How-To

How to Quickly Type Numbers and Symbols on Your iPhone

By Jeff Butts

Updated March 18, 2024

If you’re tired of having to switch back and forth between letters and numbers on your iPhone keyboard, you’ll love this trick to quickly type numbers.

I’ve been using the iPhone for more than 15 years, so you’d think I’d know every nook and cranny of the device. I’m very familiar with many advanced tips, like turning inline predictive text off and on, but not everything. For example, I only recently learned a cool new way to type numbers and symbols on the iPhone keyboard quickly. Just wait until you see this.

Accessing Numbers and Symbols on the iPhone: Less User-Friendly Than Android?

More than a few people, on switching from Android to iPhone, raised this complaint. Accessing numbers and symbols on the iPhone’s default keyboard just isn’t as quick or easy as it is on Android. I get it, too: the top row of keys on an Android keyboard allows you to long-press to type numbers and symbols.

The built-in keyboard on an iPhone doesn’t give you this capability. Instead, long-pressing a key on any row gives you alternate forms of that letter. These include primarily letters with various diacritics, used in languages like Spanish, French, German, and so forth.

Well, a trick recently brought to the public eye on TikTok by a former Apple employee has my mind blown.

How to Quickly Type Symbols and Numbers Using the Default iPhone Keyboard

Here’s what you need to do if you want to type your numbers and symbols quickly, then get back to the regular keyboard.

1. Tap and hold the 123 key at the bottom left of the keyboard. You’ll see your iPhone switch to the number and basic symbols keyboard.
   
2. Either drag your finger to the number or symbol you want to type or use your other hand to tap the appropriate key.
   
3. Once you’re done, simply lift the finger from the 123 key and you’ll be back to the default letters keyboard.

This definitely makes getting to those numbers quicker and easier. Cool eh? Even better, now you can tell someone what their share of lunch is without having to take the time to switch back and forth between keyboards.

You should also know that this works even when you have the 123 keyboard active and want to quickly get to the advanced symbols keys. Pretty groovy, huh?