Even though I’m always typing on my iPhone I’m not the most accurate typist. Yes, autocorrect can fix most of the typos I make when jotting down notes or texting friends. But what if I just need to undo something I wrote out and accidentally deleted?
We all make mistakes when typing on our tiny touchscreen keyboards. You’ve probably had the experience of highlighting a long paragraph, intending to cut or copy it, only to accidentally hit the delete key.
There’s no need to panic when you make a typing mistake, because iOS gives you a few options to retrieve your deleted text. Read on to learn three different ways to quickly undo the last action on your iPhone.
Don’t worry, just give it a shake
Shake to Undo works as promised, even if it’s a bit awkward.
One easy option for correcting a mistake on your iPhone is Shake to Undo, which was introduced in 2009 with iPhone OS 3. To bring up the Undo alert, you just need to quickly move your phone up and down a few times.
While it works fine, Shake to Undo isn’t exactly an elegant solution (unless you picture yourself making a martini for James Bond).
You might also accidentally activate Shake to Undo. If that happens too often, you can go to Settings > Accessibility > Touch and toggle off the option.
If you want to stop activating Shake to Undo, disable it in your settings.
Swipe left isn’t only for rejecting dates
Shaking your iPhone up and down isn’t the only way to undo your typing mistakes with iOS. Another simple method is to swipe left across your screen, which will automatically Undo your last action.
If you change your mind again, swiping right across your screen with three fingers will let you Redo whatever it is you just canceled.
The three-finger swipe to Undo/Redo can be tricky to pull off, especially if you have a lot of content on your screen. If you’re clumsy like me, you might end up tapping something else instead while you try to coordinate your fingertips.
My favorite method for Undo on the iPhone also works for cutting and pasting
While you can undo your mistakes by shaking your screen or swiping left, my preferred method is to simply tap the screen with three fingers. This action brings up a handy toolbar with options to Undo, Cut, Copy, Paste and Redo.
You can summon this toolbar by tapping your screen with three fingers.
That three-finger tap has saved me from having to retype my texts on multiple occasions. It’s second nature to me now. However, when I first learned about the gesture, I had some trouble getting the hang of it.
One time, I accidentally double-tapped with three fingers, which performed a different action that magnified my entire screen (I got my screen back to normal by double-tapping with three fingers again).
Experiment with these three methods to find the one that’s easiest for you. If you’re a better typist than me, you won’t have to use an Undo shortcut too often. But when you do make the occasional mistake, you’ll be glad you know how to fix it.
