IPad double spacing in FaceBook posts

"The ONLY way i've found to fix it, is to STOP using your ipad."

Well, that's a bit dramatic. I still use my iPad and just type my comments in another app (I use Drafts, for example) and then copy-paste into the Facebook field. I had been doing that anyway for longer comments to avoid accidentally posting before I was finished. The phone might be better/easier for brief replies, but the copy-paste method on iPad (particularly if you use split view) works just fine.

Best solution I found is to use puffin browser available in the apps store. No issues with double spacing.

My bad should be clear history and website data. That worked for me

Apple will never ‘fix’ it because it’s not apple that’s broken, it’s how Facebook codes their page. Facebook needs to fix it...but I wouldn’t hold my breath.

I found another workaround: use the “voice keyboard” to dictate your comments. Tap the mic icon next to the space bar.

UPDATE: I was having this problem on my ipad using ios 10.2.1, but i just updated my ios to 12.1.1, the newest version and the problem seems to have gone away.....for now anyway? Fingers crossed it doesn’t come back.

I found a work around solution for the double spacing on Facebook on another issues website. They said to hit shift key +enter instead of just enter. It worked for me, although it’s annoying to remember to do that.

re: Rolo999 - that solution seems to have worked for a couple of people at least temporarily but does not work for everyone - further in some cases it makes the client look correct, but other viewers still the posts as weirdly double-spaced and mis-formatted.

Also - as far as I can tell with A/B testing and a lot of variations - it's definitely a Facebook browser bug on iPad specifically and does indeed seem to be connected to the way the Facebook HTML forms interface with iPad's keyboard and associated features (autocorrect, emojis etc) - one more question for folks - I'm invariably using a keyboard cover. Is anyone testing with the on screen or external Bluetooth keyboards?

Although the bug expresses itself in different ways and with some inconsistent behaviors - the double spacing seems to be the most common - and the compounding problem is that it sometimes doesn't appear on the poster's screen -- but almost universally reformats with double spaces and other format and typographical horrors on the posts as viewed by other readers.

You can sometimes see it yourself when you hit post - but not always - and it can reveal itself when you try to edit the post. Cutting and pasting from other apps doesn't help as the Facebook text parses and adds the spaces after they're pasted from your cache, regardless of the ascii origin.

Every now and then I've asked my wife to look because it looks fine from my end no matter what I do -- but it's always broken on her screen - so it's seemingly connected to your overall Facebook account being signed in (or related cookies) but that's not surprising because Facebook requires accounts to be logged in to function regardless of activity.

And I continue to send reports to Facebook and admire the sheer echoing vastness of their silence.

Remember that it's possible readers see different formatting than the person posting does. In fact that scenario is the way many folks on this thread discovered that the problem even existed. Many users have simply not seen their posts from another user's perspective and they can look normal during creation and upon submit, but contain double spacing for every other viewer. Worth asking your friends what they're seeing and on what devices.

I’ve had people review my comments and while they look double-spaced to me, they look normal to them. I don’t have any problems with the double-spacing or double word corrections anywhere on FB except in comments. Tonight I noticed that if I used the correction choices presented by my iPad keyboard rather than assuming the auto-correct would deal with it, there were no problems and no double-spacing. That’s not to say the inconvenience is assuaged.

I just installed the public beta of iPadOS 13 on my iPad Mini 4. Sadly, I can confirm that the double-spacing behavior is still there. I went ahead and submitted a detailed report on the issue (including video of the phenomenon) through their Feedback app.

I know it's almost certainly a Facebook-caused issue, but since "desktop-class browsing" is a headline feature of iPadOS 13 and this is happening in the desktop version of Facebook's website, perhaps Apple will be more likely to seek a workaround/fix now (especially with reports during the beta period).

I encourage any who can spare an iPad for a month of beta iPadOS to install it and submit bug reports about this. The more attention/replication it gets, the better! (If you do report, focus on the fact that it's happening in iPadOS 13; not sure whether saying it existed in iOS would help or hinder their likelihood of fixing it from their end.)

Hi SPicard65,

What I will suggest to you is that whenever you write Facebook posts or commenting on Facebook posts, you make a draft in Notes first, then you copy and paste to Facebook.

Hope this helps.

It’s true that you can briefly create a fix by tinkering with some keyboard settings - like disabling autocorrect or switching keyboards, but the problem always returns. It’s a Facebook setting and they have been aware of it since 2017. Although I’m speculating, my dear moderators, I suspect that Facebook won’t “apply resources to fixing it” because they would much prefer iPad users to switch to the App, even though it’s extremely poorly formatted for larger screens - because it gathers more user data and also splits messaging out of the functionality and into the secondary app - which I am not speculating about since Facebook has stated they’d prefer people use the app for messaging on iOS.

Now, I’ve updated to 13.1.1 (and a new 12.9 Pro) and not only is the issue still present, it is now compounded by the occasional and inconsistent, but easy to repro repeating of single or multiple words, as you type - so you may type a sentence and see it magically transform magically transform in front of of your eyes with repeated instances of phrasing or words.

I have contacted Facebook through their bug reporting channels multiple times and never received a response on this item - yet I sent a couple of bug reports on unrelated matters and received automated and personal responses quite quickly. I’m not paranoid or a conspiracist but at this point, the real losers are my friends who are going to continue to endure posts that start To Look Look like this this because I ain’t switching.

What version of iOS are you all using? I updated from version 10 to the newest version yesterday and I no longer have this problem.