Keyboard types the wrong letters in SMS text messages

Question

Level 1

21 points

Keyboard types the wrong letters in SMS text messages

Is anyone else noticing that sometimes when trying to SMS text, even when you are accurately pressing a certain character key on the touch screen, another nearby character instead shows up on the screen? For instance, if I want to type an 'N', sometimes the 'B'or'M' will be selected instead, or the letter 'L' comes up when you are pressing the spacebar. Its like the workings of the touch screen keyboard have shifted over a bit.

Its not me being inaccurate, as I then carefully retry and retry. It goes away after a short while but its so annoying. This is now happening at least everyday and has only been occurring in the last few weeks (maybe since the latest update). Saying this, mostly it does text fine and this oddity will only happen in SMS. Emails, notes etc do not show this problem.

I do have Emoji icons installed on the iPhone - could this be another cause?

Does anyone else have this problem or know how to solve it?

Many thanks

Dan

MacBook Pro 17 Inch

Posted on Sep 24, 2010 4:15 PM

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Answer 1

Best reply

Bish0p34

Level 1

4 points

Dec 19, 2010 11:07 AM in response to lorddlm2

Anyone find a solution for this yet? It's so frustrating. I started to wonder how bad my typing was before I figured out that's what was happening,

I also have Emoji installed.

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Answer 2

Sep 24, 2010 6:05 PM in response to lorddlm2

lorddlm2

Have you tried the basic troubleshooting steps to see if that resolves you issue?

Restart?
Reset?
Restore?

The the manual for full instructions
http://manuals.info.apple.com/enUS/iPhone_iOS4_UserGuide.pdf

If this doesn't do anything, you could try the workaround suggested in this thread
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=11808972&#11808972
by Judge.Judy

+Add in either the English UK keyboard or the English one (whichever you don't already have). Adding a second keyboard but not necessarily using it seemed to help me. Might as well add the other English one so if you switch to it by mistake, it's not giving you a foreign keyboard.+

Hope this helps

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Answer 3

Oct 31, 2010 8:44 PM in response to lorddlm2

Yes! I have had the same problem a few times. It is normally exactly two letters to the left of whatever I am clearly pressing. The issue is solved by hitting the home button and then reopening whatever I was doing. It was only during SMS at one point but today did it while I was posting a Facebook comment. I also have emoji installed and wondered, too, if it may be related.

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Answer 4

Pyrotech

Level 1

0 points

Nov 1, 2010 2:38 AM in response to MichelleRo

Mine did that fresh out of the box- 2nd replacement phone from an Apple authorized repair station. IM not happy at all. THe glass isnt even fully installed, the upper left corner is sticking up. Is this how Apple takes care of its customers? The 1st one they sent me wouldnt Sync with iTunes at all, so I sent it back (after an argument as to whether or not I should pay a deposit), then I get this one. I open the box, dont even take it out of the box and touch the screen and the wrong icons activate when I hit another. Then, I try and type and its all over the place. I can get close to the keyboard and it starts typing by itself! No, no case installed and no screen protector, just in case anyone was going to ask. Resetting and restoring didnt do anything either. Ive been without a phone for 2 weeks and frankly, I dont trust anyone now.

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Answer 5

Dec 19, 2010 11:29 AM in response to lorddlm2

I have the exact same problem! It's extremely annoying... has anyone found a solution?

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Answer 6

Jan 25, 2011 10:56 AM in response to PartyOnTheMoon

I have this problem too. In fact, I upgraded from an iPhone 3G to iPhone 4 recently, only after testing the iPhone 4 in the Apple store, to make SURE that this problem would NOT happen on the new phone. And guess what? It does.

It has to be an app conflict; that's the only thing I can think of.

I just wish I could find a solution online. This is making me hate my phone.

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Answer 7

Feb 10, 2011 8:13 AM in response to badmoomoo72

I love coming here and finding out that I am not the only one. It was making me crazy. Why is this happening?

What temporarily works is toggling back and forth from the number/symbol keyboard.

There needs to be a permanent fix though.

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Answer 8

Feb 19, 2011 3:13 AM in response to lorddlm2

I turned off auto correction on my 3gs and it fixed the issue

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Answer 9

Jun 29, 2011 1:43 AM in response to lorddlm2

just out of curiosity - do you all have protection covers on your screen?

i have this problem too - it bothers me but goes away after 10/15 seconds each time - i can't help but think it has something to do with the covers, but i'm a little reluctant to take mine off as i've put it on perfectly ;-)

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Answer 10

Nov 13, 2016 5:22 PM in response to lorddlm2

Mine is slightly different. When I am typing sometimes it will switch to the symbols/numbers without me pressing that button. Annoys the **** out of me.

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Answer 11

marypain

Level 1

4 points

Jun 20, 2017 2:30 AM in response to lorddlm2

I also have the same problem, however I cracked my screen and I think that is contributing to the current situation...

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Answer 12

marypain

Level 1

4 points

Jun 20, 2017 2:37 AM in response to marypain

and when I thought this problem couldn't get any worse, I need to put my password in to access my phone, however as the keyboard is failing to work, my phone is disabled and I can't get in to it...

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