iOS 4: Keyboard Magic with E-mail & Web Addresses

The keyboard on your iOS device has tons of hidden shortcuts. For example, you can hold down any of the letters to get accented characters if they’re available.

This same trick also works for some special symbols; holding on the dollar sign will give you other currencies, doing so on the zero will allow you to insert a degree symbol, and so on. But did you know that you can make your iPhone fill in “.net,” “.org,” “.edu,” and the like? Here’s how.

First, you’ll need to select a field that may contain a top-level domain (which is fancy talk for the last part of a domain name, like the “.com” in “apple.com”). This only works in specific places, such as the “To” line of an outgoing e-mail, the address bar in Safari, or within the e-mail/home page fields for contacts. When you’re ready to fill in the information, tap and hold on the existing .com button (Safari) or on the period (Mail). When you do so, you’ll be presented with the available options for your viewing and filling pleasure. You can then drag your finger and release to insert the correct one.

Here’s the view from an e-mail.

 

And here’s Safari’s version.