Apple automatically performs math and offers suggested results in Messages for iPhone and iPad when you type in patterns it recognizes, such as formulas and units, after you type = (equals sign). These suggestions are grayed out inline in the message field until you tap the suggestion in the field or in the QuickType bar.
What if you don’t like these solutions? It would seem that going to Settings > General > Keyboard > Show Math Results and turning it off would disable formula and conversion autosuggestions. In testing, I found that I had to force quit Messages and relaunch it to have the change apply. (Swipe up from the bottom of your screen, then swipe Messages up to quit it.) Re-enabling happened immediately.
Math results appear elsewhere, too. If you don’t want them provided at all, go to Settings > Screen Time > Content & Privacy Restrictions, enable Content & Privacy Restrictions, then tap Intelligence & Siri > Math Result, and set it to Disallow. This is a global switch.
This Mac 911 article is in response to a question submitted by Macworld reader James.
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Author: Glenn Fleishman, Contributor, Macworld
Glenn Fleishman’s most recent books include Take Control of iOS and iPadOS Privacy and Security, Take Control of Calendar and Reminders, and Take Control of Securing Your Mac. In his spare time, he writes about printing and type history. He’s a senior contributor to Macworld, where he writes Mac 911.