Have you ever typed a long text on your iPhone or iPad, only to accidentally delete it all? The first natural reaction is to panic, and after a few minutes of frustration, you’ve probably decided to write it from scratch. But did you know that there is a method that will help you avoid going through this process? That’s right, and it has to do with the undo and redo functions on your iPhone or iPad.
Like any other modern operating system, iOS and iPadOS include undo and redo options when typing or perform editing actions. For this reason, with just a couple of gestures you can recover accidentally deleted text, or go back to an earlier point in the process. These features are just as useful as knowing how to move and copy files from iPhone or iPad to external storage.
If you want to learn how to undo and redo text on your iPhone or iPad, you just have to follow these steps that we leave you here. We will show you four different methods to master this feature. Besides, remember to update your device to the latest version available, to avoid incompatibilities.
Method 1: Shake your iPhone
For several generations of iOS, Apple has included a feature called shake to undo. With it, every time you shake your iPhone, a window will appear to ask you if you want to undo or redo a specific action. To activate this feature, do the following:
- Enter the menu of Settings of your iPhone.
- Go to the area of Accessibility.
- Here, enter the section Play.
- Now, just look for the function shake to undo and activate the switch next to it.
Ready. Now every time you’re typing and you make a mistake, you can shake your iPhone slightly to see the redo or undo menu. If you tend to shake your device too much, you might see the message at unwanted times. In that case you can deactivate this option, since there are still three methods left to show here.
Method 2: Tap with three fingers
There are two different ways to carry out this method. To undo the last text or action, just touch the screen of your iPhone with three fingers, twice in a row. Once this is done, you should see your last modification disappear, and a message indicating that you just used the undo function.
The second way to carry out this method is tapping only once with three fingers. When you do this, you will see a small action bar at the top of the screen. Here, you can use the back arrow to undo, and the forward arrow to redo.
Fortunately, most apps on the App Store work with Apple gesturesso no matter where you are, you can always use them to save yourself from a mistake.
Method 3: Three-finger swipe
Similar to the previous method. However, this time you are not only going to touch the screen with three fingers; you will also have to slide them. This is a faster version of the previous processand here you do not have to press any button, since the gesture will do everything for you.
- Undo: Place three fingers on your iPhone screen and swipe left. You will see that a small message appears indicating your action, while the last thing you have done disappears.
- Redo: the same, but sliding to the right. Of course, this time you can see how the deleted text or action reappears.
Method 4: In case you have a physical keyboard
If you have a physical keyboard connected to your iPhone or iPad, you can also take advantage of the redo or undo commands. Just like you would on a Mac, tap Command/CTRL + Z to undo. With Command/CTRL + Shift + Z you will be able to redo the deleted text.