The Tippy Type makes typing with long nails less tedious

Long nails are not for the weak. Have you ever tried removing interaction lenses with 20mm claws? Terrifying. But speech from the fearfulness of poking retired my eyeballs, agelong nail beingness makes small mundane things difficult, too. Opening soda cans, pressing buttons, changing retired trash bags without poking a hole, and adjacent idiosyncratic hygiene — they each necessitate you to get creative. But by far, the astir annoying happening is typing.

Typing with agelong nails is the embodiment of “beauty is pain.” On phones, it makes maine slow, and I extremity up with so galore typos. It’s worse connected laptops, wherever the keys are level and fundamentally incompatible with the curve of a longer nail. You extremity up typing with the tips of your nails and the sides of your fingers. No large woody if I’m shooting disconnected an email, but a 1,500-word review? After a while, it hurts.

It’s wherefore I was intrigued erstwhile the TikTok algorithm threw the $45 Tippy Type into my feed.

The Tippy Type is simply a silicone keyboard screen for folks with medium-to-long nails. It features tower-like cylindrical keys truthful you tin benignant arsenic you people would: with your digit pads and not your nails. The projected benefits are two-fold. One, it shouldn’t wounded astatine all. Two, it protects your manicure.

I tin already perceive the trolls making jokes astir women being acrophobic astir breaking a nail. If it’s truthful inconvenient, wherefore not conscionable person abbreviated nails? Well, I’m not retired present wearing agelong nails for fun. Being a reviewer often means acting arsenic a part-time manus exemplary for immoderate gadget I’m testing. The Internet Nail Police has repeatedly shown up successful my comments implicit the years if my polish is chipped or, deity forbid, there’s a smudge of ungraded nether my earthy nail.

The worst portion is that they’re not incorrect — the photos and video footage won’t look arsenic nice. Never caput that this is mostly a gendered burden. Something astir longer nails elongates the fingers and makes for a much charismatic merchandise photo.

But bully nails are not cheap. A acceptable of acrylic oregon gel extensions, for example, tin outgo arsenic overmuch arsenic $120. Press-ons are overmuch much economical, but I unrecorded successful fearfulness that 1 of them volition popular disconnected astatine an inopportune moment. For example, the different day, I mislaid 1 due to the fact that I pulled my pants connected excessively aggressively. I’ve had a mates alert disconnected portion typing. And it’s annoying carrying nail glue everyplace you spell — or, successful the lawsuit of extensions, having to docket different appointment. Preserving your manicure for arsenic agelong arsenic imaginable is simply a signifier of redeeming clip and money.

In theory, this is wherefore the Tippy Type is charismatic to long-nail devotees contempt its $45 terms tag. But similar immoderate product, it has to unrecorded up to the promise.

The archetypal clip I utilized the Tippy Type retired of its case, it felt weird. CEO and cofounder Sara Young Wang warned maine that there’s a flimsy learning curve. She wasn’t kidding. It’s hard to describe, but if you’re utilized to squishier keys, this isn’t that. The keys are firmer and necessitate a small much unit than your emblematic laptop keys. The cylindrical signifier besides gives you little aboveground country so, astatine first, you person to deliberation astir digit placement.

Adapting doesn’t instrumentality long, though. I gauged my advancement with and without the Tippy Type utilizing 1 of those one-minute typing tests. On the archetypal day, I got astir 60 words per infinitesimal with 98 percent accuracy. After astir a week, I was averaging determination betwixt 80–90wpm with 98–99 percent accuracy. Anecdotally, typing with the screen has reduced my typos compared to typing without it.

But it’s not perfect. I had nary occupation with some mean and agelong press-ons, but if you’re rocking extra-long nails, this mightiness not enactment well. Also, immoderate keys inactive aren’t the easiest to press. For example, the arrow keys are tiny and awkward, and there’s nary screen for the relation keys speech from the Esc key. In addition, you can’t easy adjacent your laptop if you’re, say, stepping retired to the bathroom. Lastly, the Tippy Type is lone disposable for MacBooks astatine the moment, though Wang says the institution is moving connected versions for Lenovo, Dell, and HP laptops.

Ultimately, whether the Tippy Type is worthy buying boils down to however often you usage a laptop and however committed you are to your nail game. Are you similar gymnasts Simone Biles, Jordan Chiles, oregon Suni Lee, wherever not adjacent Olympics-level tumbling tin halt you from long-nailed glory? Then, yes, it is astir apt worthy it. In my mundane life, however, I mostly usage a desktop with a mechanical keyboard — which is much forgiving to agelong nails. I astir apt wouldn’t person felt the request for a merchandise similar this if I weren’t successful the heavy of tech reappraisal season.

Even so, the Tippy Type has been utile for maine these past fewer weeks, erstwhile my deadlines were tight, the reappraisal connection counts long, and the nails fabulous.