How to type e with acute on iPhone
To type e with acute on iPhone, touch and hold the E key on your on-screen keyboard until the accents bubble pops up, then slide your finger across to é. For capital É, tap the Shift key first and hold down E.
Quick answer
Touch and hold E → slide your finger to é and release. For capital É, tap Shift first.
Step by step
Touch and hold the E key
Place your finger on the letter E on the virtual keyboard and hold it down for about half a second.
View the pop-up menu
A horizontal row of accented variations appears above your finger, including é, è, ê, ë, and ē.
Slide across to é
Without taking your finger off the screen, slide to highlight the é character (usually the first option).
Release your touch
Lift your finger to insert the accented character into your message or note.
The iOS long-press accent menu
The default virtual keyboard on iOS provides quick access to diacritics through an intuitive touch-and-slide gesture. When you rest your finger on the letter e, a small tray opens displaying various accented forms: é (acute), è (grave), ê (circumflex), ë (umlaut/diaeresis), ē (macron), ė (dot above), and ę (ogonek). The acute accent é is placed directly next to the letter e, allowing you to select it with a tiny swipe of your thumb. Our iPhone symbols guide covers all other hidden keys on iOS.
Auto-correction and predictive text
For common English loanwords like café, cliché, résumé, and fiancé, iOS predictive text often handles the acute accent automatically. If you type “cafe” or “resume”, the predictive bar above the keyboard will frequently suggest “café” or “résumé”. Tapping the suggestion replaces your plain spelling with the properly accented word. However, when typing names (such as Beyoncé, Chloé, or René) or uncommon phrases, the manual press-and-hold gesture is essential.
Configuring a custom text shortcut
If you frequently draft culinary menus, job applications, or French correspondence, you can create a custom Text Replacement in iOS. Copy the é symbol from this page, then go to Settings → General → Keyboard → Text Replacement. Tap the plus (+) icon, paste é into the Phrase field, and type a shortcut like ee into the Shortcut field. Whenever you type ee followed by a space, iOS turns it into é automatically. Your shortcuts sync seamlessly across your iPhone, iPad, and Mac via iCloud.
iPad and Android comparisons
On iPadOS, you can use the same long-press gesture on the virtual keyboard, or swipe down if Key Flicks is enabled. If you use a hardware keyboard like the Magic Keyboard paired with your iPad, use the standard Mac shortcut Option + E followed by E. If you also use Android phones, check our guide on typing e with acute on Android. Learn more about character codes on our e with acute symbol page, and discover other accented variants in our e with accent collection.
Frequently asked questions
How do I type é on the iPhone keyboard?
Touch and hold the E key until the accent menu appears, slide your finger to é, and release.
How do I type capital É on iPhone?
Tap the Shift key (up arrow) once to capitalize the keyboard, then touch and hold the E key and slide to É.
Why did my iPhone automatically add the accent in café?
iOS includes built-in dictionary support for common loanwords, automatically suggesting or autocorrecting words like café and résumé.