How Do I Add or Delete Keyboard Shortcuts on My iPhone or iPad?

If you spend a lot of time typing things on your iPhone or iPad and often have to delete and re-type due to mistakes, using keyboard shortcuts might just be your magic pill!

Keyboard shortcuts (also called text shortcuts) are a really quick and cool way to type your phrase or words on your iPad, iPhone or iPod touch. Use keyboard shortcuts to type long words, names, and phrases way faster than before.

Plus, creating your very own and unique keyboard shortcuts is a heck of a lot of fun!  And with iCloud, they sync across all your devices signed in with the same Apple ID.

So when you create a shortcut on your iDevice, from that point onwards, it automatically turns into the word or sentence that you want.

And that’s terrific news for many of us who text, email, etc. while on the run…or when doing other things.  Hey, it’s a multitasking world, so let’s harness the power of our iDevices to help get work done.

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Looking for Keyboard Shortcuts for Quick Actions like Undo?

For iOS 11+ Users, Many Standard Keyboard Shortcuts Are Gone!

If you updated to iOS 11 or above and lost your keyboard shortcuts on the left and right, and this is sadly the new norm for your iPhone’s Keyboard–NO SHORTCUTS!. 

For some reason, Apple changed the keyboard layout starting in iOS 11.

So now the arrow keys, undo, hide keyboard, and even the comma buttons that many of us enjoyed and used daily are gone.

Apple completely removed these options from the landscape keyboard starting in iOS 11. 

Compare this new keyboard layout to one from iOS 10–you see the difference!

And for many people, this change is most unwelcome.

Instead, in iOS 11 we get the One-Handed and QuickType keyboards. 

How To Add Your Own iPhone Keyboard Shortcuts (Text Replacements)

• And adding a keyboard shortcut is fairly easy
• Simply tap Settings > General > Keyboards > Text Replacement
  
• Tap on the Plus Sign +
• For older iOS: Settings > General > Keyboard > Add New Shortcut
• Then, type in your phrase, shortcut, and tap Save

Now, just type in that shortcut, press the space bar, and your iPhone replaces it with your phrase.  That’s pretty darn nice!

Edit Your iPhone’s Text Shortcuts

If you find that your keyboard shortcut isn’t as intuitive as you thought, it’s easy to change.

• Settings > General > Keyboards > Text Replacement 
• Tap on the shortcut you want to edit
• Edit or change the phrase or shortcut as desired 
• Press Save 

Delete Your iPhone’s Text Shortcuts

So if you want to erase a shortcut completely, there are some pretty easy ways to delete keyboard shortcuts.

• Settings > General > Keyboards > Text Replacement 
• Tap on the shortcut you want to delete
• Swipe right to left on the shortcut to delete it

For older iOS versions, we have two ways to delete keyboard shortcuts.

• The first one is to tap the “Edit” button followed by the red minus sign (see Image 1).
• And the second way is to swipe your finger (left to right, or right to left) on the shortcut that you want to delete. After a second, a red Delete option will appear (Image 2).

Not Seeing Text Replacements? Force Your Text Replacements To Re-Sync

1. Go to Settings > General > Keyboard
2. Turn off Auto-Capitalization, Auto-Correction and “.” Shortcut
3. Power off your device and wait 30 seconds to 1 minute, then power up your device
4. Return to Settings > General > Keyboard
5. Toggle these back on Auto-Capitalization, Auto-Correction and “.” Shortcut
6. Wait another 30 seconds to a minute (don’t do anything with your device–just let it sync)
7. After about 1 minute, tap on Settings > General > Keyboard >Text Replacement and check if your text replacement shortcuts are there!

Summary

Keyboard shortcuts are a way of life.  They are the zen of texting.  And they’re a heck of a lot of fun when dreaming up new short ways to say long things!

So let’s all get shortcutting and have some fun in too.  Cause hey, as a wise one once said, “People rarely succeed unless they have fun in what they are doing.”

Sudz Kar

Obsessed with tech since the early arrival of A/UX on Apple, Sudz (SK) is responsible for the original editorial direction of AppleToolBox. He is based out of Los Angeles, CA.

Sudz specializes in covering all things macOS, having reviewed dozens of OS X and macOS developments over the years.

In a former life, Sudz worked helping Fortune 100 companies with their technology and business transformation aspirations.