How to Enable the Hidden One-Handed Keyboard in iPhone [Jailbreak Tweak]

BY Ali Hassan Mahdi

Published 22 Oct 2016

iOS one-handed keyboard

A few days back, iOS developer Steve Troughton-Smith discovered a hidden one-handed keyboard feature in iPhone that makes it easier to type on larger displays. This feature can only be activated using the simulator in XCode, but as is always the case, if your device is jailbroken, you can get it right now using a new jailbreak tweak called OneHanded.

The newly discovered feature works only on iPhone models with a large display such as 4.7 or 5.5-inch displays. It can be activated by swiping in from the right or the left side of your iOS keyboard. Once invoked, the keys will shrink in size to make it easier to type using a single hand. It also displays a number of text editing shortcuts on one side of the keyboard. These shortcuts include cut, copy, paste and undo.

When you install OnceHanded tweak, you can start using this hidden feature on your 4.7 or 5.5-inch iPhone. The text editing shortcuts are very handy as you no longer have to long press on the text field to view them. Simply swipe in from either side of the iOS keyboard and you can view the shortcuts.

To go back to the original keyboard, swipe in from the side that is opposite to the text editing shortcuts. The animations are a little bit laggy, but this shouldn’t be surprising as it’s a hidden feature that was never released officially by Apple.

It has been around since iOS 8, which was released in 2014 – the same year the company introduced its larger iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus. The feature is probably still under development and is being tested before being released officially to the public.

If there’s one thing that we can learn from the latest findings, it is that Apple is working hard to make it easier to type on larger devices with a single hand.

OneHanded tweak is available right now in Cydia for free. It is definitely worth a try and makes typing so much easier on a larger device so be sure to check it out and let us know how it goes in the comments below.