Andy Boxall / Digital Trends
Abe , Ann , Anne , Anna , Ana , Ave , AB ’s . These wrangle are the bane of my life , as all too often my iPhone thinks I ’m typing them or else of the Book “ and . ” It happens shockingly often , to the peak where I begin to think it ’s doing it deliberately to troll me .
I ’m an iOS keyboard fan , but it ’s get to the power point where I ’m going to have to make a big alteration unless Apple does something about it .
Andy Boxall / Digital Trends
It’s always the word ‘and’
I find swipe ( or glide ) typing the riotous way to typewrite on a touchscreen … until it ’s not . When the phone incorrectly guesses the give-and-take you were trying to type , it take you out of the operation as you efface and replace the discussion with the proper one — assuming the predictive textbook has given you the option of that word , of line . Breaking your flow like this slows it all down , and it can get quite annoying .
Now , imagine the keyboard gets one peculiar word wrong a lot of the time , and it ’s a commonly used one that contains only three letter . That ’s the site I have with the word “ and ” on my iPhone . It ’s not a newfangled matter either ; it has find for as long as I can commemorate , so I ca n’t specifically pick a late iOS update for this Bible cecity . I use the standard iOS keyboard , which is excellent at all other times .
Although I gave a few examples of the words my iPhone thinks I ’m stress to type or else of “ and , ” most of the clock time it ’s absolutely convinced I want to type Abe . I can categorically put forward that I have never deliberately typewrite Abe into my iPhone . I do n’t know anyone holler Abe , so the name is n’t in my contact , and I do n’t tap out messages start “ Hey Abe ” on a daily basis or anything that would prompt my phone to retrieve I wasalwaystelling Abe something .
Then , there ’s the setting of these sentences . As an example , rarely would I want to type “ I ’m going to buy spud Abe … ” but I may type “ I ’m go to buy potatoes and a steak . ” If this was a real message hook into my iPhone , guess which sentence my iPhone would cogitate I was trying to typecast ? Yep , it will desire to make very sure Abe know I ’m off to grab some potatoes .
Surely I’m exaggerating?
Just how prevalent is my iPhone ’s refusal to print the Bible “ and ” ? Perhaps I ’m exaggerate about the problemslightly , but it happens often enough that I notice it and have to correct it . So , what ’s cause it ?
It ’s an issue that really only affects me when I abstract type on my earphone . If I tap out the letter , it does n’t happen . But this is slower , which is why I tend to favor swipe typing . Abegate is not specific to one app either , so it ’s not that , leaving the iPhone ’s standard keyboard as the only logical perpetrator in all this .
Well , possiblythe only logical perpetrator . There ’s a chance — a faint one — that my clumsy swiping may also be to blame here , and in my rushing , I ’m give the iPhone enough of a hint that I require to type Abe , Ann , or Ave , and not . A classic case of , to compass up an old IT support acronym , PEBKAC — problem exist between keyboard and chairwoman .
If I make a witting effort to on purpose swipe over the letters A , N , and D , then truth does meliorate , but muscle store mean it does n’t always last , come across good old Abe ( and sometimes Ann ) return to bother me . In all likelihood , the issue is a combination of my swiping and the keyboard ’s predictive text system .
What can I do about Abe?
I understand this is a very specific job , but I wonder how many other people find out their iPhones also have selective watchword blindness . Someone else may not have a problem with the word “ and , ” but instead , the keyboard always manages to confuse “ it ” with “ or , ” “ out , ” or “ our . ” Regardless of which Bible regularly jumble the software , the level of annoyance will be the same .
The expectant trouble is that this is n’t supposed to bump . Apple made bounteous title about its updated oral communication model introduce in iOS 17 , which good realise grammar when type and will let you freely typecast the word antecedently alter to “ duck . ” Well , all I desire to do is eccentric “ and , ” and not ducking Abe .
What about usinga different keyboard ? I like Apple ’s keyboard and dislike alternatives like Microsoft ’s mean SwiftKey . Plus , the fashion you change between keyboard in Io makes it too easy to accidentally change them , therefore becoming another irritation I ’d rather avoid .
However , when I swipe character on an Android phone using Gboard , it never suggest Abe . I ’ve test using Gboard on my iPhone , but the iOS version of Gboard does n’t know me , and groom it from the scratch to understand the fashion I typecast is even more meter - consuming than changing Abe to and .
Please, let AI come to my rescue
What do I want to be done about this most serious of problems ? AI is the big young thing in Mobile River , and most raw phones tout a range of AI software lineament . ForiOS 18 , I do n’t require Apple to preface AI voice translation or AI transcription features I only use once in a while . I want it to put all itsAI business leader into the keyboard , so in the future , it will look at a sentence I ’ve typed and think , “ Hmm , I doubt he ’s move for the word Abe here ; I reckon he meant to swipe ‘ and , ’ but is a spot ungainly . Bless , I ’ll restore it for him . ”
Hopefully , that ’s not too much to ask , and I ’ll never again have to warn someone that at some point during our typed conversation , it maylooklike I call them Abe or Anne . But I ’m not — it ’s just my phone .
