How-to guides

Short walkthroughs for the features most people want on day one. Every guide calls out what runs on-device so you know what stays on your phone.

Install iSureType on your iPhone

iSureType ships through Apple TestFlight while it's in beta. Once it's installed, the keyboard has to be enabled in iOS Settings — iOS gates every third-party keyboard behind an explicit Full Access toggle.

1 Accept the TestFlight invite on the device you’ll type on.
2 Open the TestFlight app → tap **Install** next to iSureType.
3 Launch the app once so the onboarding screen can register the keyboard extension with iOS.
4 iOS Settings → **General → Keyboard → Keyboards → Add New Keyboard** → pick iSureType.
5 Back on that row, tap iSureType → enable **Allow Full Access**. Full Access is what lets the keyboard read the shared clipboard and play key-click audio; nothing leaves your device either way.
6 In any app with a text field, long-press the globe icon on the system keyboard and pick iSureType.

Turn a photo into a sentence for the clipboard

The Image Description wizard runs a 6-request Vision ensemble plus an NLTagger smoothing pass over your photo and hands the result to your keyboard's clipboard so you can paste it anywhere.

1 Open iSureType → **Image** tab (if you don’t see it, enable **Settings → Typing → Image Recognition** first).
2 Step 1: tap **Pick a Photo** (or **Take a Photo** on device) and choose a picture.
3 Step 2: the Analysing card renders while the ensemble runs — usually under 200 ms on an A15 or newer.
4 Step 3: the generated sentence renders in its own card. Tap **Continue** to move to the confirmation step, or **Try Another** to go back.
5 Step 4: review the sentence in its framed card. Toggle **Also copy the photo to the pasteboard** if you want the image itself alongside the description. Tap **Save to Clipboard** to commit.
6 The success card shows a **View in Clipboard** button that jumps straight to the Clipboard tab with your new entry at the top.

Insert a saved phrase in one tap

Smart Phrases are categorised phrase blocks you drop in with a tap — great for support-desk responses, your mailing address, or any repetitive boilerplate.

1 Host app → **Phrases** tab → **+ Category** → name it (e.g. *Customer Support*).
2 Tap into the new category → **+ Phrase** → type or paste the text. Multi-line phrases are fine.
3 In any app, tap the **⚡ bolt** button on the keyboard’s utility row to enter Phrase Mode.
4 Scroll through your categories; tap a phrase card to insert it at the caret. The keyboard exits Phrase Mode automatically after the insert.
5 Long-press the bolt to jump straight into a specific category’s list next time.

Save + switch between setting profiles

A profile bundles every iSureType preference into one snapshot — accent colour, keyboard scale, custom words, smart phrases, autocorrect pairs, and your tab order. Great for switching between work + personal setups.

1 Host app → **Settings** → tap the keyboard icon in the nav bar → **Save as Profile** → give it a name.
2 Switch to the **Profiles** tab to see every saved profile.
3 Tap the star on up to three profiles to pin them as chin-bar favorites.
4 In any typing app, short-tap the profile button on iSureType’s chin bar to cycle through your favorites. Long-press to pick any profile directly.
5 Export: **Import/Export** tab → Profiles list → tap a profile row → Share sheet lets you AirDrop or save the `.profile.isuretype` file anywhere.
6 Import: tap any `.profile.isuretype` file anywhere in iOS — Files.app, AirDrop, Mail, Safari download — and iSureType auto-opens its preview. Confirm on the preview card and the profile lands in your Profiles list.

Use Siri voice shortcuts for hands-free capture

Four donated shortcuts let you add to iSureType without touching the keyboard: a word, a phrase, a clipboard entry, or a photo description.

1 Ask Siri: “Hey Siri, add a word to iSureType.” iSureType launches into the word-capture sheet.
2 Variations: “save a phrase”, “save to clipboard”, or “describe this” (the last one takes you to the Image Description wizard).
3 Add custom phrasings in **iOS Settings → Siri → App Shortcuts → iSureType**.

Reorder the bottom-bar tabs

Move the tabs you use most to the left of the bottom bar. The order travels with your profile, so activating a profile restores its layout too.

1 Host app → **Settings → General → Tab Order**.
2 Drag any row by its grab handle or use the ↑ / ↓ arrows for keyboard access.
3 Tap **Reset to Default** to go back to the canonical order.

Share profiles + categories with other users

Every `.isuretype` file carries a SHA-256 hash on both sides of the trip so the receiver knows the bytes arrived intact.

1 Export: **Import/Export** tab → pick a Profile, Phrase Category, or Word Category from the Export lists → tap to open the share sheet → AirDrop, Save to Files, or attach to a message. The green confirmation card shows the SHA-256 of what you just exported.
2 Share the SHA-256 alongside the file so the receiver can verify it.
3 Import: the receiver taps the file anywhere in iOS; iSureType’s Import wizard auto-opens with the SHA-256 visible beside the preview. If both hashes match exactly, the bytes are intact.
4 Browse and author files in the browser from the site’s Spec page — every option has a thematic control and the Download button emits a valid `.isuretype` file.

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