Android brings a customization level that is unmatched by any other mobile OS. There’s ability to change every aspect of the Android interface and the keyboard is no different. While devices running stock or pure Android come with the very capable Google Keyboard as the default keyboard but devices from other manufacturers like Samsung, HTC, Sony come with their own keyboard solution. While these different keyboards are pretty decent, they aren’t very feature rich or bring much customization. Thankfully, we have a number of great keyboard apps on the Google Play Store.
Our smartphone’s keyboard is an important entity of our experience and everyone has their own preference when it comes to finding the perfect keyboard. Well, we have tried most of the keyboard apps from the Play Store and found the best ones for you.
Here are the Best Keyboard Apps for Android:
Fleksy
Fleksy has become one of the most popular keyboard apps in a very short span of time and deservedly so. Fleksy brings one of the best tap typing experience. It’s sleek and the keyboard looks amazing, thanks to some quirky animations and a ton of themes. Along with looks, the app lets you customize size of the keyboard and its keys. It also packs extensions like Hotkeys, which lets you add a row of symbols or emojis that you use often. Other extensions include invisible keyboard, shortcuts and more.
Fleksy supports GIFs along with hundreds of emojis, fun badges and more. There are also a number of cool gestures for various features like correction, punctuation and more. Fleksy supports a number of languages including the likes of Italian, Indonesian, Russian, Spanish and many more. It also supports the most popular keyboard layouts like QWERTY, AZERTY, QWERTZ, Dvorak and Colemak. The only thing missing here is flow/swipe/gesture typing support but Fleksy’s tap typing is so good that you should be pretty satisfied using it. Moreover, the app is available for free on the Play Store.
Download Fleksy (Free with in-app purchases)
Compatibility: Android 4.1 and up.
TouchPal
TouchPal has been a great keyboard app on Android for a long time now but it did not receive any limelight until recently. It is a solid keyboard app that packs in all the features we have come to expect from Android keyboard apps. TouchPal comes with contextual predictions and powerful error correction. You can customize almost anything about the keyboard, be it the sound, vibration, font, height or width. The app also allows you to use custom keyboard keys.
You can also choose to have a weather widget, which you can reach through a simple gesture on the keyboard. TouchPal also supports gesture or swipe typing, which it likes to call TouchPal Curve. You can also sync your personal dictionary to the cloud, so that you can get them even when you move to a different device. TouchPal Cloud also brings you predictions from the cloud along with current word trends and more. The keyboard supports most national and regional languages including Albanian, Bulgarian, Dutch, Finnish, Korean, Hindi and more. It also supports “mixed language input” wherein the keyboard takes predictions from a different language as well. The app is available for free but you can get the Premium version as well with an in-app subscription of $4.99. The Premium version of the app brings unlimited cloud backup & sync, multi-clipboard, etc.
Download TouchPal (Free with in-app subscription for Premium version)
Compatibility: Varies with device.
SwiftKey
SwiftKey keyboard has been one of the most popular keyboard apps over the past few years and it still remains a great choice. The feature list has multiplied over the years along with the user base. The text prediction capabilities on SwiftKey remain unmatched and there are a number of cool features that make it the most popular choice among users. The app brings you personalised word predictions by learning your typing habits from your social accounts like Facebook, Twitter and more. There’s Flow typing support and its predictions with smart autocorrect make sure you type right.
SwiftKey is not short on customizations either. You can tweak your keyboard any way you like. You can resize it, split it or move it around. There are a ton of great free as well as premium paid themes available too. The app supports more than a hundred languages including regional languages and national languages like Hindi, Chinese, French, German and more. SwiftKey keyboard also supports multilingual typing, which lets you use predictions from 3 languages while you type. The good news is SwiftKey is available on the Play Store for free and you will have to make some in-app purchases for premium themes.
Download SwiftKey (Free with in-app purchases)
Compatibility: Varies with device.
Google Keyboard
Stock Android devices from the likes of Motorola, LG, and Huawei come with Google Keyboard on board and it’s no slouch when it comes to features. Google Keyboard was previously an ugly looking keyboard but the Lollipop update has brought a sleek looking keyboard. It brings the best of both tap & gesture typing and the performance is great. There’s also Google’s voice typing in-built, so you can switch to voice in a single click. While there aren’t many themes available, the ones that are available match Android’s Material Design UI.
Google Keyboard also lets you customize the sound, vibration duration, long presses and more. It supports a number of languages and keyboard layouts including German QWERTY, QWERTZ and more. The keyboard also learns from your typing habits and improves its suggestions. You can also increase or decrease the aggressiveness of suggestions. Being a Google app, Google Keyboard is available for free on the Google Play Store.
Download Google Keyboard (Free)
Compatibility: Android 4.0 and up.
Minuum
Minuum, as the name suggests is kind of a miniature or mini keyboard for Android. It’s the most different keyboard experience you will get on Android and if you get used to it, you will love it. Minuum takes the QWERTY keyboard layout and breaks it down to a single row and lets you use your screen estate in all its glory. The app supports QWERTY, AERTY or “A-Z” layout. To type quickly, it relies on its great word prediction and autocorrection. If you are a sloppy typer, you are going to thank us for suggesting Minuum.
Along with the intuitive keyboard, Minuum also brings cursor control, clipboard control, emoji support and more. You can also monitor your typing speed in the app. While the idea is innovative, not everyone is going to love it. If you can give Minuum some time and get used to it, you are going to love it. A free trial is available for Minuum, which lets you try it for 30 days after which you will have to buy the full version.
Download Minuum (Free trial / Full version $3.99)
Compatibility: Android 4.0 and up.
Go Keyboard
The GO Dev team has brought us a number of apps to customize Android better and they also have a keyboard app dubbed aptly as Go Keyboard. It is similar to their other offerings with tons of customization options. Go Keyboard brings you a number of great looking themes along with options to change background of the keyboard, make it transparent and more. There’s also ability to resize the keyboard, keys, show arrow keys, have a search button and circular keys.
Along with customization features, Go keyboard comes with features like gestures to switch layouts, swipe typing, accurate autocorrect, emojis and more. It also supports most of the popular languages like English, French, Japanese, Spanish, Turkish, Urdu, Hindi etc.. It also supports various language layouts including QWERTY and AZERTY. The app also features plugins for multiple layouts along with ability to backup and restore user dictionary. While Go Keyboard is available for free on the Play Store, there’s also an ad free version dubbed Go Keyboard Pro that you can get with an in-app purchase of $4.99.
Download Go Keyboard (Free with in-app purchase of $4.99 for Pro version)
Compatibility: Varies with device.
Swype
Swype by Nuance Communications is the app that brought trace/swipe typing to the world and it continues to remain a great keyboard solution. Swype is pre-installed on a lot of smartphones, so you might be already accustomed to it. Like most other apps on the list, Swype lets you customize the keyboard with various themes along with options to change the height, vibration duration, long press delay and more. The app comes with a new Swype store that lets you download free and paid premium themes. It also features Google’s Material design keyboard theme, so if you want that look with Swype’s functionality, you can have it.
Swype learns from you and you can backup or restore your personal dictionary. The app also adds hotwords from users and news around the globe to keep you updated with the latest slang. It also features a number of cool gestures for tasks like select all, copy, cut and paste. There’s also voice dictation here and Swype likes to call it Dragon dictation. Overall, the trace typing remains great and although autocorrection can get it wrong a few times, you can live with it. Swype is available in a free version as well as a paid version which brings premium themes and more.
Download Swype (Free trial / Full version $0.99)
Compatibility: Android 4.0 and up.
Ginger Emoji Keyboard
Ginger keyboard is not only a great keyboard but it’s also a great writing tool. You must know Ginger as a grammer checking tool and they have integrated a lot of their grammar checking features on their keyboard app as well. Similar to other keyboard offerings, Ginger comes with a lot of themes to choose from and you can find some more from Ginger Store. The first thing you notice while using Ginger keyboard is how fast it is. Flow typing just feels so sleek and speedy on this keyboard. It comes with a smart bar that features the apps you need all the time like Notes. The app also lets you play games when you are just getting bored.
There are games like 2048, Squash, Copter and they replace your keyboard when you want to play. While the tap typing is simply okay, Ginger keyboard brings its grammar features that could seal the deal for you. Ginger Page is integrated in the keyboard and it lets you know if there are any errors in your grammar, punctuation and more. Regional language support is a bit lacking but Ginger supports 58 languages from across the world including English, Spanish, French, Dutch, Italian and more.
Download Ginger Keyboard (Free with in-app purchases)
Compatibility: Android 4.0.3 and up.
Ai.type keyboard
Ai.type keyboard is one of the most feature rich keyboard apps available on the Play Store. The app is so packed with features, some might feel it’s a little too much but if you love tinkering with features, you are going to love it. The app lets you customize the keyboard to the brim. It lets you change the background, size and there’s ability to create your own keys & shortcuts and more. You can also select the top row of the keyboard to show numbers, emojis and punctuation. There’s also a Theme Market, which lets you download thousands of free and paid themes. Ai.type also offers you a free theme everyday.
The app supports more than 800 emojis and more than 100 graphical characters. Other features of the app include swipe typing, great word prediction & auto-correction, dictation, on-keyboard search and more. There are a number of languages supported along with keyboard layouts like Colemak, AZERTY, QWERTZ, BDS and more. The app is available in a free trial version as well as a paid version. The free trial only gets you 30 days to use but you can effectively give it a try and decide if you want Plus version or not.
Download Ai.type keyboard (Free trial / Plus version $3.99)
Compatibility: Varies with device.
Emoji Keyboard Pro Kika
Emoji Keyboard Pro by the Kika team is one of highly rated and well recognised keyboards available on the Play Store and if you love conversing through Emojis, you are going to love it. The app brings a number of emoji layouts to use and you can even download new ones. Along with fun emojis, there are fun stickers, GIFs and more. It also lets you customize the keyboard totally along with various themes, just like other apps on the list. You can have plugins like selector, emoji bar, search along with the ability to change fonts and sounds. There are also advanced options like language switch key, slide indicator, custom input styles and more.
Emoji Pro supports 60+ languages along with a number of input methods including the likes of Bulgarian (BDS), QWERTZ, AZERTY, Dvorak, Colemak, Hindi, German, Icelandic, Polish and more. There’s swipe typing, suggestions which take into account the last word you typed, emoji predictions and more. Emoji Keyboard Pro Kika is available for free on Play Store with in-app purchases for themes and plugins.
Download Emoji Keyboard Pro Kika (Free with in-app purchases)
Compatibility: Android 4.0 and up.
SEE ALSO: Moving From Windows Phone to Android? A Complete Guide to Follow
These are the best keyboard apps available on Android and they should meet your specific needs like support for regional languages, great gesture typing, new & intuitive typing styles, great emoji support and themes. So, which keyboard app do you like the most? Let us know in the comments section below.
Abubakar Mohammed
