Predictive emoji is a valuable iPhone feature that uses machine learning to give you emoji suggestions above your keyboard. It can make your life so much easier that when the feature stops working, you will really feel the burden of needing to go looking for emojis manually again.
If your iPhone 18 Pro or iPhone 18 Pro Max has stopped predicting emojis for you to use, here are several fixes you can try to make predictive emoji work again.
What Is the Predictive Emoji Feature on an iPhone?
When it’s working, Apple’s Predictive Emoji feature will suggest different emoji to insert to text as you’re typing. It should work in any app, allowing you to tap the emoji suggestion above the keyboard to instantly replace your text with it.
Not only does this make it easy to spice up your conversation with colorful emojis, but it can also be one of the quickest ways to search for and insert your favorite emojis.
If Predictive Emoji isn’t working, you might just see a blank space on the right side of Apple’s predictions. Luckily, this is easy to fix with the quick steps below.
1. Make Sure Predictive Emojis Are Turned On
First, check if you have the Emoji keyboard enabled on your device. Head to Settings > General > Keyboard > Keyboards > Add New Keyboard, then find and select Emoji.
Now, make sure the Predictive Text function is enabled. Go back to Settings > General > Keyboard, then scroll down and enable the Predictive Text toggle.
2. Switch to Apple’s English Keyboard
There are tons of cool third-party iPhone keyboards you can use, but not all of them have a Predictive Emoji feature. If you’re using a third-party keyboard, try switching back to the official Apple one.
To do this, tap and hold the Emoji button or the Switch Keyboard key in the bottom-left corner of your keyboard, then select the English keyboard.
Make sure the keyboard language matches what you’re typing, otherwise it won’t know which emojis to predict.
3. Feed Your Device With Emojis
Your iPhone feeds on the information you give it and makes suggestions based on your typing style and past usage. If you don’t use emojis much in a certain app, that may be the reason you’re not getting any predictive emoji suggestions in it.
You need to let your iPhone 18 Pro Max know that you like using emojis for it to start predicting them. To do that, open the app that doesn’t show you predictive emojis and tap the Emoji button in the bottom-left corner to select the Emoji keyboard.
Now start typing random emojis. They don’t need to make sense, but you need to add enough of them to teach your device that you like using emojis in this app. It could take 20 or more emojis.
Now delete all the content you just typed and check if Predictive Emoji is working by typing a word like “puppy,” “candy,” or “haha.” You should see emoji suggestions above the keyboard.
You should repeat this process for every app where predictive emoji is not working.
4. Reset Your Keyboard Dictionary
If predictive emojis still aren’t working, you should try resetting your keyboard dictionary. This will make your iPhone 18 Pro Max forget any words you’ve taught it, so you may need to fix autocorrect errors on your Apple devices again. But it will also give you a clean slate to teach your device that you like using emojis again.
To do this, go to Settings > General, then scroll down and select Transfer or Reset iPhone. Now tap Reset > Reset Keyboard Dictionary. You’ll need to enter your passcode, then confirm you want to Reset Dictionary.
Now go back to the previous step and teach your iPhone that you like using emojis in all the relevant apps again.
5. Delete Your Emoji Keyboard
You can also reset your emoji keyboard by removing it and adding it again. To do this go to Settings > General > Keyboard. Tap Keyboards, then swipe left on the Emoji option and hit Delete.
Tap Add New Keyboard, then select Emoji to add it again.
6. Restart Your iPhone 18 Pro Max
If everything else seems to fail, you should try restarting your iPhone. Sometimes, a simple reboot can clear up issues and bugs, which may be enough to solve the problem. Simultaneously press and hold the side button and either volume button until the sliders appear, then drag the Power Off slider. Press and hold the side button until the Apple logo appears.
7. Update Your Software
Apple does its best to improve your iPhone software with every update. These updates include fixing common bugs that pester users, like when the Predictive Emoji feature stops working. To update your software to the latest version of iOS, head to Settings > General > Software Update.
If your software is out of date, you’ll see an Update Now button at the bottom of the screen. Tap it and follow the prompts to complete the update.
Emojis Are a Necessity for Modern Communication
In this digital age, emojis have become a regular part of our communication. Apple’s Predictive Emoji feature is a handy tool that intuitively suggests emojis that you can seamlessly insert into your conversations. So it’s a big loss to easy texting when that feature stops working. Hopefully these suggestions fixed that for you.
