Android the best keyboard

10 best Android keyboards for all kinds of typists

Some focus more on fun and customization. Others focus on better typing. Some even do both. These days, Microsoft’s SwiftKey and Google’s Gboard kind of dominate the market and most people use one of those. This part of the Play Store has stagnated a little bit so we don’t see many new entrants these days. Luckily, there are still some good options. Let’s take a look at the best Android keyboards.

AI Type Keyboard

Price: Free / $3.99

AI Type Keyboard Pro has been around for a long time and it’s a solid keyboard option. It comes with a lot of the standard features, including prediction, auto-complete, emoji, and keyboard customization. There is also over a thousand themes to add to your customization. The free version is a trial that lasts for 18 days and then you have to fork out the $3.99. You can stay on the free version, but some features will disappear. It’s also one of the few Android keyboards with a number row. The app did have a minor security issue toward the end of 2017, but it has since been rectified.

AnySoftKeyboard

Price: Free

AnySoftKeyboard is a simple keyboard with a surprising number of customization options. Its biggest feature is multiple language support and the developer has a ton of add-ons for various languages. Additionally, the keyboard comes with various themes, adaptive themes, and some unusual stuff like arrows, undo and redo, and some other stuff. This one uses separate packages for themes so you can find them on the Play Store as well as in the app. There are some omissions here and there, but it’s a decent free option and it’s not too over the top.

Fleksy

Price: Free / Up to $2.99

Fleksy is one of the most popular Android keyboards. It features all of the basics, including swipe and gesture controls, web search, GIF and meme support, themes, extensions, and more. Some of the themes are free. However, several cost money as well. Thankfully, they’re not too expensive. Pinterest bought the company and took the developers. However, another startup began development on the app again. The keyboard is totally free and most of the in-app purchases are just themes.

Gboard

Price: Free

Gboard is Google’s official stock keyboard. It comes with a lot of the basic features such as auto-correction, multi-lingual typing, and various customization features. Its claim to fame, though, is that Google Search is built-in. That means you can conduct searches without leaving the keyboard space. There is also a GIF search, voice typing, and Google Translate. Google adds features to this keyboard on a fairly frequent basis. Thus, it isn’t quite the minimal, simple keyboard it used to be. However, it’s still decent.

Grammarly

Price: Free

Grammarly is one of the newer Android keyboards. It started life as a Chrome extension and it corrected your grammar as you typed. The Android keyboard version aims to do the same thing. It checks your grammar and spelling as well as punctuation. It’s newer, so it’s very much still in development. We expect more features to come with future updates. You still get a very clean looking keyboard that helps correct grammar mistakes in the meantime. We also like how it explains your corrections if you want it to so that you learn from it as well. The keyboard is entirely free as far as we can tell.

Hacker’s Keyboard

Price: Free

Hacker’s Keyboard is a decent keyboard. It doesn’t have a lot of the AI auto-correct features of other keyboards like SwiftKey or Gboard. However, it does have a full, PC-style keyboard layout. It supports multiple languages via plugin packs you can download separately on the Google Play Store. Otherwise, it’s a fairly simple application. You get the keyboard in the old Gingerbread style with a CTRL key, escape, ALT, Fn, and an arrow row. Some of those keys may only be available in the landscape version. In any case, it’s a free keyboard and it’s decent, even if it’s a little older.

Microsoft SwiftKey

Price: Free

SwiftKey is definitely among the best Android keyboards ever. It has top of the line prediction and auto-correction along with gesture typing, cloud syncing so all of your devices can stay up to date, themes, keyboard customization, a number row, and more. It also has above average language support with over 100 languages supported. The keyboard and all of its features are free but you’ll have to pay for most of the themes. The keyboard was purchased by Microsoft a couple of years ago, but it still works as it did. The app is also completely free.

Multiling O Keyboard

Price: Free

Multiling O Keyboard is the one stop shop if you need multiple languages. In fact, this keyboard app supports over 200 languages at the time of this writing which is more than pretty much every other Android keyboard. On top of superior language support, you’ll get gesture typing, the ability to set up a PC-style keyboard layout, keyboard resizing and re-positioning, themes, emoji, various layouts, and the all-important number row. It’s a powerful option for you multi-linguists out there. More and more keyboards support more and more languages. However, nobody does it quite as well as Multiling.

Simple Keyboard

Price: Free

Simple Keyboard is the most minimal Android keyboard on the list. It only comes with the basics. That includes the keyboard, a few customization settings, and a few themes. The only permission it has is vibration and that’s for haptic feedback while typing. This is the one you want if you just want a basic, bare-bones keyboard. It also has no ads, no premium version, no in-app purchases, and it’s open source. It requires only the bare minimum in terms of permissions as well. Just make sure you’re okay with not having a spell checker or anything super fancy like that. It’s great for old devices, devices with very little storage, and those who are super concerned about security.

Typewise Custom Keyboard

Price: Free / $1.99-$24.99

Typewise Custom Keyboard is a relatively decent keyboard. It omits the classic QWERTY style in favor of a honeycomb-shaped patterned keyboard. The developer says the keyboard was designed for thumb typing and includes larger than average keys for easier hits. The keyboard also works 100% offline with no suspicious permissions. The big story here, though, is the keyboard layout. You either get used to it and really enjoy it or you don’t and hate it. There doesn’t seem to be anything between that. There is an optional QWERTY mode if you would prefer something a bit more traditional. It’s a good keybaord overall and it’s something a bit different.

If we missed any of the best Android keyboards, tell us about them in the comments! You can also click here to check out our latest Android app and game lists.

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The 10 Best Keyboards for Android in 2021

Spruce up your texts with these top-notch keyboard apps

Some keyboard apps for Android are better for one-handed use, while others are fastest when typing with two thumbs. Most on-screen keyboards need you to look at the keys, but a few allow touch typing. Regardless of your needs, here are some keyboards for Android you should look into.

Gboard: Google’s Official Android Keyboard

Runs flawlessly in any app.

Often comes preinstalled.

Built-in speech recognition that really works.

Glide typing—get faster with the layout you know.

Hard to use one-handed.

No gliding between words.

No touch typing.

Special characters poorly supported.

Gboard is a simple standard QWERTY keyboard with good predictive typing and built-in speech recognition. If it’s not already installed on your device, you can download it from the play store.

MessagEase Keyboard: Great for One-Handed Typing

Great for one-handed use.

Takes up less space on tablet screens.

Type without looking.

Macros for commonly used text.

Shortcuts to select, copy, and paste.

Great integration with Google’s speech recognition.

Takes quite a while to get up to speed.

MessagEase is a totally different way of typing. The nine most frequently used letters in English get their own large key, while other letters and punctuation marks are accessed by sliding over one of these keys in one of eight directions.

It sounds complicated, but with a bit of practice using the built-in tutor, it quickly becomes instinctive. Some users report typing speeds of over 80 words per minute, although about 30 would be typical.

Fleksy: Officially the Fastest Keyboard

World record speed of 88 words per minute.

Great text prediction.

Uses the QWERTY layout you already know.

Need to change to number mode for speech input.

Special characters poorly supported.

No glide typing.

Despite not supporting glide typing, Fleksy is still one of the most popular, and officially the fastest keyboard.

Minuum: The Most Compact Keyboard for Android

Works with one thumb for one-handed use.

Works well with two thumbs for faster typing.

QWERTY-based, making it easier to learn.

Relies heavily on predictive text.

You might find you have to keep expanding it to a full-sized keyboard to type what you actually want.

Not the fastest, although users report 30 to 60 words per minute.

Definitely not suitable for touch typing.

Minumm compresses the QWERTY keyboard into a thin strip along the bottom of your screen, so if screen space is your most important feature, then this might be the keyboard for you.

When you do need to use Minumm, it relies on predictive text to work out which key you actually wanted to press, which can be hit and miss.

Nintype (Keyboard 69): Highest Reported Speeds

Superfast speeds up to 135 words per minute.

Combines taps, swipes, and shortcuts.

Slide typing with two fingers or thumbs.

Also works one-handed.

Shortcuts for punctuation and special characters.

Curser navigation using the space bar.

Android version is still in development.

Frustrating to learn two-handed swiping.

Hard to access voice input.

Nintype is a popular keyboard for the iPhone and many regular users report typing speeds better than they can achieve touch typing on a full-size keyboard. It’s currently still in development for Android but it’s available for early access now.

SwiftKey: A Good Alternative to Gboard

A good swyping alternative to Gboard.

Punctuation accessed more quickly.

Predictive text doesn’t aleays give you want you want.

Microsoft developed their own keyboard for Windows phones called Word Flow, which was perhaps the best keyboard app for touch typing. It still holds the record for blindfolded typing on a touch screen phone at 58 words per minute.

Microsoft has now dropped Word Flow and bought SwftKey, although it doesn’t have the one-handed touch typing that Word Flow had.

DOTKey: True Touch Typing on a Touchscreen

True touch typing at over 65 words per minute.

The built-in tutor helps you learn the system.

Impossible to type one-handed unless on a tabletop.

Confuses regular touch typing.

Not as fast as other keyboards.

The most radically different approach to typing on a touch screen and perhaps the most ergonomic, Dotkey is designed to work with 3 fingers from one hand and doesn’t require on-screen buttons to be accurately selected.

Instead, each finger can perform a number of gestures, such as a tap, a short swipe, or a long swipe. Multiple fingers can also perform these gestures at the same time. This system results in a much more ergonomic flexion and extension of each finger, rather than the repeated abduction and adduction required for thumb typing.

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