iOS 17: How to Disable Your iPhone's Annoying Inline Predictive Text

Apple released iOS 17.4 on March 5, and the update brought new features, including podcast transcripts and more Stolen Device Protection options, to your iPhone. When Apple released iOS 17.2 in December, the update introduced a lot of new and useful features to your iPhone, like the long-awaited Journal app. iOS 17.2 also lets you disable a feature introduced in iOS 17 in September called inline predictive text. 

Apple wrote online that Inline predictive text is meant to predict what you're going to write as you type, and if you hit space the predicted text would be added to your text. The feature wouldn't always accurately predict what you were typing. So if you hit space, you might add the wrong text to your message. Some people -- myself included -- found the feature annoying, and Apple seemingly heard the complaints and allowed people to turn this feature off with iOS 17.2.

Here's how to turn inline predictive text off.

Turn inline predictive text off

1. Open Settings
2. Tap General
3. Tap Keyboards
4. Tap the switch next to Show Predictions Inline

Now, when you type a message, you won't run the risk of adding a word you don't intend to add. You'll still see predictive text, the suggested words and emoji, over your keyboard. 

Turn all predictive text off

If you find all predictive text annoying, you can easily turn that off, too. Here's how: 

1. Open Settings
2. Tap General
3. Tap Keyboard
4. Tap the switch next to Predictive Text

When you type a message now, you won't see a box over your keyboard with suggested words or emojis. Turning predictive text off also disables inline predictive text, so you won't see any suggestions whatsoever. You can type without interruption.

For more on iOS 17, check out what could be coming to your iPhone with iOS 17.5 and all the latest features included in iOS 17.4. You can also check out our iOS 17 cheat sheet.