You can make that button actually useful.
Have you accidentally tapped the audio button inside iMessage’s text input bar when sending a message? Justin Bieber went viral with an Insta post complaining about how frequently it happened to him.
The problem is that tapping the button launches a voice recording session, during which your iPhone will stop playing music so it can record the message it thinks you want to send.
Bieber became frustrated enough at how often this accidentally happened to him while texting that he wrote, “The send button should not have multiple functions in the same spot,” and joked that he would put everyone at Apple in a “choke hold” until it got fixed.
His post generated thousands of likes, reposts and reactions. We don’t know if Apple was responding to Bieber or not, but it has made a change to ease the problem. iOS 27 now gives you a choice, permitting you to choose between continuing to display the default waveform-like record icon, a microphone icon for quick access to dictation, or even nothing at all.
iMessages text entry mastery
Screenshots by Jonny Evans (Apple)
Starting with iOS 27, new choices are available in Settings > Apps> Messages > Show in Text Field. You can select one of three options:
- Record Audio: You may want to retain this if you regularly send voice messages.
- Start Dictation: Useful if you dictate texts rather than typing them.
- None: The “Bieber” option for those who don’t dictate or record audio frequently enough to need these controls.
When you return to iMessages, you should see your choice appear in the text entry field. If it doesn’t, then force quit the app, open it again, and the change should appear.
Now even Bieber should no longer have this problem.
How do you access these functions in future?
You don’t lose any functionality when you remove these buttons from iMessage; all the options remain
You just need to know where to look:
- To record voice messages, just tap the + (plus) button to the left of the text entry box and tap Audio from the list that appears.
- To dictate a message, tap the microphone icon you see just under the keyboard on the lower right. (This should be on by default, but if you can’t see it, you can re-enable it in Settings > General > Keyboard > Enable Dictation.)
Apple made several improvements in iMessage with iOS 27. One nice enhancement (possibly introduced in preparation for the larger display available on the iPhone Duo) is a new Drawing app that lets you send sketches and handwritten notes, and it provides markup tools within iMessage.
Apple also introduced a new AI tool that suggests useful words and phrases and can automate tasks within a conversation, such as adding items to Reminders or Notes. It is also now possible to use one number across two separate iPhones. Finally, Apple’s messaging app now offers improved RCS support, including the ability to edit and unsend messages.
