Some special characters cannot be typed using the virtual keyboard of iPhones and iPads. However, there is a solution to type them easily. Here’s how.
If you use an iPhone or iPad on a daily basis, you might have noticed that some characters cannot be typed with the iOS virtual keyboard. This is the case, for example, if you have to write numbers in subscript or superscript, elsewhere than in a word processing application.
Fortunately, Apple’s mobile operating system has a feature that you can use to fill this gap. You can indeed configure keyboard shortcuts which, when typed, are automatically replaced by the text of your choice. It is then very easy to be able to write characters not officially supported by the keyboard of your iPhone or your iPad.
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1. Copy your special character
Start by opening your favorite web browser and then searching your favorite search engine for the special character you want to be able to type with the iOS keyboard. Once you find it on a web page, select it and copy it to the iOS clipboard.
2. Create a replacement shortcut
Then open the iOS Settings then, in General, enter the menu dedicated to the Keyboard and now go to the Replacement section.
Now press the + button at the top right to create a new replacement shortcut.
In the Expression field, paste the contents of the iOS clipboard that you copied in the previous step.
In Shortcut, fill in the “command” to enter and which will be automatically replaced by your Expression (the special character you just pasted). Press Save to save your replacement shortcut.
3. Use your special character
Open any app where you can enter text and type in the shortcut you just created.
If all goes as planned, your shortcut text should automatically be replaced with the content you assigned to it.
Note that you can perfectly use this replacement system to type words or complete sentences (which you use frequently) quickly by typing a simple expression.