An iPhone Text Replacement alternative for photos, PDFs and links
If iPhone’s Text Replacement isn’t enough, the usual alternative is a snippet keyboard: a keyboard that holds your saved text and your links, photos and files, so you can insert or copy any of them in any app. Text Replacement is still great for tiny shortcuts. A snippet keyboard covers everything it can’t.
What Text Replacement does well
Text Replacement (in Settings, General, Keyboard, Text Replacement) expands a short code into a phrase as you type. It’s built in, free and syncs through iCloud. For an email address, a phone number or a stock one-liner, it’s hard to beat.
Where it runs out
You’ll hit its limits when you want to reuse:
- Long replies. It’s designed for short phrases, and long, multi-paragraph templates are fiddly to manage.
- Photos, GIFs and videos. It only handles text.
- PDFs and other files. Again, text only.
- Lots of snippets. There’s no way to browse, search or pin them. You have to remember each shortcut.
- Things from other apps. You can’t send a link or file to it with the Share button.
The alternative: a snippet keyboard
A snippet keyboard is a third-party keyboard you add in Settings. Instead of expanding shortcuts, it shows your saved items so you can tap the one you want.
Handy, which we make, works like this:
| Text Replacement | Handy | |
|---|---|---|
| Short text snippets | Yes | Yes |
| Long replies and templates | Awkward | Yes |
| Links | As plain text | Yes |
| Photos, GIFs and short videos | No | Yes |
| PDFs and other files | No | Yes |
| Browse, search and pin | No | Yes |
| Save from other apps with Share | No | Yes |
Text and links are inserted straight from the Handy keyboard. Photos and PDFs are copied, so you paste them. That needs the keyboard’s Full Access setting, which you can turn off at any time.
Use both
You don’t have to choose. A setup that works well for most people:
- Text Replacement for tiny things you type mid-sentence, like your email address.
- A snippet keyboard for whole replies, links, photos and documents you send again and again.
How to switch over gradually
- Install Handy and add the keyboard in Settings, then General, then Keyboard, then Keyboards, then Add New Keyboard.
- Move your longest Text Replacement phrases into Handy first. Those are the ones that benefit most.
- Next time you share the same photo or PDF twice, save it to Handy with Share, then Handy.
- Pin the five things you use most.
Handy is free to use, with an optional one-time Pro purchase if you outgrow the free limits. There’s no subscription and no account.
In short
Text Replacement is a shortcut expander for short text. A snippet keyboard is a small library of everything you reuse, available in any app. If your “stock replies” include photos, files or links, that’s the upgrade.