Q: Iphone 6 gray bar blocking text box after ios 9 update??

As far as I'm concerned, this is how to fix the problem... turn Off the "Raise to Listen" feature.

Character count

I tried the on and off--nothing.  The only thing that worked was to go to my camera on my phone, open the application, then close it.  The gray box disappeared.

And one more variant that worked on my phone.  Tried subject on/off, tried character count, and camera app fix no bueno.  Then turned raise to listen on and off but also open and set/reset audio message expire to never and the bar is gone.  Obviously the behavior is not the same on every phone.  This was on a 5S.  Our iPhone 6 does not have the issue......Yet......

THANK YOU. I called Apple Support. She said she never heard of this and wanted me to RESET my phone!!! I'm so glad I can GOOGLE!!!

Turning on character count ON - OFF is what worked for me today.  The subject field ON/OFF didn't work for me.

Thanks !!

Anytime my iPhone has gotten squirrely, I had too many apps opened. Once I close all my icons, it gets fixed.

well, none of the suggestions worked for me. But what I did was hold the microphone next to the gray bar until it gave me a record button when that came on I held it and swiped up. When I let go the gray bar was gone and has not returned.

try it. It should work for you guys.

little note, I am on a 5c.

So, I can't find the "Raise to listen" feature.  I've updated to 9.1 and have a iphone 5.  I've gone into settings-messages but there is no sign of "audio" or "Raise to Listen."  Also, I think all these suggestions are only temporary.  The grey bar keeps coming back at odd times.  Can you help me try the "Raise to Listen" option by pointing me in the right direction?  Much appreciated...

Not sure why Apple haven't weighed in on this!!

Thank you, this one worked for me xx

settings

message

turn on character count

grey box disappeared

it just happened to my Iphone 6+, i went to settings, messages and turned on character count, its gone!

Thanks Lucy that was driving me nuts :-)

Yes, Character count absolutely worked, the other one show subject field and no dice

I didn't have the Subject Line on ... the grey box was appearing on the text box itself.  So I turned the Subject Line on and it disappeared.  Turned it back off and it's still gone.  Weird.  Thanks for your help.

This is nuts. None of the ideas above work - Show Subject already was off, and turning things on and off doesn't either. For me, I have to close Messages and reopen it and it is ok TEMPORARILY, but something is making that appear.

Where is "Raise to Talk" to turn off? I can't find that setting, and want to try it next.

UPDATE: Never mind, "Riase to Talk" doesn't exist in iOS9 from what I've found, it is "Enable Hey Siri" instead, which I have turned off under Settings / General / Siri