Learning how to repair iPhone autocorrect might save your life. Of course, not literally: if you’re straining to swim in a river, it’s not going to toss you a rubber ring.
It could, however, keep you from making an embarrassing text error that either festers on the altar of comedy or forces you to spend a few moments attempting to clarify exactly what you meant.
After all, there’s a reason the expression “damn autocorrect” exists. We’ve all typed a word, only for iOS to interpret it as something completely different. However, by the time you realise it, it’s usually too late. The message has been delivered, and it has been flashed up as “Read,” leaving you to seek a remedy so that this minor snafu does not occur again.
Fortunately, there is a workaround, and we’ll teach you how to fix autocorrect on iPhone so you can prevent embarrassing situations like these.
How to fix autocorrect on iPhone
Watch what happens when you enter a word on an iPhone before we look at possible solutions.
You’ll see a list of recommended words appear directly above the keyboard.
If iOS feels the term you typed is wrong, the centre of these choices will be highlighted. When you use the space bar to go on, the recommended word replaces the one you wrote in your text.
As an example, we’re typing “everything” in a jumble, but the iPhone has detected this and offered a recommendation (highlighted in the center). In this case, it’s a good idea, and pressing the space bar will insert that word instead of the one we’ve been typing.
You may assist prevent autocorrect mistakes by keeping a closer check on the recommendations. If we had meant to type “eveiyhij,” pressing the word above the keyboard would have stopped the autocorrected version from being typed. It will instead be marked as misspelt. However…
How can I disable autocorrect?
If you’ve had enough of autocorrect and think that your ability to spell and type words correctly using the iOS keyboard is adequate, you could choose to turn it off completely. Don’t worry, you can still make sure everything is spelled correctly.
1. First, launch the Settings app
2. Now tap General and select Keyboard
3. Look under All Keyboards and turn off the switch next to Auto-Correct (it will turn from green to gray).
4. Why not test the difference this makes? Launch the Notes app and start a new note.
5. When you enter some text, any words you spell incorrectly will be indicated by a squiggly red line.
6. If the spelling is intended, do nothing. Otherwise, tap the word to see iOS’s suggestions and tap the suggestion to use it.
How to disable spell checking
If you don’t want iOS to check any of the words you enter, you may turn off both the auto-correction and the spell-check. However, be aware that this increases the margin for error – everyone makes mistakes when touching a small keyboard.
1. Launch the Settings app.
2. Tap General and select Keyboard.
3. Then turn off Check Spelling (it will turn from green to gray).
How to stop words automatically capitalizing
So you’re typing a word such as “bury” but iOS thinks you are referring to the English town of Bury and keeps capitalizing it. There’s a fix for that, too.
1. To start with, launch the Settings app.
2. Now tap General and select Keyboard.
3. Turn off the switch next to Auto Capitalization (it will turn from green to gray).
How to use iPhone’s text replacement feature
There is another way to prevent words automatically capitalizing: you can force iOS to recognize that a word you are typing really is the one that you want to use.
You can also use the text replacement feature to add any words that you don’t want to be auto-corrected or flagged.
1. First, launch the Settings app.
2. Next tap General and select Keyboard.
3. Now tap Text Replacement.
4. In the top-right corner, tap +.
5. Simply enter the phrase in the way that you always want iOS to use it, for example “bury” but leave the shortcut field blank.
When you subsequently type the phrase in Notes, Messages or any other app that allows text input, iOS will not auto-correct it. Neither will it say it has been misspelt.
How to make corrections to text
If you spot an autocorrection mistake and you want to manually correct it, you can delete the word and re-type it.
1. To quickly reach the word, either tap close to it to move the cursor or press firmly on the keyboard to turn it into a digital trackpad.
2. Drag your finger to move the cursor and let go when you reach the word that you want to change.
3. Use the delete key to remove the word.
4. You can also press firmly on a word, then tap Select and either move the selection handles to select more text or leave things are they are and finally select Cut.