How to use one-handed keyboard mode on iPhone

Check out this quick tip that shrinks the iPhone keyboard onto the left or right side, making it easy to type while holding your phone with one hand.

One-handed keyboard on iPhone for left and right handed people

Apple’s stock keyboard provides a special mode designed to make thumb-typing with larger iPhones easier without worrying about losing the grip on the phone. This special typing mode shrinks the keys and moves them closer to your thumb so you can reach all keys of the keyboard comfortably when holding your phone with one hand. Plus, this cool typing mode caters to both left and right-handed users.

So, whether you’re holding a coffee in one hand and your iPhone in the other or have smaller hands, making it cumbersome to type with a larger-screened iPhone, you’ll find the one-handed keyboard practical to use. Not only that but not having to over-extend your thumb when typing also reduces the risk of losing the grip on your iPhone, which can be hazardous when walking down the sidewalk.

Here’s how to enable and use the one-handed keyboard on the iPhone.

Related: How to use split, floating, small, and undocked keyboard on your iPad for maximum productivity

Type comfortably on iPhone with one hand

1) Bring up the keyboard on your iPhone. You can do this by opening an app like Notes or Messages or swiping down on the Home Screen to open Spotlight Search.

2) If you have just one keyboard installed, tap and hold the Emoji icon in the bottom-left corner of the keyboard to bring up the input switcher. If you have multiple keyboards or keyboard languages enabled, tap and hold the Globe icon instead.

3) Use the orientation icons at the bottom of the input switcher menu to shrink and snap the keyboard to either side of the screen or to revert back to the standard full-width keyboard. Here’s what the orientation icons do, from left to right:

  • Snap the keyboard to the left: Tap the leftmost orientation icon
  • Snap the keyboard to the right: Tap the rightmost orientation icon
  • Re-center the keyboard and make it full width: Tap the middle orientation icon
Activate One-Handed Keyboard on iPhone

Tip: Tap the arrow icon (< or >) present on the side of the one-handed keyboard to quickly re-center and enlarge the keyboard.

Note: If you’re currently using a third-party keyboard, you will need to choose the built-in iOS keyboard from the input switcher menu before one-handed typing can be enabled.

Make a one-handed keyboard the default on iPhone

You can choose the left or right one-handed keyboard as the default option in order to avoid having to bring up the switcher menu every time you want to type something in one-handed mode.

1) Launch the Settings app on your iPhone.

2) Tap General > Keyboard > One-Handed Keyboard and choose a style:

  • Off: Always launch the stock keyboard in full-width mode
  • Left: Always launch the stock keyboard in left-handed mode
  • Right: Always launch the stock keyboard in right-handed mode
Select default One-Handed Keyboard for iPhone

After selecting either a Left or Right option, your iPhone will remember it as the default option. As mentioned, this is particularly handy if you’d like to use left or right-handed typing every time you bring up the stock keyboard.

Of course, you can always use the orientation icons in the input switcher menu to override your defaults and switch between left or right-handed keyboards on the fly.

Tip: To quickly change your defaults right from the keyboard, touch and hold the emoji or globe icon and hit the Keyboard Settings option. Doing so takes you directly to the Settings > General > Keyboard section, saving you a few taps.

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