If you've used a platform for a considerable period, then it's easy to miss new features as they are added over the years, unless you like to spend a lot of time reading release notes. And so it is that I have only this morning discovered an iOS feature that is probably completely obvious to almost all of you... but I'm about to do the rest of you a big favour!

One feature of my iPad keyboard I use all the time is the ability to reposition the cursor in a block of text by resting two fingers on the keyboard, after which you can move the cursor around like a mouse/trackpad. I've long mourned the fact that there wasn't an equivalent on my phone.

Well, it turns out that there is: you just press and hold the spacebar. After a short pause, the keyboard turns grey and becomes a trackpad. (This method works on the iPad too, though the two-finger version is slightly quicker.)

It turns out that this phenomenally useful trackpad facility was added in iOS 12... eight years ago! And I've just discovered it now. But, to be fair, when announced, it wasn't available on all iPhones, only the newer ones, and so didn't apply to me. Unless you're upgrading your device regularly and promptly, it's easy to forget what new features you've got when you finally walk out of the Apple Store several years down the line, especially if, like this, they're somewhat hidden away.

Anyway, this all reminds me that from time to time it's worth going back to really simple documents like this one about how to use your phone keyboard and just checking that you haven't missed anything.

Meanwhile, I'm going to practice shifting my keyboard under my thumb, and swipe-typing and repositioning my cursor just like every 10-year-old learns how to do in the playground.