Remember the olden days when phones had physical keyboards? The days when BlackBerry reigned supreme, and phone makers were only just figuring out touchscreens didn’t have to be terrible? Those days may be long gone, but if you’ve ever felt a hankering to give your iPhone a little BlackBerry-esque spice, a new phone case from Clicks might be for you.
Available starting February 1, the Clicks for iPhone keyboard is designed for two things. The first is to offer a tactile typing experience, which will presumably allow some level of touch typing — something glossy touchscreens sorely lack. The keyboard also promises to free up screen space that would otherwise be taken up by the virtual keyboard.
Granted the design of the Clicks for iPhone keyboard isn’t very subtle. Unlike some old-school mobile keyboards, this one does not fold away when it’s not in use. Instead it lives at the bottom of your phone, extending the overall length of the device by an inch or so.
So you’re going to have to contend with that, which may be a dealbreaker for some design-conscious types out there — particularly if you think the iPhone 15 is already too big.
According to Clicks the idea behind this keyboard case is to offer people the same precision and tactile satisfaction that they’d experience using a desktop or laptop computer, which makes sense. From personal experience I can tell you that my own typing is significantly worse whenever I’m using my phone — to the point where Autocorrect became an all-too necessary crutch.
The keys on the Clicks keyboard do appear to be rather small, so it may take time for people to adjust to that. Additional features include a backlight for typing in the dark, an easy-to-remove design for those times when you want a more compact handset, and specialist keyboard shortcuts through the Clicks app — with the promise that more will arrive in the near future.
On top of that the Clicks keyboard draws all its power from your iPhone, and doesn’t have a battery that needs recharging. The connection is Lightning for iPhone 14 Pro and USB-C for iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro Max. It’s unclear whether those models will also be compatible with other iPhones of the same size — such as the iPhone 14 or iPhone 15 Pro.
Pre-orders for the Clicks for iPhone keyboard start today (January 4), ahead of a general release on February 1. Each one will cost you $139, with a choice of Bumblebee (yellow) or London Sky (Black) coloring. It’ll also be on the showfloor at CES 2024, which kicks off in Las Vegas next week.
