Stupid Facebook problem on Android
May 23, 2022 1:48 PM Subscribe
When I try to type and edit comments in the Facebook app on Android, they get very messed up. How do I fix this?
When I write comments on Facebook on my phone and try to edit them to fix typos (before or after I post them), they get all mixed up in weird ways. Like, to recreate the problem and have an example for you all, I wrote a comment that said "I have been having trouble" and then moved my cursor back to the word been and tried to delete the last two letters. Just from doing that, my comment now reads "I have be having trtroubln". Mostly, it just tries to do whatever I am doing at the end of the comment instead of where I am doing it, but sometimes one letter will successfully get deleted or entered where the cursor is and sometimes, things will get duplicated in the middle of the last word. The only way to really successfully edit comments is to delete everything back to the error and type it again more carefully.
This seems to be limited to Facebook, though there are actually very few apps I regularly type in on my phone, so I'm not absolutely certain it is limited to Facebook. I haven't been able to recreate the problem in FarmRPG chat or Instagram comments, though, so I do think it's Facebook only.
I tried reinstalling Facebook, but that did not help. I tried rebooting my phone but that did not help. I thought it might be a problem with my Swype keyboard, so I switched back to the basic Samsung keyboard, but that did not help.
Usually I have no problem googling up fixes to things like this, but I don't even know how to search for this. "Facebook on android mixing up letters" is not finding me things, you know?
Are you familiar with this problem? Do you know how to fix it?
When I write comments on Facebook on my phone and try to edit them to fix typos (before or after I post them), they get all mixed up in weird ways. Like, to recreate the problem and have an example for you all, I wrote a comment that said "I have been having trouble" and then moved my cursor back to the word been and tried to delete the last two letters. Just from doing that, my comment now reads "I have be having trtroubln". Mostly, it just tries to do whatever I am doing at the end of the comment instead of where I am doing it, but sometimes one letter will successfully get deleted or entered where the cursor is and sometimes, things will get duplicated in the middle of the last word. The only way to really successfully edit comments is to delete everything back to the error and type it again more carefully.
This seems to be limited to Facebook, though there are actually very few apps I regularly type in on my phone, so I'm not absolutely certain it is limited to Facebook. I haven't been able to recreate the problem in FarmRPG chat or Instagram comments, though, so I do think it's Facebook only.
I tried reinstalling Facebook, but that did not help. I tried rebooting my phone but that did not help. I thought it might be a problem with my Swype keyboard, so I switched back to the basic Samsung keyboard, but that did not help.
Usually I have no problem googling up fixes to things like this, but I don't even know how to search for this. "Facebook on android mixing up letters" is not finding me things, you know?
Are you familiar with this problem? Do you know how to fix it?
I have recently been having the same problem... Galaxy S21 for reference
posted by one4themoment at 4:35 PM on May 23, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by one4themoment at 4:35 PM on May 23, 2022 [1 favorite]
(According to my phone I’m using gboard)
posted by one4themoment at 4:37 PM on May 23, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by one4themoment at 4:37 PM on May 23, 2022 [1 favorite]
I do not have this problem on my iPhone but can confirm I've seen several odd comments like your example lately, so it's not just you.
posted by donnagirl at 4:43 PM on May 23, 2022
posted by donnagirl at 4:43 PM on May 23, 2022
Response by poster: It makes me feel better to know I am not crazy!
posted by jacquilynne at 5:04 PM on May 23, 2022
posted by jacquilynne at 5:04 PM on May 23, 2022
Yes! Just the last few days and only on Facebook. I'm using a Pixel 6. Thank you for asking this, I just thought it was me!
posted by platinum at 10:38 PM on May 23, 2022
posted by platinum at 10:38 PM on May 23, 2022
Exact same thing is happening to me, I was just complaining to my partner about it this morning. I assume they did some kind of update and this is a result. Hopefully they fix it soon.
posted by kinddieserzeit at 11:54 PM on May 23, 2022
posted by kinddieserzeit at 11:54 PM on May 23, 2022
This has happened to me and several people I know, with the problem eventually going away seemingly by itself. My speculation is that sometimes they test out new monitoring algorithms to see if they can automate some moderation, but while they're in test mode it slows down how responsive the text area is to your typing.
posted by harriet vane at 5:28 AM on May 24, 2022
posted by harriet vane at 5:28 AM on May 24, 2022
I've had the same thing happen not on facebook but on a different site, with comment boxes. There is some bug in the code underlying the comment box that causes the error - I can't remember more than that. But it's not your phone or your OS or your keyboard.
Can confirm it's annoying!
posted by Dashy at 2:06 PM on May 24, 2022
Can confirm it's annoying!
posted by Dashy at 2:06 PM on May 24, 2022
Can also confirm it just happened to me on Facebook app, something super buggy with trying to move the cursor to edit. Google pixel 6 + Facebook.
posted by TheAdamist at 4:41 AM on May 27, 2022
posted by TheAdamist at 4:41 AM on May 27, 2022
Yep, same problem here (another Pixel 6)
posted by eloeth-starr at 1:01 PM on May 27, 2022
posted by eloeth-starr at 1:01 PM on May 27, 2022
Best answer: Same here, Samsung S21. It's definitely a Facebook app issue. I thought it might be a keyboard issue so I swapped from using the Microsoft Swiftkey keyboard app to the Samsung keyboard (which is awful), but nothing changed, so it's clearly something to do with the FB app.
posted by essexjan at 2:29 PM on May 27, 2022
posted by essexjan at 2:29 PM on May 27, 2022
Best answer: An update this morning seems to have fixed it.
posted by essexjan at 2:32 AM on May 28, 2022
posted by essexjan at 2:32 AM on May 28, 2022
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posted by tacodave at 3:31 PM on May 23, 2022