How to Type a Pi ???? on Windows, Mac, Android, & iPhone

Windows Character Picker

Press ⊞ Win+.. Pressing the Windows key and the period (.) at the same time opens the character picker, which allows you to insert a pi and other symbols into any app that allows typing—even your web browser! You can also easily copy and paste this pi symbol to use anywhere: ????

Select the symbols tab. It's the fifth tab in the character picker—look for the icon with 4 symbols. This opens a palette of different symbols.

Select the Language symbols tab. While you'd expect pi to be in the math symbols section, it's considered a language symbol in the Windows character picker. If you don't see this tab at the top of the window, click the right-pointing arrow at the window's top-right corner until the tab is visible.

Click the ???? to insert it. If you haven't already, click the place in your document or browser where you want to place the symbol, then click it in the character picker to insert it.

Windows Alt Codes

Press the Num Lock key on your keyboard. If your keyboard has a 10-digit keypad on the right, you can type the pi symbol quickly using a special alt code. To get started, just press Num Lock, NmLk, or similar to activate the numeric keypad. If your Num Lock key shares function with another key, you may need to press Fn at the same time as the Num Lock key. if your keyboard doesn't have a numeric keypad, you may still have a hidden numeric keypad—look for numbers at the bottoms of the m, j, k, l, u, i, o, 7, 8, and 9 keys. If you see small numbers in the corners, this is your numeric keypad, and you can make those keys enter numbers by pressing the Num Lock key. If your Num Lock key shares function with another key, you may need to press Fn at the same time as the Num Lock key.

Hold down the Alt key and type 227. Make sure you're typing this code on the numeric keypad, not the numbered keys at the top of the keyboard. Once typed, you'll see the pi ???? symbol where you typed.

Mac

Press and hold the ⌥ Option key on your keyboard. Continue holding down the key.

Press the P key, then release both keys. This inserts the pi π symbol into your document, message, or virtually any application on your Mac.

Android

Open Gboard in any app. If you're using Gboard (the default keyboard on most Android phones and tablets), typing the pi symbol is easy.

Tap the number pad key. It's the ?123 at the bottom-left corner.

Tap the special characters key. It's the =/< at the bottom-left.

Tap the π to insert it. You'll see it near the top of the symbol keyboard.

iPhone/iPad

Open the Settings app and tap General. You'll need to enable the Greek keyboard to type a pi symbol on your iPhone or iPad. General is in the third group of settings.

Tap Keyboard. It's in the sixth group of settings.

Tap Keyboards at the top. This displays the keyboards you've already installed.

Tap Add New Keyboard and select Greek. Once selected, you'll return to your list of keyboards, where you'll now see "Greek" as an option.

Open the keyboard in any app. Now that the Greek keyboard is enabled, typing a pi is easy.

Tap the globe key on the keyboard until you see Greek letters. If you only have your standard language and the emoji keyboard installed, you'll just need to tap it twice.

Tap the up-arrow to make the keyboard lowercase. Once you do this, you'll see the traditional pi symbol in the top row of Greek letters.

Tap the π to insert it. Now that you've typed a pi symbol, tap the globe key again to return to your usual keyboard language.

Linux

Press Ctrl+⇧ Shift+U. This key combination tells Linux that the following characters will be hex code for the desired character in Unicode.

Type the Unicode hex code for pi, which is 03c0.

Press ↵ Enter. You will now see the pi symbol where you typed the code.