iOS 5 Keyboard Shortcuts

Apple released iOS 5 last week. It is a free update for iPhone models 3GS and 4, both iPad models and late model iPod touch devices. It comes already installed on the iPhone 4s.

One of the best new features in iOS 5 is keyboard shortcuts. Typing on an iPhone, iPad or any touch screen device is a painful experience for most of us. Adding keyboard shortcuts to your iOS 5 device can save you from retyping your email address or other commonly typed phrases.

To enable keyboard shortcuts on your iOS 5 device:

1. Open the Settings app.
2. Click on the General tab.
3. Scroll down to and click the Keyboard tab.
4. Scroll down to the Shortcuts panel.
5. Click on the Add New Shortcut… button.
   
6. Create a new shortcut as in the example below.
   
7. Click the Save button

You can now type the shortcut when you want to use the insert full text. In the example below, I typed f3l and iOS 5 asked me if I want to substitute “Frisch’s Third Law” in its place. If I click the keyboard space button it will replace f3l with Frisch’s Third Law, saving me typing the longer phrase.