How to use 3D Touch to move text insertion point

I’m always amazed to discover how many people are unaware of one of my favorite features in iOS – using 3D Touch to gain fine-grain control over the text insertion point while writing. With the advent of the iPhone 6s, Apple introduced 3D Touch as a feature shipping with its high end iPhones and has continued to include it up to the present day. This feature, which brings an additional layer of functionality to many controls across the system, can also be used to gain accurate control over the blinking cursor that signifies where typed text will be inserted. Prior Continue Reading →

How to use punctuation with Siri and Dictation on iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch

Siri has advanced voice recognition skills that continue to grow with each release of iOS. This includes the ability to turn spoken punctuation and spacing into the appropriate punctuation in the sentence or paragraph you are dictating. This is really helpful when you are driving and trying to send a text message to someone when the message includes punctuation. It is also helpful when you are dictating a sentence or paragraph for an email or a text document. Instead of stopping every few words to manually type in the punctuation, you can just tell Siri what to put in for Continue Reading →

Quick Tip: Shortcut to add a period and start a new sentence on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch

There is a simple shortcut that allows you to automatically enter a period and start a new sentence on your iOS device. All you need to do is double tap the space bar when you reach the end of a sentence. This will enter a period at the end of the sentence, put a space after the period and capitalize the first letter of the next word you type. If it doesn’t work for you, you will need to go to the Settings app to enable it. Go to Settings –> General –> Keyboard –> and flip the “.” Shortcut Continue Reading →

Quick Tip: Shake your iPhone or iPad to Undo

Whenever you make a typing mistake or accidentally delete a string of text on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch, there is a simple way to Undo (similar to Edit/Undo on your computer). Simply shake your device side-to-side and a little box will appear asking you if you would like to Undo. Tap the button to Undo your last action. If you want to Redo your last action, shake your device again and you will be given an option to Undo again or Redo.

Quick Tip: How to use accents on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch Keyboard

There are times when you need to use an accent on a word when you are typing on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch. Thankfully, your iOS device has this capability built right into the keyboard. All you need to do is tap and hold on a letter on the keyboard to reveal the accent options for that letter. Then, slide your finger on the screen to select which accented letter to insert. Release and there you have it! Now you can spell résumé with the proper accents on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch.

Create typing shortcuts on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch

One of the lesser known, and  features in iOS is the ability to create keyboard shortcuts. You can choose a phrase that you type often and then create a shortcut made up of a few letters. For example, if you are in a lot of meetings, you may need to respond to texts telling people that you can’t talk at the moment. Another way you can use this feature is to create a shortcut to often-typed items, such as email addresses. You can create a 4 letter shortcut that will then be translated into an entire phrase response. Here is Continue Reading →

Double tap shift key on onscreen keyboard to activate “Caps Lock”

Have you ever wanted to type in all capital letters when typing on your iOS device? Well, there is a simple way to activate do it. Simply double tap the shift button whenever you are typing to activate caps lock. The shift button will turn remain white and a line will appear below the arrow, letting you know that you are in caps lock mode. Simply tap the shift key again to deactivate caps lock. Easy as that!

Two 3D Touch tips for selecting text in iOS 9

3D Touch brings a whole new dimension of interaction to the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus. Yes, you can use 3D Touch to interact with app icons on the home screen and inside apps that have been updated to support the feature, but did you know you can also use it in some really useful ways when dealing with text system-wide in iOS? Here are two quick tips for using 3D Touch on your iPhone 6s or iPhone 6s Plus for selecting text. 1. Use 3D Touch to turn your keyboard into a trackpad. When composing an iMessage, writing Continue Reading →

iPhone 6 Plus Review – A month with Apple’s biggest phone

This is a review of my experience with the iPhone 6 Plus. What has it been like using Apple’s biggest iPhone for the last month? Check out this post to find out. Almost exactly a month ago, I was sitting at home on a Friday waiting for UPS to arrive at my door with the iPhone 6 Plus. My experience preordering the device a week earlier, which involved staying up until around 2am waiting for Apple’s store to finally come online, had done nothing to temper my excitement. Finally at around 5pm, after my patience was thoroughly tested, the doorbell Continue Reading →

New Features in iOS 8 – What to Expect

Apple has announced iOS 8, the next version of its mobile operating system which will be released in the fall. In this post we’ll talk about what to expect. A few weeks back, Apple gave the public a preview of iOS 8 at its World Wide Developer’s Conference (WWDC). There are a ton of new features that will be coming this fall to an iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch near you. In this post, we’ll run down and explain the most exciting new features that you can expect to see in iOS 8.   New Stock Keyboard with QuickType – Compared Continue Reading →