URGENT: iOS 26.5 broke my ONLY way to type (Airtype gone) – need replacement ASAP

Hi there,
Sorry to hear that AirType no longer works for you. Have you considered purchasing a bluetooth keyboard? I realize that's not necessarily as portable, but it's a decent option for a lot of use cases. Alternatively, perhaps you could get a braille display through your government, depending on where you live. Those are much smaller, and a unit might come with a carrying case you can use.
Hope this helps.

Hello.

Have you tried a bluetooth keyboard? This lets you not only type directly on your iPhone through a tactile qwerty keyboard; it also acts as a remote control for your device. For example, you can, in some cases completely control your iPhone using VoiceOver's keyboard commands. For reference, go to settings/accessibility/VoiceOver/commands/keyboard shortcuts. Finally as of iOS 26, you can type in Braille as well as use Braille commands directly from a bluetooth keyboard. This was actually implemented in later versions of iOS 18, however functionality has improved as of 26.x.

I hope this helps, and good luck with your research into a bluetooth keyboard should you go down this route.

I don't understand why you ever bothered with an app rather than just getting a Bluetooth keyboard. There's such a wide range of them out there. I like ones from a company called Nuphy. They're mechanical keyboards which feel great to type on. Logitech makes a number of more budget friendly keyboards which work very well with iPhones. Protoarc makes folding Bluetooth keyboards. I like their KX04 keyboard. There's a lot of good choices and you won't need to go through your laptop. The keyboards pair directly with your iPhone. Get one with uses Bluetooth 5 at a minimum to avoid Bluetooth lag. Some keyboards, including ones from Nuphy and Keychron, can also connect directly to more modern iPhones which have USB C ports rather than the older Lightning system Apple has now abandonned. Hope this helps get you out of your predicament.

A bluetooth keyboard would be useful for you, you'd have to learn applecommands but I think, control alt, or whatever it's called on mac, k gets you into keyboard practise mode but it's been a long time ince i've use a mac or keyboard like that so could be a bit off.

Having said that, if you can; I'd recommend learning how to type on the touch screen keyboard, open notes and give it a go.

I concur with the previous recommendations to obtain a Bluetooth keyboard rather than a computer-based solution. If you are located in the U.S., Bluetooth keyboards can be had for under US$40 on Amazon, many options with fast delivery. Others here can speak to which models are best.

It's always with you, and it is accurate. No need to lug another keyboard with you. Slow and steady gets the job done. Otherwise a Bluetooth keyboard would be my plan B. But the more you practice, the easier it gets. The iPhone was confusing and frustrating for me at first, but not anymore, and that was before I even saw a Bluetooth keyboard.

I think he probably is aware of bluetooths keyboard. He probably was looking for more help on finding similar app or suggestion beside getting an external keyboard. LLC.

This is not a direct answer to your request, but just as a couple others here have encouraged you to try to get used to typing via the on-screen keyboard, I would add that Braille Screen Input really should work just fine and is worth spending some time getting to know. I, like you, found the on-screen keyboard too slow/challenging for regular use, but these days I fly through message and document composition with BSI. Happy to help however I can on that front if you decide to give it another go.

Believe me, I had a hard time with BSI when I first started learning but that being said, the more you practice with it I think the more you're going to like. Plus you can type just as fast, if not faster than sighted people. Did I mention the portability you'll have with out carrying a keyboard round with you everywhere you go? I always found it kind of janky when people would carry round keyboards round just because they think it's their only way to type. Listen, if sighted people can carry round their phones and only just that with out relying on extra shit to get the job done, then I should wanna do the same and I do, just that. Oh and about BSI, yes, it can be sometimes unreliable, but try calibrating your dots every once and a while. It also couldn't hurt to see what screen protector you have, as I hear plastic seems like it causes more issues with BSI than not.

Hello,

As the original poster has discovered, this approach is somewhat untenable even if another similar app is found. There's no guarantee it will continue working or be maintained. I have one, but don't know if it still works. The guide to BSI on this site is good. Read it on another device if you can, while you try BSI on your main device as you read about it. Until I did that, things didn't click. Also, the comments on that guide are really good as a beginner, as you'll likely come across the same issues. Once you get comfortable, write text with it everywhere you can. As someone who also relearned to type with the Dvorak keyboard layout, the only way to learn is to make yourself type in your new input method as often and consistently as possible.

BSI all the way! Although, there are some people who just do better with a tactile keyboard even if it means carrying around another device.

The thing with BT keyboards is there are so many, and it can be hard to find one you like. Going off reviews isn't always helpful. I got a Logitech Keys-to-Go a few years ago based on people who love it on this site, and I absolutely hated it. Gave it to a neighbor who sold it in 2025 after I got an Apple Magic Keyboard which I love for longer writing.

BSI for sure. I haven't noticed the things op mentioned, I mean sure it becomes uncalibrated every now and then but, its a matter of less than a second to recalibrate the dots.

there are a plethera of commands for VoiceOver for a bluryooyh keyboard. for me, the transition was easier because i had a mac before an iOS device, the long since discontinued iPod Touch forth generation. it's not a big deal, for me, carying around my apple wireless keyboard, ca 2011. the only think i don't like about it,. is it takes batteries. i might get a magic keyboard, when money allows.

So, I have 2 questtions:

1. Why do you need to use the same keyboard for every device? Is this keyboard setup a certain way that is difficult to replicate?

2. Would it not be possible to plug in a wired PC keyboard that uses USB-C?

Honestly asking here. 🙂

Okay, you do realize that there are keyboards out there that can switch from your computer to your phone with a press of a button right? I'm very puzzled why you are so persistent on typing from an app that may or may not have support in the future, plus, what if you were out on the go. You can't just not do shit just because you don't like the way IOS does things with typing on screen. I'd honestly would love to know why you think that BSI is that much unreliable that you can't use it at all. Yes, I will not lie, BSI can be better but that's not really a reason of not trying to work around things to make it work. Passwords? I get, I don't use BSI for that much but email addresses? I have no issues here at all. I don't know, kind of think you might be making a bigger deal out of this whole thing than you realize. I'm not trying to persuade you into doing shit you don't wanna do but it sounds like you have not given BSI, or some of the other suggestions in this thread a shot. And when I say shot, I mean really try and use not just oh one sentence and it's not working so I ain't gunna try, I mean try and see how far you can get and see if you can't work round issues and if you can't, then go back to the drawing board.

One advantage to UEB is that passwords can be somewhat easier to enter than US braille. My 1password master password has words separated by dashes, and I can enter the whole 29 character string in UEB, with contractions, in BSI.

Regarding this, I don't even know why that's even a problem. If you're using touch typing ya just find the letter you want and lift up. It's the exact same thing as regular typing, same for email addresses, same for everything else you do. On top of that, VO commands, not really that complex fact you don't even have to use most if you don't want to, just go into any edit field and just, type with whatever keyboard ya have. Like I said, I honestly think you're turning this into a bigger ordeal than you realize. I'm done trying to give suggestions.

Glad that you did so. I could say more but do not want people jumping all over me. LLC.

if you find it difficult to manually type passwords, you can use a password manager like Apple Passwords to save and fill your credentials for you. This way, whenever you're in a password field, you can just double-tap the Passwords button right above the onscreen keyboard, authenticate with Face ID, Touch ID, or your passcode, and double-tap the account whose credentials you want to fill.

I’m glad you found something that works for you. I think people need to be respectful. We don’t all use our devices the same way and we have things that work specifically for our situation that nobody else can know more than us. Giving suggestions is one thing telling someone that they’re making a big deal without really knowing why they might need something specific to their own situation isn’t cool. The important thing is that we all find what works best for us to get our tasks done that we need on our devices. For example, I use the regular onscreen keyboard with standard typing because that’s what works best for me and I also use dictation. I would never come on here until somebody how they need to use their own device maybe suggestions or something else, but I would never tell somebody if they’re making a big deal because everybody situation is so specific to individual case scenario.

I’m a huge fan of the Hable one. Seriously, I’m actually procuring myself a backup one just in case this one goes down. It’s small, it’s portable, it’s easy.

This has been mentioned several times so I'll give you all a tip notwithstanding that the original poster has found something that suits his needs: sometimes, BSI gets very upset if you use your phone without a case. I have just experienced this - my iPhone 16 pro max case disintegrated. I now have a new one, but I tried a couple of days caseless. BSI became very unreliable during that time. I think it must have been my palms confusing it. I now have a new case and BSI is near perfect again. It is what I use all the time. Perhaps this tip will be useful for some BSI strugglers.

Have you tried to restart your phone. That might help.

I am totally and utterly gobsmacked by some of the comments in this thread. Poor Michael wanted an alternative app to his air-type, and people find it appropriate to ridicule him for not using his device the way they use theirs. I use BSI, but I am quite aware that not every blind person knows how to type in Braille!

With respect to AppleVis agree. He needed helping fixing the problem and not suggestions about alternatives. I am sure he look into that in the past as he said, what he uses is best for him. Hope people will not jump on me about this. LLC.

Michael, firstly, let me say that I'm glad you found an app that works for you. Secondly, I'd love to better understand where you're coming from. I'm genuinely curious, so please don't take this as my questioning the way you're doing things.
What kind of laptop keyboard layout do you use? Is it an English QWERTY layout or something else? I'm just having a hard time seeing how the layout/workflow might change.

I understand familiarity and workflow. However, having to use the browser to get text to the iPhone seems clunky to me, although maybe if I chose to do that all the time, I'd get used to it. But saying it's your only way to type is misleading at best. If you're choosing this, that's fine, but it has limitations. If you're ok with those, then go for it. I used an app called Wifi Keyboard for pasting text to my phone from the computer, and it worked reasonably well as a third party keyboard. But those are finicky, and now I use drafts or joplin on the computer for that purpose. Which I realize is different from what you're doing.

I'm glad that you found something that finally works.
But I do agree, that having to use a browser to get text into the iPhone sounds really complicated to me.
I myself struggled to type effectively on the on-screen keyboard when I was first learning to use iOS, but since then I've gotten used to it. But most of the time for long pieces of text I just use dictation.
Personally I find any kind of external keyboards to be clunky and not portable. I do use my phone when walking around too, so not having to take out a physical keyboard is a must for me.

There used to be a website that did something very similar to this. It was just a website, with no apps needed.

The idea was that you would open the website on your PC, then open the same website on your phone. After entering some sort of code, whatever you typed into the browser on your PC would show up in the browser on your phone. These days, I suppose the code could probably be replaced with a QR code.

I do not know whether that website is still around, or whether I am mixing up two different services. JustBeamIt comes to mind, but that did something different. That was more for transferring files from one person or device to another. You would get a code, give that code to the person at the other end, and then start the file transfer. It was useful, but it was file transfer rather than typing text from one device to another.

What you are asking for would definitely be useful. I have seen apps linked to on this forum, and what I usually do is copy the link and send it to myself on WhatsApp, so I can open it more easily on my phone. But your idea would be much smoother than that.

I certainly would not say no to a service like this, but I would prefer it without any app. I do not really want another middleman. Ideally, it would just be a website that works on both devices.

I have used a few of the app-based solutions before. AirType was one of them, though I have not used it in ages. There was another one called Wi-Fi Keyboard, or something like that. I could be remembering the name wrong. They were useful, but you still had to install an app on your phone.

For me, the easiest solution would be a website that does the same sort of thing: open it on the PC, open it on the phone, pair the two devices with a code or QR code, and then type away. No apps needed.

That sounds horrible. It's bad enough to type on the damn thing normally. I can't imagine trying to type while moving *and* trying to pay attention to what's around me.

His purpose was getting help and not about why he did it that way. He was looking for support on solving a problem and not about suggestions or why are you doing it that way. People lost track of helping him and focus on suggestion or asking why. How someone does it, is not the point but ideas on finding the same type of help. Long live cats. PS. Hope do not hear from the peanut galary.

It really isn't cricket to speculate about whether someone has a disability, condition or what have you. Michael asked for help with a particular use case. It ain't mine, it clearly ain't yours...but it is his. It's fair enough to be curious about the reasoning but don't manufacture reasons and impute them to him.

For the avoidance of doubt, my previous comment re BSI was only made on this thread because the inaccuracy of BSI had been raised. I had nothing else useful to offer on an app that might type on your iPhone for you.

Hi Michael,

I'm assuming you are talking about wanting to type from a Windows laptop and not a Mac, right? If I'm wrong and you're using a Mac as your laptop, you can use the universal clipboard to quickly copy and paste text between whatever you're using on the Mac and wherever you might need to paste it in iOS. Another somewhat similar solution that would work even on a Windows laptop would be to copy text to something you can retrieve and paste it from on iOS: Something like Google Keep or Joplin, or another notes app. Certainly not ideal and I realize you have found another solution, but I think given your use case, it'd be worth considering a backup plan, just in case this new app you've found breaks in the future. The other thought I have, and I admit that I haven't researched this much, would be to see if a utility exists for your laptop that can make it behave like a USBC keyboard. If such a utility exists, you might be able to connect a USBC cable between your laptop and iOS device and have your laptop keystrokes go directly to the device. Again, I don't know of such a utility, but there's a utility out there for just about everything so it wouldn't surprise me if such a thing existed for some reason. I'll come back if I find such a utility or if I have any other ideas, but wanted to give you my initial thoughts just in case they might help you come up with a backup plan for the new AirType app you've found.

For transparency, we wanted to share that one (1) comment was removed from this thread, due to a violation of our prohibition on harassment. The author of the comment has been contacted privately to address the situation.

IOS 26.5 broke my nls eReader from typing my passcode, or at least I cannot get out of that mode