My phone doesn't know me anymore.

March 24, 2014 7:32 PM

Up until a week or two ago, my phone's predictive text function predicted not just which word I was typing, but also which word I was likely to type next. It used an algorithm which not only paired common words, but which (and this is the important bit) also learned which words I used frequently. Now that's not happening any more. Predictive text is still working, but it doesn't seem to be learning my vocabulary any more. How can I make this work again?

Predictive text is still on in the settings, and I've restarted the phone.

I had a bit of a google for folks experiencing similar problems, but without success.

The phone is a Samsung S3, running Android 4.1.2.

posted by paleyellowwithorange to Computers & Internet (11 answers total)

No clue, but I wonder if some data or cache got cleared out or something. Which is the stock app on your phone for texting? I use an app called SwiftKeyX, and that app you can ask to "learn" the way you type by having it analyze an email account, a Twitter account, a Facebook account, your text messages, etc. Can you ask it to learn from one of your accounts?
posted by AppleTurnover at 8:53 PM on March 24, 2014

Response by poster: I've only ever used the keyboard software ("Samsung keyboard" in the "Language and input" settings) that came with the phone, for texting, emailing and calendar entries; I've been very happy with it until this change. I didn't knowingly change any settings in the last couple of weeks.
posted by paleyellowwithorange at 9:22 PM on March 24, 2014

If you go into the keyboard settings:
Settings > Language & Input > click the cog next to Samsung keyboard
Is Predictive Text enabled?
Click Predictive Text (even if it is enabled).
Is Personalised Data enabled?
Try clicking the Learn From Messages option, this should relearn your most common words.
posted by EndsOfInvention at 12:01 AM on March 25, 2014

I recently turned this off on my Samsung Galaxy Nexus. Here's how it works on mine, noting that your S3 might be different:

Settings > Language and input > settings button beside the keyboard you use (mine is 'Google keyboard English (UK)) > scroll down to 'other options' and turn on 'Next-word suggestions'.
posted by escapepod at 12:12 AM on March 25, 2014

(Sorry, after posting I realise I may have misread your question!)
posted by escapepod at 12:16 AM on March 25, 2014

Response by poster: Predictive text and Personalised data are already enabled.

I don't seem to have a Next-word suggestions option.
posted by paleyellowwithorange at 1:41 AM on March 25, 2014

Maybe try switching to the Google Keyboard? It does everything that you want, and will have more support behind it. There's a chance your Samsung keyboard got an update that broke whatever functionality you had.
posted by dobi at 5:18 AM on March 25, 2014

Check your memory card, is it dying/unmounted/damaged? I experienced the same same problem a few weeks ago and there was a flash of a message along the lines of "Could not something something memory card - predictive text will be unavailable." which I wouldn't have noticed if it hadn't been looking at that moment.
posted by unixrat at 6:09 AM on March 25, 2014

Buy Swiftkey. It can learn how you communicate from not only your text messages, but also your twitter, Facebook, and gmail if you so desire.
posted by oceanjesse at 6:41 AM on March 25, 2014

That happened to me a few years ago on a Samsung Epic using the stock keyboard - I loved the way it worked and then an upgrade made it awful. I could never figure out how to get it back, so I bought SwiftKey (free trial for 30 days) and I've never looked back.
posted by CathyG at 8:48 AM on March 25, 2014

Yeah, I don't let apps update automatically.
posted by AppleTurnover at 7:00 PM on March 25, 2014