You can turn off autocorrect in Settings, but most people want to disable it selectively instead

iPhone's autocorrect changes words as you type, usually to fix typos but sometimes to words you never intended. You have three options: turn it off completely in Settings, turn it off for a single message, or add words to your personal dictionary so autocorrect stops changing them.

Most people find complete shutdown too disruptive — you lose the genuine fixes along with the annoying ones. The selective approach works better: let autocorrect help with common mistakes, but stop it from mangling specific words or names you use regularly.

Key Takeaways

  • To disable autocorrect entirely, go to Settings > General > Keyboard and toggle off "Auto-Correction".
  • To disable it for one message only, hold down the word autocorrect just changed, tap the suggestion bar at the top, and select the original word.
  • To prevent autocorrect from changing a word in the future, add it to your dictionary by typing it, letting autocorrect change it, then rejecting the suggestion repeatedly until it learns.
  • Disabling autocorrect completely means you lose real typo fixes, so most people benefit from keeping it on and training it instead.

Turn off autocorrect completely in Settings

Open Settings on your iPhone. Tap General, then Keyboard. You will see a toggle next to "Auto-Correction" — tap it to turn the feature off. The toggle will turn gray, meaning autocorrect is now disabled.

This is the nuclear option. Autocorrect will stop changing anything, which means you will catch your own typos or live with them. Most people regret this choice within a day because autocorrect does fix genuine mistakes — you just notice the bad ones more.

Stop autocorrect from changing one word right now

When autocorrect changes a word you did not want changed, a suggestion bar appears above the keyboard showing the word it substituted. Tap that suggestion to undo the change and use your original word instead.

This works once per message. If you type the same word again in the same conversation, autocorrect will change it again. To make the fix permanent, you need to add the word to your dictionary (see next section).

Train autocorrect to recognize words you use regularly

Every time you reject an autocorrect suggestion, iPhone learns a little. Type the word you want to keep, let autocorrect change it, then tap the suggestion bar to undo it. Do this three or four times with the same word, and iPhone will stop changing it.

This works for names, slang, technical terms, or any word autocorrect keeps mangling. It takes patience but is more effective than turning autocorrect off entirely. You are teaching your phone your actual vocabulary instead of fighting the feature.

You can also add words manually. Go to Settings > General > Keyboard > Text Replacement. Tap the plus sign, type the word in the "Phrase" field, leave "Shortcut" blank, then save. This tells iPhone to never autocorrect that word.

Why autocorrect exists and what it actually does

Autocorrect is a prediction system that watches what you type and guesses what word you meant. It compares each word against a dictionary and a list of common typos. If it finds a close match, it swaps in what it thinks you meant.

The system works by looking at letter patterns. If you type "teh" instead of "the", autocorrect recognizes this as a common transposition and fixes it. If you type "recieve" instead of "receive", it catches the misspelling. But it also makes mistakes — it might change "duck" to "fuck" or your name to something else entirely.

iPhone's autocorrect learns from what you reject. Every time you undo a suggestion, the phone notes that you prefer your original word. Over time, it builds a personal dictionary specific to how you actually write.

Autocorrect vs. spell check: what is the difference

Autocorrect changes words automatically as you type, without asking. Spell check marks words with a red underline and suggests corrections, but leaves the choice to you.

iPhone uses autocorrect by default. If you want spell check instead — where you see the red line but decide whether to accept the suggestion — you can turn off autocorrect and rely on the red underline. However, the red underline only appears after you finish typing a word and move to the next one, so it is slower than autocorrect's real-time fixes.

When to turn autocorrect off completely

Disable autocorrect entirely if you type in multiple languages, write code or technical syntax, or use a lot of slang and abbreviations that autocorrect keeps fighting. For everyday texting and email, keeping it on and training it is usually faster.

If you turn it off, you can still use spell check by enabling the red underline. Go to Settings > General > Keyboard and make sure "Check Spelling" is toggled on. You will see red lines under words the system does not recognize, and you can tap them to see suggestions.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I turn off autocorrect for just one app?

No. Autocorrect is a system-wide setting on iPhone, so turning it off affects every app that uses the keyboard — Messages, Mail, Notes, Safari search, everything. If you need autocorrect off for one app only, you would have to turn it off globally and train your dictionary heavily for the apps where you do want it.

Why does autocorrect keep changing my name?

Your name is not in iPhone's standard dictionary, so autocorrect treats it as a misspelling of a word that is. Add your name to your personal dictionary by typing it, letting autocorrect change it, then rejecting the suggestion several times. After three or four rejections, iPhone will stop changing it.

Does turning off autocorrect save battery?

Slightly, but not enough to notice. Autocorrect uses very little processing power. If you are trying to extend battery life, disabling autocorrect will not make a meaningful difference — focus on screen brightness, background app refresh, or location services instead.

What if autocorrect changed something and I did not notice until after I sent it?

You cannot unsend the message through autocorrect settings. On iPhone, you can use the "Edit" feature in Messages (press and hold the message, tap "Edit") to change what you sent, but only within 15 minutes and only in conversations with people using iMessage. For other apps or after 15 minutes, the message stays as sent.

Can I see a list of all the words I have trained autocorrect to recognize?

Not directly. iPhone does not show you your personal dictionary. However, you can see words you added manually through Text Replacement: go to Settings > General > Keyboard > Text Replacement. Any word you added there will be listed, but words you trained by rejecting suggestions are stored invisibly.