Placing cursor middle of word - iOS 13

Apple - please revert back to the old setting of one tap to move the cursor to any character position in a word or space in a text field. Using the space bar and holding it down provides no precision of where the cursor ends up. This is seriously frustrating to have to delete an entire word just to fix one character.

I have the same problem. Very frustrating. If the word is highlighted for misspelling, but no alternative is offered, I can’t get back into the word to fix it (by inserting a space or whatever). If I tap, the word is then highlighted in “Select” (menu) mode and I still can’t get the cursor in the word. It has become intuitive for me to have the cursor appear wherever you give a light tap or double tap. I’ve tried dragging, and it doesn’t work.

That’s not much help unfortunately. Even turning the keyboard in to a track pad, I’m having to spend ages trying to get the cursor in exactly the right point so it doesn’t just snap to the end of the line. And as above, if it’s a spelling error with no suggestion, almost impossible to correct without completely re-typing. I’m wasting so much time!

It’s making me crazy! I just want to be able to place the cursor where I want to either remove a letter or correct it. I am not happy with much in the “upgrade” to the new OS! Split pages appear when I don’t want them, can’t place my cursor, email reply box is annoyingly more work than before. The only upside I see is the ability to flag in different colors, which I use to determine how important and email is to me. The rest of the update is bothersome.

Use the space bar as a trackpad.

No trying to see around your finger and it works perfectly, every time.

This photo is an iPad but it works the same for an iPhone.

Type and edit text on iPad - Apple Support

I too was bugged by this but the new way to do it is to let the cursor know you want to edit mid word by placing your finger on the cursor and holding until you see the cursor grow to a larger size and then drag it to the mid word spot or wherever you want to place it and beging typing. It's not the same as it was before, a little more time involved and less intuitive but it can be quicker than retyping the whole word. One point, you can only change the cursor when it's a cursor. When it has become a whole word highlight you must tap somewhere else in your text to deactivate the highlight and return to a cursor.

You are not addressing Apple here. This is a user to user support forum and Apple does not participate here. If you wish to share a thought with Apple about an enhancement, use the feedback link here, Feedback - iPhone - Apple

Actually the new method is very intuitive and makes perfect sense:

Type and edit text on iPhone - Apple Support

If you're unhappy about it, feel free to let Apple know; we're all just fellow users here.

Feedback - iPhone - Apple

WAIT! I know how it works now:

1. Place your cursor at the beginning or end of your word.
2. Hold and drag it into the middle of the word.
3. Release
4. Edit

It's not trolling, it's an accurate representation of the fact that since the day iOS 13 was released, I've never seen a cursor being moved by "trackpad" methods pop anywhere.

If you actually have and can reproduce it, notify Apple of the issue here:

Feedback - iPhone - Apple

This is a user to user support forum and Apple does not participate here. If you wish to provide feedback to Apple regarding a change you would like to see, or report a bug, then use the feedback link here, Feedback - iPhone - Apple

Thank you so much appleuser3billionand1 - this is a hopefully temporary resolve. -ny

appleuser3billionand1

User level:

Level 1

(4 points)

Jan 16, 2020 7:18 PM in response to Jason—M

Press and hold the space bar and you can use that like a track pad. It works quite well.

Kbqt1 wrote:

using the space bar to place it in trackball mode does help,, but i think it would be better the opposite way- it should be in track ball mode by default - and the long spacebar should be used to put it in auto highlight mode. And using the spacebar is not intuitive.

Then how would you use it as a spacebar if the default was trackpad?

You should let Apple know your thoughts here:

Product Feedback - Apple

See the section entitled "Turn your keyboard into a trackpad."

Type and edit text on iPhone - Apple Support

For anyone else, if they care, my two cents on these "solutions":

• The spacebar solution is awkward at best. Requires two fingers, one for space bar, the other for moving the cursor. Sometimes works for me, sometimes not--seems about 25% success. Most often, it brings up the "select, select all" menu with the word highlighted in full. Perhaps there is some setting deep in my ipad or iphone that makes mine react differently from yours, but that's how it works on my phone. So completely ditching that solution as untenable, particularly since it requires two hands to execute...but Larry, feel free to use it if it works for you.
• Have much better success with holding my finger on the cursor for about one or two seconds then sliding it onto a word. Problem is, my finger blocks the word when I slide it so I only get it to the right spot about 50-60% of the time. Otherwise, it is one or two letters before or behind, or worse, in the line above or below. One solution that works for my ipad--using a pressure/stylus pen rather than my finger to highlight the cursor. I actually can now get almost 95% success using that method...but unfortunately, that solution doesn't really work on the run with my iphone as I don't carry a stylus pen in my pocket. I will concede, however, it is my go-to solution for the ipad now.
• Comment only: never had this problem with the old magnifying glass methodology. When I touched a word on my iphone or ipad, i could easily get a 95% success rate. That others didn't like the magnifying glass method and love the current methods, great, enjoy. On the other hand, I have put in a support ticket to apple to give us the choice. Unlikely they'll do anything with it, but it's in the barrel.

Finally, I have worked in this business as a senior executive for decades. I've glady fired more than my share of snarky & condescending IT folks, particularly those on help desks. I've also hired some very good ones. Yep, they got frustrated and needed to bite their tongue a lot, but in the end their MOST valuable trait was patience and empathy, not their knowledge.

Just my two cents.

[Edited by Moderator]