One-handed iPhone keyboard discovered, unused, in iOS system code

Benjamin Mayo, writing for 9to5mac:

Prolific Apple hacker/developer Steve Troughton-Smith last night posted on Twitter that he has found a one-handed mode for the iPhone keyboard, hacking the iOS Simulator to demo the unreleased feature as shown above. The code has apparently been in the system since iOS 8 but is yet to be released as a public-facing feature.

The one-handed keyboard mode is activated by an edge swipe on the keys, revealing a sidebar of cut/copy/paste controls and squishing the other keys down to the side. This would make it much easier for the user to stretch their thumb across the entire width of the alphabet keys, improving one-handed use on larger iPhones.

Here’s a link to the Steve Troughton-Smith tweet that brought this to the surface.

I’m left-handed and I use a Plus. I’d love to test this keyboard.