Apple has been hiding a one-handed keyboard on your iPhones for years. There’s just one downside: You can’t actually use it.
iOS developer Steve Troughton-Smith recently found code hidden inside iOS that reveals Apple created a special keyboard to make it easy for people with tiny hands to type on Plus-size iPhones.
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The one-handed keyboard has two modes for right- and left-handed use. Simply swipe from the left of the keyboard screen, and iOS pushes the QWERTY keyboard to one side so you can reach all the buttons.
According to Smith, the keyboard has “been there since at least iOS 8,” which came out the same year as the gigantic iPhone 6 Plus. Apple still hasn’t made it available for users for some reason, though. So for now, the only way to access it is by hacking the iOS simulator in Xcode.
Check it out in action:
Video or it didn't happen: (very hard to engage in the Simulator with a mouse cursor) pic.twitter.com/vw2wpCgiLJ
— Steve Troughton-Smith (@stroughtonsmith) October 19, 2016
We don’t know why Apple decided not to include the keyboard in iOS 8 or subsequent updates. Apple added the Reachability feature in iOS 8 that lets users double tap the Home button to bring content lower on the screen so you can use your iPhone one-handed.
The company didn’t respond to our request for comment, but hopefully we will get a similar keyboard in iOS 11 next year.
Via: Gizmodo
