Placing cursor middle of word - iOS 13

TheAirplaneGuy wrote:

Not being able to put your cursor in the middle of a word to correct is ridiculous. Seriously Apple?

Did you read any of this thread before losing your temper? Press and hold on the space bar. The entire keyboard becomes a track pad. It is then ridiculously easy to place the cursor wherever you want.

ChicanoSandi wrote:

A year later and they still haven’t fixed this. ***? Who wants it this other way. Makes no sense.

As it is not broken, there is nothing to fix. It has been changed due in large part to complaints about how hard the magnifying glass was for most people to use. Yes, I get that learning new routines is hard and annoying. But, this is here to stay. So, your choices are to be angry about it or to practice a little with the new editing gestures until they become familiar.

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.

by using the “longpress” spacebar to toggle - as they do now. It is just the poor choice of defaulting to word highlight vs trackball that I question . As mentioned - I don’t feel they should be using space bar anyway- it is not intuitive. Thank you for the link - I did post my opinions to 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

Goodhikers wrote:

• Larry,

• 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.

After the cursor gets larger slide your finger down slightly to just below the line the cursor is on; the cursor will not follow unless you move your finger down below the next line. You can then see the word AND the larger cursor, and move it anywhere in the text widget.

I know I’m a bit late to the game but wanted to share the solution I found for anyone who is struggling with this same issue. Just go to Settings >General>Keyboard and toggle off the “slide to text” option. I feel like I have my iPhone texting life back!

If you have a spelling error and do not get a suggestion, if you highlight the word, you can cut or just start typing a replacement. Once you get the keyboard to change to the trackpad, I've not experienced a problem with moving the cursor around, it can take a little finesse to get used to because if the size of the screen I've found.

I agree--I don't like either of the two new methods--but the spacebar one works the best for me, particularly on my iphone with my fat fingers!

Unfortunately, Apple being Apple, it is unlikely they will change back since they "know what is best for you" and these are now their approved methods. Its one reason I'll never own a Mac...but with a family of iphones for the past 15 years, we are pretty much caught up in that ecosystem for mobiles.

--Ed G

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

Feedback to Apple goes here, Feedback - iPhone - Apple not here on the forum.

switch gliding cursor to precise. Large cursor helps too.

It does not require 2 hands. See this page from the iPhone User Guide that enhances what Idris says about the spacebar movement. Type with the onscreen keyboard on iPhone - Apple Support

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.

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.