The Secret to Typing Accented Characters and URLs in iOS

Did you know that many keys on the small iPhone keyboard are hiding additional characters? To type an O with an umlaut, for instance, press (lightly) and hold the O key, and a popover appears with accented variants of O. Without lifting your finger, slide it over the Ö and then pick up to insert that character. This trick is also useful for getting different dashes (under the Hyphen), different currency symbols (under the $), curly quotes, and more. The most interesting one? When the Period key appears on the main keyboard screen, as it does in Safari or Mail when entering a URL or email address, press and hold on the Period, and you can quickly select from .us, .org, .edu, .net, or .com to finish the address you’re typing.