Pop music sensation Justin Bieber has turned a common iPhone annoyance into viral commentary, publicly venting his frustration with a persistent bug in Apple’s iMessage interface and jokingly threatening to “choke” the engineers responsible.
The singer took to social media to call out a small but disruptive UI bug: the positioning of the dictation button next to the send button in the messaging app. Bieber claims the proximity leads to frequent, accidental taps, which then immediately interrupt any music playback – a major pain point for users who constantly multitask between streaming and texting.
Why is Bieber annoyed with Apple
In his post, Bieber singled out the interface design that allows the dictation icon to sit in a tiny, easy-to-miss spot, resulting in a mis-tap that wrecks the flow of listening. The celebrity’s frustration culminated in a colourful, albeit humorous, threat, wherein he said he would “find everyone at Apple and put them in a rear-naked choke hold” to resolve the issue.
The complaint centers on the dual functions occupying limited screen real estate, a friction point that, for an artist like Bieber, is more than a minor glitch – it disrupts his creative and daily rhythm, as made evident from the tonality of the post.
“The send button should not have multiple functions in the same spot,” he argued, echoing a familiar grievance shared by many iPhone users.
Elon Musk reacted to Bieber’s concern
The singer noted that even switching off the dictation feature does not entirely resolve the cramped layout, as the voice note control and send button still occupy a small area prone to errors.
The artist’s tweet was reposted by tech mogul Elon Musk, who also heads the X team (formerly Twitter). Musk, in a bid to exaggerate his point, added two fire emojis, thus hinting that he too may suffer from a similar problem on the iPhone. Apple is yet to make a public statement on the concern.
The iOS 26 update, which was released to the public in September 2025, has drawn a lot of criticism, primarily concerning the new ‘Liquid Glass’ aesthetics. In a recent patch, Apple added the ability to reduce the transparency effects in a bid to improve the legibility concerns.
