Although I did bring a Chromebook laptop with me on this dive vacation, I’ve been using my phone for all basic tasks (including writing Blog Posts) and I’ve been reminded of a couple of nice shortcuts that I thought I’d pass along.

Double-press space bar to end a sentence

I tend to forget this and I’m always ending my sentences by changing the keyboard into number/symbol mode, tapping the period, changing back to alphabet mode and tapping the space bar. When I remember this shortcut, it makes it so much easier. When you’re ready to end your sentence with a period, just double-tap the space bar. That will enter a period and a space!

Long-Press the space bar for cursor control

You can move your cursor anywhere in your text just by tapping there, but sometimes it’s very tricky to get it in just the right spot. If you long-press on the spacebar, the whole keyboard becomes like a trackpad. Rub your finger left, right, up, or down and the cursor will move accordingly.

Learn more

Episode 222 of our What Does This Button Do? show goes into detail about using the keyboard on both iPhone and Android devices. The article Back to Basics: Your smartphone’s keyboard gives a summary of all the different techniques.