How to turn on and off autocorrect on the Samsung Galaxy S4

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The auto-correct options on the stock keyboard for the Samsung Galaxy S4 might not be your cup of tea; maybe you'd rather have the extra screen real estate, or maybe you can't trust the corrections. Or maybe you've somehow lost auto-correct on your keyboard and desperately need it back to keep spelling with any amount of lucidity. Whatever the reason, we won't judge you. Here's how to get rid of auto-correct on the Samsung Galaxy S4.

Samsung Galaxy S4 keyboard options

  1. Tap on any text field, such as a search box, e-mail body, or a browser address bar to summon the keyboard.
  2. Tap the gear in the bottom left of the keyboard, beside the Sym button.
  3. Tap Predictive text to turn it off and on. You can also toggle automatic capitalization, spacing, and punctuation as desired.

Voilà. You are now typing freely without any interruption from those damned dirty robots or have enabled your spelling savior, whatever the case may be. Remember, there are fantastic third-party keyboards out there to check out too, like SwiftKey and Swype

Simon Sage
Simon Sage
Simon has been covering mobile since before the first iPhone came out. After producing news articles, podcasts, review videos, and everything in between, he's now helping industry partners get the word about their latest products. Get in touch with him at simon@futurenet.com.
27 Comments
  • I've actually been quite satisfied with the Samsung keyboard. I thought it was using swiftkeys flow and auto correct engine under the hood? The number bar being at the top is a huge plus for me. I know Swiftkey has the number row in the current beta so I'll be giving that a shot eventually. But overall it's my main keyboard.
  • Here's a bigger question - when it comes to Samsung, how do i turn off the Period? Posted from my newly Kit Katted Droid Ultra
  • Pay him more? -------------------------------------------
    This space for SALE! BBM me #8675309
  • I wonder if he'll take payment in the form of T-Mobile prepaid gift cards
  • I'm guessing you're asking about the Auto-Punctuate feature, just disable it in the settings. If not, try to be a little more specific and perhaps I (or someone else here) can help =).
  • If only it were as easy as disabling a setting...
  • Just wait. Time will take care of it around age 50.
    (Provided you are a Lady, of course)
    ;-D
  • Noob post _______________________________________________
    This message was brought to you by the numbers 0 and 1
  • How do you disable sms delivery notifications? But still have delivery reports enabled. I want the report, just not the notification! Posted via Android Central App
  • I guess you'll have to root, install the Exposed Framework and download a tweak to disable such notifications, I think the Wanam Exposed app has it but you can install an individual tweak for just that, there are many other things you can do with it to customize your experience in your stock ROM without having to install a custom ROM from scratch or do any advanced stuff; plus you can disable any or all changes should something go awry. If you're interested in trying that out, you can YouTube the procedure to rooting your GS4, the another tutorial for installing and properly using the Exposed Framework. Hey, I can't guarantee you won't break your phone, it's your responsibility so be careful.
  • More importantly, why would anyone use Samsung's Keyboard? Let alone turn off auto-correct? My experience with it has been rather mixed, so I tried Google's Keyboard and SwiftKey, I chose the latter because it's simply a much better typing experience for me, but Google's is right up there with SwiftKey in prediction and ease of use; Samsung Keyboard has been clumsy half of the time, but it definitely has become better since the Gingerbread days, still nowhere near Google KB or SwiftKey though.
  • Swiftkey rules. I love being able to resize my keyboard!!!
  • My two of choice is Google and Minuum! Nexus 5...enough said
  • I'm using an S3 not an S4 but I like the Samsung keyboard ever since the Android 4.3 update. Don't even find the need to install another keyboard. Different story on my Nexus 7 though. Posted via Android Central App
  • Hey guys can you please help? I just bought an S 4.and am running 4.2.2..... My carrier had not yet released 4.3 or 4.4. I do not have an autoreplacement option. That feature is literally missing from that languages and inputs menu. Do I have a defective phone or what's going on? I'm about to go crazy here trying to figure out whether I need to return my phone before that window closes! Thanks!
  • I just got the S4 and did an update the other day and now my auto-correct is not working. I tried toggling the predictive text but it has done nothing. My phone shows the auto-correct bar where the words usually come up as you type but there are no words and it doesn't correct anything. Anyone ever had the issue and know how to fix it?
    TIA
  • I just had the same thing happen to me on my AT&T Galaxy S4. The software updated to 4.4.2 yesterday and now the keyboard has a blank area where the auto-correct used to be. Does anyone have a fix for this issue?
  • You are one of the lucky ones, Oh God if only someone had enough brains do actually post a way to turn off autocorrect on galaxy 4. oh please someone with an IQ above a potato that doesn't just post things for the sake of posting. Please God someone that actually has a brain and knows what they're talking about
  • in a word - nope - try again. Now how do we really bring this feature up? I bough tmy phone in mid June 2014 and these steps you outline do not result in that menu item being shown as an option. Can you correct your post please?
  • Read my comment above... I found the real solution by asking someone else. This was a mistake on the author's part so basic that it's hard to believe the article made it through. Again... I'm sure he knows a lot, I don't doubt he's an expert, in fact, but we also need authors who can EXPLAIN what they know, and that is just not what happened here.
  • I've the S4 mini and a different settings menu than the picture above. Hoe can I disable the predictive text/autocorrecting but still keep using swype (continuous input)?
  • i I don's see a Predictive text on my phone!1 I need to totally remove my autocorrect as it is messing up my text
  • I don't know if anybody actually reads these comments, but PLEASE, if somebody sees this... I might just be dumb, but these directions don't seem to make a lot of sense. Here's the problem. We're supposed to:
    "Tap on any text field, such as a search box, e-mail body, or a browser address bar to summon the keyboard.
    Tap the gear in the bottom left of the keyboard, beside the Sym button." But we can literally SEE that there is NO gear showing in that location in the screenshot with a text box! I absolutely cannot find this gear on my S4. It simply does not show up on the keyboard for any text box, email, browser bar, etc etc etc. I don't see any way to bring it up. If ANYONE has seen this mysterious gear on the keyboard or knows where it is, PLEASE leave a reply!!! ETA: I'm leaving the first part of this comment as is to convey the sheer frustration, but I found out the real solution by asking someone else. There is no "gear" icon on the keyboard, which is why it does not show up in that screenshot. Instead, what you need to do is to press and hold the DICTATION symbol to the left of the keyboard. Then, you'll see a floating menu of icons, and THAT is where you'll see the gear. I'm sure that this author is a nice person and probably an expert in his field, but I'm sorry, he clearly did not know how to give directions and/or explain a very simple concept here. This was a very basic mistake. Some people are amazing techies, but they just don't know how to explain what they know.
  • The instructions were clear to me, though one error that was made was that it's the microphone button which is beside the 'sys' button that when pressed and held reveals the gear.
    This method also isn't necessary as I discovered, one can simply go into settings > my device > Language and Input than press the gear next to 'Samsung Keyboard'.
  • Thanks to the mentions of various commenters for bringing Google keyboard to my attention.
    I've just installed it. I happen to appreciate autocorrect in most cases so I did not wish to disable it but I did NOT appreciate that the Samsung Keyboard wouldn't allow me to refuse a change I didn't want to use it. A friend's name which isn't spelled traditionally for example.
    Though I had to reinstall emojis to make them compatible with Google keyboard I much prefer it. I'd like to also point out some errors in these instructions:
    1.) It's the microphone button which is beside the 'SYS' button that when pressed and held reveals the gear. The post above me proves that this can throw readers off. It threw me off as well when I read instructions for another action which made the same error.
    2.) A secondary method which might be easier to understand wasn't discussed. One can get there through 'Settings' as I just discovered a bit ago.
    Go to settings > my device > Language and Input than press the gear next to 'Samsung Keyboard'.
  • It's designed for initial use by the moron group (between 15 and 25 years old) which is English challenged. You'll have to adultify your S4 for satisfactory use. Try the Google keyboard.
  • What should I do if the gear button isn't there?