The new A12 Bionic chip, neural engines, Face ID, and augmented reality are just a few of the things Apple will talk about when it launches a new iPhone. These features sound cool, but what about those times when you squint because the iPhone’s keyboard is too small?
You can make some tweaks yourself to ease the pain of Apple’s small keyboard if you do not have buzzword-worthy built-in options. Take advantage of these simple tips to allow your eyes – and texting fingers – some much-deserved rest.
Despite the increased screen size of iPhones virtually every year, the software-based keyboard stays relatively the same size. Therefore, some iPhone users might find the keyboard to be too small on their devices. We show you how to make keyboard bigger on iPhone in this article.
Apple’s iPhone Keyboard
When it was introduced in 2007, the keyboard on the iPhone was one of its most revolutionary features. Since it was the first software-based touch screen keyboard on a mobile device that did not need a stylus, it was the first phone to have this feature.
The original iPhone’s tiny screen and tiny keyboard still allowed people’s fat fingers to precisely hit the individual keys, despite the tiny screen and tiny keyboard. This hardware innovation was a true game-changer.
Since its introduction, the iPhone’s keyboard has only become more advanced. You can actually install other third-party software keyboards on the iPhone as well. The following point is crucial, and we will return to it shortly.
All things considered, some people may have difficulty reading the symbols on the iPhone keyboard. There is one way the iPhone provides to make the keys easier to read.
Why should you make your keyboard larger?
The iPhone comes in a variety of screen sizes. Our handy 5.4-inch iPhone 12 mini is back with the iPhone 12 lineup. Apple configures an iPhone’s default keyboard so that it is sized appropriately to make it easy to type on.
Funny enough, my dad recently switched from his gigantic Huawei smartphone to an iPhone, and he says the only thing he likes about it is the keyboard. I tried to explain to him the other benefits of using iOS over Android (I am not a fanboy in any way), but he simply insisted that the typing experience is what he enjoys the most. The keyboard isn’t designed for everyone, despite the convenient typing experience.
Typing is one of the most common functions on a smartphone, so larger or longer fingers can have a difficult time tapping the right letters. While autocorrect could be handy sometimes, more often than not your fingers can’t hit the right keys, leading to a mistyped sentence. Those with weak eyesight also benefit from a larger keyboard.
Additionally, a larger keyboard might enable the developer to add an additional row of keys (perhaps a number row). A row of number keys appears atop alphabets on most software-based keyboards, making it easier to type faster.
Despite the fact that most iPhones have ample screen real estate to accommodate one, the default iPhone keyboard does not include the number key.
How to Make Keyboard Bigger on iPhone?
If you want to increase the size of your iPhone’s keyboard, there are a couple of options. It is possible to tweak your iPhone’s display settings or change to an external keyboard app.
Use Display Zoom
The Apple iPhone doesn’t give you the option to increase the size of the keyboard, but it does have a handy feature called Display Zoom that allows you to increase the size of anything on your iPhone including the keyboard. Check out how to do this.
- Navigate to Display & Brightness in the Settings app on your iPhone.
- Select the View option under Display Zoom. Click the Set button in the top right corner in order to switch to Zoomed view.
You will notice that the text, icons, and keyboard will be bigger than before when your iPhone restarts with the new zoom setting. Comparing a standard view and a zoomed view is shown below.
Utilize a third-party app
Switching to a different keyboard app can also increase the iPhone’s keyboard size. Many third-party keyboard apps offer bigger keys like ReBoard, Big Keys, Types, etc. You can find it on the iPhone App Store. Among these apps, ReBoard appears to be the most popular free resizable keyboard app for iPhone.
Reboard can be downloaded and installed from the App Store. Following are instructions for changing the default keyboard on your iPhone once the app is installed.
- Go to General > Keyboard > Keyboards and then Add New Keyboard from the Settings app on your iPhone.
- Tap on Done under Third-Party Keyboards and then select ReBoard.
- Click on any app that requires a keyboard. Select ReBoard from the pop-up menu that appears when you tap the globe icon at the bottom left.
Here’s how to increase the size of your iPhone’s ReBoard keyboard after switching to it as the default keyboard.
- On the bottom row, tap the gear icon to open the ReBord Keyboard.
- The size of the keyboard will increase after you tap the + sign next to Keyboard Size.
The standard keyboard is shown here next to the larger one.
How do you set up a third-party keyboard on your iPhone?
It’s not enough to download a third-party keyboard from the App Store. The keyboard must also be configured afterward.
To do that, follow these steps:
- Navigate to Settings.
- Click General.
- To access the keyboard, tap it.
- Keyboards can be tapped.
- To add a new keyboard, tap Add New Keyboard…
- Under the Third-Party Keyboards section, search for the third-party keyboard you wish to add.
- To enable full access to your keyboard, tap the name of it in the list of added keyboards and toggle the option to On.
How to Reduce the Size of the iPhone Keyboard?
It is sometimes difficult to use the default keyboard if you have tiny hands like me and are using one of the larger models of the iPhone. Luckily, the methods below can also help reduce the size of your iPhone keyboard.
Use One-Handed Mode
Your iPhone keyboard can be made smaller by simply enabling one-handed mode. Find out how.
- You can start the keyboard by opening a program that uses the keyboard, like a messaging program.
- Select either the left-handed or right-handed layout by tapping and holding the globe icon below your keyboard.
That’s all. With these changes, the size of your iPhone’s keyboard will remain the same, but the keys will shrink. This will make typing easier even with one hand.
Utilize a third-party app
Smaller iPhone keyboards are rare among keyboard apps. Additionally, we can reduce the size of the ReBoard app so that it can accommodate smaller hands. You can decrease the size of the iPhone keyboard once you install the ReBoard app from the App Store.
- Select the gear icon from the bottom row in the ReBord Keyboard.
- To decrease the size of the keyboard, tap the minus (-) sign next to Keyboard Size.
As compared to the standard keyboard, here is how the smaller keyboard looks.
You can again select the gear icon at the top of the screen and tap on the X sign next to the Keyboard Size if you wish to return to its default size.
Some Frequently Asked Questions By Users
1. How do I change the language of the iPhone keyboard?
There are about 80 languages preloaded on your iPhone keyboard. Select one of these languages from Settings > General > Keyboard > Keyboards > Add New Keyboard. Tap on Done after selecting the new language.
2. On my iPhone, how can I hide/minimize the keyboard?
Slide your finger down from above the text entry box to hide or minimize the iPhone keyboard.
3. How do I delete the keyboard history on my iPhone?
From the Settings app, you can delete the keyboard history if you’re using the iPhone’s default keyboard. Go to General > Reset > Reset Keyboard Dictionary, then tap the Reset Dictionary button to confirm.
4. How come my iPhone’s keyboard is so small?
That’s because you probably accidentally changed something and tapped on something. Your keyboard gets smaller when you pinch it with two fingers. Many people like this feature since it allows them to use the keyboard with one hand only or to have better control over it.
5. What can I do to customize the keyboard on my iPhone?
Customize Your App’s Keyboard Target
- Create a new Xcode project for your app.
- Choose File, then New, then Target.
- From the Application Extensions group, select Custom Keyboard Extension.
- Click on Next.
- Set the language and other options for your extension, as well as the name of your extension.
- Then click Finish.
