iOS 8.3 How-to: Type like a Vulcan

With Apple’s release of iOS 8.3 and OS X 10.10.3, there are now over 300 new emojis including diversity options. Apple uses the unicode emoji set, which includes Spock’s Vulcan salute. However, Apple hasn’t added the Vulcan salute — or “raised hand with fingers separated between the ring and the middle finger” symbol as it’s officially named — to the emoji keyboard, so you cannot type it without creating a workaround. There is a trick, however, that can be done by creating a keyboard shortcut.

Live Long And Prosper

🖖

— Sarah Guarino (@sarahg1113) April 10, 2015

Open up this tweet on your iOS device. Then you are going to copy the emoticon by tapping and holding on it. Then press Copy.

Since we copied Vulcan salute emoji, we can now create the text shortcut. Open up Settings, and then select General.

Scroll down and select Keyboard.

Then select Shortcuts.

Press the blue plus button in the upper right hand corner. Where it says Phrase you are going to tap and hold until you see the Paste menu, then paste the Vulcan salute. Under Shortcut, this would be what you type to trigger the Vulcan salute. For example you can type in “spock,” “vulcan,” or “llap,” for Live Long and Prosper. Just remember that this will prompt each time you type the phrase, so choose a work that won’t conflict with something you might otherwise text. Then press the blue Save button in the upper right hand corner.

Now whenever I type in llap, I will get the Vulcan salute emoticon.

Now you’ll be able to send and the Vulcan salute very easily. Your friends do have to be running the latest software on both iOS and Mac in order to see it. Live long and prosper. 🖖