Looking for a dot in the middle of the line or the elusive per-mille sign — and the iPhone keyboard offers no clue where to find them? Don’t be fooled: that humble keyboard is a treasure chest of hidden characters. Find out here how to find and insert special characters on the iPhone keyboard ⤓.
How to Find and Type Hidden Special Characters on the iPhone Keyboard
Time needed: 2 minutes
To type special characters using the iOS keyboard on an iPhone:
- Position the text cursor where you want to insert the character.
Precision: Tap and hold the Space bar to move the cursor.
- Tap 123 on the keyboard.
Umlauts and other character variants: Umlaut characters and other modifications hide behind their corresponding letters; long-tap to access them.
Example: Tap and hold n, for example, to access ñ. - Find the first set of special characters (together with numbers) on the keyboard.
More characters: Some characters hide behind others on this keyboard; see below.
- Now tap #+= for more special characters.
Even more characters: Again, some special characters lurk behind others; see below.
- Tap any character to insert it.
Their word: Apple includes ample information on typing in the iPhone User Manual.
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Special Characters on the iPhone Keyboard Hiding Behind other Characters
| Key | Long-Tap Special Characters |
|---|---|
| 0 | ° (degree sign) |
| - | – — • (dash and dot) |
| / | \ (backslash) |
| $ | ₽ ¥ € ¢ £ ₩ (Pound, Euro, and other currencies) |
| & | § (section symbol) |
| " | « » „ “ ” (quotation marks, also inserted automatically) |
| . | … (ellipsis) |
| ? | ¿ (inverted, initial question mark) |
| ! | ¡ (inverted, initial exclamation mark) |
| ' | ` ‘ ’ (single quotation marks) |
'Ü’ and ‘ä’: How to Type Umlaut Characters on an iPhone
Speaking of currencies: How to Convert Currencies Instantly on Your iPhone
Characters not on the keyboard: The Best Tools for Unicode Character Lookup (to Copy and Paste)
| Key | Long-Tap Special Characters |
|---|---|
| % | ‰ (per mille) |
| = | ≈ ≠ (equality) |
Also on macOS: How to Insert the Per Mille Sign ( ‰ ) on a Mac
How to Find and Type Hidden Special Characters on the iPhone Keyboard: FAQ
Can I enter arbitrary Unicode characters?
Yes and no.
While an iPhone can produce most Unicode characters, neither do you get a dedicated Unicode keyboard (like you do on a Mac) nor is it possible to enter character using hex codes, for example.
To enter any Unicode character on iPhone:
- Enable the keyboard for the script and find the character on it or
- copy and paste the Unicode character from a site that lets you find characters by name and code.
(Tested with iOS 13–18 and 26; first published June 2021, last updated January 2026)