what has happened to predictive text functionality recently?

It reverts to the old functionality if the new predictive text is turned off.

You can go to Settings > General > Keyboards and turn Predictive to on. Another method is to tap and hold the keyboard switch (e.g. emoji key on the keyboard).

Also, if there is a thin gray bar with a white dash in the middle immediately above the keyboard, you can reopen the suggestions by sliding up with one finger on the the white dash. It may take a couple of tries to get it to reopen.

Thanks - I've been scratching my head over that for days!

Thanks for this simple, yet life changing assist!

Thank you FoxFifth. Your reply helped me a lot.

Thanks so much, FoxFifth! I couldn't figure out how to get predictive text back since it was already on. Swiping up on the white line fixed everything! 🙂

Thank you, I've been without this functionality for months, little did I realise that I just had to swipe up on the white line!

Thanks. My predictive was turned on so I turned it off and then back on again and it works fine now.

Thanks a lot! I use predictive text a lot on FB Messenger and find that it speeds up texting.

This really did help thank you again!!!