One of the (many) great things about Android is that it’s so customisable. Sometimes it’s hard to know where to go to change settings, though, so here we explain how to turn off predictive text and autocorrect on Android, and how to set other keyboard preferences.
One of the beauties of Android is its customisability. Google has added a steady stream of new features that allow you to completely change the look and feel of your device to your liking. However, as a result, some settings can be buried deep within menus and difficult to find.
If you’re growing frustrated by your keyboard mistakenly correcting you, or just want more control over what you type, here’s how to turn off predictive text.
We’re using Android Nougat with the default Android keyboard for this walkthrough, though this remains largely unchanged for more recent versions of Google’s software.
Turn off predictive text in Android
1. Open the Settings menu on your phone or tablet and select Languages & Input.
2. Tap Virtual keyboard under Keyboard and input methods.
3. Select Android Keyboard.
4. Select Text correction.
5. Slide off the toggle next to Next-word suggestions.
These steps can differ if you’re not using the Android Keyboard. On a Samsung Galaxy phone, for example, look under General Management, Language and Input, On-screen keyboard, Samsung Keyboard, Smart typing, then turn off Predictive Text.
Turn off autocorrect in Android
1. Open the Settings menu on your phone or tablet and select Languages & Input.
2. Tap Virtual keyboard under Keyboard and input methods.
3. Select Android Keyboard.
4. Select Text correction.
5. Slide off the toggle next to Auto-correction.
Text correction options
Another option in the ‘Text correction’ menu is your ‘Personal dictionary’, found under the ‘Dictionary’ area of settings. You can add words to this, and it’s useful if Android tends to auto-correct someone’s name or another word you use regularly.
When you add a word, you can also enter a shortcut to type that word – that’s invaluable when you have long or complex words.
Yet more options include toggles for showing correction suggestions; personalised suggestions (which shows words you type a lot or are learned from other Google services); and showing contact names as suggestions.
Gesture/Glide typing
If you back up a level from the ‘Text correction’ menu, you’ll find the ‘Glide typing’ menu. This is essentially unchanged from ‘Gesture typing’ inolder In that, you can disable the ability to type words by swiping across the keyboard, turn off the gesture trail and turn off automatically adding spaces between words when you swipe over the spacebar.
Advanced settings
In the ‘Advanced’ menu, you can set the delay time for a long key press – such as when you hold down ‘T’ to get the number 5 – and the vibration duration for a keypress. Here you can also prevent usage stats being sent to Google.
Author: Jim Martin, Executive Editor
Jim has been testing and reviewing products for over 20 years. His main beats include VPN services and antivirus. He also covers smart home tech, mesh Wi-Fi and electric bikes.