Writing on an iPhone sucks.

I don’t think anyone wants to write on an iPhone for more than a quick reply. The screen keyboard doesn’t provide as much feedback as a physical keyboard, and typing on an iPhone for extended periods can be uncomfortable due to ergonomic issues.

So, as a dad of two young kids with limited time to write, I’ve set out to find the best way to do heavy writing on my iPhone.

📝 TL;DR: As a stay-at-home dad, I often sneak in writing time on my iPhone while the kids play. After trying larger phones, case accessories, and swipe keyboards, turning the phone sideways helped most— but Apple’s poor UX in landscape mode still slows me down. I’ve made progress, but I’m not done yet

Why Even Write on an iPhone

As a writer, I would love to sit at my desk or somewhere nice outside with my laptop and bang out some words. But as a stay-at-home dad, I’m not allowed to sit down and write very often. My toddlers constantly pull at me to watch or play with them.

However, my kids are getting a little older and are starting to play independently. So, sometimes, I find myself sitting on the couch, watching them play.

Since I’m just watching them, I’d like to do a little writing. Whenever I take my laptop or iPad out to work, the kids notice, stop what they are doing, and come over to see what I’m doing. Making any move in the same room with kids playing independently is risky. I want to be productive during these times, if possible, so I try to get a little writing done on my phone to reach my daily word goal.

If I try to write on my iPhone, they don’t notice; if they do, an iPhone is much easier to put away quickly. Additionally, as a tech enthusiast, I want to make the most of my favorite device, but I haven’t enjoyed typing for extended periods on my iPhone.

However, finding the optimal way to type on the iPhone screen has become frustrating. After typing for more than a few minutes, my hand hurts, or some aspect of user experience (UX) gets in my way.

A Bigger Phone Didn’t Fix It

I purchased the bigger iPhone with the expectation that it would be better for typing. Sadly, I haven’t found a suitable position to hold the larger device when typing without causing any issues.

Since the device is not wide enough for me, using two hands creates a large gap between them and the device. Typing for a quick burst, like responding to a text message, feels fine, but after minutes of typing, my hands start to cramp.

I’ve had success using QuickPath, Apple’s swipe keyboard, when one of the kids sits on me or blocks an arm, but the speed isn’t there. Plus, I feel that typing there isn’t as accurate. I can accomplish some things, but it’s slow work.

So, going with the larger phone hasn’t solved my problem. In fact, with the iPhone 16 Pro Max, I felt that the phone was too big, so I traded it in for the iPhone 16 Plus. But that didn’t solve my problem.

Case Hacks Didn’t Help

I next turned to a new case. I saw many recommendations to install a ring or pop socket on the back of my iPhone 16 Plus.

I bought a clear case with a ring from Anker to try out. While the case felt fine, having the ring made typing more awkward. I had to finagle my hand just right to get my hands in a good position when typing.

If the ring didn’t help, I have a hard time believing a pop-socket would help, but I haven’t tried it. Instead, I returned the case with the ring and felt defeated.

The Horizontal Typing Revolution

Something clicked when I wanted to write while watching the kids play. I don’t know why I didn’t think to turn my phone horizontally to use the landscape keyboard. Doing that solves the issue of all the space between my hands.

I had always been so fast at typing when holding the phone vertically that I never thought about turning it horizontally. I recall when the larger Plus model phones were introduced and Apple made a big deal about offering different views of your apps when you hold the device in landscape orientation. I tried it out back then but never found value in it, so I stopped.

But one day, I started to think about how wide a phone would have to be to give me what I wanted. I considered the iPad mini and whether it would benefit me to get one, but I realized that the phone, when turned sideways, was about as wide as the mini tablet. So, the next time I wanted to write, I turned it on its side.

Holding it like this solved the hand-cramping issue!

Ergonomically, it felt pretty good, although with my Plus-sized phone, it felt slightly too big. Look, I know I’m Goldilocksing it here, but to quote my oldest, “I want what I want.” However, it made me want to visit the Apple Store and see how the standard-sized iPhone would fit in my hands when I hold it that way. When I update my phone next, I plan to go with the smaller-sized iPhone. It just felt so nice to type on.

So I solved the problem, right?

Unfortunately, typing on the keyboard this way is extremely frustrating due to the poor User Experience (UX). It boggles my mind and shows me how little people use their iPhones in landscape orientation since Apple is usually so good at UX.

Here’s what happens. Typing on the landscape keyboard is pretty great, although on my Plus-sized phone, my thumbs do have to reach pretty far, but I can reach when I need. The problem comes from the spacebar and delete key.

The delete key is minor. While there is plenty of space to place the delete key high on the keyboard, like on a physical keyboard, they kept it at the bottom, just above the return key, similar to when the phone is in portrait orientation. I understand why they kept it there. When in portrait, there is no room to have the delete key up top, so when you turn it, and there is room, they tried to keep it congruent. However, my brain doesn’t translate it well. I have to search for it when I need it.

However, the most annoying aspect of typing in horizontal is the space bar. When the phone is in portrait orientation, a buffer is displayed between the space bar and the home indicator. When you turn it sideways, there is no space, even though it looks like Apple could move it slightly upward.

As it is, when I’m typing, one of two things happens frequently enough to make me second-guess my choice. The most common one is that I accidentally invoke Siri. If Apple Intelligence is enabled, double-tapping the Home indicator brings up a text box where you can type to Siri. So, when I’m trying to punctuate a sentence with a period, I usually press the space bar twice to end my sentence.

Furthermore, sometimes when my fingers are flying over the keyboard, I hit the space bar and go to the next letter, but my finger slides, and the app switcher appears, or I swipe to the last used app instead. I wonder if this is something I can improve by continuing to write in this way.

All of these factors add up to what I believe is poor user experience. I wonder if anyone at Apple has tried to write this way, because if they did, I feel like this might be fixed.

I thought I would have to turn off Apple Intelligence (not that it does much right now), but I found a better way. I turned off the double-tap feature of the home indicator to enable typing to Siri and added a Control Center shortcut for it instead. Since making the change, writing has become much better. Siri hasn’t gotten in my way when I get on a roll typing, and I still have access to a feature that I do use, but rarely.

Still Not Perfect, But Getting Closer

All of this is to say that I haven’t found the best way to write on my iPhone. Writing on my iPhone is usually out of necessity and not desire, although I would love to be able to do more on my iPhone 16 Plus than I already do. However, if you’re searching like me, I recommend turning your iPhone sideways to reduce hand cramping.

To that extent, I would like to try out the standard-size iPhone to see if the size is even better in my hand than the Plus. If it is, and I can figure out a way to tame those other UX problems, I think I might have a winning strategy I could use to hammer out those words when I can get to a bigger device.

If you want to keep up with my journey to find the best way to write on an iPhone, make sure you enter your email in the form below to sign up for my mailing list. I promise only to email you when there’s an update to the site, and not spam your mailbox.

Do you have any tip, suggestion, question? Let’s connect on Threads, BlueSky or Mastodon.