iOS 18 – Bilingual Keyboards, Handwriting in Japanese

TidBITS Talk
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Hello everyone.

I’d like to think I’m pretty good about reading the notes of new features in Apple software releases, but somehow I didn’t spot two very useful things that I stumbled upon last week.

In iOS 18, there are two new (are they really?) keyboard features worth noting:

• A selection of bilingual keyboards – Although not all combinations are supported, I assume because it would be a mess to implement, it is now possible to have one keyboard offer autocorrect suggestions in two languages. I chose English and French. I have had this capability for years using Microsoft SwiftKey but with inconsistent results, so I’m looking forward to trying this native version.

The bilingual nature of the keyboard is subtly noted in the space bar:

Bilingual Keyboard
Bilingual Keyboard1179×2556 170 KB

Here’s the new prompt to add a keyboard to the first one you’ve chosen:

Creating a Bilingual Keyboard
Creating a Bilingual Keyboard1179×2556 188 KB

Here’s how the keyboard (and the one I describe below) is listed after being created:

Keyboards List
Keyboards List1179×2556 99.5 KB

• Handwriting in Japanese – For ages one has been able to enable a “Handwriting in Chinese” keyboard in iOS, and I sometimes turned it on when I didn’t know a kanji character’s reading but needed to enter it anyway. Android “friends” mocked me for this feature omission relentlessly. A way around it was to use Shirabe Jisho or imiwa. Now a “Handwriting in Japanese” keyboard option is available! (It’s more of a panel than a keyboard, but it lives in the keyboard list and is a substitute for a keyboard.) It seems quite forgiving of writing with a stubby finger, similar to the very forgiving tech used in the really fun 書き取り日本一周 and its relatives.

Handwritten Japanese
Handwritten Japanese1179×2556 147 KB

Apple products have been accommodating of multiple-language use for as long as I can remember (and that’s a long time!), yet somehow these two additions are both surprising and refreshing.

If you work in two languages that are supported for a bilingual keyboard and/or work with the Japanese handwriting entry keyboard/panel, please share your thoughts on these in this thread.

Take care… stay well.

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Regarding bilingual keyboards, I have seen a lot of consternation in the Apple Support Community about how updating to iOS 18 automatically merges separate keyboards into bilingual versions without asking, and also a lot of complaints about how these affect autocorrect and dictation. I don’t use them myself, but created a help article that includes how to remove them in case you want to.

https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-250009074

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Thanks, @tom3.

I definitely understand how an unnannounced, unexplained merging of keyboards would be irksome! I had only English and Japanese (Swipe), which are not capable of merging, so I did not experience what you described.

It sounds like Apple did a bit of a 余計なお世話 — a favor no one asked for and that went too far!

Still, it’s a nice feature so far.

Thanks for sharing that problem and the link to your helpful “how to undo it” solution.

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It’s frustrating that the combination I want is not available, English and Finnish, despite there being an Apple Finnish keyboard which allows dictation. So I rely on SwiftKey still…

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Thanks for your reply, @john_brownie.

That is frustrating.

I’ll see what I can find out about these new keyboard combinations and add notes here if I discover anything useful.

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This Handwriting in Japanese looks a useful addition, but it has always been possible to get some kanji in that way. [KanjiBox] has had the ability to practice writing kanji as one of its options. (‎KanjiBox on the App Store)

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Apple publishes the availability of these keyboards at

I would expect more to be added eventually.

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