iOS 26, 26.0.1 Handwriting Popping Up in Messages

I think I may have figured out a workaround until Apple fixes it. Not sure why I didn't think of this before.

Install and enable a different keyboard. I just instsalled the Google one. So far so good!!!

Other keyboards don't have that little free drawing key.

Hopefully apple developers will see this. The issue is when you tap in the small gap to the right of the L and just above the backspace key. This is what causes the handwriting to pop up. supper annoying. Should be an easy fix for them to just un-map that area on the keyboard to that feature.

Looks like they fixed it in iOS 26.1! This was driving me INSANE!!! After an update, I was curious. Now I can't get it to happen. Yaaaay!!! Thought I'd pass this along!

sharprichnorth wrote:

iPhone 12. Handwriting screen appears when typing near the “L” or “delete” keys it is triggered when typing between these keys. Very annoying. Anyone know why, or if there's a fix?

I don't believe so (besides messaging in portrait mode instead of landscape), but you can let Apple know:

Feedback - Messages for iOS - Apple

I haven't experienced the issue since changing my keyboard, and even after switching back to the default...it still seems to be working fine - without the annoying bug. I did update to IOS 26.1 so I'm not sure if that has anything to do with it (didn't see it in the bug fix list)...meaning no issues after switching back to the default keyboard.

So give that a shot - different keyboard...and then try switching back to the default. Curious if that works for anyone else.

Wrote too soon - turning off liquid glass didn't make a difference.

The root cause can be seen if you turn the phone into landscape mode. There is a "handwriting" button that isn't visible on portrait mode.

What must be happening is that the button isn't visible but somehow the phone thinks you are "touching" it when you don't get your finger right on the L or DEL key.

It's a very annoying bug.

I turned off the Liquid Glass and this behavior has gone away. YMMV but maybe this will work for others.

Same issue. The hot spot is right near the L and delete key. If I don’t touch precisely I get this very annoying handwriting screen.

apple??

I'm having the same issue. iPhone 16 on IOS 26.0.1. I wasn't sure exactly what was triggering it until I found this post. Now I can replicate the issue.

Someone suggested 'turning off liquid glass' but according to searching - you can't turn it off. Any other workarounds?

Can't really turn it off, you can reduce the effect and some reports are that this saves battery life. I am on a 13 and worry about reduced battery life with the new OS.

This doesn't solve the problem btw.

This is happening to me CONSTANTLY. I cannot get through a sentence without getting this stupid handwriting thing popping up. This is a classic example of "just because you can do something does not mean you should" - it reminds me of a thing in the old Apple dev guidelines where they had an example of a beautifully rendered rotary phone dialer - cool looking but a step backward that would take 10 times longer to dial than the keypad. This is that. NOBODY is clamoring for a handwriting space when sending texts. Having it as something that you can turn on and off would be ok, but this constant popping up makes it a royal pain to use the phone. It's just dumb and ridiculous and unnecessary - a solution in search of a problem. Either get rid of this or make it so that you have to turn the phone into landscape like it is supposed to work. Having this pop up in portrait all the time is a major time waster.

Apple please fix this mess! I’m so close to throwing this out the window and going with an android. And that’s saying a lot because I hate them. But this bug is affecting my WORK! I work on my phone quite a bit of my days with texts and emails and this pops up CONSTANTLY! Freaking fix it!

To be clear, this happens in portrait mode. Very annoying indeed!

Same issue here on my Wife’s iPhone 16PM.

Same thing is happening to me. I have an iPhone 17 Air. This never happened before I upgraded to the new phone.