International Keyboards

iPhone provides keyboards that allow you to enter text in many different languages, including languages that read from right to left. For a complete list of supported keyboards, go to www.apple.com/iphone/specs.html.

Turn international keyboards on or off:

1. In Settings, choose General > International > Keyboards.

2. Turn on the keyboards you want. Languages with more than one keyboard, such as Japanese and Chinese, indicate the number of keyboards available. Tap to choose a keyboard for that language.

Switch keyboards if more than one keyboard is turned on: 

Tap to switch keyboards. When you tap the symbol, the name of the newly activated keyboard appears briefly.

Type letters, numbers, or symbols that aren’t on the keyboard: 

Press and hold the related letter, number, or symbol, then slide to choose a variation. On the Hebrew and Thai keyboards, for example, you can choose native numbers by pressing and holding the related Arabic number.

Enter Japanese Kana: 

Use the Kana keypad to select syllables. For more syllable options, tap the arrow key and select another syllable or word from the window.

Enter Japanese QWERTY: 

Use the QWERTY keyboard to input code for Japanese syllables. As you type, suggested syllables appear. Tap the syllable to choose it.

Enter Emoji picture characters: 

Use the Emoji keyboard. Available only on iPhones purchased and used in Japan.

Enter Korean: 

Use the 2-Set Korean keyboard to type Hangul letters. To type double consonants or compound vowels, press and hold the letter, then slide to choose the double letter.

Enter Simplified or Traditional Chinese Pinyin: 

Use the QWERTY keyboard to enter Pinyin for Chinese characters. As you type, suggested Chinese characters appear. Tap a character to choose it, or continue entering Pinyin to see more character options.

Enter Traditional Chinese Zhuyin: 

Use the keyboard to enter Zhuyin letters. As you type, suggested Chinese characters appear. Tap a character to choose it, or continue entering Zhuyin to see more character options. After you type an initial letter, the keyboard changes to show more letters.

Enter handwritten Simplified or Traditional Chinese: 

Use the touchpad to enter Chinese characters with your finger. As you write character strokes, iPhone recognizes them and shows matching characters in a list, with the closest match at the top. When you choose a character, its related characters appear in the list as additional choices.

You can get some complex characters by entering two or more component characters. For example, enter  (fish), then (bristle), to get  (partial name of Hong Kong International Airport), which appears in the character list with an arrow next to it. Tap the character to replace the characters you entered.

When Simplified or Traditional Chinese handwriting formats are turned on, you can enter Chinese characters with your finger, as shown: