Copy that: On your computer, double-click with your mouse or trackpad to highlight a word, or triple-click to highlight an entire paragraph. Simple little life-changer!
There's a hidden trackpad on your iPhone - Here's how to use it
Your smartphone comes with enough cool features to keep you entertained for hours at a time. But there are probably hidden features built into your device that you don’t even know about. Tap or click for 10 new iPhone tricks you’ll use all the time.
The iPhone is filled with shortcuts and little workarounds you’d always use if you knew about them. If you send lots of emails or text messages, you may be interested in a feature that makes it easier.
You know that handy trackpad you use on your laptop to navigate and simplify things? You can turn your iPhone keyboard into one as well! Here’s how to use the hidden trackpad on your iPhone.
A trackpad on your phone?
So, why would you want to use a trackpad? It’s perfect for those with thick fingers, questionable eyesight, or who get annoyed trying to move the cursor on a tiny screen to edit and change the text.
RELATED: Apple tip: How to record your phone screen
The trackpad feature is incredibly convenient on iPad and iPhone for editing word documents or sending emails and long texts. Make a typo? Use the trackpad feature to make changes.
Have to edit extensive blocks of text? The trackpad feature will allow you to do so in less time with less frustration. It does take a second to get the hang of it, but you’ll use it all the time once you do.
How to use the trackpad feature on your iPhone
So how do you turn your keyboard into a trackpad efficiently enough to use it? For both iPhone and iPad, you’ll want to be writing in a block of text and then use the following steps to unlock the trackpad feature:
- Pull up the keyboard if you don’t already have it open. For this to work, you’ll need to be in an active word document, email, or text message.
- Once you have a block of text written, hold your finger on the spacebar until the keyboard goes blank. You’ll feel haptic feedback that lets you know it’s working. The cursor will enlarge for just a second, showing you the trackpad has been activated.
- Now that the trackpad is activated, with your finger still pressed down, you can move it around the entire keyboard to move your cursor inside the block of text, as you would on a MacBook.
- Want to return to the standard keyboard? Lift your finger off the screen. Now you can use all the other buttons as expected. To return to the trackpad, press your finger down again on the spacebar and resume as you would on a MacBook.
Is it worth using?
10 Mac trackpad tricks you wish you knew before now
The war between Mac and PC is not as heated as it used to be. After all, you can run iTunes on your PC and Windows on your Mac. And while Macs have traditionally had a better reputation for graphic design, you can do just as much with a PC nowadays.
Apple announced a larger 13-inch iPad Air with an M2 chip, its first iPad Pro with an OLED display and a 10th-generation iPad that starts at $349. Plus, they teased the AI-compatible M4 chip, a new Pencil Pro with haptic feedback, and an upgraded Magic Keyboard with a larger trackpad and a row of function keys. You can pick them up beginning next week.
Have a MacBook and an iPad? Use this new trick to control both at the same time
What is Universal Control for Apple devices? iOS 15.4 and macOS Monterey 12.3 both ushered in a new era of Apple functionality.
Universal Control lets you use the keyboard, mouse, or trackpad of your Mac to control up to two other nearby Mac or iPad devices and work seamlessly between them. Tap or click here to turn your iPad into a full-fledged computer.
This free app is like MS Paint using your Mac's trackpad
It’s hard to believe, but there isn’t a macOS equivalent of Microsoft’s hugely popular drawing app MS Paint. While Microsoft’s operating system has gone through plenty of changes in the last decades, one constant has been MS Paint.
Mac trackpad tricks: If you tilt two fingers on your trackpad at the same time, you’ll rotate images and graphics. Double-tap with two fingers to zoom in (then back out) of a site or PDF. Lots more ideas here.
On the dotted line: It’s easy to create a virtual signature on a Mac using the Preview app. In Preview, hit Tools > Annotate > Signature > Manage signatures. Sign using your trackpad (hard) or sign your name on a white piece of paper and hold it up to your webcam (easier).
Update your iPhone: New iOS update fixes annoying bugs
Updated 04/08/2020 – Apple released iOS 13.4.1 and iPadOS 13.4.1 to the public this week to take care of a few bugs. The updates fix an issue that prevented some users from participating in FaceTime calls, which is a huge problem right now as people practice social distancing. These updates also fix problems people were having connecting to BlueTooth and more. Instructions on how to download and install the updates can be found later in this article.