I don’t see “Select All” option when I highlight text on iPhone

Since I’ve updated to iOS 16.5, the “select all” option when highlighting text on my iPhone is no longer there. I want to see the “select all” option when I am typing something (highlighting the words I just wrote)


how to fix this?


[Re-Titled by Moderator]

iPhone 11

Posted on Jun 13, 2023 10:36 AM

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Question marked as Best reply

Posted on Nov 13, 2023 12:21 PM

I’ll never update my phone again if we lose options like select all . Wtf is apple thinking

85 replies

Oct 26, 2023 9:09 AM in response to MadameCassie

It is a feature. Apple determined that it is better for you not to be able to select all. All is too much for the user to handle.


Apple has instead chosen to only allow you to select small amounts of text because ALL is too much. Also, select all allowed some users to select all of an article or other text and this allowed them to save a whole story from a site.


This is not a profitable thing for publishers so Apple decided that the publisher should be taken care of over the user. Apple doesn’t just think that selecting all is bad for you as a user, but also bad for big businesses which are more important than the annoying user.


Please accept this and understand you are not the center of the world and your opinion is not important to Apple. In fact, if we can be honest, it’s kind of annoying that you think that your opinion matters to Apple to begin with.


Thank you for your patronage.

Nov 10, 2023 9:44 AM in response to MadameCassie

I figured it out. Woohoo. So (1) highlight the first word you want to delete. (2) when the blue dots appear take the end dot (end of the word) slide it to the beginning dot. The options will appear scroll over to select all. Note: Select all does not appear unless both dots are together at the beginning of your selection. Hope this helps everyone.

Dec 12, 2023 4:07 PM in response to tsteele93

What are wholly bizarre answer! If you really are employed by Apple, I think you need to have some helpful instruction about how to present information concerning users. What needs to happen here is if you really are removing “select all” as an option, you’ll explain it in someway that is a win for both the users and the people presenting material on the web. The way you have presented it is a loss for users, and if this remains the next time I’ll be considering a phone it won’t be Apple….


And completely amazing is your idea that users don’t matter, which you present in the last part.

Nov 10, 2023 9:45 AM in response to Shonya

I figured it out. Woohoo. So (1) highlight the first word you want to delete. (2) when the blue dots appear take the end dot (end of the word) slide it to the beginning dot. The options will appear scroll over to select all. Note: Select all does not appear unless both dots are together at the beginning of your selection. Hope this helps everyone.

Mar 29, 2024 9:24 AM in response to tsteele93

First of all you are completely incorrect, so I’m not sure why you’re forming your response with such a confident tone as if you were an Apple developer or even remotely connected to the company. And then in addition to that to just be completely rude and passive aggressive/sarcastic at the end of your comment is just uncalled for. this is simply a user who is frustrated about Apple taking away the ease of use for a functionality that many people use. But to correct you, it’s not a feature that was removed. It’s just a feature that was simply changed in it gesture activation. So I would , advise you to do your own research before acting so superior in these forms and then attacking other individuals for expressing their concerns and disappointment Apple features. The original poster in no way stated anything that makes them believe Apple revolves around them. That is a component that you added in your own attack to belittle that person. Keep everything friendly and supportive in these forms as people come here for help demean others like yourself simply misinformed about issues here. And just so you know, I actually AM an apple software engineer who can verify that there is no truth to what you’re saying in regards to why the feature was Changed. And that is changed and not removed as you seem to believe. Unfortunately change became a lot more complicated than it used to be, but it certainly is still a feature. There’s no room for disrespect here.

I don’t see “Select All” option when I highlight text on iPhone

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