Quick Tip: Increase iPhone Typing Speed & Accuracy
One day while walking and texting I had a revelation: I discovered an entirely new way to type on the iPhone and cannot believe that it had not occurred to me earlier. My old method of typing, which I am guessing is how most people type on the iPhone, involved me looking at the letters that I was typing, not at what I was actually writing.
Now, I “touch type” when I’m typing. Instead of looking at the letters when I type, I look at where I am typing (exactly like I do on my computer). This method has drastically improved both my typing speed and accuracy. Before I switched to my touch-typing method, I would send SMS messages riddled with mistakes because the iPhone would auto-correct words and often times change the entire meaning of the message. You should definitely give it a whirl; it sounds more difficult than it actually is, your hands just know where the keys are though, and it takes no time to adjust!
Bonus Speed Tip: If you’re trying to type a word that your iPhone does not know, simply type an extra letter on the end of the word and then delete it. So if I was trying to the type the word “Apple” and I knew my iPhone would not recognize it, I would type “Applez” then delete the “z” off the end of it and then can just press spacebar without the phone trying to auto-correct me.
Do you have any tips that help you type faster and more accurately on your iPhone? If so, please post them to the comments!
Tweet This (30)
Jonathan Bloom on May 8th, 2009 at 9:16 am
Wow, just tried this and it really does work! Makes sense, you pay attention to what your typing and your brain knows what to do.
Emon on May 8th, 2009 at 9:17 am
Good tip! I use both thumbs to type which sped up the process quite a bit.
Joe on May 8th, 2009 at 9:39 am
I was just going to say that that’s actually how I’ve always typed on the phone, but then I got a text, went to reply to it, and realized that I was in fact looking at the key pop-ups and not the text. Huh. Go figure. Anyway, excellent tip. Thanks!
Gazoobee on May 8th, 2009 at 10:46 am
I’ve noticed this before and it’s a good tip. I find a lot of people who have problems with the keyboard are those who basically ignore the advice that Jobs and Apple gave them in the first place.
Jobs said “trust the keyboard and just type away” and you will be better off than focussing intently and trying to pick each letter exactly. It works.
The people I see having problems are those that are hunched over on the train biting their tongue with concentration, or those that awkwardly put the thing down on the table and try to type on it like a keyboard.
Colin on May 8th, 2009 at 11:48 am
Hmm. I wasn’t aware people weren’t doing this…but the tip at the end was worth it. If that works as well as you say that will improve my speed even more!
Thanks Jenny!
Champs on May 8th, 2009 at 6:53 pm
How about a physical keyboard, instead of this flashy rehash of T9?
Clay on May 8th, 2009 at 7:26 pm
Don’t know if this one is well known… I was driving one day and I thought “wouldn’t it be cool if there was a better way to type words with apostrophes without switching to the symbol keyboard?” Like, just type another letter and it should know what you mean. When I got to my phone to try it, it worked! Nice, Apple.
Here’s an example:
I want to type we’ll but if I just put in well it doesn’t correct it. But if I type welll with the extra L on the end, it offers up the auto correction.
Handy for words like:
welll = we’ll
shelll = she’ll
itss = it’s
Staff Comment Jenny Kortina, TheAppleBlog on May 8th, 2009 at 8:22 pm
Thanks everyone! @clay, that’s a good one, I had no idea and that’s always bugged me!
Rajiv on May 8th, 2009 at 8:25 pm
@Clay
I tried shouldvee and it didn’t correct it. Does it do it on yours?
Czar on May 9th, 2009 at 2:08 am
I’d love to do this, except I touch type with Dvorak, which Apple won’t put on the iPhone! It is odd because Apple was first to do it on computers, which made my life simpler. I’m ADD and Dyslexic, so learning to type on a Mac in my thirty’s was a joy! It was something I couldn’t attain in high school or college. Now in my mid-fifties, I can’t touch type on my iPhone because Apple won’t make what I learned accessible! Very frustrating.
Great tip from Clay on doing contractions. Thanks a lot.
Erik on May 9th, 2009 at 10:20 am
Well, I’m glad this works for so many people but I don’t see how. It doesn’t for me. The reason this is easy on a normal keyboard is the tactile feel and knowledge of where the keys lie in relation to the others. On my iPhone, I have nothing to feel and the keys are so small it is just lucky when I guess where the key I want is. The only thing that might make this remotely possible for me is the auto-correct feature.
I don’t know how you all do it. Nice thought though.
Sharninder on May 10th, 2009 at 4:37 am
This is a good trick and one which I’ve been following for some time and it does really speed up the typing speed.
Rohit on May 11th, 2009 at 1:23 am
This is what I do. I assume most folks would grab the iPhone with both hands and use both their thumbs to type. Till iPhone 3.0 upgrade brings a landscape mode keyboard for SMS app, I guess most of us would feel for more free movement and with the thumb it becomes a little constrained.
Instead, I hold the iPhone entirely in my left hand and use the left thumb and the right index finger (leaner). This should be equally fast compared to using both thumbs, if not faster.
Nate on May 11th, 2009 at 8:21 am
Any time I’ve showed my iPhone off to people they freak themselves out when typing and it only makes things worse. I’ve always told them to not look at what they’re typing. Just bang it out on the screen and don’t correct every little mistake. That little bit of advice is more than enough to get a noob typing smoothly.
Nick on May 11th, 2009 at 8:41 am
Imb tiplng thes orn my iPhone. Just kidding. I love my iPhone.
Mike on June 2nd, 2009 at 10:24 am
Try fastmail app and tell me if it increase your typing speed ;-)
Must have app.
Jorge on August 15th, 2009 at 6:45 pm
I prefer ZenTap, it’s better than fastmail ;-)