Pasting text with a colon into iPad safari, converts to lower case??

Question

Pasting text with a colon into iPad safari, converts to lower case??

I spent 5 minutes getting very confused when copy/pasting a password into Safari. "Wrong password".

Eventually I pasted it into the username field to see what was going on, it was partially converted to lower case.

What I've found is that if I have a string like STR:ING and I copy/paste (CmdC / CmdV) it in Safari (content part of window, not the address bar) OR any other apps, the text before the : is converted to lower case eg str:ING This editor also tries to convert it to a URL (blue) but even if I make a code block :

str:ING

It gets lower cased.

I've disabled all the auto correct / auto case fixing, etc. and it still gets it wrong.

If I paste to other apps, they get the str:ING. But if I copy/paste STR:ING within the other app, it is all upper case. If I copy from another app (notes app/calendar) and paste into Safari, it gets lower cased.

You can try it on a site like google.com and type STR:ING into the search box, copy and paste it straight back. Or probably in a comment here if you like.

This is very annoying and inconsistent! Any idea how to turn it off and stop Safari from breaking my password when I paste it?

(In case you're wondering it isn't this password and it's from a 16+ character completely random password from a password manager. I am not giving you any useful clues to hack any of my accounts! :-) )

iPad Pro (6th generation)

Posted on Mar 29, 2023 12:04 PM

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Answer 1

May 23, 2023 10:05 AM in response to maxfromchippenham

I'm experiencing the same issue.

I tested on the following devices.

iOS 16.5 Safari
iOS 16.3.1 Safari
iPadOS 16.5 Safari

The issue occurred on input, password, and textarea fields across various websites.

However, this problem did not occur on Safari for macOS.

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Answer 2

JJRASC

Community Specialist

Apr 2, 2023 09:27 AM in response to maxfromchippenham

HI maxfromchippenham,

Thank you for posting to the Apple Support Communities.

If this issue seems inconsistent and only happens with certain websites, it could be a feature or unexpected behavior with the specific website. Check this Apple Support articles for suggestions to try If Safari isn't loading websites or quits on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch.

You may also consider using AutoFill to input your saved passwords. This could help you avoid the copy and paste steps that you are using now. Follow the instructions in these next articles to set up these features on your iPad:

Please reply back if you have any additional questions or concerns.

Cheers!

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Answer 3

Apr 2, 2023 10:00 AM in response to maxfromchippenham

The form on the website must be doing a conversion to all uppercase.

I did a quick test on one website form, and I'm able to paste in str:ING in a form on a website without the case changing.

str:ING (Pasted just fine for me.)

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Answer 4

Apr 5, 2023 05:04 AM in response to That-is-Medically-Unwise

STR:ING clearly didn't paste just fine, it has lower cased str as far as I can see.

I can paste into any website and it gets converted, this is not the website doing it.

Password fields, Google search, this website. All do the same.

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Answer 5

Apr 5, 2023 05:09 AM in response to JJRASC

Not very helpful to have anything I want to paste into Safari saved as a password / autofill.

It is not remotely inconsistent. It is entirely consistent. It happens with any website with a form I can type things into. It loads the site and does not quit, don't know why you think that article would be useful with an issue on paste function.

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Answer 6

Sep 12, 2023 05:40 AM in response to maxfromchippenham

Curious. I recently had a problem entering a password with a semicolon.

Does it happen with a semicolon as well? Or other punctuation marks?

I tried doing some research on punctuation - specifically colons- and there's a lot of writing/style-type guides discussing the proper use of a colon: namely that it is standard to use lowercase text before a colon followed with an uppercase letter in the American English vs British English. But those articles didn't pan out regarding this discrepancy.

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