Referring to a different part of your document—or a paragraph in a legal text perhaps? Do it in typographic style and unambiguity. Find out here how to locate the section symbol ( § ) on the iPhone and iPad keyboard.
First, Rub the Squirrel’s Tail Against Your Body
You rub the brush made from Casan squirrels’ hair against your body to charge it with static electricity, of course.
Then, to add a glittering layer to, say, a book or picture frame, you pick up a small piece of gold foil and put it on in a single dab,
That’s the traditional method of gold-plating, at least.
Now, to add a small piece of section sign to any document on an iPhone, rub… well, maybe rub the screen against your body first to clean it:
How to Enter the Section Symbol ( § ) on the iPhone Keyboard
Time needed: 1 minute
To find and insert the section sign using the iPhone keyboard:
- Tap 123 to go to the iPhone’s numeric keyboard.
- Now tap and hold &.
- Move to highlight §, then let go to insert the section sign.
Other languages: The section sign always hides behind the ampersand.
iPad: On the iPad keyboard, the path to the section symbol is just the same.
Looking for the paragraph sign? How to Insert the Paragraph Symbol ( ¶ ) on an iPhone
How to Enter the Section Symbol ( § ) on the iPhone Keyboard: FAQ
What should spacing be around the section sign?
Ideally, the section symbol is surrounded with non-breaking spaces to make sure it does appear neither cut off from the section number that follows it nor disjointed at the beginning of a line.
The iPhone does not allow you to input such a protected whitespace character directly, but you can use copying and pasting or set up a shortcut to enter non-breaking space with the iPhone keyboard.
Can I enter the paragraph symbol ( ¶ ) with the iPhone keyboard?
While you cannot enter the pilcrow directly using the standard iPhone keyboard, you can set up text replacement that makes it easy to input the paragraph symbol.
(How to enter the section symbol on the iPhone keyboard tested with iOS 15–18; first published November 2021, last updated February 2025)