Discover several hidden iPhone keyboard tips, settings, and features that will allow you to type more quickly and accurately, ensuring improved texting, emailing, and overall typing experience.

Many of these tips also work for an iPad.

Set the right keyboard language

The first thing you must do is go to Settings > General > Keyboard > Keyboards and make sure you’re using the correct keyboard language that you’re comfortable with. For instance, if you’re in Australia, it would be better to use the “English (Australia)” keyboard instead of “English (United States).” This way, the suggestions, predictions, and auto-corrections will be more tailored to how you type.

Pro tip: You can add more than one keyboard language to your iPhone for multilingual typing.

See how well auto-correct works for you

Auto-correct is activated by default, seamlessly fixing your misspelled words while typing.

If you need to undo an auto-correction, tap the temporarily underlined word and then select the spelling you originally typed.

Similarly, when you type an incorrect spelling, the word is underlined in red. You can tap it to see suggested corrections and pick a suggestion to replace the misspelled word.

However, if you don’t like auto-correct and find it hindering your typing, you can go to Settings > General > Keyboard and turn off the switch for Auto-Correction.

If you love auto-correct but it has been causing issues lately, you can reset your iPhone keyboard and start fresh.

Try out predictive text and inline predictions

I love predictive text that shows word suggestions above the iPhone keyboard when typing.

However, I’m not a fan of inline predictions that try to finish words or even entire sentences when typing. I find these predictions confusing, inaccurate, and they slow me down.

Out of the box, both these features are enabled, but you can see what works best for you and toggle them on or off in iOS Settings > General > Keyboard > Predictive Text and Show Predictions Inline.

Double-tap to insert a full stop

Instead of finding the period/full stop key to end a sentence, you can double-tap the space bar. This will add a period along with a space so you can type your next sentence without a second thought.

If this doesn’t work on your iPhone, turn on the “.” Shortcut in iPhone or iPad keyboard settings.

Touch and hold a key to type accented letters

You can enter other characters and special accented letters, like é when typing words like café, by touching and holding the “e” key. This also works for several other (but not all) keys on the iOS keyboard.

Enter numbers and uppercase in one swipe motion

When you need to type a one-off number, punctuation, or other symbols, instead of tapping the 123 key to switch to the secondary keyboard, then choosing a number, and then hitting the ABC key to return, you can just place your finger on the 123 key and swipe to the number key you want to insert.

You can also use this tip to enter a one-off uppercase letter by touching the Caps Lock key and then swiping to the alphabet key you want capitalized.

Lock the keyboard in UPPERCASE mode

If you need to type several uppercase letters, double-tap the Caps Lock key to lock it.

Note: You can’t do this if “Enable Capslock” is turned off in iOS keyboard settings.

Capitalize automatically

Your iPhone automatically capitalizes the first letter you type after a period. Just make sure the “Auto-Capitalization” switch is enabled in iPhone keyboard settings.

Note: This doesn’t automatically capitalize “I” and other proper nouns, which can be a bummer.

Convert the keyboard into a trackpad

You can touch and hold the space bar to turn the entire keyboard into a trackpad, then slide your finger to easily move and place the insertion point at the desired spot.

Drag and drop selected text

If you need to move text around, select it and then touch and hold the selected text until it lifts up. Now, you can drag and drop it at another spot in this document or even in other apps.

Use text replacement for special symbols

Imagine your work involves typing the copyright, trademark, registered, or other special symbols on a regular basis. Or, you have to enter your company email address or similar words and phrases frequently.

In this case, you can set up the excellent Text Replacement feature, which will automatically convert a shortcut into a long phrase. For instance, you can have your iPhone enter the copyright symbol when you type “ccpp” or your email address when you enter “emad.” Of course, you can set these shortcuts to whatever you want.

Use Math Results

Math Results is a new iOS 18 feature that solves basic math problems on the spot after you enter the equal sign (=). You can learn more about it and its use cases in our dedicated tutorial.

Try out the swipe keyboard

In place of tapping each key individually, you can swipe over the keys to type words and sentences. Apple calls this feature QuickPath, and it’s one of the best ways to type quickly.

Move the keyboard to one side of the display

When using your large iPhone with one hand, you can touch and hold the globe key to make the on-screen keyboard smaller and move it to the left or right side. This ensures you can reach the keys easily for a comfortable one-handed typing experience.

Make the iPhone keyboard huge

There is no built-in way to make the stock iPhone keyboard huge in size. But if you or an elderly family member find it difficult to hit the small keys, you can use third-party apps to get a massive on-screen keyboard.

Use dictation to enter text and emojis

If you clearly know what you have to type, you can consider speaking to your iPhone, and it will convert your spoken words into text. You can even speak the name of the emoji, and it will insert that.

Simply hit the microphone button from the bottom right of your iPhone keyboard and speak.

While this is not a hundred percent substitute for on-screen typing, it can be handy when your hands are dirty or you have to send a long text and you don’t feel like engaging in traditional typing.

Try excellent third-party keyboards

Lastly, you must know that you’re not stuck with using the built-in iPhone keyboard. If you don’t like it for any reason, you can use third-party keyboards like SwiftKey, Gboard, Grammarly, etc.

I’ve been using Microsoft SwiftKey on my iPhone for almost a decade now. I love how it has adjusted the touch area of each key behind the scenes based on my typing (image below). It also allows me to permanently show a number row above the QWERTY keyboard, switch to a colorful keyboard theme, has a clipboard history function, and its predictive features are the best in business.

Next, check out: Handshake emoji: How to choose separate skin tones for each hand

Source link: https://www.idownloadblog.com/2024/12/12/best-typing-tips-for-iphone/

Learn how to disable or block all Apple Intelligence features on your iPhone or iPad if you don’t find them useful.

We recently created an extensive guide listing all the Apple Intelligence features and their benefits. However, if you don’t want to use these features, you can either ignore them or do one of the following:

• Turn off specific Apple Intelligence features
• Disable the entire Apple Intelligence switch, which will turn off nearly all its features
• Block certain Apple Intelligence features using Screen Time restrictions

We’ll show you how to do this.

Turn off specific Apple Intelligence features on iPhone or iPad

You can deactivate specific AI features without disabling the main Apple Intelligence switch. For example, if you don’t want to have your texts or notifications summarized, you can easily turn off this feature. Similarly, if you frequently activate Type to Siri by accidentally double-tapping the bottom of the screen, you can disable it.

Summary Notifications

You can turn off Summary Notifications for all apps or just select ones by going to iOS Settings > Notifications > Summarize Notifications. Additionally, the Messages and Mail app settings also have a dedicated Summarize switch, which you can access from their respective app settings.

Show Priority in Mail

Tap the three dots menu button in the Apple Mail app and uncheck Show Priority. Once completed, Apple Intelligence will not surface urgent emails at the top of the Inbox in a dedicated section.

Reduce Interruptions Focus

You can just choose not to activate this Focus on your iPhone or iPad.

Intelligent Breakthrough & Silencing

You can keep the “Intelligent Breakthrough & Silencing” switch off for a Focus mode and still use it like you could before the arrival of Apple Intelligence.

Type to Siri

You can turn off Type to Siri by going to Settings > Apple Intelligence & Siri > Talk & Type to Siri.

Turn off all Apple Intelligence features on your iPhone or iPad

You can disable most Apple Intelligence features in one swoop by going to Settings > Apple Intelligence & Siri and switching off Apple Intelligence.

Once you’ve switched off Apple Intelligence, the following features are turned off on your device:

• Notification summaries
• Writing Tools
• Memory Movie in the Photos app
• Reduce Interruptions Focus: However, it continues to show in Focus settings, but without its core feature
• Intelligent Breakthrough & Silencing in Focus: This option disappears from the top of all Focus modes
• Priority notifications and emails
• Smart, suggested replies in Messages and Mail
• Summaries in Messages, Mail, and Safari
• New edge Siri animation
• Siri’s ChatGPT integration and new tricks
• Double-tap at the bottom of the screen to activate Type to Siri
• Image Generation tools like Image Playground, Genmoji, and Image Wand

Block some Apple Intelligence features using Screen Time restrictions

Finally, imagine a situation where you want your child to put in the effort and complete their school report independently, without relying on Apple Intelligence Writing Tools to generate or rewrite content for them.

In such cases, you can restrict certain Apple Intelligence features using Screen Time. These restrictions are part of the Screen Time parental controls, ensuring your child can’t reactivate them without entering the Screen Time password you’ve set for their device.

1) Open iPhone or iPad Settings and tap Screen Time.

2) Tap Content & Privacy Restrictions if you want to block Apple Intelligence features for the current device. If you want to block these features on your child’s iPhone or iPad, tap their name under the Family heading and then select Content & Privacy Restrictions.

3) Ensure Content & Privacy Restrictions is switched on, then tap Intelligence & Siri.

4) One by one, tap Image Creation, Writing Tools, and ChatGPT Extension and set each to Don’t Allow.

Going forward, Apple Intelligence Writing Tools, ChatGPT in Writing Tools, Siri, Image Wand in Notes, Genmoji creation in iOS emoji keyboard, the Image Playground app, and the iMessage extension will no longer function.

Apple Intelligence features you can’t turn off

In my extensive testing on iPhone and iPad, I found that the following things continue to work even after turning off Apple Intelligence. Additionally, there is no clear way to switch off these features, and your only option is to ignore them and not use them.

Clean Up

The Apple Intelligence Clean Up feature to remove unwanted objects from pictures continues to show when you edit an image in the Photos app.

Voice transcription

Transcribing phone and FaceTime audio call recordings, audio added to the Notes app, and voice recordings in the Voice Memos app continue to work even with Apple Intelligence turned off.

Genmoji stickers

Turning off Apple Intelligence blocks you from creating Genmojis. However, the ones you have created previously continue to show up in the iOS emoji keyboard. Furthermore, turning off the “Stickers” switch in iPhone Settings > General > Keyboard doesn’t remove the Genmoji stickers. I assume this is a bug, which will be fixed soon.

What are your reasons for turning off Apple Intelligence?

Next, check out: Top 75+ new iOS 18 features for your iPhone

Source link: https://www.idownloadblog.com/2024/12/11/how-to-turn-off-apple-intelligence/

Microsoft Teams for iPad now supports external USB-C cameras for enhanced videoconferencing with sharper images, adjustable angles and other perks.

According to the Windows maker, virtually any webcam with USB-C connectivity should work in Teams for iPad. Just plug a compatible camera into the iPad’s USB-C port and the updated Teams app will automatically recognize and use it.

You may wonder why anyone would need an external camera to conduct video calls on their iPad. Well, that’s because the built-in ultrawide front camera is restricted to 12 megapixels and lacks the dynamic range of many external cameras.

More importantly, the FaceTime camera on your iPad is fixed in place, whereas you can place webcams anywhere you like and easily adjust their angle during videoconferencing sessions (besides, only recent iPads have a landscape camera that doesn’t force you to look sideways).

Microsoft Teams for iPad gains external camera support

“Whether you’re hosting a meeting in a well-lit conference room or leading a presentation from your home office, an external camera can significantly enhance the quality and professionalism of your video feed,” explains the company.

For best appearance, you should use a tripod or a mount for stability and optimal framing. Microsoft also advises using “ring lights for a polished look.” Business professionals in particular will like this update because they can now bring their iPad to meetings and connect it to a dedicated camera in the conference room.

You can plug an external camera either before or during a Teams meeting. However, there are no built-in controls to switch between the built-in FaceTime camera and the external one. Instead, you must unplug the external camera from the device to switch back to the default iPad camera.

For those wondering—yes, Teams also works with Center Stage, Apple’s feature for the built-in ultrawide camera that leverages automatic cropping and zooming in order to keep you centered as you’re walking around the room.

iPadOS 17 brought external camera support

Teams leverages support for external USB-C cameras, webcams, and mirrorless cameras with webcam modes built into iPadOS 17. External cameras even work when connected through USB-C hubs and devices like Elgato’s Cam Link 4K.

Apple’s FaceTime app supports external cameras, but third-party developers need to use Apple’s official API to add external camera support. However, popular apps like Zoom, Twitch, and YouTube have yet to be updated with this functionality.

Source link: https://www.idownloadblog.com/2024/12/11/microsoft-teams-ipad-external-camera-support/