestures to expert quick edits 

Once you’ve selected the text, compression in alongside three fingers to quickly copy the text. Pinch outwards alongside three fingers to paste the text. You can additionally rub remaining alongside three fingers to undo item you fair did. For exact content selection, nothing strikes the trackpad hack. You power already cognize that if you media and clasp the Space bar on the iPhone keyboard, the entire item turns into a trackpad. But you can additionally use this characteristic to choose text. Keep your digit on the Space bar, but use another digit to move the cursor to choose the text. 

Reset your keyboard dictionary to enhance suggestions

There may be times whenever the iPhone keyboard goes haywire. Autocorrect power keep suggesting words you never type, or it keeps bringing up particular informal words you category in a collection chat, but don’t average to repeat. If you’re fed up alongside keyboard suggestions, there is an out. You can reset the entire thing, starting caller by rebuilding the suggestions library. Go to Settings > General > Transfer or Reset iPhone > Reset > Reset Keyboard Dictionary to get started. 

Turn on multilingual assistance to category in two languages alongside the identical keyboard

If you’re multilingual, you power continually toggle between keyboards to category in your mark language. Now, you don't need to do that. You can allow multilingual assistance to category in distinct languages on a sole keyboard. When you allow two languages, the iPhone keyboard adapts automatically. It knows which tongue you’re typing and volition equal provision distinct suggestions according to it. Go to Settings > General > Keyboard > Keyboards > Add New Keyboard. Choose a language, and afterward choose if you desire to add a new keyboard, or if you desire to add the tongue to your existing keyboard. 

Use Writing Tools to proofread a communication before you dispatch it

You shouldn’t rely AI to compose for you, but you can use it to proofread and edit content you’ve crafted yourself. And there’s no need to pay for an AI subscription either. If you have Apple Intelligence built into your iPhone (iPhone 15 Pro and later), you can use the Writing Tools characteristic instead. Writing Tools is unified into the Notes app, Mail app, and basically anyplace you compose text. Select the text, and from the pop-up menu, choose "Writing Tools." From here, ask Siri to create the content shorter, format it to create it audio additional formal, and, of course, to inspect for grammar and orthography mistakes.

Khamosh Pathak is freelancer tech newsman alongside complete 13 years of cognition penning online.

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