The Dvorak keyboard layout offers a different way of arranging the 26 letters of the alphabet. Dvorak puts all the most common letters right on the center row for increased typing speed. It also balances the most common letters across all 10 fingers to reduce strain. Physical Dvorak keyboards have been available for computers forever, but finally, you can get it on your iPhone and iPad.
Switch to the Dvorak keyboard on iPhone
The standard QWERTY layout of every English keyboard faces criticism for several reasons. For starters, it places only one vowel on the home row of keys where your hands should rest. Plus, it puts most of the common consonants and other top letters on the left half of the keyboard, whereas most people type faster with their right hands.
Although recent studies call into question whether a Dvorak keyboard actually helps people type faster, the layout has plenty of adamant devotees. You can try it out on the iPhone’s native keyboard — you don’t need to install a third-party app.
If you already like this layout, you can enjoy a consistent keyboard across all your devices.
Add (or switch to) Dvorak in Settings
Screenshot: D. Griffin Jones/Cult of Mac
To try the Dvorak keyboard on your iPhone, go to Settings > General > Keyboard > Keyboards. Tap English and select Dvorak to switch your keyboard.
You can have both QWERTY and Dvorak keyboards installed at once: tap Add New Keyboard… tap English and select Dvorak. This way, you can quickly switch between the two options using the globe button on the keyboard.
First impressions using it on iPhone
Screenshot: D. Griffin Jones/Cult of Mac
When using Apple’s Dvorak keyboard on your iPhone, you get the same predictive text features, like the QuickType bar. You can even still swipe word-by-word on the keyboard — but good luck getting your muscle memory to make that work.
Trying it out as I researched this how-to, I felt like I was 5 years old, hunting and pecking one letter at a time. These two sentences took several minutes to write. I’m not a champion typist, but I have it on good authority that I can type faster on QWERTY. Perhaps my tests would have worked better if I had taken the time to learn the layout.
I’ve been trying a lot of Mac keyboards recently (and believe it or not, there are still more to come). I’m searching for the keyboard with the best typing feel and the best Mac experience. Nowhere in all of this experimentation did I develop the slightest interest in the Dvorak keyboard. Research hardly proves conclusive as to whether Dvorak offers advantages significant enough to justify the productivity cost of switching.
Do you use a Dvorak keyboard?
A lifetime of QWERTY means I’m hardly impartial. If you’re well-practiced on a physical Dvorak keyboard, how do you like the iPhone version? CGP Grey, online creator and Dvorak advocate, relayed a bad first impression of the iPhone keyboard on his Cortex podcast, but remained curious about trying it on the iPad.
Let us know what you think.
We originally published this article on how to use the Dvorak keyboard on iPhone on November 7, 2022. We updated it with new information.
