Just like the notch and face unlock, Apple added quite a few new text-editing gestures to the iPhone and iPad with iOS 13. These make it faster to select the text, copy and paste, and move the text-entry cursor around.
Apple’s keyboard now supports swipe-to-type, too. You can now more quickly select words, sentences, and paragraphs with a few taps. These shortcuts should work anywhere you can edit the text in iOS 13, but they seemed a bit flaky in apps like Evernote for us.
Maybe app developers just need to release a few updates. Anyhow, today we show you how to use some of these very features to your complete advantage.
How to use copy, cut and paste on iPhone
You can also now copy, cut, and paste with a gesture. Previously you would need to highlight text then make your selection from the hovering menu. In iOS 13, first select your text and then:
- Pinch with three fingers to copy it.
- Repeat the copy gesture twice to cut it (pinch with three fingers, twice).
- Reverse the copy gesture to paste (place three fingers on the screen and spread them apart).
Drag to move the cursor
Moving the cursor works the way it always did. But, just like dragging to select the text, it’s easier and more forgiving than ever. You can now tap and hold the cursor until it gets bigger, and then move it around the screen and drop it wherever you like.
Press the keyboard to move the cursor
If you have an iPhone with 3D Touch, you can still press hard on the keyboard and move your finger to move the cursor.
But you don’t need 3D Touch to move the cursor from the keyboard. Just long-press the spacebar on the keyboard and then move your finger around to move the cursor. On an iPad, you can also touch the keyboard with two fingers and move your fingers around to move the cursor.
Tap and hold to display the formatting bar
iOS 13 includes a new hovering formatting bar that provides access to cut, copy, and paste as well as undo and redo options.
You can use these icons instead of the gestures above. To reveal the formatting bar while editing text, select some text, and then tap and hold the screen with three fingers. You will see the formatting bar appear at the top of the screen.
Double tap for intelligent selection
You can now quickly select phone numbers, addresses, and email addresses thanks to intelligent selection. Just double-tap near the information. However, note that this only works when you’re editing