Persian keyboard for writing SMS messages?

Actually, I have just found the solution by looking at the settings on my iPhone!

I looked under the "Keyboard" section of the settings, where you can add international keyboards.

You have the choice to add an Arabic keyboard to the iPhone.
While this wasn't what I originally asked for, I still made a crazy discovery when I tested out this keyboard layout.

The difference between the Arabic and the Persian alphabet is that the Persian alphabet has 4 extra letters (پ چ ژ گ). Without the ability to write these letters, it's impossible to write in Persian with an Arabic keyboard layout.

However, I just found out that when you're writing a message using the Arabic keyboard layout, and if you hold down the button for the ب letter, you get a small window which allows you to choose the Persian پ letter too!

Basically, all 4 Persian letters are included in the Arabic keyboard layout. You just need to hold down your finger on these following buttons to get the Persian letters:
ب -> پ
ج -> چ
ز -> ژ
ك -> گ

So it is actually possible to write Persian messages on the iPhone and the Persian letters are already integrated into the iPhone's keyboard layout.

My only question now is just, why did Apple decide to integrate the Persian letters and "hide" them in the Arabic keyboard layout?

Wouldn't it have been easier to just create a separate keyboard layout called "Persian"?
It sure could have saved me a lot of time!

Yes, you are right about the interface and dictionary.
The joiner characters actually do exist. You can write messages in Persian where all letters are connected together correctly, so that is not a problem.

I hope that a Persian layout keyboard can hopefully be included in future versions.

Aha sorry I misunderstood your previous post. Now I understand what you mean. The ZWJ and NZWJ are actually not necessary for writing Persian. It's true that it's most correct to use the NZWJ however some computers do not have the NZWJ and thus many websites and blogs use a normal space or do not use any space at all (all letters connected). The reason for this is because you can still figure out what the word is without the NZWJ.

It's similar to people writing "youre" instead of "you're". The ' is not necessary for people to figure out what the word is but it's still more correct to include the '.

Nevertheless, NZWJ and ZWJ would still be a good feature to have and
Necessary if you need to write something in a very formal way.

Thanks for the link, I'll make sure to look into it.

Message was edited by: iArvin

I searched in the App store and I could only find a "Persian Email Editor" app. I don't think you can use it to send SMS messages though.