Design first, function later: Apple's stock iOS keyboard still fails basic usability

Phone Arena

2 days ago

Search the web high and low, scour Apple's manual pages, and go ask on forums and in as many subreddits as you'd like, there's something you won't be able to do with your iPhone, no matter how hard you try. While it was busy developing its complex ecosystem and laying the foundation for the next decade in design aesthetics with iOS 26's Liquid Glass, Apple has somehow forgotten about the small features that have been missing from the company's software.
We are rapidly closing in on the 20th anniversary of the iPhone and iOS itself, which will be a rare achievement that few other phone makers can pride themselves with.
It could also mark the 20th anniversary of the iPhone's keyboard lacking a dedicated number row.
That's right, Android users, the standard iOS keyboard still lacks this essential functionality. There's no hidden setting that could enable that feature, there's no hidden tip or trick that can brute-force iOS to display the essential Arabic digits above the QWERTY keypad, nada. You have to hit the dedicated "123" button on the bottom right to access the symbol keys and the numerical row with all 10 digits.
The only way to get a number row on the iPhone is if you download a third-party keyboard, like Gboard or SwiftKey, but the fact that the stock keyboard that ships with your iPhone lacks this functionality is honestly embarrassing.
But what if I would rather not use a third-party keyboard? That's a completely valid concern that most iOS users would be partial to. Well, if you look for workarounds, you will find some, listed here for your convenience:
You can hold the "123" key, quickly swipe up towards the number you wish to type in, and release your finger to quickly input the number and return to the QWERTY layout. Sounds good on paper, but is a usability nightmare in real-life and is the polar opposite of convenience and intuitiveness.
You can hold the "123" key with one finger and quickly tap the numbers from the row to input them. This method uses two hands and is even less convenient.
None of those two tricks ever felt natural to me.
It was Apple's subtle way of trying to break your will and force you to do things the Cupertino way, a.k.a. "You're typing wrong" -type of situation. The omission of such a basic feature is inexcusable to me, and no matter how much I usually enjoy the Apple ecosystem, the patience of this one is growing thin with the gaping holes in the iOS functionality.
The once-in-a-decade Liquid Glass redesign gave Apple grounds for a total revamp of iOS, rethinking the ways in which the user experience could be vastly improved. The potential was there to get rid of features and oddities that have been criticized for years, while finally showing some excellence in design and UX that has been lacking for a while. What did Apple do instead? A simple coat of paint that's not even that good and goes against Apple's own design and accessibility guidelines. What would it cost for Apple to add a simple toggle that adds a persistent numerical row on top of the stock iOS keyboard? Leave it disabled by default, I don't care, just give us the option to add a functional row at the top.
Would that ruin the aesthetics or take up too much of the wasted on-screen space when using the stock iOS keyboard? I can see how that could have been a concern back when iPhones prided themselves with their compact sizes and small screens, but those days are over. Devices like the iPhone 16 Pro Max or the iPhone 16 Plus and their predecessors have acres of screen real estate available, not to mention that the regular iPhone and the smaller Pro models are also steadily growing in size and wouldn't really suffer from one extra button row.
There's still two major iOS updates until Apple celebrates two decades of iPhone, so there's still time to iron out all the small kinks of iOS.
But hey, enjoy the parallax wallpapers, everyone.