iPhone 12 Max Pro 14.2 :: Touch Cursor

Hi hansonc,

I was having the exact same issue you are having ever since I upgraded to the new iPhone Pro Max 12. With my old iPhone, I could long-press on any part of the keyboard in order to be able to drop the cursor wherever I wanted with ease. However, I could not get it to work when I switched to the 12 Pro Max. However, I reviewed the “Tips” app on the phone and just figured out the solution.

Just long-press on the space bar to unlock the free cursor feature. You used to be able to long-press anywhere on the keyboard, but now it seems that (at least on the 12 Pro Max) you have to long-press specifically on the space bar for it to work.

I hope this helps and works for you!

The long press on the spacebar works wonderfully! I am glad I was able to find this article.

Thank you, thank you and thank you...this is so helpful. Long press space bar! Life saver!

I actually just figured it out ... instead of pressing or long holding the keyboard to move the cursor ... go into the text itself and hold to move the cursor !

Same thing here and just playing around with the phone and just pressed and held space on my keyboard and walla it shifted as and where I wanted!

longholding the space bar works too !

I was hoping I had just missed some setting after ‘upgrading’ to iPhone 12 Pro Max 😒. Why take a feature away?! It’s just less convenient to use the space bar instead of full keyboard for trackpad access.

Yes , this holds good for iPhone 12 Pro as well . Long press only on spacebar to move the cursor

Hi hansonc,

We appreciate you giving us the chance to assist you with your iPhone 12 Pro Max. Rest assured that we’ll do our best to assist you.

Are you referring to the trackpad feature of the keyboard? If yes, are you dragging around the keyboard to move the insertion point?

You can use the article below as a reference.

Type with the onscreen keyboard on iPhone

Are you using a screen protector or a case? If yes, have you had the chance to check if the issue persists if you remove your screen protector or your case? 

Please keep us posted.

Take care!

Happy to help, @hansonc! I agree, it would be nice to have the ability to press anywhere rather than just the space bar. I’m wondering if it is to avoid confusion with people are long-pressing on characters to bring up alternate characters...I don’t know for sure, but I think the “press anywhere” was a 3D touch feature and since that’s been discontinued, they had to constrain it to a part of the keyboard that doesn’t offer alternate characters.

On my iPhone 12 Pro cursor does come up where I touch the screen, except occasionally it will not move to a new spot easily when I touch on another spot on the screen. I usually have to tap on the screen several times with that new spot before it responds, or else put my finger where the cursor currently is and drag it to the new spot. I talked to AppleCare about this and also the less precise positioning of the cursor when you lift your finger, and he thought that the glass screen protector was reducing the accuracy or response, but that screen protectors were still worthwhile. He also thought when the her cursor didn't respond to touching a new position, it could be temporary freezing of the app.

On my iPhone 12 Pro, sometimes the cursor will appear where you touch the screen, other times it will take several taps to get it to activate, which is annoying, or you can also go to where the cursor is resting, usually at the end of the the last sentence, and drag it to where you want it. Of course it also works from the space bar, but that is counterintuitive.

Echo that! please bring back the full keyboard cursor. long-press the space bar is very least convenient (it's easily gone and you hv to go to space bar every single time) compared to old way of pressure holding anywhere on the keyboard.

The same here, but it seems to be when I try to send an attachment with a text in Messenger. The he long hold on the space bar doesn’t work in this instance, and I can’t go back to correct or make changes in my messenger text. Very frustrating.