Where to find autocorrect settings on iPhone

Autocorrect lives in Settings > General > Keyboard on every iPhone. Open Settings, tap General, scroll down to Keyboard, and you'll see the autocorrect toggle at the top of that screen. The toggle is on by default — if it's green, autocorrect is active. Tap it once to turn it off entirely, or keep reading if you want to keep autocorrect but change how it behaves.

The same Keyboard settings screen holds several related features that often get confused with autocorrect. Auto-Capitalization (which capitalizes the first letter of sentences) is separate. Check Spelling (which underlines misspelled words in red) is also separate. You can turn off autocorrect while leaving these on, or vice versa.

Key Takeaways

  • Autocorrect is toggled on or off in Settings > General > Keyboard, and the switch is green when it's active.
  • Turning off autocorrect entirely stops all automatic corrections, but you can still see spelling suggestions if you keep Check Spelling turned on.
  • If you want autocorrect but dislike specific corrections, you can delete individual words from your personal dictionary so iPhone stops "correcting" them.
  • Autocorrect learns from words you type repeatedly, so using a word correctly several times teaches iPhone to stop changing it.
  • Restarting your iPhone can fix autocorrect if it's behaving erratically or making the same wrong correction repeatedly.

Turning autocorrect completely off

If you want no automatic corrections at all, the toggle in Settings > General > Keyboard is the fastest route. Tap it once and it turns green to off. From that moment, iPhone will not change anything you type — no matter how far off the spelling is, the text stays exactly as you entered it.

The downside is that you lose all correction help. If you type "teh" meaning "the", it stays as "teh". If you type "recieve" instead of "receive", it stays wrong. Many people find this too permissive after a few days of typos slipping through.

Keeping autocorrect but removing specific words from correction

If autocorrect is mostly helpful but keeps changing one particular word wrong, you can teach iPhone to stop. The word has to be in your personal dictionary — the list of words iPhone considers "correct" and won't try to change.

To add a word to your dictionary: type it correctly in any text field (Messages, Notes, Mail, anywhere), then when the autocorrect suggestion appears below the keyboard, tap the X next to the suggestion instead of accepting it. Do this three or four times with the same word, and iPhone learns that you want this spelling and stops suggesting a change.

If a word is already in your dictionary and you want to remove it, go to Settings > General > Keyboard > Text Replacement. Scroll through the list, find the word, swipe left on it, and tap Delete. This removes it from your personal dictionary so autocorrect can work on it again.

Understanding autocorrect suggestions versus automatic changes

Autocorrect does not always change text silently. When you type a word iPhone thinks is wrong, a suggestion appears in a gray box below the keyboard. You can tap the suggestion to accept it, or tap the X to reject it and keep what you typed. If you just keep typing without tapping either one, iPhone usually accepts the suggestion automatically when you hit space or punctuation.

This matters because many people think autocorrect is broken when really they're just accepting suggestions without noticing. If you find yourself constantly rejecting the same suggestion, that's the moment to add the word to your dictionary instead of fighting it every time.

Fixing autocorrect when it's stuck on one wrong correction

Occasionally autocorrect gets stuck — it keeps changing the same word the same wrong way no matter how many times you reject it. The fastest fix is to restart your iPhone. Hold the power button until "slide to power off" appears, swipe to shut down, wait ten seconds, then hold power again until you see the Apple logo.

If restarting doesn't work, check whether the word is in your Text Replacement list. Go to Settings > General > Keyboard > Text Replacement and search for it. If it's there with a wrong replacement, swipe left and delete it. If the word itself is in your personal dictionary with a wrong spelling, delete that entry too.

Why autocorrect behaves differently on different keyboards

If you use multiple languages or have installed a third-party keyboard (like Gboard or SwiftKey), each one has its own autocorrect settings. The toggle in Settings > General > Keyboard controls the system keyboard that comes with iPhone. Third-party keyboards have their own settings inside their own apps.

To check a third-party keyboard's autocorrect: open its app, look for Settings or Preferences, and find the autocorrect toggle there. Some third-party keyboards also let you upload a personal dictionary or sync corrections across devices, which the system keyboard does not.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does turning off autocorrect affect spell-check?

No. Spell-check (the red underline under misspelled words) is controlled separately in Settings > General > Keyboard under "Check Spelling". You can turn off autocorrect and keep spell-check on, so you still see which words are wrong but iPhone doesn't change them automatically.

Why does autocorrect keep changing a word I use all the time?

iPhone learns from repetition, but it takes several correct uses in a row. Type the word correctly four or five times without rejecting the autocorrect suggestion, and iPhone should stop trying to change it. If it doesn't, add the word to your dictionary by rejecting the suggestion multiple times, or manually add it in Settings > General > Keyboard > Text Replacement.

Can I turn off autocorrect for just one app?

No. Autocorrect is a system-wide setting that applies to all apps on your iPhone. If you turn it off, it's off everywhere. If you turn it on, it's on everywhere. The only exception is third-party keyboards, which have their own separate autocorrect settings.

What's the difference between autocorrect and predictive text?

Autocorrect changes what you've already typed. Predictive text suggests the next word you might type (the row of words above the keyboard). They're separate features. You can turn off autocorrect in Settings > General > Keyboard while keeping predictive text on, or vice versa.

If I delete a word from my dictionary, will autocorrect start changing it again?

Yes. Once you delete a word from your personal dictionary, iPhone treats it as a misspelling again and will suggest corrections. If you want to keep the word but prevent autocorrect from changing it, don't delete it — instead, reject the autocorrect suggestion several times when you use it, and iPhone will learn to leave it alone.