Type2Phone: Use Your Mac as a Keyboard for iOS Devices
For most people, typing significant amounts of text on an iOS device, particularly an iPhone or iPod touch, is difficult, slow, and error-prone, and that’s on a good day, with practice and a tailwind. Yes, Apple’s virtual keyboard is generally well-designed, and auto-correct often helps with missed keys, so if there’s no alternative, you can tap out enough text to carry on an understandable Messages or Twitter conversation, or reply tersely to an email message. But overall, typing on the iPhone is far, far harder than on a decent computer keyboard.
Of course, since iOS 4, the iPhone has allowed Bluetooth keyboards to take over for the virtual keyboard. For those people who, for instance, take notes on an iPhone in class using something like Pear Note 3.1, a separate Bluetooth keyboard is a worthwhile investment.
There’s a third group, though, that falls in between the people who can rely entirely on the virtual keyboard and those who always have a Bluetooth keyboard in their bags. These people — and I’m one of them — need to type significant amounts on the iPhone only occasionally. In my case, it’s because I’ve started using a diary-like app to record some daily events, but while I want it on the iPhone so I can access it at any time, I generally tap out only a few notes on the iPhone and fill in the details later. For people like me, Houdah Software’s Type2Phone utility is just the ticket. It has been around for a while, it turns out, but I learned of it when version 2.0 appeared in
early March 2013.
(If you’re in the market for a new keyboard anyway, Matias’s One Keyboard — available in Standard, Slim, and Tactile models — lets you switch between typing on your Mac and your iPhone with a single key press and works well. Logitech’s Easy-Switch Keyboard is similar, though I haven’t tested it. But both are a lot more expensive than the $4.99 Type2Phone. )
Simply put, once you pair the Type2Phone app with your device via Bluetooth, Type2Phone lets you use your Mac’s existing keyboard to type on your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, or Apple TV (a second- or third-generation model, with version 5.2 of the software from January 2013), just like any normal Bluetooth keyboard, optionally showing the keys in the Type2Phone window as you press them (there’s even a silly “flying key” animation). This works regardless of what type of keyboard is attached to your Mac; I’m currently using it with my MacBook Air’s built-in keyboard and with a USB-based Das Keyboard; there’s something particularly satisfying about replacing the iPhone’s virtual keyboard with a seriously tactile keyboard.
On its own, this capability is quite interesting, but Type2Phone extends it in even more interesting ways:
- All sorts of standard Command-key shortcuts that have iOS equivalents, like Command-C and Command-V for copy and paste and Command-Z for undo, work fine when invoked through Type2Phone. You can also hold down Shift and use the arrow keys to select text. (Alas, iOS doesn’t support forward delete, but using Keyboard Maestro to remap the Forward Delete key in Type2Phone to the combination of Right Arrow and Backspace solved that problem. Pierre Bernard of Houdah Software said he’d look into adding built-in support for that trick in a future version.)
- Type2Phone supports TextExpander snippets on the Mac, expanding them to the iOS device when invoked within Type2Phone.
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You can dictate to Type2Phone using the Dictation feature in OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion. If you have a voice-capable iOS device already, this isn’t terribly useful, but if you have an original iPad, or an iPhone 4 or earlier, Type2Phone magically enables these older devices to accept voice dictation.
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Type2Phone provides menu items for Mac function keys and “consumer” keys — things like media control keys, screen brightness, and even the iOS device Home and Lock buttons. Plus, another set of menu items provides access to all the VoiceOver controls in iOS, so you can interact with the device in a wide variety of ways. I haven’t found these useful, but…
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With AppleScript, you can automate Type2Phone. Here’s where things get truly intriguing, since you could theoretically combine Type2Phone’s AppleScript support with its VoiceOver support to automate activities and text entry on an iOS device in ways that have previously been unimaginable.
By default, Type2Phone disconnects from your iOS device when you send it to the background or after 5 minutes of idle time, largely to work around an iOS bug that causes later reconnection problems if you walk out of range while still connected. Both options can be turned off, but since Type2Phone reconnects automatically when you start typing in it, there’s little downside in disconnecting regularly. A pop-up menu also makes it easy to reconnect, or to switch between typing on different iOS devices if you’ve paired Type2Phone with multiple devices.
In my testing, Type2Phone has worked well, with only one problem, which is that Bluetooth can be as flaky as a fine pie crust. My iPhone pairs perfectly, with my Mac Pro running Mountain Lion asking appropriately for the passcode displayed on the iPhone screen. It also paired to my MacBook Air fine. (Type2Phone does have to be running at this point, so the Mac advertises itself as a keyboard.) But when I attempt to pair my original iPad or third-generation iPad with my Mac Pro, the Mac instead presents me with a pairing dialog that doesn’t verify the passcode from the iPad, rendering the pairing unsuccessful every time. On my MacBook Air, however, pairing works fine from both iPads.
As far as I can tell, this is all about Bluetooth and Apple’s implementation thereof; it’s unrelated to Type2Phone. Pierre Bernard tells me that the solution in every previous instance that has been reported to him is to make both devices forget each other’s Bluetooth pairings (if necessary), power them both down, bring them both back up, and try again. That hasn’t worked for me, but my iPads can’t pair with my Mac Pro in the other direction either, so there’s something else going on.
Type2Phone requires Mac OS X 10.6.6 Snow Leopard or later, and is available only from the Mac App Store, currently for $4.99. It works with the iPhone 3GS and later, all models of the iPad, and the third-generation iPod touch and later, running iOS 3.2 (only available on the original iPad) or later.
It's worth following the developer's instructions on the support page *exactly*, rather than just letting OSX/iOS walk you through it. He's definitely found the most reliable method of pairing.
But wait, this is like in Jumanji where Bradley Pierce started to use the ax to break into the toolshed so he could look for the ax.
I've had no issues with pairing my iPad4, iPhone5, AppleTV3 with both MacPro and MBPro. Ran very smoothly.
I love the fact that you can select a piece of text on the mac, copy it, and paste it onto the iOS device. So handy for URLs, street addresses, etc. I'll now be able to find a business on my mac, and load its address into iOS Maps/Google Maps without having to retype it. Cool!
Unfortunately, I couldn't get my late 2007 iMac to pair with my iPad2 despite the helpful suggestions from the developer, who responded promptly to my emails. Apple reimbursed the purchase with a credit to my iTunes account. Shame. I was looking forward to using this app.
I am somewhat surprised by the bluetooth connexion problem; Wouldn't a WiFi connexion work as well, or even an USB cable, as the Mac and the iPhone have to be close?
I don't think there's any obvious way to emulate a keyboard over Wi-Fi - part of the Bluetooth spec is that it has profiles for different types of devices. And while there are dongles that could be used, the point is that you don't need to plug and unplug a special piece of hardware; you can just launch an app and start typing into your device.
The problem is not to connect a keyboard through WiFi but a Mac in order to use the Mac's keyboard for the iOS device. And I can't see why this should not work.
Been using Type2Phone for a while now - great for long texts. Learned a few new tricks from Adam today. Thanks.
I have been using the Matias Tactile keyboards for years and got the Tactile One as soon as it came out. Basically it just works. The nice thing about using it is that you can also use the built in functionality to type in special characters on your iDevice.
Having become used to mechanical key switches back in the days before cheap plastic keyboards became the standard I have to say tactile is the only way to go. There is just something so satisfying about the feel and sound of a well made keyboard.
Siri introduced me to dictation. But it is very limited. I tried and then adopted Dragon Dictate on my Mac and love it. But, of course, I can't use it on my iOS devices. (The app version is a pale imitation of Dictate.) But now with Type2Phone I have Dictate on my iPad and iPhone. All the features of Dictate work, but I notice a slowdown. Still, it is wonderful.
I have an Apple BT keyboard for the iPad when away from the Mac and I also get on well with the on-screen keyboard but Type2Phone has been brilliant when my iPad is on the desk alongside my Mac gear, as I can use the one keyboard to type on both devices by just switching to the app. Ideal. Having the TextExpander capability is a big help and, as has been mentioned, pasting directly into Type2Phone is very handy.
No problems pairing through various combinations of Mac and iPad since Type2Phone was released.
I used to have this capability in the Newton days, so it’s nice to have it back for iOS with such a good design.
No problems in pairing Macbook pro and iPod touch.
My problem, how to delete typo or other mistake. When I click delete on Macbook, the symbol for delete appears on iPod. Both are uptodate for operating systems.
Hmm, that's odd - I have no trouble with that. Could you have some unusual keyboard setting (like an international keyboard) that might be in play on one side or the other? Regardless, Houdah Software's support should be able to help.
I did see Houdah’s comment on different keyboards, but I don’t think that is the problem. I am able to capitalize letters with shift key but with other modifying keys I get the symbol rather than the modification. Maybe I should redown the app.