There is a point early on where not being able to type Korean starts holding you back. You want to look up a word you heard, search for a song title, or reply to someone in a language exchange app, and you are stuck copying and pasting characters.
Setting up a Korean keyboard takes about two minutes. The layout is also worth understanding, because unlike QWERTY it was designed rather than inherited.
iPhone
Settings → General → Keyboard → Keyboards → Add New Keyboard → Korean.
You will be offered two layouts.
2-Set (두벌식) is the standard one. It looks like a QWERTY grid with Hangul letters on the keys, and it is what you want if you use a computer keyboard too, because the layout is identical.
10 Key (천지인) is the compact one. It has only three vowel elements — ㆍ, ㅡ, ㅣ — and you build every vowel by combining them. ㅏ is ㅣ then ㆍ. ㅜ is ㅡ then ㆍ. Korean users often prefer this for one-handed typing, but it takes practice.
Start with 2-Set unless you plan to type mostly on your phone.
Android
Settings → System → Languages & input → On-screen keyboard → Gboard → Languages → Add keyboard → Korean.
Same two layout choices, same recommendation.
Switch between keyboards by tapping the globe icon in the bottom row.
Windows
Settings → Time & Language → Language & region → Add a language → 한국어 (Korean). Then install the Microsoft IME when prompted.
Once added, the right Alt key toggles between Korean and English. Some keyboards have a dedicated 한/영 key in that position.
The right Ctrl key converts the word you just typed into Chinese characters, which you will almost never need but will eventually hit by accident.
Mac
System Settings → Keyboard → Text Input → Edit → Add → Korean → 2-Set Korean.
Switch inputs with the globe key, or with Caps Lock on recent versions of macOS.
How the 2-Set layout is organized
This is the part worth knowing.
Consonants are on the left hand. Vowels are on the right hand.
Because every Korean syllable alternates consonant and vowel, typing Korean means your hands alternate too. It is noticeably more balanced than typing English, where one hand often does several letters in a row.
The left side, roughly:
| Row | Keys |
|---|---|
| Top | ㅂ ㅈ ㄷ ㄱ ㅅ |
| Home | ㅁ ㄴ ㅇ ㄹ ㅎ |
| Bottom | ㅋ ㅌ ㅊ ㅍ |
The right side holds ㅛ ㅕ ㅑ ㅐ ㅔ on top, ㅗ ㅓ ㅏ ㅣ on home, and ㅠ ㅜ ㅡ on the bottom.
Shift gives you the tense consonants
ㅃ ㅉ ㄸ ㄲ ㅆ are Shift plus their plain counterparts. Shift + ㅂ gives ㅃ, Shift + ㄱ gives ㄲ, and so on.
Shift also gives you ㅒ and ㅖ from ㅐ and ㅔ.
That is the entire extra layer. There is nothing else hidden.
You do not have to think about syllable blocks
This surprises people. You type letters in order and the input method assembles them into blocks automatically.
Type ㄱ ㅏ ㅁ and 감 appears, adjusting as you go: first 그-ish, then 가, then 감.
The only thing to know is that the IME will move a consonant into the next syllable if that is what the following vowel requires. Type 감 then ㅏ and you get 가마 — the ㅁ jumps. This is correct behavior and matches how Korean actually works.
A practical first exercise
Type your own name in Hangul. It forces you to think about which Korean sounds are closest to yours, which is a genuinely useful exercise, and it is short enough that you will not give up halfway.
Then try searching for something in Korean — a food, a place, a song. Search results in Hangul are a good early reading exercise because you already know roughly what you are looking for.
If you are still working on which letter makes which sound, the K-PATTO pre-course covers the full alphabet with audio in about an hour, free at K-PATTO.