iPad Split Keyboard Has 6 Hidden Keys to Make Typing Even Easier

Did you know the split iPad keyboard in iOS includes six hidden ‘phantom’ keys that make typing even easier?

Yes indeed, there are hidden keys on the iPad onscreen split keyboard!

To access and use the hidden keys, you split the iPad keyboard as usual, and then the onscreen split keyboard extends some hidden keys into what you might think is nothing, but they’re parallel to the existing keys just as if it was a regular keyboard. The image above gives you a good idea of what they are and where they’d be.

The hidden iPad keyboard keys are Y, H, B, T, G, and V, and technically they’re just duplicates of the keys directly across from each other while the touch keyboard is split in two.

This makes some of our quirkier and habitual typing gestures still work despite the fact that the user is technically typing onto nothing. Try it out yourself, split the iPad keyboard keys and then start typing, if you miss a spot or have a habit from a tactile touch typing keyboard, you can hit one of the ‘phantom’ keys and it will type that letter anyway.

Is this cool or what? This is not well known at all (well, they are hidden keys after all) and I had no idea this existed, but it apparently first debuted in iOS 5 and still persists to this day even in iOS 11 (and presumably beyond). This great little find from Finer Things has made the rounds on the web, and does a great job of emphasizing how Apple pays attention to even the littlest things in their quest to protect the user from their own error and frustration. I’d say the hidden iOS keys on the iPad split keyboard are a pretty great user experience, so let’s hope they persist well into the future.

If you have an iPad try this out, you can split the keyboard in either vertical mode or horizontal mode and it works the same in either case, as long as the keyboard is split and not joined together – obviously when the keyboard is joined there wouldn’t be a need for the hidden keys since a misplaced finger would hit the intended key anyway…

Do you know any other interesting or hidden tricks for the iPad keyboard? Any other typing tips or wonders of iOS? Then do share them with us in the comments below!