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iPhone Magnifier and 'select all' in text messages

MadSammyboy

MadSammyboy

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Apr 3, 2008
4
0
Texas
Thanks in advance for any help and guidance!

I used the magnifier to edit my text messages all the time, because voice-to-text gets it wrong a lot and I need to edit texts quickly after dictating them. I had a fast dictate-correct-send workflow established that was great; the cursor thing is an unhelpful replacement-- I can't see where I'm supposed to put the cursor because my finger is over it.

Also, I can no longer 'select all' on a text I'm writing.

Are these features gone or am I overlooking settings that will restore them?
 
Last edited:
In my experience the magnifier is gone. Now trying to insert the cursor into a word is hit and miss. Most of the time I end up selecting the whole word.
Yeah, this is a better method.
I was just trying to do a Select All in a text document. If I hold down like I used to, I get taptic feedback and the menu does not include Select All and I end up selecting a word. If I touch lighter I then sometimes get the menu which includes SA. Once again, hit and miss.
Yeah, this is a better method.
 
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DomC said:
In my experience the magnifier is gone. Now trying to insert the cursor into a word is hit and miss. Most of the time I end up selecting the whole word.
Yeah, this is a better method.
I was just trying to do a Select All in a text document. If I hold down like I used to, I get taptic feedback and the menu does not include Select All and I end up selecting a word. If I touch lighter I then sometimes get the menu which includes SA. Once again, hit and miss.
Yeah, this is a better method.
Click to expand...

Well, I know it doesn't do any good to complain about it, but I cannot understand why Apple would remove a feature like this full-stop instead of giving us the simple option to turn it on if we want it. I've been looking at 'the other OS' for a while now anyhow; this makes my decision easier.

In any case, thanks for sharing your experience!
arn said:
Maybe use the keyboard cursor thing instead?
Click to expand...

Yeah, I guess so. An extra step and an extra second for an inferior version of what worked great before... frustrating. But I'll get used to it.

Thanks for the reminder that this feature exists.
 
Seems to depend on the app. With 13.1.2, tapping a word in Mail shows Select All. In Safari though it doesn’t.
 
Takes me back. I remember when the released the iOS version that first introduced the magnifier. It was a big deal and I'm sorry it's gone. IIRC, we had to pay for that iOS update!
 
Removing the magnifier was a step backwards imo. I've even found myself giving up trying to move the cursor or select text with iOS 13, which is pretty bad.
 
The bigger problem to me seems to be that Apple changed how some things worked and people don’t know how to do it anymore. All things are still possible.

Tap and hold to select a word
Tap once on editable text to place cursor
Tap and drag on cursor to move it (cursor will move above finger so you can see what you are doing)
Tap again on cursor to get option such as select all
Tap and hold space bar to move cursor (you can also let go and drag again before the letters come back for infinite scroll)
Tap and hold space bar to move cursor and tap with a second finger to select text (or just hard press if you have a 3D Touch device)
 
ZEEN0j said:
The bigger problem to me seems to be that Apple changed how some things worked and people don’t know how to do it anymore. All things are still possible.

Tap and hold to select a word
Tap once on editable text to place cursor
Tap and drag on cursor to move it (cursor will move above finger so you can see what you are doing)
Tap again on cursor to get option such as select all
Tap and hold space bar to move cursor (you can also let go and drag again before the letters come back for infinite scroll)
Tap and hold space bar to move cursor and tap with a second finger to select text (or just hard press if you have a 3D Touch device)
Click to expand...
Seems like a good part of it also has to do with these things working somewhat inconsistently. Sometimes tapping and dragging gets treated more as tapping and holding and ends up selecting something rather than moving the cursor. Sometimes the cursor stays under the finger when being moved and is hard to see because of that. Sometimes additional taps to bring up options like “Select All” get treated as selection and select something instead.

Seems like changes that aren’t really needed and almost simply there for the sake of change without any real improvement, if not actually with some worsening of usability.
 
C DM said:
Seems like a good part of it also has to do with these things working somewhat inconsistently. Sometimes tapping and dragging gets treated more as tapping and holding and ends up selecting something rather than moving the cursor. Sometimes the cursor stays under the finger when being moved and is hard to see because of that. Sometimes additional taps to bring up options like “Select All” get treated as selection and select something instead.

Seems like changes that aren’t really needed and almost simply there for the sake of change without any real improvement, if not actually with some worsening of usability.
Click to expand...

For me personally I haven’t had any inconsistency issues using it the way I mentioned. The only thing that was a learning curve was tapping and holding which usually brings up the magnifier now instead selects the word.
 
ZEEN0j said:
Tap and drag on cursor to move it (cursor will move above finger so you can see what you are doing)
Click to expand...

That's just it - a lot of the time you can't do that. The cursor stays under my thumb, or somewhere I can't see.
 
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