Here’s a pretty cool story. Developer Steve Troughton-Smith recently found hidden code for a one-handed keyboard in iOS by hacking an iOS Simulator. Troughton-Smith says the keyboard has “been there since at least iOS 8.”
You’ve probably seen a keyboard like this before. It’s designed to make typing easier for people who have small hands and own big phones. It essentially pushes the entire QWERTY keyboard over to one side of the phone, so you can reach the far buttons with your thumb.
But there’s a huge downside: You’ll never be able to use it (at least, officially). Apple has not explained why the feature has remained hidden in the iOS code, and it also has not commented on whether the keyboard will ever be made available to users. We’ve reached out to Apple and will update this post if and when we hear back.
Today’s fun hack (been there since at least iOS 8); the iOS keyboard has an unused left/right one-handed mode. Activated by edge-swipe pic.twitter.com/zIk7x7CVmu
— Steve T-S (@stroughtonsmith) October 19, 2016
If Stroughton-Smith is right, and the code has actually been hidden in the operating system since iOS 8, it would make a lot of sense. The release of iOS 8 was billed as the “biggest change to iOS since the introduction of the App Store” and coincided with the launch of Apple’s biggest phone ever, the iPhone 6 Plus.
Although the keyboard can’t be used on official iOS software releases, there is a workaround. Anyone that has jailbroken their iPhone cause use this tutorial from Strought-Smith to activate it.