7 Quick iPhone Typing Tricks

If you spend a lot of time on your iPhone, you’ve probably gotten pretty comfortable with the virtual keyboard by now.

Still, there are a number of tricks you can use to type faster than ever. Plus, you don’t actually have to download any special app or change the settings on your iPhone in any way.

Everything you need to get those emails, social media posts, and any other types of text-based content out-the-door as quickly as possible is right there, built into the iPhone itself.

1) The Text Replacement Trick

You can have your own vocabulary of abreviations that your iPhone will type out in full for you.

For example… type TTYL, and your iPhone will type out “Talk to you later” to quickly get you out of a conversation.

Or, OMW will type out “On my way”.

You can even use it for uncommon long phrases you type out often, like the name of your law firm “DCH” will type out “Dewey, Cheatum, and Howe”.

To set your Text Replacement Abbreviations, just head to… Settings > General > Keyboard > Text Replacement. Tap the “+” Plus Icon in the upper left to add your own Abbreviations.

2) The Etch-a-Sketch Undo Trick

Anyone who has ever made a typing mistake on their iPhone is probably familiar with the process of using the “Delete” key to go back and make corrections.

But did you know that there is a far easier way to remove what you just typed in a matter of seconds?

It’s true! Whenever you finish typing something that you’re unhappy with, all you have to do is physically shake your iPhone a few times. Just like the undo on an Etch-a-Sketch.

Note that if you don’t want to shake your phone, you can also slide three fingers to the left of your screen to accomplish the same thing. 

3) The Space Bar Trackpad Trick

Moving the cursor on your iPhone is also a great way to go back and add a word in the middle of a sentence, or to simply take care of any unique formatting concerns that you want.

To do this, tap-and-hold the “Space” bar on the iPhone’s virtual keyboard and slide your finger to the exact place in your text where you want it. Just like using a trackpad on a laptop.

The cursor will move there instantly, and you’ll be able to correct a word or enter new ones with ease. 

4) The One-Handed Keyboard Trick

Did you know that you can reconfigure your keyboard to support typing with one hand?

All you need to do is press and hold the Emoji key (Between the number key and the microphone) in the lower left corner of the iPhone’s virtual keyboard whenever you’re trying to type.

You’ll be greeted with the option to move the keyboard to the left, right, or center. This will make it easier to type with just your thumb while holding your iPhone in one hand.

5) The Numbers Button Trick

The “123” button, in the lower left, switches your iPhone’s standard QWERTY keyboard into a Numbers-and-Punctuation-Marks keyboard.

But did you know, you can just tap-and-hold the button… type a number or punctuation mark… then when you release the button… it switches right back to your standard QWERTY keyboard so you can continue typing along your merry way.

In addition to typing a quick number… This is a great trick for quickly adding an exclamation point, question mark, @ symbol, or any other punctuation while typing.

6) Predictive Typing Trick

When you type on your iPhone, a “Prediction” bar will appear above your keyboard trying to guess what word you are trying to type.

If it guesses before you finish typing the word, just tap on the prediction to add it to your message.

Over time, the Prediction Bar will learn the common words you type and it will get better at guessing your words.

7) The Slide-to-Type Trick

Did you know you can just slide your finger from letter to letter to quickly spell out words… Ouija Board style. And when you finish typing a word, the space is added automatically between words.

Combine this Trick with the last “Predictive Typing” Trick, and you’ll be typing twice as fast as a mere mortal.

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