The iPhone has a nice on-screen keyboard but nothing beats typing on a full-size layout with physical keys that provide tactile feedback and Apple makes this easy to do. An actual keyboard also makes editing text much faster since keyboard shortcuts provide super-fast and easy selection, cut, copy, and paste. Arrow keys make moving precisely through text quite simple instead of carefully dragging the cursor with a finger. Freeing up screen space is another big benefit since the on-screen keyboard doesn’t raise when an external keyboard is connected.

The iPhone has plenty of features that help with typing on the relatively small touchscreen. Auto-correction takes care of many accidental typos and it’s easy to help the keyboard learn new words or favorite words that it might struggle with. QuickPath allows the user to simply drag a finger through the letters that make up a word rather than lifting and tapping repeatedly and this can help speed up keyboard use on an iPhone.

Related: How To Use iPhone’s Keyboard As A Touchpad To Scroll Through Text

The iPhone’s gesture-based editing is wonderful for a touchscreen but relatively slow and cumbersome by comparison. Thankfully, if needing to use an iPhone for extended typing or editing, any Bluetooth keyboard can be paired to bring a laptop-like experience to Apple‘s powerful smartphone. It’s best to raise the screen closer to eye level when doing this to protect the neck and back. There are a variety of inexpensive stands and holders that help. To connect the keyboard, it must be put into pairing mode, then the user should open the iPhone’s Settings app and in the Bluetooth tab tap the keyboard in the list of devices. A pairing code will appear on the iPhone and this should be typed on the Bluetooth keyboard followed by hitting the Return or Enter key. Afterward, typing on the keyboard will enter text on the iPhone and the on-screen keyboard will not appear until the keyboard is turned off or disconnected.

iPhone & Apple Magic Keyboard

Apple Magic Keyboard With Touch ID For M1 Mac Apple Silicon

An Apple Magic Keyboard can also be paired to an iPhone via Bluetooth. If it’s already paired to a Mac computer, it must be unpaired before the iPhone can connect. This is done in the Mac’s System Preferences using the Bluetooth pane and clicking the Magic Keyboard in the list of paired devices. If Bluetooth appears in the menu bar, it can be unpaired there as well. Afterward, it will work like any other Bluetooth keyboard and can be paired to the iPhone using the Settings app and selecting the keyboard in the list of Bluetooth devices.

Once paired, many of Apple‘s Mac and iPad keyboard shortcuts work on the iPhone as well. For example, the Command key held down can be used to select all (A), cut (X), copy (C), and paste (V). Some useful system controls are Command-H to go to the home screen, Command-Space to start a Spotlight search, and Command-P to Print. While even the largest iPhone has a small screen when compared to a laptop, using an external keyboard is a great help with text entry and editing.