Gear Diary Add Custom Words to iPhone Dictionary photo

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious? Antidisestablishmentarianism? Okay, so maybe you don’t use those words every day, but what about other words that you do? And they aren’t in your iOS device (iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad) dictionary? Judie was running into this issue recently on her iPhone. For some strange reason, she frequently needs to type the word “Kev”, and the iPhone kept auto-correcting it to “KeV” (note the upper-case “V”). So what do you do? Buying a bumper won’t fix this problem!

Well, with the release of iOS 4, a little-known feature is available to allow you to add custom words to the iPhone dictionary. I was puzzled when Judie said she didn’t have a way to add a custom word, because it was an option for me on my iPod Touch running iOS 4. What was the difference? I had additional, international keyboards installed.

To summarize what you need to do:

  1. Go to Settings > General > Keyboard > International Keyboards
  2. Click the “Add New Keyboard…” button
  3. Pick a new keyboard, such as Chinese – Traditional (Pinyin)
  4. Go back to the Keyboard setting page and a new option appears for “Edit User Dictionary…”

(Note: not all keyboards will necessarily enable this feature. I know that most of the Chinese keyboards do.)

You now can add custom words to your dictionary and they’ll appear along with the built-in words!

Before:

Gear Diary Add Custom Words to iPhone Dictionary photo

After:

Gear Diary Add Custom Words to iPhone Dictionary photo

via MacRumors forum

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  • http://twitter.com/victore/status/18636204990 Victor Solis

    A very cool tip to add custom words to the iPhone's dictionary: http://bit.ly/9j2dxm

  • http://twitter.com/snova34z/status/18642129587 Alfonso Boxill

    RT @GiantGizmoNews: iOS4 Tip: Add Custom Words to iPhone Dictionary http://bit.ly/dxvYzu

  • http://twitter.com/flomok47/status/18748019221 Floris Mokveld

    Tip: voeg nu je eigen woordenlijst toe in IOS4. Zit enorm verstopt. Had nooit zelf kunnen vinden. http://bit.ly/9pfpRE #iphone

  • http://twitter.com/paulyannello/status/18801851755 Paul Yannello

    iOS4 Tip: Add Custom Words to iPhone Dictionary http://j.mp/d1GZct from @iNewsApp

  • http://twitter.com/bessrogers/status/18863963772 BessRogers
  • http://twitter.com/katiedero/status/18865646360 k.dero
  • http://twitter.com/viper007bond/status/18898533665 Alex

    RT @geardiary: iOS4 Tip: Add Custom Words to iPhone Dictionary http://bit.ly/aSD9Nu

  • http://twitter.com/glennansley/status/18906187873 Glenn Ansley

    RT @Viper007Bond: RT @geardiary: iOS4 Tip: Add Custom Words to iPhone Dictionary http://bit.ly/aSD9Nu

  • http://twitter.com/zaniad/status/19357593155 Austin Zani

    @YaBoiD21 http://j.mp/bSX3ZM this site has instructions

  • http://twitter.com/gregz0r/status/19449382686 Greg Alexander

    RT @GearDiarySite: iOS4 Tip: Add Custom Words to iPhone Dictionary http://goo.gl/fb/oTX6W

  • Athanassios Ziampas
  • http://twitter.com/sicjoke/status/718159992590336 sicjoke
  • Zo!

    @mynejas I do have the 4, but check this and see if it helps anyway… http://bit.ly/cqkdWn

  • http://twitter.com/hellomike/status/24360711777951744 Mik

    @nkronberg allegedly… http://j.mp/bSX3ZM

  • http://twitter.com/smhaunch/status/31227898522247168 Steve Haunch
  • http://twitter.com/fu8ar/status/32916110588256258 paul matchett

    iOS4 Tip: Add Custom Words to iPhone Dictionary http://bit.ly/cqkdWn #imd #fb

  • http://twitter.com/scottieintexas/status/34584241064906752 Scottie
  • http://twitter.com/robmuch/status/34785676499095552 Rob

    Rob>Ron problem solved: http://j.mp/bSX3ZM thanks to @ScottieInTexas! New problem: unwanted globe button on keyboard: http://post.ly/1aeUS

  • http://twitter.com/thenotoriousmlp/status/35039651907502080 TheNotoriousMLP

    Tip of the day for iPhone: how to add words to iPhone dictionary!! http://j.mp/bSX3ZM. Add your slang!

  • http://twitter.com/omlee/status/46601253286985728 Lee Isensee

    @michelehinojosa add another keyboard and then add a word to the dictionary. http://bit.ly/fLVUyf

  • http://twitter.com/venturetech/status/47844544670203904 VentureTech

    Tired of hitting "X" or retyping on your iPhone? http://t.co/IcQMcse

  • http://twitter.com/polkahots/status/47854216307421184 jessica

    @butchmama that's a terrible mix-up that should never happen again! quick fix? http://tinyurl.com/4aw2k7y

  • http://twitter.com/nicksewell/status/49192253859704832 Nick Sewell

    Tired of your iPhone auto-correcting text messaging classics like 'Yo'? Add them to your phone's dictionary: http://tinyurl.com/4aw2k7y

  • http://twitter.com/bensthomas/status/50294601495494656 Ben Thomas

    RT @geardiarysite: iOS4 Tip: Add Custom Words to iPhone Dictionary http://bit.ly/aSD9Nu

  • http://twitter.com/rick_baumhauer/status/54602595012050944 Rick Baumhauer

    @Molly23 Try adding words to the dictionary – explained at http://t.co/PyqAky2 (among other places)

  • Anonymous

    Or you could use an Android phone that lets you change and add user-defined words while you’re typing them. Or change the keyboard you’re using. 

    • http://www.geardiary.com Michael Anderson

      So you are suggesting spending potentially hundreds of dollars getting a new phone, locking yourself for up to 2 years into a contract, abandoning up to thousands of dollars of app and music and movie and TV investments … to solve a simple issue easily handled with a Tip?

  • Anonymous

    Yes.

    • http://www.geardiary.com Michael Anderson

      haha … thanks for clarifying :)

  • Atif Rizwan

    Not working for me :( its still suggesting me some other words instead of the word added by me :(

    • Ccaws

      does not work on my phone either.. I think the point about the Android is really about the high cost to users of Apples walled garden/big brother policy. If Apple continue Android phones may become the run away better option.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1850450130 Ed Nelson

    I added words, but when I compose a text, it still suggests the incorrect word. (ie: I type in hell, and it auto-corrects to he’ll).

    • Cohete

      Same here. Not working for me on iPad either

    • Cherry

      Why do you need to use the word “hell”? It should be an easily avoided word. The level of your conversations will be elevated by not using it. Try “heck”.

      • http://morepeoplelikeus.tumblr.com B. Tyler Burton

        What the hell kind of a suggestion is that?

  • Stevey1

    It capitalised the v in KeV as its short for Kilo Electron Volts rather than a contraction of the name Kevin as far as an iPhone is concerned

    • http://www.geardiary.com/ Judie Stanford

      The good news is that iOS 5 doesn’t have this issue — the Kev one, anyway. =)

  • Toogood

    how bout you just add a shortcut that says kev = kev?

  • http://www.facebook.com/jocelynoldham Jocelyn Oldham

    I’ve tried every keyboard and I can’t get the edit user dictionary to appear! I have iPhone 4s



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