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Angry woman on the cell phone: Some errors in short messages are very annoying

Photo: Antonio Guillen Fernández / Panthermedia / IMAGO

One of the most common complaints about smartphones is probably "Damn autocorrect!" Because although smartphones usually routinely correct users' typos, there are always cases in which the supposed correction was actually an improvement.

Not only can this be embarrassing, as is the case with an outrageous WhatsApp message, but it can also disrupt everyday life.

For example, when you bring your children to little Jonah's birthday party, even though the party is at Jonah's classmate's house.

Or if the wrong name suddenly appears on a personalized ticket.

When smartphones were still new and had much smaller screens than today, an autocorrection function was essential: users first had to learn that you could do more with such a small device than play “Angry Birds” and read short texts.

In times of large screens, many people have now gotten into the habit of organizing half of their lives on their smartphones with one or two thumbs.

From the parents' group on WhatsApp to the professional email account: the smartphone keyboard is constantly used.

Keyboard cannot clairvoyance

With increasing use, demands increase.

But the autocorrection functions are optimized for rather short texts and a small vocabulary.

Even if the keyboard apps now analyze entire sentences to make the right prediction, even if the smartphone automatically learns names, addresses and even frequently used dialect words - the algorithms are always wrong.

What many people forget: A smartphone keyboard is an app like many others and can therefore be adapted to your own needs or even replaced.

On iPhones with current iOS versions, the function can be found in the settings under “General” in the “Keyboard” submenu.

It's even easier if you open the keyboard and press and hold the emoji key - or the globe symbol if you use several keyboard layouts - at the bottom left: After a short time, a submenu appears with which you can make various quick settings and get to the main menu .

In the menu that now appears you can simply deactivate “Auto-Correction”.

This doesn't mean you miss out on any assistance, the smartphone just no longer corrects texts without being asked.

The word suggestions and spelling correction, for example, can be left activated to avoid typos.

Once you've accessed the configuration menu, it's worth looking at the other options too.

Apple offers a “one-handed keyboard” in which the letters are easier to reach with the thumb.

If you often write in different languages, you can also install additional keyboard layouts, for example to hide the annoying German umlauts in English.

Buried deep in the settings

Although the principle is essentially the same on Android, the settings are hidden much deeper in the settings menu.

On Google's Pixel smartphones, you first select "Settings", then "System", then "Keyboard", then "On-Screen Keyboard", and finally "Gboard" to reach the settings of Google's standard keyboard.

It is easier to access the keyboard settings using the menu button on the left above the letter “Q”.

In the “Text correction” submenu you will finally find the “Autocorrection” item; here you can deactivate the function.

There are also numerous other functions here, such as the fact that a double space is interpreted as the end of a sentence or that the keyboard reads the address book to suggest names.

Unfortunately, Android does not standardize where autocorrect can be found in the settings.

On Samsung devices, for example, you can find the option in the settings sub-item “General Administration” under “Samsung Keyboard Settings”.

The option for setting the autocorrection here is called “Automatically replace”.

On current Honor devices, however, go to “System & Updates/Language and Input” and then click on “Microsoft SwiftKey Keyboard” and “Input”.

Since many manufacturers modify Google's Android operating system to suit their taste, you sometimes have to search a bit until you find the menu item you want on a new smartphone.

Not everyone will do better without autocorrect than with it.

The errors that are blamed on automation are often preceded by manual typing errors.

It is only because the predictions are correct in the vast majority of cases that so many users have gotten into the habit of blindly trusting their cell phones and only cursing after the fact when things get worse.