Wondering what will happen to your quotation marks and dashes when you let the iPhone keyboard fiddle with them? Find out here what “smart punctuation” means and does on iPhone and iPad.
First, Picture a Fountain Pen
Picture a fountain pen. Ink is flowing from the nib and coalesces into the shape of letters, punctuation marks and emoji maybe.
Now imagine the ink etching a groove, into which you then pour metal to cast the shapes you have written as letters you can use in a printing press. This is, more or less, what happens in a type foundry to make a—font.
So, the font (by way of French fonte, the casting) is what lets you produce a typeface’s numbers, letters and punctuation marks.
With that out of the way, let’s turn to pouring those punctuation marks onto an iPhone:
What “Smart Punctuation“ Does on an iPhone
With supported languages, smart punctuation on iPhone and iPad replaces (simple) punctuation marks with their typographic equivalents depending on context and corrects whitespace around punctuation as well.
In particular, the following substitutions will take place:
Quotation Marks
Straight quotation marks are replaced with left and right double (“curly”) quotation marks.
Opening and closing: A quotation mark following whitespace and immediately followed by something other than whitespace becomes a left double quotation mark, and a quotation mark following text immediately become right quotation marks.
Example: "example" will turn into “example”.
Single Quotation Marks
Single quotation marks are replaced with left and right single quotation marks.
Position: Following whitespace and followed by whitespace, single quotation marks work like their double counterparts. Within words, the single quotation mark always becomes a right single quotation mark (apostrophe).
Examples: 'example' will turn into ‘example’. "'Examples' Were Given," said the headline turns into “‘Examples’ Were Given,” said the headline.He read aloud: "'Here's to you!' she said." becomes He read aloud: “‘Here’s to you!’ she said.”
Hyphens
Two hyphens or minus signs are replaced with an em-dash character (“long hyphen”).
Example: an--archetypical--example will turn into an—archetypical—example
What “Smart Punctuation“ Does on an iPhone: FAQ
Can I still enter the “simple” versions of punctuation marks?
Yes.
To enter a specific version of a punctuation mark:
- Tap and hold the punctuation mark.
- Select the version you would like to enter.
Example: Tap and hold ’ to enter ‘ (single quotation mark) with smart punctuation enabled.
Does smart punctuation work in other languages?
Yes.
Smart punctuation will work in many languages with specific rules and punctuation.
Example: Il m'a demandé: "quoi faire?" will turn into Il m’a demandé : « quoi faire ? »
Do I need to enable autocorrect for smart punctuation to work?
No.
Smart punctuation works independently from autocorrect (though the two complement each other).
You can disable iPhone autocorrect and still profit from punctuation correction.
(What “smart punctuation” does on an iPhone tested with iOS 17; first published September 2023, last updated August 2024)