One of the most important changes that I've noticed in autocomplete on iOS (I have it disabled on MacOS, so no idea how it works there), is this:
Old behavior: Autocomplete suggests the word I want partway, but by the time I tap it, I've typed additional keys and the suggestion changed. Deleting and trying again would enter the same mistake.
Current behavior: Autocomplete suggests the word I want partway, but by the time I tap it, I've typed additional keys and the suggestion changed. Deleting a few characters causes it to suggest (again) the word I actually wanted. It remembers the next most likely suggestion and I can quickly select it.
This change in behavior was the most significant improvement that I can recall. It went from maddening to somewhat annoying but useful.
Please keep up the good work. Mac nerds who care about high-quality native apps appreciate what you're doing.
> I have it disabled on MacOS, so no idea how it works there
Well that's really at the core of my question. Why do you have it disabled? What need to be improved so that you don't disable it.
I think almost everyone would agree that if you type "teh" or other common typos it would nice for computer to automatically correct them. But many people (myself included much of the time) disable autocorrect. I think this is because the UI isn't ideal.
I'm looking for ways to fix that. Maybe it's not fixable, but if you can enumerate specifics on why you disabled autocomplete on macOS I might come up with some solutions. Thanks!
Sorry that this isn't very likely to help you gain much actionable insight.
I just turned the feature on for the first time since originally disabling it whenever it was introduced.
After playing with it briefly, it isn't fast enough to offer me any real help. Perhaps if I was hesitating on spelling a challenging word (does it have two of that letter or just one?) it would help me out. But I don't run into those scenarios often enough that it'd be worth the other downsides.
Just now, when I wanted to manually enter typos in the bottom line, it was clunky to dismiss without changing the words. I could mouse over the X or use the arrow keys to change position. Maybe there's another way that isn't intuitive to me? Maybe Esc, but I've already disabled it. Point is, it broke my flow.
I prefer to have the computer point out to me when I spell something incorrectly. It's a method of reinforcing the correct spelling. Then I can hopefully learn not to make the same mistake in the future.
Finally, as I've had it on while typing this post, it autocorrected a typo to the wrong word (amke turned to take; wtf). Had I not noticed, it would make my sentence strange (though most would just assume I was typing on a phone). That's fine on a web forum, but that's not acceptable in professional emails and the like.
It's just not useful to a life-long computer user with a full-sized kbd. However, despite 15 years of thumb typing on phones, the targets are still small enough and my thumbs are still large enough that it's mostly useful.
PS: Because I'm a fan of text-substitution apps (I use aText, but TypeIt4Me is also well-regarded), I already have custom entries for things like hte or thakns).
Old behavior: Autocomplete suggests the word I want partway, but by the time I tap it, I've typed additional keys and the suggestion changed. Deleting and trying again would enter the same mistake.
Current behavior: Autocomplete suggests the word I want partway, but by the time I tap it, I've typed additional keys and the suggestion changed. Deleting a few characters causes it to suggest (again) the word I actually wanted. It remembers the next most likely suggestion and I can quickly select it.
This change in behavior was the most significant improvement that I can recall. It went from maddening to somewhat annoying but useful.
Please keep up the good work. Mac nerds who care about high-quality native apps appreciate what you're doing.