{"id":97998,"date":"2025-10-25T22:51:17","date_gmt":"2025-10-25T22:51:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/97998\/"},"modified":"2025-10-25T22:51:17","modified_gmt":"2025-10-25T22:51:17","slug":"3-unique-ways-to-use-a-physical-keyboard-with-your-iphone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/97998\/","title":{"rendered":"3 Unique Ways to Use a Physical Keyboard With Your iPhone"},"content":{"rendered":"

You just can\u2019t beat the tactile superiority of a physical keyboard when it comes to typing accurately at speed. It\u2019s something we collectively gave up when the all-screen era of smartphones arrived, whether we wanted to or not.<\/p>\n

The good news is that iPhone owners still have a few options if they\u2019re yearning for the feel of physical keys.<\/p>\n

Get a Keyboard Case Like Clicks<\/p>\n

\"Clicks
\n Credit:\u00a0Clicks<\/p>\n

There exists a small enclave that rejected the notion that modern smartphones should do away with a physical keyboard. Channeling the spirit of now-defunct product lines like Blackberry, companies like Clicks<\/a> said that you can have your cake and eat it too. Or rather, you can have a big old touchscreen and carry a small keyboard everywhere you go.<\/p>\n

Clicks produces cases that not only protect your iPhone (and Pixel or Razr smartphones), but also add a small physical keyboard to the \u201cChin\u201d of the device. This has the immediate effect of making your iPhone look a bit weird, like it has been stretched lengthwise. I couldn\u2019t find the exact dimensions of a Clicks case on the website, but the design seems to make your iPhone roughly 25% longer than it already is.<\/p>\n

The latest iteration of the case (for the iPhone 17, 17 Pro, and 17 Pro Max) uses a snap-in design, which makes connecting or detaching your device easier than past iterations. Inside the case is a USB-C connector, which means that the Clicks case transfers data over a physical connection. This is good news, since it cuts down on the latency and power consumption associated with a wireless connection.<\/p>\n

The case features a cutaway side rail design, so you can still reach buttons for volume control, waking or invoking Siri, and use the Camera Control button<\/a>. The keys are backlit for typing in the dark, and the case features MagSafe and USB-C passthrough for charging and connecting additional accessories.<\/p>\n

Since your iPhone knows that the Clicks case is a keyboard, the on-screen keyboard will be automatically disabled in apps, giving you a full-screen view of your conversations, notes, and documents. The case also features an app that you can use to customize various keyboard settings, plus the ability to use Shortcuts workflows to do things like launch apps, make calls, and more.<\/p>\n

The current iPhone 17 cases come in two colors: Onyx (black) and Smoke (light gray). You\u2019ll pay $139 for a Clicks case, which feels steep but not beyond reach if you crave this sort of functionality. Just make sure you consider the added length that a Clicks case adds to your device (you\u2019ll need deep pockets in more ways than one).<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re looking for a cheaper physical keyboard case for your iPhone, you might want to give the Akko Metakey<\/a> a look for $70.<\/p>\n

Use Almost Any Keyboard Over Bluetooth, USB, or 2.4GHz Adapter<\/p>\n

\"iPhone
\n Credit:\u00a0Tim Brookes \/ How-To Geek<\/p>\n

The beauty of a keyboard case is that it goes anywhere you take your iPhone, but what if you don\u2019t need portability? Good news! You can connect virtually any keyboard to your iPhone via almost any means. iOS (and iPadOS) seems to be broadly compatible with keyboards in the same way that macOS is.<\/p>\n

I tested this theory with two keyboards, an Apple Magic Keyboard (the older non-Touch ID model) and a mechanical keyboard in the form of a NuPhy Air 75 v2<\/a>. Every method I tested worked, with my two favorites being a wired Lightning to USB-C connector going from the Apple keyboard to my iPhone 17 Pro and the surprising success I encountered when I adapted my NuPhy\u2019s USB-A dongle to USB-C and connected it directly to the iPhone. I really didn\u2019t expect that last one to work, but I was wrong.<\/p>\n

\"iPhone
\n Credit:\u00a0Tim Brookes \/ How-To Geek<\/p>\n

Obviously, there are some questions to be asked about the practicality of such a setup. Carrying a whole mechanical keyboard (and the easy-to-lose dongle) with you just to bang out a few text messages feels like overkill. But there is a good range of highly portable, foldable keyboards (like the ProtoArc XK01<\/a>) that you can take almost anywhere.<\/p>\n

These could be valuable for anyone who wants to get \u201creal\u201d work done on a small iPhone screen, but who doesn\u2019t want to carry a whole tablet or laptop. As someone who writes a lot, I can see the appeal. As someone who also edits a lot of text, the idea of spending too long on a small screen (within the confines of Apple\u2019s iOS limitations) is unappealing.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re going this route, you\u2019ll want some means of propping your iPhone up like a cheap MagSafe ring stand <\/a> or perhaps a wireless travel puck like the Ugreen 2-in-1 Qi2 Foldable Charging Station<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"UGREEN<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\tBrand \t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tUgreen<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\tQi-Certified \t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tYes (Qi2)<\/p>\n

This 2-in-1 charger stand is expertly designed for tech enthusiasts, offering a speedy 15W for your smartphone and a gentle 5W for wireless earbuds, ensuring both your go-to gadgets charge swiftly together.<\/p>\n

Use iPhone Mirroring on Your Mac<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

Portable cases mean never leaving home without your keyboard, and full-size keyboard compatibility means sacrificing portability for productivity. So, where does that leave iPhone Mirroring? This feature was first introduced to the iPhone in 2024 with the release of iOS 18, making it possible to mirror your iPhone\u2019s screen on any Mac<\/a> running macOS Sequoia or later.<\/p>\n

While using iOS with a mouse leaves much to be desired, iPhone Mirroring also enables text input via your Mac\u2019s keyboard. It works whether you\u2019re using a built-in MacBook keyboard or a wireless keyboard that lives on your desk. macOS acts like something of a KVM<\/a>, and your iPhone doesn\u2019t even need to be unlocked or in the same room as you.<\/p>\n

The feature lets you open iPhone notifications in a window on your Mac, which is handy but hardly requires typing. One app that really did benefit from iPhone Mirroring was Apple\u2019s Journal app, for which there was no macOS equivalent when the feature first launched. With the arrival of macOS 26 Tahoe, the lack of a Journal app for the Mac has been fixed.<\/p>\n

Even so, any app in which you want to type at length that doesn\u2019t have a Mac or web equivalent could benefit. Niche social media apps spring to mind, or apps you solely use on your iPhone (perhaps so that you don\u2019t resort to doomscrolling on your Mac). For this to work, you\u2019ll need to be signed in to the same Apple ID on both machines, have Bluetooth enabled, and be on the same local network.<\/p>\n

If you can\u2019t get the feature working, consider disabling your VPN (or turning off the kill switch,<\/a> if you have one).<\/p>\n

The Clicks keyboard case is compelling if you find yourself typing hundreds or thousands of words per day on your iPhone. After a brief adjustment period, you\u2019re sure to make fewer mistakes and type at a faster pace.<\/p>\n

That said, there are two other options if you want to improve your iPhone typing experience. Swipe to type works a lot like the old predictive text engines of yore<\/a>, and is great for one-handed typing at the cost of raw speed. Otherwise, if you\u2019re in an environment where you\u2019re able to talk out loud, then Apple\u2019s dictation feature is one of the best examples of its kind<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"You just can\u2019t beat the tactile superiority of a physical keyboard when it comes to typing accurately at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":97999,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[85,46,321,125],"class_list":{"0":"post-97998","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mobile","8":"tag-il","9":"tag-israel","10":"tag-mobile","11":"tag-technology"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97998","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=97998"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97998\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/97999"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97998"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97998"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97998"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}