How to Use Your Mac’s Keyboard to Type on Your iOS Device

Have you ever needed to type something into your iPad, but didn’t have a bluetooth keyboard with you? Typing directly on the screen can be a pain. Fortunately, a handy app called Type2Phone ($4.99, Mac App Store) can help you out by allowing you to use your Mac as a keyboard for your iPad!

Type2Phone causes your Mac to show up as a bluetooth keyboard in iOS, eliminating the need for a dedicated keyboard for your iPhone or iPad (at least as long as you have your Mac with you.)

When I first heard about this, I was skeptical, thinking that if you were using your Mac anyway, what’s the point? Why not just type what you need on your Mac? After experimenting, however, I found the app to be extremely useful in two significant ways:

1. If, like me, you have both a Mac and an iPad on your desk, it’s much easier to use your Mac’s keyboard to type things into both devices. Launching and exiting the app controls whether or not it’s connected to the iPad as a keyboard.

2. The app also allows you to copy and paste text from your Mac to your iPad – something which I have found to be extremely useful on multiple occasions.

The app costs $4.99, and is available to download from the Mac App Store ($4.99, link). Setting up and using the app is extremely simple, and despite the fact that this is such a simple app, the $4.99 price tag is rather insignificant considering how useful the app really is.