This iOS 26 Bug Could Be Sabotaging Your Text Messages

By Nadeem Sarwar
Keyboard open on an iPhone. lilgrapher/Shutterstock

Apple began seeding the iOS 26 update widely in September 2025, bringing with it a selection of new features, some of which Android has had for a while. However, it appears that Apple's big yearly software update has broken the keyboard experience for a lot of users. Over the past few weeks, users on social forums have reported issues with keyboard performance.

A recurring theme appears to be typos. This writer has also experienced similar issues after installing the stable build of iOS 26 on their iPhone 17 Pro. It has been extremely frustrating, especially for users who stick with Apple's built-in keyboard for its simplicity instead of using third-party options. Users have shared on social media that they are making more mistakes while typing on the iPhone's on-screen keyboard than usual.

Contrary to speculations that it's a hardware problem due to the thinner bezels on the latest iPhones, SlashGear has seen similar issues on the iPhone 16 Pro, as well. In a video posted on YouTube, a content creator going by the username Michi NekoMichi captured slow-motion footage of typing on an iPhone. In the clip, it can be clearly seen that the keyboard is erroneously inserting a different character and not the one that registered the finger-tap input.

A few users have pointed out that the issue worsens when typing fast. It's unclear whether the typo bug only affects tap-based typing or if it has impeded the swipe-based typing, as well. Moreover, the keyboard keeps registering the occasional wrong button input even after disabling autocorrect.

One problem, multiple faces

Person holding an iPhone. Farknot Architect/Shutterstock

Interestingly, faulty inputs are not the only keyboard woe that has left users flummoxed. One report on Reddit highlights the issue of random white space insertion at the start. "I'm having issues of [sic] slow key typing registration. It misses letters. My typing speed has become slower as a result," user r/Overall_Fold7937 wrote in the same thread. Another comment underneath the same post mentions that the buttons often get stuck and stop registering tap inputs.

Another report on the Apple Community Forum details another variation of input woes plaguing the built-in keyboard after installing iOS 26. The report mentions that the keyboard starts "jumping" up and down when the shift key is pressed, leaving the keyboard unusable. Numerous replies underneath the post share a similar tale. Interestingly, it seems that a system reset doesn't solve the problem. Of note is that the on-screen keyboard bug is also affecting iPad users running the stable iPadOS 26 build.

A couple of user reports mention that switching to other keyboards, such as Google's Gboard or Microsoft's SwiftKey, is not helping the cause. The issue seems to persist even while using a different keyboard app. We can confirm that the keyboard issue doesn't affect physical keyboard input, though reverting to the on-screen keyboard on an iPad exhibited some instances of the cursor jumping randomly. So far, Apple has yet to officially acknowledge the problem, though we can probably expect a quick fix in the upcoming iOS 26 and iPadOS 26 updates. If you can't wait, you can also uninstall iOS 26, although it's probably not a good idea.

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