To move the cursor without tapping between letters, touch and hold the iPhone keyboard’s Space bar until the keys turn light gray and their characters disappear. Then slide your finger across the keyboard: it becomes a trackpad for positioning the insertion point. To select text in this mode, keep the keyboard engaged, place a second finger on it, and move the first finger.
Move the cursor with the Space bar
- Tap an editable text field to bring up the onscreen keyboard.
- Touch and hold the Space bar with one finger. Keep holding until the keyboard turns light gray and the characters on the keys disappear; that visual change indicates trackpad mode. Apple’s iPhone text-editing guide describes this transition.
- Without lifting that finger, slide it around the keyboard area. The insertion point moves through the text, letting you place it where you want to edit. Apple’s onscreen keyboard guide confirms that sliding a finger around the keyboard moves the insertion point.
- Lift your finger when the cursor reaches the desired position, then type, delete, or continue editing.
Select text while using trackpad mode
For a selection that starts at a precise point, keep the Space bar gesture engaged and touch the keyboard with a second finger. Move the first finger to adjust the selection, then release when it covers the text you need. Apple documents this selection method in its iPhone text-editing guide.
Choose a quicker selection gesture when it fits
Trackpad mode is useful for moving the cursor or fine-tuning a selection. For a whole word or paragraph, the separate tap gestures may take fewer steps:
- Select a word: Double-tap it.
- Select a paragraph: Triple-tap within it.
- Select a longer block: Double-tap and hold the first word, then drag the selection handles to extend the range.
These selection gestures are also documented by Apple. The double- and triple-tap options select text by word or paragraph; the Space bar trackpad gives you free cursor movement and lets you adjust a selection with a second finger.
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What to expect across apps
Apple describes the Space bar trackpad for editable text fields, but its guides do not provide a complete app-by-app compatibility list or cover every third-party keyboard configuration. If the Space bar does not enter trackpad mode in a particular field, use that app’s available cursor or selection controls instead.
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