Hey Reader,! 👋

😖 The issue

Most of us spend a lot of time using the on-screen keyboard on our iPhone. After all, it's one of the primary ways we interact with the device.

We compose messages, emails, take notes, browse the web, type social media posts, and more.

Sometimes, we type the same words and phrases often, like an email address or a phone number.

This is inefficient and frustrating.

There’s a better way to type those repetitive words and phrases.

Apple has a built-in feature called text replacements.

A text replacement turns a short abbreviation into a longer word or phrase. This makes typing WAY faster.

🤔 Did you know?

Apple provides one text replacement for you. If you type “omw” anywhere on your iPhone, it will automatically expand to the phrase “On my way!”

Plus, they also sync across your iPad and Mac through iCloud.

🌟 Examples

Here are a few text replacements that I use. Feel free to change them and create your own.

I use the letter x as my trigger at the start of my text replacements. I picked it because I'm unlikely to start a word or phrase with the letter x.

But you could also use a double letter (qq) or a semicolon (;) if you want other trigger ideas.

✉️ Email address

When I type xem, it expands to my email address: gannon@levelonenerd.net.

☎️ Phone number

When I type xph, it expands to my phone number: 555-123-4567 (but it uses my real number 🥸).

🏠 Address

When I type xadr, it expands to my mailing address: 123 Acme Street, Anywhere, USA 12345

😎 Emoji and special characters

When I type xwave, it expands to the waving hand emoji: 👋

When I type xidk (my shortcut for "I don't know"), it expands to ¯\(ツ)/¯ that looks like someone shrugging.

🤭 Typos and Misspellings

When I type the incorrect spelling of the word aquire, it expands to the correct spelling: acquire.

🔁 Common Phrases

When I type xgit, it expands to the phrase: Got it, thanks 👌 ( <-- this uses a combination of text and an emoji)

As you can see, there's no limit to the various ways you can set up and use text replacements.

👇 Give it a try

Now that you've seen some examples on how to use text replacements, here's how you can create your own.

1. Open the Settings app on your iPhone or iPad.
2. Scroll to the General category and then choose Keyboard, then Text Replacement.
3. Tap the plus ➕ button in the top-right corner.
4. In the Phrase field, type the text you want to appear when you use the shortcut.
5. In the Shortcut field, enter the abbreviation or shortcut you’d like to trigger the replacement.

Now, head over to the Messages or Notes app to try typing your shortcut and watch as it expands to your word or phrase!

Pretty sweet, eh?

✨ One more thing

Once you put a few other text replacements into action, it may spark other ideas to use them to type faster.

Using text replacements does a few important things for you. They...

• Speed up your typing
• Reduce typing repetitive words and phrases
• Reduce typing errors
• Improve communication

Best of all, they also sync to your iPad and Mac through iCloud 🥳.

I'm sharing lots of other short tutorials on Threads, Pinterest, and Facebook​. I'd love to connect with you there — please follow me and come say hello!

Oh, and if you prefer a video version of this tutorial, I’ve got that too.

📺 Type faster with text replacement shortcuts on your iPhone (2:37)

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Until next time, see ya! 👋