The Mystery of the Dead Blue Underline in iOS Dictation

Software
1

I’ve been having this issue for a good bit now on iOS 13, and noticed it’s not “fixed” in the iOS 14, so I’m wondering if maybe it’s me.

After using Dictation on my iPhone or iPad, the newly transcribed text has occasional blue underlines, indicating possible alternatives to Apple’s first guess. It’s always been a handy feature, that I’ve used for years.

But for the past year or so, I touch the word with the blue underline and nothing happens. By “nothing” I mean nothing different than a word that does not have the blue underline. and just to drive me more crazy, one out of every 10ish times, it works exactly like it used to, popping up a handy alternative translation.

Since this started, I have reinstalled the OS, and I see it on multiple devices.

Just wondering, am I alone?

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2

I’ve been having this same problem on both iOS 13 and the 14 beta. I have a hypothesis that the dead blue underline occurs more in 3rd-party apps than Apple stock apps. I have not tested the hypothesis, but I’ll monitor it more closely.

You are not alone.

3

Try not using 3rd-party keyboards. (If you’re not using any, try removing and add the Apple keyboard - add some random keyboard, remove the Apple keyboard, then immediately re-add it and delete the rando one.)

Also, make sure Screen Time restrictions for Siri & Dictation are turned off.

4

Neither of those are issues for me.

5

Thanks for the suggestion. unfortunately, this did not work for me. I disabled all the other keyboards and no luck. Then I installed one back, uninstalled the apple keyboard, rebooted the phone, reinstalled the default apple keyboard, and deleted the one remaining 3rd party. still no luck. And I am not using Screen Time, but I double checked that nothing in there was turned off. :frowning_face:

6

question for you - when I was looking at Bowline’s suggestions, I did remember that one difference on my phone and iPad is that under Device Management, I do have a Management Profile from Microsoft. it’s through my work, authenticating my Office 365 account. any chance you also happen to have something similar?

I’m guessing that this is not related, but if you and I both had this enabled, the coincidence would be telling…

7

quick update. we are not alone. From discussions.apple.com:

iOS 13.4 Blue Underlined Words No Longer Correctable

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8

Nice lead to consider. I have a device management profile on my iPhone, but not my iPad. And I have the problem on both devices. So, it doesn’t seem like it’s MDM related.

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