A newly published Apple patent application illustrates a system that will inform an iMessage recipient when your message is the victim of that “ducking” autocorrect.
The method disclosed within the patent is relatively simple: it highlights any words within a message which have been automatically corrected by the operating system. Apple currently does this only for the sender, and only in limited circumstances — after using dictation, iOS will use a blue underline to point out any words it was unsure about.
As most iPhone and iPad users know, the current autocorrect system can sometimes lead to hilarious results. The new system laid out in the patent application would fix this issue, by letting the recipient know your message has been “massaged.”
The system would show message recipients which words were changed, but not the original entry, in the hopes the recipient would then ask the sender for clarification.
Christopher J. Hynes is credited as the inventor of U.S. Patent Application No. 14/815,910.
