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I think I’ve figured out why the keyboard is so bad

code-m said:
Exactly this, I have no clue why iOS keyboard selects the alphabet net to the one I intend to press. It’s been frustrating to keep correcting this since several OS releases. Plus there is this black space at the bottom between the emoji and mic icon for no reason.
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My assumption is you actually typed 'blank' but iOS deemed it to be 'black'. Brilliant. Happened to me when I sent feedback about the crappy keyboard. So funny I left it in.
 
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I am one of those elderly boomers and hold the phone in both hands and use my thumbs to type since it is much faster than the 'hunt and peck' style (hold phone in one hand and type with the index finger of the other hand). Both styles produce unacceptable error rates on the iPhone. I also had a series of Samsung Ultra S phones (S23, S24, S25) as a backup phone and found them more accurate using my standard two thumbs style. Also the autocorrect tended to be more accurate. The one in IOS is appalling. I have fairly small fingers (I do a lot of small detail work which requires the ability to handle very small screws and pieces) so should not have the fat finger syndrome but like others here I find the iOS keyboard to be infuriating and slow however I use it.
 
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It was laughable when they first enabled vibrations for key strokes, it was lagging and sluggish in older iPhones, worked ok on some versions, then got bad on others again. Still going on with my 15 Pro to this day sometimes.
Couldn’t agree more with your other points, it’s sad.
I personally didn’t even know that you could translate what you typed on Android.
For a company that loves to flex time zone clocks in their stock apps (and widgets) since the first iPhone, they’ve been lacking behind with some basic conveniences for internationally connected people.
 
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!!! said:
Then you are typing like a young person, and your experiences further confirm the original post.

Most older people type by holding their phone in one hand and using their index finger on their other hand to find & press keys, the mobile equivalent to "hunt and peck".
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I have two daughters. I can say with certainty that I do not type like a young person...they tell me that all the time. They use both thumbs, I just use one. I use my non-dominant hand just to steady the phone. Sometimes they tease me about how slow I type. I guess I'm just hunting and pecking with my thumb.

And the keyboard is still trash.
 
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!!! said:
Then you are typing like a young person, and your experiences further confirm the original post.

Most older people type by holding their phone in one hand and using their index finger on their other hand to find & press keys, the mobile equivalent to "hunt and peck".
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I’m an “older person” who uses their thumbs to type whilst I hold the phone with both hands. Not very comfortable while lying down so I hold the phone with one hand and use my index finger.
 
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I7guy said:
I’m an “older person” who uses their thumbs to type whilst I hold the phone with both hands. Not very comfortable while lying down so I hold the phone with one hand and use my index finger.
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Same here. I don’t think anyone defined what constitutes an “older person” in the context of this thread, but I’ll just say I easily qualify for senior discounts 😁 I hold the phone with both hands and type with my thumbs.

I can’t pinpoint an exact iOS or iPhone version where the keyboard went to hell because I stopped replacing my iPhone yearly a long time ago, but I can tell you the difference going from the 6s to the 11PM was night and day. My current 15PM is no better.
 
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Mr_Ed said:
Same here. I don’t think anyone defined what constitutes an “older person” in the context of this thread, but I’ll just say I easily qualify for senior discounts 😁 I hold the phone with both hands and type with my thumbs.

I can’t pinpoint an exact iOS or iPhone version where the keyboard went to hell because I stopped replacing my iPhone yearly a long time ago, but I can tell you the difference going from the 6s to the 11PM was night and day. My current 15PM is no better.
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I agree and I believe there are some issues. I notice it more when I input my password and I’m sure I type it correctly but it gets rejected.

Seems like it should be a no-brainer to fix keyboard issues, but I guess not.
 
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I don't experience any of these issues. I hold the phone with both hands, type with my thumbs, and don't have any problems. If the lack of complains from others in the household are any indication, nor do my wife, two sons, in-law parents, or my father.

Sucks that folks are having issues, but clearly this 'poor keyboard' phenomenon is nowhere near a universal experience.
 
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TumbleDryer said:
I'm old. The typing is DEFINITELY not accurate!

The keyboard in iOS and MacOS has gotten progressively worse over the last couple of years. I thought it was me but I saw this video showing how it's the keyboard choosing the wrong characters even when you clearly type things correctly. It's a slowed down video showing you clearly press G and you get H etc. If you concentrate when typing you can clearly see its the OS getting it wrong.

I spend more time correcting stuff now than ever.
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That youtube video is the issue I have after switching to the new IOS I beyond hate it! I spend have the time correcting mistakes now.
 
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Yeah I saw the reviews on the appstore and seems like it's not worth it.. but still Apple should know about this keyboard issue, no?
 
I’m 61 (old? I don’t feel old…) and use both hands and thumbs to type/write.

Two things (well, 2 and one bug):

I feel that as I’ve gotten older (I’ve had iPhones since 3Gs), my typing has gotten worse *because* the dexterity and reach of my thumbs has gotten worse. I am *always* missing the space bar at the bottom and inserting “n” or “b” instead of a space and then finally looking at what I wrote and seeing a long line of letters instead of spaced words.

And, my thumb is *constantly* hitting the return key instead of the space bar - again I believe because of the less-elasticity of my thumb tendons and muscles.

I wish I could lengthen the space bar to the right and narrow the return key. Oh well.

The third thing is the disappearing auto-correct words and function while typing.

It just happened now. The anticipated word row is cleared out and autocorrect does nothing. I have to switch to another app and then come back and it works again. This has been happening (on 15 Pro and 17 Pro) since iOS 26 (I’m on .4 b1)

All in all, my experiences whether due to age or stupid design has gotten much worse over the years.
 
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mansplains said:
[…]
Another related text feature of iOS is automatically zooming in for text input. This made sense when no websites were designed for mobile, and fields appeared tiny. Now most pages are mobile first, with appropriately sized fields. The zoom is irritating in numerous places, even here. Do they think we have elderly eyes?
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I agree. It’s the worst experience when a page zooms in and the cursor lands BEHIND the keyboard, just off screen. ( I think some websites might do it on purpose to encourage App download. ie. FB & twitter. Both of which I deleted from my device 🙂)
It’s the worst “functioning as intended” characteristic imho. On the flip side, I do less web browsing on my phone and time manage better on my PC. So…
 
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I'm not sure what changed with the keyboard between previous iOS versions and iOS 26, but the iOS 26 is anecdotally much much worse than previous versions. I don't know how many times per day I am exasperated at the text that iOS thinks I'm typing with iOS 26. Not sure what changed, but it is a noticeable downgrade from previous versions.
 
I think the OP is oversimplifying a complex issue.

Still, I believe the iOS keyboard is severely flawed. As well as iOS’s non interactive and non intelligent notifications. These two are my largest pain points in iOS.
 
TumbleDryer said:
I'm old. The typing is DEFINITELY not accurate!

The keyboard in iOS and MacOS has gotten progressively worse over the last couple of years. I thought it was me but I saw this video showing how it's the keyboard choosing the wrong characters even when you clearly type things correctly. It's a slowed down video showing you clearly press G and you get H etc. If you concentrate when typing you can clearly see its the OS getting it wrong.

I spend more time correcting stuff now than ever.
Click to expand...

This. I don’t consider myself old lol approaching my 60’s BUT with that being said I do type two-thumbed quickly enough and YES knowing I hit the correct letter does not always render the correct word it’s suppose to be typing.
With that being said spelling my new grand daughters name for months now now has recently been changing the third letter which is an “A” to an “O” like wtf is going on there……
I’ve been using iOS since 2011 and my typing is not that bad! Sure I do make mistakes of course but not every other sentence or word at time!
 
sc00b4s7eve said:
It’s most likely Apple not taking the time to fine-tune the slide-to-type (aka swipe-to-text).
Having to disable it stinks even more because I like it when I’m carrying something and only have 1 hand free.
I think this guy nails the issue.
I am testing theory: Starts talking about the bad keyboard behavior we all experience
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Thanks for the informative link. That certainly explains a lot of the issues, but I am still left disappointed by how Apple has handled this. From an average user’s perspective, it still looks like a defect. Why? If its purpose is “feedback”, the letter popup should reflect what ultimately registered as input regardless of the state (on/off) of the “slide” functionality. The feedback is inaccurate.

That aside, it feels like this (slide) may have been something they introduced somewhere along the line and just enabled it for everyone upon update instead of saying “we have this cool new feature some of you may like, here’s how you enable it to try it out.” The end result for many is diminished user experience and perception that Apple is dropping the ball.

I’ve always said Apple needs to sweat every detail of the things users interact with most frequently. Hard to argue the keyboard is not in that category.
 
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iOSBry said:
iOS 26.4 RC released today has the following keyboard fix listed:

- Improved keyboard accuracy when typing quickly
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Exactly what I described in this post. Performance issues when used in a “young” way rather than an “old” one.
Maybe Apple read it haha.


On iOS 26.4 it has improved significantly. It is still dramatically worse compared to Google Pixel, but now it is usable!
 
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