“What the duck” is no more with Apple’s new iPhone autocorrect update

For iPhone users, texting curse words hasn’t traditionally been an easy task, with “duck” being the stand-in for many people’s favorite f-word. But Apple announced at the Worldwide Developers Conference yesterday that the G-rated autocorrection will come to an end with its newest update. 

“In those moments where you just want to type a ducking word, well the keyboard will learn it,” Apple’s senior vice president of software engineering Craig Federighi said on Monday.  

That change will come with the soon-to-come iOS 17, which is set to debut sometime this autumn, Federighi said at the conference. The new autocorrect system will “improve the experience every time you type,” he said, with a “state-of-the-art” machine learning system that now includes a “transformer language model.” 

iPhones’ autocorrect function has left some users frustrated, spawning an ongoing series of “damn autocorrect jokes” around the world on virtually every social medium. It’s even led to a dedicated Reddit page.

The new update will also allow users to revert back to the word they originally spelled out, when autocorrect seems to think that they spelled something wrong, just by tapping on the word in question. Predictive text will also now allow users to finish words and sentences by clicking on the space bar. 

The autocorrect update is just one of several new upgrades and updates coming from Apple, including leaving messages on Facetime and using Facetime on Apple TVs, search filters, live stickers, and more. 

Also new to Apple is the company’s Vision Pro virtual reality headset, the first big product to be released by the company in years. The headset, which costs nearly $3,500, has been called the world’s first spatial computers, according to Apple, and will be available next year.

Li Cohen

Li Cohen is a social media producer and trending content writer for CBS News.