Microsoft builds onscreen iPhone keyboard for one-handed use

Microsoft is building a one-handed keyboard for iOS, according to images that have appeared online. The keyboard layout resembles the onscreen keyboard that Microsoft developed for its own Windows 10 Mobile mobile operating system.

In the default layout, the keyboard is very similar to that of Windows 10 Mobile, but the iOS version has a mode to make the keys appear more compact in a semicircle from the corner, according to images published by tech site The Verge, after Winsupersite talked about the feature. That way, it should be easier to type with one hand using Word Flow, the feature to create words by swiping from letter to letter.

The function to operate the keyboard with one hand is not yet available in Windows 10 Mobile. The Microsoft keyboard is now in closed test and will be released later this year. Then an Android version of the onscreen keyboard must also be released. Whether and when the feature will be released for Windows 10 Mobile is unknown.

Update, 09:23: As MRE-Inc points out, there is indeed a one-handed mode in Windows 10 Mobile’s keyboard. Then the keyboard shifts left or right and does not form a fan as in the iOS version.