Perhaps the biggest drawback of the Apple Watch is its small screen. Apple recognizes this, though, and has included some useful and interesting features that can help boost the usability of the screen while still keeping it pretty small, for things like using a keyboard.
But you may be wondering how on Earth a keyboard can be functional on such a small screen, and how can you get your keyboard to show up on your Apple Watch?
We’re here to clear things up, to show you how to get the keyboard on your Apple Watch, and how to use it effectively. Keep reading to learn all this and more in our article.
What Is An Apple Watch?
Put simply, the Apple Watch is a smart watch. It acts like a smartphone on your wrist, it links with your iPhone, and can display your messages, alarms, notifications and more on the small screen on the watch.
This means you don;t always need to get your phone out in order to answer a call, change a song, or scribble down some notes.
With your Apple watch you can access a lot of features of your Iphone on the small screen of the watch, such as a keyboard and more.
In addition to all this, your Apple Watch can be used for all sorts of smart watch uses like for tracking fitness, sleep and many other useful and practical features for the modern Apple user.
How To Access A Keyboard On Your Apple Watch?
So, if you use an Apple Watch Series 7, with watchOS 8 or above, you can access your keyboard as a default option when you open a text field.
Say you are searching for an app in the app store, or a song on Spotify, simply click the text field and it should bring up your keyboard.
If for some reason this doesn’t happen, perhaps if you have previously turned your keyboard off, here’s a quick guide on how to turn it on, bearing in mind it is on by default on most Apple Watches.
- Open Settings on the paired iPhone
- Select ‘General’
- Tap ‘Language and Region’
- Hit ‘iPhone Language’ and choose English or whatever language you speak.
This should restart both devices, your watch and phone, and you should see the qwerty keyboard next time you tap a text field.
How To Use A Keyboard In Apple Watch?
Now if you have your keyboard activated, which it is by default on most Apple Watch Series above 7 and with watchOS 8 or above, you can use it for anything.
Maybe you need to search for a song on Spotify, simply hit the search field and it should bring up your keyboard, or you can use your voice to search. Another way to use the keyboard can be to message someone.
If you want to send someone a message:
- Open ‘Messages’ in your Apple Watch
- Tap ‘New Message’
- Select your contact, and tap ‘Create Message’
- Open the text field and this should bring up your Apple keyboard
- Simply type a quick message like ‘I’m here’ or ‘On my way’ and hit send!
- To hide the keyboard, simply click the text field again.
What Is The Easiest Way To Type On Apple Watch Keyboard?
Okay, so we explained how you literally open the keyboard and use it, but many of you may be thinking, come on, that keyboard is too small to navigate.
Unless you have needles for fingers, it may seem ludicrous that you can type any message by clicking each letter individually like you might on your iPhone’s keyboard.
Well, if you have never heard of swipe typing, sometimes called slide typing, welcome to a world of nuance and practicality.
You aren’t wrong that the keyboard is way too small to hit each letter individually. On all Apple products there is something called swipe typing which is supposed to make typing easier, especially on the small Apple Watch screen.
Say you wanted to type ‘on my way’ to a friend to let them know you are on the train, or something. Instead of pressing the screen multiple times, for each word, if you simply drag your finger in the sequence of letters you want to use, the word can be typed this way.
So, for ‘On’ simply hit the ‘O’ letter key and slide your finger to the ‘n’ letter key, and the word ‘On’ should simply appear in the text field.
Just repeat this for each word you want to type. Apple’s swipe typing system is pretty smart so even if you feel you aren’t being so accurate with your swipe sequences, Apple will suggest the word you want most of the time.
When To Use Apple Watch Keyboard?
You may be thinking, if you are going to type something anyway, considering you aren’t driving or something else that requires your hand and attention, why not just type it on your phone.
Well, this is true to some degree. Of course, if you are driving, there are other ways to send messages, and using your Apple Watch keyboard is not one of them.
The Apple Watch keyboard is mainly made for when you want to send a really quick message to update someone. A ‘yes/no’ message, letting someone know you are on your way, or when you are home.
These types of messages are ideal for quickly swipe typing while on the train or bus, rather than getting your phone out of your bag.
Similarly if you want to search for a song on a music app, a podcast, or some other search function, the watch keyboard can serve this pretty easily, without having to get your phone out.
Final Thoughts
The Apple Watch keyboard is usually activated already on most Watch Series 7 and above with watchOS 8 and above. But can be turned on easily if not.
The Apple watch keyboard is made for short searches and messages you can fire off without having to get your phone out.
From a young age, I have always had a big interest in technology, and this blog is an extension of that interest. Through this blog, I hope to provide others with all of the information they need regarding tech options to consider, and things such as compatibility. Some of the different items I will be discussing include headphones, smartwatches, and how to fix common issues.
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