Ask HN: Why has typing on a phone not improved in ~20 years?
No synthesized answer yet. Check the discussion below.
For me, typing on an iPhone worked well until iOS 26. Now I get jumbled AutoCorrect which acts like it's LLM-driven.
When I turn off Apple Intelligence on iOS 26, I get the old, properly-functioning AutoCorrect back. So that's a potential workaround.
That context tech is here in LLMs.
I believe that with AI turned off, it's not using LLMs for autocorrect -- or at least not the new Apple Intelligence LLM junk.
A computer that can predict what I'm going to write next with perfect accuracy? This is the stuff of dystopian science fiction.
Indeed, along these lines I recommend the movie Minority Report, which shows a society that gained the ability to predict crimes before they happened, and therefore to arrest criminals in advance.
I turned off all assists to typing on this iPhone. They kept giving me maddening substitites for my words.
Going to fire up the computer now. The one with the giant lighted keyboard. And the FORWARD DELETE KEY, the single greatest efficiency booster since the invention of the "vi" editor. The "dot" command alone has saved years of work (slight hyperbole there)
And no AI. EVER. I speak for myself. Otherwise no point in living.
Note to Apple: why can't I get a lighted keyboard from you for any amount of money, unless I buy a laptop, where it drains battery, rather than the power grid?
Dream on. The first thing i do is disable prediction so the keyboard sucks less. Swipe makes no sense.
Many people forget about it today.
It will always suck in one way or another.
Best UI mankind came up as of today is still buttons and knobs. But it’s not always feasible.