How to Change the Auto-Correct Setting on an iPhone

To turn auto-correction on or off on an iPhone, open Settings, tap General, tap Keyboard, and use the Auto-Correction switch. The same screen has the Predictive Text switch and Text Replacement, which you can use to stop your iPhone from changing one specific word while leaving Auto-Correction on.

These steps cover Apple’s built-in onscreen keyboard on iOS 27, the current version, and they match iOS 18 and iOS 26. They also work on an iPhone 13 or any other model running those versions. The underlined-correction feature needs iOS 17 or later, and the separate inline predictions switch needs iOS 18 or later.

The steps follow Apple’s How to use Auto-Correction and predictive text article and its iPhone User Guide pages on typing with the onscreen keyboard and predictive text. You need nothing except the iPhone, and every switch here can be flipped back at any time.

How to Turn Auto-Correction On or Off

Auto-Correction is the feature that changes a word after you type it. Apple says it uses your keyboard dictionary to spellcheck words as you type and that it is on by default.

1. Open the Settings app.
2. Tap General, then tap Keyboard.
3. Scroll to the All Keyboards section.
4. Turn Auto-Correction off (the switch turns gray) or on (the switch turns green).

The change takes effect right away. There is no Save button, and you do not need to restart the iPhone. To undo it, come back to the same screen and flip the switch the other way.

There is also a shortcut that works from any app. While the keyboard is open, touch and hold the emoji key or the globe key, then tap Keyboard Settings. That opens the same Keyboard screen without leaving what you were writing.

To confirm it worked, open Notes, start a new note, and type a common misspelling such as “teh” followed by a space. With Auto-Correction off, the word stays as you typed it. If Check Spelling is still on, it gets a red underline instead, and you can tap it to see suggested spellings.

What the Other Keyboard Switches Do

The All Keyboards section holds several switches that are easy to confuse with Auto-Correction. Turning one off does not change the others.

Switch	What it does when on
Auto-Capitalization	Capitalizes the first word of a sentence and many proper nouns
Auto-Correction	Replaces misspelled words as you type
Check Spelling	Underlines misspelled words in red without changing them
Enable Caps Lock	Lets you double-tap Shift to type in all capitals
Predictive Text	Shows suggested words above the keyboard
Show Predictions Inline	Shows a suggested word or phrase in gray text as you type
Smart Punctuation	Changes straight quotes to curly quotes and two hyphens to a dash
“.” Shortcut	Types a period and a space when you double-tap the Space bar

If iPhone keeps capitalizing an ordinary word, the switch you want is Auto-Capitalization, not Auto-Correction. To type in all capitals, you can turn on Caps Lock on iPhone with the Enable Caps Lock switch. The exact list can vary with the languages you have added, so you may see a few more or fewer switches.

Fix One Bad Correction Without Turning It Off

You may not need to turn anything off. In iOS 17 and later, Auto-Correction temporarily underlines the words it corrects. Tap the underlined word and choose an option from the pop-up menu to put back what you meant.

You can also stop a correction before it happens. When the suggestion row shows your own word in quotation marks, tap it, and iPhone keeps what you typed. To reject a suggested correction, tap the x next to it; reject the same suggestion a few times and iPhone stops suggesting it.

If one name or unusual word keeps getting changed, add it to iPhone Text Replacement with the Shortcut field left blank. The steps are in the Text Replacement section below.

How to Turn Predictive Text On or Off

Predictive Text does not change what you typed. It offers words, emoji, and information you might want next. The choices are based on your past conversations, writing style, and even websites you visit in Safari. Suggestions show up in two places: in a row above the keyboard, and inline, as gray text that completes the word or phrase you are typing.

1. While typing, touch and hold the emoji key or the globe key.
2. Tap Keyboard Settings.
3. Turn Predictive Text off to stop seeing suggestions, or on to bring them back. On some versions the switch is labeled Predictive.
4. To keep the suggestion row but hide the gray completions, leave Predictive Text on and turn off Show Predictions Inline.

Turning off Predictive Text turns off both the suggestions and the inline predictions. You can also reach these switches through Settings > General > Keyboard.

When an inline prediction appears, tap the Space bar to accept it or keep typing to reject it. To use a suggestion above the keyboard, tap it. To ignore the suggestions, tap your original word (the option shown in quotation marks) or continue typing.

Using an iPad? The iPad has its own steps to turn off predictive text, plus separate settings for an external keyboard.

How to Set Up Text Replacement Shortcuts

Text Replacement is a list of shortcuts that you create yourself. Apple’s example: type “GM” and “Good morning” replaces it. One shortcut, “omw” for “On my way!”, is already set up.

1. Go to Settings > General > Keyboard > Text Replacement.
2. Tap the Add button (the plus sign).
3. Type the full text in the Phrase field.
4. Type the short version in the Shortcut field.
5. Tap Save. The new entry appears in the list.

To stop iPhone from replacing a word you use, Apple’s text replacement guide says to enter the word or phrase in the Phrase field and leave the Shortcut field blank. Type it exactly as you want it to appear, including capital letters.

To delete an entry, open Text Replacement, tap Edit, tap the Remove button next to the entry, tap Delete, then tap Done.

If You Use a Third-Party Keyboard

The switches in Settings control Apple’s keyboard only. Keyboards you install from the App Store, such as Gboard or Microsoft SwiftKey, keep their own auto-correct settings inside their own app. Open that keyboard’s app and look in its settings for an autocorrect or spell check option.

To switch keyboards, touch and hold the globe key while typing. A list of the keyboards you have added appears. Pick your language’s Apple keyboard if you want the Settings switches in this guide to apply.

Troubleshooting Keyboard Settings

A switch or label is missing

Depending on the version, the switch may read Predictive or Predictive Text, and predictive text and inline predictions may not be supported in your language. If you do not see a setting, check that you are in the All Keyboards section, then install any pending iOS update in Settings > General > Software Update. The Show Predictions Inline switch only appears on iOS 18 and later.

The setting changed but one app still corrects words

Apps with their own text editor, and third-party keyboards, can have separate correction settings. Type the same word in Notes with the standard keyboard to check whether the iPhone setting is working. If Notes behaves as expected, look for a spelling or autocorrect option in the other app.

Auto-Correction has learned bad habits

You can reset the keyboard dictionary. Warning: This deletes all custom words and shortcuts and returns the keyboard dictionary to its default state. Apple does not describe a way to undo it, so write down any text replacements you want to keep first.

1. Go to Settings > General > Transfer or Reset iPhone.
2. Tap Reset. Do not choose Erase All Content and Settings, which removes everything on the iPhone. The Reset menu also contains options such as Delete All eSIMs, so read each label before you tap.
3. Tap Reset Keyboard Dictionary.
4. Enter your passcode, then tap Reset Dictionary.

The reset takes effect right away and does not require a restart. Apple’s reset settings page describes each option on that screen.

Frequently Asked Questions

More iPhone Guides

Start with the smallest change: fix the one word, then decide whether you still want Auto-Correction off. These guides cover related settings:

• How to show or hide notifications on the Lock Screen
• How to turn off System Haptics on iPhone
• What each iPhone reset option does