Tippy Type makes typing with long nails less annoying.

Long nails are not for the faint of heart. Ever tried to remove contact lenses with 20mm claws? It’s terrifying. But aside from the fear of poking your eyeballs, the longevity of your nails also makes small everyday things difficult. Opening soda cans, pressing buttons, changing trash bags without puncturing them, even personal hygiene—all of these require creativity. But the most annoying thing is typing on a typewriter.

Typing with long nails is the embodiment of the principle “beauty is pain”. On phones, it makes me slow down, and I end up with So There are a lot of typos. It’s worse on laptops, where the keys are flat and basically out of alignment with the curve of your longer fingernail. You end up typing with the tips of your fingernails and the sides of your fingers. That’s fine if I’m writing an email, but a 1,500-word review? After a while, it hurts.

That’s why I was curious when the TikTok algorithm dropped a $45 Tippy Type into my news feed.

The Tippy Type Keyboard Cover is a silicone cover suitable for people with medium to long nails. It features cylindrical, tower-like keys so you can type as you normally would: using the pads of your fingers, not your nails. The proposed benefits are twofold. First, it shouldn’t cause any pain at all. Second, it protects your nails.

I can already hear the trolls cracking jokes about women worrying about their nails breaking. If it’s so annoying, why can’t you just have short nails? Well, I’m not here to wear long nails for fun. Being a reviewer often means serving as a part-time model for whatever gadget I’m testing. The internet nail police have repeatedly popped up in my comments over the years if my nail polish is chipping or, god forbid, there’s a speck of dirt under my natural nail.

Worse, they’re not wrong—the photos and videos won’t look pretty. Never mind that this is largely a gender-related burden. There’s something about long nails that lengthens fingers and makes the product image more attractive.

But beautiful nails aren’t cheap. A set of acrylic or gel nail extensions, for example, can cost upwards of $120. Fake nail extensions are more economical, but I live in fear that one will fall off at an inopportune moment. I lost one the other day because I pulled my pants too hard. Two also flew off while I was typing. And it’s annoying to carry nail glue with you everywhere—or, in the case of nail extensions, to have to make another appointment. Keeping your manicure looking its best is a way to save time and money.

In theory, that’s why Tippy Type is so appealing to long-nail lovers despite its $45 price tag. But like any product, it has to deliver on its promise.

The first time I used the Tippy Type keyboard out of the box, it felt strange. CEO and co-founder Sarah Young Wang warned me that there was a slight learning curve. She wasn’t kidding. It’s hard to describe, but if you’re used to softer keys, this isn’t it. The keys are firmer and require a bit more pressure than typical laptop keys. The cylindrical shape also gives you less surface area, so you have to think about finger placement at first.

But it doesn’t take long to adapt. I measured my progress with and without Tippy Type using one of the one-minute typing tests. On the first day, I averaged about 60 words per minute with 98 percent accuracy. After about a week, I was averaging 80 to 90 words per minute with 98 to 99 percent accuracy. Ironically, typing with Tippy Type made fewer typos than typing without it.

But it’s not perfect. I had no problems pressing the medium and long keys, but if you have very long fingernails, this might not work as well. Also, some of the keys still aren’t the easiest to press. For example, the arrow keys are small and awkward to use, and there’s no cap for the function keys other than the Esc key. Plus, you can’t easily close the laptop if you’re, say, going to the bathroom. Finally, Tippy Type is only available for MacBooks at the moment, though Wang says the company is working on versions for Lenovo, Dell, and HP laptops.

Ultimately, whether or not a Tippy Type is worth it comes down to how often you use your laptop and how committed you are to your nail game. Are you like Gymnasts Simone Biles, Jordan Chiles, or Sunny LeeThink this is the kind of place where even an Olympic-level jump wouldn’t stop you from achieving glory? Well, yeah, maybe it’s worth it. But in my day-to-day life, I mostly use a desktop computer with a mechanical keyboard—which is more forgiving of long fingernails. I probably wouldn’t feel the need for a product like this if I weren’t in the midst of tech review season.

However, Tippy Type has been helpful to me over the past few weeks, when deadlines have been tight, review words have been long, and nails have been great.