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Your iPhone Has a Secret Keyboard That You Never Used (Although You’d Want To)

One-handed keyboard implemented in iOS… and blocked

Oct 21, 2016 11:58 GMT  ·  By
This is what the one-handed keyboard looks like
   This is what the one-handed keyboard looks like

One-handed keyboards certainly come in handy on big phones such as the iPhone 7 Plus and there are several companies trying to offer and improve such software.

And apparently, Apple is one of these companies, as Cupertino has been offering a one-handed keyboard on its iPhones since a long time ago. The only problem is that nobody knew about it and, more importantly, nobody was allowed to use it since the keyboard was entirely locked.

Developer Steve Troughton-Smith made this discovery today and tweeted a video that shows how it works, explaining that it can be activated with edge-swipe. Although this looks easy, you shouldn’t try it because it’s pretty impossible to replicate it without hacking the OS, but fortunately, the developer posted the code online should anyone with a jailbroken iPhone want to implement it into an app.

As you can see in the screenshot attached to the article, what this simple tweak does is make character keys smaller and expand buttons for copy and paste, while the word prediction bar continues to be available at the top of the keyboard.

Implemented in iOS 8

At this point, it’s not clear why Apple isn’t offering this one-handed keyboard to users, but according to the developer who discovered it, this tweak has been there since iOS 8, so the company had at least considered offering it to users at some point.

At the same time, it could also be a hint that Apple is still experimenting with this feature and there are chances to see it going live in the future, but it remains to be seen when exactly Cupertino decides to release it. The existing betas of iOS 10.1 do not bring any changes in this regard, though.

In the meantime, it’s worth noting that there are plenty of apps in the store offering one-handed keyboards, and Android also ships with one, so Apple had better hurry up to provide its users with such an option. iPhone 7 Plus owners would certainly find it super handy.