Mobile terminal: avoid opening the software keyboard on a single tap

[lighcen]

Problem

On iPhone/mobile, a single tap anywhere in the terminal immediately focuses terminal input and opens the software keyboard.

This is easy to trigger accidentally while reading, scrolling, or inspecting terminal output. The keyboard also changes the viewport significantly, so an accidental tap interrupts the current context.

Suggestion

Require a more deliberate gesture before opening the software keyboard. For example:

• single tap: focus/select the terminal without opening the keyboard
• double tap: open the software keyboard

If double-tap conflicts with native text-selection gestures, an explicit keyboard button or a configurable gesture would also address the underlying issue.

Expected behavior

• Reading and scrolling terminal output should not unexpectedly open the keyboard.
• Opening the keyboard should require an intentional action.
• Text selection/copy gestures should remain usable.
• Desktop behavior should remain unchanged.

This is especially noticeable when using RootShell on iPhone to monitor long-running terminal or herdr agent sessions, where much of the interaction is read/inspect-first rather than immediate typing.

[kitknox]

If you long press the chevron that hides the keyboard rootshell stays pinned until you hit the chevron again to open back up the keyboard. Single taps don't restore the keyboard in this mode. Double tap gestures could be added as a different setting, or even a setting which makes this the default without requiring a long press.

Does the existing long press solve your issue?

[lighcen]

If you long press the chevron that hides the keyboard rootshell stays pinned until you hit the chevron again to open back up the keyboard. Single taps don't restore the keyboard in this mode. Double tap gestures could be added as a different setting, or even a setting which makes this the default without requiring a long press.

Does the existing long press solve your issue?

Thanks — I just tried the long-press behavior and it does solve my issue.

I’ve been using RootShell for quite a long time and had never discovered this gesture, though, so I suspect many users may not know it exists either.

Maybe the main improvement here is discoverability rather than changing the default behavior. For example, a small hint, tooltip/onboarding message, or an option in Keyboard settings describing “long press the keyboard chevron to keep the keyboard hidden” would make this much easier to find.

The existing behavior itself works well for my use case.

[kitknox]

Upcoming build 1.0.12-151 has a new help section for gestures.