Bzzzzzzzzz! Ding!<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Groaning, I roll over. Finding my phone in a tangle of bedclothes, I swipe clumsy fingers across my screen. A friend sent me a novel via text. Ordinarily, I love reading these. Right now, it\u2019s four in the morning, and I\u2019m in the middle of finals week, so I\u2019d only gotten to bed two hours before. To make matters worse, it\u2019s about shampoo, from a girl I don\u2019t really care about at this hour. Fortunately for my half asleep and very grouchy brain, iOS has an easy solution for me. Just above Apples built in keyboard, a row of predictions can be seen. Double tapping on any of these will input it into my text field. The first one I find is a simple, \u201cOK.\u201d Entering it, I hit send, and go to sleep for one more hour. You can turn Predictive Type on in keyboard settings. Just ask Siri, \u201cHey Siri, open Keyboard Settings\u201d and swipe down to Predictive and you can toggle this feature on or off.
\n<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Three hours later, I\u2019m in class, bored out of my mind. I\u2019m valiantly trying to keep my eyes open when I hear my phone buzz in my bag. Debating a moment, I reach for it, pulling it out and popping a Bluetooth earbud in one ear. It\u2019s part two in the shampoo novel. I consider how I want to answer her. There are three ways of using the keyboard on the iOS keyboard. The first is called standard typing. The letter is treated like every other element on the screen. You find it, double tap it, and it gets entered into the text. The second way is called direct touch typing. This way, the keyboard is used the way a sighted person would use it. A letter is touched and gets immediately entered. Currently, I\u2019m trying to teach myself how to use this feature, but this girl isn\u2019t worth the time it would take me to correct any mistakes I make. So, I opt for the third option, touch typing. A letter is found, but only entered once you let go of the screen. Letter by letter, under my desk, I type, \u201cthat\u2019s awesome.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Later, on the bus going home, my phone buzzes again. Pulling it out of my bag, I sigh. Another text from shampoo girl, even longer than the first two. With an exasperated grunt, I realize it\u2019s going to take a bit more time than I thought. So, I turn to braille screen input, or BSI. This mode has been built into apple devices, simulating braille typing on a touch screen. I activate it through my rotor and turn the phone so that its screen is facing outward, with the side holding the phones earpiece in my left palm, and the end holding the home button in my right. Holding it this way, my three middle fingers can curve over the screen, three on each end, a little like how the dots on a braille cell are laid out. My pointer finger of my left-hand acts as dot one when it\u2019s touching the screen, my middle, dot two, and my ring for dot three. This is repeated on the other side for four, five, and six. Space can bee done with a swipe to the right, deletes with one and two finger swipes to the left. In this way, I type, \u201cI\u2019m glad that you\u2019ve found a shampoo that works for you and that you\u2019ve become one of their sellers. I\u2019ve got a shampoo that I really like, but I\u2019ll keep you in mind if I ever need something new, thanks for letting me know.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
When I\u2019m off the bus, dinner\u2019s been put away, and I\u2019m half asleep, my phone dings at me again. Resisting the urge to throw it across the room, I unlock my phone without reading the text, and think for a minute about different apps I could use to respond. I could use mBraille<\/a>, a powerful app alternative to BSI, that integrates as a keyboard, and allows for sending text almost anywhere from within the app, but I don\u2019t feel like I need that. Type9<\/a>is a keyboard based on the telephone keypad that is simple and efficient, but I don\u2019t feel like numbers. So, I open the message thread, and hit the \u201cnext keyboard,\u201d button, which brings me to an app called FlickType<\/a>. FlickType is an app that just hit the app store a little while ago. Simulating a qwerty keyboard, it takes a slightly different approach to typing. Tapping the screen where you think each letter should be will allow the app to guess what word you\u2019re trying to type. A swipe right will translate those letters into its first guess. If it\u2019s wrong, a swipe down will cycle to the next guess, with more swipes changing the word until you find the one you want. Another swipe to the right confirms. This translates into a system that can be used very rapidly, and I like it when I\u2019m going to be writing really, really long things. If punctuation is needed, another swipe to the right will input a period, more swipes down changing it to other symbols. For a mere one dollar a month, this can be used as a third party keyboard. I clearly need to give this girl a little more thought than I have been, so it is with this, I type: \u201cReally, I\u2019m glad you have a shampoo you like, I really, really do, but I\u2019m not currently interested in changing mine right now. I\u2019m in the middle of finals, so please, don\u2019t text me at four in the morning. And please, as much as I\u2019m sure your shampoo is awesome, I\u2019m really not interested right now. Hope you\u2019re having a good night.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n After I\u2019ve hit the send button, I scroll up to view more of the conversation, and start laughing. I\u2019d gotten no more texts from shampoo girl. The buzzing of my phone was another friend, coordinating an upcoming trip. I smiled and apologized, but pasted the text into a note, just in case.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n I don\u2019t actually have a girl texting me obsessively about a kind of shampoo she\u2019s selling, and I try not to be that rude in texts, most of the time, but I do use those typing methods all the time, all over my iPhone. I hope you were able to find something that helped you find a better way to type on your phone. If you have ideas, think I missed something, or have questions, feel free to email me at Jessica hodges<\/a>. Enjoy shampoo free phones, and easy typing for years ahead.<\/p>\n Thank you for listening!<\/strong> Ways to Type on iOS, or, How Many Ways to Tell a Friend Not to Talk to You, Especially at 4 AM! A Blog Post by Jessica Hodges Bzzzzzzzzz! Ding! Groaning, I roll over. Finding my phone in a tangle of bedclothes, I swipe clumsy fingers across my screen. A friend sent me a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[497,239,263,467],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3692","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-apps-for-students","category-blog","category-college","category-technology"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6rcRg-Xy","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4036,"url":"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/?p=4036","url_meta":{"origin":3692,"position":0},"title":"There is nothing stopping you from accessing blind abilities! Blog Post by Jessica Hodges","author":"Blind Abilities Team","date":"October 16, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Blog Post from Jessica Hodges There is nothing stopping you from accessing blind abilities! \u00a0 You tell me you don\u2019t have time to listen? Or maybe you just don\u2019t know how to find the illustrious gathering of blogs and podcasts that is blind abilities in the moment, when you\u2019ve got\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog"","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/?cat=239"},"img":{"alt_text":"BlindAbilities Logo A black square with white initials, B A.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3669,"url":"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/?p=3669","url_meta":{"origin":3692,"position":1},"title":"Writing a Million Miles, Word-Processing on iOS. 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A Blog Post by Jessica Hodges","author":"Blind Abilities Team","date":"June 4, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Studying; what to do when By Jessica Hodges Every student knows the feeling. There\u2019s a big paper or test that\u2019s worth a large chunk of the grade. The term\u2019s wrapping up, and plans are being made for Summer, Christmas, or any other break. The mind is tired from being shoved\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog"","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/?cat=239"},"img":{"alt_text":"BlindAbilities Logo A black square with white initials, B A.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4034,"url":"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/?p=4034","url_meta":{"origin":3692,"position":4},"title":"An Evening Read: Using Overdrive for iOS – A Blog Post by Jessica Hodges","author":"Blind Abilities Team","date":"October 16, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"A Blog Post by Jessica Hodges \u00a0 An Evening Read, using Overdrive for iOS \u00a0 I\u2019m practically spinning as I walk through my door on a late Friday afternoon. It\u2019s been a busy day. I need a break. 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