A vast majority of smartphone users worldwide today uses Android-powered smartphone. The Android phone keyboard has a number of superpowers, most of these are hidden and can only be revealed after a long press on some keys.
In most cases, these hidden features are special characters that you can not just type and they do not have a key dedicated to them. Before I share how to access these hidden symbols and special characters, it is important that I let you know that these tricks apply to the native android Gboard Keyboard. This is the keyboard that comes with all Google’s own Pixel phones and all android devices with stock Android. If your phone does not have this keyboard, do not worry, just go to the play store and install Gboard. Now, let’s dive in
How to access hidden symbols and characters on Android Phone Keyboard
These tricks will surely help you type faster, and let you express your sentences in the most accurate way you want them.
Remember that to type some symbols on your android keyboard, you have to switch to the other page containing the symbols, however, most of the commonly used symbols can be accessed by simply long-pressing the period (.) key. This gives you access to a bunch of useful symbols, such as &, %, +, #, ! and @.
Do you want to quickly switch to the one-handed mode or gain quick access to packs of emojis and gifs? then long-press on the comma (,) key.
Depending on the language you selected for your android phone keyboard, you can gain access to accented characters, by simply long-press the character closest to the accented character you are looking for. For example, to type ë, press and hold e to reveal all the associated accented characters, and slide your finger over to the one you need.
Now, here is a list of hidden symbols or special characters you can access by long-pressing them:
- # can be long-pressed to reveal the numero sign (№).
- 1 will display fractions of 1, such as ½, ⅛, and ⅑. This will also work if you long-press any number from 1 to 9 to get a fractional number for them, and the same tip can be applied to add an exponent to any number from 0 to 9; to do this, type in the first number without long-press, then press and hold the number you want to use as an exponent and slide your finger to the relevant selection. This lets you easily type numbers such as 3⁵, 6⁸, and 2³.
- Long press S reveals the German Eszett symbol (ß).
- $ shows other currency symbols, such as ₹, ¥, ₱, £, ¢, and €. This list may vary depending on your region.
- – (hyphen) reveals a couple of long dashes (– and —), underscore (_), and the bullet point symbol (·).
- + (plus) will allow you to type the plus-minus sign (±).
- ( (open brackets) lets you type the less-than symbol (<), and you can use it to open square ([) and curly brackets ({) too.
- ) (close brackets) similarly lets you type the greater-than symbol (>), and you can use it to close square (]) and curly brackets (}) as well.
- * (asterisk) shows the star symbol (★), the dagger symbol (†), and the double-dagger symbol (‡). In case you’re wondering, these dagger symbols are commonly used to mark footnotes.
- “ (double quotes) reveals smart double quotes, an alternative quotation mark („), and the symbols for forward («) and rewind (»).
- ‘ (single quotes) shows smart single quotes, an alternative single quote (‚), and a couple more variants of the quotation mark (‹ and ›).
- ! (exclamation mark) lets you type the inverted exclamation (¡).
- ? (question mark) allows you to key in the inverted question mark (¿) and the interrobang (‽), which is like a very exciting question mark.
- % (percentage symbol) reveals the per mille symbol (‰) and the abbreviation for the care of (℅).
- ^ (caret or exponent symbol) can be held to type the four arrow key symbols (↑↓←→).
- = (equals) will allow you to type the symbol for unequal to (≠), roughly equals (≈), and infinity (∞).
- • (bullet point symbol) shows the musical note symbol (♪), alongside spade (♠), club (♣), heart (♥), and diamond (♦).
- π (pi) reveals omega (Ω), Mu (μ), and a mathematical symbol that means product over terms (Π).
- ¶ (paragraph mark) can be long-pressed to type the section sign (§).
There you have it, if there are other hidden characters you have found on your android phone keyboard, kindly share in the comment below
I never knew that I can access those hidden characters and symbols on my Android keyboard! Your post has really helped me to explore more features of my phone’s keyboard. Thank you for sharing this info!
Ah, I had no idea these hidden characters and symbols existed on my Android keyboard! Thank you for sharing this helpful tutorial. I can’t wait to use them in my messaging and social media posts ????????
Couldn’t find a shortcut to “degrees” as in temperature or angles. Exponent zero kind of works (23⁰ F), but oval. Did I miss something?
How do you type a number with an overscore to denote a repeating decimal?
I cannot find the pi symbol (on my way to finding the ohm (omega) symbol).
I long pressed every number, letter (UC & LC), symbol (both sets), and no pi or omega. Both UK and US keyboards.
I cant type star, numero sign, currencies other than $€¥¢£, infinity, interrobang and a little more.
how do I get the S with V on top
I saw today on IG someone had a comment written of two ‘X’ in a style that was not the standard and I’m trying to find it
This was very helpful, thanks!
I wonder if anyone knows whether there is a way to get a check mark on Google keyboard (eg to put beside an item in a list to indicate it is done)