How pinyin input works

Type nihao and the keyboard shows a row of candidates: 你好, 你, 拟, and so on. Press Space to take the first one, or the number shown next to another candidate (1, 2, 3…) to pick it. On a phone, tap the one you want.

Leave out the tones. Type plain letters: ma, not mā. The keyboard shows every character read ma, and you choose by meaning.
Type whole words and phrases. zhongguo gives 中国 straight away, and woxiangheshui gives 我想喝水 (I want to drink water). Longer input means fewer wrong guesses, because the keyboard picks the likeliest words for the context.
Type ü as v. There is no ü key, so most pinyin keyboards use v: nv gives 女 (nǚ), lvse gives 绿色 (lǜsè).
Use initials. Many keyboards accept just the first letter of each syllable for common words: nh often suggests 你好, and xx 谢谢.
Check before you press Space. The first candidate is a guess. Homophones are everywhere in Chinese (他, 她, and 它 are all tā), so read the suggestion before you accept it.

The keyboard learns from what you pick, so words you type often move to the front of the list.

iPhone and iPad

Open Settings › General › Keyboard › Keyboards › Add New Keyboard.
Choose Chinese, Simplified (or Chinese, Traditional), then tick Pinyin – QWERTY. You can also tick Handwriting.
In any app, tap the globe key (or press and hold it) to switch to the Chinese keyboard.

The Pinyin – 10 Key option is a phone-keypad layout that many people in China use for one-thumb typing; start with QWERTY.

Android

These steps are for Gboard, the keyboard on most Android phones.

Open Gboard’s settings (the gear icon above the keyboard, or search your phone’s settings for Gboard).
Go to Languages › Add keyboard, search for Chinese, and choose the Simplified (Mainland China) or Traditional option.
Pick the Pinyin layout. Handwriting is offered as another layout for the same language.
Switch keyboards with the globe key, or by pressing and holding the Space bar.

Mac

Open System Settings › Keyboard, and under Text Input click Edit.
Click +, choose Chinese, Simplified, then Pinyin – Simplified, and click Add. (For Traditional characters, choose Chinese, Traditional and Pinyin – Traditional.)
Switch input sources with Control+Space, the Globe (fn) key, or the input menu in the menu bar.

While the Chinese input is on, press Shift to type English letters without switching back.

Windows

Windows includes Microsoft Pinyin, which comes with the Chinese language.

Windows 11: open Settings › Time & language › Language & region, click Add a language, and choose Chinese (Simplified, China). You do not need the display language or speech packs; the keyboard is enough.
Windows 10: open Settings › Time & Language › Language and choose Add a language, then Chinese (Simplified, China).
Switch keyboards with Windows key+Space.

With Microsoft Pinyin on, the taskbar shows 中 in Chinese mode and 英 in English mode. Press Shift to switch between the two without changing keyboards.

Chromebook

Open Settings and search for input. In the input and keyboard settings, add an input method, search for Chinese, and choose Pinyin. Switch between input methods with Ctrl+Space or from the input menu on the shelf.

Handwriting input

When you see a character you cannot read, you do not know its pinyin, so pinyin input cannot help. Handwriting input can: draw the character with a finger and pick it from the matches.

iPhone and iPad: add the Handwriting keyboard under Chinese, Simplified or Traditional.
Android: Gboard offers handwriting as a layout for Chinese.
Most dictionary apps have their own handwriting box as well.

Handwriting recognition is forgiving, but it works best when you write the strokes in roughly the right order.

Simplified or Traditional?

Choose Simplified for mainland China, Singapore, and most courses and exams, including the HSK. Choose Traditional for Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau. The pinyin you type is the same; only the characters you get differ: 学习 in Simplified, 學習 in Traditional.

People in Taiwan often use Zhuyin (Bopomofo), a phonetic alphabet of its own, instead of pinyin, and many people in Hong Kong use shape-based methods such as Cangjie. You do not need either to type Mandarin; pinyin input works for both character sets.

Typing pinyin with tone marks

A pinyin keyboard turns pinyin into characters, so it will not type nǐ hǎo with tone marks. To write pinyin itself, for notes or flashcards:

Mac: add the ABC – Extended input source (under English in the same Text Input list). Then press Option+a and a vowel for ā, Option+e for á, Option+v for ǎ, and Option+` for à.
Anywhere else: use a pinyin tone-mark converter, which turns ni3 hao3 into nǐ hǎo, or copy the vowels you need from a pinyin chart.

Tone numbers (ni3 hao3) are a common and accepted way to write tones when marks are not available. The guide to Chinese tones explains which vowel takes the mark.

Common mistakes

Typing tone numbers into the pinyin keyboard. Type ma, not ma3; numbers pick candidates.
Accepting the first candidate every time. Same-sounding characters are the most common typo in Chinese: 在 and 再 (both zài), 的 and 得 (both de).
Looking for a ü key. Type v.
Typing one character at a time. Type the whole word or phrase and the keyboard picks the right characters far more often.
Mixing up Simplified and Traditional keyboards. If the characters look more complex than in your textbook, you have added the Traditional keyboard.

How to type Chinese on any device