iMessage - gray bar covering text entry field

I upgraded to iOS 9 on my iPhone 5s, and later that day a gray bar with "0:00" appeared over the text field of the iMessage app so that I can no longer see what I'm typing.


I restarted but that didn't fix it. Then, for no apparent reason, the gray bar disappeared for a few days. But now it's back. Restarting has fixed it this time (so far), but I'm worried this will keep happening, and that restarting won't always fix it.


Any idea what's causing it?


Thanks


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iPhone 5s, iOS 8.4, null

Posted on Sep 22, 2015 7:10 PM

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Posted on Oct 22, 2015 4:35 PM

jacki36243 wrote:


Same thing - its annoying. A temp solution is close the conversation and then restart it like it is a new conversation - type the person's name etc - the whole convo will show up without the gray bar. It keeps coming back but seems to work for a while. Annoying to say the least.

A permanent solution is to update to 9.1, which fixes the problem.

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Oct 22, 2015 4:35 PM in response to jacki36243

jacki36243 wrote:


Same thing - its annoying. A temp solution is close the conversation and then restart it like it is a new conversation - type the person's name etc - the whole convo will show up without the gray bar. It keeps coming back but seems to work for a while. Annoying to say the least.

A permanent solution is to update to 9.1, which fixes the problem.

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Sep 22, 2015 7:33 PM in response to st_sf

I have it too. Seems to only shows up (for me) when I am trying to text non-Apple device users or when an Apple device user chooses not to have i-message turned on. It does go away for awhile if I delete the current message string and start again but thats not too great when you are trying to have a conversation.

Waiting for a solution from Apple. Not holding my breath though.

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Sep 22, 2015 7:54 PM in response to Adamant360

@Adamant360 - That's interesting. Mine appears on all messages, no matter which type of phone the recipient has. I also tried deleting text strings and reopening them but that didn't get rid of it. What's even more strange (and may be unrelated) is that when I touch the gray bar, I see a tool tip that says "Paste" and if I tap it, it inserts a photo I took several months ago. I deleted the picture from the Photos app to see if it made any difference. Nope. Do you have anything like that?

@zara882- Also hoping we get an answer!

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Oct 2, 2015 1:07 PM in response to st_sf

Now the grey bar appears on all messages no matter who it is to. Yesterday I downloaded the patch hoping maybe that this issue was one of the ones being addressed but no- go. I have found several other iphone users with this problem so I would think they are aware of it.

Maybe?

Getting to be a real pain.

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Oct 4, 2015 1:22 PM in response to st_sf

Same problem here. I've seen posts suggesting turning on character count. Mine is turned on but I still get the grey bar. Not sure what triggers it. For now it seems random and infrequent. Restarting the phone definitely gets rid of it but not permanently. And restarting is certainly inconvenient, especially in the middle of a conversation.

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Oct 4, 2015 6:21 PM in response to st_sf

I just noticed this today for the first time. I was out of town all weekend. When I got back to my home city of Denver, I wanted to text a friend of my arrival, who is not in Denver, and found the 0:00 in the text field. I couldn't see anything I was typing on my iPhone 5s. I did the reset (Home and On/Off button) on the way home, and it did clear the 0:00, but the texts still didn't go through. She has an iPhone 5, though not sure what iOS she's running, and none of my texted would go through until I got home and reconnected to my home WiFi. Very strange, but not my only problem.


Several times over the weekend, I, and many others who were attending the wedding I was at, had their iPhones acting glitchy. We'd tap ANY app and the phone would black out for a second then return to the home screen. I did the reset and it cleared that issue for me, so I passed it along to others. This was a problem in iOS 8 versions too. Seems upgrading to iOS 9 and 9.0.1 didn't change this. Will report it to Apple.

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Oct 6, 2015 3:04 PM in response to st_sf

Having the exact same issue on my brand new iPhone 6s... seriously not impressed. The character count trick worked but not sure if thats a permanent fix. Getting tired of Apples fan fair for every new product only to find out that its actually flakey. Another issue Samsung and Windows fans can use to embarrass Apple users for spending more money for a so called "premium" product.

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Oct 6, 2015 7:48 PM in response to schoodle

Since I did the phone reset on Sunday, with the Home and On/Off buttons, I have not seen the grey bar with 0:00 come back. I just turned on the Character Count in Settings>Messages after reading this here, but not sure it will change anything, since the issue hasn't returned for me anyway. I really don't know why turning it on or off would make a difference either.

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Oct 22, 2015 4:34 PM in response to st_sf

Same thing - its annoying. A temp solution is close the conversation and then restart it like it is a new conversation - type the person's name etc - the whole convo will show up without the gray bar. It keeps coming back but seems to work for a while. Annoying to say the least.

Reply

Apr 12, 2016 12:40 PM in response to st_sf

I was told by a Mac person that the new iOS download was a bad idea for older phones. I have a 4S, and it may soon ended up thrown against the wall if that ****** gray bar doesn't quit haunting me. There is now a 9.3 version of iOS. Does that make the tortuous bar go away?

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Apr 12, 2016 12:43 PM in response to RUdeliberatelyconfusingme

I've not seen that error since iOS 9.1 was released. You will have to update, but at this time the only iOS you can update to is the latest, iOS 9.3.1. While some people report the device slowing slightly, that generally has to do with the fact the device has very little free space.

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iMessage - gray bar covering text entry field

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