IPhone – How to quickly type special characters on an iPhone/iPad using a bluetooth keyboard

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I have an iPhone with a Bluetooth Logitech keyboard that also works with iPads. The solution works great for me in meetings etc. because it is a lightweight solution. The problem I face (and I am really there is no solution for it) is that I need special characters all the time.

I write text in Portuguese. In a Windows keyboard (I am a new iPhone user coming from the Windows platform) I can quickly type a character like ' followed by an a and get á. Or ` with an a to get à. Is it possible to quickly type letters with accents in an external iPhone/iPad keyboard and get accents to display quickly and easily?

The only methods and recommendations I have found so far are the ones like this. Is there a quicker/better/handier solution with an external keyboard? Thank you.

Best Answer

You can use the same keyboard combinations as on OS X to create accented characters. Here are the commands for each:

  • +` then a
  • +e then a
  • +u then a
  • +i then a
  • +n then a

After you press the (option/alt key) combination, the accent character will show up. Then, typing the next character will replace the accent with the accented character, if possible. If the character you type cannot have that accent, the accent will stay, followed by the character.