Disable spell check in Settings

The fastest way to turn off spell check on your iPhone is through the Settings app. Open Settings, then tap General. Scroll down and tap Keyboard. You will see a toggle switch next to "Check Spelling" — tap it to turn the feature off. The switch will no longer be green, which means spell check is now disabled.

This method turns off spell check across all apps on your phone — Mail, Messages, Notes, and any third-party app that uses the iPhone keyboard. If you change your mind later, you can turn it back on by returning to the same screen and tapping the toggle again.

Key Takeaways

  • Spell check is controlled in Settings > General > Keyboard, where you toggle "Check Spelling" off.
  • Disabling spell check in Settings turns it off everywhere on your iPhone at once.
  • Some apps like Mail have their own spell-check settings that work separately from the system setting.
  • You can turn spell check back on anytime by returning to the same toggle and switching it on again.
  • If spell check is still appearing after you disable it, restart your iPhone to make sure the change takes effect.

Turn off spell check in Mail only

If you want to keep spell check on everywhere else but disable it just in Mail, you can do that separately. Open the Mail app, tap the compose button to start a new message, then tap in the message body. Look for the spell-check underline under a word — tap and hold on that word until a menu appears. Tap "Learn Spelling" or "Ignore" depending on what you want to do with that specific word.

However, Mail does not have a master toggle to turn off spell check just for that app. If you want spell check completely off in Mail but on elsewhere, your only option is to disable it system-wide in Settings, then turn it back on when you are done with Mail.

Restart your iPhone if spell check is still showing

Sometimes the spell-check toggle in Settings does not take effect immediately. If you have turned off the toggle but spell check is still underlining words in red, restart your iPhone. Press and hold the side button and either volume button until the power-off slider appears. Drag the slider to turn off your phone, wait a few seconds, then press and hold the side button again until the Apple logo appears.

After your iPhone restarts, open any app and start typing. Spell check should now be off. If it is still appearing, go back to Settings > General > Keyboard and double-check that the "Check Spelling" toggle is actually off — sometimes the change does not save properly on the first try.

Understand what spell check actually does on iPhone

Spell check on iPhone underlines words it does not recognize with a red dotted line. It does not automatically correct your words — it only flags them so you know they might be misspelled. When you tap a flagged word, the keyboard shows suggested corrections you can choose from, or you can ignore the suggestion and keep your original word.

This is different from autocorrect, which automatically changes words as you type without asking. Spell check and autocorrect are two separate features. Disabling spell check does not turn off autocorrect, and turning off autocorrect does not turn off spell check. If you want both off, you need to disable them separately in Settings > General > Keyboard.

Turn off autocorrect if that is what is bothering you

Many people think they want spell check off when they actually want autocorrect off. Autocorrect is the feature that changes "teh" to "the" or "im" to "I'm" while you are typing. If words are being changed automatically without your permission, that is autocorrect, not spell check.

To turn off autocorrect, go to Settings > General > Keyboard and toggle off "Auto-Correction." You can leave spell check on if you want — spell check only marks words with a red line and lets you decide what to do about them. Turning off autocorrect alone often solves the problem for people who find the automatic corrections annoying.

Add words to your iPhone dictionary so they stop being flagged

If spell check keeps flagging words you use regularly — like your name, a company name, or slang you prefer — you can teach your iPhone to recognize them. When you see a word underlined in red, tap and hold it until the menu appears. Tap "Learn Spelling" and your iPhone will add that word to your personal dictionary. From then on, spell check will not flag that word anymore.

This is useful if you have a name that is not in the standard dictionary, or if you use technical terms or abbreviations that spell check does not recognize. Once you add a word to your dictionary, it stays there across all apps and all keyboards on your iPhone.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does turning off spell check also turn off autocorrect?

No. Spell check and autocorrect are separate features. You can have one on and one off, or both on, or both off. If you want both disabled, you need to turn off both toggles in Settings > General > Keyboard.

Will spell check turn back on if I update my iPhone?

No. Your Settings choices stay the same after a software update. If you have disabled spell check, it will remain disabled after you update iOS.

Can I turn off spell check for just one app?

Not directly. The spell-check toggle in Settings controls it system-wide. Your only option is to disable it everywhere, or leave it on everywhere. Some apps like Mail have their own text-editing features, but they still use the system spell-check setting.

What is the red dotted line under words?

That is spell check marking a word it does not recognize. It does not mean the word is definitely wrong — it just means the word is not in the iPhone dictionary. You can ignore it, tap the word to see suggestions, or tap "Learn Spelling" to add it to your dictionary.

I turned off spell check but it is still showing. What do I do?

Restart your iPhone. Press and hold the side button and a volume button until the power-off slider appears, then drag it to shut down. Wait a few seconds and turn it back on. After the restart, spell check should be off.