How to Use iPhone Caps Lock and Virtual Keyboard

How to Use iPhone Caps Lock and Virtual Keyboard
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Caps Lock

It’s not immediately apparent how to use the iPhone caps lock, however, the first thing to check is that it is in fact enabled. You can do this by going to Settings > General > Keyboard > Enable Caps Lock.

The caps lock itself is situated to the left of the keyboard, the shift key with an arrow pointing up next to the letter Z. The button should be automatically lit up or highlighted when you go to type something and automatically lights up once you’ve tapped a full stop, however, if you need to use it in the middle of a sentence just tap the shift key to light it up and it’ll shoot out those big letters.

It will again light up if you hit the space bar twice, and then even put a full stop on the last sentence for you.

Adding Names to Dictionary - iOS4

For many people, the fury you feel when typing a message or note only to come to the end and realise that half of it has been auto corrected, incorrectly, is plentiful. You can stop this on the iPhone 4 via Settings > General > Keyboard > Edit User Dictionary and then add in words to avoid the auto correction from changing them.

Another handy tip worth knowing is if you begin typing a word and the word is recognised and appears above the area you’re typing, just hit the space bar and that word will be filled in for you. Handy when you aren’t sure of the correct spelling.

If you want to you can also reset the dictionary, deleting any stored words and international keyboards by tapping the following; Settings > General > Reset > Reset Keyboard.

International Keyboards

International Keyboard

This tip is great if you live outside the US or just need a specific international keyboard. All of the iPhones are set by default with the English US version of the keyboard. This means things like the dollar sign instead of the pound sign are set and this can be quite annoying if you regularly use features which are not apparent at first glance.

There are various keyboards included with the iPhone including Chinese, Arabic, Cherokee, Czech, Dutch, French, Thai and many more. To get an international keyboard you simply change it via Settings > General > Keyboard > International Keyboard and then select the one you wish to use.

Special Symbol Shortcut

Special Symbol Shortcut

This is handy if you don’t want to add an international keyboard but still want the symbols which come with it - there is a shortcut on the keyboard to get them. For example, in my case I use the £ sign a lot but I actually had a $ sign on the English default keyboard which is of no use to me living in the UK. To get around this before changing the keyboard I simply tapped and held the dollar sign and all the symbols associated with currency came up allowing me to choose the correct symbol.

This trick also works with letters containing an accent.

Safari Keyboard

Domains

One great thing to know when typing web addresses in Safari is that you can save yourself some time by simply entering the first part of the web address and then tapping and holding the ‘.com’ button to get a list of extended domains to appear for you to pick from.

Character Counter

Character Counter

This one is handy if you’re on Twitter or just like to check the length of messages. To show your character count go to Settings > Messages and toggle the Character Count to on.

Practice!

Getting to grips with the iPhone keyboard does take practice, but in no time you’ll be whizzing around it like a pro. We hope this guide has helped you to unlock some hidden features you’ll be using in future!