How to disable autocorrect on your iPhone
Autocorrect on iPhone changes words as you type, and you can turn it off completely in Settings. The setting affects all apps on your phone — email, text messages, Notes, and anywhere else you type. Once you disable it, your iPhone will no longer suggest corrections or change your words automatically.
If you want to keep autocorrect but just turn off the red underlines that mark misspelled words, that is a separate setting. Both options are in the same place, so you can choose exactly what you want.
Key Takeaways
- Open Settings, tap General, then Keyboard to find the autocorrect toggle.
- Turn off "Auto-Correction" to stop your iPhone from changing words as you type.
- You can also disable "Check Spelling" separately if you want to hide the red underlines under misspelled words.
- These changes take effect immediately in all apps on your phone.
- You can turn autocorrect back on anytime by returning to the same settings screen.
Step-by-step: Turn off autocorrect
Start by opening the Settings app on your home screen — it looks like a gear icon. Tap it to open your phone's settings menu.
Once Settings is open, scroll down and tap General. This section holds settings that affect how your whole phone works. You will see a list of options including Keyboard, which is what you need.
Tap Keyboard. You will see several toggles related to typing. Look for Auto-Correction — it should be near the top of the list. The toggle next to it will be green if it is currently on. Tap the toggle to turn it off. It will turn gray, which means autocorrect is now disabled.
That is all you need to do. Close Settings and go back to any app where you type. Your iPhone will no longer change your words as you type.
Turn off spell-check if you want to hide red underlines
Even with autocorrect off, your iPhone will still underline words it does not recognize in red. This is spell-check, and it is a separate setting. If you want to hide those red underlines too, you can turn off spell-check in the same Keyboard settings screen.
In the Keyboard settings, look for Check Spelling. Tap the toggle next to it to turn it off. The red underlines will disappear from your typing immediately. You can leave autocorrect on and spell-check off, or turn both off — they work independently.
What happens after you turn off autocorrect
Once autocorrect is off, your iPhone will type exactly what you press. If you misspell a word, it stays misspelled unless you fix it yourself. This is useful if you type a lot of technical terms, slang, or names that autocorrect kept changing.
The change takes effect right away in every app — Messages, Mail, Notes, and any other app where you type. You do not need to restart your phone or close any apps. If you change your mind later, you can turn autocorrect back on by going back to Settings > General > Keyboard and toggling Auto-Correction back on.
Turn off autocorrect for just one keyboard language
If you use multiple languages on your iPhone, you can turn off autocorrect for one language while keeping it on for another. This is helpful if one language keeps getting corrected incorrectly.
In Settings > General > Keyboard, scroll down to the section labeled with your keyboard languages — for example, "English" or "Spanish". Tap the language you want to change. You will see the same Auto-Correction toggle for just that language. Turn it off, and autocorrect will stay on for your other languages.
Autocorrect keeps turning back on by itself
If you turned off autocorrect but it seems to be back on, check whether you have multiple keyboard languages set up. Sometimes a software update or a change to your keyboard settings can turn autocorrect back on. Go back to Settings > General > Keyboard and check the Auto-Correction toggle — it may have been switched back to on.
Also check whether you have any third-party keyboards installed from the App Store. Some third-party keyboards have their own autocorrect settings separate from Apple's built-in keyboard. If you use a different keyboard app, open that app and look for its own autocorrect settings.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I turn off autocorrect for just text messages but keep it on for email?
No. The autocorrect setting in Keyboard applies to all apps on your phone at once. You cannot turn it off for one app and on for another. If you need autocorrect off for one type of message, you will need to turn it off for everything.
Will turning off autocorrect affect my predictive text suggestions?
No. Predictive text — the suggestions that appear above your keyboard as you type — is separate from autocorrect. Turning off autocorrect does not change those suggestions. If you want to turn off predictive text too, that is a separate toggle called "Predictive" in the same Keyboard settings screen.
Does autocorrect work differently on iPad?
The setting is in the same place on iPad: Settings > General > Keyboard. The toggle works the same way. If you use both an iPhone and an iPad with the same Apple ID, you may want to turn off autocorrect on both devices separately, since the setting does not sync between them.
What if I only want to turn off autocorrect for certain words?
You cannot disable autocorrect for specific words only. Your options are to turn it off completely or keep it on for everything. If autocorrect keeps changing one particular word, you can add that word to your personal dictionary so autocorrect learns not to change it. Go to Settings > General > Keyboard > Text Replacement to add custom shortcuts.