How to type with long nails, on a keyboard and a phone

Flatten your fingers a little, so the pads just behind your nails press the keys instead of your fingertips. Or, if your nails are strong enough, type with the very tips of the nails. Either way, keep your fingers on the home row, press lightly and put accuracy before speed: your speed comes back with practice. On a phone, touch the screen with the pad of your finger, because a touch screen reacts to skin, not to nails.

Check your speed on the typing test

Curved fingers the nail hits the key first

Flatter fingers the pad presses the key

Nail tips the tip of the nail presses the key

Touch typing teaches curved fingers that strike with the fingertip. With long nails the nail reaches the key first, so flatten the finger until the pad lands on the key, or let the very tip of the nail do the pressing.

Finger pads or nail tips?

Finger pads: quieter, gentler on your nails and closest to normal touch typing, since you still feel the bumps on F and J. Your fingers lie flatter, so on a keyboard with tall keys a nail can brush the key above; draw your hand back a little until it clears.
Nail tips: the nail works as an extension of the finger, so your hands can stay curved. It is louder, it needs nails strong enough to take every tap, and a nail can slide off a glossy key into the gap beside it: a key with a matte or dished top holds the tip better.

Keep touch typing with long nails

The home row works with flatter fingers too. Rest the pads on A S D F and J K L ;, find the bumps on F and J, and keep each finger on its own keys (the touch typing guide shows which). Reach the top and bottom rows by stretching or curling the finger rather than lifting the hand, and press lightly: a light touch is quicker, quieter and kinder to your nails. To rebuild the habit, work through the typing lessons, which bring in a few keys at a time.

New nails? Expect to slow down at first

Your fingers learned the keyboard with short nails, so a new set changes every distance and your speed drops for a while. Put accuracy first: fixing a typo costs more time than typing a little slower. Take the typing test on the day you get your nails and again after a week of typing with them: the result lists the keys you miss most, which shows where your nails get in the way.

Keyboards that make it easier

Low, flat keys, like a laptop's, leave less key for a nail to catch on when your fingers lie flat.
Keys set in a frame, as on most laptops, leave no deep gap for a sliding nail to catch in; tall keys that sit edge to edge do.
A short, light press: keys that register early need less force from a flattened finger. The keyboard switches guide shows where each kind of switch registers.
Quieter keys soften the sound of the key itself, but a nail on plastic still clicks: typing with the pads is the quiet way.

On a phone or tablet

A phone or tablet screen is usually capacitive: it senses the skin of your finger, which conducts electricity, and a nail does not, so a tap with the nail alone often does nothing. Touch with the pad just behind the nail, tilting the finger flatter, or with the side of your thumb. Slide typing helps most: the iPhone keyboard and Android's Gboard both let you slide from letter to letter without lifting your finger, so the pad stays on the glass. Dictation skips the keyboard altogether, and a stylus made for touch screens, which has a conductive tip, works where a nail does not.

Nail shape and length

The shape matters as much as the length. A rounded or square tip is easier to type with than a pointed one, which slips into the gaps between keys and takes the force of every tap on one narrow point. If a set is too long to type with comfortably, the pads give you the most room.

For the rest of a comfortable setup, see typing posture; to build your speed back up, see how to type faster.

Sources: Wikipedia, Touchscreen (capacitive screens); Apple, Type with the onscreen keyboard on iPhone; Google, Slide your finger to type (Gboard Help).