How to use your iPhone keyboard as a trackpad

Who else can’t type a single text message without at least one typo? Who else there also struggling to correct typos as it takes at least five tries to hold and drag the cursor to the exact space you want, just between those two tiny letters?

My friends, today our struggle is over.

Turns out, there’s an easier, and infinitely less boring, way to edit your texts: by using your iPhone’s keyboard as a trackpad.

Previously, this feature was only available on older Apple products with 3D Touch () functionality. It now works on any Apple device running iOS 12 or higher.

Let us show you how it works, okay?

You have a typo in some text you want to change. First, bring your finger over the space bar. Press and hold until all the keys become blank, as you will see in the image below.

While you are holding, you can now move your finger at the bottom of your screen to direct the cursor where you want, without your finger obstructs your view of the cursor.

As our editor Stan Schroeder on iOS 12 release:

“It becomes even more useful. On, when in trackpad mode with keyboard, you can select a word by tapping on it; press deeper to select the entire paragraph. And on iOS 12, you can do something similar without 3D. Touch. Press and hold the space bar to enter trackpad keyboard mode. Then, tap anywhere on the keyboard with another finger (don’t touch and hold, just press and release) to enter select mode Now move your thumb up and down to select text.

“Check out the two variations of the feature in the video below.

“This is especially useful on the iPad, which for some reason doesn’t have 3D Touch in any of its variants. If for some reason you haven’t updated your iPad to iOS 12, you can still access functionality in a slightly different form: tap with two fingers anywhere on the keyboard to enter Trackpad mode, then move one finger (while holding the other down) to move the cursor.

“The new version of the feature is also ideal for owners of 3D contactless iPhones and the sixth generation iPod Touch, who had no way to access them until the arrival of iOS 12.”