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Tech Tip

Add International Keyboards on an iPhone

Q. My new iPhone does not have a little globe key on the keyboard like I’ve seen on other people’s Apple phones. Mine just has the “happy face” key. Why is this?

A. Along with the smiling face and other emoji pictographs, the iPhone can display keyboard layouts for dozens of languages. When you add a new international keyboard, the “happy face” key used to insert emoji characters into text changes to the globe key. When you press and hold the globe key, a menu pops up to display your alternate keyboard choices — including emoji.

If you would like to add a keyboard designed for use with another language, you can do so in the iPhone’s keyboard settings. Tap open the Settings icon on the home screen, select General and then go to Keyboard. Then go to Keyboards and select Add New Keyboard. On the Add New Keyboard screen, scroll through the list and tap the language you want to use. (If you are using the keyboard in an app, you can also go right to the settings by pressing and holding the emoji key for a few seconds until a menu pops up with an option for Keyboard Settings.)

When you return to using the iPhone keyboard in the Mail, the Notes or another text-heavy app, you should now see the globe key on the keyboard. Press and hold the globe icon for a second or two until the list of keyboards appears — like the emoji set or the international keyboard you just added.

Image
As shown on the left, pressing the smiley-face icon on the iOS 11 keyboard opens a pop-up menu with a shortcut to the settings, the emoji characters and the one-handed keyboard options. As shown on the right, if you have added keyboards for different languages, pressing down on the globe key displays an expanded version of the menu, including the international keyboards.Credit...The New York Times

In addition to the Keyboard Settings shortcut (where you can adjust your preferences for auto-correction, predictive text and other typing-related tools), the pop-up menu includes icons you can use to switch to the “one-handed” keyboard that is part of iOS 11. When you select either the left- or the right-handed layout, the essential keys slide over to your chosen side of the screen to make typing with your thumb easier.

Personal Tech invites questions about computer-based technology to techtip@nytimes.com. This column will answer questions of general interest, but letters cannot be answered individually.

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