When we type on our iDevices, we expect every keystroke to be as accurate as possible, or at least as close to our perceived rate of success as can be, and for typing to be at least reasonably comfortable. When the on-screen keyboards don’t type the way we expect, instances happening on and off, it can be infuriating.
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(Source – It’s Not Just You – The iOS Keyboard is Broken – URL)
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Thought I was going a bit crazy over here trying to articulate what I was experiencing with the iOS keyboard, but a new video I stumbled into on Michi NekoMichi’s channel feels very validating.
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What’s going on?

• Typing errors may sporadically occur when using the iOS keyboard. A highlighted keystroke may result in an incorrect letter appearing on-screen.
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• According to this video it’s been observed on both iOS 18 and 26. My own personal experiences fit this viewpoint, although I remember it happening on earlier iOSes less frequently.
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• Bug happens even when autocorrect is turned off, and can happen in the middle of words.
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• Michi suggests this isn’t the fault of predictive text either: The UI animations clearly show which keys are pressed – what the OS enters is not what the user wants.
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• Highly unusual suggested words after typing something correctly, which can keep auto-correcting to the wrong spelling even after entering the correct word multiple times.
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• Screen taps across the OS could be becoming worse: highlighting lines of text in a paragraph, multiple taps to click on links, etc;
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My experience on this

The frustrating part is how sporadically this happens, how googling and asking around seemed to result in few conclusive answers or insights. Some comments on the YouTube video relate to some of my own thought processes on past devices too, including thinking an older device had somehow developed a defective touchscreen.

Imagine this: You plugged your phone in for the night, it’s on the night stand, it buzzes, you check it, type away a little, and every other word you type seems off. You chalk it up to being half-asleep or the phone being plugged in, and put the phone down since it’s on 10%, and never question it.

Or you’re at work responding to someone, the message taking twice as long and twice as much focus to type, to backspace and fix the errors made – and there’s just no time to document this in a pinch while other things are going on.
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How this can affect others

• People who struggle with neurological conditions or those struggling with coordination may be unable differentiate whether or not it is them or the device.
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• Individuals with MS may feel inclined to believe they are genuinely losing functioning.
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• Some people think they’re just getting older, while others would think they aren’t understanding technology.
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• People recovering from brain surgery may also feel inclined it’s them, not the phone.

These are just some examples, but real world examples of the implications of how a bad keyboard can affect people’s lives in particularly vulnerable circumstances. Any sane person would struggle compartmentalizing these two competing theories simultaneously: My phone is causing these errors VS. I am causing these errors – this is precisely where perception would shape reality in the lived human experience, until it is dispelled.

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What can we do?

Report it, share as much feedback with Apple (via Feedback app) and others as you can, and if possible, record it. It is unclear what the actual mechanism or underlying issue is, although it’s suggested it has something to do with the OS. Spread the word, share this article, and share Michi NekoMichi’s video about the topic so others can chime in, too.