How to Type Symbols on iPhone, iPad and Android

How-To Guides · 3 min read · Published October 25, 2026

Quick answer: phone keyboards hide most symbols behind a long press. On an iPhone, tap 123 then #+=, and touch and hold keys: 0 for °, $ for € £ ¥, - for – — •. On Android (Gboard), tap ?123 then =\<, and long-press in the same way. For symbols you use often, create a text replacement shortcut.

Quick reference: every method

Every Alt code below is verified against the real Windows code pages — where none exists we say so, rather than list one that won’t work.

iPhone

The emoji keyboard (smiley or globe key) has a search field, which is useful for symbols such as ✔ or ❤. To type a long dash or the ° sign without hunting, see the shortcut section below.

iPad

• On-screen keyboard: on larger iPads, each key shows a small grey character above the letter. Pull down on the key to type it.
• Floating keyboard: pinch the keyboard to shrink it into a phone-style keyboard you can move; long-press works the same.
• Hardware keyboard: Option-key combinations work much as on a Mac, for example Option+G ©, Option+8 • and Shift+Option+8 ° (Mac key list). The Globe key opens the emoji picker.

Android

• Gboard: tap ?123 for numbers and common symbols, then =\< for more (©, ®, ™, ¶, •, arrows and more). Long-press keys for alternatives.
• Long press for symbols: in Gboard settings → Preferences, "Long press for symbols" shows a symbol on each letter key.
• Samsung Keyboard: the !#1 key opens the symbol pages, with arrows to page through them.
• Emoji and emoticons: Gboard's emoji panel has a search box and a tab of text emoticons; see also our kaomoji.

Text replacement shortcuts

• iPhone and iPad: Settings → General → Keyboard → Text Replacement → +. Put the symbol in Phrase and a code such as ;deg in Shortcut. Shortcuts sync to your Mac through iCloud.
• Gboard: open Gboard settings (gear icon on the keyboard) → Dictionary → Personal dictionary → your language → +, and add the symbol with a shortcut.

More ideas: text replacement shortcuts for symbols.

Will the other person see the symbol?

• Normal symbols (✓ ° € → ©) are Unicode text and show on every modern phone.
• Emoji arrive too, but Apple, Google and Samsung draw them differently, so a face can look a little different on the other phone.
• Very new emoji may show as a box on a phone that hasn't been updated (why).
• Some symbols, such as ❤ and ✔, can appear as plain text or as colour emoji depending on the phone (emoji vs text symbols).

Phone gestures for copying and pasting are on our iPhone shortcuts and Android shortcuts pages.

Frequently asked questions