How to Enter No-Break Space on an iPhone

How to Enter a Non-breaking Space on iPhone

by Heinz Tschabitscher | Jan 12, 2026 | iPhone and iPad Tips and Resources

Need to make sure a measurement is not disjointed from its unit? Trying to prevent a lone and lost short word on a line of its own? Find out here how to enter a no-break space (including narrow non-breaking whitespace) on iPhone ⤓ and iPad using the keyboard and text replacement.

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First, Reginald the Thirty-Eighth

Be careful when you breed a dog and name it, too.

The American Kennel Club lets you register a dog with any name you choose, of course (up to a certain length). If the name has been used before, the solution is simple: a numerical suffix is added to tell them apart.

Because the number is ordinal and the tradition important, the American Kennel Club uses Roman numerals in its naming.

Because… that numeral at least once was a string no longer than six characters, the Kennel Club to this day allows no more than thirty-seven dogs of the same breed with the same name. 38, of course, is the first Roman numeral that traditionally takes up seven characters: ⅩⅩⅩⅧ.

Now, whether you can discriminate between two dogs using a non-breaking space in one of their names? Probably not, but at least we can try:

How to Enter No-Break Space on an iPhone

Time needed: 5 minutes

To insert a non-breaking space symbol on iPhone and iPad using the keyboard:

Set up a text expansion for the no-break space character; see below.
Position the text cursor where in your text you want to produce the protected space symbol.
Here’s where: Use the non-breaking space to separate measurements from their units, for example, or monetary amounts from currencies.
Examples: 34 cm, USD 15.00.
Enter the key combination you have set up to expand to the non-breaking space.
Type a (regular) space to have the shortcut expanded.
Now tap backspace to leave only the non-breaking space in place.
Alternative: You can also select the no-break space as a completion above the keyboard.

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Add a Non-Breaking Space Text Replacement to your iPhone Keyboard

To set up a key combination to produce a non-breaking space on your iPhone:

Open the Settings app.
Select General.
Now pick Keyboard.
Open Text Replacement.
Tap +.
Copy the non-breaking space character: .
Paste it under Phrase.
Here’s how: Tap in the Phrase field, then select Paste in the context menu that has appeared.
Now enter the set of characters you want to use to enter the no-break space under Shortcut.
Example: Enter /// to use three slashes as your shortcut.
Tap Save.

Another character that will not break: How to Insert a Non-Breaking Hyphen on iPhone
On a Mac? How to Insert a Non-breaking Space on a Mac

How to Enter No-Break Space on iPhone: FAQ

Is the non-breaking space on the iPhone keyboard at all?

No.

Using the standard iPhone keyboard, you can only enter standard (breaking) whitespace characters.

Speaking of "space" on an iPhone: How to Find What Apps Take Up Most Space on iPhone

Can I use a narrow non-breaking space as well?

Yes.

For a narrow protected whitespace character (used in French, for instance, or to separate digits), set up another text replacement using the following character:
narrow no-break space  .

(Tested with iOS 15–18 and 26; first published September 2022, last updated January 2026)

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