This hidden tool will make typing on your iPhone a lot easier

If you get tired of typing the same things over and over on your phone, but aren’t the biggest fan of using acronyms, there’s an easy way to create shortcuts for phrases you use frequently!

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Secret way to create keyboard shortcuts on your iPhone

On an iPhone, go to Settings –> General –> Keyboard –> Text Replacement.

You should see one shortcut already there that comes preloaded on your phone: omw, which will automatically write out ‘On my way!’ anytime you type ‘omw.’

To create your own shortcuts, tap the + icon on the top right corner of the screen. In the ‘Phrase’ field, type whatever phrase you want to create a shortcut for, which can be a phrase, address or anything else!

In the ‘Shortcut’ field, enter whatever text you want to use as the shortcut. So let’s say you want to create a shortcut for your home address, the fields may look like this:

• Phrase: 123 Main Street
• Shortcut: homeadd

Then any time you type ‘homeadd’ in a text, email or wherever, your phone will replace it with ‘123 Main Street.’

Just remember, you don’t want to make the shortcut the same as a word you may use. So instead of using ‘add’ as your address shortcut, you want to make it unique — just use a few letters or phrase that’s easy to remember — like ‘homeadd.’

 

If you want the phrase to be capitalized, just capitalize the shortcut. If not, keep the shortcut lowercase.

Also, Apple will sync your shortcuts across any of your iOS devices with the same iCloud account. The data is encrypted, but if you’re worried about storing information like your address, then just stick to phrases and shortcuts that don’t include any personal or sensitive information.

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