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What is the odd bar above keyboard? [MERGED]

S

scouser75

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Oct 7, 2008
3,094
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As the title says guys, what is the odd bar above my keyboard?

Since installing 26, I have this odd and pointless bar above my keyboard. It does absolutely nothing other than get in the way when typing long messages.

I can get rid of it by pressing the tick ☑️ but then it comes straight back when i go back into the text box.

Does anyone know what it is? And more importantly, how can i get rid if it?

IMG_0164.jpeg
 
That's there in previous iOS too, just less obvious than it is now. It's for webforms and it's a 'previous field', 'next field' button.

Never use it myself, not sure how many people do - would love an option to remove it, but its been there for years.

Here it is on previous versions:
1757587216907.png
 
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Thank you revs. I must say, I've never had this before. I also checked my wife's and kids' ios18nphones and they too don't have this.

I now also have this when I type. My eyesight is bad at the best of times, but with this I have no chance 🥸😂

There has to be a way of getting rid of this bar surely!

IMG_0168.png
 
There's no way to remove it. It's specific to Safari (other browsers have it too), and only when you're typing into a box on a web page. Is that where/how you checked on your wife's and kids' phones? It won't show up in other apps or when typing in the address/search bar in Safari.
 
scouser75 said:
Thank you revs. I must say, I've never had this before. I also checked my wife's and kids' ios18nphones and they too don't have this.

I now also have this when I type. My eyesight is bad at the best of times, but with this I have no chance 🥸😂

There has to be a way of getting rid of this bar surely!

View attachment 2546597
Click to expand...

Looks like a bug. Does it look washed out with the default keyboard?
 
BigBlur said:
There's no way to remove it. It's specific to Safari (other browsers have it too), and only when you're typing into a box on a web page. Is that where/how you checked on your wife's and kids' phones? It won't show up in other apps or when typing in the address/search bar in Safari.
Click to expand...
I checked Chrome and it does appear there.

On the family phones, I checked Macrumors and tested the same way. And no sign of the box at all.

It also seems to do hi nothing at all.
FNH15 said:
Looks like a bug. Does it look washed out with the default keyboard?
Click to expand...
Yup. The washed out look only kicked in today. I really don't want to do another fresh install, but may do if it somehow doesn't fix itself.
 
scouser75 said:
On the family phones, I checked Macrumors and tested the same way. And no sign of the box at all.
Click to expand...
That's odd. Are you able to post a screenshot of their screen and keyboard? I would have expected it to look like revs's screenshot.
 
This is from my wife’s phone. Realised there is a similar bar - albeit there’s the word Done rather than a tick.

The difference is , the bar doesn’t intrude on the keyboard or text and I’m able to scroll up and down without the need to click Done first. Oh and the screen isn’t washed out 😂
IMG_0673.png
 
Thanks quarterswede. I’ve stopped using SwiftKey and all seems to be ok now. Gutted though as much prefer SK.
 
I installed the final iOS 26 (23A341) this morning and swiftkey is deactivated

1758179563703.png

And in the AppStore I see another swiftkey app marked as not installed.
1758179694466.png
 
This has always been here, it's just now separated from the keyboard rather than attached to it. I'm surprised they didn't opt for two bubbles (one for the up/down controls, and one for Done) rather than a bar however.
 
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Sorry but I didn’t find anything through google.
When i write something in safari, for example in this forum I get this bar on top of the keyboard.
What does it do and how can I get rid of it?

Thanks
 

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I find it odd and in an annoying place. I was messed up trying to type in it the other day. Very strange the way it is.
 
The bar appears in iOS 18 as well, except the word “Done” appears where the checkmark is. Pressing “Done” hides the keyboard.
 
brice_ said:
I installed the final iOS 26 (23A341) this morning and swiftkey is deactivated

View attachment 2551192
And in the AppStore I see another swiftkey app marked as not installed.
View attachment 2551193
Click to expand...
That's odd ! I just checked the App Store(UK) and the Swift key you highlighted is the one I’ve been using for years. And is the only one available.

And the glitches are only on certain websites. MacRumors is one of them.
 
Ahhhh thank you for asking about this. It’s been driving me insane. Oddly, when typing here right now it is behaving… but it wasn’t yesterday.

Cracked it.

If you’ve changed the tabs to “bottom” in Safari it washes out/greys the text. Switch back to “compact” and you can read what you type again.

Guess Apple didn’t bother testing anything other than compact.
 
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scouser75 said:
Thank you revs. I must say, I've never had this before. I also checked my wife's and kids' ios18nphones and they too don't have this.

I now also have this when I type. My eyesight is bad at the best of times, but with this I have no chance 🥸😂

There has to be a way of getting rid of this bar surely!

View attachment 2546597
Click to expand...
Did you change tabs to “bottom” in Safari? Pick either of the other options to fix the grey text.
 
Last edited:
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SparklyApple said:
Ahhhh thank you for asking about this. It’s been driving me insane. Oddly, when typing here right now it is behaving… but it wasn’t yesterday.

Cracked it.

If you’ve changed the tabs to “bottom” in Safari it washes out/greys the text. Switch back to “compact” and you can read what you type again.

Guess Apple didn’t bother testing anything other than compact.
Click to expand...

SparklyApple said:
Did you change tabs to “bottom” in Safari? Pick either of the other options to fix the grey text.
Click to expand...
Ahh nice one. I did change to bottom in safari but have changed to top again.

No longer washed out but still can't see what I'm typing as I have the mane of the site link blocking the button rite of text.
 
scouser75 said:
Ahh nice one. I did change to bottom in safari but have changed to top again.

No longer washed out but still can't see what I'm typing as I have the mane of the site link blocking the button rite of text.
Click to expand...

Sadly I can’t work out how to sort anything else!

What I had assumed was a search bar I can see now is the URI bar, but it is infuriating how I have to continually scroll the page up to type because it obscures the bottom line of the text box.

I’m getting a horizontal scroll line pop up smack in the middle of the screen regularly when browsing – why?!

And then there’s all the stuff which should be fixed to the top or bottom of the web page which is instead floating and doing weird stuff.

It feels like oooh 1999 and the browser wars again.
 
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I've not experienced the horizontal line. What websites are you getting this on?

I’m now using SeiftKey for WhatsApp and emails. And switching to the standard keyboard when on safari.

I have a feeling this is going to be an ongoing issue for some time.
 
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