If you are among the prestigious ranks of “day one” iOS device users, you likely glide over the virtual keyboard on your device of choice with a smug confidence. While no level of practice can seemingly thwart the partly useful, mostly annoying, auto correct feature of iOS 4—I’ve had to “de-dudeify” my own vocabulary as “Yo” is perpetually replaced with “To”—there are a few hidden secrets to the keyboard you may not be familiar with.
ALL CAPS
Are you looking to get a point across? Has your landlord still not replaced that leaky faucet? Many irate iOS users have resorted to not “shouting” their angry emails as iOS 4 seemingly requires an individual shift tap for each uppercase character not immediately following a period. However, iOS does contain a cleverly hidden caps lock feature. To enable it, simply double tap the shift button (up arrow) on your device’s keyboard. The key will then turn blue indicating the feature is active. To disengage, tap the shift key once more.
Slip ‘n’ Slide
Less secret and more productivity pro-tip, this iOS easter egg will delight even the most efficient tappers. If you need to quickly insert a single digit numeral or punctuation mark into an email or text, there’s a shortcut that eliminates the need to manually switch between keyboards. While typing, slide your finger to the “123” key in the lower left and keep it held down—the keyboard will automatically switch to numerals and punctuation. With your finger held down, slide to the desired key and release. The number or punctuation mark you selected will be inserted into the body of your message and the keyboard will automatically revert to its primary form. This tip is especially useful when entering number-laden Wi-Fi passwords.
Add an Accent
Many US based iOS users rely on their device’s default English keyboard for the majority of their typing needs. This can become problematic, however, in situations involving inviting friends for a Bánh mì or reminding a significant other to get Ben & Jerry’s and not Häagen-Dazs at the grocery store. If you’d like to umlaut and accent your texts, simply press and hold the desired character to see, and select from, all of its variations.