1. Quickly type a period and space

When you finish typing a sentence, you usually want to type a period, followed by a space. This is a bit awkward as you have to tap the bottom-left Number key, followed by a period, followed by the space bar. There’s a much quicker way: just double-tap the space bar.

(If this doesn’t seem to work, go to Settings > General > Keyboard and turn the “.” Shortcut option on.)

2. Quickly type a single number or symbol

The usual way to enter digits or symbols is to tap the Number key, then tap the digits or symbols, then tap the Number key (which now shows ABC) again to return to the regular keyboard.

However, if you only want to type a single digit or symbol then there’s a quicker way. Tap and hold the Number key to bring up the number/symbol keyboard, then drag your finger to the digit or symbol you want to type, and let go. This types the digit or symbol and immediately returns you to ABC mode.

3. Caps Lock

The iPhone’s keyboard has a Caps Lock mode for typing all-caps words (acronyms and so on), though it’s disabled by default. To turn it on, go to Settings > General > Keyboard, and flick the Enable Caps Lock switch to ON. Now, when using the keyboard, quickly double-tap the Shift key to enable Caps Lock (the Shift key turns blue). Type your capital letters, then tap the Shift key again to turn off Caps Lock.

4. Hold down keys for more options

Many keys bring up a list of other symbols or options if you tap and hold them for 1 second. For example:

* Hold down E, Y, U, I, O, A, S, L, Z, C, or N to bring up accented letters
* Hold down $ in the number/symbol keyboard to display other currency symbols
* Hold down “ or ‘ in the number/symbol keyboard to access alternative quote characters
* Hold down ? or ! in the number/symbol keyboard to bring up the ¿ or ¡ symbol
* Hold down the .com key when entering Web addresses to bring up options for .net, .edu and .org. (You can also do this trick when entering email addresses in Mail by tapping and holding the . (period) key.)