How to use the iPhone space bar as a trackpad to move the cursor
By Saadat Rafiq · 2 min read · 4 steps · Published 6 October 2026 · ▶ Video demo
While typing, touch and hold the space bar until the letters on the keyboard disappear. The keyboard is now a trackpad: keep your finger down and slide it to move the cursor through the text, then lift your finger where you want to type.
- Device
- iPhone
- Shown on
- iOS 27.0.1 (iPhone 14 Pro)
- Real screenshots
- 4 of 4 steps
- Checked
- October 2026
- Sources
- 1 official, linked below
Step by step
Open the keyboard
Tap into any text so the keyboard appears, here in a new Pages document.
Touch and hold the space bar
Keep your finger on the space bar. After a moment the letters on the keys fade.
Slide to move the cursor
The keys are now blank: the keyboard is a trackpad. Without lifting your finger, slide in any direction and the cursor follows, line by line.
Lift your finger
The cursor stays where it is and the letters come back, so you can type straight away.
If you do not see this option
- Your iPhone may run a different version. The screenshots here show iOS 27.0.1 (iPhone 14 Pro). On another version a setting can have a different name or sit in a different place. See your version under Settings, General, About. Update under Settings, General, Software Update; back up first, plug in and use Wi-Fi. Source: Find the software version on your iPhone Source: Update your iPhone or iPad
- Search for it. Open Settings, tap the search field, type the name of the setting and tap the result. Apple notes that the sections in Settings depend on the iPhone model. Source: Find settings on iPhone
- It is greyed out. Screen Time restrictions can lock settings; Apple gives this as the reason when the Apple Account row is greyed out. Check Settings, Screen Time, Content & Privacy Restrictions. Source: If you can't sign out due to restrictions, or your Apple Account is grayed out in Settings
About this guide
Tapping exactly between two letters is hard on a small screen. The space bar trick turns the whole keyboard into a trackpad, so you can put the cursor precisely where you need it. We recorded it in a blank Pages document; it works wherever the iPhone keyboard is open.
The screenshots are our own, taken on an iPhone 14 Pro running iOS 27.0.1.
Good to know
Apple Support describes the same gesture: touch and hold the space bar, then drag your finger to move the cursor.
More keyboard settings: how to turn off keyboard clicks on an iPhone and how to use the one-handed keyboard on an iPhone.
In short: Touch and hold the space bar until the keys go blank, slide to move the cursor, lift your finger.
Links checked on 4 October 2026. Rules and prices change. Check the official source before you act.