IOS 16 Quietly Added Native Dvorak Keyboard Support, Delighting Weirdos Like Me
© Screenshot by John Porter/Apple Original iOS keyboard with Verge Dvorak layout .Here's an interesting iOS 16 feature that almost completely missed our radar: built-in support for the Dvorak keyboard layout. As Ars Technica reported this week, the touch-optimized keyboard is now an option in Apple's software, alongside the traditional QWERTY, AZERTY, and QWERTZ layouts. Previously, Dvorak was only available on iOS with an external physical keyboard or third-party software.
Although I've been a proud Dvorak user for over a decade, I've always been happy with QWERTY when it comes to touch keyboards. The main advantage of Dvorak is that it evenly distributes the load between all fingers when typing touch text. All vowels are located on the left side of the main row of the keyboard, with the most frequently used consonants on the right for quick and easy access.
But instead of using all your fingers on your phone's keyboard, you type with just your thumb. And if anything, I find it useful that QWERTY accepts the most common alphabets. Less chance of stubbing your toe, you know?
As you can see from the screenshot at the top of this story, the Dvořák layout looks a little weird on iOS due to the lack of keys in the upper left corner of the keyboard. Because the iPhone keyboard has hidden sub-menu punctuation marks (same as commas and periods). After five minutes of use, I think I believe in QWERTY, but if you're more patient, feel free.
Still, it's nice to see that Dvořák loves the iPhone, and Steve Woznick seems to agree. Ars revealed that the Apple founder used the design for thirty years, all the while learning it from his favorite style master, Dvořák, while flying to Tokyo in the early '90s. "After 5 hours of studying, I never saw a QWERTY keyboard again," he told Ars . - He took everyone.
Apple has long supported the Dvorak layout on the Mac with a simple software switch, but as RS points out, the 1984 Apple IIc included a dedicated hardware key for QWERTY and Dvorak on US models (elsewhere). world, the same button appears to switch the keyboard between the local layout and the standard US keyboard).
To enable Dvorak in iOS 16, open your iPhone's settings and go to General, Keyboard, and finally Keyboards. Select your language and you should see Dvořák listed as one of the available layout options.