Clicks iPhone Keyboard first impressions: The best accessory for iPhone?

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I’ve been lucky enough to get my hands on the Clicks iPhone keyboard recently, albeit very briefly,  and I think there might be something quite special here.

Remember Blackberry phones? They were all the rage back in 2011. Everyone had one, either at school or at work. You couldn’t get away from the sound of people clicking their tiny keyboards on BBM.

I’m not sure any of us can say we truly miss Blackberry phones on the whole. But the keyboards on the other hand, well that’s a different matter. 

It might seem like a gimmick at first, but when you actually use the Clicks keyboard for iPhone, you instantly get the sense that a whole load of careful thought and user-focused design has gone into making it. And there are some really great principles driving future development.

Let me tell you why it’s piqued my interest.

What is the Clicks keyboard for iPhone?

The Clicks Keyboard for iPhone is exactly that; an accessory that plugs into the charging port (USB-C or Lightning) of your iPhone to power an external mechanical keyboard. The keyboard is part of a larger case that encompasses the whole body of your phone.

When attached to the standard iPhone, Clicks makes the whole device 188mm long. That is about 40mm on top of the standard length, a significant extra chunk attached to the bottom of your phone. But that is part of the keyboard’s design philosophy. 

By moving your thumb position from off the bottom of your screen, Clicks argues that you reclaim a significant amount of screen real estate. Instead of covering half the screen with your hands, you are free to view the entire display.

The keyboard itself is a standard QWERTY layout with 37 keys. Most of these are keys you’d find on a normal keyboard, but some perform nifty tricks which I’ll get to later.

The Clicks keyboard is currently compatible with the iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max, all iPhone 15 models and the iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max. Compatibility with the standard iPhone 16 is coming soon.

Clicks keyboard design

If you’ve ever watched my videos before, you know I love a vibrant set of colourway options. My Samsung S24 Ultra review is proof of that. And straight off the bat, Clicks caught my eye with the ‘Spice’ colour (a sort of burnt orange). So full marks there.

MagSafe is taken care of in the new generation of Clicks keyboards whilst charging/data transfer occurs through the built-in USB-C port on the bottom of the device. The case itself is made from thermoplastic and the side buttons for iPhone 16 are all finished in brushed metal which gives it a premium edge.

But there’s a lot more that’s gone into the design for these keyboards than first meets the eye.

The team at Clicks has played around with the shapes of the buttons and landed on a dipped design for the iPhone 16 versions. Instead of being completely flat, the individual keys have a slight concave shape meaning that you can more easily feel when you a shifting from one key to another.

The amount of resistance needed to push a key has been fine-tuned over the years and reduced for iPhone 16 by 10 milligrams. And, for those of us who love tactile keyboards, the click you hear when you type is suitably sharp and responsive. It felt great to use.

Is it actually useful?

I haven’t used the Clicks keyboard long-term so these aren’t my final thoughts (although those are coming soon!). But I had enough time to be suitably intrigued and impressed in equal measure.

At first, it’s a very weird feeling. We have all been using touchscreens for so long that our thumbs are primed to type away in a very specific position. Shifting the keyboard south of the display entirely certainly means there’s a bit of rewiring in your brain that has to happen.

After about 10 minutes of playing around with it, I was already getting the hang of it.

As for typing, it feels very much like using an old Blackberry, which is a massive compliment, in case you weren’t clear. The satisfying ‘click’ you get from pressing the keys is a little dopamine hit that satisfies the late-2000s part of my brain. 

And Clicks is right, when you’re typing the whole display is easily in view which is genuinely quite a revolutionary feeling.

As I write this, it strikes me that lots of younger people won’t have used a keyboard on a phone before. Therefore, some people’s first experience of a keyboard could be on an iPhone, and that’s profoundly weird. Yes, I also hate how the march of technology reminds you of how old you are.

Anyway, the real magic happens in the integration with iOS shortcuts.

The Globe, Ctrl and CMD buttons on the Clicks keyboard can all be mapped in combination with any of the other keys to act as a shortcut for iOS and non-iOS functions.

If you want to quickly get to your home screen, you can press CMD+H and you’re instantly taken there, or Ctrl+F to turn on the flashlight. But these shortcuts also work with non-Apple apps like WhatsApp to send pre-determined messages.

The possibilities feel endless because you are essentially adding 37 extra Action Buttons to your phone.

Wrapping up: Back to Black(berry)

I know what the immediate to reaction to Clicks will be, mostly questions about whether anyone really needs an external keyboard on their iPhone. Surely the digital keyboard suffices?

But with my brief time using the Clicks keyboard, I realised this is about much more than just typing letters. Being able to effectively use the keyboard as a remote control for your iPhone through shortcuts completely transforms the user experience.

I suspect when I get my hands on the Clicks keyboard fully it’ll take some time to get used to mapping the shortcuts, but I’m excited to add it to my daily routine.

Check back for a full review of the Clicks keyboard on my iPhone 16 Pro Max soon!

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