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 →

How to search text in a webpage with Safari web browser on iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch

iOS has a feature that allows you to search for a particular word in the text of a webpage using the Safari browser on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch. To search for a word on a webpage on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch, tap on the address bar at the top of the screen. (Quick Tip: tap on the clock at the top  of your iOS device screen to quickly navigate to the top of the screen – for more iOS Quick Tips like this, click here: iOS Quick Tips) Once your cursor is in the address bar, type in 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: How to find and easily open apps that aren’t on your Home Screen (and contacts, texts, and emails)

As you add more apps to your iPhone, iPad , or iPod Touch, it can become increasingly difficult to locate the apps when you need them. This is especially true if you have created folders for your apps. Thankfully, there is an easy way to search for and open any app on your device (this also works with contacts, texts, emails, and more). If you are running iOS 7 or later, all you need to do is to pull down on the the Home Screen. This will initiate a Spotlight search. Once in Spotlight, just start typing the name of the app 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 →

How to Add Smiley Face Icons with Emoji Keyboard Toggle on iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch

Have you ever wondered how to send emoji from your iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch? Over the years, more and more of these colorful little symbols have been added to Apple’s devices. In fact, there are so many icons now that you might even be able to carry on an entire conversation with no text and just icons! With some basic setup, you can have easy access to the Emoji Icons Keyboard by using the keyboard toggle. You can even add additional keyboards beyond the default and the Emoji Keyboard. It is quite simple to add a second (or third or fourth) keyboard Continue Reading →