Q: I cannot delete iPhone keyboard shortcuts.  They keep restoring.

And now one by one, they have started to return back.

Oh well.

Take a read of the first post on page 7. I think this is what's going on.  However his fix didn't work for me either.

PS: these forums are absolutely terrible to use with an iOS device. Typing replies here is a horrible experience, but that's the subject of a whole other topic!

I've been dealing with an AppleCare Senior Advisor, Julius, who is genuinely trying to help. I am trying to keep him on-side, and putting up with the annoyance of repeated re-booting etc, but I have also emailed him my significant concerns about Apple's inability to address this problem seriously. (Some of the steps he gave me are like voodoo, but since we're dealing with zombie shortcuts I think that's appropriate.) His steps, very similar to ewwatson's, are:

1. Go to settings>General> Keyboard> Keyboards Add new, previously-unused keyboard (e.g. “English UK")
2. Go to settings>General> Keyboard> Shortcuts and Delete shortcuts
3. Go to settings>General> Keyboard> Keyboards then Select “Edit" in the top right and Delete currently-used keyboard e.g. "English Australian".
4. Go to settings>General> Keyboard> then Toggle “Predictive" off
5. Go to settings>General> Keyboard> then Toggle “. Shortcut" off
6. Go to settings> iCloud Toggle "iCloud Drive" off
7. Reboot iPhone
8. [repeat on other iDevices, and similar on Macs]
9. Go to settings>General> Keyboard> Keyboards Add “English Australian” keyboard again.
10. Go to settings> iCloud Toggle "iCloud Drive" on.

I performed this on 4 iDevices, deleting about 30 shortcuts individually each time. For each of our 5 Macs, I also turned iCloud off, deleted all text substitutions, then turned iCloud back on.

I have had mixed success. One (but only one) of my old shortcuts came back on my iPhone. This shortcut happens to be one that I want, so that’s okay. After all the work-around stuff listed above, I also re-typed some wanted shortcuts into my iPhone. These have not been synced to other iDevices (2 days later).

On my Mac Mini, one of the unwanted zombie shortcuts has returned. No new shortcuts from the iPhone have appeared here. Two of our other work Macs have no text substitutions at all, not even “On my way!”.

I have emailed the AppleCare advisor describing all this, and asking, "Is it worth your investigating when and how shortcuts/substitutions are synced? I can’t see a pattern myself."

I have another phone conversation booked with Julius this afternoon. I will keep you all posted.

The AppleCare Senior Advisor is sending the problem to the engineers. I will let you know when I hear again from Apple.

(By the way, I didn't have any iCloud backups on my iPhone, but the advisor did ask me to look for those and delete them.)

Well I thought I had it but like everyone before me, they just came back a week later. However I still think using a custom keyboard (via an app) instead of one of iOS built in keyboards may fix the issue. But that's not worth it for me. Typing on those is painful. You don't realize how much iOS fixes while you type. Turns out I can't type a single word correctly without assistance. lol. So the balls in your court apple. FYI it's been there for about 2 years now. You might want to put the ball back into play or people might get bored watching a one sided game.

Now chatting with Sherwin, case # 810342579

SherwinThanks for contacting AppleCare chat support. My name is Sherwin. Please give me a moment to look over your information.

SherwinTop of the Day to you Peter Please tell me how I can make your day today?

Me:I was speaking on the phone and got cut off.

Me:These notes are from the engineers: The problem has been reported, and engineering is investigating; resolution may come in an update or a knowledge base in the future. Engineering doesn’t need any more information from me as the customer, as they are investigating the issue. While Apple explores the issue, it may be possible for Apple to remove all keyboard shortcuts from the iCloud account as a workaround; this might improve the syncing behaviour of the shortcuts.

Me:I want Apple to remove all keyboard shortcuts from iCloud so I can start with a clean slate.

SherwinThanks for all the Information that you have given to me and yes I ca see that It has been pass to our engineers

SherwinI can give you a website that you can leave a feedback about this , they do look at each feedback for the updates and the next IOS

Me:The advisor I was speaking to today was called Robert (Australian). He tried to connect me to a senior advisor. Is it possible for a senior advisor to call me back?

Me:Sherwin, I appreciate that you're trying to help, but suggesting I send feedback via the web for a problem that the engineers are already aware of is insulting.

SherwinI can setup a call back for you as this Is chat support I can’t directly transfer you to the phones or I can give you the number to call them

SherwinThis Is the number that you call  1-300-321-456

SherwinIf you give me your number I can setup a call back for you

Me:I would like someone to call me. I'm feeling like Apple isn't treating this seriously.

Me:04## ### ###

SherwinThank you

SherwinOk I sent the request they should call you with In 15 minutes or less

Me:Please don't just suggest sending feedback for a complex issue.

SherwinOk Peter Thank you please let me know when you get the call

Me:I just missed a call from them somehow.

SherwinThey will call back

Me:Sherwin, would you mind looking at this discussion please? https://discussions.apple.com/thread/6656922 It will show you that merely sending feedback to Apple feels like it does nothing because Apple does not have a publicly available log of bugs, and Apple do not participate in discussions online. There is no way for us to know what, if anything, you are doing to try to resolve a problem. It's incredibly frustrating.

SherwinSure No problem!

Me:This problem has existed at least since Nov 2014, and Apple have apparently done nothing. If they have done anything, they certainly aren't telling their loyal customers about it.

Sherwin Peter I am really sorry about this I can get a senior advisor for you or I can setup another call back for you If you like, I understand that this Is an Issue for you Peter

Me:Jade has just called me. Thanks for your help.

SherwinOk great all the best

Your chat session has ended. Thanks for using Apple's chat support.

Their customer service consits of listening >> acknowledging >> empathy >> and finally the end blow off. Everyone of those convos, including my own, are carbon copies of each other. The end result is always thinly vailed fartt laden air.

Ha ha! Your use of a word for bodily wind from one's posterior got censored in the email update!

"The end result is always thinly vailed **** laden air."

From one of the many Apple Senior Advisers I've been speaking to since November...

"Hello Nina,

I’ve inquired with some team members and engineers on this. There’s no solution for saving your custom keyboard shortcuts other than iCloud backups. I’m sure there are some third party keyboard apps that allow you to export the saved settings. I’d consider migrating to one of those apps.

Otherwise, a restore as new is your only option in resolving the myriad issues you’re exhibiting with your phone.

Best,

Jim"

Alas, I think we've all been connected with empathetic/sympathetic advisors all up and down the support food chain. Many really do try to help, and think they are helping, I'm sure. Some of us, myself included, have even had our cases routed to "engineers," or so we are being told. But the problem persists and the fixes don't stay fixed.

Speaking iOS, I thought that if the shortcuts are attached to the keyboard, then of course changing from the US keyboard to the Canadian one should fix it. And it did. It stayed fixed for days. Then even with only the Canadian keyboard installed on my phone, the shortcuts came back en masse. I would think that lends credence to the theory that the shortcuts are somehow tied to the user ID, but...

The same timing and replacement of keyboard (to Canadian only) were applied to my iPad and -- as of now -- the shortcuts are still gone. As far as the OS is concerned on my Air, the keyboard text replacements have stayed gone since wiping them all out and not connecting my phone to the Air since. That's been about two weeks now. Same user ID all around.

This just makes no bloody sense. And specifically because it's so weird and yet so pervasive, Apple should be able to scope it out and fix it.

I Have been watching these thread for a long time since last year because I am suffering the same issue.  Last night, as usual, I deleted all my shortcuts from all my devices and hope there is miracle.

AFter 7 hours, no shortcuts come back again.  It is the first time the deletion last that long.  Crossing my fingers and hope they are not coming back again today.....

Come back here in a week.  They’ll be back.

Yup, see you back here soon, iceycake. (Somehow, there's a correlation here to my being the undying romantic that I am -- ever hopeful, frequently disappointed. Who knew it applied to Apples as well?...)

Iceycake  it's been a few days now, how are you getting on? Are the zombie shortcuts back?

They come back but longer than if I just delete a few of them.  I also tried to delete the shortcuts across all my devices and that last for 3 days before they come back.

I feel like there may be a sync conflict and iCloud just rollback to the old backup.

Thanks for the update. Sorry to see yet another failed attempt.

Apple really are wasting our time here.