One Tech Tip: Hidden iPhone keyboard shortcuts to raise your texting and typing game

Did you know that your iPhone has many hidden keyboard shortcuts to improve your texting and typing skills? These features, often hidden in lengthy instructions, can be easily overlooked but are becoming increasingly popular through social media influencer videos. Here are a few tips to enhance your iPhone typing experience.

First, consider using Apple's Quickpath feature, which allows you to write by sliding your finger around the screen's digital keyboard instead of tapping individual letters. To activate this feature, navigate to Settings, General, and Keyboard, then toggle on Slide to Type. Once enabled, simply touch the first letter of a word and slide your finger to the subsequent letters, creating your desired word without lifting your finger from the screen.

Be cautious not to press and hold the first letter for too long or lift your finger prematurely, as this may erase the entire word you're typing. Additionally, if you accidentally delete a letter, pressing delete right away will not only remove the letter but also the entire word you've created.

Next, if you want to modify a sentence you've already typed or make edits before sending, you can utilize a unique cursor control method. To move the cursor to a specific part of the text you wish to edit, hold your thumb down on the space bar until the letters disappear. Now, you can slide your finger around the screen like a trackpad to position the cursor where needed. This technique proves useful when you want to edit a long paragraph before hitting send or add a word to a sentence you previously overlooked.

Lastly, selecting text to copy and paste on your iPhone can be accomplished through various methods. You might be aware that you can tap twice on a word to highlight it or three times to highlight a whole paragraph. For more precise selection, employ the trackpad method: while holding your thumb down on the space bar, tap anywhere on the keyboard.

This action enables you to select text by moving your finger. If you're writing in chat applications like iMessage or WhatsApp or typing in specific app text windows, this feature allows for both selecting and deselecting text, which is especially helpful when dealing with lengthy messages in apps such as iMessage or WhatsApp. In case you need to copy the selected text, use the pop-up options that appear on-screen, or utilize gestures: pinch your three fingers together to highlight the selected text, and spread them apart to paste it elsewhere.

This gesture method can also be employed to copy and paste photos. Keep in mind, however, that these shortcuts might not function optimally on smaller devices like smartphones, as they may work better on larger screens such as those found on iPads.