iPhone predictive text missing? Check the suggestion bar and inline settings

Open a draft message and type a few ordinary words on the Apple keyboard. Look above the keys for suggested words and within the message for a light gray completion. Tap a suggestion above the keys to use it. If you see a gray completion, press Space to accept it or keep typing to pass it up. You can discard the test draft.

In Settings, open General > Keyboard. You can also hold the emoji or globe key while typing and choose Keyboard Settings. Turn on Predictive Text and try the draft again. When Predictive Text is off, both the suggestion bar and inline predictions are off. If there is a separate inline switch, check that too.

If the behavior changes when you switch languages, hold the globe key and verify which keyboard is active. Check Apple’s iOS feature availability for predictive typing and inline predictions separately. A language can offer words above the keys while still lacking inline completions. If only one app or text field has the problem, repeat your test in Messages before changing settings for the whole phone.

Auto-Correction can still fix spelling with Predictive Text turned off. If the phone changes a word after you type it, check the Auto-Correction switch under Keyboard. If only the word choices disappeared, leave the spelling setting as you prefer and troubleshoot Predictive Text.