How to Change the Keyboard on Your iPhone: Layouts & Languages

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Plus, we cover some FAQs about keyboard layouts

Co-authored by Hannah Dillon

Last Updated: April 14, 2025 Fact Checked

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Customizing Layouts

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Adding Keyboards

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Removing Keyboards

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FAQ

This wikiHow teaches you how to switch the keyboard format on iOS, as well as add keyboards on your iPhone or iPad and change between them so that you can use emojis, a different language, or a downloaded third-party layout.

Changing the iOS Keyboard Layout

Go to Settings > General > Keyboard > Keyboards. Tap your preferred language, then choose a new setting. For English, you can choose from QWERTY, AZERTY, QWERTZ, and Dvorak. You can also add more keyboards to your phone in Settings > General > Keyboard.

Section 1 of 4:

Customizing Layouts

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1
Open Settings on your iPhone or iPad. Do this by tapping the gray sprockets icon on one of your Home screens.
- If it's not on one of your home screens, it may be in a folder called Utilities.
It's next to a gray icon containing a gear in the third section of the menu.

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You'll have to scroll down a bit to find it. It has an icon of a keyboard.
It's at the top of the menu.
The option will usually have a country in parentheses, like "English (US)," depending on where you live.
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Select a keyboard layout. Choose from QWERTY, AZERTY, QWERTZ, or Dvorak. To change your keyboard layout back, simply return to this menu and switch to a different option.^{[1]
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- QWERTY is the standard, U.S. keyboard layout, in which the top row of letter keys begins with Q-W-E-R-T-Y.
- AZERTY is a keyboard layout used for Latin-based languages, in which the top row of letter keys begins with A-Z-E-R-T-Y. It is standard in France.
- QWERTZ is the keyboard layout most often used in Central Europe. The first row of letter keys begins with Q-W-E-R-T-Z, and it is standard in Germany.
- Dvorak is a keyboard layout designed to be more ergonomic than QWERTY.

Section 2 of 4:

Adding Keyboards

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1
Open Settings on your iOS device. Do this by tapping the icon with gray sprockets on one of your Home screens.
- If it's not on one of your home screens, it may be in a folder called Utilities.
It's next to a gray icon containing a gear in the third section of the Settings menu.
You'll have to scroll down a bit to find it. It has an icon of a keyboard.
It's at the top of the menu.
The button is below all of your other chosen keyboards. If you have a lot of keyboards, you may need to scroll.
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Select a new keyboard. Select a 3rd party keyboard, such as Google or Bitmoji, that you've downloaded, or one of the other iOS keyboards listed by language and region.
- When using an iOS keyboard, you can toggle between your added layouts by tapping the button between the 123 and microphone buttons in the lower left. The button may display a globe icon (🌐) or an emoji icon (😀), depending on which layouts you've added and which one is currently selected.

Section 3 of 4:

Removing Keyboards

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1
Open Settings on your iOS device. Do this by tapping the icon with gray sprockets on one of your Home screens.
- If it's not on one of your home screens, it may be in a folder called Utilities.
It's next to a gray icon containing a gear in the third section of the Settings menu.
You'll have to scroll down a bit to find it. It has an icon of a keyboard.
It's at the top of the menu.
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Tap Edit in the upper-right corner. Any of the non-default keyboards you've added will now have a red minus button next to them. Tap that button to delete the keyboards you don't want anymore. Tap Done when you're finished.
- Alternatively, you can also swipe left on a keyboard and tap Delete to remove it.
- You can't remove your default keyboard.

Section 4 of 4:

FAQ

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Can I make a custom keyboard layout? No, you cannot make a custom keyboard layout on an iPhone or iPad without downloading a third-party app. There are some apps that allow you to design your own keyboard layout—one of them is Keybuild, but it's not a free app.
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Can I change the language of my default keyboard? To do this, you must first change your primary language on your iPhone. Go to Settings > General > Language & Region. Tap Add Language… and choose your desired language. When prompted if you want to change your primary language to the language you've just chosen, tap Use [language]. The default language of your keyboard will now change to the language you chose.^{[2]
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