What are the best keyboard shortcuts on an iPhone?

iPhone keyboard shortcuts can significantly speed up your typing and improve efficiency. Here are some of the best keyboard shortcuts to know:

1. Text Replacement Shortcuts

• What It Does: Automatically expands abbreviations into full phrases or sentences.
• How to Use It:

  1. Go to Settings > General > Keyboard > Text Replacement.
  2. Tap the + icon to add a new shortcut.
  3. Enter the phrase you want to expand in the Phrase field and the shortcut in the Shortcut field.
  4. Example: Type "omw" to expand it to "On my way!"

2. Quick Punctuation

• What It Does: Quickly adds punctuation without switching keyboards.
• How to Use It:

  1. Press and hold the 123 key, slide your finger to the desired punctuation mark, then release to return to the alphabet keyboard.

3. Capitalizing Letters

• What It Does: Capitalizes a single letter quickly without turning on Caps Lock.
• How to Use It:

  1. Tap the Shift key and slide to the letter you want to capitalize, then release.

4. Quickly Insert a Period

• What It Does: Adds a period at the end of a sentence faster.
• How to Use It:

  1. Double-tap the space bar to insert a period and add a space automatically.

5. Undo Typing

• What It Does: Quickly undoes your last typed action.
• How to Use It:

  1. Shake your iPhone to bring up the Undo Typing option, then tap Undo.
  2. Alternatively, swipe three fingers to the left to undo.

6. Redo Typing

• What It Does: Redoes the last undone action.
• How to Use It:

  1. Shake your iPhone again or swipe three fingers to the right to redo.

7. Quickly Access Numbers and Symbols

• What It Does: Makes entering numbers and symbols faster.
• How to Use It:

  1. Press and hold the 123 key, slide your finger to a number or symbol, and then release.

8. Move the Cursor Precisely

• What It Does: Allows you to position the cursor accurately within text.
• How to Use It:

  1. Press and hold the space bar to turn the keyboard into a trackpad.
  2. Slide your finger to move the cursor where you need it.

9. Select Text Quickly

• What It Does: Speeds up text selection for copying, cutting, or formatting.
• How to Use It:

  1. Double-tap a word to select it, or triple-tap to select a whole sentence.
  2. For precise selection, hold the space bar to activate the trackpad, then move the cursor to select text by dragging the cursor.

10. Enable Caps Lock

• What It Does: Keeps the keyboard in uppercase mode for continuous capital letters.
• How to Use It:

  1. Double-tap the Shift key to enable Caps Lock. The Shift key will turn blue to indicate it’s on.
  2. Tap it again to turn off Caps Lock.

11. Quickly Insert an Emoji

• What It Does: Switches to the emoji keyboard instantly.
• How to Use It:

  1. Tap the Globe icon to switch to the emoji keyboard.
  2. Alternatively, press and hold the Globe icon, then slide your finger to select Emoji.

12. Paste from the Clipboard History (iOS 16 and later)

• What It Does: Lets you paste the most recent text from your clipboard.
• How to Use It:

  1. After copying something, tap and hold the screen where you want to paste.
  2. Select Paste from the menu that appears.

13. One-Handed Keyboard

• What It Does: Makes typing easier with one hand by shifting the keyboard to one side.
• How to Use It:

  1. Press and hold the Globe or Emoji icon.
  2. Choose the left or right one-handed keyboard layout.

14. Quick Access to Text Formatting (on iOS Mail or Notes)

• What It Does: Allows you to apply bold, italic, or underlined text quickly.
• How to Use It:

  1. Select the text you want to format.
  2. Tap the BIU button to choose Bold, Italic, or Underline.

15. Dictation Shortcut

• What It Does: Converts speech to text, making it easier to input large amounts of text quickly.
• How to Use It:

  1. Tap the Microphone icon on the keyboard.
  2. Speak your text, and the iPhone will convert it to written words.

16. Return to Alphabet Keyboard

• What It Does: Quickly returns to the alphabet keyboard after using numbers or symbols.
• How to Use It:

  1. After typing a number or symbol, tap the ABC key to switch back to the alphabet keyboard.

17. Insert Accented Characters

• What It Does: Allows you to type letters with accents or special characters.
• How to Use It:

  1. Press and hold a letter key to see a list of accented versions.
  2. Slide your finger to the desired character and release.

By mastering these iPhone keyboard shortcuts, you can type more efficiently and navigate text more effectively, saving time and effort in your everyday tasks.