IPad double spacing in FaceBook posts

This double spacing on Facebook began for me immediately after installing the 12.0 update. I too only have the problem with Facebook and my iPad on both Safari and Chrome browsers. It’s quite frustrating. I also have the apostrophe issue (which unlike the double spacing isn’t exclusive to Facebook) ie it always changes the word “were” to “we’re”, anytime I type a plural it inserts an apostrophe before the “s”.

I’ve taken to typing my posts/comments on my iPad notepad then copy/pasting to Facebook. That’s a lot easier than hitting backspace after the space bar between each word and removing all the incorrect apostrophes. Either way, it’s an inconvenient pain and it’d be nice if it was fixed.

In safari to the right of address bar click on the REFRESH icon and hold it. Request Desktop site and that will fix your issue. I had the same issue and fixed it like that. Since it does this in both Safari and Chrome IMHO in May be an IOS problem.

If disabling autocorrect In settings works for one part of Facebook but not for another, then it is a Farcebook problem, not an Apple / ipad / ios problem. It’s Faceache’s bug, so only they can help.

In settings > general > keyboard I have Auto-Correction, Auto-Capitalisation, Enable Key Flicks and Enable Dictation all switched OFF. No, I wouldn’t have expected the last 3 to make a difference, BUT it’s a BUG we’re dealing with, and bugs by definition don’t behave logically / as they should, so it’s worth a try. (All the other switches there I have ON). Similarily, in settings > safari I have Block All Cookies OFF🤷‍♂️.

If I type a word eg. “hes” anywhere, it is NOT automatically changed to “he’s”, not even in a Farcebook comment. There I get 2 or 3 suggestions appear in a line below the comment e.g. hes / he’s / hesitate. I can tap any of these to use it, or tap space to leave my word unpunctuated and unchanged.

I have ios 12.1.3

I just submitted this to them -

When using FB via a browser - Safari or Chrome - on an iPad, typing a response often leads to the message being double-spaced, which disappears when it's posted, but, more annoyingly, autocorrect leaves the original version (e.g. "hadnt") preceding the corrected one, which does need to be fixed before posting. There is a long thread about it on Apple Support; it's clearly not an Apple problem but a FB issue. It doesn't happen when the FB app is used, but that offers a far inferior experience and people don't want to switch to it. Here's the thread: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/8627792?answerId=250412950022&page=10

This is driving people to leave FB or at least use it less often, which I'm sure is not the intent.

Hi Butter,

It's not a keyboard hardware issue. The behavior happens regardless of which keyboard is used - Bluetooth, Smart Cover, on-screen software keyboard. The behavior is isolated to specifically iOS on iPads accessing Facebook via a Browser. It is consistent and universal behavior that I suspect is caused by the overly complex nature of Facebook's interaction with the iPad's autocorrect, spellcheck and typing functions at the OS level - and only when using their HTML web forms.

It does not happen on the App - and it seems that Facebook is aware of the issue at this point, but has not stated whether or not it intends to fix it. However, they'd prefer users access Facebook through the two apps (Facebook and Facebook Messenger). Indeed the company has been quite open about its desire to have Facebook Messenger split from Facebook proper - to create a separate business line. The browser versions largely negate the need to do that, so bluntly speaking, Facebook's stated interest would be in having iPad owners migrate to use the two apps. This is inconvenient in my use-case scenario, so I am still hoping for a browser fix from Facebook.

It is not an iOS or hardware issue - beyond the method that Facebook uses to interact with web forms and input on that specific device and software combination. The issue itself is now so well isolated and replicable, that I'd be surprised if it was a complex issue to solve.

I know this is a old post but it’s still pulling up on search when I was trying to find a solution for the same problem I was having. I been having a double spacing gap when using Facebook on my iPad for a very long time now. It was super frustrating as I kept having to hit the arrow key after every word. But I did find a fix! All you do is click on the up arrow key located on the lower left hand side of the keypad. Then also click on the return key. It’s like hitting the Command and Enter keys on a regular keyboard. That should fix the problem as it fixed it for me. Finally I can write my post normal again! Let me know if it worked for you.

This is definitely a Safari issue for me. I can temporarily stop it by clearing all website data in settings, however the problem soon returns. When I use the Firefox Focus browser there is no issue at all.

I’ve been using a 3rd party keyboard from the App Store (Gboard) for the last few weeks & it’s been working 99% without the double spacing error & auto correct working without doubling up on words.

You’ll have to disable the autocorrection / automatic punctuation in settings.

I tried Google, Safari, Firefox and still couldn't get the double space between words to stop. The only solution that worked for me was installing G Board keyboard and using it.

This may or may not help you, but in case it does: I had the same thing happening and it was driving me up the wall. I found out by accident that a Dutch language keyboard layout had been installed at some point. Whether I did that or it the iPad did it by itself, I don't know. But as soon as I removed the Dutch keyboard, everything started working again. The weird autocorrects, inability to backspace, double words, etc were gone. It still double spaces on Facebook though.

I’ve stumbled upon a really stupid work-around for this. (Not sure if it has been suggested in the 5 pages of comments.)

When typing my text into the Facebook comment, I’m careful to ALWAYS use the spelling suggestions in my on-screen keyboard. Doing that, and never hitting the space bar, it seems to avoid the double spacing.

Funnily enough, mine got worse this weekend. I should probably try not to disparage Mark Zuckerberg in my posts...

Still very confident it's Facebook's web scripting/behavior doing weird or bad things when combined with iOS (web/HTML?) forms on iPad. It also occasionally includes typos AND their autocorrect replacement - so it's definitely sucking that behavior from iOS, and it shouldn't be that hard to track down since the symptoms and behavior are so specific.

Definitely not an apple software or hardware issue -- it's all html browsers on iPad only- chrome and dolphin included - so my suspicion is a breakdown or redundant process in how the Facebook iPad browser/html(5?) scripts try to talk to the Apple iPad autocorrect and spelling predictors AND keyboards - it seems like people can affect brief fixes or change the bug's behavior by disabling keyboard and spell check functions and autocorrect features.

I have tried loading different types of keyboard including pinyin and other third party language types - but I believe there's no way to totally override the underlying fundamental ios behaviors. Even with a new keyboard the os still needs the basic infrastructure - and the iPad keyboard iteration isn't identical to the phone - so that's gotta be the pinch point.

It's so widespread, long-term, obvious and reproducible that I don't think it's unfair or paranoid to say that Facebook has prioritized it either very low or "won't fix" and that their customer fix path is to use the two apps and not the browser (something that makes more sense on the phone than on iPad which for many users is effectively a laptop or pc). It's their business and completely up to them but the iPad app is inelegant and chunky looking and I want all my Facebook functions and contacts in the same place since it's a closed loop of people for me. I have no reason to use Facebook messenger except for contacting Facebook friends. Especially on ios.

I've screenshotted, diagrammed and submitted it politely several times but no response.

Okay, if you select shift + enter after you type something in FB, it will take out all of those annoying extra spaces. It’s far from a perfect or permanent solution, but it makes it a bit more bearable until someone decides to fix it.