iPhone 5s, has a gray oval over texting box in iMessage
my iPhone 5s has a gray oval over the texting box in iMessage. I cannot see what I'm texting until I send the message
iPhone 5s
A significant number of people are having that problem since iOS 9. One solution (at least a temporary one) is to quit Messages and then double-click the Home button to open the app switcher. In the app switcher find the Messages app and slide it up to remove it. Then close app switcher by clicking the Home button. That should solve the problem -- for a while at least.
Other solutions that are working for some (at least temporarily) include: restarting the phone, or going to Settings > Messages and toggle either the Show Subject Field or Character Count setting or turn Raise to Listen off.