Where the hell is the keyboard on your Apple Watch?

Your Apple Watch is a super handy companion for your iPhone. The screen has also grown over the years, making it a lot easier to type on the smartwatch. But where the hell is the keyboard?

Let’s start with the good news: there has been a keyboard on your Apple Watch since the Series 7. However, you have to make some effort to find it. It is not available in the Dutch language.

Get started with the keyboard on your Apple Watch

You do get the option to respond to messages with emojis and text-to-speech, but typing on a keyboard yourself is hidden until you change the language to English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese or Chinese.

If you want to type on your Apple Watch, you will have to change the language. You do this via your iPhone. Go to Institutions and then to General. Open Language and region and add English as the preferred language.

Just a few more steps

Now go back to the Institutions and open again General. This time tap Keyboard and then on Keyboards. Through Add keyboard again choose the English language.

If you now want to respond to a message received on your Apple Watch, tap the notification and choose Answer. Press Reply and swipe from bottom to top. Select English at the Keyboard. You can start typing right away.

But is it very useful…

It is a bit cumbersome to type in Dutch on an Apple Watch with the English language set. You will be presented with a lot of English word suggestions. So this is not a solution for everyone.

If this way of typing doesn’t quite suit you, you can also switch to external apps. Well-known examples are FlickType and WristBoard. The first option is free to use, but WristBoard requires a one-time purchase of 5 euros.