Apple makes a mistake in the use of apostrophes. There are no apostrophes with plural nouns or names of days, etc. It should be the Johnsons, NOT Johnson’s, Mondays, NOT Monday's. How can I complain directly to Apple? I’m tired of deleting misplaced apostrophes all the time. There is no way to list this as a substitution because it’s a rule, not a specific word.
I brought this up with Apple Support about two years ago, just before turning off autocorrect permanently. Despite protestations to the contrary by Apple, who insisted that the dictionary is professionally curated, this is clearly no longer the case. The dictionary we all share today is maintained by the entire user base. This means that as more illiterate iPhone users change its to it's and their to there, and iPhones to iPhone's, Apple's Bayesian dictionary allows those errors to percolate to the top, displacing the spelling and grammar rules instituted by the professionals way back when Steve Jobs introduced the first iPhone to the world.
The Bayesian process of maintaining the dictionary also causes us to contribute to the problem. Every time we accept an erroneous word before noticing the error and going back to correct it, we register one vote for the incorrect entry and another one for the correct one. As George Carlin put it, "Artificial intelligence is no match for natural stupidity."
It is saddening to see that this problem has not been addressed yet.
Hey there ronniefromvoorhees,
Based on your post it appears you'd like to submit some feedback regarding apostrophes with auto-correct. Is that right? We're happy to advise.
Please keep in mind you can always utilize the add words to your spelling dictionary feature. You can add words to the dictionary on your device used by iWork and other apps so that it recognizes the words and includes it in spell check. You can also find the link to submit Apple feedback below.
Set up auto-correction and add words to your spelling dictionary in Pages, Numbers, and Keynote
Cheers!
It is about two years ago, and I was boiling mad at the time, but I believe I contacted Support via the link at the top of the page. I don't remember if I spoke by phone or by online chat, but I too was told that my solution was to populate my personal dictionary with my "preferred spellings". With seven devices in my extended family, two operated by someone for whom English is a second language, it was simpler to deactivate auto-incorrect function.
I am pleased to make your acquaintance. Misery likes company.
That feature is not applicable to this situation because it is not a specific word. It is a grammar rule regarding apostrophes. You have it wrong. NO APOSTROPHES IN PLURALS unless it also shows possession.
I agree with your understanding of the rule, but it is my impression that iOS autocorrect does not always understand the difference between plural usage and possessive usage. It is not even clear how much it tries.
Thanks for your response, but if iOS is going to "correct" something, it should do it right. Does anyone know how I can reach Apple directly about this? I think it’s really terrible that my correct word are changed to mistakes, and I am forever stuck with having to re-correct them. Plus I am tired of receiving emails with names misusing apostrophes.
This doesn’t help correct the error, but at least I know there is someone out there as bothered by this as I am. How did you manage to contact Apple to even get a response from them? And you are right. The more this is used incorrectly, the more it’s accepted as correct.
Misplaced apostrophes in auto correct.
