Previously, we covered creating keyboard shortcuts to help you quickly type commonly used phrases. Did you know you can also create shortcuts for emoji characters (those cute emoticons that go way beyond your average smiley face)? This is handy if you use a lot of emoji characters and don't want to switch back and forth between keyboards all the time.
Related: How to Find & Use the Emoji Keyboard on an iPhone
We've already gone over how to use the space bar in place of a period as a keyboard shortcut, how to create iPhone keyboard shortcuts, and how to browse using iPad keyboard shortcuts. For more great iPhone tutorials, check out our free Tip of the Day.
Before you can do this, you'll have to enable the emoji keyboard if you haven't already:
Go to Settings > General > Keyboard > Keyboards > Add New Keyboard > Emoji.
After you've enabled the emoji keyboard, go back to Keyboard and tap Text Replacement. Tap on the + in the upper right corner to create a new shortcut.
Next, tap on the smiley face or globe icon in the lower left between the number and mic icons.
This will take you to the emoji keyboard. In the Phrase field enter the emoji you are creating a shortcut for. Tap the ABC icon to switch back to the English keyboard and then enter a word in the Shortcut field and tap Save in the upper right corner.
Now every time you type this word the emoji character will automatically be substituted.
Top image credit: Tsyhun / Shutterstock.com
