This ex-Apple designer’s backspace button will blow your mind

Anyone who has an iPhone can tell you that the Delete key is both one of the most common and one of the most annoying to use, with frustrating accuracy and inconsistent speed fluctuations. It shouldn’t be this way, and Eli Guerron agrees. As a designer (and one who once worked for Apple), Guerron took it upon himself to make the world a better backspace key, and he’s come up with a brilliant solution.

Guerron posted his concept on X, and it’s one I’d love to see become available in iOS. Guerron’s delete can work as usual by tapping, but it also has a speed controller that moves faster as you stretch the button. You can see how it works in the video he posted on X:

This is a great example of how out-of-the-box thinking is needed for certain features, especially those in devices that are analogous to actual hardware, like a keyboard. Often, the software version is made to mirror the hardware, but in reality, the interaction is different. The software version should be designed more to take advantage of the medium.

I’d love to see this Delete key come to iOS, even as a third-party touchscreen keyboard. Now, if only there were an easier way to precisely place a cursor within a word–maybe that could be Guerron’s next challenge.