Additional Row of Keys Above the Standard Keyboard

Textastic adds a set of additional keys above the standard on-screen keyboard. These allows you to enter up to 50 different special characters quickly without having to switch to another keyboard layout or scrolling a list of keys.

Keyboard row on iPad

Keyboard row on iPhone

Using the Swipeable Keys

If you want to enter the character in the middle of the button, just tap the button. If you want to enter one of the other four characters, make sure to swipe over the button in the direction of the character you want to type.

Tab Key

The first key in the row has some special functions:

Tap the key to enter a tab character. If text is selected, pressing the tab key will indent the selected lines. This is equivalent to Shift Right in the editing menu.

The character in the top left corner is an “untab” character. It has the reverse effect of the tab character and allows you to unindent selected lines. This is equivalent to Shift Left in the editing menu.

The character in the top right corner is forward delete. It deletes the character that follows after the cursor and is the equivalent of the Del key on regular keyboards.

The bottom left character moves the cursor to the beginning of the current line. The bottom right character moves the cursor to the end of the current line.

Undo, Redo and Hide Keyboard on iPhone

Tap the arrow pointing to the left to undo your last editing step. Tap the arrow pointing to the right for redo.

The right-most button can be used to hide the keyboard.