All Devices iOS 13 cursor placement is virtually impossible

[patent10021]

Before iOS 13 it was easy to tap a spot in a text field eg iOS Safari address bar, and wherever you tapped eg in the middle of a word, was wherever the cursor would end up. Or you could just hold and drag to place the cursor etc. Simply tapping anywhere would auto-insert you in that spot.

But now the text selection view is always present and it's basically impossible to tap and simply get a cursor. You need to mess about trying to get rid of the text selector handles and/or hope that this is a lucky tap and you get a cursor.

Who the F was in charge of this OS? Pathetic.

 

[Minorite]

Thought the same, but got used to the new option with space bar in about 2 weeks. Now it feels even simpler imo.

 

[Klankpad]

Thought the same, but got used to the new option with space bar in about 2 weeks. Now it feels even simpler imo.

And how does that work ?

 

[chrfr]

How to Use iOS 13's Text Editing Gestures on iPhone and iPad

With the release of iOS 13 and iPadOS 13, Apple introduced a number of new text editing taps and gestures that can be performed on both iPhones and...

www.macrumors.com

 

[saudor]

And how does that work ?

Exactly. It's so counter intuitive that the OS might as well be called winOS 13

 

[Super Spartan]

Before iOS 13 it was easy to tap a spot in a text field eg iOS Safari address bar, and wherever you tapped eg in the middle of a word, was wherever the cursor would end up. Or you could just hold and drag to place the cursor etc. Simply tapping anywhere would auto-insert you in that spot.

But now the text selection view is always present and it's basically impossible to tap and simply get a cursor. You need to mess about trying to get rid of the text selector handles and/or hope that this is a lucky tap and you get a cursor.

Who the F was in charge of this OS? Pathetic.

Dude, just hold down the spacebar and watch how precise and easy it is to pin point the place you want the cursor to be.

 

[patent10021]

Dude, just hold down the spacebar and watch how precise and easy it is to pin point the place you want the cursor to be.

I found the feature you guys are talking about. It's good when you're using English since the space bar is long and gives you enough room to slide all the way to the right if needed.

However, if you're using a language like Japanese, this idea is horrible since the space key is not a typical spacebar. It's a very compact chicklet sized key which means if the area you want to get to is at the far right, you need to remove your finger and slide multiple times.

In addition, with this new method, as soon as you press the spacebar iOS will exit that word and autocorrect it which means I have to correct another word I never intended to.

While this May be an interesting and creative implementation, if we are talking UX/UI, I have to wonder if it's a (better) implementation.

 

[C DM]

Dude, just hold down the spacebar and watch how precise and easy it is to pin point the place you want the cursor to be.

Using a finger to tap and place it where desired is certainly simpler and has been around for a long time. Doesn't really seem there was much of a need to change that.

 

[Super Spartan]

Using a finger to tap and place it where desired is certainly simpler and has been around for a long time. Doesn't really seem there was much of a need to change that.

Yeah go tell that to Apple I didn't invent this feature. I am simply giving you the solution.

 

[C DM]

Yeah go tell that to Apple I didn't invent this feature. I am simply giving you the solution.

You certainly provided a workaround, and I'm simply commenting on it and the underlying issue.

 

[Super Spartan]

You certainly provided a workaround, and I'm simply commenting on it and the underlying issue.

I agree 110%. The previous cursor pinpointing selection method was one of the unique features of iPhones that made selecting text on any other device like Android very cumbersome. I remember when I had Galaxy phones how much I missed this feature and I used to simply give up on selecting anything I would just delete the entire word and type it over again if I made a mistake. Some companies like Apple and Microsoft (the removal of the old Windows 7 style Start Menu for example) just cannot leave what works the heck alone.

 

[ItsGavinC]

I found the feature you guys are talking about. It's good when you're using English since the space bar is long and gives you enough room to slide all the way to the right if needed.

However, if you're using a language like Japanese, this idea is horrible since the space key is not a typical spacebar. It's a very compact chicklet sized key which means if the area you want to get to is at the far right, you need to remove your finger and slide multiple times.

You still aren’t doing it correctly. The space bar hold activates it, but then you can drag your finger anywhere over the entire keyboard area (are how the letters disappear when the feature is active?) to place the cursor. Very simple, you don’t need to slide multiple times since the keyboard width matches the width of the screen.

 

[C DM]

You still aren’t doing it correctly. The space bar hold activates it, but then you can drag your finger anywhere over the entire keyboard area (are how the letters disappear when the feature is active?) to place the cursor. Very simple, you don’t need to slide multiple times since the keyboard width matches the width of the screen.

One thing that can help even more is that once holding the spacebar activates the feature you can quickly lift your finger and reposition it higher up on the keyboard so you can more space to move around.

 

[mebehere]

I miss the magnifying glass. I have to physically turn my phone down to see what I’m selecting.

 

[!!!]

I hate all the new text-selection stuff. Who at Apple thought it was a good idea to change everything? And for what? It certainly hasn't made it any easier, especially since there's no more magnifying class for whatever reason.

I swear, Apple just decided to change a bunch of stuff in iOS 13 because they needed "features" and apparently removing features and ruining the UI is what they consider appropriate for an update.

 

[markgpearse]

Thanks for reminding me about holding down the space bar. That’s useful. However, I liked it better when the cursor would click across characters. I don’t like how it floats. That’s just me.

 

[I7guy]

Thanks for reminding me about holding down the space bar. That’s useful. However, I liked it better when the cursor would click across characters. I don’t like how it floats. That’s just me.

I liked the reminder about holding down the cursor.