Iphone Keyboard Problem Switching In & Out Of “123” keyboard

I think I know what the issue is. It’s related to the design of 13. There is not enough gap between keyboard and edge of phone so it’s your hand tapping the shift key that triggers the numbers. Took me a while to figure out *** was going on on my side too. I think if you get a case that provides a little gap, it might help.

Like many others in this thread have already alluded to, this is most likely happening because the skin on your palm is hitting the ‘123’ button inadvertently while typing. One solution would be to change your hand positioning, but I didn’t want to change something that felt comfortable to me as I was already accustomed to it.

Instead, the fix that I found was to turn on the ‘one-handed keyboard’ setting to ‘Right’ (settings -> general -> keyboard). Another benefit of turning on this setting is that it spaces the keys closer together, which is how my iPhone 12 mini keyboard was like.

See photo below:

I have been having the same problem on both the iPhone 12 and 13. I went through all the keyboard settings and changed the Haptic Touch from “fast” to “slow”. It is in settings>accessibility>touch>Haptic Touch.

Ever since I made that change it doesn’t switch to numbers while I am typing.

I am having the same problem as tanjapop. My brand new iPhone 13 pro max’s keyboard is spontaneously switching to number keys without my finger going near the “123” key.

I have tried a keyboard reset. I have also just tried a factory reset - neither of which worked. Is this a bug that could potentially be fixed with a software update or do you think that this could be a problem with the hardware and I need a new phone? Please give me some insight… It is very frustrating!

You are exactly correct! I’ve switched iPhones and still had the same problem. I realized it is the new design of the iPhone! So I had used apple’s original phone case and had this issue so I switched to a wider case such as casetify and no longer have this issue! I can’t believe it was simple as a new case to fix it. Thank you!

The same thing keeps happening to me, and as far as I can tell I think the cause is that the rectangular "123" button in the lower left corner is so close to the edge of the screen that it gets activated by the meaty part of my palm when I'm reaching up or across with my left thumb while typing. So I think the solution might be as simple (and unattainable) as Apple shrinking the width of the "123" button and shifting it towards the space bar so that it is less likely to get grazed unintentionally by a non-finger part of the hand and activated. Short of having to wear some non-conductive fingerless gloves to keep my palms from contacting the edge of the screen or growing longer thumbs, that is..... Actually, wearing some bicycling gloves would be a good way to test if inadvertent palm contact is what is turning on the number keyboard.

Hello and welcome to Apple Support Communities tanjapop,

We see that you're having an issue with the keyboard on your iPhone. We'd be happy to look into this with you.

First, we'd like to have you restart your iPhone and test to see if the issue remains. If the issue remains, the next thing you can try is to reset your Keyboard Dictionary. Go to Settings > General > Transfer or Reset iPhone > Reset. A pop up should show Reset Keyboard Dictionary.

Restart your iPhone

If the issue remains after trying these steps and you're running the latest version (15.0.1) of software, you'll want to reach out to Apple Support.

Get Support

Thank you for using Apple Support Communities.

I’ve had this keyboard issue with the X, the 12, 12 pro max, and now my 13 pro. My husband had the 12 pro max and now the 13 pro max and I can type on his phone no problem, never had the same issue on his devices. I’m using an otter box commuter case that hugs the sides and doesn’t touch the screen. My keyboard flips to numeric almost every time I hit the letter “T”. Makes me want to throw it out of a window after smashing it with a hammer.

The same exact thing is happening to me. I had to do a million Genius Bar appointments before they’d finally agree to send me a replacement iPhone 13, and when they did THIS ONE IS DOING IT TOO. Even without backing up From iCloud. I think apple is in major denial about this issue. They’ve not helped at all. I found even a display 13 at the apple store that was doing this.

Literally having the same exact experience right now. While I was in the store for the second or third time I even pointed out to staff that one of the DISPLAY iPhone 13s had this same glitch!! It’s such a nuisance. I think they need to be recalled

There are enough people here for an important complaint, yet Apple is not doing anything. What is this forum actually for? What happened to Apples integrity? You are acting more and more like an airline company.

I have been a faithful Apple customer for 15 years and the only time that there was an issue (Mac Book 2011), Apple reimbursed us who had a failed product a little money for the trouble. Did not fix the issue but it was better than nothing. Does the company not take responsibility for issues with keyboards anymore? Both appointments at the Genius Bar that I had were negligent, and tried to get rid of the problem by saying it's a software issue but couldn't help passed that point. Now every time I have to type my messages, every single time they are full of typos, and I have to correct as I go. A message that would take 2 second takes 30, and so forth.

Software problem...How about you Fix the keyboard problem so that the "software problem" is no longer affecting the keyboard?

I have been having the same problem and it is very frustrating. I have spent many hours on the phone with apple trying to fix it and nothing works. The most annoying thing is that each time I talk to an apple tech person I have to explain and prove that it is happening. The one thing I can recommend to people having the same problem is to screen record it happening so that they believe you. One operator actually laughed at me because she said she never heard of this happening and then apologized for laughing.

I think it’s apple in general, cause I have an iPhone 12 and this has been going on ever since the last few updates. my phone has now been updated to iOS 16 but it’s still doing it. But glad I’m not the only one with this issues. maybe if enough people complain about it it’ll get fixed I guess.