Caps states in the iOS 7.1 keyboard

My thoughts on what the caps states in iOS 7.1 could be to improve their usability. See the attachment for more explanation.

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I remember reading some of the reactions to the revised caps states that appeared in one of the iOS 7.1 betas. I forgot all about that until today when I updated my phone to iOS 7.1 and used the keyboard for the first time. I definitely find it confusing. I think it’s safe to assume that many many Apple folk would have worked on this with considerations and restrictions that we’ll never know about, but I still think that the way they are now is not intuitive and worth another look.

These are my thoughts on how they could be improved. View the attachment to this shot for context.

Caps off:
This button is similar in function to the two below it; the number / symbol keyboard toggle and the alternative keyboard toggle. The shift key is essentially the same; it toggles an alternative keyboard which is the uppercase keyboard. Because of this, I think the key should mimic these other two keys by having a grey background with a black outline for the arrow.

Caps on:
The iOS 7.1 keyboard has a lowercase state of a grey background and solid white arrow. When I see this, my initial reaction is that the button is ‘on’. It looks lit up like the button has been activated. That iOS 7.1 uses this for the ‘caps off’ state is what is most unintuitive for me. This should be the ‘caps on’ state.

Caps lock:
Adding the little horizontal bar at the bottom of the arrow isn’t enough. It needs to be quite explicit. ‘Caps lock’ is an escalation of ‘caps on’ so the key should be heavier and bolder, i.e.: black. Apple don’t use black keys but they do use blue when the keyboard shows a search button. In that case though, the blue key is denoting a call to action which caps lock doesn’t, so, black it is.

I think with the above we pretty much get back to the iOS 6 keyboard (can’t remember), which I don’t remember hearing any complaints about.