Hawaiian Keyboard on iPad

← All devices: the Hawaiian keyboard

Every iPad includes a Hawaiian on-screen keyboard with its own ʻokina key and kahakō. You add it once in Settings, then switch to it with the globe key whenever you type in ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi.

Step 1: Add the Hawaiian keyboard (once)

  1. Open the Settings app.
  2. Tap General, then Keyboard, then Keyboards.
  3. Tap Add New Keyboard…
  4. Find and tap Hawaiian. (You can type “Hawaiian” in the search field at the top of the list.)

Step 2: Switch to Hawaiian when you type

  • Tap in any place you can type so the keyboard appears.
  • Tap the 🌐 globe key at the bottom left to move to the next keyboard, or touch and hold it to pick Hawaiian from a list.
  • The space bar briefly shows the name of the keyboard you are on.

Step 3: Type the ʻokina and kahakō

To typeOn the Hawaiian keyboard
ʻ (ʻokina)tap the ʻokina key
ā ē ī ō ūtouch and hold the vowel, then slide to the one with the flat line on top and let go
Ā Ē Ī Ō Ūtap Shift first, then touch and hold the vowel

Touching and holding a vowel also works on the English keyboard, so you can add a kahakō even when you forget to switch. The ʻokina, however, is only reliable on the Hawaiian keyboard.

Using a keyboard case or Bluetooth keyboard

With the Hawaiian keyboard selected, go to Settings › General › Keyboard › Hardware Keyboard, tap Hawaiian, and choose the Hawaiian layout if it is offered. When it is working, the keys behave like a Mac: the apostrophe key types the ʻokina and Option + a vowel adds the kahakō. Use the test box below to check.

Step 4: Test it

Once your keyboard is switched on, type the line in the box below. Each Hawaiian letter lights up green when your device produces the real character. If something is wrong, the box tells you exactly what you typed and how to fix it. What you type never leaves your device.

Hoʻāʻo: test your Hawaiian keyboard

Type this line exactly as you see it. Each letter below lights up when your device types it correctly.

ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi: ʻāina, ʻēheu, ʻīlio, ʻōpae, ʻūlili

  • ʻʻokina
  • ā
  • ē
  • ī
  • ō
  • ū
  • Ōcapital

    Show the character codes I typed

      What you type stays on your device. To improve these guides, the site keeps an anonymous count of how the test goes on each kind of device: no names, no cookies, no IP addresses.

      This test needs JavaScript turned on in your browser.

      Some iPads type a kahakō vowel as two pieces (the vowel, then the line). The test box will tell you if yours does. It looks the same and works fine on this website and in Kikokiko.

      Fixing common problems

      • I don’t see an ʻokina key. You are still on the English keyboard. Tap the globe key until the Hawaiian keyboard appears.
      • Words change into English after I type them. Turn off Auto-Correction in Settings › General › Keyboard.
      • The globe key shows emoji instead. Touch and hold the globe key to see the full list of keyboards, then choose Hawaiian.

      On an iPhone? The same steps work. A separate iPhone page is coming soon.

      Other devices

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