iPhone users are just discovering keyboard spacebar has two hidden secrets

iPhones just like to constantly surprise us. Who knows if suddenly our batteries will decide to drain a lot faster one morning? Or, who knew you could fade up and down the brightness of the torch?

Ok, so some people might have a better grip on their Apple tech.

But not all of us are so in the loop with the tips and tricks we can use on our devices.

And now, iPhone users are just discovering that the keyboard spacebar has two hidden secrets – and not just that it can, well, you know, make a space.

So these might have been features for quite a while now, but they’re still admittedly handy little tricks for those of us who still prefer sending texts rather than voice notes.

One of the first tricks is the spacebar ‘double tap’.

Doing this can save you a little bit of time if you’re really trying to rant out a long message. That’s if you are someone who does send one big message of sentences rather than a load of individual ones, making the receiver’s phone ping and light up repeatedly.

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This trick lets you type without ever having to tap on the full-stop key.

But to use it you need to make sure you’ve actually got the feature switched on in the first place.

Head to the Settings app, then General and then Keyboards.

Scroll down until you find the option named: “.” Shortcut and get it switched on.

Now, when you’re typing and double tap the space bar, a full stop plus a space will automatically be added.

What a revelation.

Perhaps the more exciting ‘secret’ keyboard feature is the hidden trackpad it holds. And admittedly, this is big news to me.

Go on to your iPhone and open up notes or Messages - just somewhere for you to type into, so make sure you don’t suddenly send your mum a load of jumbo.

LADbible iPhone Screenshot

Type out a couple words or a few little sentences for you to play with. And now, press and hold on the space bar, making the entire keyboard turn into a blanked-out, grey panel.

Wow, the wizardry has turned the keyboard into a trackpad.

So you can now drag your finger around it to more easily move the cursor through the text – instead of trying to do it within the sentence.

This makes it way quicker and more precise to get the cursor exactly where you want it to edit text, so mistakes begone.

Sure, these tricks might not dramatically change your life, but they could make texting and typing just a little quicker and easier.

Wow, technology man.

Topics: iPhone, Apple, Technology

Jess Battison

Jess is an Entertainment Journalist with a love of all things pop culture. Her main interests include keeping up with the Twitter girlies, waiting for a new series of The Traitors and losing her voice at a Beyoncé concert. She graduated with a first in Journalism from City, University of London in 2021 and has previously worked at MyLondon.

@jessbattison_