How To Add Chinese Keyboard On Iphone

The iPhone comes pre-installed with a number of different keyboard options. Many of the most commonly used languages in the world are included among the default keyboards, and the Chinese Pinyin keyboard is among these options.

Adding the Pinyin keyboard will not require you to purchase or install anything additional, and can actually be added to the iPhone keyboard with just a few simple steps. So follow our guide below to add the keyboard and start using it right now.

Adding a Chinese Keyboard to an iPhone in iOS 8

The steps in this article were written using an iPhone 6 Plus, in iOS 8. Steps may vary slightly for other versions of iOS, but are very similar.

Step 1: Open the Settings menu.

open the settings menu

Step 2: Scroll down and select the General option.

select the general option

Step 3: Scroll down and select the Keyboard option.

open the keyboard menu

Step 4: Touch the Keyboards button at the top of the screen.

tap the keyboards button

Step 5: Tap the Add New Keyboard button at the middle of the screen.

touch the add new keyboard button

Step 6: Scroll down and select the Chinese (Simplified) option.

select the chinese (simplified) option

Step 7: Select whichever of the different options you prefer, then tap the Done button at the top-right corner of the screen. I am selecting the Pinyin – QWERTY option in the image below.

select the keyboard style

Now when you open up an app that uses the keyboard, such as Messages, there will be a globe icon at the bottom-left corner of the screen.

touch and hold the globe icon

Tap and hold the globe button, then select the Chinese keyboard option to switch to it. This will remain the active keyboard until you switch back to another keyboard that you have installed

select the chinese option

This same method can be used to add other keyboards as well. For example, many people eventually decide to have the emoji keyboard on their iPhone so they can send smiley faces and other similar types of icons. If you decide later that you no longer wish to have one of the keyboards that you have added, this guide will show you how you can delete it.

Would you like to have word suggestions displayed above your keyboard? Learn how to turn them on with this article.

Matthew Burleigh has been writing tech tutorials since 2008. His writing has appeared on dozens of different websites and been read over 50 million times.

After receiving his Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Computer Science he spent several years working in IT management for small businesses. However, he now works full time writing content online and creating websites.

His main writing topics include iPhones, Microsoft Office, Google Apps, Android, and Photoshop, but he has also written about many other tech topics as well.

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