Morse guide

Morse Code on iPhone: Translate, Decode, and Type in Any Supported App

Encode Keyboard turns supported text into International Morse and decodes signals back to canonical text. Its custom keyboard lets you do that from a supported text field without copying between websites.

Quick answer

Key points

  • A space separates Morse letters; / separates words in Encode Keyboard.
  • Vietnamese diacritics are removed and Đ becomes D before encoding.
  • Morse is a public signal alphabet, not secure encryption.
01

How text becomes Morse

International Morse assigns a sequence of short and long signals—written as dots and dashes—to each supported letter, digit, and punctuation mark. Encode Keyboard puts one space between encoded characters and / between words.

The ITU recommendation is the primary reference for the International Morse characters and operating rules. The app uses that public alphabet for learning and text transformation; no secret key is involved.

Example · International Morse
SOS... --- ...

Each three-signal group represents one letter.

02

What happens to Vietnamese diacritics

Encode Keyboard normalizes Vietnamese before Morse encoding: it removes tone and vowel marks, changes Đ to D, converts letters to uppercase, and collapses repeated whitespace.

That means the round trip is normalized rather than exact. “Xin chào” encodes as if it were “XIN CHAO”; decoding the signal returns XIN CHAO, not the original lowercase text with its accent marks.

Example · Vietnamese normalization
Xin chào-..- .. -. / -.-. .... .- ---

Decode returns XIN CHAO. The removed diacritics cannot be inferred from Morse alone.

03

Translate and insert Morse on iPhone

In the main app, choose Encode → Morse, enter a message, and review the result. From the custom keyboard, place the cursor after a line, choose Morse and Encode, then tap Convert. Choose Decode to turn a valid dot-dash line back into canonical text.

Use Undo immediately if you selected the wrong direction. The keyboard cannot appear in password fields, phone-pad fields, or apps that block third-party keyboards; test the workflow in Notes first.

04

Why a Morse message may not decode

Every signal group must exist in the supported Morse table. A slash must separate two non-empty words, and characters other than valid dots, dashes, spaces, and separators can make the input invalid.

Morse is useful for learning, puzzles, and expressive messages. It does not provide confidentiality: anyone with the same public table can decode it.

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Frequently asked questions

Can Morse preserve Vietnamese accents?

Not in Encode Keyboard’s International Morse flow. Diacritics are removed, Đ becomes D, and decoded text is uppercase canonical ASCII.

Is Morse code encryption?

No. It is a standardized signal alphabet and does not use a secret key.

Can I type Morse in every iPhone app?

You can use the custom keyboard in supported normal text fields. iOS or the host app may replace it in secure, phone-pad, or restricted fields.

Primary sources

This guide prioritizes documentation from the organizations responsible for the standard or platform.

  1. ITU-R M.1677: International Morse code
  2. Apple Developer: Configuring a custom keyboard interface

Encode Keyboard

Use it where you type

Encode Keyboard transforms text on device from the app or its custom iOS keyboard. No Full Access is required.

Download Encode Keyboard on the App Store