Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

baryon

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Oct 3, 2009
3,883
2,942
I use two languages when using my phone: Hungarian and English. In iOS, you have to add both keyboards separately and switch between them when switching languages. Of course I always forget to do this and type half my sentence on the wrong keyboard and it's incredibly annoying as the autocorrect fights me.

Another issue is swipe to type. I really like this feature but it only works in English, not Hungarian, for some reason. So I have to keep remembering that I can only use it in one language and not the other.

The third issue is punctuation. All 3rd party keyboards have a dedicated button that you can press and hold for ! ? . , etc... iOS doesn't have this, you have to do it in two steps. So typing one question mark requires you to press the punctuation button, then the question mark, then press the punctuation button again to exit this mode. On other keyboards it's one press, drag, and then release.

iOS also has a very poor autocorrect in Hungarian, that corrects words that are already correct. For example, if I type "run" it might correct it to "running". Or if I type "black" it might correct it to "blacksmith". Also, if you type a word that only has one mistake, it might completely change the word. So for example if you type something like "congratukations" it might correct it to something absolutely insane like "constitutionalities" instead of just fixing the obvious tiny mistake.

So why not use 3rd party keyboards that all offer these features? Because they keep freezing and bugging out. I've tried Swiftkey, Swipe and Gboard, and they all have the same issue: about one time out of 5, when you start typing, they just don't respond. You have to quit the app, relaunch it, and find your way back to where you were and try again. Doing this 10 times a day is not a solution.

So what can you do? When the iPhone came out in 2007 everyone complained about autocorrect. It's nearly 2022 and there still isn't a convenient way to type on an iPhone. Why can't it just work?
 

EM2013

macrumors 68020
Sep 2, 2013
2,480
2,309
The third issue is punctuation. All 3rd party keyboards have a dedicated button that you can press and hold for ! ? . , etc... iOS doesn't have this, you have to do it in two steps. So typing one question mark requires you to press the punctuation button, then the question mark, then press the punctuation button again to exit this mode. On other keyboards it's one press, drag, and then release.
Tap & hold the punctuation button then slide your finger to whichever punctuation you need & let go. It automatically changes the keyboard back to letters.
 
  • Like
Reactions: ericwn and aue123

IndianBird

macrumors 65816
Dec 28, 2009
1,107
869
lol.. try pressing and holding the 123 button and drag it to the question mark then release. it’ll do exactly what you want it to do!!!

They typed that mile long post to complain about something that works just like they want it to.

The internet strikes again.
 
  • Like
Reactions: aue123

baryon

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Oct 3, 2009
3,883
2,942
They typed that mile long post to complain about something that works just like they want it to.

The internet strikes again.
No, I typed the post to ask for solutions, and I got a solution within minutes, that's how the internet works indeed. Now if you got back and actually read the whole post, I have several other problems that have not been addressed, such as multilingual typing, bad autocorrect, lack of swipe to type in Hungarian and the incessant crashing of 3rd party keyboards.

The internet strikes again! Typical commenter doesn't read entire OP and then complains without actually providing any solution. And then claims others are doing the same.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Saladin12

sjperformance

macrumors 68000
Oct 7, 2013
1,994
2,147
Miami 305
I honestly think iPhones have always had the best on screen keyboards. I was always a blackberry guy. I needed my keyboard. Blackberry's had the best keyboards in the past. I always wanted to have a touchscreen but with an actual keyboard. So when RIM announced the BB 9900 I was super excited. The trackpad was also badass. Ohhhh the good old blackberry days. Shortly after the 4S was announced. It is then that my iPhone desire began. Upon using the on screen keyboard I was sold on it. I even got a 2nd line because I couldn't decide what to do. Took me the trial period to decide. Cancelled the extra line. Switched the BB to the 4S. Sold the BB9900 on eBay. The rest is history. I'm sure many on here didn't use or will ever use a BB keyboard. So believe me it took a great keyboard on the iPhone to take a blackberry guy for years to ultimately ditch BB. I never looked back. In my opinion iPhones keyboards are the best and easiest to use.
 

mattfro

macrumors newbie
Aug 7, 2019
27
24
Sweden
I used swiftkeyboard and gboard on my android phone... because I use 3 languages all the time. Then I dont need to change the languages when I type. I like that idea. Is it possible on apples keyboard?

Also I miss the number row...alot. Takes much time to always change the view of the keyboard. Should be like on the ipad keyboard, press and hold or was it something like that.
 

baryon

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Oct 3, 2009
3,883
2,942
I used swiftkeyboard and gboard on my android phone... because I use 3 languages all the time. Then I dont need to change the languages when I type. I like that idea. Is it possible on apples keyboard?

Also I miss the number row...alot. Takes much time to always change the view of the keyboard. Should be like on the ipad keyboard, press and hold or was it something like that.
That's exactly my problem: there's no simultaneous support for language switching on the iOS default keyboard. So every single time I start a conversation or type anything anywhere, there's a 50% change I have the wrong keyboard selected. And usually I only realize this half way into the sentence when it tries to correct every word I type.
 

Sammy in SoCal

macrumors 6502
Sep 18, 2021
491
1,055
That's exactly my problem: there's no simultaneous support for language switching on the iOS default keyboard. So every single time I start a conversation or type anything anywhere, there's a 50% change I have the wrong keyboard selected. And usually I only realize this half way into the sentence when it tries to correct every word I type.
Buy an android. Problem solved.
 
  • Like
Reactions: sjperformance

mattfro

macrumors newbie
Aug 7, 2019
27
24
Sweden
Buy an android. Problem solved.
I had a android and givning iPhone a chance. Some things are better on android some are better on iPhone. :)
These small thing’s are annoying. But I guess we could suggest this to apple? But, probably they won’t do anything to i.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.