Even though Apple’s flagship smartphone, the iPhone X, is technically smaller than the iPhone 8 Plus, thanks to minimal bezels and the absence of a Home button, it actually has more touchable real estate: the iPhone X has a 5.8-inch touchscreen versus the 5.5-inches on the iPhone 8 Plus. And while having a big and beautiful display is generally great for most things, typing is not always one of them; the stretched-out keyboard makes it more difficult to reach every key with your thumb. This isn’t a problem for two-handed typers, but I’m guessing most people wield and text one-handed. Queue the finger fatigue. Fortunately, there’s a simple solution: switch to a one-handed keyboard.

How to Switch to a One-Handed Keyboard

With the release of iOS 11, all iPhones — not just iPhone Xs — give you the option to shrink its keyboard to one side, so that it’s easier for your one hand to reach all the keys. It’s simple and a convenient trick. And once you switch over there’s a good chance you’ll never go back.

• Open the ‘Settings’ app.
• Select the ‘General’ tab.
• Select the ‘Keyboard’ tab.
• Select the ‘One Handed Keyboard’ tab, and select ‘Left’ if you’re left-handed or ‘Right’ if you’re right-handed.

After using the one-handed keyboard option for a little while and you decide that you don’t like it, just follow the above steps and switch the ‘One Handed Keyboard’ tab so that it’s ‘Off.’ Or, if you’re already in iMessage, you can hold down the ‘globe’ key — it’s the emoji key next to the 123 key — and switch back to a normal keyboard.

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