The keyboard on your iPhone or iPad is getting a few big features in Apple’s next big software update, like improved autocorrect and emoji stickers. However, a particularly hidden feature that lets you change the sound values of letters in other languages has gone unnoticed — until now.
On iOS 17 and iPadOS 17, which are currently in beta, there are 71 additional diacritical and accented letters hidden in the stock English (US) keyboard, bringing the new total up to 164 letters with diacritics and accents. All these special letters indicate pronunciation (accent, tone, stress) or meaning in primarily non-English written languages.
Apple has not announced this feature yet, and it probably never will — even when iOS 17 and iPadOS 17 get official releases this fall. I haven’t seen anyone else mention the new diacritical marks either, so consider this your first look at what’s to come when iOS 17 or iPadOS 17 hits your device. The developer beta is ongoing, the public beta will open sometime in July, and we expect a stable rollout in September.
The 71 new diacritical marks include characters with acute accents, double acute accents, bars (or strokes), breves, carons (or haceks), cedillas, circumflexes, commas, ogoneks, overdots, rings, and tildes, as well as the characters eth, sharp s, thorn, and dotless i.
Letters Names
Ǎ ǎ A/a-caron, A/a-hacek, A/a-hacek, A/a-haček
Ă ă A/a-breve
Ą ą A/a-ogonek
Ċ ċ C/c-overdot
Ď ď D/d-caron, D/d-hacek, D/d-hacek, D/d-haček
Ð ð eth, edh
Ě ě E/e-caron, E/e-hacek, E/e-hacek, E/e-haček
Ẽ ẽ E/e-tilde
Ğ ğ G/g-breve
Ġ ġ G/g-overdot
Ħ ħ H/h-bar or H/h-stroke
İ dotted I, I-dot, I-overdot, I-tittle
ı dotless i
Ĩ ĩ I/i-tilde
Ǐ ǐ I/i-caron, I/i-hacek, I/i-hacek, I/i-haček
Ķ ķ K/k-cedilla
Ľ ľ L/l-caron, L/l-hacek, L/l-hacek, L/l-haček
Ļ ļ L/l-cedilla
Ň ň N/n-caron, N/n-hacek, N/n-hacek, N/n-haček
Ņ ņ N/n-cedilla
Ő ő O/o with double acute accent, O/o-hungarumlaut
Ǒ ǒ O/o-caron, O/o-hacek, O/o-hacek, O/o-haček
Ř ř R/r-caron, R/r-hacek, R/r-hacek, R/r-haček
ẞ sharp s, eszett
Ş ş S/s-cedilla
Ș ș S/s-comma
Ț ț T/t-comma
Ť ť T/t-caron, T/t-hacek, T/t-hacek, T/t-haček
Þ þ thorn
Ų ų U/u-ogonek
Ů ů U/u-ring
Ű ű U/u with double acute accent, U/u-hungarumlaut
Ũ ũ U/u-tilde
Ǔ ǔ U/u-caron, U/u-hacek, U/u-hacek, U/u-haček
Ŵ ŵ W/w-circumflex
Ŷ ŷ Y/y-circumflex
Ý ý Y/y-acuteTo find them on your iPhone or iPad, open the stock English (US) keyboard in any app, then long-press the key for either the uppercase (majuscule or capital) or lowercase (minuscule) letter for which you want to add a diacritic or accent. Then, slide your finger to the correct mark.
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